SIBLEY-GREEN-BAGBY BRIGADE
Fourth Texas Cavalry
Fifth Texas Cavalry
Seventh Texas Cavalry
The three Texas regiments that made up the old Sibley Brigade took part in extensive campaigning in both New Mexico and Louisiana. These three regiments, known originally as the Fourth, Fifth, and Seventh Texas Mounted Volunteers, were recruited in the late summer of 1861 by Brig. Gen. Henry Hopkins Sibley. A native of Louisiana, Sibley was a West Point graduate and veteran soldier, having served in the Seminole and Mexican wars, on the Kansas frontier, and more recently in campaigns against the Navajo in New Mexico. He resigned his commission as an officer in the U.S. Army in May 1861 and accepted service with the Confederates.
In late June 1861 Sibley journeyed to Richmond, Virginia, where he outlined his plans for securing New Mexico for the Confederacy. On July 5 he was commissioned brigadier general with instructions to proceed to Texas, where he would recruit troops for the purpose of driving Federal forces from New Mexico.
Sibley returned to San Antonio and immediately set about raising troops. Already several companies of the Second Texas Mounted Rifles under the command of Lt. Col. John R. Baylor had occupied the southern portion of New Mexico. After capturing the Union garrison at Fort Fillmore, Baylor issued a proclamation creating the Confederate Territory of Arizona, assumed power as civil governor, and established his capital at Mesilla.
By early October, Sibley had recruited thirty companies which were organized into three cavalry regiments. The Fourth Texas Mounted Volunteers or Fourth Texas Cavalry as it was officially known, was commanded by Col. James Reily, a native of Ohio who had settled in Texas shortly after independence. Reily had experience as a soldier, diplomat, and politician. Sibley would later send Reily, on a diplomatic mission to the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora. As a result, direction of the regiment in the New Mexico campaign fell upon Reily's second-in-command, Lt. Col. William R. Scurry, a Texas lawyer-soldier-poet, who had served in the Army of the Texas Republic and the Mexican War. A colorful orator, Scurry earned the sobriquet "Dirty Shirt" because of the grimy garments he wore while touring the state speaking for secession in 1861. Henry W. Raguet, a thirty-five-year-old native of Nacogdoches, was named major of the regiment.
James Reily and William R. Scurry
Tom Green, a veteran of San Jacinto, Indian wars, and the Mexican War, was appointed colonel of the Fifth Texas Cavalry. Historian Donald Frazier noted that "of all the officers in the brigade, Green had the greatest reputation." Modest and unassuming, with a boyish personal appearance, Green was immensely popular and affectionately called "Daddy" by his troops. Henry C. McNeill, a native Mississippian and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, was named lieutenant colonel of the Fifth Texas. McNeill, who served with the U.S. Army in New Mexico in the late 1850s, accompanied Sibley to Richmond in 1861. Samuel "Nicaragua" Lockridge, a filibuster, soldier of fortune, and Knight of the Golden Circle, was appointed major.
The Seventh Texas Cavalry, last of the Sibley regiments to be organized, was commanded by New York native and West Point graduate William Steele. A professional soldier and veteran with twenty years of service with the U.S. Army in Florida, Mexico, and the Southwest, Steele was one of the most experienced officers in the Confederate army. His second-in-command, John Schuyler Sutton, was also a native New Yorker who moved to Texas in the closing days of the Texas Revolution. An officer in the Army of the Republic, he took part in the Santa Fe Expedition and spent several months in a Mexican prison. Arthur Pendleton Bagby, Jr., an 1852 graduate of West Point and lawyer from Gonzales, was named major of the Seventh Texas.
Each company of the regiment was supposed to consist of one hundred men, but muster rolls reveal that most companies had between seventy and eighty men. The majority of the recruits came from South Central and East Texas, but a few volunteers were from frontier counties such as Palo Pinto, Parker, and Tarrant. Donald Frazier pointed out that most of the troopers were young men who had not yet established themselves in a fixed occupation. Few owned real estate or slaves, and only one-fourth of them were married. The average age of the volunteers was twenty-four.
