4th Texas Vounted Volunteers, Company C
"The Vitoria Invinciples"
Historical Sketch
and
Company C, 4th Texas Mounted Volunteers was formed in Victoria County,
Texas, in June 1861, as state militia. In Sept 1861 they were sworn into
service of the Confederate States. They were mostly farmers and town-dwellers,
though some were undoubtedly drovers and stockmen. They were not rich, but
had a great deal of support from their community. They had to bring their
own horses, saddles, shoulder weapons, revolvers, knives, and camp equipment.
A typical soldier was Capt Issac Adair of Co H 7th Texas. Company C was in Col James Reily's regiment, the 4th Texas Cavalry (the
men referred to themselves as mounted volunteers). Col Reily was sent to
Mexico by General Sibley, the brigade commander, and missed the entire New
Mexico campaign. Lt. Col. William Read Scurry
commanded the regiment during the New Mexico campaign. Scurry's nickname
was Dirty Shirt. He was a hell of a fighter.
The men of Co.C were probably mostly ignorant to the point of illiteracy.
Some of them could read and write beautifully, but most were real light
on "school learnin." There is a tendency to look on them as untutored
savages who had joined the army for the promise of looting, wild drinking,
whore-chasing, stealing, etc. Nothing could be further from the truth. One
glance at the diaries and letters left by them will show the reader these
were decent men. They were poor and ignorant, but they were in the army
to serve their nation, and they tried hard to be good soldiers. One glance
at their battle record will tell how well they succeeded. Another indicator
of the quality of the men of the Sibley Brigade is the nature of the men
they elected to lead them.
Most but not all of the diaries were left by officers and NCOs. They were
shrewd witnesses, sensitive to the suffering and horror around them. They
appreciated the bravery of their enemies, and they were well aware of the
political and economic factors that had led them into war against their
former countrymen. The men had elected the leaders of their communities,
and many of these leaders had seen battle in the Mexican War and the Texas
Revolution. The men and their officers shared a desire to look like
good soldiers, and they worked hard at it. The diaries tell us the
brigade was drilled intensely.
Their uniforms were a mixture of civilian clothing, Texas militia, leftover
Mexican War, captured U S, and locally-made copies of regulation Confederate
uniforms. Sibley brought some regulation uniforms with him from Richmond,
but those would have undoubtedly gone to staff officers. It is reasonable
to suppose they were used as patterns for the local manufacture of uniforms.
Texas had a lot more cotton than wool, so it is also reasonable to expect
that many items would be of cotton. By the time of the battle at Glorieta
Pass, March 28, 1862, most of the items the men had worn from home were
worn out. Union items and items purchased from civilian stores would have
been used as replacements Several prominent and wealthy New Mexican families
supported the brigade, and one of the diarists mentioned that shopkeepers
were forced at gunpoint to accept Confederate script in exchange for food
and clothing (you do what you gotta do to stay alive!).
They used various flags in the campaign such as the Texas FLag, the First National and also used swallow tail guideons that consisted of a white star on a red field.
As for weapons, the double-barreled 12 gauge shotgun was the weapon of the
brigade in New Mexico. Later, they were issued 1853 Enfields, but General
Sibley wrote of the Battle of Val Verde that never before had cannon
fallen to shotguns. One of the troopers reported that the brigade should
be called the Texas mounted shotguns rather than the Texas mounted rifles.
Some men were issued captured U.S. minie' rifles, and there were attempts
to standardize the weapons, at least on the company level. Several types
of single-shot breech-loading carbines were present in the New Mexico territory,
and projectiles matching their caliber and type have been found on the battlefields.
Sixty Sharps muskets and accouterment sets, along with 10,000 rounds of
ammunition were taken from the supply post at Cubero, near Acoma. Also taken
were several hundred US infantry great coats, making that garment a valued
piece of reenactment clothing. The men of Sibley's Brigade carried a profusion
of pistols, too. Especially popular was the 1851 Colt Navy model. Other
pistols that would certainly have been in the area are the Colt's dragoons,
the 1860 Colt, various pocket Colts and Remingtons, the Sharps derringer,
and single-shot military or civilian pistol. Diarists on both sides noted
the prominence of revolvers in the brigade, and Federal soldiers mentioned
that the Texans were not noticeably shy about using them in battle. It is
very doubtful that any of the Confederate copies of Colt revolvers were
in the brigade in New Mexico; the campaign started in the late fall of 1861,
and these weapons would not have been available until several months later.
