Louisiana Hill Country

LOUISIANA IN THE CIVIL WAR:

MOBILIZING FOR WAR

By Dr. TERRY L. JONES

In May 1861, war clouds gathered and Louisiana buzzed with activity. Decades of bitter arguments between the North and South over slavery, tariffs, and states' rights came to a head when Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860. Eventually, eleven Southern states-including Louisiana-seceded and formed the Confederate States of America, under the leadership of President Jefferson Davis. By May 1861, full scale war had erupted and Louisiana mobilized to defend itself. During that spring 150 years ago, thousands of Louisianians rushed to volunteer for military service.

Enlisting in the army during the Civil War was a local thing. The basic military unit was called a company, and each company was raised in a particular community. Usually a prominent citizen would announce he was raising a company and ask his friends and neighbors to join him. Friends, brothers, and cousins signed up and marched off to war together. This system proved to be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it kept morale high because soldiers were always surrounded by close companions, and they took care of each other. On the other hand, if the company had the misfortune of getting into a particularly bloody fight, the folks back home might learn that they had lost an entire generation of men within a matter of minutes. For example, 151 men served in the Pelican Rifles of DeSoto and Natchitoches parishes, but only 32 survived the war. Of those, 31 were wounded. Each company adopted colorful names, such as the "Bienville Blues," "Confederate States Rangers," "Jeff Davis Guards," and "Tiger Rifles."

Later, when the company was formally accepted into the army, these names were dropped in favor of the designations Company A, Company B, etc. A company numbered approximately 100 men and was commanded by a captain. The Confederates allowed the men in each company to elect all of their officers and sometimes popularity won out over skills. A year later, the armies were reorganized, and, having learned from experience, the soldiers voted out many of the original officers and replaced them with more qualified men.

Often, the community's ladies would sew a beautiful flag for their boys and present it to the company in a formal ceremony. When a group of seamstresses presented their flag to the DeSoto Rifles, their spokeswoman told the color guard, "[W]hen this bright flag shall float before you on the battlefield, let it not only inspire you with the brave and patriotic ambitions of a soldier aspiring to his own and his country's honor and glory, but also may it be a sign that cherished ones appeal to you to save them from a fanatical and heartless foe." The flag bearer solemnly grasped the staff, made an equally poetic speech, and promised, "May the God of battles look down upon us as we register a soldier's vow that no stain shall ever be found upon thy sacred folds, save the blood of those who attack thee or those who fall in thy defence." Few company flags survived the war. One that did is that of the Old Dominion Guard, a New Orleans company organized by famed Louisiana hero Roberdeau Wheat. Today, it is on display at Louisiana's Civil War Museum at Confederate Memorial Hall in New Orleans. When Wheat was badly wounded at First Bull Run, his men covered him with the flag as they carried him from the field. The blood stains are still visible.

After the company was organized, it was sent to a training camp to be inducted into the army. There were many such camps scattered across the state, but two of the largest were Camp Moore (St. Helena Parish) and Camp Walker (New Orleans). There, the company was attached to a regiment. Regiments usually consisted of ten companies and were numbered according to the order in which they were accepted into service. The 1st Louisiana Regiment was created first, then the 2nd Louisiana, and so on. Over the course of the war, Louisiana fielded thirty-three infantry regiments, plus many other smaller units called battalions, as well as artillery and cavalry organizations. In comparison, Pennsylvania fielded the 215th Pennsylvania Regiment. When the regiment was organized, the company officers elected the positions of major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel (the commander). Such high ranks were much sought after, and politicking and bribery was rampant. It was at the camps that the men got their first taste of military life. Henry E. Handerson wrote from Camp Moore, "[W]e were fairly initiated into the mysteries and miseries of a soldier's life." Few enjoyed the constant drill and hard manual labor. One soldier wrote his father that he felt like "the Rich Man in the Bible and biseach the officers to let me warn my brothers against the folly which has brought me here. . . . I do implore you to think well before telling any more of the family [to] enter [the] ranks."

The new recruits also found it hard to adjust to the lack of alcohol. No soldier could purchase liquor unless he had the company captain's written permission, and many captains refused to comply. Andrew Newell wrote home that "Tom Furlong is in good health; quit drinking per necessity can't get it." Other soldiers simply forged the captain's signature and went to the store. The men of each regiment and battalion wore an astonishing variety of uniforms in both color and design. One popular idea was to pattern the unit after the French Algerian Zouaves (pronounced "zwahvs"). There were several variations of the colorful Zouave uniform, but a typical one consisted of a red fez; dark blue, loose-fitting jacket trimmed and embroidered with gold cord; dark blue vest with yellow trim; blue cummerbund; baggy red pantaloons; black leather leggings; and white gaiters. Add a musket, bayonet, and perhaps Bowie knife, and the Zouave somewhat resembled a heavily armed Shriner.

