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General H. B. Stoddard Documents, Staff of Gen. Polignac/ Civil War/ Texas

Up for your consideration is an assortment of ten documents (15 pages) belonging to General Henry Bates Stoddard, with a few being written by former Confederate officers. Stoddard served on the staff of Confederate Prince Camille Armand Jules Marie de Polignac. This lot consists of original 1890-1904 paper documents related to the business dealings of General Henry Bates Stoddard of Bryan, Texas:

1-2) (Two copies) September 12, 1904, General Order #94 retiring Brigadier General H.B. Stoddard from the Texas Volunteer Guard, which includes his military record.

3) May 25, 1893, from J. M. Dean, Lawyer, El Paso, Texas (stationery/letterhead) to General H.B. Stoddard. Regarding lots in Marfa and Presidio County, 5 pages. Handwritten.

4) April 10, 1890, from William Crank, Attorney at Law, Houston (stationery/letterhead) to General H.B. Stoddard, one page. Regarding a business deal involving Haag & Hornblen. Major William H. Crank a Confederate Veteran who married Confederate heroine (spy) Robert (Robbie)Ellen Woodruff of Tennessee. He was from Charlottesville, Va. area. They moved to Houston after the war where he was a prominent lawyer. He died there in February 1903.

5) April 12, 1890, W. C. Marshall, Provisions, St. Louis MO (stationery/letterhead), 1 ½ pp, handwritten, by W. C. Marshall, regarding his capabilities in business.

6) June 8, 1901, from William Crank, Attorney at Law, Houston (stationery/letterhead), to General H.B. Stoddard, one page. Another business deal gone awry, “…I wish you would make Dawson’s folks arrange and pay my fee for services…I think that they are dodging. They sent a man named Shmith (?) her who said the matter would at once be arranged…He did nothing…Norm (?) Dawson is not in the safest condition. The officers here have orders from Beaumont to arrest him. I can keep them quiet but I shall not do so unless they treat me right by paying me for my services and trouble…Dawson was released from jail and saved on a heavy bond through my services and he should and must do right…Wm. H. Crank.”

7) Jan. 15, 1901, from M. F. Mott, Mott & Armstrong, Attorneys at Law, Galveston (stationery/letterhead) to General H.B. Stoddard, one page, typed. “…the disposition we made of the cases of Miss Kennedy at the hospital and Miss Tucker at Houston. Preston and I, through one of the professors of the Medical College, Dr. ____, who is a K. T. (Knights Templar) investigated Miss Kennedy’s condition and found that she was in need. We appropriated $1000 to her out of the fund you sent us which was handed her by Dr. ____, who says that she was extremely appreciative of the assistance…I have a long letter…in regard to Miss Tucker…the operation performed has proved beneficial and thinks that she will now entirely recover…M. F. Mott.” M.F. Mott is Marcus Fulton Mott who served in the Texas Senate, was a Color Sergeant, in the Rio Grande Volunteers, a 3rd Lieutenant in the Galveston Artillery Company, and a major on Major General John C. Breckinridge’s staff in 1863.

8) Dec. 19, 1893, from M. F. Mott, Mott & Armstrong, Attorneys at Law, Galveston (stationery/letterhead), to General H.B. Stoddard, one page, typed. Business-related.

9) April 12, 1890, letter from W.C. Marshall, Provisions, St. Louis, MO (stationery/letterhead), to General H.B. Stoddard, two pages. Business-related.

10) July 27, 1904, from F. A. Reichart, Planters & Mechanic’s National Bank, Houston, Texas (letterhead) to General H.B. Stoddard, one page typed: referring to the Texas Railway, Oil & Coal Co., I beg to state that I saw Mr. Holland in Houston and both he and Judge Cash are perfectly willing that the 5 acres should be deeded to this bank, and I have therefore written Mr. Holland today requesting him to notify Mr. J. C. Kidd, Trustee, to make deed to us…also ask you to kindly write…Kidd at once in your official capacity requesting him to make the deed to us…if we are able to get more for the land than our claim amounts to will turn over the surplus to the Texas R’y…although…I am afraid that we will not be able to get even as much for the land as our claim amounts to…”

Conditions range from fair to good. Please see photos for condition.

General Henry Bates Stoddard Biography

General Henry Bates Stoddard was born on June 22, 1840 and moved Texas just before the Civil War. Stoddard enlisted into Co. E, 13^th Texas cavalry in 1861 as a private and was promoted through the ranks to Captain. After its reorganization to the 13^th Texas Dismounted cavalry, Stoddard was assigned to the staff of Major General Camille Polignac (Prince of the House of Bourbon) and served faithfully until the surrender of General Richard Taylor surrender of his Army causing Stoddard’s subsequent parole on May 15, 1865 at Jackson, Mississippi. Stoddard later became Brigadier General of the Texas Volunteer Guard from 1885-1893.

"Genernal Polignac was a true type of a Frenchman. He was about forty-five years of age, medium size with a long sharp nose, and he resembled Napoleon Bonaparte's portraits. He spoke the French and English languages fluently, and when in camp, was no better dressed than one of his orderlies. Those not knowing him would take him for a common soldier. At one point in the woods, the Federals made a determined stand, and the writer ('Sioux') was near Polignac when he gave orders to the different commanders under him... He ordered battalions and regiments to the different points specified on his map with the ease of a chess player.

Polignac was every inch a soldier, and although a (French) volunteer on the Southern side, he went at it with a vim, and throughout that memorable campaign, displayed great heroism and great soldierly qualities. Before the troops became acquainted with him, they daily ridiculed him; but when they saw his skill as an officer, commanding in the field, admiration of (Gen.) Polignac soon followed. If the leaders of the Confederacy had placed a few similar men in command of its armies, the lives of 10,000 brave men would not have been sacrificed by unskilled generalship."

