General Tom Green: a great cavalry commander?

[Stryker65]

Thomas Green was an artillerist during the Texas Revolution and a Texas Ranger during the Mexican War; at the beginning of the Civil War, he became the colonel of the Fifth Texas Cavalry, which fought at Valverde under Henry H. Sibley. After Sibley's relief due to drunkenness, Green became the new commander of the brigade. When the brigade was transferred to Louisiana, Green (working in tandem with Alfred Mouton) ably defended the Teche region for two entire years.

At the time of the Red River Campaign, Green had become commander of the Texas cavalry corps, comprising eighteen regiments of Texans. His death at Blair's Landing was a major blow to Confederate morale; none of his successors (H. P. Bee, A. P. Bagby, J. A. Wharton, William Steele) ever lived up to his success.

Anybody have opinions on Tom Green? I would say that he was the best cavalry commander of the Trans-Mississippi theater. Cavalry in the traditional sense, that is -- too many T-MS Confederate cavalrymen were raiders.

 

[RedRover]

General Richard Taylor observed...

Blessington, in his history of Walker's Texas Division, recalled...

 

[bayouace]

I believe him to be the finest cavalry commander in Louisiana. Sometimes he became too bold when he imbibed a bit. i think that was the case at Blair's Landing, but I could be mistaken. D.D. Porter, commanding the Union gunboats there said, "He was worth 5,000 men to them." Certainly at Stirling Plantation and Bayou Beaubois he was decisive.

 

[bayouace]

Sorry, Bayou Bourbeux. ^^^

 

[7th Texas Mounted Rifles]

Thomas Green was an artillerist during the Texas Revolution and a Texas Ranger during the Mexican War; at the beginning of the Civil War, he became the colonel of the Fifth Texas Cavalry, which fought at Valverde under Henry H. Sibley. After Sibley's relief due to drunkenness, Green became the new commander of the brigade. When the brigade was transferred to Louisiana, Green (working in tandem with Alfred Mouton) ably defended the Teche region for two entire years.

At the time of the Red River Campaign, Green had become commander of the Texas cavalry corps, comprising eighteen regiments of Texans. His death at Blair's Landing was a major blow to Confederate morale; none of his successors (H. P. Bee, A. P. Bagby, J. A. Wharton, William Steele) ever lived up to his success.

Anybody have opinions on Tom Green? I would say that he was the best cavalry commander of the Trans-Mississippi theater. Cavalry in the traditional sense, that is -- too many T-MS Confederate cavalrymen were raiders.

I believe that only the uninformed would argue otherwise, and that Tom Green was the best cavalry commander this side of the Mississippi.

But please - please - don't be so quick to discount guys like A.P. Bagby.

The cavalry of the 'Old Army of New Mexico' were renowned as some of the best in the confederate army - and not just because of Green.

Bagby, Scurry, Wharton and numerous others - they just didn't have that Texas Revolution fame, or high profile battlefields… but these guys were so multifaceted with the taskings they received and the adaptability they displayed.

Texans in the saddle (or fighting dismounted) were a formidable force, for sure.