Two of the films that were shown at THE ELECTRIC THEATRE in Dothan on Friday night, June 25, 1909 are now on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ_QeeHHEZw


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJkc-kP4lAg

PLAYING PATIENCE  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449990/

"It would be difficult for me to express enough gratitude or to show enough appreciation for all the help, love and happy memories I have of Alabama and my hometown, Dothan- and for the many fine people who have been so kind to me throughout the years. Friends and friendships crowd in upon my memory. I wish I could talk about all of them.

"When I was a boy growing up in Dothan, and through my schoolhood and university days, I had wonderful times. Alabama will always be my home and , in everything I've done, I have wanted the folks there to be proud of me."

"One of my biggest thrills was going home after the Rose Bowl game. As the train pulled into Dothan, there was a big crowd to meet it, and I looked out the window and saw my brother playing trap drums in the band. They gave me one of the finest receptions anyone could ever wish for. There was a luncheon at the hotel with my mother and daddy there, and speeches, speeches, speeches."
from JOHNNY MACK BROWN: Up Close And Personal by Bobby J. Copeland


http://robertoreg.blogspot.com/2014_10_05_archive.html

The following clipping is further evidence to support the hypothesis that much of the author of DEVIL MAKE A THIRD's inspiration came from old copies of Dothan newspapers. Two important images used in the book are found in this single December 21, 1916 newspaper clipping from THE DOTHAN HOME JOURNAL : "THE PUDDIN' HOUSE" and the toy glass pistol filled with candy.
In Dothan, "THE TENNESSEE PUDDING HOUSE" was probably located somewhere around the intersection of East Burdeshaw and North Range. In Aven, "The Puddin' House" was in Baptist Bottom (In Dothan, that's the area around Chickasaw and North Alice). Early in the story (page 39), a drunken Buck is walking through Baptist Bottom when he encounters a Black preacher in front of the Puddin' House. They strike up a conversation and Buck ends up buying two billy goats from the preacher which will spell disaster when he arrives at his destination: a house of prostitution. The second image of the toy glass pistol filled with candy occurs at the beginning of Buck and his mother's rail trip to New York City(page 181). Unknown to Buck, before they embark from Aven, his mother telegraphs his ex-wife in Waycross and asks her to meet them at the station as they pass through. This would be Buck's first opportunity to see his son. During the ride to Waycross, a boy selling novelties comes by and Buck's Mama buys the toy gun filled with candy for the grandson she hopes to see for the first time. Buck's ex-wife doesn't show up with the boy so as they leave the station heading for New York City, Buck gives the toy glass pistol to the shine boy who polished his shoes while they were waiting in Waycross.

Dothan's Mayor Buck Baker's parents' house was located on the entire block below Dixie bordered by North Foster, Powell, North St. Andrews & Newton. A nice little archaeological project for the DEVIL MAKE A THIRD crowd @ the OLD DOTHAN MEMORIES on Facebook would be to see if there are any remaining artifacts of that house or the three other houses Buck built for his sisters when he subdivided the block. Among the relics which may remain would be the walkways leading to each house from the sidewalk which were built by the City of Dothan as a courtesy to their long-serving mayor. from page 262 of DEVIL MAKE A THIRD: "He looked critically at the small white house set neatly in the angle of the corner lot on which they had planted the shrub, then his eyes wandered back and forth to the the other two corners where houses exactly like the nearest centered corner lots that were each one-fourth of the block. He could see Jeanie Bannon's home-the first house he'd ever built- still reared two stories above the fourth corner and in his mind's eye he could see the barn and the meat house and the chicken runs and the cow lot all sprawling back to the strict edge of the parcel of land that went with the house behind her. His eyes squinted along the precise white shine of smooth sidewalk that bordered the block. He frowned at the roots of the sycamores growing between the sidewalk and curb, where already big roots had pried up slabs at the foot of each tree. He followed with satisfaction, though, the same type of slabs formed wide walkways leading up to the four green steps of each house. His upper lip curled a little as he thought about those walkways, and he hoped nobody would notice that they were made out the same stuff and laid just exactly like those the city had used for sidewalk. He leaned  over suddenly and spat for luck at the trunk of the small shrub as his mother pushed back, sighing." https://privatepropertynotrespass.blogspot.com/

