WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS

According to tradition, the land where the city of Wichita Falls is presently located, in southeast Wichita County, was acquired in a poker game by John A. Scott of Mississippi in 1837. In fact, Scott acquired the tract by purchasing Texas land certificates, which he packed away and promptly forgot. Years later the certificates were rediscovered by Scott's heirs, who commissioned M. W. Seeley to map out a townsite on the tract on the Wichita River. As platted by Seeley in July 1876, the townsite included the location of a small waterfall on the Wichita River that was later washed away, several named streets, and a town square. In a fanciful drawing that accompanied the plat, Seeley also included an imaginary lake, a steamboat on the river, and warehouses laden with cotton and other goods. The town never became a steamboat shipping center, although railroads were very important to its later development. At the time of Seeley's plat there were already a few settlers living in the area. Tom Buntin and his family had been there since the 1860s, making their living hauling buffalo hides, and John Wheeler settled there in 1875, as did John Converse, who built the first store. Seeley himself built a small house at a site now at the corner of Sixth and Ohio streets, and Alexander Craig built a cabin nearby. All of these early settlers eventually moved on. The first permanent settlers were the Barwise family of Dallas. They first came to the townsite on an exploring trip in 1878 and returned to stay the following year. Barwise purchased the Craig cabin and two lots for $105.00. Schooling for the Barwise children was provided by M. W. Seeley's daughter, Hattie Seeley, in her home, where Alexander C. Garrett also conducted Episcopal Church services. A post office was established in 1879; Charles G. Converse was the first postmaster. The first public school opened in the fall of 1880 and the first church, First Methodist, was formally organized in 1881. By that time, according to various reports, there were between eight and thirteen families living at the townsite.

During 1881 and 1882 the residents of Wichita Falls induced the Fort Worth and Denver Railway Company, then building tracks west out of Fort Worth, to run the line through the town by offering substantial property concessions along the right-of-way. The arrival of the first train on September 27, 1882, triggered a boom in the sale of town lots. Also in 1882 the first manufacturing concern, a shingle and sorghum mill, was established along with the first lumberyard. Joseph Alexander Kemp, later to become one of the most prominent of the town's promoters, arrived in 1883 and soon established a general merchandise store. Wichita Falls became the county seat of Wichita County in November 1883. It was officially incorporated on July 29, 1889, and the first meeting of the town council occurred on August 21, with Mayor Otis T. Bacon presiding. Soon the economy was stimulated by the arrival of more railroads. At the turn of the century the Wichita Valley Railroad, the Wichita Falls Railway, the Wichita Falls and Southern Railway, the Wichita Falls and Oklahoma Railway, and the Wichita Falls and Northwestern made the town a transportation and supply center for Northwest Texas and southern Oklahoma. Frank Kell, Kemp's brother-in-law, arrived in 1896 after buying the Wichita Valley Mills Company. Kemp and Kell were to be the two leading promoters of the city for several decades.

By 1890 the population was 1,987, and as the town continued to grow, its leaders recognized the need for a reliable water supply. The Lake Wichita project was begun in 1900 and completed the following year. It was the primary source of water for drinking and irrigation, as well as a major recreation site until the 1920s. Lake Kemp and Lake Diversion were added during the 1920s, followed by Lake Kickapoo in 1947. Today the primary water supply comes from Lake Arrowhead, constructed in 1966. By 1907 the population of Wichita Falls was 5,055, and the economy was firmly based upon railroads. In addition to the population, the infrastructure was also growing. By 1909 Wichita Falls boasted thirty miles of sidewalk, five miles of sewers, and more than 100 businesses. A streetcar system also appeared; it featured an extension to Lake Wichita that made the lake a recreation center. Soon a hotel, a domed pavilion, a racetrack, a boardwalk, and vacation cottages sprang up. The lake remained the center of recreation activity for the city until well after World War I, even though the hotel was destroyed by fire in 1918. The abandoned pavilion burned in 1955.

