"Morning Star..."

I have always been somewhat of a Civil War nut... I am not sure what there is to like about a war in which over 600,000 soldiers died...

The past few weeks have really been disturbing... the idea that a monster would go and sit in a church with a group of people... and be welcomed by those people... and then have him kill all nine of them.

I just can't understand this behavior... and I have to know that there are just mean nasty ugly people on this planet.

... but this post isn't about that... or about why I think the war was fought by either side... but as I had stated in the previous post, wars are complicated issues... and tend to not be defined by sound bites like today's elections and other events are explained.

What this post is about... is a grave in  an old country cemetery... that was 'discovered' by a friend... not really 'discovered' because the grave had been there for a long time.  She just decided to tell me about it and send a photo.

She told me that the tree had grown around the headstone...  and she wanted to make sure it was 'ok'...  Well, as you can tell by the photo above, it's not ok... at some time, a storm came through the Mississippi Delta... and blew the tree over and it took the headstone with it.

It is a military headstone that belongs to a Civil War soldier... he served with the Union Army and was a member of the USCT... if you are not familiar with that acronym, it stands for United States Colored Troops.

I am trying to learn what I can about him... there isn't much, but I have found out a few things...

I drove over to look at the cemetery and the headstone this evening...

... and I think we can fix it.

After the amount of time that has surely passed since he died, I am sure there are no remains left.  I thought about contacting the National Cemetery at Vicksburg to see if he could be moved there...  but really, there would be nothing to move.

Anyway... 

At a time when graves of Southern soldiers from the War have been dug up and violated... this white guy with a Southern Disposition is going to see what he can do about returning a level of dignity to this gentleman's resting place...

After all... the war is over...

No?

~shoes~

"Roberts Coles..."

Roberts Coles

Green Mountain Grays

46th Virginia Infantry

Roberts Coles

November 14, 1838

February 8, 1862

When I was a boy, Dad would tell me stories about our 'family.'   Being young, I figured that he was talking about the 'Browns'... I never thought about all of the different people that had to cross paths for the past hundreds and hundreds of years for me to appear on this planet.

One of the stories that Dad would tell was about a family member who owned slaves... that he freed them... and they all wanted to remain with him.  The telling of the story is that he was so nice to them that they didn't want to leave.

I've been working for a few years in my genealogy... and I have learned so much.  It appears that the prominent lineage in this family was the 'Coles.' They are a storied family and are listed among 'The First Families of Virginia.'

In tracing my family, I came across a fellow by the name of Edward Coles who was a well-known abolitionist from Virginia.  Edward was a cousin of Thomas Jefferson and in 1814, he encouraged Jefferson to work for an end to slavery in Virginia. When the aging Jefferson chose to leave the emancipation fight to the younger generation, Edward took his slaves to Pennsylvania (March, 1819) where they boarded two flatboats for a river ride towards Illinois.

There is much more to this story, but I am writing about Roberts Coles.

Roberts Coles was the son of Edward Coles and Sally Logan Roberts Coles, a descendant of William Penn's private secretary, Irish Quaker James Logan.  He was born after the family had moved from Illinois to Philadelphia.

The Battle of Roanoke Island

Despite his northern birth, Roberts always considered himself to be a true Virginian.  He would spend the summers visiting the Coles family in Albermarle County... and inherited a piece of property near Enniscorthy.  Roberts returned to Virginia in 1860 to run his land operation and become engaged to Jennie Fairfax, of Richmond.  In 1861, the war began.

Some family records say that Edward pleaded with Roberts to not support the Southern Cause... other records say that Edward didn't know that Roberts was fighting on behalf of the Confederacy until later.  Roberts, however, believed it was his duty to remain loyal to his adopted state. He and some friends pooled resources, and formed a group of Confederate volunteers.  This company was called the Green Mountain Grays... which later became Company I of the 46th Virginia Infantry.

