rosstexascavalrybrigade.com Blog

I have spent the last couple of hours working on comments and throwing away garbage. There are a few comments that are used over and over. Of course those are adds. Then there are adds that are the vehicles that people ride about to view blogs. The name on the comment is an advertisement. The actual writer may be real. Not always, but occasionally. So what is my beef? Well, I received one comment, I had seen it before, but basically it talked about the web being a great place, because you did not have to research. You hit a few keys and there was your solution. The computer found it for you.

Then it hit me. The computer was causing the people to become less intelligent. They no longer had to research. When I first started to use the computer, I marveled at the ability to manipulate data. I was working in a petrochemical project as a scheduler. We essentially took the work plans of managers, added in the data needed along with all physical needs, pipe, insulation, systems, painting, erection, and many other factors and set out a daily plan for foremen to follow. We did not say put this bolt in next, for we felt the foremen needed to be allowed the latitude to think at their level.  The program we were using was good, but we kept adding to it. Soon we could forecast everything. Manpower, materials, start-up and on and on. Computers were great.

Then we noticed that some foremen would do totally impossible things first. they would put in small pipe and then larger, sometimes damaging the small pipe. The did strange things to delay the schedule. Other foremen would do the task in half the time or using half the men forecast. They in turn were in competition with the schedulers. It was interesting. I did not see, what I see today.

Today, no one really wants to do research. They want to push a button and it be handed to them in a complete bundle. The toil of collecting and putting the data on line is not even considered. Of course, here I am saying that I will be glad when all the material stored in attics and basements and Libraries and Museums, is online and searchable. Of course, there is so much lost material and so much that is on line but in a format that is searchable that I want to cry. Much civil war data is buried in old letters. Other wars since had better data collection but now the volume is great. Much data of WWII is not online due to the volume that was typed. I laugh at many of the well meaning people who go to cemeteries and collect data. Then they put the data on line in un searchable format. That causes the researcher to spend hours on line looking for a soldier or for genealogical kin. This is a terrible waste of time but necessary.

I have written a lot about the 27th Texas Cavalry. From 1863 on the data concerning their movements is scarce. I am looking for that one piece of data that will let me know what happened at the Battle of Yazoo Pass Mississippi in February of 1863. I have learned a lot about the regiment from the National Archives and Command Records of the war, but the data on the 27th at Yazoo Pass is not available. It will turn up in a letter or a side note about some other unit.

People ask me to add video or more pictures. This is difficult because the brigade was cavalry and the photographers were not. Most of the pictures are at major battles near Washington. The battles in Mississippi had a few sketches but few photos. There were some photos in New Orleans, Galveston and Vicksburg because they were on major water locations and photographers could go on the ships. I would bet none followed Sherman overland to Vicksburg. It was rough and roads were scarce and most used by the armies. To do a u-tube to explain history would be a waste of my time and not pretty. I can draw it better in English with or without bad spellings. I wish some of the clerks back in the 1860s had had spell check. It would have helped. I wish there were pictures of the Brigade. At one point in the Atlanta Campaign, a journalist for a Detroit News Paper saw the Brigade in action against a Union Corps. The Brigade, only 500 strong did a slow retreat toward General Johnson’s lines. Slowly they gave up space for time. Finally after loosing almost 200 men they melted into the Confederate line. They had done their job. The Confederate line had strengthened and was ready. They repulsed the Union with great losses. The Union Corps paid dearly for their punishment of Ross’ Brigade. Several thousand men were lost to only a few of the well dug in Confederates. The journalist titled his piece “The Ghost Brigade”. Later in the 1870′s the article was reprinted in the Dallas News.  Pictures would have been great, a video outstanding. How gallant they would have been.

I do not know what people are spell checking my articles anyway. Maybe it is their kick. Mine is telling the story of the Ross Brigade and a few other items. At times I make people angry. But I am angry that a people have let their religion be co-opted by bandits and bad people and then sit and let the worst happen. It will cause another war. Maybe the last war. In my Bible its says that God wins, so no matter where I am, I will be a winner. I know who God is.

I am also angry at a Government that will let its nation get so deep in debt, without doing anything, but spending more. Not if, but when the Dollar falls, our nation will go through a struggle like none other known. Obama, thinks he can control starving people by using UN Troops on American soil. The sad thing is the number of old and young people that will die before the battle begins. When the battle begins, there will be no more American. Our only hope is that this is the last battle and Christ will come to earth.

Please watch the preppers and do like they do. To die and miss the Glory is sad but certainly not the end. Also God did say he protects those that protect themselves. Being prepared will allow you to live and enjoy and not suffer. Money will be a problem so be prepared to trade. Good trade goods will be very valuable. One I plan to have is water. I have a well and electricity. I am also planning to have other things.

The failure of the dollar, will hurt a lot of people. How many dollars will buy one UN currency is any. How long will everyone have to suffer. Why does anyone have to suffer. Why is this president doing this. What makes him think that he can feed America? We know he can not. He know it, but he continues to spend. You say the dollar will not fail. Just look at the Stock Marker. Of course some of us think the government is pouring money into the stock market to make it look well. If China lets the Yuan loose. the dollar would fall in hours. There are also other factors. Europe is on the same track. The Euro will fall before the dollar. You can do one of two things or maybe both. Save your Confederate Dollars or buy Bitcoins. Many say both are fake.  But I would bet a Confederate note will buy more in the South when the dollar crashes than a Union Dollar some day in the near future.

And tonight the Bitcoin is up to almost $12o. That is after a hit that drove it to $59. It did not die and it may still be the future of currency. I can not see people believing in a UN currency, after having lost all of their Dollars because of a bad government. The best thing about the Bitcoin is that it is not a government currency. The Bitcoin Foundation needs  establish itself as the Governing Board of the Bitcoin and remain unidentified to all governments so that it is never controlled by corrupt politicians, religions or armies of any nation. Once people see that it is not to be destroyed nor controlled they will support the Bitcoin.

For me, In God do I Trust!

When you start out in life you do not plan to be a specific type of person. Usually you are influenced by some person or some idol whom you want to emulate. Sometimes there are many idols until you finally settle on one. I have had many people that I admired in my life. My Dad most of all. He was trained as an electrician, a mason, a carpenter, and as an architect. He left formal schooling in the 8th grade and at 17 was in the Engineers in the First World War and in France. He could do almost anything. Rebuild cars, garden, teach and play a great game of dominoes. He had been there and done that.

You can skip to the last two paragraphs of this blog entry and skip a lot of boring history for some. Do that now, or read a couple of paragraphs and then skip. But you are welcome to read it all.

I went to work in 1950 for Dr. Pepper doing all kinds of work, after school and on weekends. Before that I had helped my brothers on paper routes. I did join the cub scouts in 1946. I played football, ran track and sang in the choir. I did none at my best level. Why? Basically, because I had no idea what the best was. I now know that the coaches I had, did not know how to teach how to give your all. I observed two coaches that knew. They both won State Championships in my sophomore year at Lubbock High in football and basketball. I was on neither team.

I graduated in 1955 in the same class as Buddy Holley and a few other great people. Most of us still stay in contact through an email letter. That is great. Most of us are at least 75 or older. After graduation, I started college in Architecture. Toward the end of my first year I was told that I would not be allowed to finish that year, and I would not be able to enroll until the following fall. Seems that I had broke a school rule concerning alcohol. I had not broken the rule, but my mother would not let me contest the ruling, because the head of the discipline board was a deacon in my church.

So I joined the Army. I did basic training at Ft Chaffee, advanced Infantry at Ft. Hood and then two and one half years in Hawaii in the 25th Infantry Division. I was first assigned to an Recon Platoon as a machine gun jeep driver. After just a few months I was awarded blood stripes to Specialist fourth Class. No, no one was killed. It meant that some one had been demoted and his strips were then awarded to someone else who normally would not have been ready, but had earned the right by hard work or for some by brown nosing. I will not explain that term. Next I went to Sergeants Academy. I placed 3rd in my class of 70. After that we learned about light tanks. I became proficient at every position and soon was running a recon tank section, with my own jeep driver.

In Honolulu I was learning other lessons, but it was not about girls. There were about 12 military guys to each girl, from the age of 8 to 80. I entered an application for West Point, but the executive officer of my company sat on it. My platoon sergeant put my name in as a driver for our Battle Group Commander. I was soon driving a full colonel all over Hawaii. One commander left and a new one came in. He was a Texas A&M graduate. As a Texas Tech student we got along well. In Hawaii, I did get to know the members of the Kingston Trio. It was an interesting time. Hawaii became a State while I was there. I was able to be a representative aboard the first Japanese Naval Ship to visit Hawaii since Pearl Harbor. I was able to watch the selection of a soldier to be buried in the Punchbowl Cemetery as the Pacific Theater Unknown Soldier, and I was able to introduce two members of the future Kingston Trio to Buddy Holly when he was in Hawaii on tour in 1958. We also made two LST (Landing Ship Tanks) trips to the Big Island, and I was able to have fun in the lava beds and swim on Kona Beach before there were any ugly hotels.  Early in 1959 I was promoted to Buck Sergeant, and then returned to the states by troop ship.

