Phillips County Historical Quarterly

i

---

PHILLIPS COUNTY
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Published by
The Phillips County Historical Society

The Phillips County Historical Society supplies the QUARTERLY to its members. Membership is open to anyone interested in Phillips County history. Annual membership dues are $3.50 for a regular membership and $5.00 for a sustaining membership. Single copies of the QUARTERLY are $1.00. QUARTERLIES are mailed to members.

Neither the Editors nor the Phillips County Historical Society assumes any responsibility for statements made by contributors.

Dues are payable to Miss Bessie McRee, Membership Chairman, P. O. Box 629, Helena, Arkansas, 72342. Meetings are held in September, January, and May, on the fourth Sunday in the month, at 3:00 P. M., at the Phillips County Museum.

ii

---

PHILLIPS COUNTY
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

---

---

TABLE OF CONTENTS

iii

---

THE TAYLOR WELL

This article was written by the late Watt McKinney of Marvell, and was dated August 23, 1938.

At the home of J. C. McKinney, just beyond the corporate limits of the Town of Marvell, there stands an old, historic and very unusual well that affords a bounteous and seemingly inexhaustible supply of cold, clear, sparkling water of a character no less than remarkable in its purity and softness of its nature, offering a striking contrast to the harsh water yielded by other wells throughout the community. The quality of this well of water has been known, enjoyed and marvelled at for perhaps a hundred years, and during the period of its entire existence the supply of this well has remained unabated, notwithstanding seasons of scanty rainfall and excessive and disastrous droughts when the beds of creeks and small rivers became dry and dusty and hundreds of other wells failed. This one stood at its usual, constant level---its production undiminished. The water from this well is ideal for both drinking and laundrying purposes and those who taste for the first time its refreshing goodness, invariably comment on the excellence of its quality.

In the days of the early inhabitants of Phillips County and Eastern Arkansas no supply of pure water was available, and as the people of that time considered and rightly so that the health of themselves and their families depended in a large measure on the quality of water drunk, large numbers of cisterns were constructed for the storage of rain water. Some of these cisterns may be seen still at those few remaining ante-bellum homes and on the home sites of those early settlers.

The site of this famous well of water at the

1

---

McKinney home is located on a triangular, four acre parcel of land once a part of a large tract embracing several hundred acres, the first owner of which was Newton P. Taylor who came here long before the Civil War. Taylor, who being the father of a number of grown children, sometime during the latter years of his life, wishing to partition his property among them and to provide each with a home and farm, decided to divide these lands between his several sons and daughters and this he did with the exception of his plantation residence and fifty acres contiguous thereto which he retained for himself.

This fifty acre tract, surveyed and set apart from the original large acreage, was of very unusual form, four acres of the tract being in the form of a triangle and situated across and beyond the public highway from the main body, with the apex of this triangle cutting deeply into and almost dividing a portion set aside for one of the sons. In selecting for himself these certain fifty acres that on being surveyed resulted in a body of land with such irregular form and which through its creation almost severed the tract given a son, Newton P. Taylor was prompted by an unyielding determination to retain possession and control of the well of water he prized so highly. Strangers and others unfamiliar with these facts often wonder and inquire as to the peculiar shapes of these different tracts of land.

Just below the home of Newton P. Taylor and on adjoining lands lived Joe B. Allin, a native and subject of England who had come to this part of Phillips County before the Civil War and acquired the farm on which he made his home. Joe Allin while he was a very excellent gentleman and held in high esteem throughout the county, was not at that time and never thereafter did he become a naturalized citizen of this country or surrender his allegiance to the land of his birth though he lived in Western Phillips County for more than fifty years, never once returning to England, and now is buried in the

2

---

old cemetery at Marvell where he sleeps beneath the green of this adopted land far from his native shores.

Newton P. Taylor, being an elderly man even at the beginning of the Civil War, was not enlisted in the army; however three of his sons gave their services to the Southern cause, participating in numerous bloody engagements, and were extremely fortunate in that each of them escaped any serious wounds and after the surrender of the Confederate armies returned safely to their homes. During that four year period of war with its attendant bloodshed and destruction, Newton P. Taylor remained in the county and conducted the affairs of his plantation as best he could what with the invading Federal forces passing through from time to time, plundering and burning as they marched.

