Old Marshall Cemetery

Earlier this week I returned from a Spring Break trip to Louisiana. On the way there, I stopped off at the Old Marshall (Texas) Cemetery to visit the final resting place of Horace Randal. In the spring of 1862, Randal raised and then commanded the 28^th Texas Cavalry, a regiment raised in East Texas. Although the soldiers initially complained about their young commander and the discipline that he imposed, they eventually came to respect him. Randal was an 1854 graduate of the United States Military Academy and served for a few months in the Army of Northern Virginia before returning to Texas. In the fall of 1862, Randal started commanding a brigade in a division that became known as Walker’s Texas Division. Randal and his soldiers saw limited combat before the Red River Campaign in the spring of 1864. In April 1864, though, his brigade fought at Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, and Jenkins’ Ferry. The thirty-one year old soldier fell mortally wounded at Jenkins’ Ferry, and he was buried at Tulip, Arkansas. Later, his body was exhumed and buried in Marshall, Texas. The photographs show both the old grave marker and a modern one. For more information about the 28^th Texas Cavalry see my book, Peculiar Honor: A History of the 28^th Texas Cavalry, 1862-1865. 

April 30, 1864: The Battle of Jenkins' Ferry

According to Gary Dillard Joiner in his One Damn Blunder From Beginning To End: The Red River Campaign of 1864, “Confederate casualties were listed as 800 to 1,000 killed, wounded, or missing of 6,000 committed” at the battle of Jenkins’ Ferry. “Union casualties were approximately 700 killed, wounded, and missing” (p. 134). As in other military history books, I read numbers such as this but can’t really put them into perspective. So, here’s a little exercise. The 28^th Texas Cavalry (dismounted) served in Colonel Horace Randal’s brigade at Jenkins’ Ferry and had casualties totaling 20 killed, 1 mortally wounded, 40 wounded, and 1 wounded/captured/died in prison. Below is the casualty list for this regiment as taken from the May 16, 1864 issue of the Houston Daily Telegraph; ages listed are from the 1860 census. Scroll through the list and then read the concluding comments.

 Brigade Staff:

Colonel Horace Randal, 27, mortally wounded [commanding brigade but organizer and first commander of the 28^th Texas]

Company A:

John Amason, 14, wounded and captured; died in prison at Little Rock, Arkansas

Benjamin F. Beavers, wounded slightly in the hand

James Bralley, 35, wounded slightly in the arm, leg, and hand

Isaac Hays, 25, killed

Stephen H. Oats, 15, wounded severely in the jaw

Peter L. Rohus, wounded slightly in the side

Benjamin H. Schooler, 36, killed

A. J. Shaw, wounded severely in the hand

Jefferson E. Thomas, wounded severely in the wrist

William A. Walling, 28, killed

Total: 3 killed, 1 wounded/captured/died, 6 wounded

Company B:

William M. Holloway, wounded slightly in the shoulder

William M. Lowe, 17, wounded slightly in the abdomen

C. L. Stafford, 23, killed

Total: 1 killed, 2 wounded

Company C:

Sergeant James S. Anderson, 26, killed

J. A. Barber, wounded slightly in the arm

Phillip Essry, wounded slightly in the fingers

D. Guttery, wounded slightly in the thigh

Total: 1 killed, 3 wounded

Company D:

J. C. Clingman, wounded severely in the leg

W. H. Gilliam, wounded severely in the shoulder

J. P. Hamilton, killed

Samuel Meggs, 34, wounded severely in the arm

Total: 1 killed, 3 wounded

Company E:

G. R. Clure, wounded slightly in the arm

W. C. Dawson, 15, wounded slightly in the arm

J. A. Dennis, killed

J. M. Maddox, killed

William Oldham, wounded slightly in the leg

Corporal T. H. Wynne, killed

Total: 3 killed, 3 wounded

Company F:

1^st Lieutenant A. J. Agnew, wounded slightly in the side

2^nd Lieutenant Rene Fitzpatrick, 28, killed

Sergeant G. W. George, 30, wounded slightly in the toe

J. D. Hartley, 15, wounded in the arm

Corporal W. A. J. Lewis, wounded severely in the breast

D. Mahoen, wounded severely in the arm

Total: 1 killed, 5 wounded

Company G:

