15th Texas Infantry Companies E and G
Corsicana, Navarro County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Several communities in Navarro County organized military units that saw action in the Civil War. Company E of the 15th Texas Infantry was formed on April 16, 1862, when two squads were combined into one unit under the leadership of Captain Joshua Long Halbert, a prominent Corsicana lawyer. Company G, 15th Texas Infantry, was originally part of William Melton's 13th Texas Infantry, but the company was reorganized during the winter of 1861-1862 as Company G, under the command of Captain Clinton Fouty. The two companies were assigned to Colonel William Speight, and saw action throughout the Trans-Mississippi region, including Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana and Indian Territory. As they began their journey to Arkansas, the regiment first saw combat on September 29, 1863 at the Battle of Bayou Fordoche, northeast of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After the battle, the 15th Texas saw action at Bayou Bourbeau, which was one of the early skirmishes that led to the Red River Campaign. Although a Confederate victory, the battle took a toll on the soldiers from Navarro County, with 7 killed in action, 22 wounded and 5 missing. Additionally, the group later saw action during the Red River Campaign at the battles of Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, Mansura and Yellow Bayou, Louisiana. The campaign resulted in the halting of the Union advance by the Confederate forces, and may have prolonged the war by distracting the Union's efforts to capture Mobile, Alabama. The men of Companies E and G started their journey back to Navarro County on February 20, 1865 and were discharged later that spring. (2009)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When the Civil War came, Navarro County raised its own fighting men, including Companies E and G of the 15th Texas Infantry, mustered in 1862 under Captains Joshua Long Halbert and Clinton Fouty. Assigned to the Trans-Mississippi theater, they fought across Arkansas, Louisiana, and Indian Territory, seeing hard combat at Bayou Bourbeau and through the Red River Campaign at Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, Mansura, and Yellow Bayou. The survivors began the long journey home in early 1865 and were discharged that spring.
Why it matters
These companies illustrate the war west of the Mississippi—often overshadowed by the eastern battles—where Confederate forces blunted the Union's Red River offensive and small-town Texans paid the cost in killed, wounded, and missing.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Joshua Long Halbert
- · Clinton Fouty
- · William Speight
Related events
- · Battle of Bayou Bourbeau
- · Red River Campaign
- · Battle of Mansfield
- · Battle of Pleasant Hill
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Navarro Rifles
Corsicana, TX
When Texas joined the Confederacy, roughly 87 men from Navarro and neighboring counties enlisted at Corsicana in July 1861 as the Navarro Rifles, led by county founder Clinton M. Winkler. Formally Company I of the 4th Texas Infantry, they marched east to Virginia and fought under the celebrated Texas general John Bell Hood. From their baptism of fire at Yorktown to Hood's bayonet charge at Gaines' Mill outside Richmond, the company earned a fierce reputation, closing the war with 19 dead, 59 wounded, and 10 captured.
Judge E. J. Simkins House
Corsicana, TX
Eldred James Simkins came to Corsicana from South Carolina in 1871, a Confederate veteran of four years' service whose brother was credited with firing the first shot on Fort Sumter. Building the first rooms of this house in 1873, he rose to prominence as a lawyer, University of Texas regent, state senator, and judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. He helped draft the law creating the Texas Railroad Commission and authored a respected work on jurisprudence.
Capt. Charles Henry Allyn
Corsicana, TX
A New York native, Charles Henry Allyn served as a Union captain in the Civil War before coming to Texas in 1868 and settling in Corsicana with his wife Angela in 1871. There he became a pillar of the growing town's economy, helping organize its first national bank, savings and loan companies, and cotton mill. He served on the city council and as mayor from 1888 to 1890, remaining active in civic, educational, and church affairs until his death in 1918.
Francis Marion Martin
Chatfield, TX
Born in Kentucky in 1830 and orphaned young, Francis Marion Martin led his adoptive family to Navarro County in 1853 and built a life as a horse breeder and farmer before entering politics under the wing of Sam Houston. A Confederate cavalry captain in poor health, he returned to public life after the war as a constitutional convention delegate and state senator, proudly styling himself a "farmer-senator." As the "Swamp Fox of Navarro," he championed farmers and laborers, drew significant African American support, served as lieutenant governor from 1883 to 1885, and later became a Populist leader.