The Federal General Sam B. Curtis having fought the indecisive battle of Pea Ridge or Elkhorn Tavern, moved his forces in a southeastwardly direction by way of Batesville, his object being then to occupy the Town of Helena which was at that time unprotected. It was on this march that Curtis and his brigade consisting of artillery, cavalry, infantry and a long train of supplies and equipment, trooped down the old Little Rock road into Phillips County. "Uncle" Henry Turner, 94 years of age and an ex-Slave, of Turner, Arkansas, remembers this invasion and the three days during which these forces passed in what seemed an endless procession.

The route of these troops carried them down the Little Rock road and by the plantation home of Newton P. Taylor where countless numbers of soldiers hesitated and drank of the refreshing water from those cool depths of Taylor's famous well. Hundreds of their mules and horses were watered here with no noticeable effect on the supply and notwithstanding the huge withdrawals of this Federal army the water in the well remained at a constant level.

3

---

During the passage of Curtis and his men through Phillips County, tremendous damage was wrought and much valuable property destroyed, and it was on the occasion of this march that Newton P. Taylor was extremely fortunate that Joe B. Allin was his friend and neighbor and that Allin was a subject of Great Britain. Taylor was at home seriously ill at the time these forces came through and Allin learning of the destruction done along the route of their march, hastened to the assistance of hia neighbor. As some troopers threatened to burn Taylor's home, Allin ascended to the roof of the structure with a bucket of water in each hand solemnly warning them that he was an English subject, stating that the home was his property and that if they persisted in their determination to destroy it, he would call down upon them and their government all of the fire and fury of Great Britain's wrath. Allin's courage and well executed bluff having the desired effect, Taylor's property was spared and this old ante-bellum home stands today in its grove of ancient cedars facing the old Little Rock road.

***

May 7, 1970

Letter To The Quarterly:

Why not give memorials to the Phillips County Historical Society? If you read any of the other county quarterlies in the state, you will see that memorials given to the county societies are frequent.

A memorial is a remembrance, and what better place for that than in our Quarterly?

"Interested Member"

4

---

THE BOWIE KNIFE

How Investigation May Ruin A Good Story

by

Albert A. Hornor, M. D.
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

Many times during my childhood I was told the story of the invention of the BOWIE KNIFE.

James Bowie whose brother lived in Phillips County was challenged to a duel by the champion duellist of Louisiana. Of course he accepted and inasmuch as he was the one challenged had the right to stipulate the weapons and conditions of the duel. He chose knives with the requirement that each duellist sit on a log with his breeches nailed to the log "because he was afraid he might try to run away through cowardice."* James Bowie then went to his brother Rezin who was a blacksmith and asked Rezin to make for him a knife that would cut both ways and this Rezin did. James Bowie then won his duel and the knife became famous and was reproduced many times.

There was never any doubt in my mind about the story until I saw in a most recent dictionary, The American Heritage Dictionary, the following:

*Note: Recently the author happened to start talking about Bowie with a friend who interrupted the story as follows. "In 1913 my parents were returning from England on the same boat with "Buffalo Bill," William F. Cody, or one of his group, who told them that in the West he had seen duellists tied to a log to fight their duels with knives," --probably Bowie Knives.

5

---

BOWIE KNIFE. A single-edged steel hunting knife about 15 inches in length, having a hilt and a crosspiece (popularized by Colonel James Bowie, probably designed by his brother Rezin P. Bowie).

There was also a picture of a "bowie knife" on the same page.

Neither the definition or picture is consistent with "my knowledge of The Bowie Knife."

Three other dictionaries and an encyclopedia gave the same definitions, All this I reported jokingly to John Lyford Hornor III who has charge of the sales promotion for Houghton Mifflin Company of The American Heritage Dictionary.

John was anxious to correct if necessary the definition in the second edition of the dictionary soon to be published. Luckily John found that a fourteen year old nephew had been given for Christmas the book, Firearms, Traps and Tools of the Mountain Men, by Carl P. Russell, published by Knott, 1967. This book vindicated my story at least in part.