Dothan is privileged that the artist who painted one of its murals included a depiction of one of the MOST HEROIC ACTS OF THE FIRST SEMINOLE WAR. In the upper right hand corner of the mural on East Main entitled  THE ABDUCTION OF ELIZABETH STUART DILL, you can see a U.S. infantryman being blown backwards by the recoil of the small cannon he is holding. Here's the story of this incredible feat by Sergeant McIntosh which occurred on the Apalachicola River 70 miles below Dothan 200 years ago THIS THURSDAY, November 30.
 from WOODWARD'S REMINISCENCES, "I must here mention a circumstance that occurred on board the boat at the time, which I learned from one of the men who escaped, and also from some of the Indians who were present. There was a Sergeant named McIntosh, a Scotsman, on board, whom I knew well. He was with Colonel, afterwards  General Thomas A. Smith, before St. Augustine, Fla., in 1812, and a Sergeant in Capt. Woodruff's company, at the beginning of the War of 1812, and was a favorite among officers and soldiers. He was an own cousin of the Indian General McIntosh you knew, whose grave you say you not long since visited. Sergeant McIntosh was a man of giant size, and perhaps more bodily strength than any man I have known in our service. When he found all on the boat were lost, and nothing more could be done, he went into a little kind of cabin the Lieutenant had occupied as his quarters, in which was a swivel or small cannon; loaded it, took it on deck, and resting the swivel on one arm ranged it as well as he could, and (the Indians by this time were boarding the boat) with a firebrand, he set off the swivel, which cleared the boat for a short time gave Gray a chance to escape." https://archive.org/stream/woodwardsreminis00wood#page/52/mode/2up

History of the Fortification on Dauphin Island http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a627481.pdf

https://armyhistory.org/a-tale-of-two-forts/

LOTA KYLE is one of the most powerful female characters in DEVIL MAKE A THIRD. She is the 19 year old Georgia schoolteacher who marries 48 year-old Aven Mayor Buck Bannon in a church wedding five weeks after meeting him. The name "Lota" has "lot o' " significance in this story because Dothan Mayor Buck Baker, the model for Bannon, had a niece in Dothan named LOTA B. CHEEK who found some fame as a beauty contestant, silent movie star and stage performer in the early 1920s. One of her husbands was British actor, Tyrell Davis.

"Hey Lord, it's a queer feeling to find yourself old and troubled and right where the string peters out, then look back and see the trail you've left. But it's a pretty good feeling in some ways- take this house and all. Buck just heard me say I wanted to be back to the farm before I died. And here I've got a thousand acres and a big white house with a dozen rooms and big stores and barns and tenant houses and folks to do my work. Poor Buck. He didn't know and I don't mean for him to ever know. What I wanted was what you've got. You got peace that can come from the things you know every day and the things you work with. The only peace I can get now is from the inside. I don't reckon that's Buck's fault. He couldn't know what I wanted. And even if he did, he couldn't give them to me. My Lord, nobody can give them to me now. The things I want wouldn't be any good to me now-I'd have to be twenty again." ~ Jeanie Bannon from page 289 of DEVIL MAKE A THIRD

There's an interesting Blumberg connection to the actual people who Bailey used to create the fictional town of Aven in DEVIL MAKE A THIRD. In 1913, a ten-year-old Harold Blumberg was on horseback driving a herd of cows down Washington Street. At the corner of Dusy, a group of boys started chunking rocks at Harold and a fight occurred in which Harold was cut so bad he almost died. The boys were arrested and one of them was third grader Clarence Stagg, brother of Eula Stagg who became Mrs. Buck Baker at age 19 in 1919 and is the basis for 48 yr. old Buck Bannon's 19 year old bride in DEVIL MAKE A THIRD. from the May 23, 1913 DOTHAN EAGLE

Ellen Dawson (a great-great niece of Buck Baker), describing the comments her grandmother made in the margins of her copy of DEVIL MAKE A THIRD, wrote: "PAGE 64
8th paragraph, the whole paragraph is in parenthesis and it begins with "She's a schoolteacher," and beside it in the margin is written 'Music Teacher'
PAGE 73, right above the INTERLUDE is written: ' The teachers name was Ida and Ghastie was named Ida after her and christened later when she was 2 - 3, she was renamed Ghastie."

In the book, Buck is caught having an affair with "Big Vic" or Victoria, the schoolteacher hired to teach the Bannon children after they moved to Aven. One of the Bannon girls was already named Victoria. After "Big Vic" was dismissed, Jane Bannon, Buck's mother, changed her daughter's name from Victoria to Christina. The real teacher being named Ida fits in with this 1898 clipping from the COLUMBIA BREEZE. If Ida also became pregnant, she may have been the mother of James Baker, son of Buck Baker, WWI hero and accused in 1920 of assault with intent to murder in Moultrie, Georgia. So here we may have two characters the book, Big Vic and Ivy Longshore(Buck Bannon's first wife & mother of his only child) who are based upon an individual, Ida Clark. from the July 28, 1898 COLUMBIA BREEZE 