After a brief period of training along Salado Creek, Sibley's Brigade began its march to New Mexico. Because of the shortages of water and grass along the route, Sibley started his regiments at different dates. Each regiment was divided into smaller groups which departed on different days. Reily's Fourth Texas was the first to be under way, followed a week later by the Fifth Regiment. The first of Steele's Seventh Texas did not depart until November 18, and the last company moved out of San Antonio on December 15.
The march to El Paso was difficult. Bad weather, disease, Indian raids, and poor rations made the journey unpleasant for most of the Texans. Sibley, who traveled light, reached El Paso ahead of his troops on December 13. He immediately assumed command of all Confederate forces in El Paso, New Mexico, and Arizona. John R. Baylor continued to function as governor of Arizona Territory, but the troops formerly under his command were placed under Sibley. Several days later Sibley issued a proclamation addressed to the people of New Mexico in which he declared that he and his army (now designated as the Army of New Mexico) came not as conquerors but as liberators. Sibley moved his army into New Mexico in early January and occupied the Confederate capital at Mesilla. After dispatching Col. James Reily on a diplomatic mission to northern Mexico and leaving Colonel Steele and several companies of the Seventh Texas behind, Sibley moved the Army of New Mexico north toward Fort Craig, a Union outpost on the west side of the Rio Grande defended by Col. Edward R. S. Canby and more than 3,000 Union troops. Canby, a classmate of Sibley at West Point, was a steady, veteran officer who carefully prepared Fort Craig to withstand an enemy attack.
Sibley hoped to draw Canby and his soldiers into the open, where the mobile Confederates might have an advantage. When this failed, Sibley ordered his troops to cross to the east bank of the Rio Grande, move north, and then swing back across the river at Valverde (Green Valley) ford five miles north of Fort Craig.
When the Texans attempted to cross on the morning of February 21, they encountered heavy enemy opposition. Fighting went on throughout the day. About 1:00 in the afternoon, Sibley, who had kidney problems and was drinking heavily to ease the pain, became so ill that he relinquished command to Tom Green and retired to an ambulance in the rear. The fighting, highlighted by a futile attack by two lancer companies [actually only one company, Co. B] of the Fifth Texas, continued through the afternoon. Union artillery commanded by Capt. Alexander McRae took a heavy toll on the Texans, but a charge by Confederates on the right broke through the Federal lines, overran and captured McRae's battery, and drove the enemy back toward Fort Craig. Exhaustion, confusion over a Union flag of truce, and darkness prevented the Confederates from capturing the fort.
Historian Frazier noted that Valverde, "while impressive in its intensity, had been a hollow conquest." The Confederates had driven the enemy from the field, but Canby still held Fort Craig and the Texans were runnning low on commissary supplies. Nearly 200 of the 1,750 Confederates in the battle were casualties. Thirty-six Texans were killed, including Lt. Col. John Sutton of the Seventh Texas and Maj. Sam Lockridge of the Fifth Texas Losses were heaviest in the Fifth Texas: twenty killed and sixty-seven wounded. Scurry's Fourth Texas had eight killed and thirty-six wounded.
Sibley resumed command after the battle. Since Canby still held Fort Craig, Sibley decided to push north toward Albuquerque and Santa Fe, where he hoped to find supplies. The march was slow as there was a shortage of horses and mules. In an effort to increase efficiency of the brigade, Scurry convinced the men of the Fourth Texas who still had horses to turn them over to the quartermaster for redistribution as replacements for the two better mounted regiments. The men complied but not without a good bit of grumbling and complaining. The capture of supplies near Socorro improved morale but only temporarily.
Arrival in Albuquerque brought some relief, and after a brief pause Sibley's men continued on to Santa Fe. When they entered the city, however, they found that most of the stores had been destroyed or taken to Fort Union, about eighty-five miles to the northeast.
In the belief that the capture of Fort Union, an important supply depot on the Santa Fe Trail, would force Canby to surrender Fort Craig, Sibley sent a battalion of the Second Mounted Volunteers (previously under John R Baylor's command), four companies of the Fifth Texas, a battalion of the Seventh Texas, and the Fourth Texas Regiment toward Fort Union. When the advanced elements of the Confederate force (consisting of the battalion from the Second Texas and the four companies from the Fifth Texas) moved through Apache Canyon at the western end of Glorieta Pass, they encountered a column of Colorado volunteers led by Maj. John M. Chivington, a Methodist minister. Although the opposing forces, each with about 400 men, were equal in size, the Confederates, commanded by Maj. Charles Pyron of the Second Texas, were driven back in bitter fighting. Casualties in killed and wounded were light, but seventy-one Texans were captured. Chivington, however, unsure of the size of the Confederate force, pulled his troops back to Pigeon's Ranch on the eastern slope of the mountains. The Texans fell back to Johnson s Ranch at the opposite end of the canyon.