Here I quote from P. 194 of this book and P. 195:

"In the welter of fact and fiction through which the student of the bowie knife may wade are some assertions 'straight from the horse's mouth.' Rezin P. Bowie, brother of the redoubtable James, in 1838 wrote":

The first Bowie knife was made by myself in the parish of Avoyelles, in the State (Louisiana) as a hunting knife, for which purpose, exclusively, it was used for many years......Following are the facts respecting the manner in which Col. James Bowie first became possessed of this knife. He had been shot by an individual with whom he was at variance, and as

6

---

I presumed that a second attempt would be made by the same person to take his life, I gave him the knife to be used as occasion might require, as a defensive weapon. Some time afterwards it was resorted to by Colonel James Bowie in a chance, rough fight between himself and certain other individuals with whom he was then inimical....it was the means of saving his life. The improvement in its fabrication and the state of perfection which it has since acquired from experienced cutlers, was not brought about through my agency.

It is next to impossible to define realistically one knife type to the bowie knife. This was not always the case. An observer in 1838 identified only as "P. Q.," gave a clear description of the bowie known to him:

The blade measures twelve inches....Observe its edge--keen and smooth, and so perfect that a barber might use it in his trade. Its point is curved and hollowed at the back, cutting both ways, like a two-edged sword. It is two inches broad at the heel and of proportionate thickness. The weight, alone, is sufficient to give effect to a descending blow.

Next I recalled that "The Bowie Place" in Phillips County had in my boyhood been owned by J. B. Pillow so I wrote to his granddaughter Mrs. C. M. T. Kirkman, Editor of the Quarterly, for information about The Bowie Place. The result was that her mother Mrs. James H. Pillow, present owner of The Bowie Place, sent me several newspaper clippings about the Bowie Knife. These clippings would lead one to the belief that Rezin P. Bowie may have designed the knife in wood, but the original and all the real Bowie knives were made by

7

---

James Black of Washington, Arkansas. Certainly no one from Washington, Arkansas, would believe that Rezin Bowie made the first Bowie knife. There seems no question that James Black was unusually skillful in tempering steel and so his knives were of a superior type.

Incidentally, Carl P. Russell in his book, Firearms, Traps and Tools of the Mountain Men indicates that by 1836 Bowie knives were made in great number in Sheffield, England, and by 1840 in a number of factories in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Massachusetts.

Thanks to Mrs. C. M. T. Kirkman and Mrs. Leonora H. Morris we can be sure that several members of the Bowie family, possibly including James, owned the section of land still called The Bowie Place from 1824-1841, and also built and occupied the first brick house on Market Street in Helena, "torn down when the original levee was built." Rezin Bowie apparently died in Washington, Hempstead County, Arkansas, where he resided after 1847. Apparently Rezin did considerable land speculating.

As you all know, James Bowie died "of pneumonia" at the "Battle of the Alamo"--otherwise he might have saved the Alamo. His original knife was stolen from the Alamo in 1949. There is, however, in the Alamo a knife and sheath accompanied by the following card:

Bowie knife and sheath Made by R. P. Bowie

The following was inscribed on Silver Sheath
R. P. Bowie to H. W. Fowler U. S. D.
(U. S. Dragoons)

Rezin P. Bowie was brother of James Bowie

Donor
Lt. Col. Richard T. Bowie, for the family of Gen. Washington Bowie

8

---

There is one other story given me by James W. Butts, M. D., which should be added.