Ya know, no matter how intentionally dismissive or NEGLIGENTLY IGNORANT someone may choose to be about Dauphin Island's natural and cultural resources, we ought to at least be able to put a piece of paper in somebody's hand that will introduce visitors or potential visitors to the natural and cultural heritage that awaits them on the island. There's a lot that D.I. can gain by studying the GULF SHORES AND ORANGE BEACH 2017 OFFICIAL VACATION GUIDE.
The front and back covers apply to Dauphin Island and the theme of the publication "YOU'RE IN A WHOLE DIFFERENT STATE..." is repeated over and over thoughout its pages.
Pages 42 and 43 feature Ft. Gaines, Bellingrath Gardens and The Estuarium under the heading of CELEBRATING COASTAL CULTURE ("It's a whole different state of discovery...") The Alabama Bicentennial page 45 features Ft. Gaines. Under GULF COAST EVENTS, they include Mardi Gras and the Bellingrath Christmas Lights. Under ATTRACTIONS, the Mobile Bay Ferry is featured and under NATURE & TRAILS, the Audubon Bird Sanctuary and the Estuarium are included but THAT'S IT for D.I. in this publication. The island is included on one of the maps but there's plenty for the visitor to the Alabama coast outside of D.I. Under ADVENTURES,CRUISES AND WATERSPORTS, there are 6 entire pages. Under BEACH/WATERSPORT RENTAL & SERVICES, 2 pages; Under FOOD & DRINK CELEBRATIONS, 2 pages; DINING, 14 pages; ARTS & CULTURE, 5 pages (there's a Bellingrath ad here); GOLF COURSES, 2 pages; MARINAS & DIVE SHOPS, 4 pages; ACCOMMODATIONS, 16 pages: In other words, there are lots of opportunities for Dauphin Island to be included in the 2019 edition of this publication.
The part of the publication that could benefit Dauphin Island the most is the map section.
A map that includes the ENTIRE WEST END to the west point along with the peninsula, the Alabama-Mississippi State line and the northern coast of the Mississippi Sound would be of great benefit to the visitor. The Gulf Shores/Orange Beach map includes symbols for 9 RECREATION FACILITIES, 15 SPORTS FACILITIES, 3 EMERGENCY LOCATIONS, and 8 VISITOR RESOUCES. IMHO, there's a lot ANYONE WHO WANTS TO SEE D.I. PROSPER can learn from the GULF SHORES & ORANGE BEACH 2017 OFFICIAL VACATION GUIDE. https://www.gulfshores.com/!userfiles/guide/index.html

Mrs. Buck Baker (Eula Stagg Baker) remained around town for a couple of years after Buck's death. The last clipping from the Eagle where she is mentioned is in 1922 after her brother, Clarence, married a girl from Savannah. (Clarence Stagg has an interesting story. When he was in the third grade, he was arrested along with some other boys when they attacked 11 year old Herman Blumberg while Herman was riding his horse and driving some cows down Washington Street. The attack occurred at the intersection with Dusy, right in front of the house where my parents were living when I was born in 1950. One of the boys cut an artery in Herman's groin and it almost killed him.)

In DEVIL MAKE A THIRD, one of the most interesting female characters is Lota Kyle, a nineteen-year-old schoolteacher from Georgia who 48 year old Buck takes as his "trophy wife" in an Aven church wedding five weeks after meeting her. The character of Lota is based upon 19 year old Dothan High graduate Eula Stagg who 50 year old Dothan Mayor Buck Baker married in 1919. Eula got her "15 minutes of fame" in 1943 when she was brought before a U.S. House of Representatives Military Affairs subcommittee and refused to testify about lobbying parties where she served fried chicken and cocktails to politicians and military officers who could help her employer land defense contracts. From that moment on in the national press, Eula became known as "the mystery woman of R Street", referring to the large house in Washington, D.C. where the parties were held. Today, I found Eula's burial place in Jacksonville, Florida on the Web. (One of Buck Baker's sisters had a daughter named Lota Cheek who in 1922 was named the BOSTON'S PRETTIEST GIRL. After this event was picked up by the press, Lota was soon dubbed AMERICA'S PRETTIEST GIRL in the nation's newspapers. Although her press clippings say she was raised in Dawson, Georgia, she had also lived in Dothan)  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/141832488/eula-smith

Here's a revealing quote from DEVIL MAKE A THIRD. It's from page 221 and Buck is having an internal dialogue with himself during his church wedding. "By God, a blind hog gets an acorn now and then. Old wrinkled-up sawed off Ed Mercer, looking satisfied and secret like a kid wetting under water, and hoping I'll buy the new church chimes so he won't have to put. Brought his chew in with him and too stingy to spit. Country as nursing a baby in the wagon yard." Have no idea who Ed Mercer may have been based upon but he must have had money and we already know a little about "the wagon yard". As many of you know, every time you hear the chimes from 1st Methodist, you are hearing BUCK BAKER'S DONATION to Foster Street Methodist.  from the March 29, 1920 DOTHAN EAGLE

