 Woodville, Texas
Welcome also to "Sophia Suttonfield Porter" Chapter 22, Order of Confederate Rose, both located in Woodville,Texas.
Our meetings are held on the 1st Saturday at 10am in the "Hamm House" of "Heritage Village" (Highway 190,just outside Woodville city limits). Call 409-283-2272(Office) or 409-429-3415 (Cmdr. James Hale) for further details.
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PHILIP ALEXANDER WORK (BORN: Feb.17th ,1832 - Died: Mar. 17th , 1911)
Born in Kentucky, Philip A. Work later moved to Texas in 1838 with his family. They would settle in Woodville, Texas, the county seat of Tyler County.
At the onset of the War for Southern Independence in 1861, he was a twenty eight year old prominent attorney, who had accumulated a good deal of wealth and property. He was a staunch secessionist, who wanted to leave the Union, and he went as a delegate to the Texas Secession Convention in Austin on January 28, 1861.
Although Sam Houston spoke against leaving the Union, Texas delegates voted to secede.
Philip Work returned to Tyler County and in April of 1861, began forming a 220-man company, "The Woodville Rifles", of which he was elected Captain.
The "Woodville Rifles" of company "F" would make its way to Dumphries, Virginia and on into the pages of history books forever.
This company served as part of the First Texas Infantry Regiment, of General John Bell Hood's famous Texas Brigade. The Texas Brigade was the ONLY Texas fighting unit to serve in General Robert E Lees Army of Northern Virginia!
General Lee spoke nothing but praises for his Texas troops, who steadfastly undertook some of the heaviest fighting and sustained the highest casualties during the war. Overall, Company F would sustain a 79.6 percent loss. Sadly, not very many men ever returned to their families in Tyler County at the war's end.
Thru the course of the war the "Woodville Rifles" would be a part of battles such as "Eltham's Landing, where Captain Work was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and was given command of the First Texas Regiment.
Other battles such as "Gaines Mill" , "Malvern Hill", "Seven Pines", and "Antietam" ("Sharpsburg") would find them engaged in bloody confrontations with Federal troops.
At Antietam, Company F had only nine men available for combat, and of that number three were killed and six wounded that day.
Lt. Colonel Work commanded the First Texas at the battles of "Fredericksburg" and "Gettysburg" where they sustained 184 casualties out of 246 men. Company F would have ten out of thirteen men die at the battle of "Tunnel Hill"
Due to ill health, Lt. Colonel Work returned to Texas. Upon recovering, he served in David S. Terry's Texas Rangers.
Having been an Indian fighter for the United States prior to the Civil War, he was one of the few Confederate veterans who received both a Union and Confederate pension in his old age. He became a land attorney and lived out his life in Kountze Texas.
Philip Alexander Work is buried alongside other family members in the "Old Hardin" Cemetery just west of Kountze off Highway 326, as you head towards Sour Lake, Texas.
Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp #1790 of Woodville, Texas is named for him, and his descendants still live in the surrounding areas of Hardin and Tyler counties.
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James Truman Hale
(Commander, Camp # 1790 )
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THE STORY OF CAPTAIN SAM WILLSON, COMPANY F, WOODVILLE RIFLES
1ST TEXAS REGIMENT, CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY
By Joe Allport
Samuel Andrew Willson was born on January 9, 1835 in San Augustine, Texas.
He was the sixth and last child of Dr. Stephen Pelham Willson and Mary (Polly) Davis.
The family moved to northern Tyler County in the late 1840’s
where Dr. Willson was one of the county’s five medical doctors.
By 1850, young Sam was the only resident child of the Willsons.
At the age of 15, he began studying law in Woodville and was a protégé of Mijamen Priest,
who later became a judge in Woodville and again in Rusk. The Texas Senate enacted a
special legislation to allow Sam Willson to be admitted to the bar in 1852,
at the age of seventeen. He was a junior member of the firm of Priest and Willson
and he married Mr. Priest’s daughter, Susan, in 1853. In 1856,
Sam became the District Attorney for the Fifteenth Judicial District.
Like so many others, his future looked bright in the years leading up to the
War of Southern Independence. And just like so many others, the War brought personal tragedy
for the Willson family. In 1858, at the age of 23, he was re-elected to the position of District Attorney.
