Kicked Off The Bus

I have previously written the following story, but this version, written by my friend Walton Haddix, recently appeard in the local newspaper and is worth repeating here.

Coach Bill Kidd came to Albany in 1954 after serving two years in the U.S. Army at Fort Knox. At 6’10, he had played basketball at the University of Louisville.  

Coach Kidd was a strict disciplinarian who allowed no talking during practice or on the bus traveling to and from basketball and baseball games (At least until the bus had passed a 'point of no return'). Although Coach Kidd lived and coached by the highest principles of human conduct and behavior, on one isolated occasion he followed the advice of Senator Everett Dirksen (Illinois Senator from 1950 to 1969) who said, “In politics you sometimes have to rise above your principles.” This also happens occasionally in athletic contests as demonstrated by Coach Kidd during one of our district tournament baseball games at Tompkinsville in May 1955.

As the story goes, two players who later became noted radio announcers, Sid Scott and my dad, Darrell Speck, were in the back of the bus on the way to a district tournament baseball game in Tompkinsville. They thought the bus had gone past the point of no return after passing Waterview in Cumberland County, so they broke the silence and started singing a country song. They were mistaken in the point of no return because Coach Kidd stopped the bus and kicked both off the bus. J.R. Craig, on his way to the game, noticed Sidney and dad standing by the roadside and stopped to inquire what happened. They hopped into the car with J.R. and got to Tompkinsville before the bus.

Sid and dad were sitting in the stands when our team bus arrived. The baseball game got underway. In the fourth inning, Clinton County was behind one run with two outs but had a runner on first base. However, our weakest batter was at the plate and this is when Coach Kidd decided it was best to rise above his principles (as done in politics) for the good of the baseball team. He called time out, walked over to the bleachers and motioned for Sidney Scott to come down.

Sid nonchalantly ambled down to the batter’s box where Coach Kidd pointed to a bat and then pointed to home plate. Not a word was said or exchange as Sid picked up the bat, then walked to home plate in his street clothes and shoes where he hit a double, scoring the runner to tie the ball game. Louis Dale Latham hit a triple in the sixth inning, bringing in what proved to be the winning run. Two days later, Clinton County won its first ever district baseball championship in school history.

The Vietnam Verses

My friend, Mike Rogers, was a Sergeant with FMS during the Vietnam War. Recently, he stumbled upon a notebook of poems he wrote between 1969 and 1971. Below are a selected few of those poems.


The city is vacant as I walk through its streets
The area is empty, except for its seats
The taxis have left with their sound so blatant
And empty windows reflect the sun so radiant
Blunt has turned the point of the knife
And these would be the happiest days of my life

~~~
When I wake up, am I really awake?
I am disillusioned by the people's stares
The people to help me
The people to slowly deteriate my thoughts
The end is here to govern all the tranquil
And the obscenity is overpowering
the perceptive imagination
And why is the question to Poe's raven
And why is the question to all mankind

~~~
I walk into the wind to greet the storm
To admire the lightning and praise the thunder
It carries me to eternity and back
I find I had no eyes
My ears awaken to the fact that there is no sound
And I cry helplessly
As darkness is my leader, I stumble through the past
Only to find that the past is also my future
Laughter fills my mind as those who ridicule
For inside their thoughts
diagnoses their own limitations
To walk with the gently pushing wind
Is finding lifes ectasy and appraisal
And yet, I walk into the wind
Meeting what it has to offer head on
There can be no accepting without battle
But there is always disasterious defeat
And I stumble on, still searching

~~~
The inspectors are here again
Everyone is going wild
Hiding in corners and under chairs
The shop isn't taking it mild
Some ran outside, while the rest sat in shock
The inspectors are here again
working around the clock
Checking the floor and digging through files
Setting each book in different piles
They show no mercy and feel no shame
For only the toughest can wear the inspector's name
As the sweat roles from everyones face
They keep inspecting at a blinding pace
Ande then they are gone as fast as they came
Everyone's back to normal but not quite the same
Because in each there's still the hidden fear
Just knowing the inspectors are still near

