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THE LONE STAR DEFENDERS
[Illustration: DECORATION]
[Illustration: BATTLE-FLAG OF THE THIRD TEXAS CAVALRY REGIMENT]
THE LONE STAR DEFENDERS
A Chronicle of the Third Texas Cavalry, Ross’ Brigade
by
S. B. BARRON
Of the Third Texas Cavalry
[Illustration: LOGO]
New York and Washington
The Neale Publishing Company
1908
TO
MY COMRADES
SURVIVORS OF ROSS’ BRIGADE OF TEXAS CAVALRY
AND
TO OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN
I AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATE
THIS VOLUME.
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 11
CHAPTER I
THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR
Journey to Texas—John Brown’s Raid—My Secession
Resolution—Presidential Election—Lincoln Elected—Excitement in
the South—Secession Ordinances—“The Lone Star Defenders”—Fort
Sumter Fired On—Camp Life—The Regiment Complete—Citizens’
Kindness—Mustered In—The Third Texas Cavalry—Roster 15
CHAPTER II
OFF FOR THE FRONT
Organization of Regiment—Officers—Accouterment—On the
March—Taming a Trouble-maker—Crossing the Red River—In the
Indian Territory—The Indian Maid—Fort Smith—The March to
Missouri—McCulloch’s Headquarters—Under Orders—Preparation for
First Battle 26
CHAPTER III
OUR FIRST BATTLE
On the March—Little York Raid—Under Fire—Our First
Battle—Oak Hill (Wilson’s Creek)—Death of General
Lyon—Our First Charge—Enemy Retires—Impressions of First
Battle—Death of Young Willie—Horrors of a Battlefield—Troops
Engaged—Casualties 39
CHAPTER IV
THE WAR IN MISSOURI
Personal Characteristics—Two Braggarts—Joe Welch—William
Hood—We Enter Springfield—Bitter Feeling in Missouri—Company
Elections—Measles and Typhoid—Carthage, and My Illness
There—We Leave Carthage—Death of Captain Taylor—Winter
Quarters—Furloughed—Home Again 52
CHAPTER V
THE WAR IN MISSOURI—_Continued_
I Rejoin the Command—Sleeping in Snow—Ambushed—Battle
of Elkhorn Tavern (Pea Ridge)—Capturing a Battery—Deaths
of Generals McCulloch and McIntosh—Battle
Continued—Casualties—Keetsville—Official Reports—March
Southward—Foraging—Lost Artillery—Illness Again 63
CHAPTER VI
THE SIEGE OF CORINTH
Leave Winter Quarters—The Prairies—Duvall’s Bluff—Awaiting
Transportation—White River—The Mississippi—Memphis—Am
Detailed—En Route to Corinth—Corinth—Red Tape—Siege of
Corinth—“A Soldier’s Grave”—Digging for Water—Suffering and
Sickness—Regiment Reorganized—Evacuation of Corinth 79
CHAPTER VII
BATTLE OF IUKA
Camp at Tupelo, Miss.—Furloughed—Report for Duty—Camp
Routine—“The Sick Call”—Saltillo—Personnel of the
Brigade—Baldwin “Contraband”—On to Iuka—Iuka—Battle of
Iuka—Casualties—Retreat 96
CHAPTER VIII
BATTLE OF CORINTH
Captain Dunn, the “Mormon”—Paroles—Baldwin—On to
Corinth—Conscription—Looking for Breakfast—The Army
Trapped—A Skirmish—Escape—Holly Springs—Battle of
Corinth—Casualties—Cavalry Again 111
CHAPTER IX
HOLLY SPRINGS RAID
At Grenada—Scouting—Engagement at Oakland—Chaplain Thompson’s
Adventure—Holly Springs Raid—Jake—The Bridge at Wolf River—I
Am Wounded—Bolivar—Attack on Middleburg—Christmas 127
CHAPTER X
THE ENGAGEMENT AT THOMPSON’S STATION
January, 1863—Jake Arrested—Detailed—My Brother Visits
Me—Elected Second Lieutenant—Battle of Thompson’s Station—Duck
River—Capture of the Legion—The “Sick Camp”—Murder of General
Van Dorn 143
CHAPTER XI
THE SURRENDER OF VICKSBURG
Moving Southward—I Lose My Horse—Meet Old Huntsville
Friends—A New Horse—In Mississippi—“Sneeze Weed”—Messenger’s
Ferry—Surrender of Vicksburg—Army Retires—Fighting at
Jackson—After Sherman’s Men—A Sick Horse—Black Prince—“Tax in
