Throughout 1861 Governor Clark issued calls for more troops and worked
to bolster state defenses. By September Texas had ten regiments in
Confederate service or in the process of being organized. Several of
these units were in Virginia, while the rest were standing by to secure
the state from possible invasion.[20]
The forming of companies was seldom a smooth procedure. For one thing,
all Texans wanted to fight on horseback, but the Confederate army
already had sufficient cavalrymen and now needed only foot soldiers.
Also, the Southern leaders wanted men to serve for the war's duration,
but most volunteers were reluctant to sign up for more than twelve
months. While these requirements tended to make young men feel less
enthusiastic about serving their country, the state government was
seriously hampered in its recruiting operations by an over-anxious
Confederate War Department. Richmond kept sending heavy troop levies to
the Governor while also authorizing private persons to carry out their
own recruiting programs. This resulted in serious recruiting competition
between the state and the Confederate officers. In several cases units
ear-marked to meet state troop requirements were marched away by
"recruiting colonels." Despite Governor Clark's protest, this problem
continued to exist for many months.[21]
A typical example of the mechanics of forming a unit took place at
Marshall in April, 1861, when organization of the W. P. Lane Ranger
Company was announced. Volunteers were expected to supply their own
mounts while the state agreed to furnish arms. On the appointed day the
young men were massed in the center of the town, had their horses
examined for serviceability, elected their officers, and were given an
oath of allegiance to Texas by a local judge. The rest of the day was
spent in preparing the unit's roll of members and in attending a special
church service. The next morning saw the company reassembled in the town
square, awaiting the presentation of a flag that had been made by the
young ladies of Marshall. After a long and flowery presentation speech,
the banner, reported to have measured six by fifteen feet, was accepted
by the unit. Then, at noon, amidst tears and kisses, the company took up
the march to its destiny. A few miles down the road, however, destiny
was delayed while the men were feasted at a local college. By dusk the
badly scattered soldiers straggled to a camping site and dined on
delicacies that had been brought from home. The Rangers were feted,
lauded, and blessed in almost every town through which they passed. Late
in May they arrived in San Antonio where they were armed, mustered into
Confederate service as Company "F" of the Second Texas Mounted Rifles,
and assigned to patrol duty on the state's frontier.[22]
As more regiments were formed, a growing scarcity of firearms caused
grave concern. A few units solved this difficulty by demanding that the
enlistees secure weapons on their own initiative. By using this system
Captain Strobel's Company of Terry's Texas Rangers could boast that each
of its men carried a double barrel shotgun, a six-shooter, and an issued
"Texas tooth-pick." This last item was described as a "two edged pointed
knife, 24 inches long, and weighing about three pounds, and a man using
it could cut another man's head off and not half try." Most companies,
however, relied on the state to furnish arms. By summer, 1861, Texas had
issued almost all of the weapons that it owned.[23]
Because of the increasing scarcity of guns, Governor Clark adopted a
policy of keeping the remaining state-owned weapons within the confines
of Texas. Future troops mustered into Confederate service would have to
draw arms from the Richmond government. Clark also sent agents to
Mexico, Cuba, and Europe in a near fruitless effort to make contracts
for the purchase of foreign guns. The state likewise encouraged the
establishment of local arms factories and powder plants.[24] Such things
as military clothing, blankets, and messing equipment would have to come
from the penitentiary cloth mills at Huntsville, from private donations
through county soldiers' relief agencies, through trade with Mexico, or
from Confederate supply depots.[25]
By fall, 1861, the security of Texas was being jeopardized by Indian
depredations along the frontier, by danger of invasions from the north
or by way of the coast, and by the possibility of violence along the
Mexican border. Repeated dispatches received in Austin reported fierce
Indian raids centering in the Brown-Gillespie County area. Also, rumors
had it that the Union was preparing a force in Missouri that would
momentarily undertake an invasion into Texas. Proof of the United States
forces having overrun Missouri was seen when pro-secessionist Governor
C. F. Jackson and Lieutenant Governor T. C. Reynolds arrived with the
Seal of the State of Missouri and set up a temporary government at
Marshall, Texas. Governor Clark took so seriously the threat of a Union
thrust into Texas that he expressed his concern to President Jefferson
Davis and declared that his state stood ready to assemble 4,000
cavalrymen if it became necessary to block such a move on the part of
the enemy. In the same letter to Richmond, Clark indicated a fear that
West Texas might be faced with a Union column coming through New Mexico.
To defend this approach and to safeguard the frontier from further
Indian raids, legislative approval was secured to organize a Frontier
Regiment of ten companies.[26]
Texans were likewise fearful of invasions or raids along the coastline,
which could be discouraged by building fortifications and by stationing
garrisons at such key points as Sabine Pass, Pass Cavallo (in Matagorda
County). Port Aransas, and Galveston.[27] Continuous Union naval
activity off Galveston caused that island to be regarded as a critical
invasion objective. In fact, so serious was this threat that emergency
plans were prepared for a quick evacuation of the city and possible
destruction of the railroad bridge that linked the island with the
mainland.[28]
As Union craft tightened the blockade of Texas port towns, the main
unblocked trade route from Texas to the outside world came to be the
overland trail from San Antonio to Matamoros. This Mexican town
contained a number of merchant houses that were willing to exchange
valuable Texas cotton for goods needed by the South. To safeguard this
supply route, to control border violence, and to intercept shirkers and
Unionists attempting to cross the Rio Grande, Texas kept a number of
state troops on patrol duty along the international river.[29]
In spite of these manifold dangers and wartime conditions, Texas
politics continued as usual. In November, 1861, an exciting contest
allowed Francis R. Lubbock to replace Edward Clark as governor. Lubbock
had wide political experience in the Lone Star State and, once assured
of his narrow victory, he made a quick trip to Richmond to consult with
principal Confederate leaders.[30]