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Confederate Brigadier General General James Barnes

by Betty Dunn

Brigadier General James W. Barnes, native Georgian born in 1815, came to Texas in 1840 to establish a 900 plus acre plantation southeast of Fanthrop, now Anderson.  Barnes wore many hats.

Barnes served as clerk of the early Antioch Baptist Church for 18 years beginning in 1847 becoming a deacon in 1848, the same year he became treasurer of the Baptist State Convention. During the Civil War he was ranked as Brigadier General of the Confederate Army’s Texas Home Guards.  His other associations were as a charter member of the Orphans Friends Masonic Lodge, treasurer of the Union Association and an ardent supporter of Baylor University serving as a trustee from 1852 to 1871. Family papers indicate he taught Latin at Baylor’s 1st campus at Independence for several years.

An adroit business man, Barnes spent years as an organizer of the International and Great Northern Railroad making several promotional trips back to Washington D. C.

One of Barnes’ endeavors still stands today-- though in disrepair -- the home he endearingly named Prairie Woods.  It began as a two room log house in 1842 with completion in 1858.  In 1964, over a century later, Texas A & M completed an architectural study of Barnes home as part of a National Park Historic Structures project.

The 1964 study states that Barnes’ Prairie Woods home “is one of the earliest and best of the plantation houses in the area” and that though“in its neglected state still reflects the dignity of the period in which it was
built.”   The description continues that in 1842 a two-story, two-room log house with fireplace and exterior stair was built and that additions and rebuilding of the structure brought the house to its present form by 1858.  

A grandson, Allen Greene Hill, lived at the plantation in 1964.  Descendants of Hill presently own the property.  The home still stands and is featured in the book Early Texas Architecture by Gordon Echols. 

General Barnes died in 1892 and is buried on the property next to a son, Mark, who died while serving with the Confederate Army.  Barnes widow, Carolina (Carrie) Greene, died in 1901 while visiting a daughter and is buried in San Antonio.  They were survived by three daughters.

Thank you.


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