The Civil War's Tallest Soldier

(Historical Photo)

Henry Clay Thruston was born on May 4, 1830 in Greenville, South Carolina. He grew to 7 feet, 7 ½ inches by the time he was 19. Henry was the youngest of 5 brothers, all of whom were over 6 feet tall. His parents moved the family to Missouri soon after he was born and except for the notoriety of the boys being so tall, they lived a quiet, uneventful life. In 1850, Henry moved to California to try his hand at gold mining, but soon came back home to Missouri where, at age 23, he married Mary Thruston, a distant cousin. He began traveling with the P.T. Barnum show where he was billed as “The Missouri Giant” or, while traveling through Texas, “The Texas Giant” and “The Tallest Man in the World.” While touring in the south, he would lead the circus parade wearing a large “Stars and Bars” flag draped around his shoulders, but when the circus was in the northern states, he dressed as “Uncle Sam” and wore the “Old Glory” flag.

By the time the Civil War broke out, Henry and Mary had four children. When Union General Lyons invaded Missouri in February 1861, he broke up the State Legislature and drove the Governor, Claiborne F. Jackson, from the Capitol. He also took prisoners a company of State Guards in St. Louis, shot down women and children in the streets, and proclaimed that “the blood of women and children should run as water” before Missouri should go out of the Union. The Thruston family held strong views regarding state’s rights and upon the actions of General Lyons and his troops, Henry and two of his brothers joined the Morgan County Rangers, a unit of the Missouri State Guards. Henry remained with the State Guards, participating in several small battles until after the battle of Pea Ridge where his well-loved nephew, Joe Thurston, was killed. Henry then quit the State Guards and joined the Confederate Army, serving as a private under Col. John Q. Burbridge in the 4th Missouri Cavalry.

One day, Henry and a small group of soldiers were far in front of the Rebel lines serving as scouts when they came upon a farmhouse. As they approached, a young woman broke out of the house yelling, “Watch out! The woods are full of Yanks!” A major in charge of the Union troops came running out of the house and aimed his rifle at the woman. Before he could shoot however, Henry stood up, fired his rifle and mortally wounded the major. The remaining Union troops ran from the house and retreated into the woods. While giving aid to the wounded Yankee major, he kept saying, “A Reb standing upon a tree stump shot me.”

(Historical Photo)

On another occasion, the two sides were dug in just yards apart on either side of a pasture. At night, the men would shout at each other across the field. The Union men told the southerners they better watch out as they had a giant on their side and he would be coming to destroy them. The Rebs shouted back they had a giant as well and their giant was undoubtedly bigger. To settle the argument, the two sides agreed on a truce for the next day to settle who had the bigger giant. At the appointed hour, Yanks and Rebs left their guns behind, met in the middle of the pasture and the two “giants” were stood back-to-back.  The Union giant was only 6’10 1/2” and Henry, at 7’7 ½” was clearly taller. The Yanks had to admit the Reb giant was bigger. Afterward, for the rest of the hour of peace, the men swapped each other for food, tobacco, clothing items and gave each other news of what was happening elsewhere. It was reported that at least one set of brothers one Yank and one Reb, found each other and spent the hour in tears while hugging and talking about their parents and relatives back home. At the end of the hour, each side turned and went back to their lines. The rest of the day was peaceful, but early the next morning, a Union soldier shouted, “Duck your heads, Rebs! Here we come!” The Yankees then charged the Rebel lines and the death and horror of war resumed.

Henry survived that battle and several others as well. A few months later, he was standing in the second line of a formation for the colonel to “inspect the troops.” The command “Attention” was given. The colonel looked at the lines of men and shouted “Attention” himself, but when nobody moved, he drew his saber, ran straight at Thruston yelling, “By God, I will make you obey orders! Get off that stump now!” Henry said, “Sir, I’m not standing on a stump. I’m standing on the ground.” Getting close enough to see that Thruston was indeed just standing on the ground, the Colonel said, “My God, how the Yankees haven’t killed a target as big as you is unbelievable.”