~~~
Never a day can fight toward tomorrow
For tomorrow is yesterdays eternity
The sun's rays dives to the water
Only to be bounced back and absorbed by matter
Molecules hitting head onin mid-vaccum
Exploding into a million projectiles
This is the cycle's life
In which it is beginning is actually its death
For today the rats are angels and there are none better
Silent demons creep among the hills
and behind whats left of the trees
Flames roar through the heavens
The sound of breaking glass is everywhere
Beings run through the streets
giving no thought for one another
Trampling the life from the innocent
for ignorance is no excuse
Tomorrow will come and will be better
No one will be left

~~~
My legs have run away from me
Kicking in despair
I am trying to gain my senses back
And not pull out my hair
My arms are reaching far below
Tearing at the skies
Never before has such a fate
Stood before my eyes
Dishonesty, lies and deceit
In every breath of air
The right is heavy upon my skull
Far too much to bear
My stomach has moved to my head
My breakfast to the ground
As I listen to the fool
Swearing the earth is round
My blood has turned to water
The people stand and stare
And silently I flow away
Happy to breathe, no more, their air

~~~
From behind this tree I sit
Wondering whom I had met
For now I know that it was not you
That I so dearly knew
Your mind has died its loving way
And there's no truth in what you say
Your eyes once blue have turned to gray
And curse the sun, its blinding ray
Kindness and mercy are obsolete
For all goodness you must delete
You cast away in sickening splendor
Thge tought and need of the dying beggar
Like a spider you sit and wait
To engulf the smaller at a blinding rate
Don't you feaer, the time will come
When your days in this world will be done
Or, will your sould die and decay
With your body that sadly lay
The change in you has come so fast
As I peer from behind this tree of the past
But why must I hide from low to high
Unless the changes was I

~~~
Hear ye, hear ye, to my conception
Come to the great Disaster Auction
Glue your eyes to my vision screen
Things before you have never seen
Now before your very eyes
These items that lived gruesome lives
Firs, we have a liquid, greenish-brown in color
Once known as life's supporting water
Then, these masses of dead and charcoaled wood
Where long ago great forests stood
Debris of concrete and twisted metal
That were called cities and lived in futile
Here we have bones of creatures
that once dominated
This destructed land ladened with hatred
Notice the distinct grayness
to its contaminated atmosphere
Once used as a pure, clean-breathing air
Here I show you the greatest auction
Of a great disaster that can never function
Now I sell you deaths rebirth
Of this fatal planet, once called Earth

~~~
Oh angels can you hear my voice
Calling to you in utmost urgency
My mind no longer in poise
Losing my hopes and fantasy
Oh angels can you see my eyes
Searching in vain for flowers' bloom
Living so many different lives
And finding only hopeless doom
On angels can you read my thoughts
And not destroy my health
Through all my life, I've blindly sought
And disconcerned love is found through wealth
Oh angels can you reach my ear
For never have I heard you speak
Growing in me, the constant fear
Of never growing meek
Oh angels can you clear my head
I know not if I am sane
At times I think that you are dead
For slowly your spirit does wane
Oh angels can you show yourself
For love, faith and accomplishment I do know
Are met through wealth
And I must hate them so

~~~
You smile at me in loving grace
And promise me your lies
As I stare into your radiant face
Noting darkness in your eyes
Your voice has echoed in my ears
Many times before
Telling me your constant fears
Of your present love
I seek no more your way of life
Living as a leech
I know not what I seek in life
It's not within my reach
Let me be to live my way
That only I can understand
Turn your back from me today
And return to your awaiting land
To be alone until I die
The way that it must be
To trust in one that is only I
And at times not even me

