Marker Dedication - Confederate Veterans Memorial Day - April 26, 2008
 

Captain E. S. Rugeley Chapter No. 542
United Daughters of the Confederacy

Written by Nantie Pier Lee

The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an organization of women who have dedicated themselves to the preservation of their heritage and the principles of the Old South, with its honor and integrity, and to perpetuate the genealogies of the gallant men in gray. Organized September 10, 1894, at Nashville, Tennessee, with Caroline C. Goodlett as founder, the objectives of the club are historical, benevolent, educational, and patriotic. The cotton boll is the organization's symbol.

The E. S. Rugeley Chapter 542 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy was chartered in 1901. In February, 1902, the chapter had 47 members. Mrs. H. L. Rugeley was the first president and she retained that office for 21 years until her death in 1923.

The chapter was named in honor of Captain Edward Salmon Rugeley, who was the commanding officer of the Matagorda Company, the "Caney Rifles," during the War Between the States.

In 1913 the chapter erected the monument to the Confederate soldiers from Matagorda County, which is still standing on the courthouse square. Some 3000 persons attended this glorious occasion, as the veterans paraded around the square. When the new courthouse was completed in 1966, this monument was moved to the plaza of the new building.

In 1931, a memorial marker was erected in historic Matagorda Cemetery. It is a memorial to the 22 young southern heroes under Captain E. S. Rugeley's command, who drowned or froze to death defending Matagorda on the night of December 31, 1863 . One of the more recent achievements of the chapter was the discovery of Captain Rugeley's original letter concerning this incident. Photocopies of this letter were obtained from the National Archives and placed in area colleges and schools and in the Matagorda County Museum.

The old ledger listing the original members of this UDC chapter states, "Admission - 10 cents; Annual dues - 70 cents!" The chapter has scrapbooks from 1901 through current years and ledgers beginning in 1902. The scrapbooks contain records of many social events organized for the benefit of the "boys of 1861" and other activities honoring county Confederate veterans. The scrapbooks and other artifacts are housed at the Matagorda County Museum in Bay City, Texas.

In 1968 the chapter members discovered and marked two unknown Confederate soldier's graves with the Southern Cross of Honor. The soldier became ill and died while camped in Matagorda County and were buried by their comrades.

The Chapter's membership had slipped to five and in 1987 it was reactivated and presently has 27 members and one associate member.

 

 

CHAPTER MOTTO, COLORS  FLOWER

Motto: "Bless be the tie that binds."

Colors: Red, White & Blue

Flower: Cape Jasmine

 

 


In Honor of our

Confederate Ancestors
 


Ware Benge

David A. Brewton

John Houston Brown

James M. Cast

Samuel A. Cast

John Chism

Leonard Chism

Robert Chism

William Bradford Chism

William Chester Clark

Monterville Cotton

August Duffy

John Edward Early

Reuben Early

Jeptha A. Elliott

Watson Floyd

William Taylor Gainer

Zachariah Gibbs

Michael Green

Dr. Asa Wesley Griggs

Andrew J. Harper

Thomas Edward Harper

Carlos Clayton Harris

Henry Coleman Hayter

John L. Hayter

Samuel Ramsbottom Hayter

Samuel Marshall Hendricks

William Clark Hendricks

Isaac Newton Hood

Edward Julius Inglehart

Thomas J. Kuykendall

Joseph Ledwik/Ledwig

James Z. Locklin

Jesse D. Locklin

James T. Martin

Joseph J. P. Martin

Matthew Judson Martin

Oquin C. Martin

Robert James W. Martin

William S. Martin

Christo. Columbus McCaughan

David Haggard McCaughan

James Jefferson McCaughan

John Dawson McCaughan

Thomas Johnston McCaughan

John Henry Moore

John Henry, Jr. Moore

Jesse B. Murphree

John Fowler Musgrove

William Henry Musgrove

Miles Purvis

William Purvis, Sr.

Marcus DeLafayette Rowe

John Sansing

Norman Savage

James Alexander Sivley

Samuel Whitaker Smith

Alexander H. Stilley

Thomas Jefferson Strickland

Jacob Franklin Swank

Gilford Dudley Tarkington

Francis Marion Tatum

Joseph Theall

George W. Thrash

James Jefferson Thrash

John Joseph Thrash

William Lumpkin Thrash

Isaac S. Tindal

John B. Tindal

Matthew Alexander Tindal

John Wesley Touchton, Sr.

Hollingsworth Vandiver

Johnston Vandiver

Whitfield Anthony Vandiver

Isham Richey Wallis

Edward Harvey Watkins

Samuel Watkins

John Hobson Williams

Daniel Marion Wood

Philip Yeamans, Sr.
 


 


 

 

Clipart courtesy of
 Savage Goodner Camp 1513

 

Copyright 2005 - Present by
E. S Rugeley Chapter 542 United Daughters of the Confederacy
All rights reserved
This page was created
Feb. 1, 2005		 This page was updated
 Apr. 30, 2008

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