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Charles Pinkney Goad From Son of Alexander Goad and Jane Henderson; born in Madison County, Arkansas, February 12 1838. Arkansas at that time was a comparatively new country, only two years before it had been admitted to the union as a state. Vast expanses of the state were wild, unsettled wastes, the lowlands were a mass of cane breaks, thickets and swamps, while the rocky mountainous sections were covered with virgin forests of pine, oak, hickory and numerous other trees. Native fruits grew in abundance, and wild animals, such as deer and bear, and wild fowl were plentiful. Madison county was rough, hilly and living conditions of the people were
primitive. Generally they lived in log houses and cultivated small patches of corn and vegetables and depended upon the forests and streams to supply a great part of their simple needs. Their few horses, cattle and hogs
roamed the open range. Cultural advantages were few. As always on the frontier, there were a few preachers, and religious services were held occasionally. Public schools, as we know them were unknown, subscription
schools were conducted two or three months a year when a teacher could be found. Charles Pinkney grew up with little or no schooling, though he learned to read and write, and despite the scarcity of books and
newspapers, he kept in close touch with world affairs. He always liked the wide open spaces, and living in a sparsely settled country abounding in game, and hunting and fishing being favorite sports with him, he spent much of
his time as a boy following his natural inclinations. He had a restless spirit which stuck to him all through life, and it was this that caused him to move from place to place, always looking for new adventures and new
experiences. When Charles Pinkney was about nineteen years old he made a trip to Texas going as far as Bell county. Just how long he
remained in Texas is not known, but within a year or so he was back at his home in Madison county, Arkansas. About three years later he went to southeast Kansas where he filed on a quarter section of land. He made a few
improvements on the claim and hired out to others to split rails and posts to make expenses. Settling down on a government claim did not long appeal to the restless spirit of the young Charles Pinkney Goad, and in a few
months he traded his claim rights for a shotgun, and like the prodigal son of old, returned to the parental fireside. But unlike the hero of the Biblical story, he did not return home empty ahanded, hungry and ragged.
Having his trusty gun, just before he arrived home a deer passed his way which he killed and carried in. So much did he love the sport of hunting that in after years when relating this trip into Kansas, the incident of
killing the deer and taking it home seemed to stand out most prominently in his memory. When the bugle sounded in 1861, calling the nation to war, Arkansas as a state cast her lot with the Confederacy. It is
doubtful whether the Goad family took any active part in the slavery question which eventually led to the Civil War Living in an isolated section of the country, and especially where there were few slaves, it is
reasonably supposed that they were inclined to remain aloof from the struggle, and indeed it is known that they tried to avoid any part, not that they were unpatriotic, but that they had the hard common sense to realize that they
and others of the poorer class would not benefit, regardless of how the fortunes of war went. Mountaineers have always been a liberty-loving people, and their dominant desire is to be let alone. Public sentiment in Arkansas over the state as a whole was overwhelmingly in favor of the Confederacy, but the northwest part of the state, in which Madison county is situated, was
mountainous, and not favorable to a slave-owning class. Madison county in 1860 had a population of 7,444 whites and 296 slaves, and though there were many Confederate sympathizers in the region, Southern leaders were unable
to convince others who did not own slaves that it would be to their interests to espouse the Confederate cause, and rather than do so these men kept out of the Confederate army, and did everything possible to keep out of the way of
Confederate conscription officers. At first Madison county was dominated by Southern sympathizers, and taking advantage of the weak and chaotic condition of the local government, and the absence of either Federal or Confederate
troops in the immediate territory, many men on both sides began a campaign of marauding and robbery. These partisan bandits, for they could hardly be called anything else, usually operated in bands of a dozen or less and hid
in the broken, hilly and heavily timbered regions. When an opportunity afforded they would make a raid on some unprotected family who sympathized with the opposing side and rob it and sometimes murder a male member if
