Texas in the Civil War - Federal Forces

In all, 1,915 Texans served the Union, and 141 of them died, 12 in action. The ranks held many Spanish-speaking Texans and first-generation immigrants, among them German Unionists from the Hill Country, but most officers came from mainstream Southern backgrounds. The First Texas Cavalry spent most of 1863 defending New Orleans and campaigning in Louisiana, then sailed with the Rio Grande expedition, landed on the South Texas coast and occupied Brownsville in November 1863; within a month it grew by slightly over half. The merged First Texas Volunteer Cavalry was mustered out on November 4, 1865.

What the plaque says

Texas in the Civil War - Federal Forces When Texas joined the Confederacy in 1861, some men disagreed. Mainly these were from foreign countries or the North, or did not uphold states' rights. Some of them left here and joined Northern army units. Others joined Federal forces near home. A 1st Texas Cavalry (Union), made up of 310 men in 8 companies, was organized by a Texan, Col. E. J. Davis, across the Rio Grande, in Mexico. Nucleus of 2nd Texas Cavalry (Union) was formed in New Orleans, adding men in Louisiana and Mexico until it had 4 companies. They merged 1864 into 1st Texas Volunteer Cavalry (Union). Individual Texas prisoners of war obtained freedom by becoming "galvanized Yankees" -- men coating over their old opinions with blue uniforms. These fought Indians on frontiers, not old Confederate comrades. However, Texans in the Federal Army sometimes were in battle against old neighbors, or even their own relatives, in Red River campaigns in Louisiana, on the coast, and in south and west Texas. On each side by turns were enlisted the partisan rangers of A. J. Vidal -- deserting the Confederates in 1863, the Federals and the war itself in 1864. Federal soldiers from Texas were a small minority, because 90,000 Texans fought for the Confederacy.. (1965)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mount Bonnell — 1.1 mi
  Austin's old lookout over the Colorado, named by an 1838 traveler, picnicked on by George and Libbie Custer, and reached by a 1939 flight of about 100 limestone steps.
• Harry Ransom Center — 2.1 mi
  The University of Texas archive where a Gutenberg Bible and the earliest surviving camera photograph are always on view, free, beside the papers of Watergate and the movies.
• Bullock Texas State History Museum — 2.4 mi
  The state's history museum at the head of Congress Avenue, built around the hull of La Salle's ship La Belle, raised from Matagorda Bay with 1.8 million artifacts.
• LBJ Presidential Library — 2.5 mi
  A ten-story travertine archive on the University of Texas campus holding 45 million pages from a presidency of civil rights laws, the War on Poverty and Vietnam.

More markers nearby

• Texas in the Civil War - Adjutants General — steps away
• Camp Mabry — steps away
• Major John B. Jones — steps away
• William Steele — steps away