Colonel T. S. Lubbock and Texas in the Civil War
Lubbock, Lubbock County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1817-1862) South Carolinian. Came to Texas 1835. Indian fighter, soldier, businessman. Member Secession Convention. Went to Virginia hoping to fight for South in first battle of war. Commended for valuable volunteer service as scout and reporting enemy troop positions in First Battle of Manassas. Sent to Texas to raise regiment for Army of Virginia. Upon organization, the 8th Texas Cavalry- famed Terry's Rangers- elected him Lieutenant Colonel. Went to Kentucky. When Terry was killed, Rangers unanimously elected him Colonel. Ill with typhoid fever, he died soon after. Buried Glenwood Cemetery, Houston. Texas in the Civil War 1861-1865 -- Texas made an all-out effort for the Confederacy after a 3 to 1 popular vote for secession. 90,000 troops, famed for mobility and daring, fought on every battlefront. A 2,000 mile frontier and coast were successfully defended from Union troop invasion and savage Indians. Texas was the storehouse of Western Confederacy. Wagon trains laden with cotton- life blood of the South- crossed the state to Mexico to trade for medical supplies, clothing, military supplies. State and private industry produced guns, ammunition, wagons, pots, kettles, leather goods, salt, hospital supplies. Wives, sons, daughters, slaves provided corn, cotton, cloth, cattle, hogs, cured meats to the Army, giving much, keeping little for themselves. Erected by the State of Texas 1964.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Thomas S. Lubbock, for whom the city and county are named, came to Texas in 1835 and lived a frontier life as Indian fighter, soldier, and businessman before the Civil War called him east. He won commendation as a scout at First Manassas, then helped raise the 8th Texas Cavalry—the legendary Terry's Texas Rangers—rising to colonel before typhoid fever took him in 1862. The marker pairs his story with Texas's broader Confederate war effort, from cotton wagon trains to Mexico to home-front production by families and enslaved people.
Why it matters
Texas's all-in commitment to the Confederacy—90,000 troops and a vast supply economy—made it the storehouse of the western South, and figures like Lubbock personify the state's Civil War identity.
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Related people
- · Thomas S. Lubbock
- · Benjamin Franklin Terry
Related events
- · First Battle of Manassas
- · Texas Secession Convention
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Lubbock County
Lubbock, TX
Created in 1876 and organized in 1891, Lubbock County honors Colonel Thomas S. Lubbock (1817-1862), a soldier of the Texas Revolution and Republic. Lubbock marched with the New Orleans Greys at the storming of Bexar, joined the ill-fated Santa Fe and Somervell expeditions, and in 1861 helped organize the famous Terry's Texas Rangers before his death. The county he named became the anchor of the South Plains.
Terry County
Brownfield, TX
Carved from Young and Bexar territories and created in 1876, Terry County was not formally organized until 1904, when settlers finally arrived in numbers to work its farmland. It honors Colonel Benjamin Franklin Terry, the planter who raised the celebrated Terry's Texas Rangers cavalry regiment and fell early in the Civil War in 1861. Brownfield became its county seat at the heart of this farming country.
High Plains Pioneer Henry Clay Smith
Crosbyton, TX
Henry Clay Smith was a true High Plains pioneer — the first to open a post office, farm, break land, and drill a water well in Crosby County. When the Civil War began he was mining at Pinos Altos, New Mexico, and joined efforts to seize the gold and silver mines for the Confederacy until Indian raids and the Confederate withdrawal in 1861 closed them down. He served four years for the South and spent the rest of his life on the plains, building a rock house in 1877 now replicated in a Crosbyton museum.
Colonel B. F. Terry and Terry's Texas Rangers
Brownfield, TX
A Kentucky-born Texan and secession delegate, Colonel B. F. Terry raised the cavalry regiment that won fame as Terry's Texas Rangers, the 8th Texas Cavalry. He accepted command only when his men elected him, then fell leading their very first charge at Woodsonville, Kentucky. His Rangers carried his name to the war's end, earning a reputation as reckless horsemen and marksmen at Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, and their final charge at Bentonville.