John Salmon "Rip" Ford (1815-1897)

    Rip Ford was born on May 26, 1815 in Greenville District, South Carolina, and moved to Texas in 1836. He served for a time in the Texas Army, and then settled in San Augustine to practice medicine until 1844. That year, he was elected to the Texas Congress, where he supported annexation to the United States. In 1845, he moved to Austin, and became a newspaper editor. He served as an adjutant in the Mexican War and was cited for “gallant service.” It was during this time that he would acquire his nickname of “Rip” for sending out official death notices with the citation “Rest in Peace” written at the top. In 1849, Ford would explore and map the country between El Paso and San Antonio. He would also become a captain in the Texas Rangers and participate in various fights with local Native American tribes. 

    Ford was elected to the Texas Senate in 1852, and in 1858 he led state troops against both Native American and Mexican uprisings. With the growing tension between North and South escalating in 1861, Ford served as a member of the Secession Convention, and after Texas left the Union, he initiated a trade agreement between the Confederacy and Mexico. Ford served as colonel of the 2nd Texas Cavalry based in the Rio Grande district, and was assigned to protect trade routes with Mexico. Between 1862 and 1865, he was also commandant of conscripts. Ford’s greatest military exploit was the Battle of Palmito Ranch on May 12-13, 1865, when he defeated attacking Union forces under Colonel Theodore H. Barrett. Barrett had attempted to surprise Confederate forces at Fort Brown, outside Brownsville, but was repulsed by Ford’s daring frontal attack. The battle was considered a Confederate victory, with Union troops retreating and suffering 118 casualties. Ford’s men had an estimated six killed, wounded or missing. Unfortunately for Ford, all Confederate forces in Texas surrendered two weeks later. 

    After the war, Ford continued his interests in politics and newspaper editing, serving as a delegate to the Democratic convention in 1868, and working on the Brownsville Sentinel. He would become the mayor of Brownsville in 1874, and serve again in the Texas Senate from 1876 to 1879. In his later years, Ford would spend his time writing his memoirs and promoting an interest in Texas history through the Texas State Historical Association. Ford died on November 3, 1897 in San Antonio, having the dubious distinction of being the last victorious Confederate commander of the Civil War. Source


Confederate Cemetery
San Antonio

COORDINATES

29° 25.200, -098° 27.822

Charlton W. Thompson (1809-1838)

    Charlton Thompson, lawyer and Texas legislator, was born in 1809 in South Carolina. He moved to Coahuila and Texas in 1826 with other members of the Thompson family. He was a delegate from Matagorda to the Convention of 1833 at San Felipe. He moved to Natchitoches, Louisiana, in 1834 and practiced law. In early 1837 he returned to Texas and settled in San Augustine, where he acquired property. He owned the American Hotel, a municipal building, two rent houses, and ten or twelve lots. He married Sophia Lairy on August 1, 1837. On September 16 of that year Thompson became a first-degree member of the McFarlane Masonic Lodge in San Augustine. He was a member of the Second Congress of the Republic of Texas as a representative of San Augustine County. Thompson died in Houston in 1838 while attending Congress. At the time of his death he owned more than 39,000 acres of land. Source 


Chapel Hill Cemetery
Chapel Hill

COORDINATES

31° 29.222, -094° 01.181

  

Peter Hansborough Bell (1812-1898)

    Peter H. Bell, governor of Texas, was born on May 12, 1812, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. He engaged in business in Petersburg until he left Virginia to fight for the independence of Texas. As a private in the cavalry company of Henry W. Karnes, he fought in the battle of San Jacinto, for which service, on June 6, 1838, he was issued a donation certificate for 640 acres of land. For serving in the army from May 1, 1836, to January 23, 1839, he was granted another 1,080 acres. He was also issued a headright certificate, dated June 7, 1838, for one-third league of land for army service before May 1, 1836. Bell was appointed assistant adjutant general on May 10, 1837, and inspector general on January 30, 1839. He joined the Texas Rangers under John C. (Jack) Hays in 1840 and held the rank of major in the Somervell expedition of 1842. In 1845 Bell was captain of a company of rangers but resigned that commission to enter the United States Army at the outbreak of the Mexican War. Under the command of Gen. Zachary Taylor, Bell won distinction at the battle of Buena Vista. As lieutenant colonel he commanded the part of Hays's regiment designated for service in Texas on the Rio Grande. He was experienced in frontier affairs, and the operations of his battalion inspired confidence in the people so that the line of settlement pushed southwestward rapidly.