Kind”—Ross’ Brigade—Two Desertions 156
CHAPTER XII
BATTLE AT YAZOO CITY
Midwinter—Through the Swamps—Gunboat Patrols—Crossing
the Mississippi—Through the Ice—Ferrying
Guns—Hardships—Engagement at Yazoo City—Harrying
Sherman—Under Suspicion—A Practical Joke—Battle at Yazoo
City—Casualties—A Social Call—Eastwood—Drowning Accident—A
Military Survey 173
CHAPTER XIII
UNDER FIRE FOR ONE HUNDRED DAYS
Corduroy Breeches—Desolate Country—Conscript Headquarters—An
“Arrest”—Rome, Ga.—Under Fire for One Hundred Days—Big and
Little Kenesaw—Lost Mountain—Rain, Rain, Rain—Hazardous
Scouting—Green Troops—Shelled—Truce—Atlanta—Death of
General MacPherson—Ezra Church—McCook’s Retreat—Battle near
Newman—Results 190
CHAPTER XIV
KILPATRICK’S RAID
Kilpatrick’s Raid—Attack on Kilpatrick—Lee’s Mill—Lovejoy’s
Station—The Brigade Demoralized—I Surrender—Playing ’Possum—I
Escape—The Brigade Reassembles—Casualties 205
CHAPTER XV
UNION SOLDIER’S ACCOUNT OF KILPATRICK’S RAID
Kilpatrick’s Raid—Ordered to the Front—Enemy’s Artillery
Silenced—We Destroy the Railroad—Hot Work at the Railroad—Plan
of Our Formation—Stampeding the Horses—The Enemy
Charges—Sleeping on Horseback—Swimming the River—Camped at
Last 216
CHAPTER XVI
CLOSE OF THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN
Sherman Changes His Tactics—Hood Deceived—Heavy
Fighting—Atlanta Surrenders—End of the
Campaign—Losses—Scouting—An Invader’s Devastation—Raiding
the Raiders—Hood Crosses the Coosa—A Reconnaissance—Negro
Spies—Raiding the Blacks—Crossing Indian Creek—A Conversion 228
CHAPTER XVII
MY LAST BATTLE
Tories and Deserters—A Tragic Story—A Brutal Murder—The
Son’s Vow—Vengeance—A Southern Heroine—Seeking Our
Command—Huntsville—A Strange Meeting—We Find the Division—The
Battle in the Fog—My Last Battle 245
CHAPTER XVIII
ROSS’ REPORT OF BRIGADE’S LAST CAMPAIGN
Ross’ Report—Repulse a Reconnoitering Party—Effective
Fighting Strength—Advance Guard—The Battle at
Campbellsville—Results—Thompson’s Station—Harpeth
River—Murfreesboro—Lynville—Pulaski—Sugar Creek—Losses
During Campaign—Captures—Acknowledgments 254
CHAPTER XIX
THE END OF THE WAR
Christmas—I Lose All My Belongings—The “Owl Train”—A
Wedding—Furloughed—Start for Texas—Hospitality—A Night in the
Swamp—The Flooded Country—Swimming the Rivers—In Texas—Home
Again—Surrender of Lee, Johnston, and Kirby Smith—Copy of Leave
of Absence—Recapitulation—Valuation of Horses in 1864—Finis 267
ILLUSTRATIONS
Battle Flag of the Third Texas Cavalry _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
Lieutenant-Colonel P. F. Ross, Sixth Texas Cavalry 24
Jiles S. Boggess, Captain, Major; Lieutenant-Colonel Third Texas
Cavalry 50
Captain D. R. Gurley, Sixth Texas Cavalry, A. A. G. Ross’ Brigade 76
F. M. Taylor, first Captain of Company C, Third Texas Cavalry 100
John Germany, fourth and last Captain Company C, Third Texas
Cavalry 126
Jesse W. Wynne, Captain Company B, Third Texas Cavalry 150
Captain H. L. Taylor, Commander Ross’ Brigade Scouts 176
Leonidas Cartwright, Company E, Third Texas Cavalry; Member of
Taylor’s Scouts, Ross’ Brigade 200
G. A. McKee, Private Company C, Third Texas Cavalry 226
Lieutenant S. B. Barron, Third Texas Cavalry 250
INTRODUCTION
AS my recollections of the war between the States, or the Confederate
War, in which four of the best years of my life (May, 1861, to May,
1865) were given to the service of the Confederate States of America,
are to be written at the earnest request of my children, and mainly for
their gratification, it is, perhaps, proper to preface the recital by
going back a few years in order to give a little family history.
