Hanging of Union Men

The illustration above is from the Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 20 Feb 1864. Several smaller illustrations comprised a doublepage centerfold, about 22X16 in size and entitled "Rebel Barbarities in Texas." This illustration was in the center of the page and called, "Hanging of 30 Union Men," which depicted the Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas.

I was able to purchase a copy of the original 1864 Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper through an antique dealer and placed a very high quality scan on fold3.com. To look at the full doublepage centerfold of the above 1864 newspaper illustration, go to www.fold3.com   http://www.fold3.com/image/52160008   Personal and family use granted to all.  If you wish to use this photo or the one placed on fold3.com to post online, blogs, social media, or commercial sites such as Ancestry.com, please use a text link back to this site or use the following wording placed nearby the information used:  Information and/or image courtesy of http://www.gainesvilletx1862.blogspot.com/ 

Bringing in Union Men

The illustration above is from the Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 20 Feb 1864 and is entitled "Bringing in Union Men."

On the night of 30 September 1862, men surrounded the homes of suspected unionists and at daybreak on October 1st the unionists were arrested.  Susan Leffel, in a letter dated June 1869, stated that the "leader of their families were taken off by those nocturnal visitors and destroyed by the hanging."  The 1941 obituary for the daughter of John Miller, Nannie Miller Brand, states: "The tragedy occured at night, and the terror-stricken little girl [Nancy] took her little sister by the hand and found her way through the forest at night by a blazed trail to the home of a neighbor." 

According to Barrett, "the heaviest rains I ever saw" started and the arrests took place in the pouring rain.

I was able to purchase a copy of the orginial 1864 Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper through an antique dealer and placed a very high quality scan on Fold3. To look at the full doublepage centerfold of the above 1864 newspaper illustration, go to www.fold3.com  and to view the image: http://www.fold3.com/image/#52160008.   Personal and family use granted to all.  If you wish to use this photo or the one placed on fold3.com to post online, on blogs or commercial sites such as Ancestry.com, please use a text link back to this site or use the following wording placed nearby the information used:  Information and/or image courtesy of http://www.gainesvilletx1862.blogspot.com/

Great Hanging at Gainesville by Dr. Richard McCaslin

On October 24, 2013, Dr. Richard McCaslin gave an informative presentation about the 'Great Hanging at Gaineville' at the Allen Public Library.  It was published on YouTube November 8, 2013. 

In this YouTube video, "Dr. Richard McCaslin presents an account of a horrifying yet oft-forgotten episode in North Texas history at the Allen Public Library. History is replete with tales of tragic events that should not have happened. Pretending these never existed only increases the chances of re-occurrence; so learning about them will hopefully deter the repeat of another dismal or shameful event. What has come to be known as "The Great Hanging at Gainesville" proves this point. Unlike most of Texas, counties along the Red River, including Collin, voted against secession just prior to the Civil War. Acrimony between pro-Union and pro-Confederate forces in the state was rampant; Texan against Texan hostilities were more venomous than Northerner against Southerner."

Dr. Richard McCaslin is the author of the book pictured above, "Tainted Breeze, The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas, 1862."  McCaslin's book, published in 1994, is the definitive source for information concerning the Great Hanging at Gainesville.  He gives a "fair and balanced" narrative of the Great Hanging that took place at Gainesville, Texas in October, 1862.

Link for the above YouTube video:  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AemRiECL_q4)

Gainesville Great Hanging Website Launched

On February 21, 2014, the Great Hanging Memorial Foundation announced the launch of their new website dedicated to the Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas 1862.  Click on image below to go to the website.

The Great Hanging 1862

The mission of the Great Hanging Memorial Foundation as explained on the website is:

"The Great hanging Memorial Foundation is a 501 c3 (non-profit) organization  and was created to honor those who lost their lives, as well as preserve Civil War history and educate Americans about these events."

The Great Hanging Memorial Foundation is seeking donations from individuals, private foundations, and corporations. Your financial support for the Memorial would be greatly appreciated and would help to make the proposed Memorial a reality.  

You can also support the construction of the Great Hanging Memorial by purchasing a custom engraved Granite Paver. Your paver with its personal message will be placed in the walkway for visitors to see.  To purchase a granite paving stone engraved in memory or in honor of someone, click here.  Purchasing a paver in memory of your Great Hanging ancestor would be a wonderful way to honor those who died in the Great Hanging at Gainesville.  Hopefully everyone who died during the hangings will have a paver in their memory.

Please consider making a donation or purchasing a paver so that this Memorial can become a reality!

Gainesville's Forgotten People

Gainesville, Cooke County, Texas

Gainesville's Forgotten People

The Families of the Great Hanging Victims

One has to wonder why a memorial has not been placed in Gainesville to remember the men who died in the Great Hanging of 1862.  In what some call "one of the worst atrocities of the Civil War" at least 40 men suspected of Union sympathies were hanged in Gainesville, Cooke County, Texas.  For the last 150 years, Gainesville has tried to hide from the Hangings and sweep them under the rug.

It has been five years since this blog was started in 2008.  Since that time, quite a few families of the Great Hanging victims have been found through research and with descendants sharing their family stories.  But the reality is that wives, children, parents, and siblings for many men are still unknown.  It's as if history has forgotten them.  Each man who died in the hangings had parents, most probably had siblings, and the majority had wives and children.  Why has it been so hard to find them?

