1906 Reunion of Hood's Texas Brigade

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker records about Somerville and the 1906 reunion of Hood's Texas Brigade. Now, by 1906, the old soldiers were getting on in years. The war was decades behind them.

But every year, the Hood's Texas Brigade Association gathered, and every year, somebody somewhere in Texas rolled out the welcome mat. In 1906, that somebody was Somerville. The association itself went back to 1872, founded to keep together the veterans of that celebrated Confederate unit.

And they kept at it, year after year, reunion after reunion. By the time June of 1906 rolled around, Somerville was ready. For two days, June 27th and 28th, seventy-four veterans were honored.

Seventy-four men who had carried something heavy for a long time, and Somerville meant to give them a proper send-off into memory. The celebration included speeches, a baseball game, and a grand ball. Think about that combination for a moment.

Words, then sport, then music and dancing. That's a full human life compressed into two days. The local events were planned under the direction of the association's president, R.A.

Brantley, Sr., and his daughter, Mrs. Norton B. Wellborn.

Both of them, Somerville people. The whole affair was a hometown production, and by all accounts, the town rose to it. The reunions kept coming, year after year, the way traditions do when people are determined to hold on.

That tradition finally ended in 1934. The marker doesn't have to say why. You can do that math in your own heart.

What Somerville understood, back in those two June days, was something the marker puts plainly: the reunion reflected the area's respect for the former Civil War soldiers. Seventy-four men, two days, speeches and baseball and a grand ball. That's how a town says: we remember you.

What the marker says

In 1906 Somerville hosted the annual reunion of the Hood's Texas Brigade Association, a group established in 1872 for veterans of the celebrated Confederate unit. For two days, June 27-28, 74 veterans were honored with a celebration which included speeches, a baseball game, and a grand ball. The local events were planned under the direction of the association's president R.A. Brantley, Sr., and his daughter Mrs. Norton B. Wellborn, both of Somerville. Part of a tradition which ended in 1934, the reunion reflected the area's respect for the former Civil War soldiers. (1981)