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6th Texas Cavalry Regiment

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6th Texas Cavalry Regiment
L. Sullivan "Sul" Ross was a popular colonel.
Active6 September 1861 – 4 May 1865
Country Confederate States of America
Allegiance Confederate States of America,  Texas
Branch Confederate States Army
TypeCavalry and Infantry
SizeRegiment
Engagements
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Col. Lawrence Sullivan Ross

The 6th Texas Cavalry Regiment was a unit of mounted volunteers that fought in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The regiment fought at Chustenahlah in 1861. The following year the unit fought at Pea Ridge, First Corinth, Second Corinth, and Holly Springs. The 6th Texas Cavalry participated in the fighting at Thompson's Station in 1863, and in the Atlanta campaign, Franklin, and Nashville in 1864. The regiment formally surrendered to Federal forces in May 1865 and its remaining 160 soldiers were paroled.

Formation

The 6th Texas Cavalry mustered into the Confederate Army at Camp Bartow near Dallas on 6 September 1861. The regiment counted 1,150 officers and men formed into 10 companies. The soldiers enlisted for one year, but the Confederate Conscription Act of 1862 extended this term of service. The field officers were Colonel Barton Warren Stone, Jr., Lieutenant Colonel John Summerfield Griffith, and Major Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross. The companies were organized as follows.[1]

Recruitment Areas of the 6th Texas Cavalry Regiment[1]
Company Captain Recruitment Area
A A. J. Hardin Kaufman County
B John Summerfield Griffith Kaufman County
C Fayette Smith Dallas County
D Thomas H. Bowen Collin County
E Jack Wharton Van Zandt County
F Robert S. Guy Dallas County
G Peter F. Ross McLennan County
H Robert M. White Bell County
I Henry W. Bridges Henderson County
K James W. Throckmorton Collin County

History

Chustenahlah and Pea Ridge

Black and white photo shows a bearded man in a plain gray uniform.
James M. McIntosh

The 6th Texas Cavalry received orders to march to Fort Smith, Arkansas in November 1861. The regiment marched in three echelons; the first was led by Ross, the second by Griffith, and the third by Stone. On 26 December 1861, the Texans took part in the Battle of Chustenahlah.[1] The majority of the tribes in Indian Territory joined the Confederacy, but some native Americans remained loyal to the Union. The pro-Union Indians and their leader Opothleyahola fled toward Kansas with their families, possessions, and livestock, with the 9th Texas Cavalry Regiment and pro-Confederate Indians under Douglas H. Cooper in pursuit. Cooper's force failed to stop Opothleyahola's band after skirmishes at Round Mountain on 19 November 1861 and Chusto-Talasah (Bird Creek) on 9 December.[2] Cooper asked for help and James M. McIntosh led 1,380 Texas horsemen to attack the pro-Union Indians at Chustenahlah. At noon, McIntosh dismounted his cavalrymen and sent them to assault a ridge defended by Opothleyahola's warriors. By 5:00 pm the Texans captured 160 women and children and drove off the remaining pro-Union Indians. Later, pro-Confederate Indians arrived and continued the pursuit; allegedly as many as 700 people were killed or died of exposure. McIntosh's Texans did not participate in the pursuit and marched back to Fort Smith.[3] The 6th Texas Cavalry lost 13 killed and 30 wounded in the battle.[1]

The 6th Texas Cavalry joined a Confederate force under Benjamin McCulloch, who ordered Ross to take his cavalrymen on a raid behind the Union forces occupying the extreme northwest corner of Arkansas. Ross led his horsemen well to the west of Samuel Ryan Curtis's Federal army and struck the Union supply line at Keetsville, Missouri. On 25 February 1862, the Texans overpowered the Federal outpost, killing two and capturing one while losing two men wounded and one or two missing. Ross's men burned five sutlers' wagons and captured 60 horses and mules. The raiders' return route went east of Curtis's army and south across the Boston Mountains; they arrived in camp on 1 March.[4]