Late that afternoon Major Pyron sent a message to Lieutenant Colonel Scurry, who was with his Fourth Texas Regiment and the battalion of the Seventh Texas fifteen miles to the south, requesting support. Scurry quickly moved his troops during the night to join Pyron at Johnson's Ranch. After resting his men on March 27, Scurry now in command of the combined Confederate forces moved troops through Apache Canyon to attack the Union forces, which had also been reinforced by troops commanded by Col. John P. Slough, at Pigeon's Ranch. In the battle for control of Glorieta Pass, Scurry's Texans drove Slough's troops away from Pigeon's Ranch. Although forty-eight Texans, including Maj. Henry Raguet of the Fourth Texas, Maj. John S. Shropshire of the Fifth Texas, and Capt. Charles Buckholts of the Fourth Texas, were killed or mortally wounded, the Confederates won a tactical victory.
Unfortunately for the Confederates, while the battle raged at Pigeon's Ranch, Major Chivington and 400 Union troops moved through the mountains and swung around the Rebel lines. They drove away the small force that Scurry had left at Johnston's Ranch to guard the supply train and destroyed eighty wagons containing the Confederate food, forage, ammunition, and medical supplies.
The loss of the Confederate supply train was a major blow. Short of food and ammunition, Scurry withdrew to Santa Fe to join the rest of the brigade. At first, General Sibley believed he could continue the campaign; however, reports that additional Union troops were coming from California convinced him that a retreat was necessary.
The Confederates began their withdrawal from Santa Fe on April 8. After a brief pause at Albuquerque, the retreat resumed on April 12. Scurry's Fourth Cavalry and men of the Seventh Texas forded the Rio Grande to the west side. Green's Fifth Texas and Pyron's Second Cavalry Battalion, acting as the army's rear guard, followed on the east side of the river. After a clash at Peralta with part of Canby's troops from Fort Craig, Sibley decided to bypass Craig by moving west of the Rio Grande through the mountains and returning to the river south of the fort. The detour took the Texans through a wilderness of mountains, brush, and undergrowth. The lack of adequate food, water, and medicine, the difficult terrain, and the cold weather decimated the Texans. When the brigade reached El Paso in May, morale was completely shattered.
The troops in Pyron's Second Battalion, whose one-year enlistments had expired, headed back to San Antonio in late May. The next month Sibley's regiments left El Paso for the long journey across West Texas. The Fourth Texas led the retreat, followed several days later by the Fifth Texas and four companies of the Seventh Texas. Col. William Steele and the rest of the Seventh Texas brought up the rear. The march across West Texas was, according to historian Jerry D. Thompson, "a monumental ordeal." Lack of water, attacks by Apaches, poor roads, and extreme heat made the journey almost unbearable. In July the lead units of the Fourth Texas began arriving in San Antonio. The dream of conquest of New Mexico and Arizona had come to an end.
The exact number of casualties in the Texas regiments during this campaign is not known. Historian Martin H. Hall, who wrote two books and several articles describing the New Mexico campaign, estimated that 400 Texans lost their lives because of battle or disease and that another 500 men were stragglers, deserters, or prisoners by the time the brigade reached El Paso. Others died or were killed on the retreat through West Texas. By the time the last units reached San Antonio in late summer, only half of the members of the brigade that marched into New Mexico were still with their regiments.
As Sibley brought his weary troops back to Texas, he found himself facing criticism for his conduct. Much of this derived from soldiers' complaints that he had drunk excessively or had not demonstrated bravery at Valverde. More serious were charges preferred against Sibley by Capt. Alfred S. Thurmond, a veteran soldier in the Seventh Cavalry. Thurmond charged that Sibley was drunk on three occasions, had abandoned sick and wounded soldiers, had exhibited cowardice, and had misappropriated items for his personal benefit. In order to answer the charges Sibley proceeded to Richmond, Virginia. Although President Davis, who still had confidence in Sibley, dismissed the charges against him, Sibley's reputation as a soldier had been seriously damaged. While Sibley was in Richmond the brigade was under the temporary command of Col. James Reily of the Fourth Texas. Reily sent the men on furlough pending further instructions. On two different occasions orders were issued transferring the brigade out of Texas, but on both occasions the orders were canceled due to threats of Union operations against Texas. In December the brigade members were ordered to report back to their regiments at camp near Hempstead.