 I decided to google my g-g-grandfather who was born in Washington County, Georgia in 1818.
Found this document on the Internet prepared by my g-g-grandfather J. Y. Register for a widow's claim filed for settlement:
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/al/coffee/military/civilwar/mt41.txt

Register of Claims of deceased Officers and Soldiers from Alabama
which were filed for settlement in the Office of the Confederate
States Auditor for the War Department

By Whom Presented: Ardilla Green, Widow
When Filed: Dec. 17, 1863
Comptroller:
When reported to: Oct. 11, 1864
When returned: Oct. 28, 1864
Number of settlements:
Certificates: 19950
Amount found due: $169.96

Hill Hospital
Ringgold, GA.
Oct. 17th, 1863

Sir,

W.A. Green, Private 25th Ala. Co. “K”, died this day in Hospital of
Virlinus Sclopeticum.
Effects – Six Dollars and fifty cents ($6.50)

Very Respectfully,
Your Obedient Servant
W.J. Burt Asst. Secy
              in Charge of Hospital


The State of Alabama, Coffee County

On this the 4th day of December A.D. 1863 before me, J.Y. Register,
a Justice of the Peace, in and for said State and County, personally
appeared Ardilla Green of Coffee County, and made oath according to
law, the same is the wife of William A. Green, a private of Company
(K) Captain D.C. Monroe in 25th Regiment Alabama Volunteers, that the
said William A. Green volunteered at Elba on the 20th day of January
1862 for three years or the war, and continued in actual service until
the 17th of October A.D. 1863 at which time he the said William A.
Green did die at Ringgold, Geo. of wounds received at the battle of
Chickamauga on the 20th of September 1863 leaving a wife and three
children and that she is therefore the only person fully entitled to
receive the pay or arrears of pay, commutation, bounty and c., that
may be found due said deceased William A. Green from the Confederate
States and that she authorizes J.Y. Register to apply for and receive
for her sole benefit whatever may be due to said William A. Green by
reason of service rendered by him in the army of the Confederate
States, to whose recipe shall be a full acquittance and discharge
against me for the same.

And at the same time, also appeared Stephen Hawkins and T.H.
Yarborough who after being duly sworn that they are acquainted with
the said Ardilla Green and knew the said William A. Green, deceased,
and that the facts as sworn to by the said Ardilla Green are
substantially true, and they are not interested in this claim.

Ardilla Green (her mark) L.S.
Stephen Hawkins L.S.
T.H. Yarborough L.S.

The foregoing affidavit were subscribed and sworn to before me, on the
day and year the same bears date and I certify that I know affiant to
be credible, that the applicant is the person she represents herself
to be and that I have not interest in the prosecution of said claim.

J.Y. Register, J.P.

The State of Alabama, Coffee County

I Rowling W. Starke Judge of the Court of Probate in and for the county
and state aforesaid hereby certify that J.Y. Register, Esq. whose
genuine signature appears to the foregoing affidavit and certificate
of acknowledgement was at the time of signing the same and is now an
acting Justice of the Peace duly commissioned and qualified, and that
full faith and credit are due his official acts, and further, that
this is a Court of record having a Seal, and that I am ex-officio
keeper thereof.

Given under my hand and official Seal at office this 7th day of
December A.D. 1863

R.W. Starke, Judge of Probate

The Confederate States

To: Ardilla Green, Widow of William A. Green, deceased, late Private
of Capt. D.C. Monroe’s Co. K., 25th Regt. Ala. Vols.

For pay of said deceased from June 30, 1863 the date of last payment
to Oct. 17, 1863, the date of his death  3 mos. & 17 days
                                         $39.23
>From Oct. 62  to Oct. 63 – 12 mos at $134.13   -      $134.13
Commutation for clothing – 10 days at 24 cts per day            2.10
$136.23

Clothing Drawn              -$12.00 124.23

Amt. in hands of Israel Gibbons Capt. & Post L.M. (no amount listed)
Rec’d of W.J. Burt Asst Secy Hill Hospital Ringgold, Ga.
                                                  6.50

                                                $169.96

As per Report of Lieut. E.E. Yonge & Israel Gibbons Capt. & Post L.M.

