WILLIAM MORGAN
William Morgan was born in North Carolina. His family moved westward and he married Harriet L. Rogers in Louisiana. They were the parents of two sons Joseph Morgan and Ivan V. Morgan. All the Morgan family moved on to Texas and settled in Jasper County in the Erin, Magnolia Springs and Roganville areas. Ruby Burkett
The following story is by our nephew, Floyd Willis Boyett:
William Ivan Morgan was born in North Carolina to Duncan and Elizabeth Bell. William volunteered for the Confederate Mounted Cavalry, from Jasper County,
Texas. He was enrolled in the 13th Mounted Cavalry as a Private at Camp Burnett, Crockett Texas in March of 1862. He was assigned to Co. G, Burnett’s Regiment.
The following is a quote from the book “From The Desk Of Henry Ralph.”
“Badly in need of men to defend Arkansas, Confederate General Thomas C. Hindman requested fresh troops from Texas in the summer of 1862. The Jasper County had expected this move, perhaps not realizing that many, many months would pass before they would again see their families. Leaving Crockett, the Thirteenth Texas Cavalry traveled the same route taken by other Texas Confederate soldiers bound for Arkansas. On their journey of several days, after camping near Palestine, they crossed the Angelina River en route to Tyler, then rode on to Gilmer and Dangerfield. Entering the state of Arkansas, they forded the Red River on ferryboats drawn by oxen before making camp at Walnut Hill in LaFayette County. Many men became sick with measles.
On September 26 the Thirteenth Texas Cavalry was camped near Brownville, Arkansas, at Camp Nelson. There, by special order #39, they were placed under Brigadier General H. E. McCulloch’s 1st Brigade, with Colonel Overton Young, commanding. The scarcity of corn caused Hindman to dismount several Texas and Arkansas regiments including the Thirteenth and they remained so throughout the war. In the official records of the Civil War, the Thirteenth was occasionally referred to as an infantry regiment, probably because it had been dismounted. There was a great deal of sickness among the troops at Camp Nelson, resulting somewhat from the dirty water they were obliged to drink. No doubt the cold weather and lack of proper clothing also contributed to the dysentery, flukes and fevers that took around 1,500 lives”.
William Ivan Morgan was among those 1,500 men who died there in Little Rock, Arkansas and he is most likely buried at the Confederate Cemetery at Camp Nelson. At this time we do not know the exact date of his death but we do know he was a faithful and loving husband and father. He loved the South and we honor him for his service
Floyd Boyett
Now to finish my story:
It is so fortunate that William Ivan Morgan’s letters were handed down generation to generation and remain today in the Morgan family. They are still legible although the stationary is discolored by age and the embossed paper is fragile. I took them out of the envelope they were in (not the original one) they are no longer folded but in non acid sheet protectors. They have survived more than 140 years and should last many more.
In these letters, one can readily see that William, was, in as tactful a manner as was possible, trying to prepare his wife in the event he did not return home to her and their sons. The most touching aspect of his letters was his open affection for his family, especially his “Dear Beloved Wife or Beloved Wife”. As I transcribed the letters, I’m not ashamed to tell you, I did shed tears.
I remembered the letters I received from my husband while he served in the United States Navy during World War II and which I still find difficult to read fifty nine years later. War is and will always be a terrible and difficult situation with which to deal. There have been wars since the beginning of time. There is war now and there will be others in the future. We deal with them as best we can! On this Memorial Day in the year 2003, I fly “Old Glory” proudly and remember the military men who fought and made it home but especially those who did not come home including William Ivan Morgan, my relative I never knew----but feel that I do now know him after having worked with his letters.
Ruby Ray Boyett Burkett
May 26 2003