C. S. A. Texas Muster
Center, Shelby County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Held on this spot April 4, 1964, to honor Texans who made up the greater part of forces fighting in the Civil War Red River Campaign of 1864-1865, that prevented a Federal invasion of Texas. Descendants answering to roll call for soldiers of 100 years ago included 37 sons and daughters of those fighters. Grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other kinsmen represented such leaders as the Trans-Mississippi commander, Gen. E. Kirby Smith, and Gens. A. P. Bagby, John R. Baylor, August Buchel, X. B. deBray, Tom Green, Walter P. Lane, Henry E. McCulloch, Jas. Major, Horace Randal, Wm. R. Scurry, Wm. Steele, John G. Walker, and Thos. Waul; and Cols. Henry Gray, Philip N. Luckett and P. C. Wood. Friends and descendants of the Val Verde Battery restored one century-old gun and brought it from Freestone County to ride in the 8-mile-long parade that moved 36 miles northeastward from here to the Mansfield Battleground. There the cannon shook the earth as it did April 8, 1864, and the assemblage unveiled the first out-of-state marker of the Texas Civil War Centennial, commemorating the Battle of Mansfield.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On April 4, 1964, descendants of Confederate soldiers gathered here to open the Texas Civil War Centennial with a living roll call, answering for fathers and grandfathers who had fought a century before. The men honored had served in the Red River Campaign of 1864–65, the Confederate effort that turned back a Union push up the Red River toward Texas. A restored Val Verde Battery cannon was hauled to ride in an eight-mile parade northeast to the Mansfield Battleground, where it fired again and the assembly unveiled the first out-of-state marker of the centennial.
Why it matters
It captures how Texans a hundred years on chose to remember the Confederacy and the war's reach into the Trans-Mississippi West, a window on both Civil War history and mid-20th-century memory of it.
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Related people
- · E. Kirby Smith
- · Walter P. Lane
- · Tom Green
Related events
- · Red River Campaign
- · Battle of Mansfield
- · Texas Civil War Centennial
Themes & tags
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