C. S. A. Texas Muster

The battle behind the 1964 muster is Mansfield, Louisiana, on April 8, 1864. The Handbook of Texas says Gen. Richard Taylor attacked with 8,800 men a Union column of 12,000 strung out along about twenty miles of road, meeting it some three miles south of Mansfield. John G. Walker's Texas Division was part of Taylor's force, and the Prince de Polignac led a small brigade of Texans. Union losses were about 700 killed or wounded, 1,500 captured and 20 guns. Confederate losses were about 1,000 killed or wounded.

What the plaque says

C. S. A. Texas Muster Held on this spot April 4, 1964, to honor Texans who made up the greater part of forces fighting in the Civil War Red River Campaign of 1864-1865, that prevented a Federal invasion of Texas. Descendants answering to roll call for soldiers of 100 years ago included 37 sons and daughters of those fighters. Grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other kinsmen represented such leaders as the Trans-Mississippi commander, Gen. E. Kirby Smith, and Gens. A. P. Bagby, John R. Baylor, August Buchel, X. B. deBray, Tom Green, Walter P. Lane, Henry E. McCulloch, Jas. Major, Horace Randal, Wm. R. Scurry, Wm. Steele, John G. Walker, and Thos. Waul; and Cols. Henry Gray, Philip N. Luckett and P. C. Wood. Friends and descendants of the Val Verde Battery restored one century-old gun and brought it from Freestone County to ride in the 8-mile-long parade that moved 36 miles northeastward from here to the Mansfield Battleground. There the cannon shook the earth as it did April 8, 1864, and the assemblage unveiled the first out-of-state marker of the Texas Civil War Centennial, commemorating the Battle of Mansfield. (1965)

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Shelby County — steps away
• John Joseph Emmett Gibson — steps away
• Milton Irish — 3.0 mi
• The First Battle — 3.8 mi