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Spaight’s 11th Texas Battalion

On April 20, 1861, one-hundred and two men were mustered at Sabine Pass as a militia company serving for 90 days. They called themselves the “Sabine Pass Guard.” During their 90 day enlistment, they build Fort Sabine, obtained four cannon and shot from Galveston and Houston, and studied artillery manuals in preparation for defending Fort Sabine. When their enlistments expired in July, most of the men re-enlisted and were formed into two companies, one artillery captained by James B. Likens which kept the name “Sabine Pass Guard“, and the rest of the men were formed into a cavalry company, the Ben McCulloch Coast Guard, raised by Dr. James H. Blair, a Sabine physician.[1] This enlistment was to be for one year.

In September of 1861, Captain Likens was promoted to Major and authorized to raise Likens’ Sixth Battalion of State Militia. Blair’s Cavalry became Company A, Likens’ Artillery company became Company B, commanded by K. D. Keith, Infantry Company C was recruited from Newton County and commanded by Captain Josephus S. Irvine, and Infantry Company D was recruited from Tyler County and commanded by Captain W. J. Spurlock.[1]

In June of 1862, Major Likens was promoted and authorized to raise a regiment of Texas Cavalry. Captain Spaight was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the newly formed 11th Texas Battalion which became known as “Spaight’s Battalion.” Josephus Irvine was elected Major and executive officer of the Battalion and W. C. Gibbs was elected to replace Irvine as Commander of Company C.[1]

Many of the men from the Stark family and their extended families were recruited by Josephus Irvine and served in Company C. Josephus Somerville Irvine, born in Lawrence County, Tennessee, August 25, 1819, was a veteran of the Texas War for Independence and saw action April 21st , 1836 in the decisive “Battle of San Jacinto.” Some early Newton County Commissioners Court meetings was held at his home on Quicksand Creek before the community of Newton was selected as the site for the County Government.[2]

He recruited many of William Hawley Stark’s relatives and members of his extended family. The following men served in Company C who were related in some way to the Stark family and William Hawley Stark:

1) Charles Bowman Dougharty; His half-sister, Hester Ann Ford married Asa L. Stark March 26, 1857. Asa L. Stark was the brother of William Hawley Stark. Charles was recorded living in the home of Asa L. Stark in the 1860 census. After the War, Charles married William Hawley Stark’s daughter, Nancy Matilda, October 2, 1867.[3] Enlisted as private and mustered out as private.

2) Abel Herring DeHart; Was the son of John Dehart and Mary Commander Herring. Mary was the half-sister of William “Bill” Herrin who married Prudence Jane Stark. Prudence Jane was the sister of William Hawley Stark. After the war, he married Amanda Ellen Ford sometime before 1876, the daughter of John Harrison Ford.[4] Enlisted as private and mustered out as private.

3) James M. DeHart; Was the son of John Dehart and Mary Commander Herring. Mary was the half-sister of William “Bill” Herrin who married Prudence Jane Stark. Prudence Jane was the sister of William Hawley Stark. Not known if he survived the war. Enlisted as private and mustered out as private.

4) John Harrison Ford; Was the brother of Hester Ann Ford who was the second spouse of Asa L. Stark. Charles Bowman Dougharty was his half brother. Their mother was Courtney Caraway who married second, George Dougharty. In 1859, was recorded as the guardian of Charles B. Dougharty.[5] John married Margaret Stewart, the sister of Adam Lackey Stewart.[6] Survived the war. Enlisted as private and mustered out as private.

5) Andrew Jackson Herrin; Nephew of William Hawley Stark and son of Prudence Jane Stark.[7] Married Mary Jobner after the War. Enlisted as private and mustered out as private.

6) James Herrin; husband of Nancy Jane Lewis who was the niece of William Hawley Stark and daughter of Sarah Mariah Stark, William Hawley’s sister. James was a son born to the first wife of William “Bill” Herrin. His second wife was Prudence Jane Stark. James died in 1864 and was buried in the DeHart Cemetery. Enlisted as private and mustered out as private.