At the Battle of Pea Ridge on 7–8 March 1862, the 6th Texas Cavalry was part of McIntosh's Brigade in McCulloch's Division.[5] As McIntosh's troopers advanced east along the Ford Road on the morning of 7 March, they were in five parallel columns of four, with the 6th Texas second from the right. Without warning, the formation came under fire from Federal guns near a wood's edge to their right rear. The three guns fired six shots each, killing at least ten cavalrymen and wounding others. Newton Keen of the 6th Texas watched as one projectile hit the ground near him and then ricocheted 20 ft (6 m) in the air. McIntosh ordered his horsemen to face to the right and charge. At the last moment McCulloch pulled the 3rd Texas out of the formation to guard the guns of Good's Texas Battery. The 6th Texas participated in the grand charge that captured the guns and routed Cyrus Bussey's Federal horsemen.[6] Ross was the only Confederate officer who attempted to pursue the routed Union cavalry through the forest. But as he and the 6th Texas Cavalry burst into the open they were confronted with a long line of Federal infantry and artillery from Peter J. Osterhaus's division. Under a salvo of hostile cannon fire, Ross ordered a retreat, admitting, "I did not run, but I walked very fast." Ross informed McCulloch of his finding.[7]

McCulloch deployed his division with infantry in the first line and the cavalry in a second line. The 6th Texas Cavalry formed up near Good's Battery. McCulloch then rode into the woods and was killed by a Union skirmisher. Foolishly, McCulloch's staff officers kept the general's death a secret.[8] Soon afterward, the second-in-command McIntosh was also killed.[9] While these events occurred, the third-in-command Louis Hebert led half of his infantry brigade into the woods farther east. The breakdown of the division's chain of command was complete.[10] As late as 3:00 pm one of McCulloch's staff officers spoke with Colonel Elkanah Greer but failed to report McCulloch's death, despite the fact that Greer was the division's fourth-in-command. By 4:00 pm Hebert's attack was defeated. Soon after, Greer finally found that Hebert was missing (captured) and that he was the division's ranking officer. By this time, McCulloch's division was disintegrating, with many units marching to join the other half of the army. However, the 6th Texas Cavalry and other units returned to camp, entirely missing the second day of the battle.[11]

Corinth and Holly Springs

After Pea Ridge, the 6th Texas Cavalry numbered 935 officers and men. On 15 April 1862, the regiment was dismounted to fight as infantry and its horses were sent back to Texas. The unit was sent east to join P. G. T. Beauregard's army. The 6th Texas suffered heavy losses from disease, with 41 men dying in Arkansas and 62 men dying in Mississippi.[1] Corinth, Mississippi proved to be an unhealthy campsite because of its bad water supply and 18,000 of the 80,000 Confederate soldiers there were ill.[12] Ross wrote that Corinth was a "sickly, malarial spot fit only for alligators and snakes."[13] On 14 May 1862, the regiment chose new officers and "Sul" Ross was elected as the new colonel. Stone went back to Texas to recruit a new regiment.[14]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Bridges 2011.
  2. ^ Monaghan 1955, pp. 217–224.
  3. ^ Monaghan 1955, pp. 225–227.
  4. ^ Shea & Hess 1992, p. 54.
  5. ^ Shea & Hess 1992, pp. 334–335.
  6. ^ Shea & Hess 1992, pp. 96–100.
  7. ^ Shea & Hess 1992, p. 102.
  8. ^ Shea & Hess 1992, pp. 110–112.
  9. ^ Shea & Hess 1992, p. 115.
  10. ^ Shea & Hess 1992, pp. 116–118.
  11. ^ Shea & Hess 1992, pp. 144–145.
  12. ^ Cozzens 1997, p. 22.
  13. ^ Cozzens 1997, p. 19.
  14. ^ Perez 2011.

References

  • "The Battle of Thompson's Station". American Battlefield Trust. 2017.
  • Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. Vol. 4. Secaucus, N.J.: Castle. 1987 [1883]. ISBN 0-89009-572-8.
  • Benner, Judith Ann: ROSS'S BRIGADE, C.S.A. from the Handbook of Texas Online (June 22, 2017). Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  • Boatner, Mark M. III (1959). The Civil War Dictionary. New York, N.Y.: David McKay Company Inc. ISBN 0-679-50013-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Bridges, Jennifer: SIXTH TEXAS CAVALRY from the Handbook of Texas Online (April 8, 2011). Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  • Cozzens, Peter (1997). The Darkest Days of the War: The Battles of Iuka and Corinth. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-2320-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Monaghan, Jay (1955). Civil War on the Western Border 1854–1865. New York, N.Y.: Bonanza Books. ISBN 0-8032-3091-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Perez, Joan Jenkins: STONE, BARTON WARREN, JR. from the Handbook of Texas Online (November 2, 2011). Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  • Shea, William L.; Hess, Earl J. (1992). Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West. Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-4669-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • "Thompson's Station". National Park Service. 2017b.
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