Payable to Ardilla Green Widow Coffee Co., Ala.
Care of Capt. H. Fowler Agent for Ala.
Box 1508 Richmond, Va.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT
Second Auditor’s Office

October 11th 1864

R.F. Gordon, Clerk

Comptroller’s Office
Oct. 28th, 1864
P.H. Pendleton, Clerk

I also found this land sale on the Internet:
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~dobson/al/alcoffee.htmE-274: Coffee Co. AL, 18 June 1859, Daniel Duncan and wife Mary(X) Duncan to J.Y. Register for $60, SE 1/4 NW 1/4 and NE 1/4 SW 1/4 Sec.25 T3 R21, 80 acres; no wit. (FHL film 1,031,290) (MAD: 1850 Pike Co. AL census, 1860 Henry Co. AL census)

In 1895 my g-g uncle J.F. Register was the pastor of six different Baptist Churches in both Alabama & Florida: 
http://www.rootsweb.com/~fljackso/sandycreek.htm

Church Directory 1895 Pastors and their addresses     Members

Pilgrims Rest   GJ Canant         Dale, Al            ?
Hurricane       JF Register       Holmes, Fl          48
Pleasant Grove  John Patten       Holmes, Fl          81
Shiloh          James Blount      Geneva, Al          99
Union           JF Register       Geneva, Al          ?
Spring Creek    JLC White         Geneva, Al          39
New Teamon      S Willerford                          66
Pleasant Hill   James Blount      Geneva, Al          ?
Christian Home  GJ Canant         Geneva, Al          ?
Leonia          JF Register       Holmes, Fl          53
Elbethel        HS Nichols        Geneva, Fl          46
New Prospect    JF Register       Geneva, Al          38
Zion Hill       S Willerford      Geneva, Al          28
Fellowship      James Blount      Geneva, Al          6
New Hope        JF Register       Holmes, Fl          65

Here's the story of how J.F.Register was drafted into the Confederate Army:

The capture of the Bloomer led to a lot of my ancestors having to join the
Confederate army. The incident is hilarious but the consequences
were horrific.

Any chance the " Bloomer " could have been used in blockade running?

The "Bloomer" was a 130 ton sidewheeler with high pressure engines.
It had a hole in one of its boilers and was moored at the wharf
at river junction in Geneva. On Sunday afternoon, December 28,
1862, two groups of Yankees(25 men of the 91st New York Volunteers
commanded by Lieutenant James H. Stewart and the crew of the
blockading schooner "Charlotte" commanded by Acting Master
Elias D. Bruner) repaired the boiler, fired the engines
and started down the Choctawhatchee for Pensacola.
The Army and the Navy fought over this prize of war
but the U.S. Claims Court at New Orleans awarded
the steamboat to Master Bruner and his crew.
The U.S. government paid them $5,100 for the ship and
it joined Admiral Farragut's Northern Gulf Blockading
Squadron and saw service in Pensacola Bay, Santa Rosa Sound,
Choctawhatchee Bay and in the salt raids in the St. Andrews
Bay area.

Governor Shorter used this incident as a propaganda tool to encourage enlistment
in Southeast Alabama. I'm pretty sure this was the first time
Alabama had been invaded by Yankees so Shorter played up the fact
that "the back door to Alabama stood open to invaders."
A good description of the "Bloomer Incident" is found in E.W. Carswell's Holmesteading,
a history of Holmes County, Florida.

This information concerns my g-great uncle, John Forsyth Register's unit,
the 6th Alabama Calvary.
Excerpt of a letter from Mark Curenton
to Ron Jones dated 12 Apr 1999:

“What this blurb does not mention is the reason that the 6th Alabama Cavalry was
transferred from Clanton’s brigade to north Alabama. Clanton’s brigade, consisting of the
57th Alabama Infantry, the 61st Alabama Infantry, the 6th Alabama Cavalry, the 7th Alabama
Cavalry, Clanton’s battery and Tarrant’s battery, was organized in early 1863 as a direct
result of the raid by Union forces through Walton County in December of 1862. This raid
resulted in the capture of the steamboat Bloomer on the Choctawhatchee River just south
of Geneva, Alabama. This brigade served in west Florida and south Alabama to guard
against future raids. By December of 1863 morale in the brigade was so low that there was
open talk of laying down their guns and going home. On January 5, 1864, sixty men out of
300 stationed at Gonzales, Florida mutinied and refused to serve any more. They were all
swiftly arrested. The Confederate command broke up the brigade and transferred the
regiments to different commands to prevent any further occurrence of mutinous conduct.”