In the summer of 1907 Mr. S. H. Spragins, who was the Principal of Jefferson School, took a group of about thirty boys to the Jamestown Exposition. We carried our own tents and other camping equipment, including a Negro named Frank to serve as our cook. We visited Jamestown, Norfolk, Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia and Richmond (I keep forgetting to name some of the places we visited). We were gone about six weeks and, as I remember it, the total cost was less than two hundred dollars! I was fifteen years old at the time and the rest of the group were in the age group fifteen to seventeen. All in all, we were a motley bunch! Which brings me to the story Leonora wrote you. One very hot day in July we were in Washington and went to the Capitol to look around. One of our group got thirsty and stopped a fat man who was walking around and told him we were all thirsty and needed a drink of water. As I recall it, there were six or eight of us and he took us into his office and when he found out we were from Arkansas he asked if we knew the story of the Bowie Knife. Of course we did not, so he took the time to tell us about this wonderful knife made of a specially hardened steel, the secret of which was lost when the blacksmith died. We made some inquiries after we left his office and were told that we had been talking to 'Secretary of War,' later President Taft. I saw him in New Orleans in 1909 or 1910 and I am sure he was the man who talked to us. It was a kindly gesture made by a great man to please some little country boys and I have never forgotten it.

The trouble about getting old is that there is nobody left that can confirm or deny the stories that we old folks tell.

9

---

The book by Russell bears out the original design of the Bowie Knife by Rezin Bowie and also shows what a valuable weapon and tool it was to the frontiersmen. They owed much to Rezin Bowie for designing a heavy knife that would cut both ways.

Fig. 47. More "Scalping Knives."

a, bowie knife, formerly in the Philip Medicus Collection. b, handmade scalper blade, Van Vleck Collection, Jackson Hole, Wyo. c, Iroquois scalping knife, East Cayuga, New York; the drawing was done after Beauchamp: Metallic Implements. d, Creek scalping knife, Okla. Historical Society. e, Onondaga scalping knife; drawing done after Beauchamp: Metallic Implements. Illustration by William Macy, Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, St. Louis.

10

---

ABSTRACT OF EARLY MARRIAGE RECORDS OF PHILLIPS COUNTY

(continued from Volume 8, No. 2)

by

Dorothy James

Marriage Record Book "B" is missing from the County Clerk's office, but a typed transcript of this book appears in Marriage Transcript Record Book 1, pages 1 to 142, both inclusive, and covers the period from February 21, 1832, to December 20, 1847 (filing time of marriage certificates).

The following names are from Index of Marriage Records Book 1 (there is no index in Marriage Transcript Record Book 1), and a comma has been inserted following the surname of the bridegroom, and entries have been numbered. A question mark following any name indicates the uncertainty of translation. Note that many names have been spelled phonetically.

11

---

12

---

13

---

***

14

---

THE ALEUTIAN CAMPAIGN

by

Major James M. Massey, USAR (ret.)

In honor and memory of the men of Battery "G", 206th CA (AA) Regt. of Helena, Arkansas, who manned one of America's most important lines of defense and were among the first U. S. troops closest to the Japanese mainland.

In December, 1941, after the barbaric Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U. S. had virtually no troops on the Aleutian chain. In all of Alaska we had only six small army posts, one Army-Navy post at Kodiak, and one at Dutch Harbor. All the

15

---

other islands were deserted except for a small weather station on Kiska and Attu.

A race was on between the U. S. and Japan for these islands, which provided steppingstones from Alaska to the back door of Japan.

The men of Battery "G" played a great part in making a fortress of this frontier, the least. Known of our America. The Aleutian Islands are tops of volcanic mountain peaks with steep walls and deep fiords. Many believe these islands were a land-bridge from Asia to North America over which prehistoric inhabitants made their way to this continent.

Modern armies had never fought on such a place as the Aleutians. They had to learn how to fight and survive on these barren islands of lava rock covered with thick heavy tundra grass. Tundra freezes in winter and thaws during the short summer. Beneath it is a deep, permanent layer known as permafrost which in summer prevents the water from draining off and makes the flat areas a soggy marsh, most times impassable. Most of the islands are bordered with small flat areas such as this.

The soldiers were constantly fighting the bitter cold winds, winter rain and blinding snowstorms. Nobody knew how hard the wind could blow. A gauge that registered up to 110 miles an hour was not always enough. Bad weather always played a part in the Aleutian warfare, it had no favorites. The climate is marked by short summers and long, cold, dark winter nights. During the eighty days of summer there are only about four hours of darkness in a day. During the winter the sun is hid for many days at a time. The islands were almost constantly shrouded in thick fog, that rested through the area like heavy smoke. The fog combined with treacherous seas was a hazard to the shipping necessary to supply the island forces. The men suffered from shortage of food and fuel that supplied the much

16

---

needed heat against the blasts of arctic winds.