I was born in what is now the suburbs of the town of Gurley in Madison
County, Alabama, on the 9th day of November, 1834. My father, Samuel
Boulds Barron, was born in South Carolina in 1793. His father, James
Barron, as I understand, was a native of Ireland. My mother’s maiden
name was Martha Cotten, daughter of James Cotten, who was from Guilford
County, North Carolina, and who was in the battle of Guilford Court
House, at the age of sixteen. His future wife, Nancy Johnson, was
then a young girl living in hearing of the battle at the Court House.
About the beginning of the past century, 1800, my Grandfather Cotten,
with his wife, her brother Abner Johnson, and their relatives, Gideon
and William Pillow, and their sister, Mrs. Dew, moved out from North
Carolina into Tennessee, stopping in Davidson County, near Nashville.
Later Abner Johnson and the Pillows settled in Maury County, near
Columbia, and about the year 1808 my grandfather and his family came on
to Madison County, Alabama, and settled at what has always been known
as Cave Springs, about fifteen miles east or southeast from Huntsville.
In the second war with Great Britain (the War of 1812) my Grandfather
Cotten again answered the call to arms, and as a captain he served his
country with notable gallantry.
It is like an almost forgotten dream, the recollection of my paternal
grandmother and my maternal grandfather, for both of them died when I
was a small child. My maternal grandmother, however, who lived to the
age of eighty-seven years, I remember well. In my earliest recollection
my father was a school-teacher, teaching at a village then called “The
Section,” afterwards “Lowsville,” being now the town of Maysville,
twelve miles east of Huntsville. He was well-educated and enjoyed the
reputation of being an excellent teacher. He quit teaching, however,
and settled on a small farm four miles east of Cave Springs, on what is
known as the “Cove road,” running from Huntsville to Bellefonte. Here
he died when I was about seven years of age, leaving my mother with
five children: John Ashworth, a son by her first husband; my brother,
William J. Barron, who now lives in Huntsville, Alabama; two sisters,
Tabitha and Nancy Jane; and myself. About nine years later our mother
died. In the meantime our half-brother had arrived at man’s estate and
left home. Soon after our mother’s death we sold the homestead, and
each one went his or her way, as it were, the sisters living with
our near-by relatives until they married. My brother and myself found
employment in Huntsville and lived there. Our older sister and her
husband came to Texas in about the year 1857, and settled first in
Nacogdoches County. In the fall of 1859 I came to Texas, to bring my
then widowed sister and her child to my sister already here. And so, as
the old song went, “I am away here in Texas.”
The Lone Star Defenders
CHAPTER I
THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR
Journey to Texas—John Brown’s Raid—My Secession
Resolution—Presidential Election—Lincoln Elected—Excitement in
the South—Secession Ordinances—“The Lone Star Defenders”—Fort
Sumter Fired On—Camp Life—The Regiment Complete—Citizens’
Kindness—Mustered In—The Third Texas Cavalry—Roster.
NO, I am not going to write, or attempt to write, a history of the
war, or even a detailed account of any campaign or battle in which I
participated, but only mean to set forth the things which I witnessed
or experienced myself in the four years of marching, camping, and
fighting, as I can now recall them—only, or mainly, personal
reminiscences. Incidentally I will give the names of my comrades of
Company C, Third Texas Cavalry, and tell, so far as I can remember,
what became of the individuals who composed the company. I will not
dwell on the causes of the war or anything which has been so often
and so well told relating thereto, but will merely state that I had
always been very conservative in my feelings in political matters, and
was so all through the exciting times just preceding the war while
Abolitionism and Secession were so much discussed by our statesmen,
orators, newspapers, and periodicals. I had witnessed the Kansas
troubles, which might be called a skirmish before the battle, with
much interest and anxiety, and without losing faith in the ability
and wisdom of our statesmen to settle the existing troubles without
disrupting the government. But on my journey to Texas, as we glided
down the Mississippi from Memphis to New Orleans, on board the _Lizzie
Simmons_, a new and beautiful steamer, afterwards converted into a
cotton-clad Confederate gunboat, we obtained New Orleans papers from
an up-river boat. The papers contained an account of John Brown’s raid
on Harper’s Ferry. I read this, and became a Secessionist. I saw, or
thought I saw, that the storm was coming, that it was inevitable, and
it seemed useless to shut my eyes longer to the fact.