Those regiments hailing from North Louisiana and the Florida Parishes largely were made up of English-speaking, Scot-Irish Protestants like most other Confederate units. But others were unique in the Confederate army. In May 1861, Louisiana was the only Southern state that was predominantly Catholic, and it had the highest number of newly arrived immigrants. In fact, nearly one-half of the New Orleans people had been born outside the United States. This diversity revealed itself in the makeup of the city's regiments. Those units from South Louisiana, and particularly from New Orleans, were filled with mostly Catholic men who came from many different nationalities and cultures. Some regiments were filled with foreign immigrants who spoke a variety of languages. Others were dominated by Cajuns and Creoles, and the officers issued orders in French.

When one visiting Englishman watched Col. Gaston Coppens' Zouaves drill at Pensacola, Florida, he wrote "the well known reveille of the Zouaves, and then French clangors, rolls, ruffles and calls ran along the line." Three out of four men in the Montgomery Guards (1st Louisiana) were Irish and more than half of the 6th Louisiana was foreign-born, with the Irish being predominate. The most cosmopolitan of all was the 10th Louisiana. Most of the regiment was foreign-born, with one company having men from fifteen different nationalities and another being made up mostly of Greeks and Italians. In all, men from twenty-four different countries can be found on the rolls of Louisiana's Civil War regiments. Over the course of the war, some of the Louisiana units with a high percentage of foreign-born men became notorious for drinking, stealing, and brawling. There are a lot of reasons why this occurred. Some, like the "Tiger Rifles" company and Coppens' Zouaves, were rumored to have been recruited from New Orleans jails and they continued their criminal ways in the army. Other units included soldiers who did not want to be there.

The 1st Louisiana apparently shanghaied foreign men off the streets and pressed them into service. When the English consulate complained, the regiment had to release eight men. And many Irish and other immigrants were on the verge of starvation when the war began and simply joined the army to survive. They had worked before the war building levees and working on the rough and tumble docks and steamboats, and fighting and drinking were just part of everyday life. Even some women joined up. A number of Louisiana units followed the French custom of recruiting vivandares (pronounced "vee-vahn-DYAIRS"). These were women who wore their own uniforms and accompanied the men into the field to serve as cooks, nurses, and laundresses. Coppens' Zouaves was one battalion that "had the good taste" to recruit vivandiFres. A photograph of the battalion taken at Pensacola shows a vivandiFre at the end of the line wearing a uniform, sword, and plumed hat. Other vivandiFres, however, were not so neatly attired. Roberdeau Wheat's battalion also included some women, and four of them reportedly had to be hauled from the front lines just before the Battle of Bull Run. They were described by one witness as being "disgusting looking creatures," who were "all dressed up as men." Rose Rooney, a member of the Crescent Blues, was also at Bull Run. Rather than withdraw when the fighting began, however, she tore down a rail fence while under heavy fire to allow an artillery battery to enter the fight. Rooney was still on the company roles when it surrendered at Appomattox nearly four years later.

 When the Zouaves entered Columbia, South Carolina, they again ran amuck and looted stores and shot animals. Despite the Louisianians' violent behavior, people were curious to get a look at them. After Coppens' Battalion passed through Petersburg, Virginia, one resident wrote a friend: The greatest sight I have yet seen in the way of military was a body of about 600 Louisiana Zouaves, uniformed and drilled it was said in the true French Zouaves style. Most of them were of foreign extraction-the French predominant-but there were Irish, Italians, Swiss, etc., etc. . . . Add to their costume and complexion that they were hard specimens before they left the "crescent city" as their manner indicated and you may perhaps imagine what sort of men they were. In fact they were the most savage-looking crowd I ever saw. When the Zouaves entered Richmond, a newspaper reported that the city was "thrown into a paroxysm of excitement." One man said the battalion was "composed of 'Wharf Rats' of New Orleans. . . ."look wilder, are usually drunker than any Indians." Another citizen reported, "From the time of their appearance in Richmond, robberies became frequent. Whenever a Zouave was seen something was sure to be missed." It was said that the Zouaves "roamed about the city like a pack of untamed wildcats" and that "thieving, burglary, and garroting in the streets at night" were common as long as they were in town. Understandably, the citizens breathed a sigh of relief when Coppens' Battalion was sent to Yorktown on June 10.