~~~
You shook my trembling hand
And pierced my heart
You said you saw the land
That I've searched to never part
Then you walked away from me
Then you walked away
You told me that I did wrong
Living the way I did
You promised to guide and keep me strong
And my evil you would rid
Then you walked away from me
Then you walked away
At times it stormed and I could not see
And your presence before me lied
You grieved only for me
While you volunteered your eyes
Then  you walked away from me
Then you walked away
You heard me ask what life was for
And what life held in my path
You talked to tell me more
Though you only told me half
Then you walked away from me
Then you walked away
I stood afraid before the world
Like a lamb before the lion
And then I saw your eyes that swirled
Vowing your courage would be mine
Then you walked away from me
Then you walked away
I sailed high above the wind
And suddenly fell unrestrained
You told me your wings would land
Though your wings I never obtained
Then you walked away from me
Then you walked away
In the wood I stood lost
When you appeared bearing song
You led me through, free of costd
And I found you led me wrong
Then you walked away from me
Then you walked away
You lay dying upon the ground
Reaching your hand for mine
From your lips came a muttered sound
Asking for help with a despicable whine
Now I walk away from you
Now I walk away

~~~
You say our nation is dying now
But you are wrong, for it's already dead
It is now in the process of decaying
Leaving only faint memories of a sweet homestead
Loyalty has diminished through time
To a dwindling last drop of hope
Bravery has hung itself in shame
While excuses takes its place looking to the Pope
Democracy has flourished with the years
And has lost itself...by the people
Each thinking himself as a god
While the earthquake of minds tumbles the steeple
The dollar has become the almighty
While the needs of others are publicized
By all the wealthy...our leaders
But all the helpless are criticized
To listen to your talk in vain
Of the land that you will cure
Though now the time is much too late
For your deleted country, once so pure

God is Able

"Life is hard, at times as hard as crucible steel. It has its bleak and difficult moments. Like the ever-flowing waters of the river, life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood. Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons, life has the soothing warmth of its summers and the piercing chill of its winters. And if one will hold on, he will discover that God walks with him and that God is able to lift you from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope, and transform dark and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of inner peace."

(From the Eulogy for the Martyred Children, by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., September 18, 1963)

Motive for 2012

Webster defines MOTIVE as something, like a need or desire, that causes a person to act. I pray that in 2012 each of us find motive. Motive to live, motive to laugh and motive to love. Motive to listen, motive to learn, motive to lead and motive to follow. But most of all, motive for others. For if we can learn to live for others, then we will live for God.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Today Is OUR Birthday

19 million people are celebrating their birthdays today, including me.

Actually, the exact number is 19,178,082. According to some mathematical whiz who took the time to figure it out, 859,178 of those people live in the United States. On a grander scale, 3.7 million Chinese celebrate their birthday the same day I do.

When I read all those figures I started wondering who they are, and I learned that some really cool people were born on my birth date.

Roy Rogers was everyone's image of what a cowboy should be, from his white Stetson hat to his hand-tooled boots. His face was strong and handsome with eyes that squinted yet still showed a twinkle. His smile was warm and reassuring. He was the picture of honesty and integrity. And was there ever a more exciting sight than watching Roy and Trigger riding majestically across the television screen? I think not! One Christmas, I got a stick horse, a cowboy hat and a toy gun. I was ready to assist Roy any way I could. Roy Rogers was born exactly 100 years ago on Nov. 5, 1911.

Would you believe I share the same birthday as Natalie Schaeffer? You know her best as Lovey Howell from Gilligan's Island, which totally rocks because that was my favorite TV show when I was a child.

Who else shares my birthday? Why, none other than the Happy Norwegian! That's right, Myron Floren - the accordionist on The Lawrence Welk Show between 1950 and 1982 - was born on this date in 1919!

Speaking of 1919, Earle "Greasy" Neale hit .357 for the Cincinnati Reds in the 1919 World Series. He later coached the Philadelphia Eagles to NFL titles in 1948 and 1949. He was born on this date in 1891.

Other well-known people who share my birthday include Ike Turner, aka Mr. Tina Turner, Art Garfunkel, Peter Noone, who was Herman of Herman's Hermits, and Bryan Adams, who is the same age as I am.

So, Happy Birthday to the 19,178,082 people having a birthday today.

:)

Liberty Enlightening The World

