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About ‘Through This Window’ Columns and the Author

Columns by Ethelene Dyer Jones under the general title “Through This Window” with each column having its own title according to the subject she writes about in a particular week, have been published in The News Observer, Blue Ridge, Georgia, since April 5, 1990 through the present.

The author chose ‘Through This Window’ as a symbolic title for the series. She wished to convey that she was looking backward into history and remembrance, presently at current events, and forward into the future with implication of how history affects both the present and the future. She writes narratively to record and introspectively to analyze. Eventually the editors at the newspaper chose to drop the general title, “Through This Window”—but each column the author sends for publication weekly still bears that designation. For the purposes of this blog, therefore, “Through This Window” will accompany each title.

Although published by The News Observer, the columns are copyrighted by the author. Therefore, please contact the author for permission to quote any part of these columns.

She sincerely hopes readers will enjoy her view “Through This Window” and learn much of history and life as it was lived out in past generations. Thank you for your interest.

Ethelene Dyer Jones is a retired educator and free-lance writer. She was born in Union County, Blairsville, Ga. She received college degrees from Truett McConnel, Cleveland, GA (AA); Mercer University, Macon, GA (BA); Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC (MA in Ed.); and The University of Georgia (SEd). She was married 61 years to the Rev. Grover D. Jones who died in 2011. The couple had two children, Keith and Cynthia, and have seven grandchildren and currently fourteen great grandchildren, with three more expected shortly. Mrs. Jones lived in various towns in Georgia, with Epworth, Georgia being the longest residence from 1960-2003. She currently resides in Milledgeville, GA where she keeps active still as a creative writing and reading instructor, a writer, and an editor, helping other writers with their publications. She has two books of poetry published, The Singing in the Wood (1984); and Mother and Child Reunion (1995, jointly with her son). She assisted in writing, compiling and editing books: Faith Through Flood and Fire: A History of First Baptist Church, McCaysville, GA (1983); Facets of Fannin: A History of Fannin County, Georgia (1989); One Hundred Years of Heritage and Hope: A History of Morganton Baptist Association (1993); Cemeteries of Fannin County, Georgia (2003); Facing Forward: A History of Fannin County Schools (2013).

She is now working on a book of her memoirs and more chapbooks of poetry which she hopes to publish soon. She has often been asked to publish in book form columns from papers for which she has written, “Through This Window” series in The News Observer. Blue Ridge, GA; “Through Mountain Mists” series in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA; “An Appalachian Voice” series in The Pickens County Progress, Jasper, GA, and others.

(-Ethelene Dyer Jones, 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA 31061; edj0541@windstream.net. 478-453-8751)

Monday, January 5, 2015

Coleto Creek and Capture

Preparing to meet General Jose Urrea and his Mexican Army, Colonel James Walker Fannin, Jr. tried to reach a wooded knoll near Coleto Creek which would give his small army of 400 better advantage. Due to press of time and lack of reinforcements, he decided to fortify in the open prairie.
     He formed his 400 men into a hollow square with ammunition and baggage in the center. About 2,000 Mexican soldiers surrounded Fannin’s men on all sides. The first day’s defensive fighting saw six fatalities and forty wounded among Fannin’s men. The Mexicans lost 300, with 350 wounded. During the cease-fire at night, Fannin directed his men to work on entrenchments.
     By daybreak, the roar of cannon gave evidence of Mexican reinforcements. Fannin’s men, although they had cannons, could not fire because they had no water to swab the guns. Their ammunition was very low.
     Despite the great odds, the Mexicans were first to raise a flag of truce. Colonel Fannin agreed to terms of surrender that would spare the lives of his remaining 342 men in exchange for Mexican prisoners of war.
     On Sunday, March 20, 1836, General Jose Urrea imprisoned Fannin’s regiment at Presidio La Bahia at Goliad. The fort had a rich history. Established in 1721, it had served as a Spanish mission and fort during French incursions.
     On October 9, 1835, Captain George Collinsworth had attacked the Presidio and captured it from the Mexicans. Texas’s first Declaration of Independence was signed there December 20, 1835. It was recaptured by the Mexicans and became the prison where Fannin and his men were held.
     For a week the captives were subjected to hard labor with nothing to eat but raw beef of inferior quality. Many of the men were wounded and sick. Fannin himself suffered wounds of battle. The captors showed little compassion.
     Captives from other Texan units were also held at the Presidio. From memoirs of one of the prisoners who escaped, Colonel James Wood of Captain William P. Miller’s company, an account of the battle near Coleto Creek has been preserved.
     Colonel Wood emphasized in his diary that Colonel Fannin surrendered because he wished to spare the lives of his remaining men. No other recourse was possible, outnumbered and surrounded as they were by Urrea’s forces.

(Next: Another Victory Cry: “Remember Goliad!”)

[©2015. Ethelene Dyer Jones. First published in The News Observer, Blue Ridge, Georgia, August 12, 1992, Section B, Page 5.]
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