Horace B. Bishop, wounded severely in the arm

R. M. Garrett, 37, wounded severely in the thigh

W. T. Trim, wounded severely in the foot and arm

Total: 3 wounded

Company H:

2^nd Lieutenant William G. Blain, 29, wounded slightly in the thigh

F. M. Bartlett, killed

F. M. Brown, killed

J. J. Burleson, 23, killed

Sergeant E. A. Means, 29, killed

James Strickland, 27, wounded severely in the thigh

Total: 4 killed, 2 wounded

Company I:

2^nd Lieutenant Morgan Rye, 32, wounded slightly in the arm and leg

John H. Albright, killed

Joseph M. Armstrong, 29, wounded severely in the back

L. C. Mills, wounded slightly in the thigh

Chamer C. Scane, 33, killed

Thomas J. Tipton, wounded severely in the hip

Sergeant George W. Turner, 27, wounded slightly in the shoulder

John K. Wise, killed

Total: 3 killed, 5 wounded

Company K:

2^nd Lieutenant M. M. Samples, 23, wounded severely in the arm

Corporal William P. Burns, killed [had also been wounded at either Mansfield or Pleasant Hill]

Henry Carroll, wounded severely in the arm [had also been wounded at either Mansfield or Pleasant Hill]

Gabriel R. W. Corley, wounded slightly in the shoulder

George Fleummons, wounded severely in the hand

Thomas Hill, wounded dangerously in the thigh

Sergeant William E. Midyett, killed

George T. Nail, wounded severely in the hip

Thomas M. Parrish, 21, killed [had also been wounded at either Mansfield or Pleasant Hill]

O. F. Ramsey, 30, wounded slightly in the shoulder [had also been wounded at either Mansfield or Pleasant Hill]

J. M. White, wounded severely in the thigh

Total: 3 killed, 8 wounded

Consider that this list would need to be extended by at least 738 more names (and possibly as many as 938 more names) to list all of the Confederate casualties at Jenkins’ Ferry. For the Union force, another list of at least 700 names would need to be included. Somehow, seeing the names of actual casualties helps me grasp the human cost of the war more than just reading numbers. The impact of the battle of Jenkins’ Ferry also rippled outward to affect thousands of people: wives, children, parents, siblings, other relatives, and friends. As William T. Sherman aptly wrote: “War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it….”

Mutiny!

Harriet Perry opened a letter written by her husband, Theophilus, on 9 March 1864 and read: “Our Regiment has been much corrupted with a spirit of Mutiny” (p. 224). Captain Perry's regiment, the 28^th Texas Cavalry (dismounted), served in Walker’s Texas division and had several complaints. The men were still disgruntled over being dismounted nearly two years previously, but the ongoing cotton trade with the enemy infuriated them. What? Trading with the enemy? For several months Confederate officials had actively traded cotton to the enemy in exchange for various supplies including medicine and clothing. Soldiers were suspicious that this trade was nothing more than a way for high-ranking officers to get luxury items such as coffee and other desirable items. At least three units (the 28^th Texas, Gould’s Battalion, and the 14^th Texas Infantry) in Colonel Horace Randal’s brigade of Walker’s Texas division were roiled by turmoil.

Captain Perry described the situation:

“Expecting to have their grievances redressed satisfacterly [sic] by a bold show of resistance a large number of them on last Friday and Saturday refused to do any duty whatever. My Company [F] was badly misled in this disgraceful affair. I have had to arrest four of them and prefer charges against them to be tried before a general Court Martial” (p. 225). The next scene in the drama occurred when Lieutenant Colonel Eli H. Baxter, the commanding officer of the 28^th Texas, arrested all five commanders of the companies involved in the mutiny—Captain Perry was part of the group. He explained to his wife that higher ranking officers pressured Baxter to arrest the company commanders. Perry observed that “Col. Baxter is alarmed. He is in the greatest trouble of mind. He knows, he feels that we will be able to show ourselves clean, and he already fears that we will fix the blame on him if any officer is to blame, for what they knew nothing at all about before hand. Col. Baxter says, he prays for a fight. Then all things will be dropped…He turns white when he thinks of what he has done” (p. 227-228).