The town's first newspaper was the Wichita Mirror, printed by Steve Reynolds in the early 1880s. Dr. H. A. Lewis managed the Wichita Herald, which was later owned by Frank T. Daugherty and Ed Howard. The Times, founded in 1887 by Sam Bell Thomas, was purchased by Howard in 1897. He and others organized the Times Publishing Company in 1907 and began printing the Wichita Daily Times and the Record News. The two papers continued to appear separately until 1987, when they were combined into one morning paper.

Oil was discovered just east of the city in Clay County around 1903, but it was the opening of the Electra field in 1911 that triggered a shift in the economic base (see WICHITA COUNTY REGULAR FIELD). By 1913 the North Texas fields were producing 46 percent of all the oil in Texas, and refineries began to appear in Wichita Falls in 1915. The discovery of the Burkburnett fields in 1918 triggered an actual boom. Bank deposits increased by 400 percent in 1919, and oil-related industries increased dramatically. By 1920 there were nine refineries and forty-seven factories within the city. The oil boom also produced a building boom. More than a dozen major building projects were inaugurated in the downtown area during the early 1920s. In addition, the city added a municipal auditorium in 1927 and an airline passenger service in 1928. That same year the city's first commercial broadcasting station, KGKO, was established. The city also adopted the city manager form of government.

The population of Wichita Falls in 1930, on the eve of the Great Depression, was 43,607. There were thirty-two parks, forty-seven churches, four railroads, twenty schools, and 118 industrial establishments. The depression slowed growth but did not stop it, due in part to a major oil discovery at nearby Kamay in 1938. In 1940 the population was 55,200. Bank deposits exceeded $36 million, and there were ninety-two miles of paved streets, seventy-seven manufacturing establishments, 127 wholesale outlets, and 741 retail stores. In 1941 the economy was further bolstered by the opening of Sheppard Field, an Army Air Corps training facility. By May 1945, when the base reached its peak strength, there were 46,000 army personnel stationed there. The base was deactivated on August 31, 1946, but reopened as Sheppard Air Force Base in August 1948. It continued to function as a major training center for air force technicians and a flight training center for NATO.

Wichita Falls had a population of 110,100 in 1955. By 1960 the population had dropped to 101,724, and while oil production in the area still ranked eighth in the state, it would soon be eclipsed by other areas. By 1962 refinery activity had practically ceased. Recognizing that change was coming, the city's leaders formed Industrial Development, Incorporated, which sought to diversify the economy by attracting other types of industries. Gates Rubber Company built a plant in 1964. Sprague Electric and Johnson and Johnson followed in 1966. Tex-Color Labs arrived in 1967, followed by Town and Country Mobile Homes and Dowell Division of Dow Chemical Company in 1968. In 1970 Industrial Development merged with the Chamber of Commerce to form the Board of Commerce and Industry. This organization was successful in attracting fifteen new industries during the 1970s, including Pittsburgh Plate Glass, Certain Teed, Washex, Howmet Turbine, AC Spark Plug, and Cieba Geigy. These successes produced great optimism that the new trend would continue, but it declined by the early 1980s. Moreover, several companies moved their facilities away. These included Johnson and Johnson and Sprague. Meanwhile, because of the construction of a large shopping mall in the southwestern part of the city, the downtown collapsed as a viable shopping area.

Wichita Falls was devastated on April 10, 1979, by one of the largest tornadoes ever recorded. Sweeping through the southern part of the city, the storm destroyed twenty percent of all the dwellings in town and damaged or destroyed numerous business establishments. Miraculously only forty-fi

BART BROCK CHRISTMAS (BBC), Self

BOBBY JON CHRISTMAS (BJC), Father/ "Dad"

NELDA FERN PEPPER CHRISTMAS (NFC) Mother/ "Mom" & "Mamacita"

Friberg School was created in 1895 to serve families in this area. By 1896 students attended classes in a granary owned by Will Friberg; the following year John Friberg donated land here and a 2-room schoolhouse was erected. The school also served as a community gathering place, and by 1922 increased enrollment led to the addition of a third room. Upper level students began attending Wichita Falls High School in 1931, and in 1956 Clay County's Thornberry School consolidated with Friberg. After a 1969 fire left only the cafeteria intact, Friberg School closed.