The main goal (mission statement) of the blog is:

Each family of a Gainesville Hanging victim has a story that needs to be told and shared.  Our goal is to remember all the men who died in the 'Great Hanging' and find their families – spouse, children, parents, siblings.

If you have a "Great Hanging" ancestor, or you are just interested in history, please help by sharing stories and research about the victims of the Great Hanging and their families.  There are many ways to share: write a book, start your own blog, post your family information on Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.org, leave a message on genealogy message boards, start a website, donate your stories to a historical society/library in Gainesville, post the information on this blog, and/or all of the above.

It is 2013 and 151 years since the Great Hangings.  The Great Hanging victims deserved to be remembered.

Note:
An update to this post titled, "Forgotten No More" can be found Here

Southern "Volunteers"

Most of the men who were hanged in the 'Great Hanging' probably had the same sentiments as the poor fellow in the cartoon above about being "drafted" into the Confederate Army.

McCaslin & Clark to speak at 'Great Hanging' event

Two favorite authors of books concerning the Great Hanging will be speaking in Gainesville at the Civic Center on Saturday Morning, October 13, 2012.  The schedule for Saturday morning, October 13, 2012, of the sesquicentennial commemoration of the Great Hanging, includes Richard McCaslin, PhD and L. D. Clark, PhD, Leon Russell, and Ron Melugin.

Noted historian and author, Richard McCaslin, PhD, will speak on the topic of his book, "Tainted Breeze: The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas 1862."  Richard B. McCaslin, a professor and Department of History Chairman at the University of North Texas, is the author of many historical books, including Tainted Breeze: The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas,  1862 (LSU, 1994), which won the Tullis Prize and an AASLH commendation.  Dr. McCaslin  earned his BA from Delta State University, MA from Louisiana State University and PhD from The University of Texas at Austin.

Also speaking is L. D. Clark, PhD.  His topic will be family stories of the Great Hanging.  L. D. Clark is the grandson of James Lemuel Clark and great-grandson of Nathaniel Miles Clark, who was hanged during the Great Hangings.  L.D. Clark earned his BA, MA, and PhD from Columbia University. He has a long career of teaching English at the University of Arizona, The University of Nice and Korea University.  He is the author of several books including  A Bright Tragic Thing, a novel based on the Gainesville hanging, and Civil War Recollections of James Lemuel Clark,  memoirs of his grandfather.

Sesquicentennial Great Hanging Event

This event has been CANCELED!!
**Please check out the follow-up announcement by the Clark family here** 

GREAT HANGING AT GAINESVILLE, TX 1862

SESQUICENTENNIAL EVENT

October 12-13, 2012

Gainesville, Texas

The Morton Museum of Gainesville has recently added information about the Commemoration of the Great Hanging to their calendar.  This event will take place October 12-13, 2012 in Gainesville, Texas.

A website was created for the event:  www.greathangingevent.org 

The home page states the following:

This Civil War Tragedy resulted in the hanging of forty men suspected of being unionists. 
The two day event commemorates the 150th year of the Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas.
Friday, October 12, 2012 includes bus tours to historic sites and an evening meal with a Civil War Ball. 
On Saturday, October 13, the day starts with coffee and donuts, lectures by distinguished authors, lunch, a film entitled "Black October" and a panel discussion.

Visit the website for registration information.  Hope to see you there!

WHY THIS BLOG?

Often the question is asked, “Why do a Blog about a Civil War Hanging?”

Additional questions and comments include: "Who cares about that?, How depressing!, Your not like one of those guys who dress up like Civil War Soldiers, are you?, What does that have to do with anything today?"

The Blog Welcome, on the right side of the blog, explains the goal or mission statement of the blog:
     Our goal is to remember all the men who died in the 'Great Hanging'
     and find their families – spouse, children, parents, siblings.

But, the real question that should be asked, is not “Why the blog?” but, “What prompted you to start the blog in the first place?”

That's easy.  While reading the book by Thomas Barrett, “The Great Hanging,” the following passage on page eighteen seemed to jump out of the book demanding attention and action.

“There was an order passed that women should not be permitted to be present at the hanging. The women were not noisy, but the signs of deep despair was manifested by the heaving breast, the falling tears, the heavy groans as though the heart was breaking, and all the vitals of life were giving way. I believe all these men were heads of families. The sun set that night on fourteen widowed families, and thirteen families of orphans, for if I recollect right, all these men had children but one.
Language is totally incompetent to express the deep sorrow of that night. Wailing, moaning, weeping and lamentation existed in these families on that dark and fatal night. Tears fell like the rain drop, as tears fall from my eyes at even this distant day, while penning these lines. When the little ones who were just beginning to talk, would say: Ma where is pa? Pa come home, O, ma, go after him. How these words went like a dagger to the heart of that disconsolate wife. He was her husband, she loved him! Let the world say what they may.”

Who were these women?? -- these widows, mothers, and daughters of the Gainesville Hanging victims?