By the end of summer there were approximately 12,000 Louisiana soldiers in Virginia. Most proved to be honorable, well behaved men, but there was enough of the criminal element mixed in to taint everyone's reputation. Collectively, they would prove to be some of the fiercest soldiers in the Confederate army.

Typical of the "boys of '61" was Edwin F. Jemison, of Ouachita Parish, who joined the Pelican Greys when he was sixteen. A year later, he was decapitated by a cannon ball at the Battle of Malvern Hill, Virginia (Library of Congress).

Coppens' Zouaves. A uniformed vivandiFre stands fourth from the left (Library of Congress).

Dr. Terry L. Jones is a professor of history at the University of Louisiana at Monroe and has published six books on the American Civil War.

Almost forgotten among the volunteers were several hundred free men of color in New Orleans who offered their services to the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis refused to accept them, but Governor Thomas Moore did make them a part of the Louisiana militia. Some of the men later joined the Union army and will be featured in a future column. By the June 1861, thousands of Louisianians were in uniform and began shipping out to Tennessee, Virginia, and other states to meet the Yankee invaders. One of the first to go was Col. Gaston Coppens' battalion of Zouaves. Coppens was a graduate of the French Marine School and was described by one woman as being "a fine example of grace and beauty." His men, however, were cut from a different cloth. Many were said to have been recruited from the New Orleans jails, and some were mercenaries of foreign wars. All looked fierce in their colorful Zouave uniforms. Coppens' Zouaves left Pensacola, Florida, on June 1 and headed to Virginia by rail, with the aristocratic officers segregating themselves from the men by riding in a special car. As the officers were eating breakfast at the first stop, they heard a low rumble and looked out the window to see the train disappearing down the track. The men had quietly uncoupled their car and hijacked the train. The outraged officers commandeered another locomotive and gave chase, but the Zouaves reached Montgomery, Alabama, first and began looting the town. When Coppens finally arrived on the scene, he and his officers jumped from the locomotive with pistols drawn and ran toward the drunken mob. "The charge of the light brigade," one witness recalled, "was surpassed by these irate Creoles." Yelling and cursing, the officers ordered the men to drop their loot and get back on the train. Those that refused were pistol whipped. One young lieutenant spotted a huge sergeant carrying an armload of stolen shoes and ordered him to drop his loot. The sergeant hesitated, and the lieutenant grabbed him by the throat and cracked his head with the pistol barrel. The sergeant collapsed as if pole-axed, but the officer simply roared, "Roll that carrion into the streets!" and stormed off to seek more of his men. The bloody and beaten Zouaves finally returned to the train but they were a sullen bunch. Later, one of the officers was forced to shoot and kill a man, but it is not known for what reason. The train crew saw some men riding on the top of the cars and on the couplings and warned them of the danger, but the Zouaves ignored them. One was killed when the train passed under a low bridge and three others were crushed to death on the couplings when the train lurched.

