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Mar 22, 2020
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Spring, Tx.
JOHN 'Jack' ODLE son of SAMUEL ODLE and NANCY DALTON was born on 12 Jun 1824 in Overton Co., TN. He died on 21 Jan 1913

Deceased was a member of Totten's Company of Rangers and had enough thrilling encounters with the Indians to fill a volume. He participated in the battle of Dove Creek near San Angelo, which was perhaps, one of the greatest pitched battles ever fought with the Indians in Texas, and it was fought in 1865, in the dead of winter, between a thousand or more Indian warriors armed with rifles and several hundred whites, principally Bosque county citizens similarly armed. He was also in the Confederate service and was stationed at Galveston.
 
There is no record on Fold3 for a John or Jack Odle. Ancestry has a card filed in a collection of Civil War records but it only shows Texas State service. Jack is not listed in the 1890 Veterans Census either. I'm thinking that he may have fought with CSA troops but never mustered in to a CSA unit - just a Texas unit.
 
JOHN 'Jack' ODLE son of SAMUEL ODLE and NANCY DALTON was born on 12 Jun 1824 in Overton Co., TN. He died on 21 Jan 1913

Deceased was a member of Totten's Company of Rangers and had enough thrilling encounters with the Indians to fill a volume. He participated in the battle of Dove Creek near San Angelo, which was perhaps, one of the greatest pitched battles ever fought with the Indians in Texas, and it was fought in 1865, in the dead of winter, between a thousand or more Indian warriors armed with rifles and several hundred whites, principally Bosque county citizens similarly armed. He was also in the Confederate service and was stationed at Galveston.
Yes, he had Confederate service. civilwardata.com has info from the CSMR's. J.D.Odle enlisted 0n 12/1/1863 as a first Lieutenant in the Texas 4th State Troops Cavalry, Company A. No other info provided.
 
Yes, he had Confederate service. civilwardata.com has info from the CSMR's. J.D.Odle enlisted 0n 12/1/1863 as a first Lieutenant in the Texas 4th State Troops Cavalry, Company A. No other info provided.
I could not find a middle initial for John Odle. If J D is John Odle that would be a good call. But we would have to look through records to make sure that isn't a different man.
 
Family Search has a file

Texas, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865​


According to this, under the name JD Odle, there is a service card for him on Fold3. I'm afraid that I don't use Fold3.
 
Yes, he had Confederate service. civilwardata.com has info from the CSMR's. J.D.Odle enlisted 0n 12/1/1863 as a first Lieutenant in the Texas 4th State Troops Cavalry, Company A. No other info provided.
Oops, my bad, I should have checked the census and findagrave first. Samuel Odle and wife Nancy Dalton had three sons. Jeremiah Dalton Odle, born 1822; John (no middle name) Odle, born 1824; and Carter Dalton Odle, born 1830. So the J.D.Odle of the TX 4th State Troops Cavalry, Co. A would likely have been Jeremiah. Strange that two of the sons were given the maternal surname, but not the middle one. Carter died before the WBTS, the other two after it.
 
In a lengthy article in the Clifton Record (26 Jan 1984, p. 2), a roster is given for Capt. Gouldy's Company of Texas State troops; the roster is dated 15 March 1864. It includes both J.D. Odle and John Odle. The original roster is at the Texas State Archives in Austin.
 
I also found a PDF document (Digital Texas) that included a history of Bosque County. John Odle is mentioned twice: in a roster of Capt. W.S. Gouldy's company and as a neighbor of William S. Gouldy (both men were originally from Tennessee). Mentioned several times is "Jerry Odle" who may be Jeremiah Dalton Odle.

Both this hit and the one mentioned in post #10 come up when you search Google for >"gouldy's company" "civil war" (odle)<
 
So here sits the question - we all found the same records of John Odle in the Texas State Troops. He served during the Civil War. But he wasn't ever mustered into a CSA unit that we can find a record for. Did he have Confederate service, as @Dragging Tree said he wants to clarify. I am in no way an expert on the ins and outs of this. To me - it looks like he served Texas, not the Confederacy. Not sure who to flag to ask how that would be defined by someone with a better knowledge of Texas during the CW.
 