One thing was certain, these women needed their story told. They needed a voice! They needed to be found!  In many cases, who these women were, was not known to present day researchers. Many women are still not known, but many have been “found” since this blog was started and their sad but courageous story is finally being told.

For a list of known spouses of the men hanged at Gainesville, go the the "Weeping Wives" post.  It is updated as new information is found.

If you have information on any of the families of the Hanging victims, please share. There are many ways to share: write a book, start your own blog, post your family information on Ancestry.com, leave a message on genealogy message boards, donate your stories to a historical society/library in Gainesville, post the information on this blog, and/or all of the above.

Thomas Barrett, "The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Cooke County, Texas, October, A.D. 1862," Gainesville, Texas: January, 1885; Old West Magazine, pages 49-66, Summer 1981, Note: Original pamphlet was written in 1885. Its author, Thomas Barrett, was on the Cooke County jury that found 42 men guilty of conspiracy against the Confederacy in the Fall of 1862. According to the Handbook on Texas, Barrent "deprecated the role of emotion in the jury's decisions and argued that his being on the jury had saved large numbers of lives." Note: Barrett did NOT mention names of the victims.

Diamond's Account of those Tried and Executed

THE FOLLOWING LIST IS FROM DIAMOND’S ACCOUNT OF THOSE TRIED AND EXECUTED DURING THE GREAT HANGING AT GAINESVILLE, TEXAS, OCTOBER 1862.

Diamond's Account of the Great Hanging

"George Washington Diamond's Account of the Great Hanging at Gainesville, 1862," edited by Sam Acheson and Julie Ann Hudson O'Connell, can be accessed here on the The Portal to Texas History website.  This account was published by the Texas State Historical Association in The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963.

To learn more about Diamond's Account, click here.

This list is the order of each man’s trial as presented in Diamond’s Account of the Citizens Court, with the date of hanging listed after each name.  (Most hanging dates came from McCaslin's book, Tainted Breeze.)  

Dr. Henry Childs – Oct 2
Ephraim Childs – Oct 2
A.D. Scott - Oct 19
M.D. Harper – Oct 4
Henry Fields – Oct 4
I.W.P. Lock – Oct 7
W.W. Morris – Oct 8
Richard Anderson - Oct 19
Dr. Eli Thomas – Oct 19

TRIED TOGETHER:
Edward Hampton - Oct 10
John A. Morris – Oct 19

John M. Crisp – Oct 19
Samuel Carmichael – Oct 13

TRIED TOGETHER - Oct 13
C.A. Jones, James Powers, Eli M. Scott, Thomas Baker, Geo W. Anderson, Abraham McNeese, Henry Cockrum, C.F. Anderson, Wm Wernell, B.F. Barnes, Wm Rodes, & N.M. Clark

Ramey Dye – Oct 13

D.M. Leffel – Oct 19

TRIED TOGETHER – Oct 19
James A. Ward & W.B. Taylor

H.J. Esman – Oct 19

W.W. Johnson – Oct 19

Richard N. Martin – Oct 19

Barnabas Birch – Oct 19

TRIED TOGETHER – Oct 19
Curd Goss, Wm Anderson, John Miller, Ar (Phax) Dawson, & M.W. Morris
======

SHOT WHILE TRYING TO ESCAPE:
Dr. James Foster – Oct 10

TRIED BY COURT-MARTIAL AND EXECUTED BY MILITARY:
A.N. Johnson & John Cottrell (together, with Wm McCool)

SHOT WHILE TRYING TO ESCAPE:
Mr. Floyd
 
Note:  Three of the men (not sure which ones) with an execution date of Oct 13 were hanged on Oct 12.  Nineteen men were executed on Oct 19, and this list only shows 17 trials for men who supposedly were hanged on the 19th.  McCaslin lists John W. Morris and Gilbert Smith with the men who were hanged on Oct 19, but Diamond does not list a trial for them.  As always, corrections are welcomed.

Related Posts:

Diamond's Account of the Great Hanging
List of Men who Died in Hangings 
1880 Newspaper List of Hanging Victims
James L Clark's List of Victims
Occupations of Hanging Victims

Star-Telegram News Article

The following was posted on the Bud Kennedy Column, Fort Worth Star-Telegram 
Mobs don't lynch people - 'tensions of the times' lynch people


Mobs don't lynch people - 'tensions of the times' lynch people

Posted Thursday, Feb. 02, 2012
By Bud Kennedy
bud@star-telegram.com

"It remains the worst mob violence in American history: 41 men lynched, all here in North Texas.
Now, 150 years later, a Rebel-flag-waving movie will tell the mob's "side of the story."
Even by Civil War standards, the Great Hanging is an atrocity.

After a Confederate military tribunal convicted seven men of treason, a vigilante mob set out on the streets of Gainesville and Cooke County, rounding up and hanging 14 more men without regard for trials or the young Confederate nation's constitution.

"The whole town went crazy," said Gary D. Bray, 60, of Forney, a Sons of Confederate Veterans commander lining up extras for the SCV promotional movie Black October.
Bray said the Confederate ancestry group will "tell both sides."
"Everything you read on the Internet says the Confederates were just crazy people lynching folks in a big mob," Bray said.

Well, yes.