    Bell was elected governor of Texas in 1849 and again in 1851. A few months before the expiration of his second term in 1853 he resigned to fill the vacancy in the United States Congress caused by the death of David S. Kaufman. He remained in Congress from 1853 to 1857. On March 3, 1857, Bell married Mrs. Ella Reeves Eaton Dickens, the daughter of a wealthy North Carolina planter, William Eaton, and the widow of Benjamin Dickens. Bell moved to her home at Littleton, North Carolina. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was offered a commission as colonel of Confederate forces by Jefferson Davis, but he refused to serve and spent the war years on his wife's plantation. In 1891 the Texas legislature voted Bell a donation and a pension in appreciation for his services to the republic and the state. Bell County was named in his honor. Bell died on March 8, 1898, and was buried in the cemetery at Littleton. His and his wife's remains were removed to Texas in 1930 and reinterred in the State Cemetery at Austin. In 1936 the state of Texas erected a memorial to Bell, which stands at the southwest corner of the courthouse grounds in Belton. Source

Republic Hill
Texas State Cemetery
Austin

COORDINATES

30° 15.926, -097° 43.628

Clarence Wilbert "Candy" Green (1929-1988)

    Jazz pianist Candy Green was born on March 15, 1929 in Galveston, Texas. His mother played piano, accompanying herself on spiritual numbers, and she taught Green from a young age. Preferring the secular music of the vibrant Southeast Texas blues and jazz scene to gospel, at age fifteen Green began playing for tips in the juke joints and brothels of the area. He quickly became a favorite among patrons and the other musicians. From 1945 to 1948, Green traveled with the Merchant Navy, igniting a lifelong wanderlust, but when he was home he would perform in his usual haunts. In 1947, rather than continue to play solo, he decided to form a group. Recruiting tenor saxophonist Johnny Fontenette, who later joined Roy Brown's band, Horace Richmond on bass and Rip Bolden on drums, the combo found regional success with one of Green’s compositions, Galveston Blues.

    After performing on radio station KGBC, Green was approached by Eddie Henry, who operated Eddie's Records on Houston's Dowling Street. Henry recorded the Green combo, cutting Galveston Blues and another original song called Green's Bounce. Before the record was released, Henry went out of business and the band broke up. Green continued touring alone through Louisiana and Texas. In 1950, Green approached Peacock label owner Don Robey, and secured a three year contract. Going into the studio with Bill Harvey’s band, Green recorded one of his most enduring songs, Hard Headed Woman<. Unhappy with the promotion and compensation Peacock offered, despite his contract, Green avoided recording again with Robey, and turned down other offers to record.

    Although drafted into the Army, when on leave Green played often with legendary guitarist Wes Montgomery. While in the Army, Green gained his nickname, "Candy". According to Green himself, women gave him the nickname because of his sweet disposition. It stuck, and he was henceforth known as Candy Green. In 1952, still under contract to Peacock, Essex Records of Philadelphia offered to record him. Using the name "Galveston Green", Green recorded My Time is Your Time, using Rathe Lee on tenor-sax, Kinrey Bailey on bass and Lawrence Harris on drums. Soon after, he recorded Bad Shape Blues for the Monarch label. Neither of those records met with much commercial success, and Green soured on the recording industry.

    Green’s wanderlust manifested itself in the mid-1950s, when he traveled to Mexico City with Paul Love’s band. The gig ended, but Green stayed, running a jazz club called the Echo. In 1958 he left Mexico intent on traveling, and headed for Copenhagen. He spent the next thirty years gigging, working in bars and clubs, and traveling throughout Scandinavia and Central Europe. He recorded under the name "Candy Green" for the Supraphon label, and found quite a measure of celebrity in Europe, if not in his native haunts of Galveston and Houston. Green died at the age of 59 on April 13, 1988 in Galveston and was buried in Houston.

Section K
Houston National Cemetery
Houston

COORDINATES

29° 55.804, -095° 26.898