7) Stephen B. Herrin; nephew of William Hawley Stark and son of Prudence Jane Stark.[4,7] Survived the war and is recorded in the 1870 census for Newton County, Texas as married to Nancy, age 18. Enlisted as private and mustered out as private.[7]

8) William Herrin, Jr.; Nephew of William Hawley Stark and son of Prudence Jane Stark.[4,7] Was recorded in the 1860 census for Calcasieu Parish. Married Mary Hoosier and had one child in 1860 census. Enlisted as private and mustered out as private.[7]

9) Asa S. Lewis; Nephew of William Hawley Stark and son of Sarah Mariah Stark. Married Sara “Sab” Page June 09, 1861in Newton County. Recorded in Newton County 1880 census with wife Sarah and 4 year old adopted daughter name Maude.[8]

10) George W. Lewis; Nephew of William Hawley Stark and son of Sarah Mariah Stark.[8] Enlisted as private and mustered out as private.

11) William M. Lewis; Nephew of William Hawley Stark and son of Sarah Mariah Stark.8 Married Ellen Wilkinson July 03, 1865 in Newton County. Enlisted as private and mustered out as private.

12) Daniel Donaho Stark; Nephew of William Hawley Stark and son of Asa L. Stark & 1st wife Matilda Donaho.[9] Married March 24, 1864, in Newton County, Julia Cassandra Dougharty, widow of Samuel Hawley Stark who died of disease in March of 1863 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Samuel Hawley Stark served in the 13th Texas Cavalry and was the son of William Hawley Stark. Julia Dougharty was the sister of Charles B. Dougharty. Enlisted as private and mustered out as private.

13) Daniel L. Stark; Son of William Hawley Stark and 1st wife, Elizabeth Zachary. Daniel married Amanda Catherine Dougharty January 12, 1854 in Newton County. Survived the war and died in 1904. Enlisted as private and mustered out as private.

14) George Whitman; Son of Joseph Whitman and brother of John Adam Whitman who married William Hawley Stark's daughter, Mary L. Stark.

15) Joseph Whitman; Brother-in-law of William Hawley Stark and brother of 2nd wife Martha C. Whitman. Married Henrietta Elizabeth Foster June of 1865. Died December 22, 1932. Enlisted as private and mustered out as private.

16) William Augustus Zachary; nephew of William Hawley Stark and son of Bennett Hiram Zachary & Clarinda Bennett. Bennett Hiram Zachary and Elizabeth Zachary were siblings.[10] Married Sarah Elizabeth Whitman August 27, 1863 in Newton County. Sarah Elizabeth was the widow of George Davis who died of Disease in Arkansas while serving with the 13th Texas Cavalry. Sarah Elizabeth was also the sister of William Hawley Stark’s second wife, Martha Whitman. William Zachary died in 1878 while working as an engineer aboard the steamboat Rinn which exploded on the Sabine River near Deweyville, Texas. Enlisted as private and mustered out as private.

^________

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The men of the new battalion mustered near Beaumont and began their training. However, in July of 1862, The British steamer Victoria docked at Sabine Pass with yellow fever on board. By August, 300 soldiers and civilians were afflicted with the disease and had begun to die. Resident’s of Sabine Pass fled to Orange and Beaumont, spreading the disease to these communities. By September, the disease had afflicted about 100 civilians, all but 14 men in Company A, and all but 16 in Company B before the area was quarantined. Colonel Spaight was in Houston on a Court Martial Assignment and sent a team of Doctors and Nurses to report on the severity of the epidemic. On their advice, he furloughed the men of his battalion not quarantined who returned to their homes. Those in Companies A and B assisted the quarantined communities.[1]

Because of the fever, the upper coast of Texas became an inviting target for a Union offensive due to the weakened Confederate defenses and on September 24, 1862, Union ships blockading the Texas coast took advantage of these circumstances. Warships under the command of Lt. Frederick Crocker crossed the sand bar at Sabine Pass, and began shelling Fort Sabine. The men of Companies A and B were called out and after a brief exchange of artillery fire, Major Josephus S. Irvine spiked his guns and evacuated the Fort. September 26th, Crocker's men came ashore, destroying Fort Sabine, a railway bridge over Taylor's Bayou, and the railway depot near Sabine City.[11] Crocker left the steamboats, Rachel Seaman and Dan, captured in the Calcasieu River, to guard Sabine Pass and harass the soldiers and civilians and on one occasion, the Dan shelled the soldiers of Spaight’s Battalion camped at Taylor’s Bayou.[1]