The year 1860, my first in Texas, was a memorable one in several
respects, not only to the newcomers but to the oldest inhabitant. The
severest drouth ever known in eastern Texas prevailed until after the
middle of August. It was the hottest summer ever known in Texas, the
temperature in July running up to 112 degrees in the shade. It was
a Presidential election year, and political excitement was intense.
The Democrats were divided, while the Abolitionists had nominated
Abraham Lincoln as their candidate for President, with a good prospect
of electing him by a sectional vote. Several towns in Texas being
almost destroyed by fire during the extreme heat of the summer, an
impression became generally prevalent that Northern incendiaries were
prowling through the State burning property and endeavoring to incite
the negroes to insurrection. The excitement, apprehension, unrest,
and the vague fear of unseen danger pervading the minds of the people
of Texas cannot be understood by persons who were not in the State
at that time. The citizens organized patrol forces and armed men
guarded the towns, day and night, for weeks. Every passing stranger
was investigated and his credentials examined. The poor peddler,
especially, was in imminent danger of being mobbed at any time on mere
suspicion.
At the November election Abraham Lincoln was elected President. This
was considered by the Secessionists as an overt act on the part of
the North that would justify secession. I was out in the country when
the news of the election came, and when, on my return, I rode into
Rusk the Lone Star flag was floating over the court-house and Abraham
Lincoln, in effigy, was hanging to the limb of a sweet gum tree that
stood near the northwest corner of the court yard. From this time
excitement ran high. Immediate steps were taken by the extreme Southern
States to secede from the Union, an act that was consummated as soon as
practicable by the assembling of State conventions and the passage of
ordinances of secession. Now, too, volunteer companies began organizing
in order to be ready for the conflict which seemed to be inevitable.
We soon raised a company in Rusk for the purpose of drilling and
placing ourselves in readiness for the first call for troops from
Texas. We organized by electing General Joseph L. Hogg, father of
Ex-Governor J. S. Hogg, as captain. The company was named “The Lone
Star Defenders,” for every company must needs have a name in those
days. Early in 1861, however, when it appeared necessary to prepare for
actual service, the company was reorganized and the gallant Frank M.
Taylor made captain, as General Hogg was not expected to enter the army
as captain. Several of the States had already seceded, the military
posts in the South were being captured by the Confederates and Fort
Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, was fired upon by our General Beauregard
on the 12th day of April, 1861. The dogs of war were turned loose. War
now became a stern reality, a war the magnitude of which no one then
had any conception. President Lincoln’s first call for volunteers was
for ninety-day men, and the Confederate volunteers were mustered in for
one year.
Having learned that Elkanah Greer, of Marshall, had been commissioned
colonel and ordered to raise a regiment of Texas cavalry, we lost no
time in reporting ourselves ready to make one company of the regiment,
and soon received instructions to report at Dallas, on a certain day in
June, when a regiment would be formed. So on Monday morning, June 10,
in the year of our Lord, 1861, we were to leave, and did leave, Rusk
for Dallas—and beyond, as the exigencies of the war might determine.
The population of the town, men, women, and children, were on the
streets, in tears, to bid us farewell. Even rough, hard-faced men whose
appearance would lead one to believe they hadn’t shed a tear since
their boyhood, boo-hoo’d and were unable to speak the word “good-by.”
This day of leave-taking was the saddest of the war to many of us.
After we had mounted our horses we assembled around the front of the
old Thompson Hotel, which stood where the Acme Hotel now stands, when
our old friend, General Hogg, standing on the front steps, delivered
us a formal and a very tender farewell address. War was not unknown to
him, for he had been a soldier in the early days of Texas, as well as a
member of the Texas Congress in the days of the republic. He was a fine
specimen of the best type of Southern manhood—tall, slender, straight
as an Indian, and exceedingly dignified in his manner. As brave as
“Old Hickory,” he often reminded me of the pictures I had seen of
General Jackson, and he certainly had many similar traits of character.
We venerated, admired, and loved him, and he was warmly attached to
the company. In his address he gave us much good advice, even to the
details of mess duties and the treatment of our messmates. Among other
things, he said, “Don’t ever jeer at or mock any of your comrades who
cannot stand the fire of the enemy. Some of you, perhaps, will find
yourselves unable to do so. Some men are thus constituted without
knowing it, until they are tried. So you should be charitable towards
such unfortunates.” Later I found these words of our old soldier friend
to be true. This ceremony ended, we sadly moved off by twos, over the
hill, and up the street leading into the Jacksonville road.