PEPPER- 34th Alabama Infantry

Letter from Thomas Warrick to his wife, Martha. The letter is written on Union stationery. Warrick was from Coosa County, Alabama. During the war, he served in the Coosa Home Guards, and he was a private in Company C of the 34th Alabama Infantry.
Date 1863 September 24

34th Alabama Infantry Regiment

This flag was probably issued to the regiment in the spring of 1864. It bears characteristics which are common to flags issued to artillery batteries in the Army of Tennessee under General Joseph E. Johnston. The flag of the 34th Alabama Infantry is the only known flag of this size to have been issued to an infantry regiment. After the war, the flag was preserved by Dr. John N. Slaughter of Coosa County who had served as a major in the regiment. It was donated to the Alabama Department of Archives and History by his son Dr. Jasper M. Slaughter on April 20, 1910.

The 34th Alabama Infantry was organized at Loachapoka on 15 April 1862, with companies recruited from Montgomery and the counties of Coosa, Russell, and Tallapoosa. It was sent to Tupelo, MS, and was placed with the 24th and 28th Alabama regiments, and two South Carolina regiments, in Gen'l Arthur M. Manigault's Brigade, Gen'l Jones M. Wither's Division. The regiment moved into Kentucky but was not in action during the campaign. It was with the main Army of Tennessee when it fought at Murfreesboro, and it sustained heavy casualties (11 k, 77 w). The remainder of the winter was spent near Tullahoma, and the regiment then withdrew with the army to the Chattanooga area. At Chickamauga, the 34th again lost heavily, and at Missionary Ridge, a large number were captured. The regiment, numbering 388 men and 281 arms, wintered and recruited for the campaigning of 1864 at Dalton and began the "Hundred Days' Battle" in the spring. From Dalton to Atlanta, the 34th shared fully in the operations of the Army of Tennessee. It lost heavily in the battles of 22 and 28 July, at Atlanta. At Jonesboro, casualties were light. At the Battle of Franklin, (see post PEPPER- Battle of Franklin), the 34th escaped the severest part of the fighting, but at Nashville, the remainder of the unit was nearly decimated. With the wreck of the Army, the regiment passed into the Carolinas where it skirmished at Kinston and again at Bentonville. Ultimately consolidated with the 24th and 28th regiments, about 100 of the original 1,000 members of the regiment were surrendered at High Point, North Carolina, 26 April 1865.

Field officers: Col. Julius C. B. Mitchell (Montgomery, detached). Lt. Cols. James W. Echols (Macon, resigned); John C. Carter (Montgomery, wounded at Murfreesboro). Majors Henry R. McCoy (Tallapoosa, resigned); John N. Slaughter (Coosa, wounded at Atlanta).


Colonel Julius Caesar Boneparte Mitchell, 34th Alabama Infantry, C.S.A.
Mitchell, Julius C. B., 1819-1869
Soldier--Confederate States of America--Alabama
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865


Captain John Nicholson Slaughter, Company B, 34th Alabama Infantry, C.S.A.
Slaughter, John Nicholson, 1832-1909