My g-great uncle, John Forsyth Register, enlisted in Company "K" in the 6th Alabama Calvary
in April of 1863 at Geneva, Alabama. He was honorably discharged from the Confederate Army on
May 5, 1865 and took the oath of allegiance at Montgomery on May 30, 1865. John was elected
the second sheriff of Geneva County on November 7, 1871.
The community of Leonia in northern Holmes County, Florida,
is named after his first wife. He was a Missionary Baptist
preacher for 43 years and according to my family's papers,
he recorded more members into the Baptist Church
than any other Baptist minister who lived in the Geneva area.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6th Alabama Cavalry Regiment
The 6th Alabama Cavalry was organized near Pine Level,
early in 1863, as part of Brig. Gen'l James H. Clanton's brigade.
Recruits were gathered from Barbour, Coffee, Coosa, Henry, Macon,
Montgomery, Pike, and Tallapoosa counties. It was first engaged
near Pollard with a column of the enemy that moved out from
Pensacola. Ordered then to North Alabama,
the 6th was concerned in several skirmishes near Decatur,
with small loss. During the Atlanta-Dalton campaign,
the regiment served for several weeks as part of Brig.
Gen'l Samuel W. Ferguson's and Brig. Gen'l Frank C. Armstrong's
brigades, losing quite a number. A portion of the regiment
resisted Maj. Gen'l Lovel H. Rousseau at Ten Islands,
losing a number killed and captured. Transferred to West Florida,
the 6th fought Maj. Gen'l Frederick Steele's column at
Bluff Springs, under orders from Col Armstead, and its loss
was severe, especially in prisoners. The remnant fought Maj.
Gen'l James H. Wilson's column, and laid down their arms
at Gainesville, fewer than 200 men.

Field officers: Col. Charles H. Colvin, Lt. Col. Washington T. Lary
(captured at Ten Islands); Major Eliphalet Ariel McWhorter
(captured at Ten Islands, Bluff Springs);
and Adjutant Joseph A. Robertson


Here's a picture of the monument of a mass grave of 6000 Confederate
dead that includes the remains of my g-great uncle William Duncan
Register.His name can be found on the monument.This is the largest
Confederate burial ground in all of the North.

THE STORY OF MY G-GREAT UNCLE W.D. Register's UNIT'S CONFEDERATE FLAG:

This flag was made by Miss Martha Crossley, Miss Queen Gamble and other
ladies of Perote, Pike County, Alabama. It was presented to the company in
September 1860 on the steps of the Methodist Church in Perote.
The flag was presented by Miss Crossley and received for the
company by M. B. Locke. The Perote Guards were sent to Pensacola,
Florida where they became part of the 1st Alabama Infantry.
Upon receipt of a regimental flag, the company flags were placed
with the regimental quartermaster for safe keeping.

The 1st Alabama Infantry surrendered on April 7, 1862 at Island No.
10. Following the surrender, the flag was taken from the company
baggage by members of the 15th Wisconsin Infantry
and eventually carried back to Wisconsin.
Learning of the flag's location Dr. Thomas Owen,
Director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History,
requested its return in the summer of 1903.
Ruben G. Thwaites, Secretary of the State Historical Society
of Wisconsin, replied on June 19, 1903 that he felt the Society
would be quite willing to return the flag.
This, however, would require a resolution by their
legislature which did not meet again until January 1905.
On March 15, 1905 Lieutenant and Acting Governor R. M. Cunningham
requested that the flag be returned to Alabama.
Joint Resolution Number 29-S of the Legislature of the State
of Wisconsin, April 13, 1905 approved the return of the flag.

THE HISTORY OF MY G-GREAT UNCLE, WILLIAM DUNCAN REGISTER'S, UNIT

First Alabama
Infantry Regiment

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was the first regiment organized under the act of the State
legislature authorizing the enlistment of troops for twelve months.
The companies rendezvoused at Pensacola in February and March 1861,
and about the 1st of April organized by the election of regimental
officers. Transferred to the army of the Confederate States soon
after, it remained on duty at Pensacola for a year. It was chiefly
occupied in manning the batteries and took part in the bombardments
of November 23, and January 1, 1862. A detachment was in the night
fight on Santa Rosa Island. Being the oldest regiment in the 
Confederate service, it was first called on to re-enlist for the war
, at the end of the first year, and seven of the companies did so.
Ordered to Tennessee, the regiment, 1000 strong, reached Island Ten
March 12, 1862. In the severe conflict there, all but a remnant of
the regiment were captured. Those who escaped were organized into
a battalion, which was part of the garrision at Fort Pillow,
and afterwards fought at Corinth. Those captured were exchanged in
September, and the regiment rendezvoused at Jackson, Miss.,
having lost 150 by death in prison, 150 by casualties since and
during the siege of Island Ten. At once ordered to Port Hudson,
they participated in the privations of that siege. They were
captured, after losing 150 killed and wounded. The privates were
paroled and the officers kept in prison till the peace.
The men were exchanged in the fall, and joined Gen. Johnston
in Mississippi, 610 strong. The regiment was then at Mobile
and Pollard, and joined Gen. Johnston at Alatoona.
In Cantey's brigade, it fought at New Hope, and was afterwards
transferred to the brigade of Gen. Quarles, in which it served
till the end. It participated at Kennesa, and lost considerably
at Peach Tree Creek. In the terrible assault on the enemy's
lines at Atlanta, July 28, the regiment won fresh renown,
but lost half of its force in killed and wounded.
Moving with Hood into Tennessee, it again lost very heavily
at Franklin and Nashville. Transferred to North Carolina,
it took part at Averysboro and Bentonville, and about 100 men
surrendered at Goldsboro. Upwards of 3000 names were on its
rolls at different times during the war,
including the companies that did not re-enlist.