JULY 1861: FIRST BLOOD

By Dr. TERRY L. JONES

When the gun went off, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Dreux knew something was wrong. It was just before sunrise on July 5, 1861, and Dreux ("droo") was hiding in some bushes by a road near Newport News, Virginia. The young officer had set up an ambush to bag some Union cavalrymen who regularly passed down the road. He had instructed his men not to fire until he gave the order, but a single gunshot rang out just as the enemy approached. To see what had happened, Dreux left his hiding spot and stepped out into the dark road. A Yankee scout immediately spotted him and fired one shot. Twenty-nine-year-old Charles D. Dreux had only been in Virginia for a couple of months. A member of New Orleans' high society, he had been educated in France, at Amherst College, and at two Kentucky military academies. Dreux was a prominent Whig Party politician and had served as the city's district attorney and as a state legislator before organizing the Orleans Cadets. His military company contained the city's most prominent young bachelors and claimed to have thirty-four men under the age of eighteen, with Dreux being the only married member. When the Civil War erupted, the Orleans Cadets became part of the 1st Battalion, Louisiana Volunteers-the first Louisiana unit to be accepted into Confederate service. Dreux was elected the battalion's commander and led it to Virginia. On the 4th of July, he hosted a barbeque for the men and one of the officers presented him a special jug of whiskey. Soon, the colonel's blood was up, and General John B. Magruder reported Dreux made a "most exciting, stirring speech." The colonel closed his oratory by solemnly touching his sword hilt and promising his men that "this is our day, and we will have it." Determined to meet the enemy in combat, Dreux had his ambush set up at the nearby crossroads before daylight the next day. It is still not clear who disobeyed orders and fired early. Some said a man lost his nerve and fired as soon as the enemy approached; others claimed a soldier shot at a snake. Whatever the case, Dreux walked right into a Yankee's gun sights when he stepped into the road to investigate. He died almost immediately when the bullet cut through his sword belt, shattered his pocket watch, and lodged deep in his abdomen. Scattered firing then erupted from both sides, and Private Steve Hacket of the Shreveport Greys was also killed. All of the enemy escaped unhurt. Dreux's death sent shock waves through the South, not only because of his high social position but also because he was the first Confederate officer to be killed in the war. The members of Dreux's battalion were so outraged that they demanded satisfaction from the Yankees. General Magruder reported the unit contacted the enemy and proposed that they pick five hundred of their best men to meet on any field of their choosing so revenge could be extracted. To the Louisianians disappointment, their challenge was declined. Dreux's and Hacket's bodies were shipped home, accompanied by an honor guard of soldiers. A huge crowd met the train in New Orleans and silently watched as the colonel's coffin was unloaded and escorted by militiamen to City Hall. There his body lay in state for several days and was viewed by thousands of mourners. Dreux's funeral procession still stands as one of the largest ever held in New Orleans. Buildings along the route were draped in mourning, flags flew at half-mast, and scores of church bells solemnly tolled every minute during the ninety-minute procession. Two hundred carriages carrying such dignitaries as Governor Thomas Moore and Mayor John Monroe followed the casket, while another ten thousand mourners walked along behind. The funeral procession was viewed by an estimated sixty thousand people and was attended by forty Catholic priests. Dreux and Hacket were the first Louisianians to die in battle, and they were hailed as martyrs. Their families were fortunate to have been able to give them a decent burial for countless Louisiana dead would come to be laid in unmarked graves or mass pits. What few people outside the battalion knew was that the two men's deaths may have been avoidable. In a letter home, battalion member Eugene Janin cryptically wrote that "a 4th of July barbeque & a jug of whiskey . . . had more to do with it than we like to have known out of the battalion."

Dr. Terry L. Jones is a professor of history at the University of Louisiana at Monroe and has published six books on the American Civil War.

Old time logging in North Louisiana

By C. Forrest Cook

I got to thinking a while back about an experience I had in about 1938 when John Smith “Sonny” Bailey and I rode one of his father’s log trucks out to the Urania Lumber Company’s logging woods. At that time, the company still had its rail system and steam engines hauling from the woods to the mill in Urania. However, whether it was due to the timberland accessed by the rail system being depleted or because of economics, truck were being used more and more in order to supply the mill with saw timber. But possibly because the mill was sawing so much more, it was necessary to supplement the rail system with more and more trucks. Another reason I am sure, the company had purchased the timber lands  which lay mostly in Northeastern LaSalle and Northwestern Catahoula Parishes from The Brown Paper Mill Company and those lands were not accessed by the rail system. I am not sure but believe that the company had not purchased the land in fee but only the timber rights from Brown.

In the late 1930’s, the use of oxen, mules and horses in the logging operations was being phased out in favor of mechanized equipment. More on that later. When “Sonny” and I went this particular time, they were using 3 yoke of oxen, six huge animals probably weighing close to two thousand pounds each and my uncle, Glen McKeithen was the “bull pusher” or as it was called in some circles, the “bull skinner.” I am so very thankful that I was able to witness first hand, an operation that within a few short years was to be no more. I believe that the last animals used in logging by The Urania Lumber Company occurred in 1941 or 42, probably because of WW2 and also, the price of feed for the animals. Am sure that the availability of more and better mechanical equipment also entered into the decision.

I will attempt to explain the method used to load the truck, hopefully future readers can understand how the system worked. First, the log trucks in those days were a lot smaller and less powerful that those used these days. (2009) It usually consisted of a Ford V-8 truck with single dual wheels and the trailer connected by a four inch pipe to the truck, also single dual wheels. The bolster was of an H-Beam of about eight inches in height and eight feet in length, or I suppose one could say in width as that was the support for the logs. The bolster on the truck was connected by a pin which allowed it to swivel and of course, the pipe (coupling pole) was connected to the truck bolster and that allowed the two bolsters (truck and trailer) to stay parallel as curves were negotiated.