In September of 1862, the Union Naval flotilla blockading the Texas Coast Commanded by Commodore William B. Renshaw, was ordered to move their ships into Galveston Harbor if conditions were favorable. October 4, the Harriet Lane steamed into the harbor and in a bold move, Renshaw demanded the City of Galveston and the harbor surrender. Taking advantage of the confusion of the local authorities, he then ordered his other seven ships holding position offshore to enter the harbor. The Confederate battery at Fort Point challenged the incoming ships by firing a warning shot at the Union fleet and was promptly silenced by the larger guns of the Union Warship Owasco. Worried about the safety of civilians living in Galveston, the city's defenders negotiated a four day truce which would allow the residents time to evaluate the island. However, during the truce, Confederate troops evacuated the island along with their weapons and machinery which was vigorously protested by Renshaw but which he could not prevent with his fleet anchored in the harbor. Galveston was occupied by Union forces on October 8 which was described by prominent Galveston attorney, William Pitt Ballinger as "a bleak day in our history."[12]

Major General John Bankhead Magruder, a veteran officer who had served with Robert E. Lee in the fighting around Richmond, became the Confederate commander of all of the forces in Texas on November 29, 1862 and gave the recapture of Galveston top priority. He began planning for the recapture of the island before additional troops could be landed. At 4:00 AM on New Year's day, January 1, 1863, Magruder himself pulled the lanyard of the center situated siege gun placed at the end of 20th street, sending the shot into one of the buildings at the end of Kuhn's Wharf. The men of Spaight’s battalion could hear the cannonading from Sabine Pass.[13] The Confederates won the day, capturing a large number of Union sailors and three companies of the Massachusetts 42nd Regiment.

During the next three months, General Magruder began to transfer Colonel W. H. Griffin’s battalion from Galveston to Sabine Pass and Spaight’s five companies of cavalry and infantry, all to be dismounted, to Virginia Point on the mainland across from Galveston Island. Artillery Company B, commanded by Captain K. D. Keith, remained at Sabine Pass and was assigned to the cotton clad steamboat “Uncle Ben”, patrolling Sabine Pass and Lake Sabine. September 8th, 1863, a Union invasion fleet attempted to enter Sabine Pass but was repulsed by Lieutenant Dick Dowling’s artillery stationed at Fort Griffin. The Uncle Ben attempted a feint towards the Pass from Sabine Lake, but was forced back because of the small size of it’s artillery. After the battle of Sabine Pass, the Uncle Ben crossed the channel and towed the disabled Union Gun boat Sachem to the Texas Shore. Company B would spend the war defending Jefferson County and Sabine Pass.[1]

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May 1, 1863, the rest of the battalion was ordered to central Louisiana to assist the troops of General Richard Taylor [Son of President Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States] fighting to relieve pressure on the defenders of Vicksburg and Port Hudson. Colonel Spaight's troops became a part of the commands of three other Texas commanders, General Tom Green's brigade, Colonel R. Major's brigade, and Colonel J. W. Speight's brigade, whose Fifteenth Texas Regiment was a part of the brigade he temporarily commanded. Although the names “Spaight” and “Speight” were pronounced the same, they were spelled differently and were two different men, which has caused some confusion during this Louisiana assignment of Spaight’s Battalion. During the six months the Battalion was in Louisiana, Colonel Spaight's companies engaged in more than twenty skirmishes, the battle of Fordoche Bayou on September 29th and the Battle of Bayou Bourbeau on November 3rd, 1863.[1]

Infantry Companies C, D, & E were placed under the command of Colonel Speight‘s Brigade. Cavalry Companies A & F were under the command of Colonel R. Major‘s brigade. General Tom Green was in command of the combined force. The cavalry companies were in several skirmishes during June and July and in August, Spaight’s Battalion and many of the other Confederate units were struck by illness. Captain Gibbs' Company C reported six dead of disease and a total of thirty-seven sick during the Louisiana campaign, presumably of measles. One analysis of the rosters showed Company C had 137 men which was reduced to 94 able-bodied fighting men due to illness.[14]