 Later in the war, Henry was serving in the cavalry under Major-General Sterling Price who was raiding across Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri in what was called “Price’s Raid.” It was during this campaign in 1864 when, amazingly, a mini-ball grazed the top of his head. He later said, “It didn’t hurt much and only parted my hair.” It was at another battle in Arkansas in 1864 that Henry’s incredible luck ran out. He was seriously wounded in the side and was captured by Yankee forces. A Union doctor managed to remove the bullet and eventually, Henry made a full recovery. He remained a prisoner of war until being paroled in June 1865 after the war ended.

After the war, Thruston reunited with his family in Missouri and soon migrated southwest to Texas, stopping when he got to Titus County. He bought 100 acres east of Mount Vernon and spent most of the rest of his life farming and occasionally touring once again with Barnum and Bailey circus. While touring with the circus this time, he took to wearing a tall beaver hat, high-top boots and a long coat which made him look ten feet tall. Thousands of people came to see and talk with “The World’s Tallest Man.”

Henry’s wife Mary died on September 23, 1891. Several years later, in declining health, he moved in with his son Edward who lived in Mt. Vernon, Texas. Henry always attended the Confederate Reunions and was always the center of attention for everyone in attendance. Shortly after his return from the reunion in Memphis, Tennessee, the Civil War’s tallest soldier died on Friday, July 2, 1909. He was 79 years old. He is buried next to his wife and two of their sons in the old Edward’s Cemetery in Mt. Pleasant, Texas.

Henry Thruston home. Now restored
and serves as the Mt. Vernon
Visitor's Center.

Omar Locklear - Daredevil Extraordinaire

 

Omar Locklear, 1919
(historical photo)

In Greenwood Cemetery in Fort Worth is a nondescript grave with nothing to distinguish it from all the other graves. Well, except for the large Texas Historical marker next to it. Here lies Omar Leslie "Lock" Locklear. Few people know of him now, but during his short life, he was the world's greatest stuntman, a fearless daredevil, the man who invented wing-walking and the first to transfer from one plane to another while in flight.

Born in Greenville, Texas on October 28, 1891, he was raised in Ft. Worth after his parents moved there in the early 1900s. In 1911, Calbraith Rodgers landed his plane in a nearby field to clear a clogged fuel line. Locklear witnessed the landing, ran to meet Rodgers and to see the plane up close. From that point on, he was intensely fascinated with aviation and airplanes. 

"Lock," as he came to be called, joined the Army Air Corps in October 1917. He was such a gifted pilot that he was made a flight instructor in WWI. He was well-known for leaving the cockpit during flight and crawling along the wings or fuselage back to the tail section to make in-flight repairs when necessary. After the war ended in 1918, Omar happened to see a barnstorming air show and marveled at how the spectators cheered and gave money to the pilots and how the women were enamored of them. He also quickly realized his own regular flying exploits were much more impressive. 

He left the Army in early 1919 and along with two of his colleagues and a manager, acquired airplanes and formed their own flying show, "The Locklear Flying Circus." It was a huge success and with Locklear as the star, the men became wealthy. In addition to stunts such as wing-walking and doing headstands on the top wing of his Curtiss Jenny biplane, Omar perfected the death-defying stunts of jumping from one airplane to another and the "Dance of Death" in which he and another pilot in a different airplane would switch places while in mid-air.

(Historical photo)

The "Locklear Flying Circus" became such a hit that Hollywood came calling. Locklear moved to California and was hired to be a stuntman in movies. He soon was being billed as the foremost "aviation stuntman in the world." The first movie featuring Omar as the star was "The Great Air Robbery," a film about pilots flying air mail. In the movie, "Lock" performed his famous airplane-to-airplane transfer and a stunt where he transferred from a flying plane to a speeding automobile and then back to the plane moments before the car crashed. The film was a commercial success and he was soon hired to star in a second film, "The Skywayman," about an American ace battling against German pilots in World War I.