Battery "G", loaded on the cargo-transport ship, Northcoast, at Seattle dock on February 26, 1942. The ship left for its destination after midnight. The ship had two Canadian Corvettes as escort vessels until it put in port at Ketchikan, Alaska. From this point on the ship was on its own. The ocean was in such a turbulent uproar that an enemy torpedo could not have possibly held a true target course. Gigantic waves would pick the ship up and shake her like a small cork, as it bounced and twisted on high disintegrating crests. The waves smashed against the ship as if to tear her steel plates from her sides. As the ship nosed forward over a wave crest, its screw would clear the water and the vibration was terrific. The ship would then slide into a trough so deep, the tremendous waves towered above her on both sides.

Not many men were left on their feet. Amid the creaks and groans of the ship could be heard the prayers, cursing and moans of its passengers.

On March 8th, we spotted our destination lifted above the far horizon as the ship topped the towering waves. Although the snowcovered, sawtoothed ridges of the mountains was a desolate looking place, it was a welcome sight to many as they put their feet on solid ground once again.

The unit was quickly dispersed throughout the islands to occupy and fortify positions against a possible Japanese invasion, the base commander was sure to come. The place was completely devoid of any comfort. Housing was an acute problem. There were a few dugouts (rat-holes) some were able to occupy. The knowledge of Japanese submarines constantly hovering through the area made work progress more quickly. The men dug holes in the volcanic lava rock to build living quarters near their weapons. Work had to be completed as quickly as possible as the weather in the latter part of March

17

---

reached new intensity. The southeast winds scooped up vapor from the ocean and dumped it in solid sheets of freezing rain and snow. It was hard to get used to the constant booming winds and splashing surf. Work was halted only when a willawaw, the sudden, wild howling wind came roaring through the islands where the Bering Sea meets the Pacific. A man could only stand about thirty minutes of guard duty at a time, even wearing the heavy, thick Alaskan clothing.

Despite the discomfort, they had to get used to it, and progress must continue. Quonset huts were dug in, covered over and sodded with the heavy tundra grass for camouflage. Training was continuous, target practice when possible, classes on survival tactics which was vital if one should get isolated or cut off from supplies.

During the last days of May the weather lifted its icy grip. Yet, the wisps of vapor from the chilly airstream were damp and uncomfortable. The snow along the foot of the mountains began to melt away. The thick knee deep carpet of tundra turned a misty green. Work and training increased as did the activity of the Japanese. The enemy was not idle, their subs were constantly active throughout the area. Neither were the U. S. forces idle, a secret airfield was being hastily constructed west of Dutch Harbor on Umnak Island. A few P-38 fighters were flown in as soon as landing area was available.

The members of Battery "G" were constantly working, training and improving their positions. The days were long, as it was only dusk dark at the stroke of midnight.

On June 2, 1942, two Japanese aircraft carriers with their supporting cruisers and destroyers were reported less than 400 miles south of our position. The Japanese carriers, Ryujo and Junyo, under command of Rear Admiral Kakuta, left their

18

---

harbor at Omanito, at the extreme northern end of Honsby Island on May 25th, to make their strike at Dutch Harbor. Two days later, May 27th, their invasion force followed Kakuta under command of Vice Admiral Mashiro Hosogaza.

On June 3rd, and again on June 4th, 64 bombers and fighters from these carriers attacked Duteh Harbor. The slick, graceful Zeros twisted, turned and skimmed the mountains with skill, seeking out prime targets. The 206th Regt. was the only antiaircraft unit stationed in the islands. They literally filled the sky with tracer streams. It seemed almost impossible for a plane to fly through such a barrage of hot steel. Several planes were hit hard, one plane's wheel shot from its undercarriage, plummeted into the water. Part of a Zero engine cowl was picked up on the navy's ramp after the raid. Three planes smoking heavily made it across the rugged ridges out of sight. Navy PBY reconnaissance pilots told this writer they sighted fourteen oil slicks around the islands, where enemy planes crashed the first day. Twelve were sighted the second day and one Zero upside down west of Mt. Coxcomb, on a flat marshy area. There was more firepower on the island than I had ever dreamed. The Japanese also found this out, they never returned. The few P-38 fighters on Umnak intercepted the enemy planes the second day. I heard through the grapevine they shot down eight at a loss of two.

