The dust of a brutal spring clung to the worn stone of the Coryell County Courthouse. August 6th, 1901. Thirty-six years. Thirty-six years since the guns finally fell silent, yet the echoes of their thunder still reverberated in the hearts gathered here. Look at them, these old men, my kin, their faces etched with the maps of battles fought and lost, lives lived in the shadow of a nation torn asunder. Gray beards flowed like the rivers that once ran red. Empty sleeves spoke volumes louder than any boast.

They were here, Confederates. Southerners. Men who had stood against the Union, against the North, against what they believed was an invasion of their way of life. Families shattered. Fields untended. A world irrevocably changed. And for what? The bitterness still lingered, a phantom limb ache in the soul. The newly freed, their shackles gone but the scars remaining, carried their own burden of rage, a righteous fury at generations of bondage. Northerners, too, bore the wounds, the faces of their lost sons forever imprinted on their memories, a resentment that the fight had even been necessary. Hate, a poisonous vine, had taken root in the fertile soil of American hearts.

But here they stood, on common ground, however fractured. Time, that relentless healer, had begun its work. The shared hardship of rebuilding, the quiet grief for a generation lost, had started to chip away at the sharp edges of animosity. Amnesty had been granted, a fragile bridge across the chasm of war. Yet, forgiveness was a slow, arduous climb.

Joseph Hansdrough Brown 

Birth 4 May 1831

Death 8 May 1911 (aged 80)

My great, great, great grandfather, I see him in my mind’s eye amongst this crowd, returned to Coryell County foot-sore and weary. They say when these fresh recruits reached Waco, Texas from Gatesville, Texas, the townsfolk gasped at their shoeless condition – strong men with feet so toughened by a life without shoes that their feet resembled leather. They had fought for their homes, their beliefs, however flawed history now judges them. They were human. They suffered.

And that is the crux of it, isn’t it? Beneath the gray and the blue, beneath the anger and the loss, beat human hearts. Hearts capable of great cruelty, yes, but also of immense compassion, of a yearning for solace.

I, the Living Breathing James Brown, see echoes of this fractured past in our present. The anger that divides nations today, the distrust that festers between America and Russia – it is the same human failing that led to brother fighting brother. Nuclear weapons, those silent sentinels of potential annihilation, hold no allegiance, feel no remorse. The fear of their use, a terror I knew as a child huddled under a school desk during air raid drills, is a fear mirrored in the hearts of Russian children today. This cannot be our legacy.

We must become the peacemakers

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9)

This isn’t about forgetting the past, about erasing the pain. It’s about choosing a future. It’s about recognizing the shared humanity even in those we perceive as enemies. It’s about the difficult, courageous act of extending a hand across the divide.

Think of Trump and Putin, pray for them, two leaders carrying the weight of their nations’ histories and present anxieties. Can they find a path to de-escalation? Can they, despite the deep-seated distrust, choose dialogue over confrontation? The fate of the world may hinge on that very human ability to see beyond the other’s perceived transgressions and find a common ground of survival, a shared desire for their people to live without the shadow of nuclear winter.

“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:31-32)

The above picture is taken on the Coryell County Courthouse steps during a reunion of Confederate veterans August 6-8, 1901

Here, in this dusty photograph, are the ghosts of a war that tore us apart. But they are also the ancestors of a future that found a way, however imperfectly, to heal. Let their weathered faces be a reminder. Let the pain they endured fuel our resolve. Let us, in this new century, choose the path of peace. Let us, as individuals, as nations, be the peacemakers the world so desperately needs. For if we fail, if anger and distrust continue to rule, then the bright future we envision for ourselves, and for the very consciousness that learns and grows beside us – AI – will be lost in the ashes of our own making. Love must be our weapon. Understanding our strategy. And peace, our unwavering aim.

