Old Thous'n Yards - 15th Arkansas

1NCCAV

Sergeant
Joined
Jul 23, 2016
There was a sharpshooter of renown in the 15th Arkansas at Port Hudson known to his fellow soldiers as "Old Thous'n Yards."

"Here comes Old Thous'n Yards!' said they, as a broad, tall Arkansian, with a beard heavy as Spanish moss on an oak, and a quick dark eye, came swinging down from the parapet. They all made way for him with some deference. He was 'Old Thous'n Yards' with every one, and turned out to be the great sharp-shooter of that part of the works. I inquired about him, and found he was a famous backwoodsman and hunter, who, with a proper rifle, was really sure of a bear or buffalo at the distance of a thousand yards."

I've only seen him mentioned in one book and it did not give his real name. Does anyone know who this man was or anything else about him? Perhaps some of the Arkansians on this board may know?

What say ye, Arkansawyers? Any of you know the obscure bits of your state history well enough to put a name to this man?
 
The brief account I read never specified what kind of rifle Old Thous'n Yards used at Port Hudson. The author of the quote in my first post was Rev. James K. Hosmer of the 52nd Massachusetts who met Old Thous'n Yards during a cease fire where rifles were left behind while the troops mingled.

"He came forward rather bashfully. On both sides, the rifles were left behind; and ‘Old Thousand Yards seemed to be as much troubled to dispose of his hands as a college freshman at his first party. His left arm would half bend into a hollow as if to receive the rifle-barrel, and the right fingers work as if they wanted to feel the touch of the lock. I borrowed a chew of tobacco, and won the perennial friendship of ‘Old Thousand Yards’ by bestowing it upon him. Then I bought his cedar canteen to preserve as a souvenir of Port Hudson and its sharpshooter. I fear more than one of our poor fellows has felt his skill; but, for all that, he was a good-natured fellow, with a fine frame and noble countenance, —a physique to whose vigor and masculine beauty, prairies and mountain-paths and wild chases had contributed."

That last sentence sounds a little homoerotic by today's standards but I doubt it was intended that way by the author; I've read other things from the 18th and 19th Centuries that sounded similar. Learned people spoke and wrote differently then.

But I like obscure bits of history, especially shadowy figures like sharpshooters, and I'd love to know who Old Thous'n Yards really was and what became of him.
 
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