In January of 1861, Phillip A. Work was chosen to be one of two Tyler County representatives
at the Secession Convention. Several weeks later, he returned to Woodville to organize the Woodville Rifles
and his friend and former law partner, Sam Willson, was selected to replace him during the Adjourned Session
of March 2, 1861 to March 25, 1861.
Sam was the only native born Texan at this convention and probably the youngest. On May 28, 1861,
Sam was elected 1st Lieutenant of the Woodville Rifles, serving under the first captain, P.A. Work.
It was at this time that the Rifles were assimilated into the 1st Texas Regiment as Company F in Virginia.
One year later, Phillip Work was promoted to Lt. Colonel, commander of the 1st Texas and Sam was elected
as the new Captain. This unit served the remainder of the War with distinction as one of only three
Texas regiments in the Army of Northern Virginia. They made up the core of the Texas Brigade.
Captain Willson was on active duty in most major engagements of the ANV, including Sharpsburg
where the 1st Texas sustained casualties of 82%, the most ever for a regiment in the entire War.
Sam was badly wounded in one arm and returned to Texas for medical leave after he was released
from the hospital. Therefore, he missed Fredricksburg and returned to duty in January 1863.
At the Battle of Gettysburg, Company F fought proudly and participated in the capture of two Federal cannons
on July 2nd. Lt. Colonel Work gave permission to Captain Willson to select some men to move the cannons off
the field of engagement. On the following day, July 3, 1863, the 1st Texas witnessed the artillery duel prior
to Pickett’s Charge. During this time, they were assaulted by Yankee cavalry who made a sudden charge
into their ranks and captured Sam along with Pvt. T.D. Rock.
Sometime between July 7th and July 12th, Captain Willson escaped from the POW camp, Ft. Delaware.
He crossed enemy lines to return to his unit. His escape was planned from the time of his capture when he disguised himself as a private. Had the Federals learned that he was an officer, he would have been sent to Johnson’s Island, where he might have languished for the remainder of the War, or died in confinement.
One of the prisoners at Ft. Delaware, (Judge) John W. Stevens, Co. K, 5th Texas Infantry, wrote a book in 1902 and said, “No one but my own company men knew him, and we always addressed him as Sam and never as captain. I fed him a stolen ration every night. I had known him from boyhood---
a brave and gallant man”.
Dr. and Mrs. S.P. Willson did not survive the War and neither did one year old Frank Sexton Willson, born to Sam and Susan, while he was in military service. Three of his brothers-in-law died in the summer of 1862, one in Tyler County and two at the infamous POW killing field known as Camp Douglas in Illinois.
Sam’s only brother, Hiram, served in the 27th Texas Cavalry and his first cousin, Frank Sexton, was one of two Texans to serve in the Confederate Congress for the duration of the War.
At the end of the War, the Captain returned to Woodville and he was elected County Judge in 1866.
Then came Reconstruction. In 1868, Sam had enough of the harassment, directed primarily at former officers and government officials. He refused to take the Loyalty Oath and moved to Rusk where he held brief occupations as a banker and owner of the newspaper though Reconstruction politics would continue to interfere with his life. The Radical Republicans eventually lost power and Richard Coke was elected governor
in 1874. By that time, Sam had been elected district judge in Cherokee County. The new governor selected Sam to serve on the special committee that codified the law for the new (and current) Texas Constitution.
In 1882, he was appointed to the State Court of Appeals by Governor O.M. Roberts and won the following election.
His publication of Willson’s Criminal Forms was adapted to the Criminal Codes of Texas and was still in use as a textbook at the University of Texas Law School in 1955.
Sam Willson was active in the Baptist Church and refrained from using alcohol. He had undying devotion for his brothers-in-arms and he helped organize the Hood’s Texas Brigade Association on May 14, 1872 where he served on the original board of directors. These veterans held 62 reunions until the last in 1933.
In early January 1892, Judge Willson developed pneumonia following a trip by horseback, in the snow,from his home in Rusk to the Cherokee County Courthouse where he was scheduled to hold court. He died on January 24th at the age of 57.
On January 11, 2002, members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, including the P.A. Work Camp(Woodville Rifles) participated in a military grave marker dedication for Captain Willson at the Cedar Hill Cemetery in Rusk, Texas.
Attached is a poem written for Sam by his father-in-law, Judge Mijamin Priest.
