https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_N._Luckett
Following the bombardment of
Fort Sumter in
SC, Dr. Luckett was appointed as the
QM Gen of the newly organized CS forces in Texas. He served on the staff of the cdr of the Dept of Texas,
Earl Van Dorn. He rode northward from his Corpus Christi home on a recruiting expedition, seeking volunteers to travel to designated recruiting camps in Austin & San Antonio. By May, his efforts were paying off, & hundreds of men had signed up for CS service thanks to Luckett's efforts.
In the autumn of 1861, Luckett was elected as
Col of the recently raised 3rd Texas Infy, a
Regt he helped raise during his recruiting trip. Luckett & his 648 men were initially assigned to Col Ford's Western Sub district of Texas & encamped along the
Rio Grande for several months, starting in Dec.
[3]
Beginning in Oct 1862, Luckett & the 3rd Texas garrisoned a number of widely scattered posts from
Fort Brown to
Laredo. After spending the winter on the
frontier manning a defensive line near the
Brazos River just southwest of
Houston, the 3rd Texas moved from
Brownsville to
Galveston, arriving in the coastal town on July 12, 1863. Within a few weeks, Luckett received a
brevet promotion to
Brig Gen. By early August, he was back in Brownsville, having succeeded Rip Ford as sub district cdr.
Luckett's men were reassigned in April 1864 to the front lines, serving in the
Bgde of Gen.
William R. Scurry of
Walker's Texas Div during the
Red River Campaign. During the
Camden Expedition, Luckett's Regt participated in the climactic
Battle of Jenkins' Ferry, where Walker's "Greyhounds" helped repulse a Federal force under Gen
Frederick Steele. Luckett assumed command of the Bgde following Scurry's death & led it for the balance of the year. However, a combination of illness & detached duty kept Luckett from any further front line duty as the war waned in early 1865. He served as a judge on the court of inquiry into
Sterling Price's disastrous
Missouri Raid.
3RD TEXAS INFY Col.
Philip N. Luckett organized the 3rd Texas Infy into CS service in the summer of 1861. The men of the 3rd came largely from Central Texas, specifically Bexar, Gillespie, San Patricio, & Travis counties. As these counties were heavily populated with recent German immigrants & persons of Mexican descent, a large number of the Regt's men were foreign-born. Luckett, who served as the 3rd's cdr for much of the war, had been a surgeon in
John "Rip" Ford's company of
Texas Rangers. Prior to the war, Luckett was the representative for Nueces & Webb counties at the Texas
Secession Convention. His field officers included
Augustus Buchel,
Edward F. Gray, &
John H. Kampmann.
The 3rd Texas Infy saw little action during the course of the war. This was due to the Regt's assignment to the relatively peaceful Dept of Texas from 1861 until March 1864. They began their duty in San Antonio from 1861 through 1862. In January 1863 the Regt proceeded to Brownsville where they protected cotton shipments & guarded against raids from Mexico. On May 14, the Regt left Brownsville for Galveston. In a stop at Houston, the city's residents remarked that the 3rd was "the best drilled Regt in the state."
The close proximity of these posts to Mexico afforded an opportunity for Spanish-speaking soldiers to desert with little fear of being apprehended.
In March 1864 the 3rd was reassigned to the District of Ark as part of
William R. Scurry's Bgde in
Walker's Texas Div. Stationed along the lower Brazos & San Bernard Rivers, the 3rd occupied much of its time firing at Union gunboats along the rivers. The Regt participated in the
Red River campaign & fought in the battle of Jenkins Ferry on April 30, 1864. This appears to have been the only combat the Regt saw during the war.
Near the end of the war, the 3rd was ordered to Hempstead, Texas, where the Regt was disbanded, & the troops returned to their homes. Gen
Edmund Kirby Smith officially surrendered the Regt at Galveston on May 26, 1865.
Throughout the war morale was low, men verged on mutiny, & desertion was frequent. In 1861 alone, fourteen soldiers of one company crossed into Mexico. Many CS soldiers distrusted Germans because of sympathy for the Union & opposition to
slavery in the Texas Hill Country. Those of Mexican descent were targeted as being seditious & lazy, however many Mexican soldiers served with bravery—including Kentuckian Manuel Yturri, who rose to the rank of Capt during the war.
Col Luckett, who was promoted to Brig Gen in 1863, fled to Mexico at the end of the war & returned only to die in 1869. In addition to Luckett, a number of prominent individuals served in the 3rd Infy. Augustus Buchel, a Lt Col in the 3rd, was a Hessian soldier who fought in the Carlist War in Spain & was knighted by Queen Maria Christina for his bravery in battle. He fought in the Turkish army & served in the
Mexican War after arriving in Texas in 1845. He died while attached to a different Regt at Pleasant Hill. 2nd Lt William Neale was a mayor of Brownsville before the war & was reelected to this position shortly after returning from service in the 3rd. Other prominent members of the Regt included banker & rancher
Charles Armand Schreiner & Presbyterian minister
Hiram Chamberlain.
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