M. C. Toyer,
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Love it. Now I know Kent Biffle's source for his Jun 27, 1993 column in the DALLAS MORNING NEWS: "North Texas militiamen named a pretty pool of water 'Sophia Lake' because 'it, too, was a heavenly body. ... Historians speculate that her heavenly body was once for rent'.”
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Col. James Bourland, who lived eight miles from Sophia, was one of her primary suitors. Bourland’s wife, Catherine Wells,
the mother of his seven children, would not move to the “uncivilized Texas."
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Below is the text of a Texas Historical Marker located on Preston’s Bend, near Denison, Texas.
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Miss Sophia
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Confederate Lady Paul Revere
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“Glen Eden: During the Civil War Sophia Butts wined and dined passing federal scouts, found out they were
seeking Col. James Bourland, Confederate defender of the Texas frontier. While guests were busy, she
slipped out, swam her horse across icy Red River, warned Col. Bourland, helped prevent federal invasion of
North Texas."
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Sophia Coffee, widow of Holland Coffee, was the owner of the famous Coffee Trading Post at the Preston Bend of
Red River, Grayson County. Beginning in the early 1840s, Miss Sophia entertained local settlers and such military
officers as R.B. Marcy and other army personnel who traveled the Texas Military Road or the Butterfield Stage.

Quantrill frequented Miss Sophia’s Glen Eden home. In Feb. 1864 Fletcher Taylor of Quantrill’s Raiders
killed Sophia's third husband, G.N. Butts, claiming that he did it on Quantrill's orders. Butts had been an important
Confederate recruiter in Grayson County and a friend of Bourland.
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Sophia (Suttenfield) Aughinbaugh Coffee Butts Porter, b-1815 Fort Wayne, Allen Co, Indiana to Wm. and
Laura (Taylor) Suttenfield. Sophia m,1-1833 to Jesse Augustine Aughinbaugh, m,2-1837 to Holland Coffee,
m,3-1847 to George N. Butts, and m,4-1865 to James Porter. Miss Sophia d-1897 peacefully in her
sleep at "Glen Eden," her Red River home.
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Sophia came to Nacogdoches, Texas in June 1835. She boasted that she was the first Texas woman on the
battlefield after General Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna at San Jacinto in 1836. She nursed the wounded hero,
cementing a lasting friendship.
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The above is from my book. I too shall shelve McLeRoy's book.
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Patti, prochette@Juno.com