Additional Information
Location: Rutherford County
Campaign: Franklin-Nashville Campaign (1864)
Date(s): December 5-7, 1864
Principal Commanders: Maj. Gen. Lovell H. Rousseau and Brig. Gen. Robert Milroy [US]; Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest [CS]
Forces Engaged: District of Tennessee (forces in Murfreesboro area; approx. 8,000) [US]; Forrest’s Cavalry, Bate's Infantry Division, and Brig. Gen. Claudius Sears’s and Brig. Gen. Joseph B. Palmer’s Infantry Brigades (6,500-7,000) [CS]
Estimated Casualties: 422 total (US 225; CS 197)
Description: In a last, desperate attempt to force Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s army out of Georgia, Gen. John Bell Hood led the Army of Tennessee north toward Nashville in November 1864. Although he suffered a terrible loss at Franklin, he continued toward Nashville. In operating against Nashville, he decided that destruction of the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad and disruption of the Union army supply depot at Murfreesboro would help his cause. He sent Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, on December 4, with an expedition, composed of two cavalry divisions and Maj. Gen. William B. Bate’s infantry division, to Murfreesboro. On December 2, Hood had ordered Bate to destroy the railroad and blockhouses between Murfreesboro and Nashville and join Forrest for further operations; on December 4, Bate’s division attacked Blockhouse No. 7 protecting the railroad crossing at Overall Creek, but Union forces fought it off. On the morning of the 5th, Forrest headed out toward Murfreesboro, splitting his force, one column to attack the fort on the hill and the other to take Blockhouse No. 4, both at La Vergne. Upon his demand for surrender at both locations, the Union garrisons did so. Outside La Vergne, Forrest hooked up with Bate’s division and the command advanced on to Murfreesboro along two roads, driving the Yankees into their Fortress Rosencrans fortifications, and encamped in the city outskirts for the night. The next morning, on the 6th, Forrest ordered Bate’s division to “move upon the enemy’s works.” Fighting flared for a couple of hours, but the Yankees ceased firing and both sides glared at each other for the rest of the day. Brig. Gen. Claudius Sears’s and Brig. Gen. Joseph B. Palmer’s infantry brigades joined Forrest’s command in the evening, further swelling his numbers. On the morning of the 7th, Maj. Gen. Lovell Rousseau, commanding all of the forces at Murfreesboro, sent two brigades out under Brig. Gen. Robert Milroy on the Salem Pike to feel out the enemy. These troops engaged the Confederates and fighting continued. At one point some of Forrest’s troops broke and ran causing disorder in the Rebel ranks; even entreaties from Forrest and Bate did not stem the rout of these units. The rest of Forrest’s command conducted an orderly retreat from the field and encamped for the night outside Murfreesboro. Forrest had destroyed railroad track, blockhouses, and some homes and generally disrupted Union operations in the area, but he did not accomplish much else. The raid on Murfreesboro was a minor irritation.
Result(s): Union victory

Atlanta
Other Names: None
Location: Fulton County
Campaign: Atlanta Campaign (1864)
Date(s): July 22, 1864
Principal Commanders: Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman [US]; Gen. John Bell Hood [CS]
Forces Engaged: Military Division of the Mississippi [US]; Army of Tennessee [CS]
Estimated Casualties: 12,140 total (US 3,641; CS 8,499)
Description: Following the Battle of Peachtree Creek, Hood determined to attack Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee. He withdrew his main army at night from Atlanta’ s outer line to the inner line, enticing Sherman to follow. In the meantime, he sent William J. Hardee with his corps on a fifteen- mile march to hit the unprotected Union left and rear, east of the city. Wheeler’s cavalry was to operate farther out on Sherman’s supply line, and Gen. Frank Cheatham’s corps were to attack the Union front. Hood, however, miscalculated the time necessary to make the march, and Hardee was unable to attack until afternoon. Although Hood had outmaneuvered Sherman for the time being, McPherson was concerned about his left flank and sent his reserves—Grenville Dodge’s XVI Army Corps—to that location. Two of Hood’s divisions ran into this reserve force and were repulsed. The Rebel attack stalled on the Union rear but began to roll up the left flank. Around the same time, a Confederate soldier shot and killed McPherson when he rode out to observe the fighting. Determined attacks continued, but the Union forces held. About 4:00 pm, Cheatham’s corps broke through the Union front at the Hurt House, but Sherman massed twenty artillery pieces on a knoll near his headquarters to shell these Confederates and halt their drive. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan’ s XV Army Corps then led a counterattack that restored the Union line. The Union troops held, and Hood suffered high casualties.
Result(s): Union victory