On January 4, 1862, the 46th left Richmond for Norfolk and, on January 17, began the voyage to Nags Head, a narrow strip of beach lying one-half mile east of Roanoke Island... across the Roanoke Channel.  When the Federal fleet finally appeared on February 6th, Companies A and I of the 46th... under Captains Wise and Roberts Coles, were loaded onto schooners to be taken to Roanoke Island.

At the start of the ensuing battle, Roberts wrote this letter to his fiancee...

On board transport, February 7, 1862

The battle has commenced. In five minutes we will be on Roanoke Island.  The sight is beautiful - our gun boats and batteries are engaging the enemy in full view and the shot and shells are whistling around us.  If I fall, God grant you a happy life, as happy a one as I would have tried to have a role in.  Be assured that my last thoughts on earth will be of you, my dearest Jennie.  Your picture will be the last sight I shall see if time is given me to look once more upon it.  I have volunteered for this service.  What honor I crave is only craved that you may share it.  May God Almighty bless you and may we meet in the world to come if denied that blessing here again.  And now I strike for Virginia. Again good bye.

Yours forever,

Roberts Coles

Captain Roberts Coles was killed in action the next day in the battle that followed in which the Union forces were victorious.  According to his military records, Captain Coles "fell bravely in the Battle of Roanoke Island." He is buried in the Coles family cemetery in Philadelphia, but a marker in his honor was placed at Enniscorthy in Albermarle County, Virginia.

I had mentioned earlier about his father, Edward, 

not knowing about his son's having joined 

the Confederacy until he was notified of his death...

Roberts Coles

I will write about his father soon...

Rest In Peace, Roberts...

~shoes~

http://scottsvillemuseum.com/war/coles/home.html

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10523709

"Economics..."

Economists tend to be...

Strange people...

Everything tends to be defined by mathematical equations... or graphs.

We've been graphing in Economics here lately...

They started out looking like this...

Kinda easy going... gentle slopes...

...then progressed to looking like this...

a bit more frantic...more chaotic...

... and then they developed into something like this...

Talk about progressing...

I'm guessing I got bored... 

~shoes~

"Fifty Shades of Shoes..."

Part II

OK...

...enough of my self-imposed pity party.

I thought I would share some funny things

  (in my opinion) 

 that I have found.

For this one to be true, one would really 

have to be a sprinter...

No?

It makes me tired just thinking about it....

... or this one.

I seem to recall having read that eHarmony was

unable to provide any matches for one subscriber...

... but it wasn't for answering a question like this.

HAR!!!

HAH!!!!

I wonder if there are any sex lines for women to call... 

where men talk dirty to them??

Oh crap...

I could be in trouble...

HAR!!!!!

... and if he wrote a book about it, 

would it be called 

'A Field of Cream?'

I bet this guy was in one of my classes...

I don't like movies that make me cry...

... and something for you sports fans out there...

I'd best get back to work... 

I have some real stuff I need to be doing...

~shoes~

"These Are Not The...

Droids You Are Looking For...

or...

Surprise Surprise Suprise II

Well...

It's been almost a month since I last posted... and I posted about the "Surprise Surprise Surprise..." that fell into my lap.

I told you that I was approached by someone who asked about whether or not I knew that my oldest sister, the one who died about a year and a half ago, was actually the mother of one of the three children of the 'second litter.'

If you are not familiar with the concept of the 'second litter,' my Mom (I think she's my Mom...) and Dad (I think he's my Dad...) had one set of kids (three)... took a break, and then had another set of kids (three)... 

Future telling of this story allowed me the artistic rights to turn the 'sets' into 'litters'...

A Mother Song...

The above tale, as I gave it to you... happened at work. It was someone I have known most of my Life... and has known my family.  The story, as he presented it, makes the oldest of the second litter the 'child of honor'...

This isn't the first time I have heard such a story... There was someone years ago who asked me about such a situation, but that time, the person who brought up the topic was known for creating all kinds of stories... most, with out merit.