Soon I enrolled at Texas Technological College in Architecture Construction. In 1962 I found out I was going to be recalled to duty so I joined the ROTC, which allowed me to complete college, and to gain a commission. I was having fun in college. Running with a sports car crowd. I even had a 1959 Austin Healey 1oo Deluxe. Along the way I had a 1838 Ford with a 1948 Flathead Mercury engine. I also had a 1952 Plymouth, two Austin Mini 1000s, a Fiat Abarth that had won the 1962 Sebring Race in its category.   I 1962 I was very busy. I was married, had a daughter, joined the ROTC and was working full time for a bread company at night, and carrying a full college load . In 1963 I buckled down and completed my courses and earned a degree in Architecture and a Commission as an Engineer Second Lieutenant.  College had been fun. I even learned how to have fun and do serious study.

When I left college in January of 1964, the job market was very flat, but the Military market was booming. I requested active duty and soon found myself at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. After eight weeks I graduated and was offered a job at Belvoir as a tac officer with the Engineer Officer Basic Course. For three more weeks I worked out and then went to Fort Benning, Georgia for Airborne training. I was in good shape and it was fun. Soon I was back at Belvoir running new lieutenants. We did physical training three times a day, plus a daily handball game with my fellow tac officers. Now I began to get in shape. Soon I was running daily with a group that was doing five miles in thirty minutes. We did this daily five days a week. After a few months I could run a half mile in two minutes in combat boots. I high school it was pain in light running shoes. I did this for two years. Leading lieutenants, teaching courses, visiting Washington, DC, and the northern Virginia area. Another fun assignment.  About the time I was to get out of the Army,  I was offered an assignment in Germany. My wife and I decided to go. So soon, we were in Germany with two girls, and a third on the way. There was not much to do on the troop ship going to Bremen-haven. Next I get a call and my assignment had been cancelled but they gave me the choice of several other units.

I chose the 39th Engineer Group in Karlsrhue. The day I got there was a Friday, and I was assigned as the Headquarters & Headquarters Company Commander. On Monday we went to Baumholder for our annual testing. It was a very quick learning curve for a not so young lieutenant, with two colonels, two majors, and several captains in his company. I went head to head with the lieutenant colonel, executive officer, but later became good friends. This was a great assignment and I learned a lot.

In 1967 things in Vietnam were going strong and there began to be a shortage of officers in Germany. I was at one point, the Hq & Hq Company Commander, the Communications Officer, the Aviation Officer, the Mess Officer and several other minor jobs. I really did learn a lot. Before long I was made the Group Operations Officer as a young captain in a Majors slot. I was both operations officer and security officer when the 1967 Israel War broke out. We had two new colonels, neither which were cleared to receive classified messages in Europe. I was to act as a group commander for two weeks. Did not get credit for it. In 1968 I was given command of the 78th Engineer Company (Construction)(Separate) for its return to the United States. We prepared all the equipment and a cadre of 25 to move the unit to Camp Irwin, California. I bought myself a new Mini Cooper S and we began the trip. Imagine 3 girls, a wife, 23 bags in a 4 passenger car driving from New York, to Lake Placid, Florida, then to Muleshoe, Texas and then to Camp Irvin, California. Great trip. We made it with no problems, and were greeted like kings from the time we entered the gate. Our quarters were ready, and even the coffee was perking when we entered the door. They did love Engineers. Our first job was to make a new road out the back of Camp Irwin so anyone could get to Reno or Las Vegas quicker. They did love what we did.

I had only 6 months at Camp Irwin bringing the company back to full strength, getting rid of all the equipment that we brought from Germany, and drawing all new equipment. The company was fully functional when I got orders for Vietnam. I was sent to Monterrey California for 12 weeks of Vietnamese language training and then assigned to an advisers slot in I Corps (the northern part of South Vietnam). I was given a week of orientation in Saigon, two weeks more in Da Nang and then went to Hue, Vietnam, to the 101st ARVN Engineer Battalion (Combat). Another great assignment, but truly a waste of an adviser. My counterpart, a Vietnamese Major was a graduate in Engineering form Ohio State University. His English was a good as mine. I was able to help him in meetings with the US Commanders and Engineers. I was also his social secretary for tennis matches. He showed me the best restaurants in the Cities of Hue and Dong Ha. We had a great time. We were in the Citadel of Dong Ha when the ammo dump exploded. We were in a camp site on the coast when a huge cannon round from the Battleship, New Jersey, fell short and landed on our burm. But again we had fun. It was after Tet 1969 so the area was fairly peaceful though I did learn a lot and saw much more. I did take an R&R to Hawaii to see my wife. That was fun. After one year, I returned to the states to attend the Engineer Officers Career Course at Ft Belvoir, Virginia.

The Engineer course was 8 months long, and after the course I was assigned as the Facilities Officer at the Engineer School. Here I had a good time cleaning up the schools buildings, getting rid of facilities we did not need and bringing a civilian worker back into the real world. For about 10 months, I retrained him into being a productive member of the school and not a drain on the government system. I also got to meet several general officers and even attended a West Point- Navy football game.  Then I got orders for a second tour in Vietnam.

When I got to Saigon there was a two day wait for assignment. I was called for an interview. They asked me if I knew about bridges and construction. I said I did. In just a few hours I was the Operations Officer for the 31st Engineer Battalion (Combat). Another great assignment. I had projects all over III Corps. I was daily flying to check projects from a concrete and steel bridge on the II Corps border to the Cambodian border where we built fire bases. Though we were combat we did any and all projects that you can imagine. A normal Combat Battalion has about 1000 soldiers. We had close to 2000 and twice as much equipment.  About this time I got my “Dear John”. My wife of ten years was divorcing me. I invoked the Soldiers & Sailors Relief Act until I returned to the States. During this tour I did take an R&R to Hong Kong and an in-country R&R to Vung Tau a beach resort run by the Army. I also flew one weekend to Ban-cock, Tia-land

We were then given orders to start the draw down of our unit. This meant we were giving all our equipment to the Vietnamese and we were going home.  It took a while to turn in three engineer companies, two dozier land clearing companies, three Repair companies, a transportation company, and a light equipment company, a mine dog platoon and a mine rolling tank. We also found we had a few armored personnel carriers, some airborne mechanical mules and a lot of other equipment engineers were not supposed to have.

I was then assigned for three months to the Engineer Command Headquarters as an operations officer, designing Engineer units to operate in the draw down. Again I had fun.

After this I was assigned to go to Walla Walla Washington to work on some Corps of Engineers Dams. Because of my divorce, and so I could be close to my children I requested reassignment, and was sent to the United States Sergeants Major Academy at Fort Bliss. When I got to Fort Bliss no one knew what I was talking about. In a few days about 20 officers and a few non-commissioned officers showed up all in the same predicament. One a colonel knew why we were there. Soon we were working hard to establish an Army level university for the top non-commissioned officers of the military services, the Sergeant Major. In less than 4 months we put together the faculty and facilities and readied for the first class. My duty was to establish the facilities at Biggs Airfield at Ft Bliss, Texas and establish the logistics department for the academy. Boy did I have fun. Soon I had a humming supply and were were readying facilities from classrooms, to library, to auditorium and a headquarters building with instructor offices. I was soon working with several million dollars and drawing together all that was needed. I developed my own table of allowances. This is a document the Army uses to allow issue. Mine was approved all the way to Army without question. Had my boss ordered it, I could have requested the Air Forces largest aircraft. I even arranged for a Texas Tech Architecture class to do a design project for a future Sergeants Major Academy facility.  I laid the seeds for the grand facility that exists today at Biggs Airfield today.

After about a year and one half I was moved into the Management Department as a writer. This is where they took a rusty old west Texan and taught him a little of how to write. Of course it was stiff military writing. Every document we produced had to go before a  murder board that took it apart, corrected it and sent it back for rewrite. For a while I did not think I would ever get a document approved. But soon I was doing very well. This was before word processors and computers. At the same time I arranged for Sul Ross State University to teach a MBA course at Ft Bliss. So I went back to school and had an MBA in about 20 months.

In town I was living in a nice two bedroom apartment. Soon I began to look around. I was newly divorced, had a two bedroom apartment so my daughters could visit. One night I met a young  Mexican girl at one of the local apartment complex dances. She would not give me her name or number. I was able to find out where her friend worked. Soon I had her number, but before I could call three of us young captains were invited to a Mexican family birthday party. It turned out to be the brother of  the girl I was looking for. I met her whole family that night. That was over 40 years ago. We were married in September 1973.

My next assignment was to Ft Hood, Texas as the operations officer for the 62nd Engineer Battalion (Construction). This was a different kind of engineering with bigger equipment. About that time the Army decided to convert Construction Battalions to Combat Heavy. Again this was a very interesting and learning experience. We were one of the first combat heavy units tested in the Army. The battalion passed with flying colors, but my S3 section did not pass. I contested the evaluator. I ask one question. How could every section of the battalion pass and my section fail, when I was directing all of those units. The Corps Engineer changed the evaluation. He even sent me to Ft Belvoir to the Engineer Dinner and Conference to lecture on the Combat Heavy training.

In 1965 I had changed from Reserve to Regular Army. In 1976, I was non selected for Regular Army promotion. The reason that I was not selected was one efficiency report given to me while at Ft Bliss. One Colonel did not like me, and gave me an average report. That was enough to separate me from other officers. One year later, I was again passed over, and was soon to be required to leave active duty. This was the reduction of the Army from its Vietnam strength.