Bentonville
Other Names: Bentonsville
Location: Johnston County
Campaign: Campaign of the Carolinas (February-April 1865)
Date(s): March 19-21, 1865
Principal Commanders: Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman and Maj. Gen. Henry Slocum [US]; Gen. Joseph E. Johnston [CS]
Forces Engaged: Sherman’s Right Wing (XX and XIV Corps) [US]; Johnston's Army [CS]
Estimated Casualties: 4,738 total (US 1,646; CS 3,092)
Description: While Slocum’s advance was stalled at Averasborough by Hardee’s troops, the right wing of Sherman’s army under command of Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard marched toward Goldsborough. On March 19, Slocum encountered the entrenched Confederates of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston who had concentrated to meet his advance at Bentonville. Late afternoon, Johnston attacked, crushing the line of the XIV Corps. Only strong counterattacks and desperate fighting south of the Goldsborough Road blunted the Confederate offensive. Elements of the XX Corps were thrown into the action as they arrived on the field. Five Confederate attacks failed to dislodge the Federal defenders and darkness ended the first day’s fighting. During the night, Johnston contracted his line into a “V” to protect his flanks with Mill Creek to his rear. On March 20, Slocum was heavily reinforced, but fighting was sporadic. Sherman was inclined to let Johnston retreat. On the 21st, however, Johnston remained in position while he removed his wounded. Skirmishing heated up along the entire front. In the afternoon, Maj. Gen. Joseph Mower led his Union division along a narrow trace that carried it across Mill Creek into Johnston’s rear. Confederate counterattacks stopped Mower’s advance, saving the army’s only line of communication and retreat. Mower withdrew, ending fighting for the day. During the night, Johnston retreated across the bridge at Bentonville. Union forces pursued at first light, driving back Wheeler’s rearguard and saving the bridge. Federal pursuit was halted at Hannah’s Creek after a severe skirmish. Sherman, after regrouping at Goldsborough, pursued Johnston toward Raleigh. On April 18, Johnston signed an armistice with Sherman at the Bennett House, and on April 26, formally surrendered his army.
Result(s): Union victory

Nashville
Location: Davidson County
Campaign: Franklin-Nashville Campaign (1864)
Date(s): December 15-16, 1864
Principal Commanders: Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas [US]; Gen. John Bell Hood [CS]
Forces Engaged: IV Army Corps, XXIII Army Corps, Detachment of Army of the Tennessee, provisional detachment, and cavalry corps [US]; Army of Tennessee [CS]
Estimated Casualties: 88 total (US 23; CS 65)
Description: In a last desperate attempt to force Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s army out of Georgia, Gen. John Bell Hood led the Army of Tennessee north toward Nashville in November 1864. Although he suffered terrible losses at Franklin on November 30, he continued toward Nashville. By the next day, the various elements of Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas’s army had reached Nashville. Hood reached the outskirts of Nashville on December 2, occupied positions on a line of hills parallel to those of the Union and began erecting fieldworks. Union Army Engineer, Brig. Gen. James St. Clair Morton, had overseen the construction of sophisticated fortifications at Nashville in 1862-63, strengthened by others, which would soon see use. From the 1st through the 14th, Thomas made preparations for the Battle of Nashville in which he intended to destroy Hood’s army. On the night of December 14, Thomas informed Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, acting as Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s chief of staff, that he would attack the next day. Thomas planned to strike both of Hood’s flanks. Before daylight on the 15th, the first of the Union troops, led by Maj. Gen. James Steedman, set out to hit the Confederate right. The attack was made and the Union forces held down one Rebel corps there for the rest of the day. Attack on the Confederate left did not begin until after noon when a charge commenced on Montgomery Hill. With this classic charge’s success, attacks on other parts of the Confederate left commenced, all eventually successful. By this time it was dark and fighting stopped for the day. Although battered and with a much smaller battle line, Gen. Hood was still confident. He established a main line of resistance along the base of a ridge about two miles south of the former location, throwing up new works and fortifying Shy’s and Overton’s hills on their flanks. The IV Army Corps marched out to within 250 yards, in some places, of the Confederate’s new line and began constructing fieldworks. During the rest of the morning, other Union troops moved out toward the new Confederate line and took up positions opposite it. The Union attack began against Hood’s strong right flank on Overton’s Hill. The same brigade that had taken Montgomery Hill the day before received the nod for the charge up Overton’s Hill. This charge, although gallantly conducted, failed, but other troops (Maj. Gen. A.J. Smith’s “Israelites” ) successfully assaulted Shy’s Hill in their fronts. Seeing the success along the line, other Union troops charged up Overton’s Hill and took it. Hood’s army fled. Thomas had left one escape route open but the Union army set off in pursuit. For ten days, the pursuit continued until the beaten and battered Army of Tennessee recrossed the Tennessee River. Hood’s army was stalled at Columbia, beaten at Franklin, and routed at Nashville. Hood retreated to Tupelo and resigned his command.
Result(s): Union victory