But Bray said the movie will blame the lynchings on the "tensions of the time."
By the time the bloodshed ended, 42 men had been lynched, shot or hanged by a tribunal, including five in Wise County and one in Denton.
Bray said the movie's director, David Moore of Parker County-based Southern Legacy Films, has talked with descendants.
"By no means would we want to portray the victims as horrible people," Bray said.

How kind.

The screenplay is based on records compiled by a Confederate soldier who was also an East Texas newspaper editor, Bray said. Scenes have been shot near Tyler, at the Frontier Village park in Denison and at Dexter in Cooke County.
Movie scenes posted online include re-enactments of hangings.
The Sons plan to show the movie in Gainesville to mark the October anniversary, he said.

Some graves there remain unmarked to this day.
One in a Cooke County cemetery is inscribed "Murdered by a Mob."

University of North Texas history professor Richard McCaslin told the story fairly in his 1997 book, Tainted Breeze.
"There's only one book that tries to tell the true story, and I wrote it," McCaslin wrote by e-mail.
"They have made no effort to include me, and the pictures online reflect their lack of knowledge about what really happened."

This movie will be more story than history."


Bud Kennedy's column appears in the Star-Telegram Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

WHERE ARE THEY BURIED??? Comment and Follow-up

The following comment was left on on the "WHERE ARE THEY BURIED???" post.  The comment deserves it's own post and thanks the "anonymous" author.

The Burying Place: This location is reported to be near the hanging tree [cut down in 1880 for unknown reason] on the east bank of Pecan Creek about 1/2 mile east of town. It would have been on the far side of a bridge from downtown, although I have not found any reference to a bridge.
In 1867, a Freedmen Bureau agent, Anthony M Bryant, wrote a letter to the Federal authorities requesting that the bodies be exhumed from their mass grave and properly reburied. This request was denied.
I expect that at that time, the location of the burial was common knowledge to many in Cooke County. It would have been hard to conceal in a small town. After, a prisoner was hanged his body was transported back to the old warehouse west of the town square in most cases. Only a few bodies were claimed by relatives because they were afraid to pick them up with the mob in control of the town. Family members were treated as enemies of the state. Remains were left to be buried by the "county". Also it is likely that the bodies started to deteriorate after a few days. This would have been a problem downtown. Some of the bodies were mutilated by hogs because or a hole in the wall of the old warehouse where the bodies were stored. At some point, they had to be buried. Not sure who had this task, but slaves were detailed to make coffins with lumber from an old house that had been torn down for this purpose. There was not enough lumber so some bodies were wrapped in blankets. All were buried in a shallow mass grave on the banks of the creek. Some of the bodies were washed up by heavy rains and the hogs dug some up according to reports. Not exactly a traditional burial.
McCaslin indicates only five traditional burials: Barnibus Burch lies in an unmarked grave on the Marvin Cason farm, James A Powers is buried at John Ware's ranch and has a simple headstone, Nathaniel M Clark is buried in the Clark family cemetery with a large memorial stone, and William W Wernell is buried on the old James L Clark farm, his grave is covered with rocks with a metal marker welded on a post recording his name and his date of death. Also Roma Dye's body was cut down by his nephew, Ben Dye, and taken to his farm in Grayson County and buried in a location now known as the Ben Dye Cemetery. Henry Chiles was picked up by families members and buried in unknown location. An unconfirmed report that Arphax R Dawson was taken back to Grayson County for burial. Also unconfirmed report that John W Wiley was buried in Collinsville by his family. Richard Martin was reportedly picked up by his brother and taken to Hood County in a wagon for burial in unknown location. William Rhodes and Eli Scott were reported by Clark to be buried on the Rhodes survey then owned by Sam McClennen. Possibly a total of eleven bodies that were picked up and buried properly.
This is something that should be addressed. Someday in the future, when evacuating for a new building in Gainesville, they will likely dig up the remains. The mass burial should be located and the remains given a decent burial. I am surprised that the citizens of Gainesville have not done it in the 150 years since it happened. It might be a task for the archaeology department of a major university with expertise. I was at San Jacinto last year, and saw areas of the historic battlefield being evacuated by students from a university. They were marking it off and doing it in the proper way. Hopefully something like this could be done at the hanging site/burial site to locate the mass burial.


Great comment!
Blognote:  It is extremely disturbing that Gainesville City, Cooke County and/or the State of Texas have not tried to lay this issue to rest by locating the mass burial site.  Also, I feel there should be a memorial with all the names of the men who died in the hangings.  There is one more item on the wish list -- Pardons from the State of Texas for all the men who were found guilty in the Gainesville trials and then were hanged or shot.

Historians Observe 'Great Hanging'

Last Saturday was the fifth annual Gainesville Hanging Commemoration. The following newspaper article is from the GAINESVILLE DAILY REGISTER, Gainesville Texas. October 18, 2011.

Gainesville Daily Register
October 18, 2011
Historians observe ‘Great Hanging’
By GREG RUSSELL, Register Staff Writer
Gainesville Daily Register

Gainesville — Saturday’s observance of Gainesville’s famed “Great Hanging” of 1862 was intended as more than a memory of troubled times.