During my final physical, they found a small black mole that was not as should be. Within about 30 minutes it had been removed. Three days later they called me in and told me I had a bad cancer and they would operate. So they cut a three quarter inch deep and the size of a dinner plate section out of my back. Today it would have been much smaller. The doctor told my wife I had a 30% chance of living. My wife was then in worse shape than me mentally. We had just had a daughter.  That was 1978, and I did beat the odds.

My last three months in the Active Army were as a night duty officer at Corps Headquarters. This allowed me a lot of time to job hunt in a fairly tight job market. I finally was able to get a job with Brown and Root Constructors and Engineers in Houston. So in May 1978 we moved to Friendswood south of Houston and my first project was the construction of a petrochemical plant at Chocolate Bayou just south of Alvin, Texas and 10 miles from our new house. Another great job. From 1978 to 1986 I moved up to project controls manager but then the construction died and I was one of the last laid off.

In 1978 I also joined the 75 Maneuver Area Command, US Army Reserve,  as an Operations Officer. In my first 6 months in the reserve I earned a Meritorious Service Medal for recommendations that I had made and training that I had conducted. It may have also caused me not to be able to make full colonel. I had again made a colonel mad, and he later made general and was over me. But I did have fun in the reserve for 10 years. We trained units all over the central area of the United States. From Michigan to Louisiana and Texas to Kentucky. We trained one weekend per month, but we worked a lot more. At least one weekend a month we flew to a reserve site and trained from Battalion to Division and One Engineer Command. Great duty, and we met a lot of great people. Many I had trained as lieutenants at Ft Belvoir. Brown & Root supported the Reserve, so I had no problems between civilian and military jobs.

At Brown and Root, I worked on several petrochemical projects, a coal mine project, a major  highway project and the Libyan Great Man Made River Project. I even went to London to transfer this project to our overseas office when we were no longer able to work with the Libyans due to US policy. Again this was a great company and a great job. Had one of my great bosses not died I might have gone on up in Brown & Root. One of my first jobs at Brown & Root was to escort Herman Brown around one of our job sites. He was one of the founders of Brown & Root and a member of the board of directors of Halliburton.

In 1986, I was put into a very bad job market. My wife had a small Boot company, and I ran that while looking for a new job. I was out of work for seven months. I then went to work with another engineer company Jacobs Engineering on a project in Bishop Texas. The job was great and the company excellent, but the job only lasted a year. I then found a job with Gulf Interstate Engineers a pipeline company. This job lasted about a year and one half. Great job, good people and good projects. Again I was laid off because we had no projects.

Then came another 8 months of being laid off. This time I had to use up our savings, and we were getting close to loosing our home. My daughter born in 1975 was close to graduation in Friendswood. I finally found a 6 month job in China. That saved our house. I left my wife of daughter and went to Dalian China to work in a shipyard on an offshore quarters module for Philips Petroleum. Another great job, with great people. The contract I had was not great, but after 6 months they told me I could stay for another year. I told my wife to come on over, and we had a ball living in the Holiday Inn. Pay was good, and we were able to live off of our per diem and saved our total salary. We built two quarters modules and floated both to the south China Sea. My wife and I were able to see a lot of China and even brought our daughter over for a visit.

We left China in May 1995 and I decided that I had worked enough. I was able to draw a military retirement and social security. My wife did not know where she wanted to live so we went to El Paso to live while we made up our minds. After a few months we took fostering training, planning to foster children. The first group we got was three boys, 5, 3, and 11 months. The judge talked us into adopting those boys. Of course, the house we had was overlooking Jurez. All local walls in the neighborhood were tagged. We decided to move to the area of trees, hills and rivers. The Texas Hill Country.

On line we found houses in Fredericksburg and Kerrville, Texas. Next we visited and on seeing some foundation problems with the house in Fredericksburg, we decided that we would buy the house in Kerr County. It had a pool and a tennis court and a nice big yard. It was definitely boys country. Soon we were moving. The boys were entered in school, except for the two youngest. The first thing we did was pool proof the boys. Within days they all could swim like fish. Even the one year old, could jump off the diving board and swim to the ladder or to the steps. He even knew how to float on his back. The dogs were also pool proofed. The oldest did later die, but only because someone had left the water hose in the pool and she could not understand what it was or how to get around it. When she tired she drowned.  If the hose had not been there, she would have found the steps and would have crawled out.

The boys thrived in Ingram schools. They did well in Little League, Tae Kwan Doe, Boy Scouts and school. There mother had the two younger boys reading at three, and had the older son reading as well. Life was good. Over time each boy has shown his own personality and had his own problems. The oldest who was five when we moved to Kerrville is now twenty and a Lance Corporal in the Marines. The second is soon to be 18 and will graduate. He is smart, but too smart. The youngest has just entered High School and is working on his Life rank in Scouting. Over the years I have had three daughters, a single daughter and three sons. Yes I have learned a lot.

In 2000 I was a singer in Barbershop style singing. My mother was dying and she gave me a list with 20 names and asked me to do the family genealogy. I quickly ran down those twenty names and added a few hundred more of family for each. From that point on it just kept growing. My father, had died in 1975 and his line was harder. One night, I was looking for my Grandfather’s death certificate in Florida records on line. Instead I found a request for Civil War Pension. Checking a few census records, it did not take long to prove that it was my Great Grandfather. In time I tied him to the 6th Texas Cavalry Regiment, Ross’ Brigade and the Texas Rangers. Of course I now know his Father, Grandfather, Great Grandfather and maybe several more levels.

Now some one ask where I get all my information all they need to do is look at where I have been and what I have done. Civil War history is easy because I was in the Army for 32 years. Genealogy is easy because I understand computers. I am not the best detail researcher, but when I look at my past, it has always been that way. I was not good at finishing, but I could do well in getting things built and running. I left the fine tuning to others. Blogs may be the same. I got this one up and running with no problems, but it is a pain to maintain. I have allowed more than 263,000 comments or the more than 286,000 received. I probably should have deleted another 60,000 of spam or more, but I gather that some of the visitors enjoy the spam more than the blog. I can live with that even though I do not understand it.

In researching my Great Grandfather and his brother, I learned a lot about all of the 6th Texas Cavalry. Others suggested that I read the books on the 3rd, 6th and 9th Texas. This I did and I learned a lot about the brigade. Finally a book was written on the Legion (27th Texas Cavalry). It did not answer all my problems, but it did fill in a lot. Stephen Kirk has since written books on the 6th, 9th and the Brigade. Along with the data I have collected and read, I put up my web site. The Blog came later. When I began to do detail rosters, I started the blog. The 27th Rosters were first, because what existed was scrambled. As I worked through each company, I learned more and more.  I began to fill in around the data provided by Haley in his book on the Legion. I understood things that are in the  records that are not explained. How did I do this?  Basically I had become an expert on each regiment. I still have a lot to learn, but it gives me goals for the future. I need to complete the rosters for the 6th Texas. Do the rosters for the 9th Texas and redo the rosters for the 3rd Texas. Then I might be ready to write a book. All of the data is not on line. There were stories told a brigade reunions that are in the documents of those reunions. I need to find the records of the courts marshals and admin. I would like to know more about the flags. I definitely need to find our and add the artillery and other support that helped the brigade in battle. No, I do not know everything, but now you may know how I get a lot of the information.

Become an expert and you can do the same. Note, you do not know everything when you are an expert.

About two weeks ago I had a go around with Mt.Gox and complained they did not have enough personnel to do their work. I was just angry that they were so slow. Then April 10th the whole thing caved in on them. They became completely overloaded  because of the influx of new accounts.

My span of detail has also collapsed. Must slow my thinking down to get this straight,  Here you have a  funnel with three heads. One is the inbound new accounts. The second is inbound money and the third is the exchange of cash of all kinds for bitcoins. The out flow is somewhat easier. Plus you can move Bitcoin from your Mt.Gox account to your personal wallet, with ease. But the new account process was difficult. Not in altogether, but it wanted a picture ID and then a proof of address. Now this data was coming in from all over the world. Each had to be verified, before an account was open. When they reached 20,000 new accounts a day, they could not keep up. And this was not even the money side where the Bitcoin were exchanged.

The amount of exchange also began to exceed their capability to exchange. The system slowed down. Here was the point that caused people to panic. Bitcoin is too new to be really trusted as a currency. When people could not get their money as they needed it (they expected fast), they began to pull their money out. When the big money began to withdraw, the system of Bitcoin went into a spiral. This was new to them. Mt. Gox did not have enough servers and personal to accomplish what was needed. Thus, the system had to be halted to allow a cool off period and for Mt. Gox to regroup. Mt. Gox needs a lot more of everything. But the system needs more exchanges similar or better than Mt. Gox, and then when one has a problem, the system does not have to stop. The World Banks that  supply money to the user banks are many. This is what needs to happen to Bitcoin. Except that the Governmental control of the Money supplies all over the world become a problem. A Government needs more money, it just prints more. But this process is just watering down the total amount of dollars, Yen or Euro. Bitcoin has a specific goal as to amount, and supply. The values is market driven.