Somehow, these soldiers put the controversy and turmoil behind them and performed effectively during the Red River campaign. Captain Perry fell mortally wounded at the battle of Pleasant Hill on 9 April 1864, just a month after he first mentioned the mutiny to his wife.

Note: all quotes are from Johansson, M. Jane, ed. Widows by the Thousand: The Civil War Letters of Theophilus and Harriet Perry, 1862-1864 (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2000).

Jacob Philip Wingerter: Confederate Veteran and Brazilian Immigrant

When I researched the history of the 28^th Texas Cavalry (dismounted) I had hoped to include a chapter that discussed the soldiers’ postwar lives, however, I found it challenging at best to trace them into the postwar years. When I conducted my research, the internet was not yet available which meant I had to rely on printed indexes and microfilm. To say the least, scrolling through reels of microfilm is a tedious business, and after a time I gave up on following these veterans into the postwar years. Admittedly, weariness settled on me since I had tried to locate all 1,000 plus men in the 1860 U. S. census and the Texas tax rolls—enough was enough! Since writing my history of the 28^th Texas Cavalry, I have heard regularly from descendants of men who served in the regiment. In this way, I have met a number of helpful and interesting people who have shared stories of their Confederate ancestors. The accounts about their wartime service interest me, but what happened to them after the war is often even more fascinating.

Most recently, Neusa Maria Wingeter di Santis of Brazil contacted me through the Texas in the Civil War Message Board, and what followed was a fascinating exchange about Neusa’s g-g-grandfather, Jacob Philip Wingerter. Private Wingerter enlisted in the spring of 1862 in the Freestone Freemen that soon became known more officially as Company H of the 28^th Texas Cavalry. A Texas state official listed him as having zero taxable property in the state’s tax rolls, and that was the extent of my knowledge concerning Private Wingerter.

Neusa informed me that her ancestor was part of a colonizing group led by Frank McMullen to Brazil in 1867. The McMullan-Bowen Colony, according to a census of the group, consisted of 97 hardy souls; many of the men were Confederate veterans. Most traveled as families to Brazil; Jacob traveled there with his second wife, Susan, and his ten year old daughter, Amy. Jacob had already lived an exciting life; born in Bavaria, he immigrated to the United States around 1854. Settling first in Illinois, he eventually moved to New Orleans and then to Texas. His first wife and their children died as the result of an accidental poisoning, and then he experienced many hardships while serving in Walker’s Texas Division in the trans-Mississippi.

The members of the McMullan-Bowen Colony left Galveston, Texas, on the Derby, an old British vessel. These southerners left for a variety of reasons—some were concerned about postwar unrest, others hoped to escape poverty, and for others there was the lure of fertile land in a country that had some cultural similarities to the South. The little group encountered many difficulties on their journey to Brazil. They were shipwrecked near Cuba and were forced to find other transportation—this led to a trip to New York City and then, finally, to their colony near São Paulo. This fascinating story is told by William Clark Griggs in The Elusive Eden: Frank McMullan’s Confederate Colony in Brazil (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1987).

Luckily, Neusa shared even more information with me about her ancestor. Before the war, he distributed religious tracts in New Orleans, and I suspect that he continued doing so in Texas and perhaps even when he served in the 28^th Texas. Several years after arriving in Brazil, Dr. Edward Lane, Confederate veteran and founder of the very first Presbyterian church in Brazil, hired Jacob as a colporteur. In other words, Wingerter distributed and sold religious tracts and Bibles. According to a letter written by Mrs. Lane, “It has been no unusual thing for the colporteur to leave one copy of the Bible in a village or neighborhood, going back in six months or a year, he has been able to sell a dozen copies.” After Jacob found it difficult to ride in his later years, he worked for the American Bible Society. An admiring Mrs. Lane wrote that Jacob was “humble, patient, earnest, self-sacrificing, laborious, untiring, willing to toll anywhere, or at anything that the emergencies of the work demanded, but happier in proportion, as he was more directly engaged in extending a knowledge of the gospel.” Much of this religious information, according to Neusa, is from a book written by Dr. Alderi S. Matos who is the official historian of the Presbyterian Church in Brazil.

