The Indian Territory in the Civil War Message Board

Chief of Commissary, Bonham TX; 1863; Bankhaead's

Mike G. Thompson,
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After searching for the perfect -- well, near perfect -- reply, I found this advernturer who served in the North Sub-District of North Texas, Trans-Misssissippi Division of CSA, Major J.S. West who served during Col. S.P. Bankhead's reign in Bonham TX (nephew of Major General John Bankhead Magruder). ... see NEPOTISM below.
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Major J.S. West is mentioned in the following excerpt from my book and my 190-page Name Index:
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1863 Fannin Co TX, Bonham, Aug 18......Hd Qrs., 2nd Brig, 1st Division, Army of Texas....Special Orders No. 23 to Col. James Bourland, Commander of Border Battalion [EXTRACT].

I. Mr. A.H. Lacy, Commissary Agent for Cooke County, is hereby authorized to issue, until the appointment of a Regimental Quartermaster, to the troops of the Border Battalion, on the Certified Provision Returns to the Commanders of Companies, the Commissary Stores forwarded to Gainesville by Major J.S. West, Chief Commissary, Northern Sub-District of Texas for that purpose.
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By Command. of Asst. Brig-Gen. S.P. Bankhead, Comdg; Capt. Jos. Phillips, AAA Genl.
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BANKHEAD, Smith Pyne Bankhead (Brig-Gen, CSA, nephew of J.BANKHEAD Magruder)
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LACY, Alexander H. Lacy, b-1818 VA; m-Martha E; 1860 TituS cen p148 (Commissary Agent for Cooke Co TX)
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WEST, John Stephenson West, b-1828 NYC; m-1866 Colorado Co TX to Mary Eliz. (Naille) Robson; Arizona Brig until transferred Jul 9, 1863 to North Sub-District of TX (Major, Chief Commissary, TX CSA) ... Major J.S. West's service in the Arizona Brigade is mentioned in
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http://www.bourlandcivilwar.com/ArizonaBrigade.htm
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John Stephenson West Story
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John Stephenson West was born in New York City in about 1828. His father, John, and his mother, Mary, were both born in New York, and he had a sister Mary and a brother Nathaniel Hale West.
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John Stephenson West’s father was a wealthy New Yorker and a friend of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and it is reported that be was descended from a member of the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont.
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John Stephenson West appears to have been unsettled, adventuresome, and rebellious. In the late 1850s he joined General William Walker’s expeditionary forces which were sent to Nicaragua in the “banana war” to put down the local rebellion and to preserve the banana trade for Vanderbilt’s companies. His leg was broken and improperly set on this expedition, and he had trouble with it for the rest of his life.
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John Stephenson West returned by way of New Orleans, where he contracted yellow fever and was detained during his recovery. On May 27, 1861, at the very beginning of the Civil War (the capture of Fort Sumpter was April 13, 1861), John West enrolled at New Orleans as captain in the Third Louisiana Infantry, and he spent the next four years in the Quartermaster Corps of the Army of the Confederate States. For this action his father disowned him. At the end of the war in 1865, he was assigned to the Confederate hospital in Columbus, Texas. There he met and, on February 27, 1866, married Mary Elizabeth Naille Robson, an attractive young widow with two sons. He was about 38 years old, and she was about 24.
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http://www.munsons-of-texas.net/c25.html
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NEPOTISM. Nepotism reigned in 1863 as pointed out by my editor's note below. Most researchers of the Revolutionary War agree that the reason for the Rev. War was to abolish nepotism. USA elections since the Rev. War contradict that concept.
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Editor’s note: A month after Col. S.P. Bankhead arrived in Bonham, he asked his uncle, Gen. J. Bankhead Magruder, for a transfer out of this “God-forsaken country” and “I wish myself anywhere but here.” In his Aug 9, 1863 letter, he complained to his uncle that “all [of] your quartermasters, commissaries, and ordnance officers have cut me off without supplies, and I cannot meet your expectations
from the resources of this sub-district. Lt-Gen. E.K. Smith recommended Gen. H.E. McCulloch to command the Northern Sub-District, which “is the most difficult and important command,” since he is a Texan who understands the peculiarities of the people and possesses their confidence. per ORsIv26/2[S#42]p205, ORv53[S#111]p888.
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Mike, I loved your Gabriel Holmes Hill posting, so when I found the following, I immediately thought I should post this great adventurer's story in reply. As Ken Martin will tell you, I abhor short postings, with no info ... because too much energy is expended opening "postings with NO info" for serious researchers to tolerate. .. And while I'm on my soapbox, NOBODY reads a 400-word paragraph. ..I realized this when I was reading Robert Caro's 1st book about Lyndon Johnson (book bought for a reason) and simply folded after reading a 400-word sentence (an exaggeration, but there's a limit to how many independent and dependent clauses one can process). My husband, Gene who has read at least two books a week since we met in 1978, will toss a book when he sees a split infinitive.
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Submitting my near prefect reply,
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Your great friend,
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Patti, prochette@Juno.com
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Messages In This Thread

Ordnance Officers in I.T.; 1864-1865
Re: Ordnance Officers in I.T.; 1864-1865
Re: Ordnance Officers in I.T.; 1864-1865
Chief of Commissary, Bonham TX; 1863; Bankhaead's
Re: Chief of Commissary, Bonham TX; 1863; Bankhaea
Arizona Brigade; then last 18 months of the War