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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
"To 'Spill Their Hearts Blood In The Good Cause Of Releasing The Yankees': The Plot To Free The Prisoners At Camp Ford." Chronicles Of Smith County, Texas 46 (2015): 12-18., Vicki Betts
Presentations and Publications
In November, 1863, Northern deserter Joseph K. Davisson discovered a plot to free the federal prisoners at Camp Ford near Tyler, Texas. The plot was headed by former Texas state representative George W. Whitmore and his family, to be assisted by a loosely organized network of East Texas Unionists. Prison commander Col. R. T. P. Allen sent two undercover operatives to the Whitmore home in southeast Smith County where they confirmed the plan and then tricked the men into falling into a Confederate trap where they were captured.
“’So Far From All We Love’: Letters From The Lobdell Family, Civil War Refugees From West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.” Chronicles Of Smith County, Texas 46 (2015): 37-45., Vicki Betts
Presentations and Publications
Five letters from the John Little Lobdell family, who had refugeed with their slaves first to the Natchitoches, Louisiana, area and finally to Canton (Omen) in southeast Smith County, Texas, in very late 1863. These letters describe the area and property, the sale of slave families, visitors, the end of the war, and negotiations with the freedpeople over labor contracts and transportation back to Louisiana.