8th Annual Jefferson Civil War Symposium, 8/9 - 8/10/2019

A couple shots I took yesterday evening of historical markers at and near The Excelsior House:

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The final speaker is Mark K. Christ from Arkansas whose topic was "Not Fortunate In War: Van Dorn, Holmes, Churchill, Price and Confederate Defeat in the Trans-Mississippi":

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3-4 weeks ago my dad gave me 6 boxes of Civil War books. I already had 5 of the books,so I took the duplicates to the Symposium and managed to give away 4 of them. It didn't help me thin out my book inventory. I had 4 winning tickets in the raffle and came home with a stack of books and magazines. :D
 
Only a picture and no name?:D

I looked for everyone after the end of the Symposium, but I guess everyone skedaddled by the time I got done helping put everything away. An enjoyable time was had by all.

On another note glad to hear you won some books, for me I'm 99 percent sure that last number they drew before the grand prize before the holder of the previous unclaimed number found it and claimed their prize...

Even with some "hiccups" for myself I still had a good time, and am glad I finally got to meet you @bdtex. I think sometime in the next few weeks I might have to grab two volumes of "Grandbury's TX Brigade" along with contacting some folks on other books, (this is a slow time of the year for me).

But the relic displays need help...
 
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We're still a little ways out,but the Registration Flyer was just posted and emailed to those on the mailing list and I'm excited already. James N. The speaker list and topics look great. The Symposium is actually on Saturday 8/10/19 but there is always a Speakers Reception on the Friday night before at The Excelsior House Hotel in Jefferson. I've been the last 3 years and I really enjoy the Speakers Reception, Symposium and the town of Jefferson. I made a reservation last night for Friday night 8/9 at The Excelsior House Hotel. I usually stay at The Jefferson Hotel but it is closed for repairs and renovation. The Kahn Hotel is on the same street and a block down from The Excelsior House. There are a number of B&Bs close to the site of the Symposium too.

https://www.jefferson-texas.com/events/#!event/2019/8/10/civil-war-symposium


Thanks for the after the battle reports from this Jefferson-Texas Civil-War-Symposium. Enjoyed reading it and the photos.
 
The Symposium ended promptly at 5pm. I usually stay in Jefferson on Saturday night too but elected to go home after the Symposium this time. Loaded my stuff up,changed shoes and skedaddled when it ended yesterday because I had at least one, possibly two,stops I wanted to make before it got dark. First stop was the cemetery I stopped at on Friday. It was a little over an hour to get there. As I got close and directionally oriented,I realized I was getting there a little too early for some of the pictures I wanted to take. On a sunny day, ya gotta be there the first couple hours and last hour of daylight to get good pictures. It was about 6:30pm when I got there and I didn't have enough time to stay there an hour.
 

The highway sign says "Old Shiloh Cemetery". C'mon! Like I'm not gonna stop there? :D It is a church cemetery. Old Shiloh Baptist Church. Google has it's address in Mt. Enterprise,TX. FindAGrave says the cemetery is in Brachfield,TX. The cemetery faces due east. I was looking due west trying to take pics of the gate. Had to angle it and go low to get pics.

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The sun was directly behind the historical marker. That's the best pic I could get. The inscription on the marker:

"This cemetery dates from the 1853 burial of Maranda Gilbreath. Four years later, the land was officially set aside by early settler Josiah Johnson for use as a public burial ground. Many of the unidentified graves are thought to be those of slaves. The cemetery contains the burial sites of pioneers, community leaders, and war veterans. A traditional fourth of July Cemetery cleaning began in 1876. One of the older burial grounds in Rusk County, Shiloh Cemetery is located beside Trammel's Trace, an early east Texas roadway."
 
When I was at Old Shiloh Cemetery on Friday there was a crew of 3 weedeating and treating ant beds in the area befind the gate so I couldn't get any good pics then. Here is a great example of what I meant by getting there too early on Saturday to get a good picture of the front gate. I was standing in the bed of my truck when I took this one:

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The back half of the cemetery was somewhat shaded so I got a few pics back there on Saturday and took more pics of graves that I photo'd on Friday to see which turned out best. Gonna post a mix of Friday/Saturday pics. To the left and down the fenceline from the gate above is another gate for vehicular access to the cemetery. These are Friday pictures.:

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All of the Confederate veterans that I found were/are on the right side of the vehicle access road and mostly in the back half,but there are a handful scattered about closer to the front. This is from about the halfway point on the road looking right:

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Both times I visited Old Shiloh Cemetery I parked on the back end of the vehicle access road. Most of the Confederate veterans are back there and I had a lot of fluid in me. The back part of the cemetery is more secluded and there is a tree-line back there too. ☕ 🥤:D This Georgia soldier is/was the closest to the road:

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I am an Associate Member of Hood's Texas Brigade Association Re-Activated. A number of members attend the Annual Jefferson Civil War Symposium,including some with ancestors who served in Hood's Texas Brigade. This soldier buried at Old Shiloh Cemetery was/is of particular interest. I couldn't wait to get to the Symposium to tell/show the other members what I had found. Not much info on him at FindAGrave. I am no longer a subscriber at Fold3. Maybe someone else who is can provide some information.





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