Hood’s Texas Brigade, Its Marches, Its Battles, Its Achievements

Description

From Wikipedia – The Texas Brigade was organized on October 22, 1861, primarily through the efforts of John Allen Wilcox, afterwards a member of congress from Texas, who remained as the brigade's political patron until his death in 1864. The brigade was initially and briefly under the command of Louis T. Wigfall until he took a seat in the Confederate Senate. Command was then given to John Bell Hood (hence the Texas Brigade was often known as "Hood's Brigade" or "Hood's Texas Brigade"). The brigade left Texas poorly armed and many men had no weapons at all. Others took whatever was available; this resulted in soldiers carrying almost anything that would shoot—shotguns, hunting rifles, pistols, old flintlock muskets used in the Texas Revolution, model 1841 Mississippi rifles, Colt revolving rifles, and more. At least two companies are reported to have carried model 1855 Springfield rifles, which would have been the only modern weapons in the brigade. The Texans were held in high regard thanks to the legend of the Alamo and the Texas Revolution, and the Confederate government made sure that they got the best equipment available. Most of the brigade were soon issued Enfield rifles aside from the 1st Texas Infantry, which had mostly smoothbore muskets and appear to have still been using them well into 1864. The brigade was originally assigned as part of Maj. Gen. Gustavus W. Smith's division, which was sometimes commanded by Brig. Gen. William H.C. Whiting. For much of the war, it was assigned to Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's Corps in General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. It was commanded for much of the war by Brig. Gen. Jerome B. Robertson. It initially comprised the 1st Texas, 4th Texas, 5th Texas, and 18th Georgia Regiments. After the Battle of Seven Pines, Hampton's Legion from South Carolina joined the brigade. After the general reorganization of Lee's army following the Battle of Antietam in September 1862, the Georgians and South Carolinians were reassigned to brigades from their respective states; the 3d Arkansas was added because it was the only other trans-Mississippi regiment serving with Lee's army.