Randolph Vesey

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, and I'm taking this straight from the official record, here's the story of Randolph Vesey. Now, Wise County has had its share of remarkable people pass through and put down roots, but Randolph Vesey, born in Georgia in 1832, laid to rest in Oaklawn Cemetery in Decatur in 1908, well, he was something particular. The marker calls him a respected Negro citizen and homeowner, and it calls him something else too: a champion pioneer fiddler.

Popular at Forts Belknap, Griffin, and Richardson, and out across the county. You can imagine what that meant in those days: a man who could draw a bow across strings and make a fort full of tired, hard-used people forget, just for a little while, where they were. That kind of talent travels.

That kind of man gets remembered. But Vesey's life wasn't just music and open country. At some point (the marker doesn't say exactly when), he was taken captive by Indians and held in Kansas.

And here's where the story leans in close around the fire: Texans sent ponies to ransom him. Sent ponies. That's the measure of what this man meant to the people around him.

Before all of that, there was the Civil War. During those years, 1861 to 1865, Vesey served as body servant and voluntary battle aide to General W. L.

Cabell of the Confederate army. The marker is direct about what it calls his courage and loyalty, and it places him in a much larger story; one that tends to get left out of the simpler tellings. Because Vesey wasn't alone.

Not by a long measure. The marker puts the number at somewhere between thirty thousand and fifty thousand Negroes, free and enslaved, who aided Confederate armies during those war years. They served with the Nitre and Mining Bureau, with departments of medicine, engineers, quartermaster general, ordnance, and commissary general.

They built fortifications along coasts stretching from Brownsville, Texas, all the way to Norfolk, Virginia, and at inland points too. They worked as army teamsters, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, butchers, shoemakers, cooks, and nurses. Back home, hundreds of slaves operated the farms and ranches of soldiers away at war, producing cotton and food.

Others did work for hire, their wages going to support the master's family. And on patrol duty, they protected homes from Indians, bandits, and outlaws. Texas and other states later provided land grants and pensions for many of them.

Randolph Vesey, born in Georgia, ransomed from Kansas, fiddling at the frontier forts of Texas, buried in Decatur, was one man inside all of that history. The marker makes sure you know both the man and the multitude. That's a rare thing.

And that's worth slowing down for.

What the marker says

(1832-1908) Respected Negro citizen and homeowner. Champion pioneer fiddler, popular at Forts Belknap, Griffin and Richardson and over county. Once when he was an Indian captive, held in Kansas, Texans sent ponies to ransom him. He is buried in Oaklawn, Decatur. Born in Georgia. He served during the Civil War as body servant and voluntary battle aide to General W. L. Cabell of the Confederate army. Vesey's courage and loyalty were typical. Hundreds of slaves went to war with masters. Many operated farms and ranches of soldiers away at war, producing cotton and food for the Confederacy. Others did work for hire, with wages supporting the master's family. On patrol duty they protected homes from Indians, bandits, outlaws. During War years, 1861-1865, some 30,000 to 50,000 Negros - free and slaves - aided Confederate armies. They served with the Nitre and Mining Bureau and departments of medicine, engineers, quartermaster general, ordnance and commissary general. They built fortifications on coasts from Brownsville, Texas, to Norfolk, Virginia, and at inland points. Many were army teamsters, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, butchers, shoemakers, cooks, and nurses. Texas and other states later provided land grants and pensions for many. (1965)