Green’s brigade and Speight’s Brigade crossed the Atchafalaya River September 28th, 1863 and attacked the 19th Iowa and 26th Indiana Regiments on Fordoche Bayou, these advance Union Regiments having become isolated from the main body of Major General Nathaniel Franklin’s retreating Army. Green led a frontal assault while Speight’s and Mouton’s Brigades were ordered to attack from the rear.[15] Under the command of Colonel Gray, Speight’s and Mouton’s Brigades began moving under cover of rain to the enemies rear at 7:00 A. M. on the 29th, marching single file through swamp before reaching their position of attack by 11:30 in the morning, which was five miles west of Morganza on the Mississippi. Mouton’s Brigade was held in reserve and Speight’s Brigade was ordered forward under Lieutenant Colonel Harrison to attack the infantry camped at Mrs. Sterling’s plantation on Bayou Fordoche. Green was to engage the advanced cavalry camped at Fordoche Bridge. The Federal infantry force was camped at Mrs. Sterling's sugar house [sugar mill] and Negro quarters in well defended positions behind a high levee and amongst the buildings.

In the line of battle formed from right to left, the Confederates had Speight’s Regiment, Major Daniel Hawpes Regiment, Spaight’s battalion [Infantry Companies C, D, & E] of Texas Volunteers, and Clark’s Battalion of Louisiana Volunteers. As the line of battle was being established about four hundred yards from the sugar house in a cane field, the Union infantry commenced firing. Return fire from the Confederates had little effect due to the height of the sugar cane and the order was passed down the line to press forward. Two hundred yards from the Union lines, the Confederates came upon an open field, exposing their ranks which was the cause of a considerable number of casualties as the Union infantry fired from the protection of the levee, sugar house, and Negro cabins. A new line of battle was formed and it became clear that the attackers would have to charge the Union positions. From the Texans arose a Texas yell and “up and at them“ as they mounted a spirited charge across two hundred yards of open field against the Union positions. As they advanced on the Union positions, Confederate soldiers were caught in a withering wall of small arms fire but continued their heroic charge. Spaight’s Battalion reached the sugar house first and was quickly joined by Clark’s, Hawpes. and Speight’s Brigades. As the Union positions were being overrun, they fell back to the Negro Cabins with the Confederates in close pursuit, the Texans still yelling like demons from hell.

As the combatants reached the Negro quarters, hand to hand combat commenced as the Union soldiers fought from house to house, giving a good account of themselves as they made a orderly retreat towards the levee. Placed in two gaps of the levee were two six pound Parrot guns which began to join the battle, sweeping deadly shot into the streets of the Negro quarters. Although the Confederates had now gained and won the sugar house and Negro cabins, it was proving to be costly as the Union soldiers poured deadly and accurate fire into the Confederate ranks from only sixty yards. Mouton’s Brigade, held in reserve, could not be called up as a flanking force because they were protecting against a possible attack commencing from Union forces stationed in Morganza.

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Meanwhile, General Green had been having trouble routing the Cavalry camp, taking longer than expected. The battle at Bayou Fordoche near the sugar mill was on the verge of being loss when General Green overwhelmed the Union Cavalry and advanced on the levee. As Green's Confederate forces yelled in victory, the Confederates at the mill mounted an assault from the Negro quarters causing the Federal troops resistance at the levee to collapse. Although the Confederates had won the day, the cost was twenty-six dead and eighty-one wounded. Many of these casualties were suffered by Spaight's Battalion, with nine killed and ten wounded resulting in a casualty rate of fifteen percent. Two men from Company C killed in action killed were A. F. Inman and James Patterson Irving, the son of Major Josephus Irving.[5,6] Union losses were One hundred-fifty men killed or wounded and four hundred-seventy-five taken prisoner. Two six pound Parrot guns, some much needed medical stores, and a considerable number of Enfield rifles were also captured. Of the Union soldiers captured, there were 36 officers, two of them being Lieutenant Colonels.[16] One Nineteenth Iowa officer noted: "The Rebels got everything we had except our clothes."[17]