Neusa gave me permission to use the accompanying photograph of Jacob. It depicts him in 1914; he died two years later at the age of 83. He certainly lived a long, active, and fruitful life!

By the way, if you’re ever in Brazil on the second Sunday in April, you may wish to attend the Festa Confederada; Neusa reported that she attended the most recent one. The Festa Confederada is held alongside the Confederate Cemetery in Santa Barbara D’Oeste, São Paulo. Southern foods are served, many attendees dress in antebellum style clothing, and the heritage of the Confederacy is celebrated.

An Exciting Find!

[First Lieutenant Eli H. Baxter, Confederate States Army], a photo by SMU Central University Libraries on Flickr. Lawrence T. Jones III Texas Photographs Collection.

While surfing the net today, I came across this great wartime image that depicts Eli H. Baxter, Jr. as a member of the "Marshall Guards," a company in the 1st Texas Infantry. In the spring of 1862, however, Baxter became the lieutenant colonel of the 28th Texas Cavalry that was dismounted later in the year. What is exciting to me about this image is that it is the first documented wartime image of a member of the 28th Texas Cavalry that I have ever viewed--true, the photograph shows Baxter as a member of the 1st Texas Infantry, but this is close enough for me!

Baxter entered the United States Military Academy from Georgia in 1853 at the age of 16 and resigned in January 1854 because of academic deficiencies in mathematics and English. Following his resignation, Baxter went on to become an attorney and immigrated to Marshall, Texas, in the spring of 1858. Two years earlier, a young attorney named Theophilus Perry had immigrated to Marshall from North Carolina; he became a captain in the 28th Texas Cavalry and his letters reveal a dislike for Baxter.

For more information about both Baxter and Perry see my books:

Peculiar Honor: A History of the 28th Texas Cavalry, 1862-1865. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1998.

Widows by the Thousand: The Civil War Letters of Theophilus and Harriet Perry, 1862-1864. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2000.

April 17, 1864: A Soldier's Death

“Died—At Mansfield La, on Sunday April 17^th Capt. Theophilus Perry of Harrison Co. Texas, of a wound received at the battle of Pleasant Hill on the 9^th while gallantly heading his Company. He was born in Franklin Co. N. C. on Feb. 5^th 1833— “

These were the first words of the eulogy written by Harriet Perry in memory of her husband Theophilus, an officer in the 28^th Texas Cavalry (dismounted) of Walker’s Texas Division. The 10 May 1864 issue of the Galveston Weekly News detailed the seriousness of his wound:

Harriet closed her eulogy by quoting from William Cullen Bryant’s poem, Thanatopsis:

“’So live that when thy summons comes to join

The innumerable caravan which moves

To that mysterious realm, where each shall take

His Chamber in the silent halls of death,

Thou go not, like the quarry slave at night,

Scourged to his dungeon, but sustained and sooth’d

By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams’”

[All quotes are from Johansson, M. Jane, ed., Widows by the Thousand: The Civil War Letters of Theophilus and Harriet Perry, 1862-1864 (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2000), p. 243-244.]

"My feelings are too bitter."

The recent elections caused me to wonder what soldiers said about political events during the war, and I recalled some passages from letters that I edited several years ago. The quotes below are taken from Johansson, M. Jane, ed. Widows by the Thousand: The Civil War Letters of Theophilus and Harriet Perry, 1862-1864 (Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press, 2000), 147-148.

On 12 July 1863, 1^st Lieutenant Theophilus Perry of the 28^th Texas Cavalry (dismounted) sat in camp in Delhi, Louisiana, exhausted from a difficult campaign as his regiment, a part of Walker’s Texas division, had marched extensively on the west side of the Mississippi during the Vicksburg campaign. Less than a week before penning a letter to his wife, Perry suddenly became commander of his company when its Captain shot himself. But his words do not refer directly to the outcome of the Vicksburg campaign, nor his new position, but instead they refer to his reaction to the attitude of the people on the home front and to politicians.