Because a Bitcoin can not be reproduced or replicated, the amount of Bitcoins is fixed. They are aware that some will be lost and some will become unavailable in lost wallets, but this is also built into the system. The plan is there will be Bitcoins mined (made) until the year 2021. There will be a fixed amount. All this is at Bitcoin.org. The system also expected that there would be more exchanges. Here is a rub. Mt. Gox is located where the Bitcoin was derived, Tokyo, Japan. As a bank it had a head start on other exchanges. Thus early on it gained an 80% portion of the US market and 70% of the World exchange trades. That means it has exchanged over two Billion dollars in Bitcoins todate.  This rate was small for a couple of years, but then things got out of hand. The total of two billion dollars was reached just a short time ago, but this is becoming an exponential event. The amount of funds build up is speeding up, as is the number of people in the market. Add all this together, and you have the potential for what happened on the 10th.

Mt. Gox and the Bitcoin Foundation called a halt to trading, they said to let things cool off. It also gave Mt. Gox the time to bring more servers and new programs on line. This may have been a needed rest for Mt. Gox, but there is still a need for other exchanges. CoinLab is coming on line in the US, but it is just an extension of Mt. Gox. There needs to be exchanges in several large cities of the world, and hopefully more are on the way. In turn, there needs to be links to the  overall system that keeps track of the Bitcoin and monitors its value.

It is not well defined at this time what and how the value is derived and who is monitor. To be a true world driven system it needs to include all the world. Next there needs to be ways to cover an exchange that is down. Even if its computers are down, the other exchanges must provide cover for the system. Maybe some exchanges will fail. Next the operation and protection of all computers in the system needs to become a prime concern. If someone wants to disrupt the system to cause a sell off which benefits it and then a re-buy that also benefits that company or group, then the system needs a way to prevent such action. Of course the ID and Location that Mt.Gox does is supposed to justify the exchanging person or group. It seems that it can be breached. Thus Bitcoin may also need its own police force, to track crooks world wide who might try to mess with the system. A large group of exchanges is better for preventing a sell off. The system needs more stability because it concerns more than just making money. One exchange can be stopped, but maybe not the whole world of exchanges. But people will have their whole lives savings in the system that must be protected. It can not be like the stock market, where you can be wiped out by the powerful money grubbers.

Individual integrity may be a difficult process. The US is already requiring the collection of more information on exchange users in the US. This takes away some of the freedom that Bitcoin users have sought. It will be interesting to see how this situation resolves. The government says it is to stop money laundering but this government has been known to lie before, It is not hard to take a name and match it with IRS data and know everything about that anonymous  person who was able to conduct business without all the world tracking him. When the name is added to the transaction, then anyone can track both the individual and the transaction. It may sound like I do not understand what is going on, but this is an evolving system and I am only an observer. What I have described here may be only a portion of what really happened and what is going on.

One comment said that this was too difficult to understand and they would never be able to use it. To that I say, if you can use the internet, it is not too difficult. The start is to have your own wallet. A wallet is a secure place to keep your Bitcoin. Like the wallet you carry your money in, but it is digital. You can download your wallet to a disk or memory stick, and it is protected by a password. That password is very important. Also your wallet will have a very long name which is only yours. The blockchain system will not allow duplicate wallets. Your will also have a user name that is used like a email. Money/Bitcoin can be sent to your user name or your wallet address. My wallet address is so long that I have not memorized it. I have it available, so that I can used it by copying it. I also have it on a memory stick, so I can take it with me. Before long, you will be able to use Bitcoin anywhere. It will be needed. Maybe you will carry it on your phone. So you have to remember your password and your user name. You have to keep your address where you can use it. In the wallet is your Bitcoin and your actual wallet register number. It is always in your wallet, so you do not have to remember it, nor do you give it out. Someone else could take your money. This makes you password, important like your on pocket wallet. Protect it.

I have explained how to buy Bitcoin in other places. To use it you enter the amount of money at an e-commerce site, your wallet address. The e-commerce site will have the vendor’s address. Press enter, and the money is transferred. You will almost instantly see a decrease in your wallet. Thus you have made a purchase. The vendor can not do this from his end, only you can make the transfer, thus it is very safe.

A few comments on the sell off on April 10, 2013. Did the Bitcoin bubble burst? No, there was a correction and the value fell to just below $70. Today it is above $100 and has  been as high as $130. Thus it is still stabilizing. This adjustment will go on for days. There will be more adjustments, but the system will evolve to control these adjustments.

Will Bitcoin become the money of the world? We will have to wait and see. It has gained enough importance that it is being reported on TV. One article that I have read was very good, but it did show that they have not read enough on mining to really understand what a Bitcoin is. When a miner takes the Block of Bitcoin provided to it by the Bitcoin Foundation he uses his encryption ability and several computers to spin a digital coin that can not be duplicated. It is encrypted so many times that it is impossible to unravel. That miner is then able to follow his coin and all its transactions. He does not know who is using it or where, but he does know the amount of each transaction and he is able to insure there are no duplicate uses. Thus the Strength of Bitcoin.  More to come.

This week end the site went over 230,000 approved comments and was close to 260,000 total comments. Bitcoin is edging toward $200 and the Stock Market is poised! Being both conservative and an optimist causes me to sometimes be at a funny point. I will liken it to being on the edge at the Pali in Hawaii. The wend rushes up the cliff and the wind blows to your back. You are being pushed off the cliff by the wind, but you find that you can not fall for the wind is blowing up with such force, that you can actually lean out over the cliff and not fall. For some the courage required is like that of the toreador but for others it is easy.

Today the winds at our back are an over bought stock market, an ever weakening dollar, inflation and unemployment that are very grossly stated by our government, a weak foreign policy and a governments in North Korea, Iran and Syria that are totally crazy. The winds rushing up the face of the cliff are the strength of Big Oil and Gas, A crazy stock market, the new Bitcoin and the undying American Idea that we can not fail. Are the winds coming up the cliff strong enough to sustain our weight leaning out over the cliff. Will anyone of them falter. Oil and Gas are being inhibited by our government, the stock market is crazy, Bitcoin is new and may just be a safety net, and the American Idea has never been tested in this way.

So what is Obama doing. Is he destroying the American Way? Does his idea of an Islamic Socialism fit what we Americans believe? Can America survive? I will answer that right out. Yes we will survive, but we will be like the prize fighter who had a hard fight. We will be badly marred, but we will survive. What will be the cost? The last President to bet the lives of our countrymen was Lincoln. He felt that he could afford to spend a great number of Americans to save our Union. We all know that the 750,000 or more that died were to many. But when you push a population that is unprepared for famine and a destroyed dollar, it is very possible to go over that figure an approach a total dead of far greater than one million. That will put Obama up there with Genghis Khan, Stalin, Mao and Hitler. First will be the food riots, then troop control, than personal starvation and then revolution. Each will contribute to the total deaths. People died in the 30′s from starvation. They died over time in Appalachia and other places because of National neglect, and to some extent the general population still does not care. They will begin to care when the food riots and dollar failure occur. Then we will see everyone care, but they will be unable to do anything about it. The Government is buying food and ammunition, but not at a rate that will sustain the whole population. Maybe they will have enough bullets to start a revolution, but will they have enough to sustain it and win.

Here, is the one thing that seems to be causing Obama to move with more caution than he desires.  We are an armed population. No other country has been so armed, but also none have been so utterly confused by its government. Our children have been taught green and socialism. Their parents knew patriotism and sacrifice. One thing we do know. Many children love their parents and believe what their parents teach them. The armed population and enough young members that can sustain a war, are a big determent to a despot.  That map of the last election, which showed the major population centers as red and the rural as blue also show the areas where there are food and where there is not food. Food growth is rural. Guns are greatly rural, especially long guns such as rifles.  Also most of the resources come from  rural areas. Gas, oil, electricity, mining all occur in rural areas. With out these resources a city quickly grinds to a halt. The population will also halt and look for food. If they can barter, they will. If not they will try to take by force. Here is the rub for Obama. Can he control this battle, or he just hunker down and wait it out hoping to takeover in the ensuing confusion.  I do not think he will go for an all out fight, for he does not have the full support of the Military against the civilian population. What he does control is the Unions, Acorn, and several agencies that he has manned and armed. Add to this the gangs and rift raft that will fight for food, and he has an Army of sort. If he can contain the Military and fight and in-house fight he will.

We are not a Nation at war, yet. We are a Nation on that brink that I have described. The dollar is sick and will not survive, except should Obama go back on his word and unleash Big Oil and Gas. In that case, the dollar might rebound. It would almost be like backing the dollar with gold. The President will not back Big Oil. He may try to back it without looking like he is backing it. This will give him more time. Without some oil, the economy will falter and stop. There will be food riots and a great loss of the items that people need to survive. With that will come loss of life. Especially among the old. Both the weak and the very old will quickly perish. Next to go are those who are not able to protect themselves, and who have not prepared at all. They will loose their food and the government will run out of food.

Now it will get interesting. Obama has armed himself with the documents so that he can seize any and all stored foods. That means yours, prep-per. He will send out the Union, Acorn along with his special armed government officials and they will take food to feed the population. Of course it will not be enough. He will seize all food farms and areas where fish and other eatable items are found. This will be a tenuous time. The Military will be doing crowd control and general population safety. They will not be protecting you from these thugs. Then it comes to how quickly the population in rural areas can organize. Which side will Sheriff’s come down on. I assume they will side with the local people. Will they become the basis of the urban military. Next who will the Military side with, or will like in the Civil War, will it split and become the basis for both Armies. The same way it inhibited Lincoln, this will inhibit Obama. He will not have the full support of the Military like he does outside the borders.

