The Confederate Army 1861–65 (3)

On the eve of the Civil War the enrolled militia of Texas was virtually dormant, although on paper it consisted of five divisions, with regiments and battalions organized on a county-wide basis. Probably based on the regulations adopted for the US Army in 1857, a uniform was prescribed for the officers of these forces via “An act to incorporate all uniformed military companies,” approved by the state legislature on February 15, 1858. However, this uniform was ordered to be “dispensed with” via General Order No 1, issued by Adjutant General William Byrd on May 1, 1861. The uniformed volunteer militia companies attached to this system included the Alamo Rifles, of San Antonio; Washington Light Guards, Milam Rifles and Turner Rifles, of Houston; Galveston Artillery and Lone Star Rifles, of Galveston; Quitman Rifles, of Austin; and Refugio Riflemen, of Refugio County.

New military companies were hastily organized as secession approached, and by May 1861 the “First Regiment of uniformed Galveston Volunteers” was formed; this included the Galveston Rifles, Galveston Zouaves, Wigfall Guards, and Lone Star Rifles. No state regulations were issued to govern the dress of these companies, and they wore a great variety of clothing. Described as wearing a “neat fatigue uniform” in the Galveston Weekly News on May 28, 1861, the Galveston Rifles adopted a service dress of “gray cloth, with red trimmings” and red welt in the seam of their pants. Commanded by Capt Victor Beaulard, the Galveston Zouaves appear to have donned full zouave dress, since they were reported in the local press to be wearing “gay uniforms seeming in strange contrast, with the plain but neat attire of the other companies” when the 1st Regiment paraded on May 20, 1861.

After secession on February 1, 1861, the Committee of Public Safety appointed by the Secession Convention elected Ben McCulloch, a Mexican War veteran, as a colonel of cavalry, with orders to raise a force to capture US property in the state, including the arsenal at San Antonio. The provisional force collected by McCulloch consisted of a volunteer battalion from Gonzales, companies from Lockhart, Sequin, and San Antonio, plus six companies (or “castles”) of the American Legion of the Knights of the Golden Circle, a Southern rights society founded by George Bickley in 1854. An eyewitness described these units “appearing, two by two, on muleback and horseback, mounted and on foot - a motley though quite orderly crowd, carrying the Lone Star flag before them… Some had coats, but others were in their shirt-sleeves, and not a few were wrapped in old shawls and saddle-blankets.” McCulloch’s command was subsequently disbanded when it became apparent that US Gen David E.Twiggs, then commanding the Department of Texas, was not going to offer resistance.

During March 1861, the Committee authorized the organization of two state cavalry regiments to protect the northern and southern frontiers from marauding Indians and Mexican bandits. These regiments were mustered into Confederate service for one year, and were designated the 1st (H.E.McCulloch’s) and 2nd (Ford’s) Mounted Rifle Volunteers. Neither of these units was initially uniformed, although the former wore red flannel stripes on the shoulders of their civilian shirts and coats. Like other Confederate states, Texas raised companies of non-uniformed citizens called Minute Men who also provided temporary local, as well as frontier, defense. In many cases these groups subsequently organized themselves into volunteer companies for state and, ultimately, Confederate service.