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Prince John LbNA #56118 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Boots Tex
Plant date:Oct 12, 2010
Location:
City:Galveston
County:Galveston
State:Texas
Boxes:1
Found by: MimiJacobs
Last found:Apr 27, 2014
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFaam
Last edited:Oct 12, 2010
Box confirmed to be "missing" on 12-31-14. The entire fence mentioned in the clue has been removed and the letterbox along with it. It will be replaced as soon as possible.

Of all the major figures of the Civil War era, Confederate general John Bankhead Magruder is perhaps the least understood. The third-ranking officer in Virginia’s forces behind Robert E. Lee and Joseph E. Johnston, Magruder left no diary, no completed memoirs, no will, not even a family Bible. There are no genealogical records and very few surviving personal papers. Surprisingly, then, much existing literature about Magruder contains incorrect information. In John Bankhead Magruder, an exhaustive biography that reflects more than thirty years of painstaking archival research, Thomas M. Settles remedies the many factual inaccuracies surrounding this enigmatic man and his military career. Tall, handsome, and flamboyant, Magruder earned the nickname “Prince John” from his army friends and was known for his impeccable manners and social brilliance. When Virginia seceded in April of 1861, Prince John resigned his commission in the U.S. Army and offered his services to the Confederacy. Magruder won the opening battle of the Civil War at Big Bethel. Later, in spite of severe shortages of weapons and supplies and a lack of support from Jefferson Davis, Judah P. Benjamin, Samuel Cooper, and Joseph E. Johnston, Prince John, with just 13,600 men, held his position on the Peninsula for a month against George B. McClellan’s 105,000-man Federal army. This successful stand, at a time when Richmond was exceedingly vulnerable, provided, according to Settles, John Magruder’s greatest contribution to the Confederacy. Following the Seven Days’ battles, however, his commanders harshly criticized Magruder for being too slow at Savage Station, then too rash at Malvern Hill and they transferred him to command the District of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. In Texas, he skillfully recaptured the port of Galveston in early 1863 and held it for the Confederacy until the end of the war. After the war, he joined the Confederate exodus to Mexico but eventually returned to the United States, living in New York City and New Orleans before settling in Houston, where he died on February 18, 1871.

Directions:
This letterbox is located in Galveston, Texas, which may be reached by traveling approximately 60 miles south from Houston via Interstate 45. In Galveston, after crossing the big bridge, I-45 becomes Broadway Ave. (Ave. J). Turn south on 40th St. then right into the cemetery. This complex is made up of 7 cemeteries, and the one on your immediate left as you enter is Trinity Episcopal Cemetery. Park your car and walk into the cemetery. Find the tallest monument on the east fence line. This is the final resting place of General John Magruder.

To the box:
Find the tall Willis obelisk, the tallest monument on the west fence line. Prince John lies between the obelisk and the fence under a piece of concrete block.