It is interesting to note that Judge Priest was pro-Union during and after the War
though he was a slave owner and three of his sons served in the Confederate Army.
That includes the two afore-mentioned who died at Camp Douglas. Priest was a Republican
and served in the Texas Senate during the Dark Years. Sam was a life long Democrat,
but the two never let their political differences keep them from being close friends.
Both men have portraits in the Tyler County Courthouse.
There is another portrait of Judge Willson on the second floor of the Cherokee County Courthouse.
TO THE SURVIVORS OF HOOD'S BRIGADE
Brave men, the remnant of a host,
Who fought through fire and blood,
Until the last, last hope was lost,
Firm to the lost cause stood.
Though beaten, yet the future age,
Will not forget your story,
You'll dazzle the historic page,
With deeds of martial glory.
As long as shines the Southern sun,
Your deeds will be remembered,
Yes, till what has been thus begun,
This government dismembered.
The government may pass away,
As others have before it,
And others live to see the day,
Look back, and still adore it.
But your brave deeds will never die,
Will live while nations perish,
Both friends and foes alike will vie,
Your gallantry to cherish.
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Mission Statement
Colonel Philip A. Work #1790 of Woodville is an ongoing ,active supporting camp
within the Tenth Brigade, and we work with some of our brother camps in Texas &
Louisiana when possible.
Presently, we carry twenty-eight men on our roster, with more prospective applicants
about to join. Of our current compatriots, four are lifetime members. We are in process of
constructing two mountain howitzers to supplement our activities, as our Honor Guard is
proficient in the use of rifles and cannon.
I am proud to say, our committed "core group" of SCV men and OCR women number
over one-half of our total membership, and can be counted on to participate in various
events when called upon.
Our auxiliary or Sophia Suttonfield Porter, Chapter #22, Order of Confederate Rose
currently has 31 men and women in its ranks, with more applicants coming in presently.
We have 18 life members in the chapter,with 13 ladies as members of the "Order of
Black Rose".
We have four hard-working genealogists within our camp, and presently an effort is
being made to locate the gravesites of as many original veterans of Col. Work's "Co. F,
Woodville Rifles as possible. Due to the large number having died on the battlefields in other
states, ANY information on these men will be greatly appreciated.
Our most important function is to honor all Confederate veterans whenever the need
arises, and we are engaged in obtaining headstones for these men.
Once a stone is ordered, the family is encouraged to schedule a reunion, and we host
the dedication service with Honor Guard and ladies of the "Black Rose", usually with
other invited SCV & UDC members in attendance. We freely work with the
various media regarding these events.
Our second most important duty is to afford the public (young and old), and especially
young school students concerning some of the truths about The War for Southern
Indepedence, or what General Robert E. Lee called, "The Second American
Revolution". We usually end up in educating some teacher as well.
We inform the public at-large, or by classroom instruction upon invitation from
certain schools. We also conduct all-day seminars on school grounds, as well as at
parades,reenactments, civic organization presentations, and at churches, etc.
We stand on and promote the truth concerning our nations history, care not for
compromise, and strongly deplore Mao Tse Tung and Clinton's "Political Correcectness".
We make no apologies for our adherence to Judeo-Christian moral principles,
Choosing to fly the Christian flag at camp meetings and public events. We especially
honor and revere ALL symbols of the Confederacy, particularly our battle flags, and
cherish the memories of our Confederate Ancestors. We respect and work with the Sons
of Union veterans on occasion, and honor their ancestors (who fought and died to
"preserve the Union" as well).
We are proud to have been born and nutured in this great region of America known
as "Dixie". One day we will lie in rest within its good earth.
May God forever protect our endeavors and this great South Land.
Sincerely,
James Truman Hale (Commander)
 The Sons of Confederate Veterans is a genealogical-historical organization dedicated to preserving the history and honoring the memory of our Confederate ancestors. The SCV is the direct heir of the United Confederate Veterans, and the oldest hereditary organization for male descendants of Confederate soldiers. Organized at Richmond, Virginia, in 1896, the SCV continues to serve as a historical, patriotic, and non-political organization dedicated to insuring that a true history of the 1861-65 period is preserved. The Sons of Confederate Veterans is not affiliated with any other organization, with the exception of The Military Order of the Stars and Bars, an organization for the male descendants of the Confederate Officer Corps and civil government officials.
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