We the people, in order to establish and maintain, so those words went. Of course we the rural population can use the Constitution as written. Our Government is not using it. I would like to see some areas strengthened.  We need stronger wording in the Judicial side concerning the protection of all. One side would never be protected over the whole population. Nor would the whole be protected over the small group.  It is supposed to be that way now, but any group can complain and automatically cause a shut down of the other side. The Blacks say that they will not allow the Confederate Battle Flag because it denotes slavery and hatred. Now we all know that the attributes denoted are the concerns of people and not flags, but they still stop the use of the flag. Other stupidity is that over church and state. No where in the constitution does it state that there is a separation of church and state. It does say that the government will make no laws. Obama has interpreted that to mean that he can make rules for the common good. So he says, the church will provide certain protections against disease and pregnancy the latter being strictly against church rules. This is under advisement of the court and may be changed, but in fact, it is a bad practice to force the church against its ordinances. We have both interested parties and lawyers, that can figure this out, but we must fix something that can be changed in court by any and every crackpot that comes along.

Do I sound like a Revolutionary? Of course I do. But I am not. I do not want our country to go through this, but our President is bent on destroying our constitution and the way we live. I can not tolerate that.  If what I described is what will happen, so be it. I do not doubt, that in the long run, the rural will win. The cities will dwindle down till few are left. We will be eating and surviving in the rural areas. Long live the farmer! He along with the gun owner is the ultimate patriot.

I know that Bitcoin have been above $66 today. That is way over a one hundred percent increase since the end of February. The simple math is that if you had invested $1 you would now have $2. If it had been $100 then you know the answer already. How about $1000 to $2000. I like that. No, Mother this is not a game.

Bitcoin may be the salvation for many  people in Cyprus and Greece. Then it may save many in Europe. When the Euro dies, many people will also die. Some will have gold or silver or some other currency, but it will be difficult to convert those. With a little preparation now, you can save your money. Start buying Bitcoin now. Continue to use the local currency until it will not buy anything. Then, if you have a nice nest egg in Bitcoin you will survive. You may also have doubled your nest egg. Remember the Dollar will fall soon for our Government is printing money as fast as they can. They want you to use and spend, not save, and not in a way they can not control.

You say you can not buy anything with Bitcoin, but you would be wrong. You can buy many things including medicine on the internet using Botcoin. You can even have it mailed to you. If your mail system is down, then maybe, some of your local stores will be using Bitcoin by then.  It will not be difficult. It is likely that it will be better than credit cards, unless the credit cards start using Bitcoin.

Why do I like Bitcoin. One, it is encrypted currency. No one can copy it and it can only be used in one place at a time. Two, it is valuable because people all over the world are beginning to believe in it and it is not a government currency. Three, In fact when you spend it, everyone can tell some money was spent, but no one but the merchant ant the buyer can tell who did the action. Four, It is very mobile. You can carry it on your phone. We truly are in the digital world.

I do believe that the Bitcoin may even save us from Obama. One thing the Bitcoin can do is make your money invisible and in some ways nontaxable. If everyone moved to Bitcoin the Government would soon be starved for money. Raising taxes would not help, for more money would just disappear.  There are even ways you can disappear completely. You can make a deal with your employer for him to pay you in Bitcoin. He would not have to pay payroll taxes because no one could prove he was paying anyone. Also by paying a little more, you could pay your own health care,  This has unbelievable ramifications. No, some of it may not be legal, but then no one can prove you are being paid. I thought of a way to encrypt a saying that would prove you were guilty. Use it for your wallet password. By the constitution they can not make you incriminate yourself, thus the government could not access your wallet. There are also many more solutions.  The end result is that you could along with your countrymen, bankrupt your country, without hurting yourself. Thus we could bring government under control.

The key, everyone has to start using Bitcoin. That alone will drive the value up while reducing the governments take. Also businesses would race to start accepting Bitcoin. The dollar would rapidly fall in value. Thus the government would fall even more.  Finally we could return to the small government our constitution envisions. Maybe we could even get congress pay under control.

How do you do this. To get started go to Bitcoin.org and read. Next get a wallet. It is something similar to those wallets you  had in msn. But this wallet is supper encrypted. I have even heard that people encrypt their password several times. This virtually makes it impossible for someone to have his wallet stolen. Then you can go into some elaborate system to hid the password. A note: Many passwords are lost and the wallet can not be opened.  Bitcoin even anticipates this and realizes that some Bitcoin will be lost to use. Since it is not a bank or government document it is not something that can be recovered. So keeping your password and your wallet address become super important.

Next we need Bitcoin. Of course that takes money. You can withdraw some from your bank, and contact Bitinstant.com for a deposit to transmit the money to one of the Bitcoin companies that sell Bitcoin. The biggest is MtGox.com (MT Gox) a Japanese company that sells Bitcoin. It will soon have a stateside version (CoinLab.com) that will sell in the US and Canada. It should also make money transfer easier. I have tried Bitinstant, Bank Wire transfer, and Dwolla.com The latter is easier, but it is slow.

wire is expensive. Dwolla cost one quarter per use. Bit instant and wire can get you Bitcoin in hours. There are many more ways and you may find one better. CoinLab will be available by the end of April which will greatly help, but the price of Bitcoin is going up fast. I hope it hurries.  Till this I will keep using MT Gox.

Now, you have some Bitcoin and you can keep it in your Mt Gox wallet or you can move it to your on personal wallet. Some people even keep their wallet on a memory stick or a separate hard disk or disc. What ever makes you feel good. Mine is at Blockchain.Info where I feel it is safe so long as I keep my password and access safe. One of the early users of Bitcoin had his wallet hacked, and another lost large amounts of Bitcoin. The guy that was hacked had left his password on his computer. They got to him very easy. I have mine in a encrypted file box in one  of my computers. The password is in a secure hiding place. Thus I do not expect to lose mine nor have it hacked. There are encryption programs online for sale and free. Microsoft even has a file secure encryption program. The main thing is be safe, secure your password and wallet.

At a web store you can purchase almost anything. The merchant will provide his wallet, and you deposit the amount from your wallet. I find scanning my wallet is easy and I retain the password. I enter the amount and my wallet and the transfer is made. Transferring money from Mt Gox to my wallet is similar. If you have your wallet on your smart phone this is very easy.

What else can you do? I am told you can buy illegal drugs and legal drugs. Drugs not available in your state or country, but in another. You can purchase online and it will arrive in the mail. There is no money trail, thus if questioned, you just say you have no knowledge. If you are my age, getting drugs at a price that I can afford is important. This will make it very easy. Are your parents old and spending hundreds of dollars for medicines. You can buy them in Belize or Denmark or other places where the medicine is cheap, then have it mailed to your parents. They will appreciate it.

The Silk Road (Black Market) is a little harder to find, but you will also need to be more invisible. Go to the TorProject.com and download their browser. It will place some but not many, restrictions to the way you use the browser. What is its benefit? This system bounces you search all over the world. No one can follow you and it it legal. How you get to Silk Road and to spend your Bitcoin, I do not know, but you are close.  There is also the gray market where the medicines are sold. It is smart not to be followed when buying medicines at prices not allowed in the US. Enough said. Again I have not done this but I have heard.

You can buy thousands of legitimate items items on the internet and the stores are taking Bitcoins. You can also gamble. Many online casinos are taking Bitcoin. Some convert them back to dollars or the local currency, but you remain somewhat secure. Some places like to stop money laundering, Others use Bitcoin all the way and your identity is secure. Again I do not know for sure for I have not gambled since Vietnam.

This is a quick course in Bitcoin. I am also a beginner but I may be ahead of you and this might help. The main thing is to get buying Bitcoins because they are going up in value and you can not help but win. Price on February 28 – $30.  Price tonight $65.50. Go!

I wish I had an update. I have spent hours researching this time  frame and what happened. To  date, zilch, nada. nothing. So from about 12 February 1863 to 5 March 1863, what did happen to the 27th Texas.

There are many guesses, but here is my best guess. On the 19 of February, the 27th had a small skirmish with Union gunboats.  The fort that sealed off the area, Fort Pemberton, made the area very difficult for Union troops getting to Vicksburg from that direction. Rising waters had made land routes almost impassable. So impassable that even Cavalry could not operate. So the 27th was released to join the Whitfield Brigade. The Brigade had gone to Tennessee with General Van Dorn.

The distance from Yazoo Pass, Mississippi,  to Thompson Station, Tennessee, is almost 300 miles as the crow flies. But there is not a direct route today, nor was there one back in the 1860′s. The distance had to be close to 400 miles by hill and dale. That would have been a ride of 23 to 31 miles per day. Of course the wagons and slow men stayed in a slow train and the detachment that went to Thompson Station was light and not very  large. Maybe 300 men. When they got there the horses were good for nothing.