Perry felt particular outrage toward men “who once violently talked of whipping the reluctant youths of the land off to the War, and who themselves have ignobly speculated upon the necessities of the soldier and his family, accumulated fortunes out of the sacrifice of those that have bared their bosons to the bayonet, and yet sculk away from danger themselves. I deplore the necessity for a draft, but cannot help feeling some degree of satisfaction to hear that such characters have stood the draft. The universal sentiment of the army condemns them. They have subjected themselves to the scorn of all true men. They are arrent hypocrits….They have a holy horror at the soldier going home. They have objection to the soldier being elected to civil positions….They think it presumptious for the soldier to try to influence the administration of government at home. We despise such sentiment….”

As he wrote, he reflected on the upcoming elections of 1863:

“We hear that the noisey men there desire less for the war. We despise their professions. We are against Murrah for Governor. He is a cheat. We are against Bob Haysey and Isaac Johnson. We vote for Parker who is a miserable skinflint and numskull, in order to beat the others and because he is over fifty. We are against all of the white livered ____sors [ink smeared]. But I desist. My feelings are too bitter. I sometimes feel condemned. I flame up to a great heat when I talk about these base demagogues and hypocrits.”

"Army dying up like rotten sheep."

So stated Dr. Edward W. Cade of the 28^th Texas Cavalry (dismounted) in reference to the deplorable situation at Camp Nelson near Austin, Arkansas, in November 1862. This encampment ranked as one of the most dangerous places to be in the trans-Mississippi in the late summer and fall of 1862. Apparently first called Camp Hope, the site was then named Camp Holmes in honor of Theophilus Holmes, and then renamed as Camp Nelson in memory of Colonel Allison Nelson of the 10^th Texas Infantry who succumbed to disease there. The site near Austin was a gathering point and training area for thousands of soldiers mostly from Texas and Arkansas. Perhaps as many as 20,000 soldiers spent at least some time at Camp Nelson in 1862.

Lieutenant Theophilus Perry of the 28^th Texas Cavalry was one of the many soldiers stationed there. His regiment arrived at the camp in early September 1862, and initially he commented “The health of the Army has been much improved since it came to this place from Crystal Hill on the Arkan[sas] River. There was scarce anything to equal the sickness up there. We have as good water here as ever run out of the ground. This is a red oak country, with no pines & but few other trees. The soil is tolerable but it is thinly settled & mostly by poor people” (Johansson, M. Jane, ed., Widows by the Thousand: The Civil War Letters of Theophilus and Harriet Perry, 1862-1864 [Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2000], 23). Yet in the same letter written on 4 September, Perry observed two graves being dug, harbingers of the horrors to come. A host of factors led to a biological nightmare in the wooded valley of Camp Nelson that year.

A poor diet, bad weather, insufficient clothing, poor sanitation, and a lack of immunity led to widespread illness among the troops gathered at Camp Nelson. Measles and pneumonia appear to have been the major culprits at this depressing and sad campsite. What happened in the 28^th Texas Cavalry (dismounted) was probably little different than in the other regiments at Camp Nelson; by November 1862, only 150 men in the 28^th Texas were fit for duty. By 19 December 1862, 78 men had died (some before their arrival at Camp Nelson), and 46 men had been discharged from the service. Or to put it another way, the 28^th Texas lost 124 men before they even fired a single shot in battle.

How many men died at Camp Nelson? Dr. Richard Lowe in Walker’s Texas Division C. S. A. : Greyhounds Of The Trans-Mississippi extrapolates “that at least 1,290 men of the division either died or were discharged due to illness between September 1, 1862, and April 30, 1863. In view of the sometimes incomplete evidence on which these extrapolations are based—the military service records for individual soldiers—it is quite possible that 1,500 of the Texans were buried in Arkansas that winter. Another 326 men left the division for other reasons from September to April” (38-39). Those are the records for one of the divisions at Camp Nelson; the death rate may have been just as high for the other units stationed there.

A small part of Camp Nelson is preserved today as the Camp Nelson Confederate Cemetery where there is a monument and markers in memory of the dead.