In order to load the truck with the oxen, one yoke was disconnected from the other two yokes and used in the following manner, IE: skid poles made from oak saplings and about ten feet long were placed on the two bolsters, truck and trailer. A long chain was then connected,  each end to the truck and trailer frame and it was then placed over the notched ends of the skid poles and laid out in a loop on the ground, thence a log was rolled over the loop with a canthook, another chain was run over the log and hooked to the looped chain that was under the log. That chain was over the trailer coupling pole and hooked to the yoke of two oxen, Uncle Glen was squatted down by a nearby pine tree and he would talk to the oxen; they knew exactly what to do. When he told them to, they moved forward, thereby rolling the log up the skid poles until it came to rest on the truck and trailer bolsters and when that happened, the oxen knew it was time to stop. He told them (I am not sure what words were used) and they would back up while the men would pull the chains back, unhook the one connected to the oxen, lay the loop out on the ground again, roll a log on the loop and the operation was repeated. Once the bolsters were full of logs, the skid poles were then placed on the logs and other logs rolled in between that layer, then repeated for each successive layer until the truck was loaded. Once the truck was loaded and if the ground happened to be wet, which it often was, all three yokes of the oxen were hooked to the truck to assist and once approximately 12,000 pounds of beef was applied, the truck was going to move or something had to give.

I realize that it might be hard for a person reading this at some future time and never having experienced this form of logging to visualize how it was carried out. Consequently, I am attaching the following two photos:

This picture gives details of the log trucks and method of rolling the logs up onto the truck. Notice the chain attached to the truck and trailer; thence over the ends of the skid poles, and under the log. Then, the chain hooked into the “loop chain” and attached to the power to roll the log up and into place. In this photo, a caterpillar tractor was being used but the principal is the same whether oxen, mules or horses were used.

In the following photo is an example of yoked oxen being used for the power source. The day I witnessed the operation, only one yoke was used but I assume the number being used depended on the size of the oxen as well as the logs being loaded.

Logging by Rail

I was told this story by Grady “Bud” Hinton several years before his death. “Bud” said that sometime after Henry Hardtner bought out the Prestridge’s sawmill in 1898, he wanted to expand the operations but was limited by the amount of saw logs that could be gathered as most of the timber in the vicinity of the mill that could be easily harvested using animal power had been cut. He was on a train to New Orleans to try and borrow money to install a logging rail system in order to supply the ever growing sawmill when he chanced to meet Mr. William Edenborn. Mr. Edenborn, a self made millionaire in the barbwire business had acquired/built the Louisiana and Arkansas Railroad and the Louisiana Navigation System. The L & A, with the motto “The L & A, the Better way” ran from Vidalia, Louisiana to Arkansas, El Dorado, I believe. It ran through Jena, Georgetown, Packton, Winnfield, Calvin, Goldonna, Chestnut and points East and North. Their main repair shops were in Minden. Webster Parish.

It seems that Mr. Hardtner, being of German descent as was Mr. Edenborn approached the latter for a loan in order to construct the rail system whereas he was told that he could not have a loan but Mr. Edenborn agreed to buy stock in the company in order to effect the building of the rail system. And I assume that he continued to be a partial owner in the company until his death. The L & A story is intriguing and I have a book about it and William Edenborn published by The University of Indiana Press.

With that, the Natchez, Urania and Ruston Railway was established and I assume that the charter allowed a road to be constructed to those points but in reality, the only semi-permanent line was from Urania to the Hinton Camp with a branch off that connecting to the Missouri Pacific System in Olla. From that line many temporary branches were constructed to the various plots of timber and as soon as an area was cut, the rails were picked up and moved to another location. This was accomplished by a crew called the “snipe crew”. And I have never been able to determine why they were called that? Here is a picture of the bunch that picked up and laid the temporary tracks; the only one identified is the tall man standing back of the man sitting and he is George Hatten.