Yesterday, we celebrated the 125th birthday of the Statue of Liberty, which has long been our nation's most iconic and enduring symbols of freedom. French sculptor, Frederic Bartholdi called his creation “Liberty Enlightening the World.”

On July 3, 1986, during opening ceremonies of the Statue of Liberty Centennial Celebration in New York, President Ronald Reagan said...."Call it mysticism if you will, I have always believed there was some divine providence that placed this great land here between the two great oceans, to be found by a special kind of people from every corner of the world, who had a special love for freedom and a special courage that enabled them to leave their own land, leave their friends and their countrymen, and come to this new and strange land to build a New World of peace and freedom and hope. Lincoln spoke about hope as he left the hometown he would never see again to take up the duties of the Presidency and bring America through a terrible Civil War. At each stop on his long train ride to Washington, the news grew worse: The Nation was dividing; his own life was in peril. On he pushed, undaunted. In Philadelphia he spoke in Independence Hall, where 85 years earlier the Declaration of Independence had been signed. He noted that much more had been achieved there than just independence from Great Britain. It was, he said, hope to the world, future for all time.''

President Reagan said, "We  dare to hope that our children will always find here the land of liberty in a land that is free. We dare to hope that we'll understand our work can never be truly done until every man, woman, and child shares in our gift, in our hope, and stands with us in the light of liberty -- the light that has cast its glow upon us for two centuries, keeping faith with a dream of long ago and guiding millions still to a future of peace and freedom."

God bless America!

Take My Life And Let It Be

One of my favorite hymns is a song that is sung quite often at my church. The name of it is Take My Life And Let It Be. It was written by Frances Havergal on February 4, 1874.

"I went for a little visit of five days," wrote Frances Havergal, explaining what prompted her to write this well-known hymn. "There were ten persons in the house; some were unconverted and long prayed for, some converted but not rejoicing Christians. [God] gave me the prayer, 'Lord, give me all in this house.' And He just did. Before I left the house, everyone had got a blessing. The last night of my visit I was too happy to sleep and passed most of the night in renewal of my consecration, and those little couplets formed themselves and chimed in my heart one after another till they finished with "ever only, all for Thee!"

One of the most dedicated Christian women of the nineteenth century, Frances was the youngest child of a Church of England minister. Though she was always in frail health, she led an active life, encouraging many people to turn to Jesus and others to seek a deeper spiritual walk.

Frances had begun reading and memorizing the Bible at the age of four (eventually memorizing The Psalms, Isaiah and most of the New Testament). At seven she wrote her first poems. Several of her mature verses became hymns. In addition to "Take My Life," she wrote such favorites as "I Gave My Life for Thee," "Like a River Glorious," and "Who Is on the Lord's Side?"

Because her voice was lovely, Frances was in demand as a concert soloist. She also was a brilliant pianist and learned several modern languages as well as Greek and Hebrew. With all her education, however, Frances Havergal maintained a simple faith and confidence in her Lord. She never wrote a line of poetry without praying over it.

One of the lines of Take My Life And Let It Be says, "Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold." In 1878, four years after writing this hymn, Miss Havergal wrote a friend, "The Lord has shown me another little step, and, of course, I have taken it with extreme delight. Take my silver and my gold now means shipping off all my ornaments to the Church Missionary House, including a jewel cabinet that is really fit for a countess, where all will be accepted and disposed of for me. Nearly fifty articles are being packed up. I don't think I ever packed a box with such pleasure."

Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee
Take my moments and my days
Let them flow in endless praise

Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee

Take my voice and let me sing
Always, only for my King
Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee

Take my silver and my gold
Not a mite would I withhold
Take my intellect and use
Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose

Take my will and make it Thine
It shall be no longer mine
Take my heart, it is Thine own
It shall be Thy royal throne

Take my love, my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store
Take myself and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee

Frances R. Havergal

Jesse Noland