Trans-Mississippi Revival

Religious revivalism reached a peak in Walker’s Texas Division in the winter of 1863-1864. At the same time, soldiers in the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of Tennessee also attended frequent revivals. A former captain in the 28^th Texas Cavalry (dismounted), Martin V. Smith, became one of the most important preachers in the revivals that attracted men of Walker’s Texas Division. The Eastern Baptist Convention of Texas petitioned in support of Smith’s request to resign his commission to become a “missionary” to Colonel Horace Randal’s brigade (the 28^th Texas was part of this unit). His resignation request was also accompanied by a petition signed by a number of brigade officers; they contended that his preaching “will satisfy the desire of the religious part of the Command and have a good effect in restraining many from vile practices which soldiers are liable to engage in….” Authorities approved his resignation, and Martin V. Smith joined several other ministers in the evangelizing effort. The revivals reached a peak in late November; by then, Smith had baptized ninety-two men. As the revivals strengthened, card playing and the use of profanity dropped in the division. Interestingly, the division was actively campaigning in Louisiana through much of this time.

A Confederate Casualty

So many soldiers died during the Civil War that it is a bit difficult to comprehend the large scale of human suffering in that time period. Has anyone ever calculated the number of people directly affected by the deaths of soldiers during the war? It seems to me that a significant proportion of American families spent at least part of the war in mourning.

One-hundred and forty-six years ago today, Captain Theophilus Perry, the commander of Company F of the 28^th Texas Cavalry (dismounted), was mortally wounded during the battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana. An attorney, 31 year old Perry’s survivors included a wife, a son, his father, his stepmother, a brother, five half sisters, and one half brother. His wife, Harriet, made her way back to her family home in North Carolina at war’s end and eventually remarried.

This part of the casualty record for the 28^th Texas that appeared in the Galveston Weekly News on 10 May 1864 lists Theophilus Perry:

Such casualty lists were a regular, and dismal, feature of Civil War era newspapers. All too many families learned the truth of what Harriet Perry wrote in one of her letters: “war makes its widows by the thousand” (Harriet Perry to her sister Mary Temperance Person, 22 October 1862).

Flags of Confederate Trans-Mississippi Units

The flags used during the American Civil War are fascinating to me. Several years ago I had the great pleasure of attending an exhibit of historic Texas flags at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. The exhibit consisted of flags from the Texas Revolution through World War II, but the highlight for me was seeing the flags from the Civil War era. At the time, I had recently completed my books relating to the 28^th Texas Cavalry, and so I was rendered nearly speechless when I viewed a large banner carried by an unidentified unit of Walker’s Texas Division during the Red River campaign. Likewise, I was thrilled to see a flag carried by the 6^th Texas Cavalry Battalion (Gould’s Battalion) that served with the 28^th Texas Cavalry (dismounted) in the same brigade of Walker’s Texas Division. The flags included in this exhibit are illustrated in the book by Robert Maberry, Jr. titled Texas Flags (College Station: Texas A & M Press, 2001), and some are depicted on this website of the Texas Sons of Veterans. Seeing in person the actual flags that were used during the war was quite a moving experience; if only those pieces of cloth could speak!

Today, I received the latest issue of The Museum of the Confederacy Magazine, and it includes an article about their flag conservation project. The Museum of the Confederacy has a fabulous collection of flags, and for a number of years they have worked on conserving these treasures. While still researching the history of the Adams-Gibson Louisiana brigade, I visited the Museum of the Confederacy on a research trip. In advance of my visit I contacted the Museum and arranged to see Randall L. Gibson’s headquarters flag that Union soldiers captured at the battle of Nashville. Although a small banner, I enjoyed seeing an artifact that directly related to this hard fighting Louisiana brigade. On my visit, I also received a tour of the flag conservation area and was amazed at the incredibly time consuming and detailed work that must be done during the conservation process. The Museum of the Confederacy now has online a complete inventory of their flag collection along with color photographs. Follow this link to the inventory and then click on MOC Flag Collection when you get to the site. Although the bulk of their collection consists of flags of regiments from east of the Mississippi, there are some fine Trans-Mississippi flags included too such as the beautiful banner that the 4^th Missouri carried at the battle of Pea Ridge.

Photographs of some of the flags carried by Arkansas troops are shown on the website of the Old State House Museum. And, the following are books that include helpful information about flags carried by Confederate Trans-Mississippi units:

Dedmondt, Glenn. The Flags of Civil War Arkansas. Gretna: Pelican Publishing Co., 2009.

Dedmondt, Glenn. The Flags of Civil War Missouri. Gretna: Pelican Publishing Co., 2009.