As we marched forward sadness was soon succeeded by merriment and good
cheer. Some of the boys composed a little song, which was frequently
sung by I. K. Frazer and others as we went marching on. It began:
“The Lone Star Defenders, a gallant little band,
On the tenth of June left their native land.”
Before leaving home we had spent two weeks in a camp of instruction,
and learned something of the duties of camp life and the necessary art
of rolling and unrolling our blankets. We camped the first night near
Jorial Barnett’s, between Jacksonville and Larissa. Two of the Barnett
boys were going with us, and several from Larissa. When we reached
Larissa next morning we there found a young man, Charley Watts, who was
a bugler, and had been in the Federal Army, he said. He was willing and
anxious to go with us, and we wanted him, as he was young and active,
but he was afoot, and seemed to own nothing beyond his wearing apparel.
So we appealed to the citizens, as a goodly number had gathered into
the little village to see the soldiers pass, and in little more time
than it takes to tell it, we had him rigged with horse, bridle, saddle,
and blankets. Charley proved to be a fine bugler, the finest bugler I
ever heard in either army, and he was a most gallant young fellow. We
moved on, bidding farewell to Captain Taylor’s noble and patriotic old
mother, as we passed her residence.
Fearing we might be left out of the regiment, we dispatched Captain
Taylor and one or two others well-mounted men to go ahead and secure
and hold our place for us. The ladies of Cherokee County having
presented us with a beautiful flag, this we unfurled and marched
through the towns and villages along the way in great style and
military pomp. At Kaufman we received quite an ovation. Arriving
there about ten o’clock in the morning, we were met by a deputation
of citizens, who invited us to dine at the hotel at the expense of
the town. This was very reluctantly declined, for we were afraid of
losing time. Poor fellows, we often regretted missing that good dinner,
and we really had plenty of time, if we had only known it. To show
our appreciation of their hospitality we marched around the public
square, displaying the flag and sounding the bugle. When we had arrived
in front of a saloon we were halted and all invited to dismount and
drink, without cost to us. We here spent perhaps an hour, during which
time numbers of the boys entered stores to purchase small necessary
articles, and in every instance pay was declined.
In due time we went into camp in a post oak grove two miles east of
Dallas, a locality, by the way, which is now well within the city
limits. And here we remained for some time.
Eight other organized companies were soon camped in different
localities in the neighborhood, but we were still one company short.
However, as there were many men, including a large squad from Kaufman
County, some from Cherokee and other counties, on the ground wishing to
go with us, and who could not get into the organized companies because
they were all full, they organized themselves into a tenth company,
which completed the necessary number for the regiment.
We spent about four weeks in Dallas County, a delay caused in good part
by the necessity of waiting for the arrival of a train from San Antonio
carrying United States wagons and mules captured at that post by the
Confederates. The time, however, was well spent in daily drills, in
feeding, grazing and attending to our horses; and then, too, we were
learning valuable lessons in camp life. While here we had plenty of
rations for ourselves and plenty of forage for the horses.
The citizens of Dallas County, as far as we came in contact with them,
were very kind to us. Our nearest neighbor was a German butcher by the
name of Nusbauman. We used water from the well in his yard and were
indebted to him and his family for many acts of kindness.
On one occasion Mrs. Nusbauman complained to Captain Taylor that one of
his men had borrowed her shears to cut hair with, and would not bring
them back. No, she did not know the name of the offender. The captain
then said, “Madame, do you know the man when you see him?” “Oh, yes.”
“Well, when he comes to draw water again you sprinkle flour on his back
and I will find your shears.” In a few hours one of the men came out
from the well with his back covered with flour—and the shears were
promptly returned.
Our next nearest neighbors were a family named Sheppard, who lived a
few hundred yards south of our camp, and whose kindness was unbounded.
Their house was our hospital for the time we were in their vicinity,
and the three young ladies of the family, Misses Jennie Wood, Maggie,
and another, were unremitting in their attentions to the sick. On one
damp, drizzly day when I had a chill they heard of it somehow, and in
the afternoon two of them drove up in a buggy and called for me to go
home with them, where I could be sheltered, as we yet had no tents.
I went, of course, recovered in one day, convalesced in about three
days, and reluctantly returned to camp. In an effort to do some washing
for myself, I had lost a plain gold ring from my finger, a present from
Miss Cattie Everett of Rusk, and Miss Jennie Wood Sheppard replaced it
with one of her own. This ring was worn by me continually, not only
during the war, but for several years after its close.
