Posted By:	Mike Patterson
	Email:
	Subject:	William Preston Bishop of Tenn.; Dallas, Denton, Collin, and Tarrant Cos., Texas
	Post Date:	January 29, 2009 at 18:07:35
	Message URL:	http://genforum.genealogy.com/bishop/messages/7124.html
	Forum:	Bishop Family Genealogy Forum
	Forum URL:	http://genforum.genealogy.com/bishop/

We here in northeast Tarrant County have a Civil War veterans monument in place, and are posting biographies and photographs of the men at our Genweb site. If you can add to the following biographical sketch, or could share any photos you might have of this veteran, his wife, or his home, we’d be happy to have them. Thanks for taking the time to read our query. Mike Patterson, Colleyville, Texas. William Preston Bishop, known here in Texas as Colonel Bishop, was principal of the Grapevine Masonic Institute for two terms. He was a commissioned officer in the Confederate Army, and lies buried in Frankford Cemetery just inside the Collin County line near Renner in Dallas County. Col. Bishop was born in Claiborne County, Tennessee on August 19, 1841, a son of Elisha Bishop (who was born in 1812 in Lee Co., Virginia and died in 1886 in Hancock Co., Tennessee) and his wife, Polly Thomas. When the 1850 census was taken, William P. Bishop lived with his parents and siblings in subdivision 33 of Hancock County, Tennessee. William’s father was not a slaveowner in that year. Bishop held several different offices in Co. D, 29th Tennessee Infantry, before becoming Colonel of the regiment near the end of the war. His compiled military service records in the National Archives are quite extensive, and include many original documents with his signature. He entered the service as a member of Co. D, 29th Tennessee Infantry. He entered the service as 1st Lieutenant of the company on August 13, 1861 at Camp Powell. He enlisted for twelve months. By June 30, 1862 he was Captain of Co. D, and by the end of the war was Colonel of the 29th Tennessee Infantry. He was wounded in the fighting around Atlanta in 1864. An interesting anecdote about Company D may be found at the website belonging to the present-day 29th Tennessee Infantry, a group of Confederate Civil War reenactors: “…During the formation of Company D, the men were surrounded by a large force of about five-hundred unionists. They were ordered to surrender or be killed. Men were chosen to send a message for help during the night, one day later, two thousand Confederate troops converged on the town. The unionists dispersed…” The same site also gives a list of the battles in which the 29th Tennessee Infantry took part: “…Some of the battles the 29th fought in include: Rock Castle, Mill Springs, The Corinth Campaign, Munfordville, Perryville, Murfreesboro, The Tullahoma Campaign, Chickamauga, Chattanooga (Federals did not push them back, they held their ground), The Atlanta Campaign, Resaca (along with the 12th, drove the yankees through the streets) New Hope Church, Kennesaw Mountain (in the dead angle with the 1st and 27th consolidated, decimated the union forces attacking, read Co. "Aytch" by Sam Watkins), Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Atlanta siege, Jonesboro, Franklin, Nashville, The Carolinas Campaign, and Bentonville (The regiment was sleeping near Gen. Johnston's headquarters, when a federal force attacked, the regiment instantly formed, and attacked with no less than Johnston, Hardee, and Wade Hampton, leading them. The small remains of the regiment saved Johnston's headquarters and pushed back the Federals. The 29th surrendered with the rest of the Army of Tennessee at Greensboro, on the 26th of April 1865.” Col. Bishop was married was married three times, first in 1873 in Dallas County to Mary E. McKamy (July 4, 1854-September 18, 1876, buried at Renner). His second marriage was to Emma Simpson (October 1, 1854- January 10, 1895, buried beside him at Renner) on February 29, 1880 in Denton County. His third wife was Emma Frances Haggard (September 15, 1870-August 9, 1938) on August 11, 1896 at Plano in Collin County, Texas. When the 1880 census was taken, Col. Bishop and his wife, Emma, were living in District 24, Precinct 5, of Collin County, Texas. He was a school teacher at the time. The only child with them was his son, William R. Bishop, born about 1874. When the 1900 census was taken, Col. Bishop and his wife and two children were living in District 57, Precinct 7, of Denton County, Texas. He and his wife, Emma, had been married four years and she had given birth to no children. His son, William Bishop (born in May, 1875 in Texas) and his daughter Bernace Bishop (born in August 1885) were the two children in his home at that time. William P. Bishop died January 7, 1901 and is buried in Frankford Cemetery near many of his kinsmen. Family sources at ancestry.com show that he died in Denton, Denton County, Texas.