Why Texans Fought in the Civil War

1. INTRODUCTION

R  1 Introduction Though I will suffer hardships, toil, and pain For the good time is sure to come I’ll battle long that I may gain My freedom and my home I will return, though foes may stand Disputing every rod [road] My own dear home my native land I’ll return to you yet by and by. Andrew J. Fogle, 9th Texas Infantry O N July 2, 1863, the cracking of the rifles and the burst of cannons rung loud in the ears of Maj. Gen. John Bell Hood’s Texans as they rushed through the Devil’s Den toward Little Round Top, near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. A Texas officer “pointed to ‘Little Round Top’ in the distance, and said ‘Follow the Lone Star Flag to the top of the mountain.’” As the men encroached upon the hill, a Union battery found their range and landed a shot that exploded in their midst, killing and wounding several. One of the men, George A. Branard, a young Texan color bearer of the 1st Texas Infantry, unfurled the Lone Star Flag, swearing to all the men around him that he would brandish it over the cannon that fired the devastating shot or die trying. Bravely he ran in front of his comrades , inspiring them along the way through the murderous showers of lead. As the vulnerable Branard neared the Union lines, he planted the flag in the ground to show his determination. At that moment a Union shell exploded, splintering the flag staff and blinding the Texan in one eye.1 On that day, 1,300 miles away from the nascent state they called home, dozens of Texans lost their lives in a vain attempt to capture Little Round Top. The Texans failed to take the hill, the army lost the battle, and many of their friends never left Gettysburg. Yet those  Chapter 1 who survived continued to fight for the South for almost two more years. What motivated these men to risk their lives so far from home? In New Mexico, the westernmost theater of the American Civil War,Texans also suffered tremendously. Men straggled across the hundred miles of dusty and arid plains of the Jornada del Muerto, Spanish for “dead man’s journey.” Pvt. Felix Robert Collard labeled the New Mexico desert “Horn Alley” because of “the quantities of buffalo horns and bones scattered over its surface.” the Jornada possessed “not a bush, a blade of grass, a lizard, or any living thing, either vegetable or animal nor a drop of water on this extended and arid waste. A jack rabbit to cross it would have to take his vi[c]tuals with him.”2 Men choked on the dry air of New Mexico as their lips cracked and throats swelled. These Texans were nine hundred miles from home with little food, not enough water, no horses, shoddy clothes, and worn shoes, suffering through terrible weather on their way back from a campaign that was a complete failure. And yet those who made it back to the Lone Star State remained in the army and soldiered on for another three years. What motivated these men to fight in New Mexico, so far from the main theater of the Civil War? If one were to ask a Texan today what motivated men from the Lone Star State to fight in the Civil War, the typical response would be a question: Do Texans ever need an excuse to fight? Texans had a reputation as fighters even before the firing on Fort Sumter. Within a short period of time, 1835 to 1861, Texas experienced a string of prominent conflicts, including the Texas Revolution, three expeditions during the Republic era (Santa Fe, Somervell, and Mier), the Mexican-American War, numerous fights with Native Americans by citizens and theTexas Rangers, and conflicts with Mexican bandits such as Juan Cortina. One could conclude that Texans love a good fight and had already experienced a civil war with the Texas Revolution; in other words, Texas men and society were ready for the war between North and South. With this evidence, it is easy to see whyTexans today view their past ancestors in a martial light. But contrary to these popular beliefs, the men truly needed some motivation to leave their families and risk their lives.3 For over a century, historians have examined what motivated men to fight in the Civil War. Many of the works examine either one or both sides of the war...