The Japanese hit several prime targets at Dutch Harbor, the oil tanks went up in flames as did the ship Northwestern. Several army and navy barracks were destroyed. The barracks assigned Battery "G" was also hit and heavily damaged. The battery guidon was riddled with bomb shrapnel. The guidon was sent to our former commander, Capt. Austin M. Coates, and is now displayed in his office at 727 Cherry St., Helena, Arkansas.

The downed Zero plane was brought in the

19

---

harbor on a navy barge. The plane suffered two hits, one in the left wing almost center of the rising sun, the other severed the engine oil line. The pilot tried to land on the thick tundra, flipping the plane over, breaking his neck. The Zero was shipped back to the States, repaired and flown across the U. S. from coast to coast. It was the first complete Jap Zero taken and gave our forces an opportunity to study and test its capabilities. I saw this same plane again in 1945 at Biggs Air Force Base, El Paso, Texas.

Bad, foggy weather fought against our reconnaissance planes as they sought the attacking force. They would find the Japanese, only to lose them again before bombers could be brought to the area from Cold Bay airfield.

The Japanese task force withdrew from Dutch Harbor and occupied Kiska, Agattu and Attu, several hundred miles west. This was the only part of the American continent to be invaded in World War II. America began to wake up after this, realizing our back door was open to the Japanese. The U. S. began to step up their activity in this area.

On June 12th, the Eleventh Air Force bombers made runs over Kiska setting fire to two cruisers and one destroyer. The Japanese retaliated with a raid at Atka Island, sinking a seaplane tender. The Japanese began to reconnoiter Adak and other islands for possible occupation and airfield sites. Whenever weather permitted our forces struck at the enemy. On June 18th, a transport was sunk in Kiska Harbor. On July 4th, two of our submarines sank three enemy destroyers and damaged another. One sub came in Dutch Harbor with a broom tied to its periscope, signifying a clean sweep. On August 7th, the U. S. Battleships, Tennessee, New Mexico and Cruiser Nashville shelled Kiska Harbor. On August 3lst, one of our subs sank one of theirs, five Jap survivors popped to the surface, they were picked up and brought to Dutch Harbor, our first

20

---

prisoners.

Kiska Harbor and Gertrude Cove swarmed with enemy ships as did Chicagoff Harbor and Holtz Bay at Attu.

In early September, the northwest winds off the Bering Sea stab summer in the back. The mountain peaks are again dusted with fresh snow. The low lying, bone chilling fog creeps through the mountain passes. In a week, the heavy vegetation turns a winter brown.

Seals abound through the harbor, bobbing their heads up and down, rolling and darting about as they begin their seaward journey. The unit begins to get set for winter's fury, that even grounds the hearty sea gulls.

On September 20, 1942, our forces, fighting the weather elements, occupied Atka under the nose of Japanese reconnaissance planes and naval vessels. After this move, the Japanese quickly increased their Kiska forces with additional antiaircraft, infantry and engineer units.

On January 12, 1943, the U. S. forces quickly made another move under the Japanese nose, occupying Amchitka, and began constructing an airfield. On February 2lst, planes from this new airstrip struck at Japanese forces on Kiska. The forces stationed in the islands began work around the clock, in support of our every effort to beat the enemy at their game.

On March 26th, a few of our naval vessels engaged a heavy enemy fleet and foiled their effort to supply their forces on the islands. On May 11, 1943, American forces by-passed Kiska and landed on Attu. This move caught the Japanese in complete surprise. There were about 2,200 enemy on Attu at this time, the Japs having moved some of Attu's units to reinforce Kiska. The Japanese had dotted the higher ground of Attu with foxholes and small

21

---

caves, making numerous light machine gun and mortar positions. The Japanese fought desperately with a kill-or-be-killed attitude. On May 29th, every Japanese who could walk made a last desperate effort in a reckless assault on our forces. The Japs sent sixteen bombers from their Kurile Islands to try to aid their Attu forces, but they were caught by our Eleventh Air Foree fighters. Twelve of these bombers were sent to a watery grave. The annihilation of the Japanese on Attu was completed May 30th. Less than a dozen prisoners were taken.