Captain Henry Wesley Laird's "Gulf Rangers"

William Duncan Register(d.o.b. August 18, 1842) Corporal, born in Georgia,
died in Camp Douglas Prison in Chicago, Illinois on 13 July 1862;
claim filed August 3, 1863 by John Register
(This is William's father ,my g-great grandfather John Young  Register)


Found out that my Grandfather Register's Daddy's oldest brother,
William Duncan Register, Pvt. Co. D. 1st AL, TN, MS Infantry
(died July 13, 1862) is buried in downtown Chicago along
with 6000 other barefooted Rebel Sons of Bitches.
Seeing the monument and knowing that nothing marked their 6000
graves until 30 years after their death is not a comforting thought
Not only that, the neglect and torture they endured has been effectively
suppressed by the Yankees.Check out what happens when you fight
and die for your country and your country loses the War.
http://www.graveyards.com/oakwoods/confederate.html

As far as I know we're not kin to ANY Youngs.
My Daddy always told me he thought we used the name Young because the Yonges founded Abbeville and Geneva. The Yonges were descended from the Indian traders with Panton, Leslie & Co.
Daddy was wrong.
There are Young Registers all over the place. They go all the way back to the "old country" (Darlington, S.C. ~ The Cheraw District).

So that's our Young connection. Nothing but a fambly tradition.
Thanks for being curious.

Oh yeah. I got the death dates on some of those cats who were captured with my Uncle William Duncan at Island #10. At Camp Randall in Madison, Wisconsin, members of Geneva's Gulf Rangers died on May 22, 1862; May 23 or 24, 1862; June 21 or 29, 1862; May 29, 1862 and May 23, 1862. One of the guys at Camp Randall was a Register but I don't know how I'm kin to him. There was a Peacock died there too. I have read reminiscences from Camp Randall. Almost every one of those boys were from Alabama. They had pneumonia so bad that phlegm covered the floors of their hospital.You'd slide down if you weren't careful. They were all clothed in cotton. No wool. They saw the spring bloom four times. They saw it bloom in Pensacola as they prepared to go up the Mississippi. They saw it bloom at Island No. 10 above Memphis. They saw it bloom while captive in Illinois and they saw it bloom at Camp Randall in Wisconsin. Their cemetery is the northern most Confederate cemetery.

Uncle William is buried in the Camp Douglas mass grave in downtown Chicago. Pretty sure there's 6000 buried there and it wasn't even marked for 35 years.
Dat showl do makes you feel all warm and fuzzy for yo' govmint now don't it!

Uncle William died July 13, 1862. G-Great Grandpa Register filed a claim with the federal government for killing him on August 3, 1863. Other boys from Geneva died on May 14, July 11, July 7 and July 13, 1862.

Here's a good link on the Gulf Rangers.http://www.trackingyourroots.com/data/gulfrangers.htm

When Reverend H.H. McNeil arrived in Dothan in 1913 to begin preaching at Foster St. Methodist, Dothan had been DRY for about six years but it wasn't very dry. Liquor still arrived at the depot and was stored in railroad warehouses. There were plenty of shot houses (blind tigers) in town and visitors staying in the hotels were able to get a toddy seven days a week. Reverend McNeil took this as a subject for his sermons and he invited speakers representing the Anti-Saloon League, the Epworth League, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, etc. to present their message from the podium of Foster Street Methodist. On Wednesday night, August 5, 1914, somebody poured kerosene all over the porches of Rev. McNeil's parsonage and set it on fire. All the occupants of the dwelling survived.

Well, I'm up to Chapter 21 on my "dissection" of the novel, DEVIL MAKE A THIRD. The last "piece of the puzzle" that threw me for a loop was this sentence describing Alabama Governor Thrasher's wife at a banquet being held in Harrison House, "Her lifeless-looking hands fluttered occasionally up over her flat chest, as if she had slipped down inside the whalebone shell of her pale-green gown and wanted to pull back up." This put me on a search for the role of the corset in turn-of-the-century Dothan and I've learned a lot. Warner's was making corsets way back in DEVIL MAKE A THIRD days and back in the late-Sixties, I earned a lot my spending money in high school changing tires on those shiny, clean Warner's trucks filled with ladies' undergarments manufactured at their Dothan plant. https://privatepropertynotrespass.blogspot.com/

Yesterday on my afternoon hike I decided to write five "Dothan people" about my work on DEVIL MAKE A THIRD.
 You are one of those people.
If you know anyone who would be interested in putting together a play or rock musical (I can see how many Buddy Buie tunes ~ Georgia Pines, Spooky, Stormy, Traces, So Into You, I'm Not Going To Let It Bother Me Tonight, Homesick, Dreamy Alabama,etc. could be used) based upon this superb novel, please share this blog address with them. https://privatepropertynotrespass.blogspot.com/