Jesse Noland was born on August 22,1799 at Sinking Creek, North Carolina, the youngest son of George and Martha Crouch Noland. After George died in the late 1790's, Martha married Isaac Denton and, like others from Washington County, they soon migrated east to a new land that had just opened up in Kentucky. They settled at a place known as Stockton's Valley. Isaac and Martha helped organize the first Church at Stockton's Valley. Brother Denton was the pastor of Clear Fork Baptist Church until his death on January 26,1848. Martha died less than a month later, on February 22,1848.
 
On August 14,1825, Jesse married Matilda Kendrick. They had eleven children. The Jesse Noland home on Highway 969 at Spring Creek was built between 1822 and 1828. At the time of its completion in 1828, the home was one of the most elegant and uniquely designed buildings in the region. In an era where most of the population's dwellings were made out of wood framing or logs insulated with clay, the Noland home was built by brick, signifying Jesse Noland was a wealthy person. Actually, in 1837, he was reported as one of a dozen persons having the largest tax valuations.

Jesse Noland died February 13,1857. On September 20,1886, Matilda agreed to pay her children, except Jesse Harrison Noland, $1.00 for her deed to all her land and real estate holdings to Jesse Harrison Noland. In return, Jesse Harrison agreed to pay off all money owed on the properties and support his mother for the rest of her life. This agreement was recorded October 9,1886. Matilda died May 1,1899. In 1927, Jesse Harrison Noland was recorded stating, "In consideration of the traveling public and my neighbors, I hereby give to the County of Clinton and the State of Kentucky, for the sole use as a public road and a bridge site, the following described property." The property spanned from the center of Spring Creek at the north all the way south to the Tennessee line. It was twenty-five feet wide and became the road that is now U.S. Highway 127. The deed was signed on January 4,1927. Jesse Harrison Noland retained the house and land, said to reach more than four miles, until his death in 1929. Jesse Noland and two of his sons, William and John Kendrick are buried at Clear Fork Cemetery. Jesse Harrison Noland is buried at Maupin Cemetery. His grave marked with a five foot carved white marble marker. The Jesse Noland property was sold in 1929 to J. Porter Poore. In 1947, the property was sold to the Hershel and Willie Sawyers Cross family. In 2001, the property was sold to its current owner, Jeff Thrasher, of Miami Beach, Florida and formerly of Albany.

After I wrote and published this story, I received an e-mail from someone that read, "according to a Noland descendant, Jesse Noland died of pneumonia after he helped remove water from the basement of his home after it was flooded."

In 1973, the Jesse Noland home was listed as a landmark by the Kentucky Heritage Council. In 2003, it was listed with the National Register of Historic Places

For more about the Jesse Noland home, visit the National Register of Historic Places.

Samuel Thomas Bledsoe

A casinghead gasoline explosion that occurred September 27, 1915, at Ardmore, Oklahoma, was the deadliest and most destructive of any up to that time. Casinghead gasoline, or natural gasoline, is collected from natural gas at the casinghead of an oil or gas well. Casinghead gasoline production held an important place in Oklahoma's early petroleum development, and by 1913 forty natural gasoline plants existed. Placing the gas under high pressure converts the gasoline in it to a liquid state, but this extremely volatile substance must stay at around 50F or it will expand and change back to a gaseous state. The product was generally shipped to refineries by rail.
On September 26, 1915, a railroad car carrying casinghead gasoline arrived in Ardmoreat the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway depot. There the car was left until it could be taken to a nearby refinery. The next day the temperature quickly rose, activating the car's pop-off valve, designed to release gas pressure. Gas began to pour out and into the low-lying areas of downtown Ardmore. The train conductor refused to move the car because of a fire at a nearby asphaltum plant. The Ardmore Refining Company then sent a representative, who removed the dome from the top of the car, filling the air with gas and vapors. At 2:20 p.m. on September 27 an explosion, triggered by an unidentified source, destroyed most of downtown Ardmore.

Many people were injured, and forty-three people were killed. A district grand jury and a local coroner's jury found the Santa Fe Railway at fault. Citizens formed a committee that took claims and then presented them to the railroad officials. More than seventeen hundred claims were filed, and $1.25 million was paid.

The attorney responsible for the settlement of these claims was a native of Clinton County. His name was Samuel Thomas Bledsoe.

Samuel Thomas Bledsoe was born in Clinton County on May 12, 1868, the son of Elijah and Ottilla G. Snow Bledsoe. After attending some school in Clinton County, he was enrolled in a private school at Jamestown, Kentucky, and later, the Southern Normal School and Business College at Bowling Green. He also studied law under the direction of Tom Brown of Brown and Bliss, Sherman, Texas, who later became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. Bledsoe attended the University of Texas in 1888 and 1889. He taught school in Clinton County in 1885 and in Cumberland County in 1886. He moved to Grayson County, Texas in 1887. In 1890, he was admitted to the practice of law at Sherman, Texas. On May 1, 1890, he moved to Ardmore, Indian Territory, and began practice of law there. And, on July, 1912, was appointed General Attorney of the Santa Fe at Oklahoma City.

