Extracted from The News-Star (Monroe, LA)
Monday, June 4, 2001

Winn Parish remembers veteran

By JIMMY HATTEN

SIKES - The riderless white horse quivered perceptibly when the muskets were fired and the cannon boomed. But it stood motionless when ``Taps'' was sounded for a Civil War soldier from Winn Parish.

The horse carried reversed boots and the Confederate colors at a memorial service at Willis/Rolen Cemetery near here Saturday for William Erskins, a private in Company B, 5th Louisiana Cavalry.

``It is a link to the past,'' Nellie Head Simmons of Bastrop, a great-great granddaughter, said.

Simmons and a host of other descendants, ceremony participants and observers came from throughout northern Louisiana and Texas to pay tribute to a man who joined the Confederate Cavalry at age 55 and never made it home. The family had made a personal decision to honor their ancestor and drew on the assistance of others to do so.

``He was a brave man,'' Simmons said. ``He should be remembered for what he did.''

Erskins died near Natchez, Miss., of smallpox after being paroled as a prisoner in New Orleans in 1865, according to one account. His family and some records say Erskins was still suffering from a battle wound and died in a cotton shed en route home.

Erskins, an 1809 Scottish immigrant, came to Louisiana from Maine and joined a cavalry unit whose members served as scouts, couriers and pickets.

Observing the ceremony was Belvin Thigpen of Sikes, great-great grandson of W.J. Thigpen of Company A, 3rd Louisiana Cavalry. W.J. Thigpen and William Erskins were brothers-in-law. Thigpen also was recognized during the ceremony.

James Stuart of Columbia, representing the Shriners from Alexandria, performed a bagpipe solo. Ronald David Hilbun of Tensas Parish, representing Company A, 3rd Louisiana Cavalry, was assigned to the riderless horse.

Tensas also was represented by Confederate Rose members, including Faye Jackson and her daughter Ramona Roberts of St. Joseph.

Johnnie Hough of Minden added a contemporary touch to the event, riding in on a motorcycle as a member of the Mechanized Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Other participants included Lt. Col. William Walker, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Camp No. 1738 of Winnfield T.M. Scott, Confederate Color Guard Elizabeth Glover, Order of the Confederate Rose, Minden and the Texas Confederate Color Guard.