I do not remember the date, but some day near the end of June “The Lone
Star Defenders,” that “gallant little band,” were formally mustered
into the service of the Confederate States of America, for one year. We
were subjected to no physical examination, or other foolishness, but
every fellow was taken for better or for worse, and no questions were
asked, except the formal, “Do you solemnly swear,” etc. The company was
lettered “C,” Greer’s Regiment, Texas Cavalry—afterwards numbered and
ever afterwards known as the Third Texas Cavalry. We were mustered in,
officers and men, as follows:
Officers—Frank M. Taylor, captain; James J. A. Barker, first
lieutenant; Frank M. Daniel, second lieutenant; James A. Jones, second
lieutenant; Wallace M. Caldwell, orderly sergeant; John D. White,
second sergeant; S. B. Barron, third sergeant; Tom Petree, fourth
sergeant; William Pennington, first corporal; Thomas F. Woodall, second
corporal; C. C. Acker, third corporal; P. C. Coupland, fourth corporal;
Charles Watts, bugler; John A. Boyd, ensign.
Privates—Peter Acker, John B. Armstrong, David H. Allen, James M.
Brittain, R. L. Barnett, James Barnett, Severe D. Box, A. A. Box,
William P. Bowers, John W. Baker, C. C. Brigman, George F. Buxton,
Jordan Bass, Carter Caldwell, William P. Crawley, A. G. Carmichael, A.
M. Croft, James P. Chester, Leander W. Cole, James W. Cooper, William
H. Carr, W. J. Davis, James E. Dillard, F. M. Dodson, John E. Dunn, O.
M. Doty, H. H. Donoho, B. C. Donald, Stock Ewin, John J. Felps, I. K.
Frazer, John Germany, Luther Grimes, E. M. Grimes, J. H. Gum, L. F.
Grisham, W. L. Gammage, W. D. Herndon, J. R. Halbert, W. T. Harris, D.
B. Harris, Thomas E. Hogg, John Honson, Warren H. Higginbotham, R. H.
Hendon, William Hammett, James B. Hardgrave, Felix G. Hardgrave, R. L.
Hood, William Hood, James Ivy, Thomas J. Johnson, J. H. Jones, John
B. Long, Ben A. Long, George C. Long, R. C. Lawrence, John Lambert,
J. B. Murphy, William P. Mosely, John Meyers, Harvey N. Milligan,
W. C. McCain, G. A. McKee, W. W. McDugald, Dan McCaskill, Samuel W.
Newberry, William A. Newton, George Noland, Baxter Newman, J. T. Park,
T. A. Putnam, Lemon R. Peacock, W. T. Phillips, Lemuel H. Reed, T.
W. Roberts, Cythe Robertson, Calvin M. Roark, John B. Reagan, A. B.
Summers, John W. Smith, Cicero H. Smith, Rufus Smith, Sam E. Scott, J.
R. Starr, James R. Taylor, Reuben G. Thompson, Dan H. Turney, Robert
F. Woodall, Woodson O. Wade, F. M. Wade, E. S. Wallace, R. S. Wallace,
John R. Watkins, C. C. Watkins, Joe L. Welch, Thomas H. Willson, N. J.
Yates.
Total rank and file—112 men.
In addition to the above list of original members, the following named
recruits were added to the company after we had lost several of our men
by death and discharge:
[Illustration: PETER F. ROSS
Major and Lieutenant-Colonel Sixth Texas Cavalry]
A. J. Gray, Charles B. Harris, J. T. Halbert, John E. Jones, Wm. H.
Kellum, W. S. Keahey, S. N. Keahey, J. D. Miller, T. L. Newman, T. L.
Nosworthy, John W. Wade, Wyatt S. Williams, Eugene W. Williams.
Total—125 men enlisted in the company.
Of these the killed numbered 14
Died of disease 16
Discharged 31
Commissioned officers resigned 3
Missing and never heard of 2
Deserted 7
Survived (commissioned and non-commissioned
officers, 12; privates, 40) 52
——
125
Of these recruits, six, the first on the list, came to us in February
and March, 1862; the next three joined us in April, 1862; the remaining
four joined us in 1863, while we were in Mississippi.
The company consisted mainly of natives of the different Southern
States, with a few native Texans. Aside from these we had Buxton, from
the State of Maine; Milligan, from Indiana, and three foreigners,
William Hood, an Englishman; John Dunn, Irish, and John Honson, a
Swede. Milligan was a printer, and being too poor to buy his outfit
when he joined us, he was furnished with horse and accouterments by our
friend, B. Miller, a German citizen of Rusk.