The Lone Star Defenders 2

The Lone Star Defenders 2

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