After the fall of Attu, the Japs knew Kiska was doomed. The air force and navy increased their bombing, dumping nearly 900,000 pounds of bombs on Kiska in July. The few available P-38 and P-40 fighters constantly swooped over the island in coordinated attacks, despite the weather hazard. Many of our brave air force personnel were lost due to weather conditions. The Japanese secretly evacuated Kiska, finishing the move July 28th, abandoning weapons and equipment. On August 15, 1943, U. S. and Canadian troops occupied a deserted Kiska.

With the extirpation of the Japanese from the Aleutians, Battery "G", 206th Regt. was to be relieved. On February 28, 1944, it embarked on the ship, Gargos, an old German blockade runner during World War I. Just before the old tub entered the harbor, it was shelled, on the high seas, by a Japanese submarine. It bore a patched scar on her portside and one in her stack, which left an ill tempered sea captain.

On the voyage back, the water didn't seem as savage, we were on our way home after an absence of two years. On March 8th, we put in at the same dock we left from. After a short stay at Fort Lewis, Washington, the unit boarded a troop train for Fort Bliss, Texas. After reaching this post, each man was given a well earned 20 day leave. Upon return to our station after leave, the men found that

22

---

their beloved 206th Regt. no longer existed. It had been ordered to reorganize, mixing and shifting its personnel within other units. Men from the old Battery "G" went on to serve in different branches of service and every theater of operations from the South Pacifie to Europe.

Memory of Battery "G" shall never be forgotten. When former members gather and start discussing incidents of World War II, their conversation always drifts back to the Aleutian Campaign. Such names as Unalaska, Dutch Harbor, Ballyhoo Mt., Mt. Coxcomb, Priest Rock, Spit Head, Mt. Newhall, Hog Island, Captains Bay, Umnak, Atka, Kiska, Attu, and the terrible willawaws are always topics for discussion.

The loyal courage, vigorous energy and determined fortitude of these men, who helped to turn back the tide of Japanese invasion from our shores, now take their rightful place in the pages of history.

Attached is a copy of the roster of personnel who were mobilized 6 January, 1941, in Battery "G", 206th CA (AA), Helena, Arkansas.

Before the unit departed Helena for their assigned station, Fort Bliss, Texas, our beloved commander, Capt. Austin M. Coates and executive officer, 1st Lt. Robert T. Austin, were released from active duty. The unit departed with Capt. Zack D. Jennings, commanding. He was one of the Battery's many commanders within the next three years.

23

---

24

---

***

List of those who served as commissioned officers. Many remained in service of their country after the war.

25

---

Deceased *

Information of others who may have served their country in some capacity or obtained a commission is not available at this time.

***

26

---

INDEX

This Index covers the first twenty-eight issues of the Phillips County Historical Quarterly, starting with the issue of Summer, 1962, and continuing through the issue of March, 1970. It also includes the booklet, "Battle of Helena," by E. T. Crisler, Jr., which was used as the 1963 summer issue of the Quarterly, but was not numbered as such. In using the Index, it will be remembered that there was no issue of June, 1966.

An example of the numbers following entries is as follows: 28-4-3-M66-13-Bl. This means, Page 28, Volume 4, Number 3, March, 1966, issue 13, color black. The abbreviation for blue is "bu," and "Su" stands for summer.

A

27

---

B

28

---

C

29

---

30

---

31

---

D

32

---

33

---

E

F

34

---

G

35

---

H

36

---

37

---

38

---

I

J

39

---

K

40

---

L

41

---

Mc

M

42

---

N

43

---

O

P

44

---

Q & R

45

---

S

* omitted in publication - added by webmaster

46

---

47

---

Page 48 is missing

48

---

Page 49 is missing

49

---

Y

***

50

---