found present. The loyalists stood in dread of the Confederates, the Confederate sympathizers in dread of the Federals, and both in terror of guerillas and bandits who were void of any partisan convictions. To put a
stop to this lawlessness, Charles Pinkney Goad and others of the better element organized a company of home guards. The Confederate government by the end of 1861 had applied its conscription laws and began forcing men into the military service regardless of their sympathies. So far as oral accounts have it, Charles Pinkney and his brother William were first inducted into the Confederate service, probably in the beginning of the year 1862. While in training Charles Pinkney and about one hundred other recruits who were Union men at heart march out of camp one night. This was accomplished without bloodshed, as the Confederates were without firearms, the sentinels being armed only with clubs. After the battle of Pea Ridge, March 7 and 8, 1862,
the Federal army occupied parts of northern Arkansas for a time, but eventually had to abandon the entire state. The following July the Federal army again occupied parts of northwest Arkansas. The Federal commander
opened a recruiting office in Fayetteville and invited Union sympathizers to join. The result of this was the organization of the First Arkansas Infantry regiment, with Dr. James M. Johnson of Huntsville, Madison county, as
colonel E. J. Searle, lieutenant colonel, and E. D. Ham as major. Charles Pinkney Goad and his brothers, William and Matt, joined the First Arkansas Infantry and were assigned to Company G. The regiment was mustered
into service March 25, 1863. The regiment's first baptism of fire came less than a month after it had been mustered in. On the morning of April 18, 1863 a body of Confederate troops attacked Fayetteville and a sharp battle
ensued. Company G of the First Arkansas Infantry was finally ordered off the field, due to the fact that they had not yet been issued uniforms,and it was feared they would be mistaken for the enemy, but not until their
captain, G. W. R. Smith, had been wounded in the head. The Confederates were driven off, but the Federal Commander, Colonel M. LaRue Harrison, fearing he could not hold Fayetteville, retreated to Springfield, Missouri, on April 25th. On the 6th of July, the First Arkansas Infantry was ordered to Cassville,
Missouri, and on the 17th of August joined the Army of the Frontier under the Major-General Blunt at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory. The regiment was part of a force which pursued the Confederates under Cooper and Stand Waite
to Perryville in the Choctaw Nation, and returning to Fort Smith was the first to enter the garrison on September 1, 1863. Soon after his regiment arrived at Fort Smith, Charles P. Goad obtained a leave of absence and returned to
his home in Madison county where he was married to Martha Ellis Ray, September 23, 1863. Shortly after its arrival at Fort Smith, the First Arkansas Infantry was ordered to Waidron where it stayed until February, 1864, when it
was ordered back to Fort Smith to take part in the movement southward under Brig. Gen. Thayer. It left Fort Smith on the 24th of March, and a few days later took part in the battle of Moscow, losing three men killed and
several wounded. Entered Camden on the 16th of April, and took part in the battle of Jenkins Ferry, April 30. The Federal forces withdrew from the field and arrived at Little Rock, May 1. After a few days
at Little Rock, the First Arkansas Infantry proceeded to Fort Smith where it arrived May 17. No more major battles were fought in Arkansas; General Grant planned to transfer most of the Union forces to the East where the war
was to be decided. It was while Charles P. Goad was stationed at Ft. Smith the last time The war being over, Charles P. Goad was discharged at Fort Smith, August 10, 1865. He immediately returned with his wife and baby to Madison county. Here
their second child, Frances Bethena, was born September 3, 1866. That fall the family moved to Polk county, Missouri, and in a few months removed to Benton county, same state, where they took up a homestead. While
living in Benton county four more children were born to them: Mary Elizabeth, June 1, 1868; Samuel Ray, November 29, 1869, and who died in infancy; Robert Andrew, May 7, 1871, and Charles Monroe, January 25, 1873.
The family moved back to Madison county, Arkansas, in the fall of 1874, where Charles P. and his brother William operated a blacksmith shop for a year. It was while living
here that their son, John Allen, was born February 14, 1875. The fall of that year the family moved to Marion county. While living in Marion county, in the year of 1876, Charles P. Goad decided to move to
Texas. The family left there and spent a few days with relatives in Madison county, then began their long journey to Texas in November, traveling in a wagon Charles P. had made in his blacksmith shop more than a year before.