If anyone is interested in drawing attention to Dothan's architectural heritage and the need to preserve downtown, they should pick up a copy of DMAT & read it. The story of Buck Bannon and his adopted hometown of Aven mirrors Dothan's boomtown origins and the story of our lovable turn-of-the-century scoundrel, Dothan Mayor Buck Baker. There's only one problem with reading the book. There is no E-book available and the cheapest paperback edition on Amazon is now going for sixty bucks (the only hardback 1948 copy I could find online sold Sept. 7 for $119.55) I don't know what the situation is with the copyright but I'll bet it's a MAJOR HEADACHE because the last reprint was done by THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS and when you deal with them, you generally sign all your rights away.

Anyway, I'm up to Chapter 21 on my "dissection" of the novel. The last "piece of the puzzle" that threw me for a loop was this sentence describing Alabama Governor Thrasher's wife at a banquet being held in Harrison House, "Her lifeless-looking hands fluttered occasionally up over her flat chest, as if she had slipped down inside the whalebone shell of her pale-green gown and wanted to pull back up." So now I'm down in a HISTORY OF CORSETS "rabbit hole"http://www.victoriana.com/corsets/corseting.htm
trying to dig myself out so I can examine Buck and Lota's church wedding.

Please follow my progress on the blog, talk up DEVIL MAKE A THIRD with your Dothan friends and share your ideas with me.

Best,
r

I got me a new saying,"You can't cuss the cotton." I got it from my hero, BUCK BANNON, from the novel, DEVIL MAKE A THIRD. It refers to how a man makes his living. You can cuss all the things that hold you back from meeting your goals of growth but you CAN'T CUSS the stuff you are growing, only the stuff that prevents it from growing. To go in the other direction is a PRESCRIPTION FOR DISASTER & OBLIVION.
from page 191 of DEVIL MAKE A THIRD (Buck Bannon is talking to himself) "A man doesn't change, he develops. He makes, according to the things that happen to him, like a crop makes with the seasons. You can't cuss the cotton. You cuss the rain and the weevil that fester it. A man-you cuss the time he was hungry and couldn't get food or the time he wanted his wife and she-"
Throughout the book, Buck looks to the life of a cotton farmer to give himself his rules to live by, "Godamighty, it's just like I furnished a farmer- gave him land to work, seed to plant, and mules and tools. He'd do the best he could, I reckon. Looks like I got furnished with whatever I am, and it's up to me to do the best I can with what I've got. I don't go behind and look up a farmer tryin' to furnish him with some more. After I set him up, the rest is up to him." https://privatepropertynotrespass.blogspot.com/

I'm working with a group of people who are planning on giving a presentation on the history of THE OLD DUTCH in March. Between now and then, I'll be trying to organize all my OLD DUTCH mementos and reminiscences. Please feel free to record your memories of this unforgettable venue and share them with me. My email address is robertoreg@gmail.com or contact me via Facebook. from the July 1, 1967 PANAMA CITY NEWS HERALD

And now I present a Biblical question to the crowd on the OLD DOTHAN AL MEMORIES Facebook page. On page 192 of DEVIL MAKE A THIRD, Buck is trying to justify his illegal, unethical and immoral behavior to his brother Jeff (Buck's come back to Aven from NYC ready to build a hotel on a lot owned by the city. Because he is mayor of Aven, it is important to Buck to not show a conflict of interest so Buck is planning on setting up a straw purchase of the city's lot in order to conceal his double dealing). Jeff says, "I don't like it. Papa wouldn't hold with such dealin's." Buck justifies himself to Jeff by outlining his potentially highly profitable business plan and then Buck toasts his family's dishonest entry into the hotel business with this toast, "Well, the Lord had pity on the gourd." WHOA! Where the hell did Dougie get that one. O.K. it comes from the Book of Jonah and, as far as I can tell, the Bible passage has nothing to do with the Lord having pity on the gourd. It's more like Jonah had the tender feelings for the gourd because its shade had saved him from the intense sun but God sent a worm to kill the gourd plant so Jonah had ended up mad at God for killing his gourd. Any comments will sure be appreciated.  https://www.google.com/search?ei=eLn9WfSlKsL5mAH9uIqADg&q=%22pity+on+the+gourd%22+symbolism&oq=%22pity+on+the+gourd%22+symbolism&gs_l=psy-ab.3...31634.34814.0.36341.10.10.0.0.0.0.108.941.6j4.10.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.8.757...33i22i29i30k1j33i21k1j33i160k1.0.FVPYo0AXNE0