The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1909-09-30
Ante BeIlum Competitors and Army Officers

Wlen the Wrllef Was d Ooy Juoc ooSA"
ming to learn to marshal the adjutants OF
thought" in the office of the old San An
tonic Herald, of which paper John D. Logan
and my father were then proprietors, San
Antonio was the headquarters of the De-
partment OF Texas, as it is now, and many
of the officers of the old army were wont
to congregate in the editorial room OF the
Herald office, read the exchanges and dis
cuss various topics. have seen number
of men, whose names were then compare
lively unknown, but who became prominent
during the civil war, gathered in that old
editorial room. R. E. Lee, then lieuten-
ant colonel, among the number, though he
was never stationed at San Antonio during
the. time can remember, though he was in
the city quite often.
One day Major Earl Van Dorm, Captain
Bradfute, who died in the Soldiers Home
at Austin few years since, Capt. Pitcher,
Lieutenant Holmes and Lieutenant W. b.
Hazen were sitting in the office reading.
A door opened from the editorial room into
the mechanical department Of the office,
and just inside this door stood the case at
which l was at work. Presently Captain
Bradfute walked back and said: GOOD
morning, sonny" and stood there watching
me at work In few moments Lieutanant
Holmes came back and Captain Bradfute
said to him: "Holmes, don't you wish you
could handle those type as nimbly as that
little fellow camp 81 could once" said
Holmes, and added, to me: .,'Let me have
the stick, bud, and let's see if have for
gotten the boxes,' and he took the stick
from my hand and set up two or three lines
of type in a way which showed he had
once been familiar with the work. "Well,"
said Captain Bradfute, 81 did not know
you knew anything about the art preserva-
tive, though once had slight knowledge
of it myself" and thereupon he took the
composing stick and himself set two or
three lines of type.
This attracted the attention of the other
three officers, and they all came back to
the case. Major Van Dorm said he knew
how to set type little if he had not for
cotton, and he also set two or three lines,
though he was rather awkward at it, show
ing that some time had passed since he had
been at the case. Then Lieutenant Hazen
took the stick and set a few lines. OF the
five officers, Captain Pitcher was the only
one who did not have some knowledge of
the printing business.-Iaylor Thompson
IN tile Houston Chronicle.
Truly a group of remarkable men, a
. majority of them destined to greatly dis
r tinguish themselves in the great war soon
7 to burst, in all its fury, upon peaceable,
: prosperous and happy people. Lieutenant
/ Theophilus H. Holmes was promoted tc
3 Major General in the Confederate Army
and assigned to the command Of the Aquia
| District in Virginia, October %, 1862:
later he was promoted to Lieutenant Gen.
8 eral and placed in command of the Trans
0 Mississippi Department, which position he
t held until superseded by General E. Kirby
K Smith, when he was assigned to the Dis
8 trict of Arkansas. Major Van Dorm par
Il ticipated in the battle of the First Manas.
q sas; was promoted Major General ant
o assigned to the command of the first divis
f ion in the Potomac District. Transferred
|, to the Trans Mississippi Department HI
:, commanded the Confederate Army at thu
Battle of Pea Ridge, Ark. After the Bat
Il tie of Shiloh Van Dorn's command wa
# ordered to reinforce the Confederate Army
8 at Corinth, Van Dorm being placed in com
IS mand of the right wing or corps of tn
IS army. After the retreat from Corinth ant
IT the dismemberment of the Confederate
a Army at Tupelo, Miss, Van Dorm was ap
IL pointed commander of the District of Mis-
# sissippi, with headquarters at Vicksburg
: Unfortunately for the Confederacy he di,
not stay at Vicksburg, but advanced t
y Corinth and was defeated at that place il
Il October, 1852. Van Dorm was then super
e coded as district commander by Lieuten
it ant General J. c. Pemberton, and assignee
It to the command of the cavalry. On De
: cember 20, 1862, Van Dorm completed
surprised the Federal garrison and cap
y tured million and half dollars wort
i of army supplies at Holly Springs, Miss
10 It was no doubt the most eventful cavalr
>, raid of the war. In January, 1868, h
- defeated Federal force at Thompson
q Station, Tenn, capturing large numbe
e of prisoners. Captain W. R. Bradfut