Three Wars, Three Stars and the ’27 Flood
The Life of a Delta General
by Hank Burdine

In the spring of 1927, it rained. By the time April came around, the Delta was totally saturated and the Mississippi River was at full capacity and bulging against the protection levees. Ten thousand or more laborers frantically attempted to sandbag low places on the levee and weak areas in the berms and sand boils along its base. On April 16, the Greenville National Guard Unit was placed on state active duty and Major Alexander Gallatin Paxton was given charge of all operations. The weakest point of the levee was found to be about 12 miles north of Greenville. According to John Barry in Rising Tide, “At Mounds Landing the levee was particularly and unavoidably vulnerable. Just above the landing, the river ran in a straight line for several miles, gathering force and momentum. Then it curved around a 90-degree bend. The water was in a tumult; it boiled. It collided with the bank and generated terrific, literally terrifying, currents. Their swirl threw up waves that made no sense, which came from opposite directions and crashed against each other. The surface of the river rose and fell from one spot to the next, exploding into eddies and whirlpools.”

On the night of April 20, it rained six inches. The next morning, Major Paxton answered the phone at headquarters and his duty officer at Mounds Landing said, “We can’t hold it much longer.” Then followed three words that Galla Paxton said he would remember as long as he lived: “There she goes!” The levee had collapsed and billions upon billions of gallons of rushing, seething, foaming, yellow, river water began pouring through the three-fourths-mile-wide crevasse.

Moving his headquarters into the second story of the old Opera House, Major Paxton found local poet and lawyer Will Percy hard at work in his new position as commander of the local Red Cross. Senator Leroy Percy, Will’s father, had taken over as general advisor for the entire operation. The first order was to safeguard the city water supply and maintain law and order to prevent any looting. Volunteers were abundant and Major Paxton delegated authority where he felt it would do the most good. Voluntary martial law was imposed and an 8 p.m. until dawn curfew was placed on anyone without a pass. Motorized boats were dispatched each day to go out to save refugees clinging to rooftops. Cattle and mules were herded to the remaining dry levee areas and hay was brought in by steamboat. Huge levee camps were built along the levee that housed and fed 8,000 refugees.

In June, the tepid, stagnant, disease ridden water slowly began to recede. Coordinated operations to clean, disinfect and inspect all public places before re-opening also began. Clean up efforts were so successful that the American Legion was invited to have their annual state convention in Greenville later that summer and the invitation was accepted. Through close personal attention and the display of professional leadership, Major Galla Paxton had brought Greenville through high water hell. At 31 years old, he was awarded the Mississippi Magnolia Medal by the state for his service during and after the Great Flood of ’27.

Growing up in Greenville

Galla Paxton had grown up in Greenville wanting to be a soldier. A true “son of the South,” he went to Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. During his junior and senior years, he was president of the Alpha Chapter of Kappa Alpha Order, the fraternity founded by Robert E. Lee in 1865. VMI cadets often came over to the KA house and drilled W&L students giving young Galla his first taste of military life. Short of stature, bowlegged and weighing only 155 pounds, Galla started most football games as fullback and earned his letter his senior year in 1916.

Talk of war was raging as graduation rolled around in the spring of ’17. Galla applied and was accepted as a First Lieutenant in the National Army. After training he reported for duty at the 8th Field Artillery Unit at Camp Mecon near Vannes, France. According to his biography Three Wars and a Flood, “I was hardly dry behind the ears and commanding a battery of artillery in France.” His superiors recommended his promotion to captain because of his “proficiency in gunnery and demonstrated ability to fire the batteries without reference to a notebook and outstanding leadership capabilities.”

His next move was to Brest, France, and then home. WWI was over.

Galla returned home in August of 1919 and went to work with Hubert Crosby classing cotton. He soon started his own business as the A.G. Paxton Cotton Company. Receiving a commission in the Mississippi National Guard in 1926, Captain Paxton accepted the command of a 155mm howitzer battery being organized in Greenville. His armory was an unused section of the Delta Compress. Acquiring five used Model A Ford trucks from the post office and two old howitzers, the unit received federal recognition as a Field Artillery Battery in the Mississippi National Guard. Galla Paxton was granted the gold leaf of a Major in the Mississippi National Guard and made Commander of the 1st Battalion, 178th Field Artillery. Within a year, his leadership and organizational abilities would be taxed in the worst natural disaster to ever befall the Mississippi Delta.