The service record on Fold3 lists him as 1st Lt. J. D. Odle, aka J. B. Odle.

The 4th Texas Cav. State Troops was only mustered for six months, 1863-1864.

I know that you said that he served in Galveston but I'm not sure why you think that your guy was in a Texas regiment. There were at least ten other John (or J.) ODLEs in the Confederate army. When you account for phonetic spelling variations (Odell, O'Dell, Odil, etc.), there are 48 more, including these in a Texas regiment:

John Odell, PVT, Co. A,E, 1st Battalion, Texas Sharpshooters (Burnett's)
John H. Odell, PVT, Co. G, 1st Texas Cavalry (McCulloch's, 1st Mounted Riflemen)
John H. O'Dell, Co. G, 1st Texas Cavalry (Yager's, 1st Mounted Rifles)
J. M. Odell, 1LT/CAPT, Co. I, 4th Texas Cavalry (4th Mounted Volunteers)
J. M. Odell, 1LT/CAPT, Co. I, 4th Texas Cavalry (4th Mounted Volunteers)
John H. Odell, PVT, Co. A, 8th Battalion, Texas Cavalry (Taylor's Battalion, Mounted Rifles)
J. F. Odell, PVT, Co. I,K, 9th Texas Infantry (Maxey's, Young's)
John F. Odell, PVT, Co. I,K, 9th Texas Infantry (Maxey's, Young's)
John L. Odell, PVT, Co. A, 15th Texas Cavalry
J. M. Odell, PVT, Co. G, 21st Texas Cavalry (1st Texas Lancers)
J. M. Odla, PVT, Co. G, 21st Texas Cavalry (1st Texas Lancers)
J. M. Odell, 3LT, Co. ?, Currie's Company, Texas Infantry
 
On 22 Jun 1899, Mrs. M. J. Odle of Eastland Co. Texas, applied (#01197) for a pension from that state in relation to the service of her husband of J. D. Odle. She said that they were married 26 Sep 1849 in Washington, Arkansas and that he died 26 Sep 1885. So perhaps this will help to establish that he was Jeremiah. But it gets better...

Her pension file is on Ancestry.com:

The file contains typewritten answers to interrogatories, dated 9 Aug 1899, from a witness named John Odle, 75 years old (matches the birth date for your guy), of Meridian, Bosque Co., TX. He never says outright that he is the brother but he says "I was in the same company with J. D. Odle." He describes J.D.'s service as:
Screen Shot 2021-01-23 at 9.21.55 AM.png

Signed:

Screen Shot 2021-01-23 at 9.15.41 AM.png


There were no other Texas pensions for a John, Jack, or J. Odle with that spelling.

If you want the full file and don't have access to Ancestry.com, then there are a variety of ways to get it for free. Of these from my blog, the easiest under COVID may be to get a trial subscription. If you don't intend to continue it, just be sure to cancel before you're charged.
 
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Great find! That still circles back to the question I have - does service in the Texas State Troops count as CSA service?
Well, I wouldn't apply it to "Texas State Troops" in general since that term might be interpreted to include militia or state guard units which were not technically CSA soldiers. But the 4th Texas Cavalry State Troops specifically was a CSA regiment.
 
So the pension application for JD's widow could be the proof that @Dragging Tree is looking for. But then one wonders why John didn't apply himself. Of course, that doesn't prove anything - one of my gr-gr-grandfathers served and never applied.
 
So the pension application for JD's widow could be the proof that @Dragging Tree is looking for. But then one wonders why John didn't apply himself. Of course, that doesn't prove anything - one of my gr-gr-grandfathers served and never applied.
There are a lot of reasons that a soldier might not have applied, including if he deserted, was Court Martialed, didn't need the money, etc.

But the most likely reason is that he didn't qualify (or didn't live long enough to qualify). Every Confederate state had different eligibility requirement. Texas, for instance didn't offer any kind of pension to Confederate veterans until 1889 - and then only to those who were disabled (and their widows).

To qualify for a Federal pension, veterans initially had to be disabled by wound or disease as a direct result of their service. That changed in 1890 when a disability from any source would qualify as long as it prevented them from doing manual labor. And in 1907, all surviving Union veterans qualified whether or not they were disabled. The rules for widows' pensions were more complicated.
 
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