Returning to Texas, Stoddard initially settled in the town of Millican where he began work in the cotton brokerage business. While in that town, he survived the terrible yellow fever epidemic of 1867 and served actively on the relief board. An estimated seventy-five per cent of the population died from the effects of the epidemic. A short time later he moved to Bryan, Texas, where he was to spend the rest of his life. In 1869 he married Louisa Ross English (1826- 1904) of Bryan, and after her death, he married her sister, Hortense English (1859-1944) in 1909. By his first wife he had one child, a daughter, Charlotte (1877-1961), who never married.

During his time in Bryan, Sir Knight Stoddard served as a Colonel of the Second Texas Volunteer Guard from 1880-1885 and as Brigadier General of the Texas Volunteer Guard from 1885-1893. In this latter capacity he presided over ceremonies dedicating the new state capitol building in Austin in 1888. Besides the cotton industry, his status as a cattleman led to his election as President of the Texas Live Stock Association in 1887 and as President of the Interstate Convention of Cattlemen in 1890 in Fort Worth, where eleven states were represented. He often declined election to public office but did serve one term as Alderman of Bryan, having been elected while he was absent from the state. As Alderman, he was largely instrumental in establishing the public school system of Bryan, which at the time was considered one of the best in the state. He was also involved in several other business ventures, among the most notable of which were the Texas Dressed Beef and Packing Company, a proposed meat-packing business which it was hoped would rival Chicago in meat processing; Aransas Harbor City and Improvement Company, a real estate venture at Aransas Pass, Texas; and the Texas Mineral Company, a proposed brickmaking project in Grimes County. In later life, he served on a committee designed to head the local effort to locate a proposed girls' industrial school at A&M College (now Texas A&M University).

Stoddard was once considered for the Presidency of A&M College of Texas in 1902, and many petitions from various citizens of Texas to the Board of Directors of Texas A&M were received requesting the consideration of H. B. Stoddard to fill the vacant position of President of the College. (Stoddard did not, ultimately, become President.)

His Masonic career began in Bryan where he was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason in Brazos Union Lodge No. 129 in April of 1869. He served Brazos Union Lodge as Master in 1875 and again in 1876. He was exalted a Royal Arch Mason on July 26, 1869, in William T. Austin Chapter No. 87 in Bry- an. He served as High Priest of Sterling Chapter No. 50 at Calvert in 1870 and his home Chapter, William T. Austin No. 87, at Bryan in 1885, 1886, 1887, 1896, and 1897. Sir Knight Stoddard was created a Knight Templar in Ivanhoe Commandery No. 8, Knights Templar of Texas at Bryan on December 25, 1869. He served this Commandery as Commander in 1875, 1876, 1882, and 1883. Sir Knight Stoddard was elected Prelate of Ivanhoe Commandery No. 8 in 1895 and served continuously until his passing in 1925.

In Grand Commandery, Sir Knight Stoddard was appointed as Grand Warder in 1874. He was elected Grand Junior Warden in 1875 and served in the several stations until 1880 when he was installed as Grand Commander, Knights Templar of Texas.

In that same year, 1880, Sir Knight Stoddard was appointed Sword Bearer for the Grand Encampment, Knights Templar, United States of America. For the next twenty-one years, Sir Knight Stoddard served in the several stations until his election at the Triennial in 1901 in Louisville, Kentucky, where he was in- stalled as Grand Master, Knights Templar of the United States of America and presided at the 29th Triennial in 1904 held at San Francisco, California.

At this Triennial, the negotiations toward closer relations with Templar bodies in other lands, which had been carried on for so long a time and which had shown signs of maturing at Louisville in 1901, for the first time achieved success. Upon invitation of Grand Master Stoddard, the Rt. Hon. The Earl of Euston, the Most Eminent and Supreme Grand Master of the Great Priory of the Religious and Military Orders of the Temple, and of St. John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta in England and Wales and the Depen dencies thereof, came with a staff of six distinguished Knights to visit the Grand Encampment of the United States. He was royally received and, upon motion of Past Grand Master Reuben Lloyd, was elected the first honorary member of the Grand Encampment. Grand Master Stoddard was made a Knight Commander of the United Orders of England and Wales by the Earl, special representative of King Edward VII. The two great Templar organizations of England and America were thus bound together with ties of the closest friendship, the Templar order thus assuming an international role. The remain der of this Conclave was characterized by the absence of any agitation or need for legislation on the hitherto much debated questions of uniform, non-affiliation, permanent place of assembly for the Grand Encampment, etc. One Grand Com- mandery, Idaho, was organized and created during the Conclave week. Sir Knight Stoddard received the thirty-third degree of the Scottish Rite in Galveston in 1920.

After serving as Grand Master, Sir Knight Stoddard continued to be active in his local Masonic bodies and the Grand Encampment up until his death. Sir Knight Stoddard's final duty to the Craft was installing the Grand Commandery officers on May 7, 1925, in Beaumont. He died on May 29, 1925, in Bryan. Funeral Services for Most Eminent Past Grand Master Stoddard were held at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Sunday evening, May 31, 1925, in Bryan, followed by the full Templar Burial Service by the Grand Commandery of Texas. He was interred in the Bryan City Cemetery beside his first wife.

General Henry Bates Stoddard Council No. 87, Knight Masons of the United States of America, in College Station, Texas, was named in his honor.

This is a great collection of documents related to former Confederate officers of the “Lost Cause,” an excellent addition to any Civil War collection.

A copy of his photo, the newspaper articles, and his 1865 parole will accompany the ten original General Henry B. Stoddard documents included in this sale.

Thanks for looking and good luck bidding.