July 8, 2021 at 6:30 pm
Sgt. Gilbert Henderson Bates was a short thirty-year-old sergeant—about five feet six—but in spite of a painfully swollen foot and ankle he was walking tall. Square-shouldered and square-faced, he had a proud look in his clear gray eyes, the look of a man who was in a position to say, “Mission accomplished.” How and what did this former soldier do that merited the attention of onlookers in Washington D.C. after the War Between the States? We will listen to Randy Bishop explain!
Randy Bishop retired from the State of Tennessee after thirty-years of teaching. He is now a history and marketing teacher at Walnut High School (MS) as well as an adjunct history professor for Jackson State Community College. He is an alderman for his hometown and president of the library board for his community. He is a member of several historical associations and preservation groups as well as the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The ten books Randy has authored include: The Tennessee Brigade, Tennessee’s Civil War Battlefields, Mississippi’s Civil War Battlefields, Kentucky’s Civil War Battlefields, Civil War Generals of Tennessee, A Civil War Devotional, Mississippi’s Civil War Generals, Sacrifices of the Porters, The Trail, and Marching for Union. He also compiled the foreword to a republication of A Rebel’s Recollections. Randy and his wife Sharon, also a teacher, reside in Middleton, Tennessee and are the parents of two grown sons, Jay and Ben.
