BFHA-RC-000018
Research record and source registry for Augustus Valerius Cincinnatus Ball. This archive entry preserves the corresponding publication section for website research review.
Publication excerpt:
AUGUSTUS VALERIUS CINCINNATUS BALL: James GM., William F., Edward, Bartholomew; William, Sr. Augustus Valerius Cincinnatus Ball was born 28 April 1833 in Perry, Houston County, Georgia. His parents were James Gray Madison Ball and wife Nancy Boynton. The family moved to Stewart County, Georgia in 1838 when he was five years of age and continued to live there. Sometime during the 1850’s he attended the Reform Medical College in Macon, Bill County, Georgia, and received his license to practice medicine. About 1860, the Johnson Springer family and Augustus VC Ball and his brother, James EA Ball, who had married Sarah C. Springer, moved to Texas and settled in Bowie County, located in the very northeast corner of Texas where the borders of Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas meet. It is not known where Augustus married, but on 14 February 1861, he married Miss Argent Worsham West, whose home was Randolph County, Georgia. Her parents were William W. West and wife Winney Ryland. Upon arriving in Bowie County, the Springer family established themselves on land near the town of Maud, about 19 miles southwest from Texarkana, a city built where the three states meet with the city overlapping into each state. James Ball, whose wife had died perhaps in route to Texas, was very depressed and despondent. His behavior caused Augustus much concern. Augustus busied himself in getting settled and established in Maud, but not for long. In his profession, success was where people were and the people were in Texarkana; so that is where he moved and where he brought his bride and where they made their home. In early 1863 or 1864, Augustus joined the war effort and was sent to Hooks, Texas, in Bowie County. He was a member of the Texas Light Artillery, 2nd Battery, of Bowie County. In November of 1863, Augustus wrote a letter to Johnson Springer in Maud and told him that James “Brother Ed” Ball had volunteered for the army and had left in October. James had been living in Boston, the County Seat. Augustus closed his letter by asking Johnston “to kiss Loomis for me.” Loomis was James and Sarah Stringer’s only child that the Stringer family had taken to raise. On 22 November 1863, Augustus wrote to his wife, Argent, in Texarkana saying that James was getting outof a marriage easily because he has to go to war. The two accounts of James entering the war seem unrelated, but both may be telling the truth, with the second account a bit closer to the real truth. A letter dated 25 December 1863, probably written by James, indicates he is stationed at Hooks, Texas in Bowie County on 12 May 1864, saying that brother Ed was in a peck of trouble again as usual, but did not specify what kind of trouble. By December 11, 1864, in a letter from Brother Ed to Augustus, Ed is living in Boston again. There is no mention of the war. Ed said he was going to Jefferson soon to deposit some money. He did not have but about $1,000 to $1,200 because he had loaned out $1,000 the week before. He also said that Loomis was able to ride his colt by himself now. At this time they may be living together or Ed has been visiting Loomis.1 During those times, Jefferson was located 52 miles straight south of Boston and on the western end of Caddo Lake, the name CADDO taken from the tribe of Indians found living on its banks. Jefferson was a very busy river port and getting busier and bigger every day. Caddo Lake at that time was actually a part of the Red River. It was the hub of water travel and commerce for that region of the country. Jefferson was the place to go to do one’s banking or to invest one’s money or to travel by water to all points. Caddo Lake was formed untold centuries ago by a series of log jams, sand bars and shallow rapids. The waters of the Red River overflowed for centuries to form the lake. The United States Corps of Engineers, after the Civil War, removed the log jams and dredged out the sand bars and dug channels around the rapids. As a result, Caddo Lake was all but drained dry. Thus, the end of Jefferson as a center for commerce and banking.
[Excerpt; the full publication section is preserved in the BFHA source registry document.]