Members of the North Central Texas College honors program, Cooke County Historical Commission and Morton Museum Heritage Society hosted a guest lecture on campus by Dr. Richard McCaslin, a historian whose research and renowned publications employ the lesson that “Then is today.”

He said during a phone interview Monday that helping the local public understand factors prompting the Texas Militia to execute more than 40 Civil War-era county residents — innocent of their insurrection charges, by many accounts — can help enhance our modern and more civilized order.

“When troublesome issues arise, it’s really not helpful to look back and say, ‘We’ve always been unified, and have always been together,’” McCaslin said. “We’re as argumentative and indecisive as we’ve always been. Once we understand our pasts better, we understand ourselves now.”

The historian is a faculty member of the University of North Texas history department. His works include The Tainted Breeze: The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas, which won prizes from the Texas State Historical Association and the American Association for State and Local History. McCaslin is also a Pulitzer Prize nominee for his book Lee in the Shadow of Washington, and he specializes in examining the warfare of historical Texas, and Southern states.

He proposed Monday that the famed hanging was driven by fear. A group of men were suspected of treason against the South, and civilization had far fewer “stop-gaps” in place to help maintain a nonviolent order.

Among them, he listed policing departments and other law enforcement agencies as we regard them today.

“Homeland Security,” McCaslin cited. “I’m not a big fan of Homeland Security, but it beats the hell outta nothing. Texas Rangers. We have all these structures that we can turn to, to help keep our baser natures in check.”

But, he said, with no such structure to lay a buffer between wartime fear and an unruly public, Cooke County militiamen of 1862 took direct action.

“And I guess the insinuation is, we’d all be capable of doing the same thing at the same time,” McCaslin said. “The flip side is, they didn’t do that in Sherman. They rounded the folks up and tried to send them to Confederate district court, which didn’t work. A lot of them fled. So over in Sherman, they took a different course.”

Annual observance of the Great Hanging became a Cooke County staple in 2006. McCaslin said these observances, plus the historical research that supplies their foundation, can help put old divisions to rest and more clearly inform what actually happened nearly 150 years ago.

“I’m amazed what people come up and tell me they were told happened,” he said Monday. “To bring the event out, and discuss it, and realize what did happen brings a kind of closure. Not for all people. But for most people.”

McCaslin added that in more recent times of war, it can be easy for officials and policymakers to view their actions and motivations as new and original to mankind. They virtually never are; similar decisions occurred in the past and were driven by similar ideas, and horrific consequences often followed.

He also said he’s observed a growing argument among Southern heritage organizations that Southerners, and the Confederacy, owe no apologies as per the Civil War.

“That they did nothing wrong and that everything was perfect,” he said. “That’s not functional, that makes no sense and it creates a kind of dysfunction.”

The Great Hanging remembrance of 2012 will mark the event’s 150th anniversary. McCaslin said he and historian authors L.D. Clark and Thomas Barrett have collaborated on a new book about the hanging while Heritage Society member Steve Gordon organizes activities for a sesquicentennial observance.

Next year’s event may prove more elaborate than the previous have been. But intentions of the organizers remain the same, just as views about the Great Hanging of 1862 continue to vary.

“I think that remembering clearly what happened is the step toward making sure that the same things don’t happen again,” McCaslin said. “This book, and the commemoration, are not meant to chastise anyone.
“But if someone takes a corrective as a chastisement? That can be something that happens. And I’m not sure what you can do about it.”

Galveston Daily News 1880

EXECUTION AT GAINESVILLE

Galveston Daily News

Publication date: 1 May 1880

The Galveston News ran an article on 1 May 1880 about an Execution by Hanging of a man named Noftsinger.  The Noftsinger hanging took place in Gainesville on 30 Apr 1880 and the scaffold was "within view of the celebrated 'hangsman tree' of Cooke County.  A portion of the article then goes on to discuss the earlier hangings that took place on the 'hangsman tree' in Gainesville during October 1862.

This 1880 news article is interesting because it includes a partial list of names for the victims of the Great Hanging and it was supposedly the first time these names had appeared in print.  The article called the Citizens Court the "court of inquisition"  and the weeks in which the Citizens Court was holding it's trials, the "fifteen days of terrorism in 1862."

Transcription of above news article.

Galveston Daily News (newspaper), 1 May 1880

OVER THE STATE. 
Special Telegrams to the Galveston News --- The Execution at Gainesville, April 30
[The first part of the article is about a legal hanging in Gainesville that took place on April 30, 1880. Then the article reflected upon the Great Hangings of 1862.]