November 3, 1863, General Green attacked the rearguard of General S. Burbridge’s 1,625 man brigade at Bayou Bourbeau, seven miles south of Opelousas, Louisiana. In the insuring battle, the Union forces were routed with 154 of their number killed or wounded. Causalities for the Confederate force was 180 killed, wounded or missing. Spaight’s Infantry Companies fared much better in this fight, not making contact with the enemy until their surrender was already underway. Cavalry Company A was in a fire fight with a Union Cavalry which they chased back to the town of Vermillionville.[18]

Later in November of 1863, Spaight’s Battalion returned to Texas where the men were given leave to briefly return to their homes for visit. They reassembled at Beaumont Post and the various companies were scattered from Sabine Pass to Niblett’s Bluff, Louisiana on the Sabine River.

Headquarters Company and Companies A through F of Spaight’s Battalion were reassembled at Niblett’s Bluff at the time General Franklin was suffering embarrassing defeats in northwestern Louisiana from April 8th to April 12th of 1864. On April 24th, the Union gunboat, Wave, moved into the Calcasieu River from the Gulf an anchored below Lake Charles, followed three days later by the gunboat Granite City. Colonel W. H. Griffin was ordered to “attack the small force at Calcasieu and disperse, defeat, and capture the expedition.”[19] Colonel Spaight ordered Companies A, C, D, & E to join Company B at Sabine Pass while he proceeded to Lake Charles with Company F to safeguard Confederate cotton, steamboats, and blockade-runners at Lake Charles.[20]

On May 4th, 1864, Colonel Griffin ordered the three infantry companies of Spaight’s Battalion along with four other infantry companies, one battery of artillery and 30 cavalry, about 300 men, to leave Sabine Pass. They were ferried from Sabine Pass to Johnson’s Bayou and then made a 38 mile march overland to Calcasieu Pass where they surprised the Union gunboats at anchor on May 6th. Fighting from exposed positions in the prairie around the Pass, the Confederates were able to send in accurate Cannon and Musket fire. After a ninety minute spirited defense the Union gunboats, hampered by having no steam pressure and their anchors out , surrendered after taking considerable damage from the Confederate batteries. Only one man from Spaight’s Battalion, Jackson Risinger of Company D, was killed in this action along with 13 other Confederate soldiers.[21]

This was to be the last battle for the men of Spaight’s Battalion. Captain Gibbs, commanding Company C, surrendered the Company in May of 1865 at Bolivar Point, Texas at which time the men returned to their homes in Newton County. Many of the men of Spaight’s Battalion were bitter about the defeat and the uncertain future it represented for them. In his final entry in his diary, dated May 25th, 1865 Sergeant Conner wrote, “And with this ends our hopes and efforts to establish a separate Independent Republic. And with this surrender, we surrender our State's Rights Doctrine, not from moral conviction, but from bayonet conviction, which rules all others. Thousands have sealed the struggle with their lives; wealth has been expended, but political corruption (?) has lost to us our dearest rights as a nation of southern people.”[22]

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13th Regiment of the Texas Mounted Volunteers

John Howell Burnett, Commanding, and Anderson Floyd, second in command, resigned from the Texas Senate in January of 1862 and organized the 13th Regiment of Texas Cavalry which mustered February 22, 1862 in northeast Texas and March 1, 1862 for the southern counties. Volunteers were recruited from Newton County, Texas by William Blewett who became the first commander of Company H, known as the “Dreadnaughts.” The following men served in Company H who were related in some way to the Stark family and William Hawley Stark:

1) George W. Davis; Was the brother-in-law of William Hawley Stark. He was married to Sarah Elizabeth Whitman, sister of the second spouse of William Hawley, Martha C. Whitman. George died from disease November 13, 1862 at Camp Nelson in Arkansas. His widow, Sarah Elizabeth, married William A. Zachary in August of 1863. Entered as Private and was Private when he died.