In her line of questioning, though, it's the youngest of the second litter...  he was born just about the time that this sister was getting married... so I think that discounts this version of the tale...

Another Momma Song...

So... I got to thinking... who would know?  Someone HAS to know... and then I remembered... there IS someone who might know something!!!

So I went to go see this guy...

I had somewhat rehearsed my lines... how I was going to start the conversation... and I pop the question... he stops... he looks up... thinks... and starts out with the story...

He has time frames.. he has names... he spills the beans...

Everything...

It's coming so fast... so furious... I'm almost taken aback...

and he says... 

"here's when it happened...

I'm not saying who it is...

... but count back...

and you will know."

Wow...

WOW...

WOW...

WOW...

Now... here's the kicker...

The time frame that he supplies... 

the events... the time line...

the baby is me.

He tells me the Father's name... 

and I am thinking... 

I can remember that... 

and write it down later...  

Right?

Right...

I couldn't remember... I was so taken aback by everything that was coming so fast... and focusing on that information... that I didn't commit that to memory.

So a few days later, I go to see this fellow again... and ask for the name... and he looks off... and says... "that's been so long ago... I can't remember names or details... let me think about it and I will get back to you..."

Yeah... 

Right...

I'm thinking... ok.. what's happened??? He was so forth coming with everything... and now he's playing dumb...

This individual called me a few days later to tell me that everything he initially told me was wrong (bullshit)... and that he was talking out of his head (bullshit)... and that I needed to see the original person that started all of this and tell him to mind his business...

He did let it slip that he had talked to another family member since we talked... and evidently he was told to shut up... and to stay out of it.  There is something that the older ones don't want the younger ones to know...

The older ones... first litter survivors... know the truth...

So I have my work cut out for me... 

I want to know...

I need to know...

There are some people with whom I have shared this story...

and some of their thoughts are... 'why does it matter?'

Well... it just does...

I'm sure all families have their secrets...

At times, I think I have done an ok job of keeping things

together, considering all of the other things happening 

in the under currents.

Things are going to be ok...

I am going to be ok...

Afterall... 

How does that one song go??

When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be

I know...

another Mother song...

~shoes~

"Surprise, Surprise, Surprise..."

So...

Just...

Who Are You??

I've wondered this from time to time...

From whom was I descended...

Who were my grandparents???

Who were my great grandparents??

Where were they from?

What did they do??

How did they get here???

I've been working on my family tree...

I started out on Ancestry.Com... but I'm finding info beyond that.

There have been quite a few surprises...

Little twists...

Little turns...

I haven't discovered the link that my Aunt Winnie says existed...

that we are descended from Jean Lafitte, 

the Pirate of New Orleans.

But, nothing along the surprises of this past week...

A fellow I know asked me if I had heard the 

rumors going around town...

... that my oldest sister got pregnant in high school...

... and had a baby...

... and that my Mom and Dad took it to raise as their own.

I've written about being a member of 

Mom and Dad's second litter...

They had three kids... took a break... 

and supposedly had three more.

I've had people down through the years tell me that they had seen me out with my Mother... when I had been out with my sister. There was such an age difference between us that I figured it was an honest mistake...

Even though it happened time and time again...

So... 

I have some questions to ask....

Answers to learn...

... and some more surprises to endure.

What a year this has been...

~shoes~

"The Road To...

Appomattox..."

"The Road To Appomattox..."

One Hundred, Fifty years ago today, General Robert E. Lee, General of the Army of North Virginia, surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant) at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.

"The McLean House..."

General Robert E. Lee

It is said that Lee never forgot Grant's magnanimity during the surrender, and for the rest of his life would not tolerate an unkind word about Grant in his presence.

General U. S. Grant

President Abraham Lincoln

In less than one week, President Abraham Lincoln would be assassinated.

~shoes~