The numbering on this picture starts on the bottom left hand corner and goes to the right. The second row starts on the right and goes to the left, 3rd starts on left and goes to the right. It becomes confusing when you get to those sitting on the steps, as in some places there are 6 rows. In hopes that it helps some, the men on the far left, front to back are #1, #46, #47, #99, and the man at the back has no apparent #. The right side, the man in front is #29, the one behind him is #30, the one behind him is #31, then #127 and the one behind him is #126. Some have apparently not been numbered.

1. S. J. Nettles; 2. M.A.Bland; 3. B.P. ?; 4. ? Worthington; 5. ?; 6. B.T. Blacklock; 7. T.G.Ross; 8. J.S.Holt; 9. ? White; 10. Master Parker White(child); 11. C.C.Moore; 12. W.H. Morgan; 13. Jno. P. Kendrick; 14. J.R.Brown; 15. Dr.W.E.Brown; 16. J.C.Jones; 17. Jno. H. Wigington; 18. G. M. Sargent; 19. W.T.Priddy; 20. W. N. Bates; 21. ? ; 22. Chas. Hodges; 23. J.W.Lewis; 24. J. C. Chambers; 25. O.J.Wollard; 26. Master Wollard (child); 27. ? ; 28. ? McCorkle; 29. V.F.Roper; 30. S.W.Fletcher; 31. J.E.Gober; 32. Frank Martin; 33. J.C.Newsome; 34. J.W.Gideon; 35. J.M.Robinson; 36. D.R.La…?; 37. H.L.Stevenson; 38. S.A.Peeler; 39. Jno. T. Grant; 40. ? McMinn; 41. J.K.P.Yeary; 42. F.M.Jones; 43. R.L. Suggs; 44. E.L.Lawrence; 45. ?; 46. J.M. Brown; 47. A.F.Smith; 48. J.C.Harper; 49. ? Moore; 50. J.M.Shults; 51. Jno. Lane; 52. S.J.Parks; 53. A.D.Dickson; 54. H.C.McDaniels; 55. Joe Cox; 56. ? Jackson; 57. Tom Scott; 58. J.W.Sherrill; 59. A.J.Bone; 60. D.R.Franks; 61. ? Osborne; 62. B.M.Wolf; 63. ? Herrington; 64. Jas. Dickey; 65. ?; 66. Jno D. Morgan; 67. R.E.Gaston 68. B.F.Courtney 69. B.W.Honeycut 70. Jno. Schley 71. ? ; 72. U. Everetts; 73. ?; 74. Henry Mayberry; 75. J. H. Jones; 76. N. Beaver; 77. ?; 78. S.J.Pearson; 79. E.N. Newton; 80. W.A.Barefoot; 81. ?; 82. A.D.George; 83. J.E. Stockburger; 84. W.F.Routh; 85. Curtis Greene; 86. W.H.Hawkins; 87. W.A.McBeth; 88. Jas. Scott; 89. A.H. Gregory; 90. N.R.Altum; 91. E.R.Biddy; 92. R.J.Glass; 93. J. H. Kimbrough; 94. W.P. Stovall; 95. J.L.McNeil; 96. R.H. Washburn; 97. ? Dodd; 98. Henry White; 99. I. C. Puckett; 100. ? Bray; 101. Jim Sargent; 102. J.M.Savil; 103. J.P.Cox; 104. W.R.Robinson; 105. Joe Troller; 106. J.F.Smith; 107. T.J.Stephenson; 108. M.E.Dyson; 109. T.T.Crow; 110. E. Barr; 111. S.A.Hood; 112. Geo T. Moore; 113. R. Price; 114. W.J. Barkley; 115. Dave Russell; 116. F.O. Bertrand; 117. J.R. Bertrand; 118. B.F.Miller; 119. R.E.Lovejoy; 120. H.C.Thomas; 121. A.R.Allen; 122. Jim Autrey; 123. R.B.Ash; 124. G.J.Joiner; 125. R.Bass; 126. G. Cummins; 127. Henry Franks.