Once back on duty the veterans of the New Mexico campaign, along with new recruits in the regiments, soon found themselves involved in Confederate efforts to recapture Galveston. The island had been under Union control since October 8, when a Union naval force commanded by Commodore William Renshaw seized the city. The newly appointed Confederate commander of Texas, Maj. Gen John B. Magruder, was determined to retake Galveston. In early December he began assembling troops for the reconquest. The three regiments of the Sibley Brigade were moved by train to Houston in anticipation of the attack. Tom Green, commander of the Fifth Cavalry, and Arthur P. Bagby, now commanding the Seventh Cavalry, volunteered to provide troops from their regiments to serve as marksmen on the two small cotton-clad gunboats,
Bayou City and
Neptune, that Magruder planned to use in the assault on Galveston.
The cottonclads, Bayou City and Neptune, with tenders, Lady Gwinn and John F. Carr, making their way from Harrisburg down Buffalo Bayou en route to Galveston Bay
The Confederate effort to retake Galveston began in the early morning hours of January 1, 1863. While Federal troops on the island slept after an evening of celebration, Magruder and William R. Scurry, who had been promoted to brigadier general as a result of his New Mexico service, led Confederate troops from Virginia Point on the mainland across the railroad bridge to the island. Among the Confederates were men of the Fourth Texas Cavalry commanded by Col. James Reily and companies of the Fifth and Seventh cavalries led by Lt Col. Henry C. McNeill and Maj. Gustavus Hoffman. Under the cover of darkness the Confederates moved quietly down Broadway to the center of town. Scurry divided his forces: one group would attack Union troops quartered on Kuhn's Wharf; another took positions along the Strand; and men of the Sibley Brigade, serving as the reserve, assembled near the U.S. customshouse at Twentieth and Post Office streets.
Shortly before dawn, Confederate artillery opened fire upon the Union troops along the waterfront. Union gunboats moored in the harbor returned the fire in a heavy artillery exchange. Meanwhile, about 500 Confederate troops led by Col. Joseph J. Cook attempted to storm Union positions at Kuhn's Wharf. Fire from the Union gunboats was so intense, however, that Cook was forced to withdraw his troops to the safety of nearby buildings.
Just as the Confederate attack at Kuhn's Wharf was failing, the two Confederate vessels
Bayou City and
Neptune came steaming into the harbor. One hundred fifty volunteers from the Fifth Texas commanded by Tom Green were on board
Bayou City, and one hundred men of the Seventh Texas commanded by Arthur P. Bagby were on
Neptune. As the two Confederate gunboats closed quickly with the enemy warship
Harriet Lane, Green's and Bagby's cavalrymen, now playing the role of sharpshooters, leveled a steady fire, forcing Union seamen below deck. When
Bayou City managed to ram the
Lane, locking the vessels together, Green's men, now acting as marines, stormed aboard the enemy vessel. In a few minutes the crew of
Harriet Lane surrendered.
Another Union gunboat,
Owasco, attempted to aid the
Lane, but fire from Green's sharpshooters forced Owasco to pull away. Meanwhile, another Union vessel,
Westfield, ran aground and was scuttled by her captain, who was killed in the explosion. The ranking Union naval officer in the area, believing the Confederates were much stronger than they actually were, ordered other Union warships to withdraw from the harbor. Without naval gunfire to support them, the Union troops along the waterfront quickly surrendered to General Scurry. Galveston was once again in Confederate hands.
The recapture of Galveston was hailed as a great Confederate victory. President Davis praised General Magruder for his achievement. Magruder, in turn, commended both Tom Green and Arthur P. Bagby for their roles in the victory. There was some criticism of Colonel Reily's handling of his regiment in the battle, but on the whole the men of the Sibley Brigade came out of the affair with their enhanced reputations as soldiers.
Bringing the