PEPPER- Black Jack, Texas

BLACK JACK, TEXAS (Cherokee County). Black Jack, on Farm Road 2750 eighteen miles northeast of Rusk in northeastern Cherokee County, was first settled in the 1840s by Robert Graves Stadler, a native of South Carolina and veteran of the Texas Revolution. He was joined by a number of relatives, mostly nephews and nieces, who built a small settlement that they named after the numerous blackjack trees in the vicinity. A log schoolhouse was constructed around the time of the Civil War, and in 1875 the Blackjack Baptist Church was organized. However, the town did not grow until around 1916, when John W. Gray and Tom Upchurch opened a store. At its height just after World War I the small community had two stores, a cotton gin, a garage, a church, a school, and a population of 100. After World War II the school was consolidated with the Troup school. The last store closed in 1961, but as late as 1966 the reported population was still seventy-five. In 1990 Black Jack was a dispersed rural community with a church, a few scattered houses, and a population of forty-seven. The population remained the same in 2000.


View Larger Map

PEPPER- Fauquier Co. Petition 1774

"To the Worshipful Court of Fauquier County-
The Petition of us the Subscribers Sheweth, that we Being Desenters bearing the Denomination of Baptists &c. Desiring to Worship God According to the Best light that we have In Holy Scriptures, and the Dictates of our Own
Consciences, Humbly Prayeth that your Worships would be Pleased to grant us liberty To meet together for the worship of God in our way the Prosecution of what We believe to be Duty at the Meeting House Built for that Purpose on a Tenement of Land Occupied by Burr Harrison, and Also would beg leave further to Pray That the same might be Entred on record And a Certificate thereof might be granted to the Barer of these Presents and also that our
Brother John Monroe might be Permitted to Qualify according to Law for the Attending on us with the Preaching of the Gospels and the Administrations of the Ordinances. And your Petitioners as in our Duty will Pray for your Worship &c.

Burr Harrison
John Hitt
William Hollen
James Winn
Dawson Burgess
Wm Elliott
Geo. Bennett
Richd Oldham Jr.
Alea (possible Alex) Holton
Matthew Smith
James Winn
Samuel Pepper
John Elliott
Richard Oldham
Henry Snider
Thomas Elliott
William Lain
John Pepper
Jeffry Johnson
John Oldham
Joseph Neavel
James Neavel
Henry Asbury
Junr John Wright
William Hammon [and others]


NOTE: Several of these names (about ten of them) are in the same handwriting as the preamble, and the preamble is in the same handwriting as that of Burr Harrison; he therefore put down himself such of the names as are in his handwriting, doubtless at the request or knowledge of such persons. Among these named so written is that of "Junr John Wright." The prefix "Junr" seems to confirm that John Wright, junior, did not write his own name in this instance.'

This petition was acted upon in the following May, as per the entry on page 232 of the court minutes for the May term 1775, when Capt. John Wright, Jr., had gone South: "Leave is granted the Anabaptists in the lower part of this County to erect a meeting house on the Lands of John Kelly."

It is believed (but not satisfactorily proved) that Richard Oldham and Richard Oldham, Jr. migrated soon after this to Caswell Co., NC. One or both may have sojourned in Amelia Co., VA on their way to North Carolina. One of the Oldhams, possibly Richard Oldham, Jr. married an Anne Pepper



CROOKED RUN BAPTIST CHURCH