But getting there was not an easy task anyway. Grant had word that a Cavalry unit was moving north toward Tennessee. He put out the word to not let them pass, so it was not an easy movement. Add to that several river crossings, including the Tennessee and the Duck Rivers. The land is very hilly with fairly dense new growth. Today it has some fairly good forest and growth to encounter. The route they probably used was the Natchez Trace. Today much of it is a beautiful parkway. Then it must have been very difficult, especially when you were covering 23 to 31 miles per day on horse back for 13 days. If they rested a day then the mileage per day increased. We know that some men were captured and wounded along the route. So the Union did delay their progress. We do know that they were at Thompson Station on the 5th of March and that they fought as Infantry. I would guess, their horses said they were too tired to go into battle.  Actually they were worn out and needed rest for several days in the good Tennessee countryside, before they could function again as Cavalry horses.

The regiment was given the responsibility of hiding behind a rock fence behind the rail station. This they did well. A Union Infantry regiment reinforced with cavalry and artillery came along and the regiment was instrumental in capturing most of the unit, their equipment and their horses.

What can happen in 13 days and over a route of 300 to 400 miles. Not a whole lot, for they were going too fast. Union forces probably had trouble tracking them, they were going so fast. They could have taken cars, the name for rail road flat cars and have gone form Jackson to Corinth. After that it was by foot or horse back.  They were a battle hardened Cavalry regiment trained as Infantry and as skirmishers. They were capable of fighting most units they encountered. They had fought infantry divisions at Iuka and Hatchie Bridge.  They had gone against fortified positions at Davis Mills and were ready for the task at hand.

There was not a lot to eat. It was still winter and there were no crops growing. Only through hard forage could anyone find even an uneaten corn cob or apple still on the tree. So at times they went without. It was difficult to take food from countrymen during the winter. Also they were moving fast, so they did not have much time to forage. They took all the rations that they could. They also went through many towns where they knew that they could get some food.

There arrival in the Spring Hill, Thompson Station area before the 5th of March was a good fortune to General Van Dorn. It gave him enough power to take on and defeat a fairly large unit.  The Infantry unit captured consisted of 1906 men wounded or killed. The Confederates lost 300 in hard battle.

Today there is a sign and the rail road station, no tracks and the fields are deep in grass and a few other buildings. There is nothing to indicate the battlefield and the sign does not really relate to a Confederate victory. But then we lost the war.

What happened in those 13 days and how hard was it? From my house to Junction Texas is a little over 30 air miles. By road it is close to 50 miles.  On today’s horses, it would be difficult to do one day.  The horses had to be hardened to the daily toil and the hardship. These horses were but they were still burnt out by the time they got to Thompson Station. It was too many miles and too much hardship.

These 13 days were cold, beautiful, difficult, fun, and the superlatives could go on and on.  I have driven the area in both the winter and the summer. I prefer the summer, but they did not have a choice. They may have still had overcoats from the raid on Holly Springs, but in the war it did not take long for clothing to wear out. The horses probably needed new horse shoes and food.

What really happened during those 13 days my be lost in the writings of war. Surely one man wrote home of his ride. It would be nice to find something, I like to tie the ends so that a good description is provided. A guess does not tie ends nor is it necessarily true. It had to be a hard ride for the horses to be worn out. But the men fought well and were in the middle of the battle and carried away honor. This is my guess, and I pray that it does honor those 27th soldiers in those 13 February and early March days.

After the debacle at Carter Creek near Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee, the 27th took awhile to regain enough strength to operate as a regiment. They had to have new equipment and horses, items that the Confederacy was dearly short. Texas helped and the portion of the regiment not at Carter Creek and those that got away, were the basis or reorganization. No, they would never be the 12 company regiment that they had been. But their commander, Lieutenant Colonel Broocks stated that they would never be surprised again.

And surprised they were not. Over whelmed the were. For the first few months they would regroup along the Big Black and Yazoo Rivers. Familiar territory, and a good place to regain their confidence. At the Battle of Yazoo City, Mississippi they fought well. In early January after Ross had assumed command they ferried as many rifles as anyone to waiting troops in Arkansas working in the icy waters of the Mississippi. As  February came along the regiment was working the area of central Mississippi from Jackson south. They were in front of Sherman when he left Vicksburg and started to Meridian. Though completely out numbered, the brigade and the 27th fought well. Though they did not defeat Sherman, he did return to Vicksburg because he knew that the trip ahead of him would be very bloody. Sherman called the Texas Troops, dandies who just ran around the battlefield and had a good time and their slaves took care of them.

The Ross Brigade was an orphan in the wilds of the war. Far from Texas they had to ask, borrow and take food and fodder from the people of the South. There equipment and horses came from battles with Yankee units. Often they went without. Without shoes, boots, food and fodder. Their horses often ate before them, and that was a corn husk. The people of the North say that the South starved the Yankee prisoners at Anderson-ville and other prisons. In truth they fared the same as the Southern Soldier. In May of 1864, the Brigade was sent to the east from duty that they had been performing in Alabama. There they had been rounding up deserters and Union sympathizers.  Not glamorous duty, but necessary.

They arrived in the vicinity of Rome, Georgia, on or about the 15th and many fought in the first battle of the Atlanta Campaign. It is not known which specific companies fought but all four regiments of the brigade were there. They moved down the line toward Atlanta with General Johnston’s Army delaying Sherman’s Army at a great cost to both. The South could not replace those that fell, except for a few young soldiers who came to replace fallen brothers. The North had an excellent system that kept sending soldiers. Sherman lost over 35,000. It is probable that had the South kept up the attrition of Union soldiers, the mother’s of the North would have stopped the war.

The 27th fought the 18th and 19th near Kingston, Georgia, May 26th to June 1st at Dallas. From June 1oth to July 2nd around Marietta and at the Kenesaw Mountain battles, June 15th at  Brush Mountain, June 20th at Powder Springs, Lattimer’s Mill and Noonday Creek. In July they were along Nickajack Creek and then Ruff’s Station, at Smyrna, Georgia. The battle line was then along the Chattahoochee River, and the 27th found itself along the Nickajack, Nancy Creeks, small tributaries,  in various battles.

The combat was fought in various modes. The regiment would be inserted as Infantry, as flank guards, as reconnaissance, as rear guards. Where ever they were needed they went and fought as directed. Finally on the 22nd of July they were sent according to their history to stop Garrard’s Raid to Covington, Georgia, and then General McCook’s Raid. The 27th was part of the effort that finally cornered General McCook and his superior force, and then chased them back to Union lines. They fought in battles at Flat Shoals, Lovejoy Station and Smith’s Cross Road, Clear Creek and Macon, Georgia. After a few days of reduced combat, they began to here of another raid. They were on picket  when General Kilpatrick’s Division began its raid. It came right over the regiment. It was all they could do, to hold until another regiment of the brigade formed behind them. Then they would pull out and race to the rear to set up a new position. From August 16th to the 22nd they were in almost continuous contact with Kilpatrick’s Raid. They fought initially at  Camp Creek, then Jonesborough, Red Oak, Flint River, Lovejoy Station and then at a quite farm southwest of Atlanta, called Nash Farm. Here Kilpatrick and his Division were cornered, by a vastly inferior force, and were forced to flee for their lives. They chose a mass brake out over the Ross Brigade. They did not know that Ross’ Brigade at that time was under 800 in strength. They lined up and charged out, making their escape. They lost many men and much equipment and horses. Though Ross had been run over, he was relieved that he had also been resupplied. The last real battle of the Atlanta campaign for the regiment was a small one at Fairburn, Georgia. After that they scouted Sherman’s Army but fought no more battles.

In October they fought a small skirmish with Union Cavalry at Van Wert, Georgia. From then on they were part of the advance guard of General Hood’s Army during its ill fated campaign into Tennessee. There would be actions at Lawrenceburg,  Campbellsville, and Lynnville. There would be skirmishes at Columbia, at the Duck River crossing and action at Columbia  Ford, skirmishes at Thompson Station, Owen’s Cross Roads. They were part of a demonstration at Murfreesborough and they played a minor roll at the Battles of Franklin and Nashville, and then fought at Richland Creek, Lynnville and King’s Gap (Anthony’s Gap, Devil’s Gap) near Pulaski, Tennessee as part of the Brigade and General Forrest’s rear guard which allowed General Hood to retreat from Tennessee.

They fought two more minor battles in January and February in 1865 both in Mississippi. On May 13th they were paroled in the vicinity of Jackson, Mississippi. A regiment that had once held 12oo men was down to less than 200. They had lost a good number at Iuka and Hatchie Bridge. From then on the attrition came from continuous battle and fatigue. The biggest enemy at the start of the War was disease. Measles, Mumps, Typhoid and numerous other ailments daily reduced the regimental strength. After Carter Creek there were a lot of desertions for a while, but after the Atlanta Campaign started the desertions fell to almost zero. A man who was being held in the hospital until he was well, might loose spirit and desert, but those in combat did not. You could almost say the regiment lost one man per day. Iuka was an exception. The regiment fought a Division that day and lost only 19, but there had been several more wounded. At Hatchie Bridge, they again ran up against a Division. That day they had more captured. Thus were the ways of war. The regiment served well after Carter Creek. They could stand tall, even though the South lost.

I wish I was not so tied to this blog. There is so much to see, learn and to do on the internet, and I do not mean blog hop. I have bought some of the new digital currency, opened a wallet, and have started to disappear. What did he say? Yes, I said disappear. I went to the Tor project and learned how to start to disappear. I bought some bitcoin and continue to disappear. You see, Bitcoin is digitally encrypted, and in some respects is not even associated with you. Only when you put coins in your wallet, does it show something happened. If I do it while browsing in TOR the answer is difficult. You see, like the movies, your browsing is bounced from many sites around the world,thus you are lost to someone following your browsing patterns. With encrypted coins and no one knowing you location, you are disappearing.