Although there was grave doubt of the Santa Fe's responsibility for damage resulting from the explosion, that Company on Bledsoe's recommendation offered to assume liability to all claimants who would agree to submit their claims to arbitration by a Committee of Ardmore citizens to be selected by the Mayor of Ardmore in case they were unable to agree with the Company as to the amount to be paid. Notwithstanding there were many hundred claims, only one suit was filed, the claimant recovering much less than he had been offered.

Samuel Thomas Bledsoe died on March 8, 1939 at Chicago, Illinois.

*From Chronicles of Oklahoma - Vol. 17, No. 2, June 1939 - Samuel Thomas Bledsoe, by M.L. Lyles.

Welcome To Albany - Home of FRIENDLY People

"It is the perfect place to settle," is what Thomas Stockton must have thought when he was the first to arrive here in 1798. Stockton had built one of the first grist mills in the Smokey Mountain area of Tennessee, but when the new land east of the Green River opened in Kentucky, he packed up and headed north. As he crossed over Cumberland Mountain and stood on a spur of that elevated platform, later to be called Poplar Mountain, he surely must have been overwhelmed at the beauty of what lay before him...an area he named Stockton's Valley, later to be known as Albany.

There has never been a shortage of heroes in Clinton County.

Many of the first residents of Stockton's Valley were young adults. Most were either soldiers of, or sons and daughtes of soldiers of, the American Revolution. They were just a few short years removed ancestors who were of french, english, irish or german descent. They were proud to be Americans and they were eager to begin new lives in a new territory.

It was the fall of the year when the call for volunteers went out at the outbreak of the War of 1812. Because of their background, there was no question that residents of Stockton Valley would be first in line to eagerly take up arms to defend their country once again. On August 31, 1813, Company 53, led by William Wood of Stockton's Valley, reached Newport, and the company's 47 men, including 36 rank and file, 11 commissioned officers and nine rifles, prepared for battle as they crossed the Ohio River at Cincinnati, and headed for Lake Erie. On October 5, 1813, General Harrison and his forces crossed over into Canada where they fought and won the decisive Battle of the Thames. It is said William Wood was present when Richard M. Johnson killed Tecumseh. The soldiers of Stockton's Valley returned home on November 13th. They had left their home and families to defend their country, and had returned as heroes.

There are many other heroes in Albany and Clinton County; farmers, teachers, business leaders, pastors and Church folk, and every single one of them have done their part, or are still doing their part to make our little community what it is today....a great place to grow up and live and raise our children. And, while some are called to leave home and make their mark somewhere else in the world, they are still proud to call Albany and Clinton County home. I proudly salute those who have come before us, and those who are still out there doing what they do every day to make my town the GREAT place that it is today.

Clinton County was formed on February 20, 1835. By the year 1880, 7,212 people were living here. The population in 2010 was 10,272.

When I was growing up, there was a large sign out by the hospital that read: "Welcome to Albany - Home of 2,000 Friendly People. The fact that the increase hasn't been so great is not what matters. While the faces of people may come and go, what counts is there is always going to be plenty of 'friendly' people around.

The Parrett Letters - Part I

James Parrett's family migrated across the Cumberland Plateau when he was only a child. His father had died when James was only two years old. James caught the measles during the migration. His widowed mother left him with another family in order to keep her other children safe from the terrible disease, and before she could return for James, she died. As a young boy, James was made an indentured servant, which means he worked under contract for someone in exchange for food, clothing, lodging and other necessities. Eventually, he grew to be a man, with a dark complexion, dark hair, hazel eyes and he stood 5'10". In the 1850's, James married Mahala Ann Bowman in Overton County, Tennessee.

On November 27, 1862, James enlisted in the Civil War. He joined Company H of the 28th Tennessee Infantry at McMinnville and achieved the rank of Sargent.

A collection of letters that James wrote to Mahala during the war were handed down over the years and eventually became the property of Doris Parrett Williford, James and Mahala's great-granddaughter. The letters chronicle the inner struggles James experiences while being away from his wife and children during the war, and how he uses his faith to see him through the ordeal.