There were several camps established from time to time and I’ve heard the names Cox and Whitehead camps mentioned but the semi permanent camp was Hinton which had a small commissary and a few houses but most of the worker’s and their families were housed in converted boxcars. The commissary was run by Grady Hinton, Sr. and Ben Babcock. There was also a school in the community. Not to belittle the folks living in the area but I can remember times when we would go to visit my Uncle George and Aunt Dottie Hatten and a car on the camp road (now called The Jim Tom Mayes Road) was so rare that people would actually run to the porch or yard to see the car passing. Much of the traffic to and from Urania was by a Model T Ford adapted to run on the railroad. Also, as you will see in the following photo, they had adapted a bicycle to run on the rails and that was used locally as needed.

From L to R - Francis Marion Smith holding Gladys Smith (married Jay Newton Bailey) Mrs. Smith, Steve and Mrs. Babcock and Grady Hinton, Sr. Photo about 1912.

I interviewed Grady “Bud” Hinton Jr. and his account of family life at Hinton is very interesting and is in my files that will be available at some facility after my passing.

Loading on the Log Cars

After the N U & R Railroad was constructed in the early 1900’s, probably around 1906 or 07, the manner of getting logs to the rails was by a re-haul unit and I have a photo of it but after an exhaustive search of my files, can not locate it so I will attempt as best as I can to describe that operation. I am not sure how the unit was attached to the railroad but logic tells me it had to be: it was in a building like structure, between thirty and forty feet wide and about twenty feet deep. It had two beams of around twenty feet in length from each front corner at an angle of some 45 degrees. At the end of these beams was attached a large pulley and through that was a wireline (cable) attached to separate winches inside the structure, one for each beam. Those winches were powered by a steam engine, the steam produced by a boiler set between the two winches and probably fired by locally acquired pine knots and other scrap timber.

The wirelines could have been around 1000 feet each in length and while the winches were in neutral, were pulled out by the oxen, horses or mules. Once out, there would be several logs attached and the cable reeled in until the timber was adjacent to the rails and thence, loaded onto log cars.

It has been my supposition, confirmed by Glen Dale McKeithen that this method wasn’t used very long due to the danger to men and animals as well as destruction to small timber and seedlings. Since the Hardtner Brothers were some of the first people to stress reforestation in Southern Forests, they naturally wanted natural reseeding of pine timber to prevail. And that really paid off in later years as it has been said that The Urania Lumber Company was growing more timber that was being harvested. The next method of getting timber to the rails was by log wagons pulled by either oxen or mules as indicated below.

It must have taken much patience and skills to train the animals to be so obedient and to follow spoken orders.

Once the logs were spotted near the tracks, the loaders then took over. They were of course, steam operated and in the beginning a loader was used that required the individual empty log car to be taken from a temporary siding, backed in to the loader and when loaded, taken to another siding, unhooked from the engine and another empty taken to the loaded and etc.   As indicated in the following photograph.

One can readily see just how time consuming such as operation would be and since time is money, you can bet that the brothers Hardtner put their minds and finances to work to rectify the situation.

But first a word about the gathering and bunching loaded log cars for the eventual transporting to the sawmill in Urania. The train engine used in the woods to do that job was  a Shay in which the operating system was completely different from the normal locomotive with which we are all familiar. The reason for using a Shay was the fact that while being quiet slow, they were also very powerful and could be used on substandard rail systems that the mainline locomotives could not negotiate. In place of having steam pistons connected by linkage to the wheels, the Shay had three pistons with the connecting rods coming out of the side of the engine. Those pistons worked in the same fashion as your normal automobile engine, IE: turning a crankshaft running the length of the locomotive which was geared as were the engaged wheels, thereby transferring power to move the train.

The Shays would work the log cars for the loaders, and then bunch the loaded cars on a siding off the main line near the Hinton Camp. Thence, the mainline locomotives would collect the cars and deliver into the mill in Urania.
Here is a photo if the NU & R Number 5 spot Shay which that gives a good illustration as to how engine was powered.

And now, I want to interject a bit about the engines that hauled the loaded log cars from “the front”, as the log woods were referred to, into the sawmill in Urania. Not knowing for sure but logically, the first mainline locomotive acquired by the company would have been numbered one since the two subsequent ones were numbers two and three. And the engineer for number one was Jake Posey; I guess you could call him the “Urania Casey Jones.” On the morning of August 10, 1917 Jake and number one headed to Hinton Camp with a string of empty log cars and aboard the train with him and his fireman were Mrs. Pallie Peevy and her three young sons Harold, Horace O. and Laval O. How thrilled those three youngsters must have been to be able to ride to Hinton and back with that fabled engineer, Jake Posey! They were to spend the day with Pallie’s sister, Nora Allie Peevy Hinton, wife of Grady Hinton, Sr. and return to Urania with Jake on his second run in the afternoon. As heretofore stated, Grady ran the commissary (company store) at the camp.