A little more on Bitcoin. This digitally encrypted money is growing very quickly. Just over a year ago, a coin was worth a dime. Today one Bitcoin is equal to 31.18 USD. Had you had 2000 USD in Bitcoin back in 2010 and held it, today it would be worth, I think, over 600,000 USD. I am not a mathematician, so this can be off, but all in all you would have made a lot of money. You need to look at Bitcoin, Bitinstant, MtGox, and I think Bitstamp in Europe. This is not an American coin. It is a world coin, and is being traded in all currencies, around the world. If you can get on line you can buy Bitcoin and either save, or you can use it to buy. I would bet you can either have someone else buy it on line and put it in your wallet. Then you wallet can be put on a memory stick and you could carry it like a credit card. Like most things good, the bad sees it first. A place called Silk Road sells drugs and uses Bitcoins. You can also gamble with bitcoin. But there are also many business that operate in what is called the gray market. They sell legitimate products but may not have a good market where they are. Some are illegal where they are, but not where you are. These people are also using Bitcoin. A world market is growing and a world digital currency is also growing that is not tied to any bank, government, country or the UN. In this respect it is very amazing. For years we have been under the yoke of banks and government bureaucracies. Now through someone’s invention we have a currency that may be unbelievable in that it is less expensive, spendable in all countries, crosses borders without tariff, goes through currency exchange, many times without charges or fees. Here is something we have needed for a long time, and we sit back and wait to see if it is real. Sure a lot of the early guys are rich. But that is relatively unimportant. What is important, is that we have something that is truly good for the whole world. Everyone needs to buy some coins, to hold and to learn. As we use these Bitcoins the problems will be ironed out and the digital currency will become usable everywhere. There are thousands of stores now, but we need millions for the currency to be safe. It already seems secure, because of its encryption.

With a safe currency, the people in Europe will be able to protect their wealth. Maybe not the EURO but at least there personal money. Today you can board a plane with no money of any kind, go to another country, and whip out your address, and obtain bitcoin with your wallet, and buy the currency of that country, buy items, even gold or silver if that is legal. If you have no bitcoin and your money is in another country, it is not impossible to get your money, but it will take a few days. You have to set up transfers between banks and wait till the process is done. There will also be many fees. Bitcoin solves many of these problems.

Some of Silk Road drugs are those that are expensive or not obtainable in our country. Through Silk Road and Bitcoin you can safely buy the items you need. Silk Road has many shops selling Marijuana. In fact almost 15% of the sales are for MJ, weed or what ever you call it. It is mailed in a plain package to your door. If caught by the police, the quantity is small and you can say that it was mailed to you in error, as you did not want it. The police can not prove you bought it because you used Silk Road, TOR and Bitcoin. I do not suggest you do this, because in 77 years I have only use drugs for my knee replacements and a couple of cancer operations. I do not and have not use recreational drugs. The illustration is there for those that need pills not found here or where ever you are.

Why do I bring up disappearing? We live in a state of struggle between right and wrong, that is not paralleled in history. Through out the world we are being taxed by governments to the extent that individualism is destroyed. Only by changing the way we function as a society can we survive. We must protect our money and our independence. We can do this by protecting our self on the web. We can become invisible and do our business in any way we want. The fact that you can circumnavigate taxes and fees that the Government has set up is not our problem. If you want to pay taxes do so. But most of us feel that our money is ours, and not to be given to someone else, who chooses not to work. Redistribution of wealth is a socialist term. When you work for something, you should not have to give it to someone who did not work,

The biggest value of the Bitcoin may be when the Dollar and EURO die. And die they will because many countries are printing money as fast as they can to pay bills. This printing of money is causing the purchase capability of the Dollar to inflate at a rate that will destroy everyone. The Bitcoin is not a government product. It is a market driven currency and allows people of all countries to protect themselves, as they purchase Bitcoin as a hedge against the inflation. Bitcoin will rise in value do to use and market demand. It is not affected when one currency goes viral and out of control. Its value is constant. It may decrease in value, as it grows as a currency, but it will not go to zero, except the one case where everyone stopped believing in the system and stopped using it. So long as  people believe, it will continue to exist.

So go Google Bitcoin or what ever browser you use. See what it is. Follow the links that are available. Learn how to use it. Get a wallet. They are free. If it cost, go where they are free. I had to get out of my fur lined fox hole and go to a CVS drug store to deposit money to buy my first Bitcoin. I need to learn more, so I can do it from home. I also need to learn how to use them to pay a bill.  I have a lot to learn, but it is fun.

I did learn one thing. You can now donate to my wallet. My address is 15X9mauouMWoW53i6X6GdY3KfAFifqCdJx

You can send Bitcoin to that address. Thank you. Boy, you do go down hill in your old age.

Today, is two days later and the Bitcoin is now at 34.60 had has been as high as $34.99. That is a $3.42 rise in two days. We may be in the biggest wealth transfer in history. If you had bough a $1000 worth of Bitcoin at this price that is 32.07184 Bitcoin. You would now have $1,1o9.6856 or $109.69 in two days. Do that for one year and you would have $199, 743.40. Nice gain for a $1000 dollars. Will it continue to grow? Now is the time to look. What is it one bit coin might make as much as $547.20. Not bad for a $31.18 investment.  I do not suggest you do this investment, but it is certainly worth a look with the dollar dying.

Closing in on my 40th wedding anniversary, so Valentine’s Day has relative importance. No we do not get all gushy and trade candy and all, but we do express our love in different ways. My wife has found e-commerce and enjoys looking at jewelery and fashion on the line. My wife will pull me from my self induced trance looking at comments or writing, to look at a neck-less or ring. She usually is having problems with the input for paying or some such, so I will be forced to help in that. Around Valentine’s Day she will find something she likes and buy it. Thus I have bought he a Gift. It is interesting, for if the price is more than normal, I will not be told. Other wise I will hear that the gift cost $27.99 on sale or some such comment.

It seldom changes. As for me, my gift may be the joy of taking her to Chilli’s or some other restaurant. Not that I need anything. My preference is to be left alone to write or read. But what of our children. The Oldest daughter wants a nice dinner with wine and all the trimmings. It can be at home or a restaurant but needs to be nice. The second and third daughters, like Valentines Day with all the trimmings. They need the candy, flowers and dinner. The youngest daughter, 38, likes a nice night out with friends. She is on a diet, so it is not so important on the restaurant, just that it have nice salads and good drinks. Her two girls need Valentine’s Cards and a ring or bracelet, not expensive. Their brother Joey is eleven so he is just getting into computers and does not need girls or Valentines.

But my real love needs a lot more. She is slightly under 237 years old, and has certainly been mistreated. She wants to have Valentines with the trimmings. Great quantities of commerce with everyone having success and businesses just humming. She likes the niceties like old time religion and great quantities of patriotism. She misses the singers like Kate Smith who sang her song so well.

But what does she get today. There is a lot of commercialism, with the selling of flowers and candy and cards. But the people are different. Many do not have a clue about America. We hear stories about kids being kicked out of school for chanting “USA, USA, USA” at a basketball game. Seems there are a large number of Latino students in the school, and the administrators felt the USA chant was racial. Wearing USA flag t-shirts is also for bidden but you can fly a US Flag upside down under a Mexican Flag. That is OK. It may well be. The US is in distress. The upside down flag is a sign of distress. And the distress will continue. The assault on our Constitution by the Left, the control freaks who want to run our lives from birth to death, spend every dollar we make, and take the right to choose from us along with most of our other rights, will continue. They will not stop until we are down and out. One description I have heard this morning, is that Obama is the attack dog, and he is able to sway most of those who are his followers. He is now working on the rest. He wants people to give up and come over to his way. When he has enough control, he will take the rest by force.

I resist this and hope you do too. Will we win? At this point the only way we might win is by a Civil War now, before this thing destroys America, completely. He does not care about America. He rolled out a laundry list of things that he wants to do this year. All require money. WE HAVE NO MONEY. Every dollar we spend, more than half was borrowed. Continuing this will take America to total ruin.

Happy Valentines! That is almost a joke. We still can have happy times, except if we think about what is going on behind the scenes, one can get sick. The Treasurer of the United States prints more money. He is creating money. He pays this to the Federal Reserve System to pay the current bills for the running of America. He also collects taxes to pay the interest on money that the borrows. Each dollar printed lowers the value of the overall dollar. At some point the actual dollar will equal the value of the new printed dollars, and when we go to the market to get our food, it will cost more dollars than we have. That box of Valentine Chocolates will cost thousands of dollars. Will we buy then, will any of us be able to buy. The answer is no.

Then we will think about those preppers that we saw on TV. We will understand what they saw and were preparing for in their harried collection. At that point those people who bought gold will become very rich, until, the Government regulates Gold and Silver. As they came to take our Guns the Government will come to take Gold and Silver. Nor will they give you its true worth. They will give you a large bucket of those worthless dollars. Is this not just the most wonderful time. Don’t worry. The preppers will also be raided. Government collectors will come and collect their excess. The Government will define excess. Again they will be paid with the worthless dollars. Then we will all be in the same boat, up “THAT” creek without a paddle.