"THE SCAFFOLD,
erected in the northeastern suburbs of the town [Gainesville], is within view of the celebrated “hangsmen tree” of Cook County. Upon the low, outstretching limbs of this monarch of the woodland, forty men were gibbeted during the fifteen days of terrorism in 1862. The circumstance has often been alluded to in political harangues and commented upon by the press, but thus far the names of the parties executed, and those of the members of the court of inquisition, have never appeared in print. The object of the secret organization, whose members were gibbeted, is more a subject of surmise than of fact. The secessionists at the time, held that the organization was a league to butcher the confederate command at Wichita, kill all pronounced secessionists, burn and destroy their property, and order out of the country all known southern sympathizers. The anti-secessionists, on the other hand, contended that it was a peace party favorable to an alliance with the disaffected reservation Indians, with the object of cooperating with the union army, in the event of federal success in Arkansas, in restoring order in that portion of the state, then the frontier of Texas.
MURDER RAMPANT
Be that as it may, the knife and the rifle of the assassin were rampant. On the first of October, 1862, several hundred persons assembled at Gainesville, in response to a circulated notice, alleging that a treasonable plot had been discovered. A meeting was held in the Methodist Church, and the following members of the court of inquisition appointed to investigate the matter, which court held its sessions in the Masonic lodge-room: Samuel Doss, Thomas Barrett, Wiley Jones, Benjamin Scandland, Thos. Wright, Daniel Montague, J. P. Long, J. E. Hughes, Reason Jones, W. S. Simpson, John N. Hamil, and James Jones. Some one hundred alleged traitors were arrested and brought before the tribunal for trial, during its sixteen days sessions, forty of whom were adjudged guilty and hanged upon the tree in question.
THE VICTIMS
The names of the parties gibbeted were: Dr. Childs; William, John, Wesley and Work Morris, John Crisp, Dr. Eli Thomas, Frosty, George and William Anderson, E. C. Scott, B. Dossen, Thomas Floyd, Ramsey Dye, James Powers, and the following, whose given names are not remembered Chiles, Fields, Locke, Hampton, Wiley, McNice, Worrel, Birch, Goss, Jones, Esmon, and thirteen others, whose names are not recollected. On the 2nd of the month two were hanged, on the 4th two, on the 7th one, on the 8th one, on the 10th one, on the 12th three and on the 13th eleven. On the 12th the inquisition adjourned, subject to call between that date and the 15th. Col. Young, one of the most popular men in north Texas, was assassinated, together with several other confederate officers. The inquisition reassembled and passed sentence on nineteen members of the league, all of whom were hanged on the 17th. There were three degrees in the league. Those who had only taken the first degree were invariably acquitted, and those who had subscribed to the second and third oath, taken by those degree members, invariably executed. The NEWS reporter has been unable to learn the character of the several oaths."

The above newspaper article can be found on THE PORTAL TO TEXAS HISTORY website:
The Galveston Daily News(Galveston, TX), Vol. 39, No. 34, Ed. 1 Saturday, May 1, 1880, page 1:   http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth462743/m1/1/?q=Saturday  

Related Posts:
List of Men who Died in Hangings 
James L Clark's List of Victims
Diamond's List of Men Tried and Convicted
Occupations of Hanging Victims

George Washington Diamond's Account of the Great Hanging at Gainesville, 1862

"George Washington Diamond's Account of the Great Hanging at Gainesville, 1862," edited by Sam Acheson and Julie Ann Hudson O'Connell, can be accessed here on the The Portal to Texas History website.  This account was published by the Texas State Historical Association in The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963.

George Washington Diamond's Account of the Great Hanging at Gainesville, 1862

Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963, H. Bailey Carroll, editor, Journal/Magazine/Newsletter, 1963; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101196 : accessed April 08, 2011), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association, Denton, Texas.

George Diamond's brother, James Diamond, was one of the key players in trying to rid Cooke county of anyone with Union sentiments. George Diamond was asked to use the records of the court to prepare an "official account" of the court proceedings, with the purpose of "preserving them and so disposing of them that the history of its (Citizen's Court) transactions might be perpetuated and justice done to those who participated (Jurors & accusers) in its deliberations."  Diamond's compilation of "memoranda" was to be offered to the public as a just vindication of the conduct of those whose judgements were under national criticism. So, basically, Diamond's job was to make the court look good.

In his conclusion, Diamond states, "The proceedings of the Citizens Court are characterized with as much wisdom, justice and moderation as may anywhere be found in the history of criminal procedure."  Was he biased or what???  Naturally, the members of the court examined Diamond's account and gave their unanimous and unqualified approval.  Diamond apparently completed the manuscript before the end of 1876, but it was not published during his lifetime.  In 1963, Diamond's account was transcribed and edited by Sam Acheson and Julie Ann Hudson O'Connell, and then published by the Texas State Historical Association. 

On page 27 of CIVIL WAR RECOLLECTIONS OF JAMES LEMUEL CLARK, L. D. Clark gives his opinion of Diamond's Account:
"Diamond had been a newspaper-man before the war and in 1862 held a commission in the Confederate army.  When he went to Gainesville not long after the affair to visit a brother who had helped round up the Unionists, he was entrusted with the court records with the understanding that he would write a thoroughgoing vindication of the hanging.  Not until the mid-1870's did he undertake to fulfill his promise, and what he produced was left unfinished and unpublished at the time of his death.  He arranged some of the testimony from papers in his possession, thought we have no way of knowing whether he transcribed it verbatim.  He introduced a background of sorts and a narrative of events interspersed with commentary, all of it written in a determination to give a noble cast to the outrage, even to the extent of arguing that the action must have been right since it was undertaken by the "best men" in the county...  To make matters worse, while no one can say whether he himself destroyed the records, at best he seems to have taken no care to preserve them, though he did see to the preservation of his own manuscript."