Madaus, Howard Michael and Robert D. Needham. The Battle Flags Of The Confederate Army Of Tennessee. Milwaukee: Milwaukee Public Museum, 1976.

Sumrall, Alan K. Battle Flags Of Texans In The Confederacy. Austin: Eakin Press, 1995.

Dismounted Cavalrymen

Horace Randal’s horse soldiers were dismounted in the fall of 1862, only a few months after their organization. A surplus of cavalrymen plus a lack of forage for the animals contributed to the decision to dismount the 28^th Texas along with several other cavalry units. Rather than label themselves as “infantry,” the regiment was now known as the 28^th Texas Cavalry (dismounted). Much to their distress, the unit was never remounted, and the men plodded along as foot soldiers for the remainder of the war. Their fate was ironic in some ways as they were one of the units that made up the often footsore Walker’s Texas Division; this division developed a fine reputation for their marching prowess and was even dubbed “Walker’s Greyhounds” by the enemy.

Deaths from disease in the 28th Texas Cavalry

Civil War units typically suffered more deaths from disease than from bullets. The 28^th Texas Cavalry suffered most of its deaths from disease during the period of July to December 1862. The table below is based on a list dated 19 December 1862 that was sent to R. D. Loughery, Esq. from Adjutant William Neal Ramey of the 28^th Texas Cavalry. Loughery published the list in the 22 January 1863 issue of the Texas Republican, (Marshall, TX). The table is not an exact transcription. The 1860 census and the Compiled Service Records were used to correct some of the names that appeared in the newspaper list. The men listed served as privates unless otherwise noted. The place of death refers to a location in Arkansas unless otherwise noted. In the period listed above, 77 soldiers of the 28^th Texas died, far more than any battle that they fought in. Company I, mostly comprised of men from Houston County, suffered the most deaths in the period with fifteen.

