Moss Bluff Rebel: A Texas Pioneer in the Civil War

Chapter 3 Adjustment

Chapter 3 Adjustment while federal blockaders patrolled to prevent Confederate states’ exports, William Duncan remained true to his identity as a businessman. Early on Thursday, December 3, 1861, he agreed to a deal to build a telegraph line between Sabine City and New Iberia, spreading his risk with two other investors. One week later, he headed west with $5,000 in his saddlebags to buy cattle. This particular eighty-twenty investment included $4,000 of Duncan’s money and $1,000 from a partner. He spent eight days forming the herd, then he and his cowboys moved it onto the trail headed for Louisiana. Growing enlistments in both Federal and Confederate armies spiked demand for cattle, and buyers from both sides were active in the New Orleans market. Steers commonly sold in the $6 range in southeast Texas in 1860, but the next year the Confederate army bought cattle in southern Louisiana at $22 per head, and in April, 1862, the Union army paid “good Yankee gold $40 to $60 a head” for cattle. William Duncan aimed to earn those margins as long as he could. In the back of his mind he also wondered whether he could pursue his business if he joined the Confederate Army. Duncan’s life changed little during the first quarter of 1862. On January 18, after selling the herd he assembled in December, he picked up his slaves and horses at Ralph Foreman’s place in Louisiana and headed home to Texas. When he reached Beaumont, he found the train to Houston derailed, so he continued on horseback the forty-four miles to Liberty. On February 6, he “went ducking ” and killed twelve birds. Five days later, Duncan went into Liberty to visit Emma. She was enrolled at the Ursuline Convent boarding school that opened in 1859, staffed by four nuns from France and one from Quebec. The sisters came to Liberty from New Orleans by way of Galveston at the request of the local Creole families who wanted their children educated in the Catholic faith. In fact, Duncan’s father-in-law, Dr. Edward J. Gillard, provided lumber for the A4950.indb 22 A4950.indb 22 10/17/08 8:54:12 AM 10/17/08 8:54:12 AM Adjustment 23 school from his sawmill. When Duncan stopped to see Emma that day, the Mother Superior, French Sister St. Ambrose, asked him about a calf he had promised her. The next day he arranged to pay a slave called ol’ Abe $4 to haul wood to the convent. He settled up with Abe later, paying him $6, apparently adding a tip for a job well done. Duncan finally agreed to join the cavalry unit of Ashley Spaight’s Moss Bluff Rebels in early March. After celebrating his birthday at home—his wife had a wild turkey prepared for the event—Duncan rode to Spaight’s place in Moss Bluff for muster, but a sore foot prevented him from participating in the drill. On Monday, March 10, he went to town and found war excitement strong. Duncan was in Liberty the next Saturday and gave $50 to a collection for wives of Texas Confederate soldiers already at war. No records exist to reflect accurately the number of Texans who served in the Confederate war effort, but Texas Gov. Francis Lubbock said the number reached 90,000 at the end of 1863. The state of Texas furnished those men to the Confederate army in 115 regiments, battalions, and batteries, including forty-five regiments of cavalry, twenty-three regiments of infantry, twelve battalions of cavalry, four battalions of infantry, one regiment of heavy artillery, and thirty batteries of light artillery . Most people considered Ashley Spaight’s battalion an infantry unit, despite its two cavalry companies. The day after Spaight told Duncan he was ready to mobilize his unit, Duncan stayed home to make a scabbard for his knife. He joined Captain Spaight a week after the swearing-in ceremony on a recruiting trip southwest of Liberty, looking to sign up more volunteers. The two men canvassed Wallisville on the east side of the Trinity River in northern Chambers County on April 5 and 6 and spent the 7th through 10th in Cedar Bayou, today part of Baytown in eastern Harris County. Duncan says he and Spaight “saw Amos Barrow and Sol Fisher [but] could not get them to join.” Duncan and Spaight rode back to Liberty on Saturday, April 12, hearing a...