In 1917, the NU & R did not have a Y side track in order for the engine to turn around: absolutely necessary turnarounds were accomplished by getting on the Missouri Pacific (now Union Pacific) lines from the connecting siding in Urania and going to Rochelle, there using the Tremont and Gulf Y turnaround. Then again time and money and in addition, making arrangements with Missouri Pacific for permission and times to travel their rails probably was the reason that Jake’s request to do that was denied. Consequently, it was necessary for him to travel one of the ways to or from Hinton backwards.

It has been reported that Jake was ticked off about that to begin with and also, there were more loaded cars than normal waiting to be picked up. So he hooked onto the loaded cars with the front end of his engine, loaded up Mrs. Peevy and her three sons and headed for Urania. On the line from Urania to Hinton there was a place called The Kansas City Cut and the reason for that name was a large object was being hauled to the front and in this cut, it was too narrow for the object to pass so the right of way had to be widened at that location. At the cut there was quiet a steep grade and Jake had poured on the steam in order to get over it and as he approached it, the tender which was ahead of the train began to sway from side to side and then jumped the track. That caused the engine to also leave the track and overturn, trapping Jake, Mrs. Pallie and her three sons in it; the boiler burst and scalded the four of them. The fireman, one Willkie Coleman saw what was happening and jumped clear and was basically unhurt. Incidentally, Willkie is the man standing in the cab of the Shay Engine featured earlier and the man on the ground in that picture was John Buckley who later was an engineer on the mainline trains for many years. Pictured below is the result of that tragedy.

Mrs. Peevy and her three sons are buried in the Urania Cemetery in a common grave and Jake is buried at New Union Cemetery between Urania and Tullos.

Because of this event the company built Y’s at both Urania and Hinton so the trains could always travel in a forward looking configuration.

Now, back to the loaders. Since the aforementioned method of loading logs onto the cars was so time consuming and costly, the company purchased a McGifferet loader and the advantage of such a loader is readily apparent in the following photo. Simply, the wheels could be contracted allowing log cars to be pulled or pushed underneath and eliminating the need to shunt cars back and forth but just to move one ahead, load it and then move the next one in line into position. In addition, the wheels were connected to a gear on the engine above by a chain and when lowered, could move under its own power thereby eliminating a train having to be in attendance during such moves.

McGiffert Loader

Now that we have discussed the loading of logs from the woods, let us talk about unloading at the sawmill. Prior to ca 1925 the mill was configured facing North with log ponds between the mill and town but around that time, the mill burned and was rebuilt. The later mill was completely reversed with the logs being transported up into the mill from the South side. In the older mill, the logs were unloaded into a pond and from there carried into the mill for sawing by a trough and a chain which was a good 12 inches wide. The method of unloading the log cars was unique as one of the rails was a couple feet above the other; the chains were removed from around the load and as the cars were backed over this inclined rail, gravity took over and the logs were dumped into the log pond. In the following picture, it is hard to tell that one rail is elevated but you can see the string of log cars with those on the right still loaded and those on the left emptied as they have been backed over the inclined rail. And you can see the trough going up into the mill that carried the logs.

Let’s talk a bit about the operations of the mill and I have no knowledge of the one shown above other than what the picture shows but am familiar with the new one from my own observations. I never worked there except a short time in early 1946 after WW2 when I was discharged from the US Navy and before starting school at Louisiana Tech in Ruston. My father, Hardy Maxwell Cook who was in charge of the boiler room and power plant had been to Yale Lock Company and purchased three used steam turbine generators which were bring installed. Two 1000 KW and one 750 KW unit which fed power to the mill operations and during off-peak hours, fed electrical power back into at that time the Louisiana Power and Light grid; now Entergy Company. And I helped with that project.

Steam was produced by five huge water tube boilers using sawdust supplemented by natural gas from a nearby well. These boilers were in continuous operation around the clock 24/7 and in addition to furnishing steam to run the generators, also to run a huge steam engine furnishing power to the mill by a system of shafts, pulleys, gears and etc. In addition, steam to heat the dry kilns as well as a myriad of pumps and other devices throughout the sawmill itself. Power for the planer mill was by electricity, it being situated away from the sawmill by a few hundred feet.