We must stop any of the actions by the Government that are in direct contradiction of the Constitution. Begin with the Second Amendment. We must not let Government take our Guns. Without weapons, we can not keep them from taking everything we have. I, as a Precinct Chair and Judge, may start my own Militia. Then everyone who wants can join, and retain their guns and Ammo. We must support the people under attack. Do not let the Government destroy someone and sit by and watch. Help that person. We got here by helping each other.

The Government is destroying Religion in America. Do not consider Islam as a religion. It is a way of life that takes all that you have and gives it to the religion. Then you are allowed to have based on your participation in the religion. Step back lady. Men first. The Religious portion of Islam may have its value, but the portion that prevents me from freely practicing my Religion, is wrong. I can not change my view of that. I believe in Jesus Christ. Not Mohammad, who seems to have been a thief for a lot of his life. He reverted to Religion, he said he received direction to make his religion first and all other religions would be second or not exist.

This basic problem of Religion for Islam is similar to what I see Obama is trying to do to America. If you do not believe his way you are not allowed to exist. Now is the time to Resist. Maybe it is the time to fight. We can not wait till the Government has us down. For a while we stopped Communism but It still may be a problem. We stopped it or slowed it by fighting. Now we have Islam, Socialism, Communism all at our door, and we are supposed to lay down. Obama is beginning to resemble the Anti-Christ. Maybe we are getting close to the End Times of the Bible. But I do know that we must continue to fight anything that tries to prevent our religion. We must continue to live good lives and help each other. We must do our best. We must work for a better life. It is not something we get for nothing.

Why do I talk like this? Because in 1933 a man in Germany led his people down a wrong road. In the process he killed 14 million people. In Russia more were killed in the name of Government. In China even more perished under two happenings. First the Japanese and then the Communist Government. We do not know how many millions died.

But Governments must be controlled and kept small. When small they do not cost as much and they do not cause as much trouble. I like the amendment that is being proposed to end the life time salary for Congressmen. Also they would be able to make no laws that did not also pertain to them. They would also be subject to being removed from office after a few years. These rules alone would save billions. I also feel there should be total restraint of vacations and retreats paid for by the people. During Truman’s time he paid for his on cost and did not have Federal Agents when he left office. The Local governments can build the roads and systems to help the people. Not the Federal Government. We must control Government. We must keep an eye on Obama. Government must be responsive to the people, not over the people. We the People Deserve Better Government.

Oh, by the way, Happy Valentines. And the ladies that want me to stop writing these war like pieces. As a Soldier, I guaranteed your right to have peace. And Peace through out history has been purchased with blood, of the Soldiers. When we have peace without Soldiers, people die, because someone is over controlling.

I had considered approving comments this morning but just do not feel ready for the 1600 that need to be approved. So instead, I decided to comment on what the President will not say in his State of the Union. How do I know what he will not say? That is easy. He will not say anything that will hurt his image or will be controversial. By that I do not mean that he will not say things that will blow the minds of Conservatives and Republicans. But he will not try to directly to cause the American public to be angry at him or his party.

As to the coming crash, I plan to note what I currently see coming and how I will approach my preparations. I see a crash on the horizon because of the amount of debt that is accumulating. Last night I viewed a report on what is causing the debt and why every thing will eventually fall. It was a very interesting tale of the Monetary System (Shell Game) and where we are headed.

The President will not tell us how we are going to get out of debt, or how we are going to reach new heights of earnings and achievement. He instead will tell us what others are doing to stop him from completing his plan for recovery. He will again tell us that the Republicans are doing everything that they can to make it difficult for him to proceed. He controls the Admin and the Senate, but the Republicans are preventing his progress. I wish that were true. His development of new orders that will control the way we function as a Nation continues and he has not even thought of reducing the debt. Even then, the most he would be to figure out, is a way to pay the interest. Without a total reversal of all he is doing could we consider a possible reduction of the debt. We can not even stop the coming fall of the market and the eventual death of the dollar. The President does not care about this as it aids his plans for a Socialist State.

The cycle of taking a blank check and writing on it a figure that will elevate us to new heights of debt is almost unbelievable. Our incoming taxes will not pay all the bills and interest due, so each day a new check is written to ourselves, for money to operate. A shell game is then orchestrated by the Treasurer of the United States and the Chairman of the National Reserve. They make believe that they are actually borrowing money to lower the debt, when in actuality they are just borrowing money to pay the interest. By doing this they keep all the borrowers happy and we continue to be able to borrow money. It is a process that goes on and on with you and I slowly becoming poorer. And we are supposed to enjoy it. Aren’t You happy.

A day is coming when my pay will be cut in half. My pay is basically retirement. I retired from the Army and then started drawing Social Security. When the Government can no longer pay its bills, rather than stop their pay and all the social systems that they have put in place, they will cut the Active Military and all of us retirees. The cut will be 50 percent of our pay and a promise. Oh, they will set up different protections, such as limiting suits and such to force us to pay our bills. This is much like putting patches on the inside of a sinking boat. The incoming water, just washes off the patch. As the Government gets more desperate, and the markets fall, and the cost of food either hyper inflates or the value of the dollar gets to zero and will but nothing, then they will cut my pay again. You see the process. At some point everything but the most essential, the ones running the Government, will be deprived of resources.

A smart ruler would put himself on rations, first. All of his administration second, and cut the free programs next. He might then cut the retirees, but not the Military until last. Keep the Country in the dark as long as possible.

The end result will be the same. A Country without money and forced to subsist on almost nothing until it digs itself out of this mess. During this period, Obama will try to install Socialism as our government, and force us to be what we do not want to be. No one in the current Government wants to tell us we are broke and unable to pay our bills. No one wants to stop borrowing. They, the two sides just agreed to keep borrowing at the same rate for the next three months. In other words we will go farther into debt, without a resolution.

From my point of view, the result can not be Socialism. I do not care to go there. I prefer the Free Market and a free world. But where Obama is taking us, will not only affect America, but the whole World. We will end up without friends, because of our Government’s actions. Not that I feel that any of our current friends would be able to help us, but I do feel that they want to go down with us, because we are friends.

So what do you or I do. We prepare for the great Wealth Transfer. Money will go from some of the current rich to some of the current poor. This is not true of all. Many rich are smart and always, prepare. Many of the new rich and the Stars will not prepare. Myself, I am preparing. Each additional day allows me to be more prepared. Am I like the preppers? Only in a few ways. I am not totally preparing for everything. I am only preparing for the fall of the stock market and the dollar. After that, God help us all. How much preparation is that?

One, I am getting into silver in any mode that I can. I buy 90% silver, pre 1964 coins. I will also buy one gram bars when I can find them. Two, I am installing a solar system and developing ways to save money at home. We also using less food while obtaining more that will not spoil. Am I doing all this like a nut? No, I do it with fore thought. I know I need things, and when I see a buy, I get what I need. The other day I saw some ammunition I needed at a good price and I bought it. Three, I have slowly got out of having a lot of money in the banks. I have some cash to spend during the crash of the stores. Then it will be worthless. I have some in the market, to take advantage of the draw down of the dollar. I am not sure whether it will increase in such a way that I can use it, but I am planning to buy Bitcoins in hope of those being the money of the future. I will explain Bitcoins as I learn more.

Four, I am almost prepared to install a aquaponics system in my yard. I have the plans and many of the materials. I am locating more. This system would allow me to live in spite of what happens to the rest of the world. What is Aquaponics? That is the growing of fish using the nutrients from growing plants, while using the nutrients from the fish to fertilize the plants. What kinds of plants. Starting with basic vegetables, I would develop this system until it could raise almost any plant. I would also desire to have three different types of fish, so that I might have some variety. Five, I have collected for years, and have the ability to repair almost everything I own, so I also have a lot of things I can trade. Of course I will also be able to trade fish and vegetables so I am ready for the barter system. As I see the monetary system settle down, I will be able to use my barter to control my situation. Six,Yes, as I am old, I plan to also use barter to hire those I need to protect me and themselves, so that we may survive. I have weapons and can fairly well protect myself, but a few more people, would allow for 24 hour protection.

Seven, Do I really think I will need all this? The answer to that is the most difficult part of this puzzle. If I do not plan at least this much, and do the prep, what happens to me if the world does turn to kaka. That is a word I will use for another term. With no preparation, at my age, I would die a very early and violent death. My wife who is in her 60s would probably be not to far behind me. My beloved dogs would also not have a just end. No, I will prepare. If nothing else, I will be a little bit like the other end of the world kooks, but most of what I have will be usable. Also I can always open a store and sell fresh fish and vegetables.

Will anything that Obama says in his State of the Union message, 2013 have any relevance? It may give some truth to my planning and preparations. Other than that possibility, I have seen nothing in his past messages that would help me or you in any way. He has promised much for those who do not have, but I know that when you do not work for it, it has no value, and will not last. Thus, his promises are empty and will bring us nothing but unhappiness like that given to central Europe by the Russian Government of the 1950s.

For those that check my spelling, you will find many words, miss spelled. Or as I believe correctly spelled for usage in the future. Many of my other essays have miss spellings of words used in the past by people who could not spell. I did not change the history, that I copied. When it is current, blame the miss spelling on me. Yes, I did attend public school and did not learn to spell well, but do the best I can. Spell check, does not correct everything.

Any way, prepare and have a great life!