Gary Norris transcribed the letters and they were posted online. In his transcription, Gary included James' misspelled words alongside the correct spelling. For the sake of space, I have only included the correct spelling. In some instances, I put a sentence in proper order only for the sake of allowing the sentence to make sense when reading it.
Photos courtesy of Dale Welch of Monterey.
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If we shall never see each other again in this life, I hope that we will meet in heaven where there is no war, but peace forever. (James Parrett, September 10, 1864)

The Parrett Letters
Letter #1

Written just after the Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee on December 31, 1862 and January 1, 1863. James takes the opportunity to tell Mahala Ann Parrott he had survived the battle and missed the entire family. Already the Confederates were taking up defensive positions between Shelbyville and Tullahoma. This defensive line was called the Duck River Line. It would hold the Union forces in check until June 1864.

January 9, 1863
Bedford County, Tennessee

Dear Wife,
I want to use the opportunity to write to you to let you know that I am well and I hope you and all are well. I got to my regiment on the second day after I left home. I found it on the battle field about three miles of Murfreesboro. We are now north of Shelbyville and Tullahoma. There has been a terrible battle here. I want to see you so very bad but no telling when I can. Do the best you can. If you have the opportunity, write to me. Write every chance you have. I dont know when I can come home. Kiss for me, my babies.

I remain your husband till death,

James
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Letter #2

At the time of this letter, the Confederate Army of Tennessee is sitting on a defensive posture on the Duck River in Middle Tennessee. Apparently, James had either been wounded or was recovering from illness. Rome, Geogia was a rear hospital area or the Confederate Army of Tennessee. At this time Mahala Bowman Parrott was still protected by General Bragg's Army of Tennessee. By the first of July the Confeferates were in retreat and all of Middle Tennessee was surrendered to the Union forces. After that point, it would be a deadly process for James to attempt to visit his wife in the Upper Cumberland area.

April 2, 1863

Dear Wife,

I now seat myself to write you another letter to let you know that I am well but not stout. I am weak yet, but I can eat every hour in the day. If nothing happens to me, I will be able to go to my command in another week. I have had a hard time of sickness, but thank God I am well now and when this letter comes to you I hope it will find you all well and doing well. I want to see you worse than anybody on earth. Nobody is now company for me. You and your little boys is on my mind continually. I pray to God that the time will soon come when I will get home to you in peace. Hala Ann, I love you better than anybody in this world. I want to see you and kiss your sweet lips in token of my kind of love to you. I never knew what trouble was until I left home. We lived together eight years, lacking one day, and a happy life we lived. It melts my heart to think that such lover as us has to be parted in such a manner as we are. A many a tear I have shed since I left home. I want you to pray for my return home soon, and if we never meet again on earth, I hope we will meet in Heaven, where parting will be no more; no wars nor sickness, nor trubbles never come. Pray for my future welfare. The prayers of the righteous [availeth] much.

Do the best you can till I get home. I don't now when I can get to come home. They won't furlough nobody, but I am to come to see you if nothing happens sometime between this and fall. Furlough or not, for it don't seem to me that I can stand it much longer without seeing you and the boys. I think this year is the last year of the war. I think that we will have peace. People is geting tired of this war on both sides as the cotton famine is great in England and France. So, that France and England will recognize the south independence. I want you to watch the office at Goodbars. I direct my letters to the Goodbars, but the mail stops at Gillilands but Goodbars goes there after his newspapers and he will bring all letters to his house. I have wrote you three letters since I have been in Georgia, and have not no answer as yet. I received our letter that was dated the 24 of February. It came to the regiment and I wrote to Jerry if any letter had come from you to send them to me and he sent that letter to me. I was glad to hear from you, to hear that you was all well. It was all the news that I have heard from you since I left home of consequence. I want you to write to me every chance you have. I dont know where to tell you to send your letters. Until I go to the camps you can't answer this letter. Before I leave here, I watch the office for [an] answer from the last letter that I wrote you. I wrote for you to write in haste but use every chance you have to send them by hand.

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