The Arkansas River was crossed at Ozark, below Fort Smith, where the children saw their first railroad train and ferry boat. Their route then followed southwesterly into the Choctaw Nation, thence along the old Texas road to Colbert's Ferry where they crossed Red River into Texas. After more than six weeks on the road the family arrived on Christmas day at the home of Matt Goad, who had preceded them a year or so, on the Colorado River in San Saba county. Charles P. Goad rented a farm near his brother and tried farming, but
drouth and grasshoppers rendered his efforts almost a failure. Early that fall the family moved to Bosque county where Charles P. bought a cotton gin which he operated for one season. Re engaged in farming and stock
raising and operated a well drill in connection with his other activities. They lived in Bosque county ten years, during which time four other children were born to them: Margaret Arizona, October 19, 1877; William
Henry, February 7, 1881; James Edward, August 17, 1883, and Albert Lee, February 4, 1886. In the year 1887 Charles P. Goad again loaded his family into a covered wagon and moved farther west, this time to Coleman county. He
purchased a tract of land and did some farming, but at that time western Texas was considered too arid for practical farming; Coleman county then was sparsely settled, most of the land being in large sheep and cattle ranches. While
living here their youngest child, Rosa Etta was born November 27, 1888. While the Goad family was living in Coleman county, the agitation for the opening of the Oklahoma lands was at its height. The Unassigned
Lands were opened to white settlement in 1889, the Shawnee-Pottawatomie Indian reservation in 1891, and there were other Indian lands which were Charles P. Goad had already taken up his claim rights in Missouri, and as the settlers had not yet time to prove up on their claims in the Pottawatomie country, they could sell only their claim rights, consequently, Andrew purchased the claim rights to a quarter section, giving a team of mules in exchange, which he deeded to his father after proving up. The land is described in the government survey as the northeast quarter of section 35, Township 7, North, Range 2, East. The following month the family moved to their new home. The trip consumed several days from the Chickasaw country. Besides their wagon and team they brought to Oklahoma several other head of horses and a herd of cattle, the three older boys, Andrew, Charles and John, driving them along with the wagon. This farm had only a few acres in cultivation when the family moved onto it. A large one room log house stood on the west side of the place in which the family lived for two or three years when another was built near the center of the farm. Water for household use was carried from a spring several hundred feet from the house. Several years later the house was moved to the foot of the hill near the spring. Charles P. Goad cleared out his farm since the most of it was timbered built more onto the house, built fences, set out an orchard, and improved it in other ways. He cultivated his fields and raised livestock; he was a great lover of horses and kept several for his own use and raised some to sell, besides owning quite a herd of cattle. Despite the fact that he grew up in a harsh age, Charles P. Goad was kind and considerate to his family and friends. He was tolerant of those with whom he differed so long as he did not suspect a sinister motive. The isolated, pioneer life he was born into and led, and his inborn religious traits developed a brave and hopeful spirit and a strong and active mind. His nature easily conformed to the great law of moral growth that accepts the good and rejects the bad, which nature gave this obscure man. He was conscientious to a fault. He had a studious and inquiring mind and read many books and newspapers for his day. He was far above the average in possessing knowledge on a variety of subjects. While living in Bosque county, Texas, Charles P. Goad obeyed the Gospel under the preaching of an Elder Borden and was baptized into the Church of Christ. From that time on he read the Bible almost daily and attended church services regularly when convenient. About the year 1900 he became interested in the teachings of Pastor Russell and the International Bible Students. This seemed to increase his interest in the Bible, and he expressed his earnest desire a short time before his death that he be spared a few more years to witness events which he believed were Biblical prophecies being fulfilled. But like Moses, who glimpsed the Promised Land, but was not allowed to enter, he saw the beginning of great events, but not their end. Those who knew him loved him for his strong character, his love for right and justice, and felt every day the influence of his kindly life. He left to his friends and acquaintances the fragrance of a beautiful life, and to his descendants the heritage of a high and noble example. His children were:
This information from: "The Charles P. Goad Family" by E. E. Stephens. Those interested in more detailed information on these families should get Mr. Stephens' book on Charles P. Goad. Note: E. E. Stephens’ book was published in the 1950s without copyright notice. Under the copyright laws of that time, a work published without copyright notice went into the public domain. See “Is it really copyrighted? ” |
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