Sibley's Brigade lost a tremendous number of horses at the battle of Val
Verde. Many horses were starving and collapsed in the exertion of battle,
but most were killed by Federal fire. The brigade was in danger of becoming
foot-bound. General Sibley (or, more likely, Col. Green of the 5th regiment)
decided to dismount the 4th regiment and elements of the 7th. The surviving
horses were to be given to the 5th regiment and the artillery. The elements
of the 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles, under Maj Pyron, that had accompanied the
brigade kept their horses. These last men were the spearhead of the campaign,
being the first engaged at Val Verde, the first into Albuquerque and Santa
Fe, and the first engaged at Apache Canyon. The dismounted men of the 4th
and 7th regiments marched from Socorro to Glorieta Pass and back to San
Antonio, Texas. Sibley's New Mexico campaign
was more than twice as long as Napoleon's Moscow campaign about a half century
earlier.
As one looks at the present Company C, one will see the diversity of civilian
clothing, U.S. uniforms, and homemade or militia garments. One will see
the diversity of weapons and accouterments, the bowie knives and revolvers.
Since the company is portrayed as it appeared at Glorieta Pass, there are
no horses or tack.
Muster Roll and Rosters
1861- 1862
Bill Manley - Researcher
Officers:
Capt. George James Hampton, 34
1st Lt. Charles Carroll Linn, 24
2nd Lt. Henry Edward Loebnitz, 29
2nd Lt. Ferdinand A. Fenner, 24
1st Sergeant Ludwig Von Roeder, 24
2nd Sergeant James Francis Coffee, 32 (detached to Regimental Artillery Oct. 13,1861)
3rd Sergeant William T. Davis, 22
4th Sergeant Charles Alexander Woodapple, 34
1st Corporal Albert G. Field, 24
2nd Corporal Lovell J. Bartlett, 22
3rd Corporal Albert Glock, 23
4th Corporal James J. Hall, 21
Bugler Adam Jatho, 23
Privates:
Armstrong, James H., 21 (detached to Regimental Artillery Oct.13,1861)
Arnica, W., 21
Baker, George B., 23
Berkowitz, Lewis J., 19
Brown, Samuel, 28
Calender, C.B., 22
Carey, Martin V., 21
Clark, Thomas M., 22
Dietze, Gustavus, 19
Egg, Gideon, 22
Elliott, Henry, 20
Field, S.S., 18
Field, Thomas M., 18
Franke, Julius, 20
Garnett, Harold, 19
Goldman, A., 24
Green, Louis, 31
Hahn, Charles, 20
Hamilton, C.H., 31
Hanna, Ebenezer, 18
Harpolt, George, 24 (detached to Regimental Artillery Oct. 13,1861)
Hensoldt, Armin, 22
Henson, Jacob, 20
Hiller, Michael, 23
Houston, W., 22
Hughes, James, 29
Hughes, Landon T.V., 23
Hyatt, Samuel R., 22
James, William B., 21
Jenke, Julius, 24
Jones, B.A., 20
Kleberg, Otto, 19
Kneiber, F.D., 27
Kreidler, C.F., 44
Kuykendall, John, 25
Lally, Patrick, 32
Lang, Charles, 27
Lichtenstein, Mooris, 23
Lytle, N.B., 18
McNeill, Arch J., 18
Meyer, Philip, 20
Mobley, William H., 30
Montgomery, Alexander, 18
Moody, F.M., 22 (detached to Regimental Artillery Oct. 13,1861)
Moody, George H., 19 ( detached to Regimental Artillery Oct. 13,1861)
Moonch, Andrew, 26
Onderdonk, William H., 21
Owens, John W., 28
Peticolas, Alfred B., 22
Posey, T.J., 18
Powell, E., 45
Pridham, Frank R., 19
Purcell, R.C., 22
Ragland, Henry, 19 (detached to Regimental Artillery Oct. 13,1861)
Reeves, Johnson, 24
Rollet, Thomas, 24
Roots, Thomas R., 26
Rose, Volney J., 18
Roth, Fridolin, 31
Sager, P., 18
Schmidt, John, 26
Schmidt, S., 21
Schraeder, Gustavus, 20 or 23
Schultz, Theodor, 19
Seidel, Herman, 19
Ship, Morris, 21
Snider, Julius, 22 or 26
Tschoepe, Louis, 25 (detached to Regimental Artillery Oct. 13,1861)
Tippet, Robert D., 18
Trautwein, William, 23
Trell, Henry, 24
Wafford, John T., 18
Warburton, John A., 24
Wheeler, Jesse O., Jr., 18
White, Benjamin N., 18
Whitley, Wiley James, 22
Williams, J.T., 23
Woolfe, A.S., 18
Lt Col. William Read (Dirty Shirt) Scurry
4th Texas Mounted Volunteers commander
during Sibley's New Mexico campaign
