Spaight's 11th Battalion

The yellow fever of 1862 hit the battalion's Companies A and B at Sabine Pass: scores caught it and about 50 died. In 1864 artillerists from Company B replaced Welhausen's Battery, German immigrants first known as Creuzbaur's Battery, at Fort Manhassett. In November 1864, Company B was redesignated Company I of Bates' 13th Texas Infantry, and on April 20, 1865, 48 men and officers of the 13th Texas were present for duty at the fort.

What the plaque says

Spaight's 11th Battalion Commanded by Col. Ashley W. Spaight, the 11th Battalion of Texas Volunteers, Confederate States Army, was nicknamed the "Swamp Angels." Tracing its origins to the "Sabine Pass Guards" militia formed in 1861, the battalion served during the Civil War to defend the Texas Gulf Coast and Louisiana borders from Federal incursions. Many of them lost their lives during an 1862 yellow fever epidemic at Sabine Pass. The battalion was comprised of southeast Texas residents, many of whom became community and business leaders after the war. (1990)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sabine Pass Battleground State Historic Site — 1.2 mi
  A waterfront park at the mouth of the Sabine where the earthwork of Fort Griffin stood, with a Dowling statue, a Union memorial, wartime magazines and a walkway for fishing.
• Sea Rim State Park — 8.3 mi
  Texas's far southeast corner: nearly two miles of Gulf shoreline backed by 4,000 acres of marsh, reached by boardwalk or paddle trail, rebuilt after Rita and Ike.
• Museum of the Gulf Coast — 9.8 mi
  Port Arthur's regional museum in a former bank building: fossils, Native Americans, the petroleum story, a 125-foot history mural and Halls of Fame for musicians, athletes and artists.
• Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum — 23 mi
  A re-created oil boomtown on the Lamar University campus, with a derrick, period shops, a 1941 granite monument and an optional re-enactment of the January 1901 Lucas gusher.

More markers nearby

• 1886 Hurricane at Sabine Pass — steps away
• City of Sabine and Sabine Pass — steps away
• Spanish-American War Fortifications — 1.2 mi
• Fort Manhassett — 1.2 mi