WE ARE ALREADY MAKING A DIFFERENCE

We continue to hear from you and others like you who are interested in preservation of Civil War battlefields, particularly the endangered ground of the Red River Campaign at Mansfield. We wish you could see the powerful shovels, dragging along the ground, literally combing the earth at depths you wouldn’t believe. If you could see the damage that has already been done to the battlefield, you would understand even more than you do now just how critical our work is. It’s not that AEP-SWEPCO is a bad company. They provide power to residents of the region. But, like large corporations, they took no initiative to support preservation until they were asked to do so. Now, they realize that people do care about the historic value of the land that is being mined. It would be pointless to think we could save it all. But there are areas of special significance that can and must be preserved. Let them know YOU care. And with an upcoming political year in Louisiana, it’s particularly important for those of us who live in Louisiana to let candidates know that preservation of this battlefield is an issue. We certainly plan to take this issue to candidates for Lt. Governor (responsible for tourism) and for Governor.

If you have some time this summer, take a trip to the Mansfield State Historic Site. The small museum and a small collection of monuments and signage don’t really do justice to the magnitude of what took place there on April 8, 1864. The Historic Site has a knowledgeable, dedicated staff.. They do the best they can; but, realistically, tourism is never going to have its due in our budget-beleaguered state. If you’ve visited Louisiana, you probably know that most of the attention goes to South Louisiana, particularly New Orleans. Yet, in the opposite corner of the state is this little gem of a historic site and the land that once was part of the Red River Campaign. We hope to help Mansfield and DeSoto Parish take greater advantage of their historic tourism potential. We have been contacted about a potential event this fall at the Historic Site. Watch for details.

Our “friends” like you are signing up for charter membership. We now have members from not only Louisiana and Texas but from California, Illinois, New York, Georgia, and Belgium and we’ve even received a contribution of support from the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association and a reciprocal membership from Camp Ford in Tyler. Contributions have ranged from $5 up. Every amount of support helps!

GOOD NEWS FROM WASHINGTON

We mentioned in the last newsletter that we had applied for a farmland/ranchland easement for 40 acres of property that is part of the battlefield. This Congressional legislation is one way to protect the integrity of the land from development, and this is the first such use of this act in Louisiana. The application has been approved. Landowner Dr. Andrew Porter, a Shreveport dentist, has been positive and cooperative in assuring that this would come to fruition. This is exciting news as it sets an example for what can be done with land that has not yet been ravaged.

THANK YOU

Thank you to Jerry Russell (whose HeritagePac has been a good friend to battlefields) for a recent mailing to his membership regarding the destruction of the battlefield. Our efforts to preserve the Mansfield Battlefield started in our home office, mainly after dinner in the evening, as we pondered what we could do and make contacts on the computer. Alone, we could not make a difference. YOU, our members, are helping to make a difference. We appreciate the money and the words of support.

DATABASE CREATION

Our summer intern, Jennifer Grayson, is working on a database to help identify historical societies and organizations in Union towns or cities that provided troops for the Battle of Mansfield. We will be contacting organizations and newspapers in hope that they can connect us with people whose ancestors fought in the campaign. While we have records nearby on many of the Confederate troops, we are, sadly, missing Union information. This is in its preliminary stages now, but we hope to gather information and create an even larger database of participants in the Battle of Mansfield and the Red River Campaign. We will gather biographical information and portraits or photos of those who fought in this campaign. Since Gary is a member of the history faculty at LSU in Shreveport, we are hoping that we can find students from the university who will assist in putting all this together.

With our proposed database we hope to put together a “Hall of Fame” that will highlight many of the lesser-known participants in the battle. After all, it is easy to locate information on the notables but difficult to learn much about those whose names were not included in newspaper accounts of the day. Several of our members have shared information with us about their ancestors. This has inspired this project and we hope to establish some sort of computer template on our Web site (soon to be up and available) where information can be typed in and scanned portraits and photos can be attached. While SCV and SUV camps have often researched their ancestors, we have a particular interest in the Corps d’Afrique soldiers and are trying to identify a very special way to handle this research. (Incidentally, the next site threatened by the lignite mine is where Union and Corp d’Afrique troops fought.) This is in the organizational stages now. If you have suggestions, let us know.

FIRST GIFT BEING USED

The first gift to the Mansfield State Historic Site, a digital camera, is being put to good use. The digital camera is allowing the site’s staff to visually document what they have. You may not know that the site was once closed due to budget woes. Many of the articles on display were removed by donors and some mysteriously disappeared. Hopefully, the State of Louisiana now recognizes the tremendous tourism appeal of the Mansfield State Historic Site and will assure that it remains open for generations of citizens to enjoy.

E-MAIL REMINDER - WEB SITE

We appreciate those of you who have given us an e-mail address. Remember to let us know if you change e-mail addresses. Marilyn has been entering information into the computer and sending acknowledgements. She says it’s often difficult to distinguish an “O” from a “0” and sometimes an “e” from a “c.” If you gave us an e-mail address but receive this via snail mail, it means your address did not work as we entered it. Let us hear from you. You can e-mail gdjoiner@bellsouth.net. We hope to have our Web site active this month. We’ll let you know. In the future we will post newsletters on the Web site for your review instead of sending long documents to you. We will simply send you an alert that the current newsletter is available for your review. On the Web site we will include upcoming events at the Historic Site as well as give you information on visiting the park as well as accommodations available to you in Mansfield.

HONOR ROLL

****HONOR ROLL****

Special thanks to the following members who have joined at the Legacy Level and to our Business/Organization members.

LOUISIANA
Evelyne C.T. Abney, Shreveport
Roger Anderson, Shreveport
Berlin Airlift Veterans Association, Benton
Arthur R. Carmody, Jr., Shreveport
Richard L. Colquette, Shreveport
Reinhard Dearing, Slidell
Markham A. Dickson Jr., Shreveport
Semmes Favrot, New Orleans
General Polk Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy, DeRidder
Mr. and Mrs. Gregory Hamer, Morgan City
Jonathan Henderson, Shreveport
Andrew Higgins, Ruston
Gary D. Joiner, Shreveport
Paul Jones, Opelousas
Kyle A. Korcha, Leesville
David J. Krebs, New Orleans
Louisiana Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans
James Marvin Lowrey, Sulphur
Roderick Miller, Lafayette
North Louisiana Civil War Round Table, Shreveport,
Paul Oberle, Benton
Robert C. Poimboeuf, Shreveport
Shreveport Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Shreveport
J.G. Smith, Stonewall
Charles H. Stewart, M.D., Lafayette
Anita Tinsley, Jack Tinsley II, Jason & Sonia Tinsley, Taylor Tinsley, Lake Charles

TEXAS
Barton Allen, D.D.S., Dallas
Austin Civil War Round Table, Austin
Angel Brandt, Dallas
Capt. James P. Douglas Camp #124, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Tyler
Nolan L. Green, Jacksonville
John B. Hood Camp # 50, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Galveston
Johnson-Sayers-Nettles Camp # 1012, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Wortham
John M. Keahey, Missouri City
Montgomery County Artifact Recovery Club, Houston
Robert and Norma Richardson, Hillsboro
Philip R. Ritchie, Carrolton
Robert S. Stark, Brenham
Mr. and Mrs. L.J. Whitmeyer, Jr., Colmesneil

TENNESSEE
James S. Gilliland, Memphis, Tenn.