After the Flood

Soon after the Great Flood, life returned to normal in Greenville and the National Guard unit continued to build in strength and equipment. A new armory on Walnut Street was built and units drilled one night each week and two weeks during the summer. Smaller 37mm guns were mounted on the barrels of the 155mm howitzers and the guns were laid and fired as if the 155s were being used. The artillery pieces were pulled on top of the levee and the guns fired across the Mississippi River to sandbars on the other side. Major Paxton was promoted to Colonel and given command of the re-designated 114th Field Artillery Regiment in September 1933.

During this time Galla Paxton began to expand his cotton brokerage business and planned a trip to Europe to develop contacts for an international marketplace to export Delta cotton. With his wife Ruth, the Paxtons flew from Liverpool to Paris and by train traveled to Belgium, Holland, Italy and Switzerland. In Germany, he saw young brownshirted boys in Hitler’s Youth Corps being indoctrinated into the Nazi party. The trip marked the beginning of an export business that was soon to make the A.G. Paxton Company known throughout the cotton markets of Europe.

In 1936 Colonel Paxton was placed on the War Department General Staff Eligibility List. By this time, Camp Shelby in South Mississippi had become a training camp for the National Guard and was soon to be a full-time Army post during WWII. The 114th was inducted into the Army in November 1940, as part of the 31st Infantry Dixie Division. Colonel Galla Paxton was promoted to Brigadier General in 1942. When WWII broke out, his first assignment was to defend the major Hawaiian Islands from invasion after the attack on Pearl Harbor. A favorite pastime during off-duty hours was pheasant hunting. Pheasants were considered pests and did considerable damage to the pineapple and sugarcane fields. General Paxton kept his staff and friends amply supplied with this delicious bird.

Later, having participated in the very successful invasion of Kwajalein, General Paxton went on a speaking tour informing officers of the proper way to invade a Pacific island. He was soon ordered to New Guinea and the Philippines. While fighting on Baguio, the going was slow and always uphill. The artillery was able to lay down a “preparation fire” up the hillsides with the infantry scrambling right behind. During these island campaigns, General Paxton flew in his small L-4 observation planes so often and extensively behind enemy lines that he received the Air Medal for his numerous flights. The Japanese dreaded seeing these small planes because they knew of the bombardment that would soon follow.

During one battle, a large number of enemy artillery pieces were captured along with many rounds of ammunition. Organizing “J Battery” with a small group of American and Filipino soldiers, four howitzers were able to take the fight to the Japanese with their own guns. Having earlier criticized Japanese equipment, one officer commented, “It ain’t the guns, brother, it’s the technique!” Soon the bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the Pacific war.

General Paxton returned home and began to re-organize his cotton business. In July of 1948 he was promoted to Major General of the Mississippi National Guard. One of his greatest prides was the Dixie Division Band. Dressed in Confederate uniforms, the Dixie Division Band was approved by the Department of the Army. The band performed at football games, parades, conventions, and as the official band for Derby Day at Churchill Downs. Every performance began with the song “Dixie.”

The Dixie Division was called to active duty during the Korean Conflict and was told to prepare to go overseas. However, the division never shipped out to Korea. Major General Paxton retired from the military in 1958 and was given the Mississippi Magnolia Cross at his final review of troops as Commanding General of the 31st Infantry Division. The headquarters building at Camp Shelby was dedicated Paxton Hall.

In the fall of 1958, a festive “Galla Paxton Day” parade was given by Greenville’s Mayor George Archer. The Dixie Division Band led the parade. Among the many floats and bands and military units were several jeeps carrying a bunch of neighborhood kids known as “Galla’s Gang.” The gang spent many Saturday afternoons in his upstairs study in Gamwyn Park marveling at war memorabilia and listening to his stories. Hubert Crosby’s youngest son, Barry, was riding in one of those jeeps. He later lost his life in Vietnam defending his country.

The afternoon of the parade, the third star was pinned on General Galla Paxton’s shoulders making him the first Lieutenant General in the history of the Mississippi National Guard. Hodding Carter, owner and editor of the Delta Democrat Times, presented him with a bullwhip. For some reason, and one can only imagine, he had gotten the nickname “Bull Whip Shorty” during WWII.

In his retirement speech after 41 years of military duty, General Galla Paxton stated to the assembled officers and men of the 31st Division, “Three times have I seen the Dixie Division organized from the ground up. Twice it has been honored by a call from the President of the United States to active duty, taking its place of honor in the defense of our nation in times of great emergency. In each tour it has served with great credit and distinction. To each of you officers and men of the 31st Infantry Dixie Division, I present my most honorable salute.” DM