Name and Company	Death Date	Place of Death
Adams, W. J. [G]	12/1/62	Camp Nelson
Adkins, D. R. [H]	10/23/62	Camp Holmes
Beavers, R. C.[1] [D]	8/9/62	Wood County, TX
Bennett, Thomas G. [F]	11/5/62	Camp Nelson
Bigger, J. H. [H]	12/7/62	Camp Nelson
Biggar, Benjamin F.[2] [A]	9/12/62	Arkadelphia
Bowlin, Jeremiah C. [A]	11/17/62	Camp Nelson
Buckalow, James M.[3] [E]	8/18/62	Lewisville
Burns, J. B.[4] [A]	10/5/62	Camp Holmes
Burns, J. M.[5][F]	12/1/62	Camp Nelson
Busby, Jacob [I]	11/30/62	Little Rock
Calloway, Jesse M.[6] [G]	11/29/62	Camp Nelson
Coggins, Richard E. [F]	12/2/62	Camp Nelson
Cox, W. B. [F]		Arkadelphia
Cramer, Henry M.[7] [B]	11/21/62	Camp Nelson
Crander, Henry[8] [I]	11/7/62	Camp Nelson
Davis, B. W. [G]	11/23/62	Camp Nelson
Davis, Thomas [D]	8/19/62	Lewisville
Day, John F. [G]	8/15/62	Anderson, TX
Douthit, James M. [G]	10/15/62	Duval’s Bluff
Dillard, A. J.[9] [E]	8/3/62	Lewisville
Douglas, Joseph A. [H]	11/19/62	Camp Nelson
Dunbar, Henry [A]	9/15/62	Benton
Finley, David S. [A]	10/12/62	Camp Holmes
Forbes, John H. [A]	7/29/62	Lewisville, Ark
Glenn, T. J.[10] [G]	11/3/62	Camp Nelson
Goins, J. V.[11] [K]	11/5/62	Hickory Plains
Gordon, John D. [I]	11/5/62	Camp Nelson
Gregg, John J. [I]	11/24/62	Little Rock
Halleman, C. D. [G]	11/30/62	Camp Nelson
Hallmark, John S. [I]	12/15/62	Little Rock
Hammett, S. G. [G]	11/21/62	Camp Nelson
Hardoway, William [B]	11/21/62	Camp Nelson
Harrison, Charles W. [H]	11/23/62	Camp Nelson
Hughes, Albert H. [G]	11/28/62	Camp Nelson
Irbey, William[12] [I]	11/28/62	Little Rock
Isaacs, Sampson [H]	11/12/62	Camp Nelson
Johnston, George [G]	10/14/62	Des Arc
Johnston, Newton J. [A]	10/11/62	Little Rock
King, Daniel E. [K]	9/5/62	Lewisville
Loden, J. T. [B]	11/21/62	Camp Bayou Meto, near Brownsville
Lowe, Robert [B]	10/3/62	Camp Holmes
Luce, Abner [I]	11/2/62	Camp Nelson
Martin, Pat H.[13] [K]	10/23/62	Camp Nelson
Matthews, Lewis P.[14] [A]	10/23/62	Rockport
Matthews, Nathan W. [A]	12/2/62	Camp Nelson
McHenry, Joseph W. [I]	12/5/62	Little Rock
Mills, S. H. [I]	12/8/62	Camp Nelson
Parish, W. P.[15] [K]	11/20/62	Camp Nelson
Parker, John [E]	8/12/62	Lewisville
Phariss, Thomas B. [H]	9/6/62	Camp Holmes
Potts, Francis M. [K]	7/31/62	Collinsburgh, La
Pryor, George W. [K]	10/17/62	Arkadelphia
Pyle, Jeremiah M. [K]	8/16/62	Lewisville
Richards, Stephen M. [H]	9/17/62	Arkadelphia
Risinger, Tilman Layfayette [A]	12/2/62	Camp Nelson
Sansom, Samuel F. [I]	11/9/62	Camp Nelson
Sikes, Henry[16] [I]	11/5/62	Camp Nelson
Simpson, J. M. [E]	11/25/62	Camp Nelson
Simpson, Thomas L. [I]	11/29/62	Little Rock
Stephens, A. J. [H]	11/19/62	Camp Nelson
Streety, W. L. [H]	12/8/62	Camp Bayou Meto near Brownsville
Tamplin, Henry H. [A]	10/29/62	Camp Nelson[17]
Taylor, Thomas. L. [I]	12/7/62	Camp Nelson
Taylor, L. H. P. [F]	10/12/62	Arkadelphia
Thompson, L. W. [H]	11/30/62	Camp Nelson
Timmons, Eli [B]	8/19/62	Lewisville
Turner, Marion [I]	7/27/62	Lewisville
Turner, W. J. [G]	10/7/62	Rockport
Vaughan, William S. [I]	11/4/62	Camp Nelson
Wagstaff, William W. [A]	11/30/62	Camp Nelson
Watson, J. A. [D]	10/19/62	Camp Holmes
Williams, Robert [E]	8/19/62	Lewisville
Wilson, G. R. [G]	9/17/62	Camp Holmes
Worley, Stephen [H]	9/8/62	Rockport
Wright, John M. [A]	8/29/62	Arkadelphia
Yates, Alonzo C. [K]	10/19/62	Camp Holmes

---

[1] Corporal

[2] Corporal

[3] Corporal

[4] Not listed in the Compiled Service Records. An Isaac E. Burns and a William P. Burns served in Company A. William P. Burns was wounded later in the war.

[5] Listed as M. J. Burns in the Compiled Service Records.

[6] Compiled Service Records note that he was discharged from the service.

[7] Compiled Service Records lists a Henry M. Cramer in Company I.

[8] Possibly the same man as Henry M. Cramer.

[9] There is no A. J. Dillard listed in the Compiled Service Records. May refer to N. L. Dilliard who served in Company E or to Thomas J. Dilliard. Thomas J. was initially a corporal and later became a Second Lieutenant. His service record needs to be examined again.

[10] “Brigade Commanding Sargent”

[11] There is no J. V. Goins listed in the Compiled Service Records. May refer to John V. Gwin who is listed as a member of Company C in the Compiled Service Records.

[12] Name is difficult to read in the newspaper list. The Compiled Service Records do not list a William Irbey.

[13] Captain of Company K

[14] “Forage Master”

[15] Probably refers to William F. Parish who was originally a member of Company A.

[16] Listed as Henry Sykes in the Compiled Service Records.

[17] “(formerly Camp Holmes)”