2) Wynant DeHart; Was the son of John Dehart and Mary Commander Herring. Mary was the half-sister of William “Bill” Herrin who married Prudence Jane Stark. Prudence Jane was the sister of William Hawley Stark. Died August 7, 1862 at Walnut Hill, Arkansas of Disease. Enlisted as private and was Corporal when he died.

3) Francis B. Dougharty; His half-sister, Hester Ann Ford married Asa L. Stark March 26, 1857. Asa L. Stark was the brother of William Hawley Stark. Enlisted as Private and mustered out as Corporal.

4) Marshall J. Dougharty; His sister, Julia Cassandra Dougharty, married Samuel Hawley Stark, son of William Hawley Stark. Marshall was recorded living in the home of Asa L. Stark in the 1860 census. Asa had married Marshall’s half-sister, Hester Ann Ford. Enlisted as Private and mustered out as Sergeant.

5) Andrew Jackson Herrin; nephew of William Hawley Stark and son of Prudence Jane Stark. 7 Survived the war and married Mary Jobner. Enlisted as private and mustered out as private.

6) Samuel Hawley Stark; Son of William Hawley Stark. Married Julia Cassandra Dougharty and had three children when he enlisted. Died of disease March 12, 1863 in Little Rock Arkansas Hospital. Was buried in the Camp Nelson Cemetery. Enlisted as private and was private when he died.

Samuel Hawley Stark, at the age of twenty-five, was recruited by Captain William Blewett February 20, 1862 in Newton to serve in Company H for a period of 12 months. Samuel and the above men reported for duty in Crockett, Houston County, Texas March 1st after traveling 115 miles. William Blewett, named command of Company H, was not present at this first muster of the company which was conducted by Captain S. M. Drake. On his arrival in Crockett, Samuel’s horse and equipment were valued at $165. The Thirteenth Texas Cavalry Regiment completed it’s organization May 24th, 1862 at Porter’s Springs, Houston County and was placed under the command of John Howell Burnett.[23]

William Blewett and his parents moved to Jasper County in 1849 from Georgia. William was sent back to Georgia where he completed his formal education at the Fletcher Institute in Thomasville, Georgia . On his return to Texas, he taught school in Jasper County before marrying his 1st cousin, Nancy Adams, May 20, 1862. In 1858, William and Nancy moved to Newton, Texas where he and his brother-in-law, Able Adams, opened a store.[24]

On June 7th, the 6th Cavalry Battalion and 13th Cavalry Regiment departed from Porter’s Spring for Arkansas but were ordered in route by Brigadier General Henry Eustace McCulloch to stop at his headquarters in Tyler, Texas for training and to allow stragglers to rejoin the unit. William Blewett wrote the following to his wife, Nancy, June 11th .[24]

Dear Nancy

I am at this time 8 miles below Tyler awaiting for dinner. The Regiment Camped 3 miles above here last night and will go about 15 miles To day and if nothing prevents we will overtake them Tonight. This is Wednesday and I have been 4 ½ days getting here which is about 140 miles I have had to Travel Slow on account of My mule getting Lame the second day after I Started, but She is improving So that I shall make a good ride today. The people on the road Say the Regiment is in good health and are getting along very well. I have heard that we are to stop a few days in Titus County and if so I will write you from there again. We are now on our march to Little Rock Arkansas Company G 13th Texas Mounted Regiment.

Your William

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July 2nd , the Regiment started their trek north to Little Rock, Arkansas but were forced to halt their march in the southwest corner of Arkansas in Lafayette County, Arkansas due to an outbreak of measles and typhoid fever. They initially camped near Spring Bank but later moved their camp to Walnut Hills. During this epidemic, the 13th Cavalry lost 30 men. Among them was twenty-one year old Wynant DeHart who died August 7th. He would have celebrated his twenty-second birthday September 17, 1862. The Regiment left Walnut Hills August 22nd arriving in Little Rock September 6th, 1862.