It seems that Diamond's Account published by the Texas State Historical Association was transcribed and edited from Diamond's manuscript, which he in turn had edited and condensed from the actual court proceedings.  Anytime a record is transcribed, even if it is transcribed word for word, there is room for error.  But, as Clark states above, we have no way of knowing "whether he transcribed it verbatim." 

Diamond concluded with the following explanation concerning his edited version.
"We have now written what we designed to write concerning the proceedings of the "Citizens Court."  The Jury as well as all others who were connected with the scenes of that day desired that all the evidence in each case should be published.  It is to be regretted that it has not been done.
But it is the opinion of all that a complete transcript from the record of the Court would have been unnecessary to vindicate the course pursued, and would also have made a volume to too large a size for the general public notice." (Diamond's Account, page 405)

Diamond was not kidding when he stated it was "to be regretted" that all the evidence in each case should NOT be published.  All who are now interested or who will ever be interested in the history of the Hangings, REGRET Diamond's decision to edit and leave to history only his condensed version of the Court!!  And, one has to wonder just how much Diamond edited, changed, or left out from the original "Citizens Court" records???

It is not known what happened to the actual records of the Citizens Court.  We are very much aware of the historical value and significance of Diamond’s account of the Hanging, especially since his account is the only "official" record remaining.  But, it is really, really unfortunate that the complete and original "Citizens Court" records are lost to us.  

Were the originals destroyed when Diamond was finished using them so his would be the only record left, or are they still lying around in some dusty attic?

To view Diamond's list of those tried and executed, click here.

A short biography of George Washington Diamond can be found on the Handbook of Texas Online.

Cooke County Books and Articles

Just found a great website with a list of books and articles on Cooke County, Texas.  Many of the articles contain information about the Great Hanging.  An index to the site can be found the Cooke County Genforum.com message board.   
The Genforum.com post states that "The follow-up posts will contain links to articles/books I've scanned and put online for everyone to read/print."

http://genforum.genealogy.com/tx/cooke/messages/1667.html

You can also get to the list of books and articles by going directly to the Ware's of Woodbine website:
http://waresofwoodbine.envy.nu/pic4.html


UPDATE:
These links no longer work.  The websites appear to be taken down.  Sorry

Gainesville Hanging Marker

The marker for the "Great Hanging at Gainesville, 1862" is located in the Georgia Bass Park on the east bank of Pecan Creek, between Main Street and California Street.  The marker was erected in 1964.  According to a local, at one time the Gainesville Hanging marker was located west of I-35, near Elm Creek and later moved to it's present location.

Close-up of the marker - marker text at bottom of this post.

Marker Text:Facing the threat of invasion from the north and fearing a Unionist uprising in their midst, the people of North Texas lived in constant dread during the Civil War. Word of a "Peace Party" of Union sympathizers, sworn to destroy their government, kill their leaders, and bring in Federal troops caused great alarm in Cooke and neighboring counties. Spies joined the "Peace Party" discovered its members and details of their plans. Under the leadership of Colonels James Bourland, Daniel Montague and others, citizens loyal to the Confederacy determined to destroy the order; and on the morning of October 1, 1862, there were widespread arrests "by authority of the people of Cook County." Fear of rescue by "Peace Party" members brought troops and militia to Gainesville, where the prisoners were assembled, and hastened action by the citizens committee. At a meeting of Cooke County citizens, with Colonel W.C. Young presiding, it was unanimously resolved to establish a Citizens Court and to have the Chairman choose a committee to select a jury. 68 men were brought speedily before the court. 39 of them were found guilty of conspiracy and insurrection, sentenced and immediately hanged. Three other prisoners who were members of military units were allowed trial by Court Martial at their request and were subsequently hanged by its order. Two others broke from their guard and were shot and killed. The Texas Legislature appropriated $4,500 for rations, forage used by State troops here during the unrest. (1964)

Not sure why the names of all the men who died in the hanging were not placed on the marker. It would seem that they deserve being remembered by name!

Found an article on the Gainesville Hanging marker by author James Loewen.

In his book, Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong, James Loewen gives an interesting take on the Gainesville Hanging historical marker.   Loewen considers the modest marker an "extended excuse" for what happened in October 1862.   He explains how years earlier in 1911, Gainesville put up a Confederate monument on the courthouse lawn that was "a counterfactual statement to cover over the awful crime that the Confederates carried out on these very grounds in October 1862."

What Were Their Occupations?

What were their occupations?

In October 1862, 42 men were tried for their Union Sympathies and convicted by a Confederate ‘Citizens Court’ in Gainesville, Texas. 40 men were hanged and several were shot while trying to escape. 

According to McCaslin, “Many of the victims were not of the lower echelons or fringes of society, but instead could claim to be middle-class.”

The following is a list of ‘Great Hanging’ men and their known occupations. Since most came to Texas to become landowners and farm, the majority of the men were obviously farmers, but it’s surprising to see other occupations represented as well.  Many of the men had trades or held county offices.  Known talents, such as being a musician, are also noted.

Any corrections or additions to this list of the men and/or their occupations are welcome! 

