Granbury's Texas Brigade: Diehard Western Confederates

Introduction

1 INTRODUCTION Granbury’s Texas Brigade contributed immeasurably to the Confederate war effort in the West. Although the brigade suffered high rates of desertion , the men who remained became the diehard Confederates of the West. The question that has divided Civil War historians since the end of the war is why. Why did Confederate soldiers stay with the cause as long as they did, and why in particular did Confederate soldiers in the western theater , deprived of battlefield victories and effective army leadership, fight for so long? Another important question is, What role did the common Confederate soldiers play in the larger Confederate war effort? A study of Granbury’s Texas Brigade, as perhaps the premier brigade in the premier division in the Confederate Army of Tennessee, can provide some answers to these questions. The role the common soldiers played in the Confederate war effort has been analyzed by various historians, especially since the 1980s. There are two distinct schools of thought. Some historians have contended that a lack of Confederate nationalism and devotion to the cause among the South’s soldiers doomed the Confederacy from the outset. Most notable among the studies arguing this point of view is Why the South Lost the Civil War, by Richard E. Beringer, Herman Hattaway, Archer Jones, and William Still. These authors maintain that class divisions, the idea of a “rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight,” spiritual doubts about God being on their side, Granbury’s Texas Brigade 2 political dissent, and guilt over slavery doomed the efforts of the common Confederate soldiers, who deserted in increasing numbers toward the end of the war. Another work in this school of thought is Mark A. Weitz’s More Damning Than Slaughter: Desertion in the Confederate Army. Weitz argues that Confederate soldiers deserted in large numbers throughout the war, dooming the Confederacy and causing more harm than battlefield slaughter . Other authors, such as David Williams in his Rich Man’s War: Class, Caste, and Confederate Defeat in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley, maintain that class conflict helped cause the failure of the Confederate war effort.1 Despite these studies, the more convincing school of thought is that common soldiers in the Confederate ranks upheld the Confederacy much longer than it otherwise would have lasted. The most prominent in these arguments is Gary Gallagher’s The Confederate War. In this work, Gallagher maintains that Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia achieved battlefield victories early and often enough to encourage a vibrant Confederate nationalism among soldiers in the field and civilians on the home front until nearly the end of the war. Ancillary to these claims, Gallagher argues that historians should focus on Confederates’ determination to wage bloody war for four long years in the face of overwhelming odds. Another study that bolsters Gallagher’s argument is Jason Phillips’s Diehard Rebels: The Confederate Culture of Invincibility, in which Phillips argues that Confederates maintained their devotion to the cause even long after the Civil War had ended. Steven E. Woodworth, in his work While God Is Marching On: The Religious World of Civil War Soldiers, demonstrates that without a doubt Confederates believed God remained on their side because of the institutionalization of the idea of slavery as a positive good into Southern churches and religious life. James McPherson, in his For Cause and Comrades and What They Fought For, also maintains that Confederates believed strongly in their cause and fought not only for slavery, but also for their homes and the Southern way of life, which centered on slavery.2 A study of Granbury’s Texas Brigade strongly supports the argument of Gallagher and others that Confederate soldiers extended the life of the Confederate cause much longer than it would have otherwise lasted. Although desertion became endemic in many of the dismounted cavalry regiments of Granbury’s Brigade, desertion is not an absolute concept. Contrary to the claims of Weitz and others, desertion did not indicate a lack of nationalism ; rather, it often indicated a desire to fight for the Confederacy closer 3 introduction to home. Most of the “deserters” from the regiments of Granbury’s Texas Brigade rejoined other home guard units in Texas, and many of the survivors from Arkansas Post even formed their own regiment, the 17th Texas Dismounted (Consolidated) Cavalry. This regiment fought and suffered heavy casualties at the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill...