Why Texans Fought in the Civil War

4. DEFENSE OF THEIR FORMER HOMES: Why Texans Fought East of the Mississippi River

R 72 4 Defense of Their Former Homes Why Texans Fought East of the Mississippi River Lincoln’s hordes have invaded the soil of Va. I felt it my duty to take up arms in defence of this the state of my birth. . . . If there is one thing that I am proud of, it is being a Virginian, and a Texan! Charles Trueheart, Rockbridge Artillery (Virginia) T he majority of Civil War battles were fought east of the Mississippi River, and Texans participated in almost every engagement. Approximately a quarter of all units raised in Texas fought east of Old Man River. Most of these soldiers had their origins in one way or the other from that region, having recently moved to Texas and leaving extended families behind; thus they had multiple local attachments. One of the strongest motivations for Texans to fight east of the Mississippi was their desire to protect localities they had developed a commitment to, including the hometowns, family members, and friends left behind. Since a majority of Texans migrated from the East, many had more than one hearth and home, and most still had a “home” in the state they moved from, metaphorically and sometimes physically. These were the homes where they had grown up and the areas where their parents had raised them. In some cases, parents and extended kin still inhabited the old home east of the Mississippi, forming a continuing , loving connection with theTexas soldier.Texans had to make a decision about which location they wanted to protect—Texas or their hometowns in the East.1 At the beginning of the war, Alexis T. Rainey, a soldier in the 1st Texas In- Defense of Their Former Homes 73 fantry, expressed what many thought, that “no one here believes that Texas will be invaded.”2 Their former home states back east differed from Texas in being under a more immediate threat by the Union army. These attachments influenced Texans to leave their immediate families in the Lone Star State, to fight east of the Mississippi River to defend their old hometowns and kin. Men in such famous Texas units as Hood’s Texas Brigade and Terry’s Texas Rangers and lesser known organizations like the 7th and 9th Texas Infantry and Waul’s Texas Legion answered the call to enlist in distant theaters. Some men such as those in the Grapevine Volunteers and others like Charles Trueheart and Adam Rankin Johnson went as far as enlisting in regiments from their former states. Even though local attachments provided one of the strongest motivations for Texans to enlist, they are not the only reason Texans fought east of the Mississippi . Youthful ambitions were significant in the recruitment of men to fight in the East. Texas was a state of young people, especially the native born. An obvious illustration of the youthful nature of the men born in the Lone Star State is that only one native, Felix Huston Robertson, reached the rank of brigadier general, and he was the youngest of all Confederate generals. Of the Texans who fought in the Virginia theater early in the war, the average age of privates and noncommissioned officers was less than twenty years, and company grade officers averaged less than thirty years. The youthfulness of the men who joined the ranks of the units marching east was even noticeable to the men themselves. L. B. Giles, a member of Company D, 8th Texas Cavalry, more commonly known as Terry’s Texas Rangers, noted that the enlistees were “all young, in their teens and twenties.”3 David Cary Nance’s pen expressed the thoughts of young men with the opportunity to experience adventure: “But like all boys in Early life, I loved adventure , so that when the first call came for volunteer troops I was crazy to go yes, crazy, for that is the only way to describe a boys sentiment when he is anxious to go towar.”4 Youthful excitement was common in the Civil War, and many of the soldiers who fought east of the Mississippi described their units’ youth and enthusiasm to reach the front lines and experiBrig . Gen. Felix Huston Robertson, the only native-born Texan general. Courtesy Historical Research Center, Texas Heritage Museum, Hill College, Hillsboro, Tex. 74 Chapter 4 ence combat with the enemy. According to chaplain Nicolas A. Davis of Hood’s Texas Brigade, Texas soldiers in the East “were...