Filming began on June 11, 1920, and, until the final scene was recorded on August 2nd, there were problems. Two of Lock's stunts, one where a church steeple was toppled by his plane and another where he transferred from a flying plane to a speeding train, took a number of takes and almost ended in disaster. On the last scheduled day of filming, Omar was to be in a nighttime spin, pulling out to safety at the last second. The night before filming, Lock told his girlfriend, actress Viola Dana, that he had an uneasy feeling about the next day and gave her some of his personal possessions. The scene was originally scheduled to take place in the daytime with red filters on the camera lenses to simulate darkness, but Omar demanded he be allowed to perform the stunt at night for realism. 

(Historical photo)

Large studio arc lights were set up to illuminate Omar and his plane. The lights were set to turn off when he reached 1,000 feet so he would know where he was at and be able to recover from the downward spin. The dive toward an oil derrick was intended to make it appear in the movie that he crashed into the derrick. As Viola Dana, numerous spectators and the full film crew watched, Omar performed several preliminary aerial maneuvers with lit flares to simulate the plane being on fire. Lock then signaled he was ready to begin the spinning dive. For some reason, mechanical or human error, the bright lights did not go off as planned and remained on, blinding Omar and his long-time co-pilot, "Skeets" Elliot. Instead of correcting the spin at 1,000 feet, they started at 200 feet, not nearly enough time to be successful. The plane crashed nose-first into a sludge pool of oil next to the derrick and the lit flares caused an immediate explosion, killing both men instantly.

The crash so horrified Viola that she refused to get on an airplane for the next 25 years. With the entire film having been completed except for the night scene, the movie's studio, Fox, decided to cash in on the fatal crash and rushed the film's release. With advertising proclaiming "Every inch of film showing Locklear's spectacular and fatal last flight, his death-defying feats and a close-up of his spectacular crash to earth," the movie was released to theatres just a month later.

Omar Locklear's remains were brought back to Fort Worth's Greenwood Cemetery where "the world's foremost aviation daredevil" was laid to rest.

Remember Goliad

Most people in America and even a goodly number of people around the world know the phrase, "Remember the Alamo!" Few people outside of Texas know "Remember Goliad!" Both of these phrases were shouted by the Texan forces on Aril 21, 1836, as they launched a surprise attack on the Mexican forces who were enjoying their siesta. Although outnumbered, the Texans, led by General Sam Houston caught General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's army totally unprepared for battle and completely routed them. Only 9 Texans were killed and 26 wounded in the engagement while there were 630 Mexicans killed, 208 wounded, and 703 captured, including the president of Mexico, Santa Anna. Texas won its independence and became a nation on that day.

What gave the Texan troops such a thirst for revenge that they showed little mercy even when Santa Anna's troops were running away? There was, of course, the Alamo, where Santa Anna proclaimed there would be no mercy shown to Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, William Barret Travis, and the other 179 Texas defenders. He commanded his men to put to death everyone and when his men brought him a handful of captured male survivors, he ordered they be bayonetted to death. He then ordered all 182 bodies to be burned in a huge pyre and let a couple of women, children, and one male servant survive in order to spread the word that nobody should stand against him.

After the fall of the Alamo, a Mexican force of 1,400 men led by Santa Anna's chief lieutenant, General Jose de Urrea, continued to march east toward the Presidio in Goliad where Colonel James Fannin commanded 400 men. Sam Houston ordered the Texans to move to Victoria, a more defendable position on the other side of the Guadalupe River. For some reason, Fannin hesitated for several days, and then when he did begin the move, they ran into the main body of the Mexican troops while crossing an open prairie. After fending off four separate attacks on the first day, the Texans spent that night digging trenches. However, in the morning they found they were now totally surrounded by the enemy. Almost out of ammunition, Fannin asked for a parley to prevent his troops from being massacred. General Urrea promised the Texans would be treated as prisoners of war and given clemency. Upon surrender, the Texans were marched back to the Presidio at Goliad and placed under the watchful eyes of Nicolas de la Portilla and his detachment of men while Urrea and his remaining troops continued their march south. 

Santa Anna, however, was determined to fight a war of extermination and ordered Portilla to execute the prisoners. Having conflicting orders from General Urrea and General Santa Anna, Portilla chose to follow Santa Anna's orders. 

On March 27, the prisoners were divided into quarters. While the sick and wounded remained in the chapel, the other three groups were escorted on different roads out of town. The three groups were told they were on missions to gather wood, drive cattle or sail to safety in New Orleans. Believing their captors, the rebels joked and swapped stories as they walked along. When they were ordered to halt a half-mile from the fort, however, the Texans realized their fates. The Mexican guards opened fire as some of the men began running for their lives. Those not killed by gunshots were slaughtered with bayonets. Back at the presidio, the Mexicans stood the wounded against the chapel wall and executed them. Those too wounded to stand were shot in their beds. Fannin, who had been shot in the thigh during the original engagement, was the last to be killed. His three dying wishes were to be shot in the chest, given a Christian burial, and have his watch sent to his family. Instead, Portilla shot Fannin in the face, burned his body with the others, and kept the timepiece as a war prize. In all, nearly 350 men were killed at Goliad.

Santa Anna's treatment of the captured soldiers had the opposite effect of what he intended. He was no longer seen as a brilliant military strategist but a cruel despot. The Goliad Massacre hardened attitudes toward Santa Anna throughout the United States and inflamed and unified the Texas resistance. Less than a month later at the battle of San Jacinto, Sam Houston's men won independence for Texas with the battle cries of "Remember the Alamo" and "Remember Goliad" ringing throughout the Mexican camp.  

Today, almost 185 years later, the old presidio and its adjacent Chapel of our Lady of Loreto still stand. Given the horrific events that happened within and around the site, is it any wonder the walls sometimes echo with the mournful sounds of spirits returning from that troubled and turbulent time? 

Visitors often report feeling "cold spots" and uneasy feelings as they walk around the grounds where Fannin and his men were executed. In 1992, a man named Jim reported strange goings-on. As a former deputy sheriff and a security guard for a number of years, Jim was not a man easily frightened or prone to make up wild stories. Hired for a few nights to watch over some equipment at the presidio that was to be used for the Cattle Baron's Ball, he expected quiet routine nights. On his first night though, just before midnight, the silence was broken by the "eerie, shrill cries of nearly a dozen terrified infants." He swore the sounds indicated "pain and suffering." Although understandably frightened, he tried to find where the sounds were coming from. After several long minutes, he finally determined they were coming from one of the dozen or so unmarked graves that are located near the Chapel of Our Lady of Loreto.

As he shined his flashlight on the spot, the cries abruptly stopped but were immediately replaced by the singing of a women's choir. It sounded like it was coming from the back wall of the old fort, but the beam of his flashlight revealed nothing there. After two or three minutes, the singing stopped and silence returned for the rest of the night. When Jim reported his experience, he was teased by his co-workers, but he is convinced what he saw and heard was real and besides, he is not the only person to report strange things in and around the presidio.

Numerous people have reported seeing a strange, 4-foot-tall friar who suddenly appears by the double doors leading into the chapel. His robes are black, tied around his waist with a rope and his face is concealed with a hood. He then walks barefooted to each corner of the church and seems to bless it before walking to the center of the quadrangle and begins to pray in Latin. 

A woman in a white dress has been reported kneeling and crying by the graves of the children. When seen, she then turns and looks directly at the person before gliding over to a wall and vanishing. A beautiful soprano voice is often heard emanating from one particular room, but upon investigation, there is nobody in the small space. Visitors who stay late often come back from the fort and comment to the staff about the historical reenactors even though there are no reenactors on the property that day. 

It seems there are many restless spirits here. Who are the crying babies? Are they the little lost souls of pioneer infants killed by Indians in a raid or was there an epidemic that took their too-short lives. The woman in white - is her own child buried in one of the unmarked graves? Why does the short friar keep returning? Is his soul in turmoil over so many brave men who were brutally executed? Whose souls are eternally singing beautiful hymns in a choir, unable to leave this chapel? Caught in a timeless web, so many lost souls searching, sorrowing, singing, praying, unable to let go of the life they briefly lived in a little town named Goliad.