1. C. F. (E. F., Frosty, Edward) Anderson - farmer
2. George W. Anderson - farmer
3. Richard J. Anderson - ?
4. William B. Anderson - farmer
5. Thomas O. Baker - farmer
6. Bennet C. Barnes - farmer
7. Barnibus Burch - farmer
8. Samuel Carmichael - carpenter
9. Ephraim Chiles - farmer
10. Henry Chiles - physician
11. Nathaniel M. Clark - farmer
12. Henry Cockrum- -farmer, miller
13. John Mansil Crisp - blacksmith
14. Arphaxton R. Dawson - farmer
15. Rama Dye – farmer, justice of the peace, minister, road overseer
16. Hudson John Esman – farmer, musician
17. Henry S. Field - shoemaker
18. Thomas B. Floyd (shot) - farmer
19. James T. Foster (shot) - physician
20. Curd Goss - farmer
21. Edward D. Hampton - farmer
22. M. D. Harper - carpenter
23. William W. Johnson - farmer, Clark called him Dr. Johnson
24. C. A. Jones - ?
25. David Miller Leffel - carpenter
26. Leander W. P. Jacob Lock - farmer
27. Abraham McNeese – farmer
28. Richard N. Martin - farmer
29. John M. Miller – carpenter, teacher, musician
30. John A. Morris - farmer
31. Wash Morris - farmer  OR John W. Morris - farmer
32. M. Wesley Morris - farmer
33. William W. Morris - farmer
34. James A. Powers – “sawer”
35. William R. Rhodes - farmer
36. Alexander D. Scott - farmer
37. Eli M. Scott - farmer, road overseer
38. Gilbert Smith - farmer
39. William B. Taylor - farmer
40. Eli Sigler Thomas - physician
41. James A. Ward - farmer
42. William Wilson Wornell - farmer
==
43. William Boyles (later shot and possibly died from wounds) - farmer
44. Hiram Kilborn (shot) - road overseer, school trustee, poll supervisor, Baptist preacher
====
Other men that were killed during that time:
Hanged by James Young:
   William A. McCool - ?
   John M. Cottrell -?
   A.N. Johnson - ?
E. Junius Foster, shot by Young, newspaper editor of the Sherman Patriot, shot as he was closing up newspaper office.

The above occupations were found using census records, family histories, and the James L Clark book


Related Posts:
List of Men who Died in Hangings 
James L Clark's List of Victims
Diamond's List of Men Tried and Convicted
1880 Newspaper List of Hanging Victims

Left Without a Father

According to our latest list (Feb 2012), there were at least 189 children left without a father after the Great Hanging at Gainesville.  If we had a complete list of all the families for the men who were executed during the Hangings, the total children left without a father in the home would be much higher.  Several children, whose mother had died previously, were left orphans by the Hanging.  Read the sad story about the Miller girls in a previous post.

While some of the children of older men who died, were already adults by the time of the Hanging, most of the children were younger and still needed a father in their lives.  There were also numerous infants and some unborn babies.  Think of all those poor widowed mothers who had to care for their families all by themselves without the support of a father and husband.

During our research, as we find more information about the men who died that dreadful October so many years ago, we will undoubtedly find more children who had to live without the benefit of a father in their home. 

The lives of all of these children were definitely changed due to the violent death of their father during those dark days of October 1862.  Not only had they lost their father tragically, but many families faced continued harassment.  Susan Leffel's 1869 letter to the governor states that she and her family had been robbed, threatened and abused since the Hangings.  Dr. Henry Chiles oldest daughter, Elizabeth, had to become a domestic servant to help support her family.  M. D. Harper's wife, Eliza, became a wash woman to help support her young family and most of the family remained very poor, with some of the chldren even being buried in a county poor farm.  These are just a few examples of life for the children after they lost their father in the 'Great Hanging'.

Gainesville Hanging Cemetery

Gainesville Hanging Cemetery Now on Findagrave

FindaGrave.com now has a virtual cemetery for the men who died in the Great Hangings. The descendants have long been denied from being able to visit a grave site or memorial with names for their ancestors who died in the Hangings.

As noted in a previous post, after the men were hanged, their bodies were thrown into an empty warehouse building on the west side of the town square. A few of the families were able to claim the body of their loved one, but most of the grieving, frightened widows could not find able bodied men to help them (anyone caught helping the widowed families were themselves arrested.) Most of executed men were left for the court officials to bury. Some were buried in hurriedly made coffins, but when the scrap lumber from the torn-down house was used up, the rest of the men were wrapped in old blankets and buried in shallow graves along the banks of Pecan Creek. It has been said that rains washed away the dirt covering some of the graves and that wild pigs dug up some graves.

All that being said, except for the descendants of about 5 of the men who died the Hangings, the rest of the descendants have NO known grave to visit. What a shame the state or county has never placed a memorial marker with all the names of the men who perished in the Hangings.

Now, a virtual cemetery has been created on FindaGrave. If you have an ancestor who died in the Great Hanging, visit the Great Hanging Burial Site on findagrave.com and leave a note & (virtual) flower for your ancestor. If you want, you can also leave a picture, story, obituary or add family links. Also, you can have the memorial of your ancestor transferred to you by just contacting the person who created the memorial.

Go to FindaGrave Website:  http://www.findagrave.com/  -- Then perform a search for your Great Hanging ancestor in Cooke County, Texas.