Samuel Hawley Stark was reported absent in the July and August Company muster because he was on detached service. He was reported present in the September and October musters and had last received pay from Captain A. T. Monroe June 30th of 1862. The day after the Regiment arrived in Little Rock, William Blewett became ill, dying September 19th of a disease described by his brother-in-law, Major Charles R. Beaty of the 13th Regiment, as “hemorage of the bowells.”[25]

On September 20th, John Thomas Stark was named commander of the “Dreadnaughts.” He was not related to the William Hawley Stark family. He was born December 19, 1821 in Preble County, Ohio, the son of Jeremiah Stark and Susannah Jamison. Jeremiah moved to Missouri and then to San Augustine, Texas about 1840 where John Thomas Stark married Martha Ann Skidmore July 21st, 1847. J. T. Stark is recorded in the 1860 Newton County Census as a 38 year old merchant with real estate and personal property valued at $6,000.[26]

The 13th Texas Cavalry was added to the 1st Brigade of an newly organized division commanded by Brigadier General McCullock. On October 2nd, Brigadier General Allison Nelson’s 10th Corp and Brigadier General H. E. McCulloch’s 1st brigade, were combined into a force of 25,000 Texas and Arkansas troops. They were dispatched from Argenta[27] on a 55-mile march east from Little Rock to the White River. Arriving at their destination in a driving rainstorm on the evening of October 4th, they were informed the Union forces were moving up the Arkansas River in an attempt to split to Confederate Army. Nelson and McCulloch were ordered to return to Argenta. On the trip out, Nelson became ill and was returned to Little Rock, suffering from pneumonia, where he died October 7th.

The march back to Little Rock was made under the most horrendous of circumstances. The troops did not have the proper clothing and equipment to operate in cold weather and began the return trip in a soaking rain, marching at times in water and mud up to their knees. To compound their problems, on the first night on the trail back to Little Rock, a cold front passed through producing storms, hail, sleet, and more rain. After two days and nights of marching in the cold, damp, windswept countryside, the men arrived back at Argenta, many already sick with chills and fever.[28]

October 14th, McCulloch, now commander of the 1st Brigade and 10th Corp was ordered to winter quarters located at Camp Hope which was fourteen miles northeast of Argenta and two miles east of the town of Austin, Arkansas. To honor General Allison Nelson, McCulloch renamed the new encampment “Camp Nelson.” The men continued to suffer from the cold and because of a contaminated water supply and scant protection from the weather, epidemics of typhoid and black measles passed through the ranks killing 500 men within six weeks. One can imagine those well enough to walk, making the rounds each morning to see who had or had not survived the night and then forming burial details to bury the dead.[28]

George W. Davis died November 13, 1862 and was among those buried just outside of Camp Nelson. He left a widow, Sarah Elizabeth Whitman, the sister of William Hawley Stark’s second wife, Martha Whitman. Sarah would later marry William Hawley’s nephew, William Augusta Zachary, August 27, 1863 in Newton County.

The November and December Muster of Company H reveals Samuel Hawley Stark was in the hospital in Little Rock. The Regimental Return for Company H, 13th Texas Cavalry reports S. H. Stark was “Sick at Camp Nelson since 23 Nov. 1862.” In the December Regimental Return recorded S. H. Stark as “Sick at Little Rock since 22 Dec. 1862.” The last entry to be found for Samuel Hawley Stark was made in the Register of the Confederate States of America Rock Hotel Hospital, Little Rock, Arkansas. This document reported S. H. Stark was admitted December 16, 1862 and died of disease March 12, 1863.[29] Of the six young men who went to war revealed to be related to William Hawley Stark, only three would return.

The surviving members of the Regiment were reorganized by McCulloch in November of 1862 and departed Camp Nelson November 24th bound for Little Rock and then reassigned to Pine Bluff in early January of 1863 under the command of Major General John G. Walker’s Texas division which became known as “Walker’s Greyhounds.” Captain John Thomas Stark continued as Commander of Company H until he resigned November 26th, 1864 due to poor health. Eugenia Stark, daughter of John T. Stark, later wrote; “A year later my father came home with an honorable discharge, because of broken health. No one expected him to live to reach home, but an old man at whose house he spent a night gave him a prescription of roots, leaves and barks which, when gathered and prepared according to directions, finally cured my father, but by that time the war had ended.”[30] Thomas J. Brack took command of the Company until the end of the war.

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Camp Nelson Cemetery located near Little Rock, Arkansas