The sawing was accomplished by two carriages which would take the logs from the trough, attach them by a series of spikes (called dogs), moved on rails and the logs were sawn by huge circular saws measuring about ten inches in width and around 40 feet in length. It was a very fast operation and mesmerizing to watch with much noise accompanying.

After the log was squared to the right dimensions, that timber went through a gang saw that sliced it into planks which went via a the green chain to be sorted and stacked for the dry kiln. After drying, the lumber was put through the planer mill, then sorted again and stored in huge sheds appropriately called the dry sheds; there it stayed until shipped by either trucks or boxcars. Some day I plan to write an article describing the mill operations in more detail along with pictures but that’s for another time. Following is a photo of the unloading of logs after the new mill was built. It was accomplished by a stiff leg crane as shown.

Notice the tank cars in the far right of the picture. They are on a siding of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and that siding was connected to the NU & R tracks so the various types of train cars could be shipped with products from the mill.

I have heretofore mentioned the two steam locomotives for the Natchez Urania and Ruston Railroad, they being numbers 2 and 3 so let’s take up on those once again. It is assumed that number 2 was acquired soon after the Jake Posey wreck of number 1 in 1917 but no one in this time could tell you where and how it was acquired. I am reasonably sure that it was bought used and quickly as the mill depended on the railroad for its supply of timber. There is a logical assumption that they used the Shay to not only work the log woods but to also, bring the log cars into the mill. That would really impact the supply and since the Shay was not only slow but doing double duty, am sure that it cut the logs delivered to the mill in more than half. I am guessing that number 2 was purchased from another nearby lumber company or maybe from The L & A Railway but we will never know for sure as all the records of the company were destroyed in a fire that completely consumed the main office in around 1965.

Number 3, a Baldwin 2-8-0 however is a different matter. We know from handed down stories that Dally Chapman was sent to Cuba, purchased the engine from a sugar mill, loaded it onto a barge to New Orleans and from there brought to Urania via existing rails. As the story goes, when Mr. Chapman went to Cuba the owners of the mill had a better offer and offered him $1000.00 cash to advise the company it wasn’t suitable; he declined.

There was one other way in which timber was harvested, usually trees struck by lightening or bug infested or died from other causes and within a few miles of Urania. That was by horse and log wagon. One would normally think that mules would have been used for that job but not the case. Mr. Willie Thornton was in charge of that operation and as you can see from the following photo, had a 4-up team of fine horses. I can remember seeing that coming into Urania, another scene that I am thankful that I was allowed to witness.

I am reasonably sure that this picture was taken about 1938 as there is a 1936 Ford Convertible parked under the shed at the commissary. Also, am reasonably sure that the man standing next to the hollowed out cypress was Professor Chapman from the Yale School of Forestry as the photo was taken by one of the Yale students. That is another project in mind for the future, writing about the Yale University classes that came here every summer to study as well as do forestry work for the company. There was a camp just out of town and this is a story that few people are aware of in this day and time. (2009) BTW, that cypress was used by the man who scaled the logs brought in by trucks as well as the night watchman.

That is of course, the company commissary in the back ground. The ground floor was occupied by a drug store (no medicines as that was furnished by the company doctor) which sold notions and etc, and some of the best nickel icecream cones that could be gotten anywhere. There were men and ladies clothing, groceries, meat market and small hardware items. The middle floor mezzanine was used for storage and on the top floor there was a Masonic Hall. To the left of the picture is the Ford Motor Company, service station and garage.

ADDENDUM

There are a few items that didn’t seem to find a suitable place in the narrative or I didn’t at the time have the photos so those things are included here.

First, I want to show an ox yoke owned by Mr. Glen Dale McKeithen and hanging in the foyer of his home near Olla, Louisiana. He had Mr. Walter Robert Smith of near Sikes in Winn Parish to make this yoke in 1988. It is somewhat smaller than those used by the logging oxen as Walt used his two small steers as models. He used those small oxen around his farm for various purposed until his death at 6 month shy of 100 years of age. In fact, he was 94 when this yoke was made and there is no telling how many he fashioned during his life time.

The yoke was made of black gum and fashioned with a draw knife; the yokes of hickory and heated in Walt’s fireplace with the bark left on one side during the heating and bending. Once the yoke was bent to the desired radius, he then tied wires around the ends in order for it to maintain the shape until set. Here is the photo and close up of the locks to keep the yokes in place while in use.

And below, a picture of the locks secured in place by a hickory dowel

E. Forrest Cook
5 October 2009

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