The First Texas Infantry was organized in Virginia in August 1861 after ten companies, lettered A to K, that arrived from Texas were consolidated into a regiment. Two additional companies, lettered L and M, were later added to the regiment, bringing the total to twelve. Men serving in the regiment came from the Texas counties of Anderson, Cass, Cherokee, Galveston, Harrison, Houston, Marion, Nacogdoches, Newton, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, Trinity, and Tyler. The regiment's original commander was Col. Louis T. Wigfall who received a promotion to brigadier general on October 21, 1861. Wigfall's military service was brief; on February 20, 1862, he resigned to take his seat in the Confederate Congress in Richmond, Virginia. Field officers for the regiment at its mustering in were Maj. Frederick S. Bass, Maj. Harvey H. Black, Maj. Albert G. Clopton, Maj. Matt Dale, Maj. Richard J. Harding, Maj. Hugh McLeod, Maj. Alexis T. Rainey, Maj. John R. Woodward, and Lt. Col. Phillip A. Work.
This regiment was one of three from Texas that became part of Hood's Texas Brigade commanded by Gen. John Bell Hood. The First Texas Infantry was first assigned to duty in the Potomac District and became part of the Army of Northern Virginia. Attached to the Corps commanded by Gen. James Longstreet, the regiment saw extensive combat throughout the war and served primarily in Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia. Under Longstreet's command the regiment served in Georgia in September 1863, then went to Tennessee, and came back to Virginia in the spring of 1864 where it remained to war's end.
The First Texas Infantry participated in a long and impressive list of military engagements, including thirty-two major battles. Their largest engagements included Seven Pines from May 31 to June 1, 1862; the Seven Days Battles from June 25 to July 1, 1862; Second Bull Run on August 28–30, 1862; Antietam on September 17, 1862; Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862; Gettysburg on July 1–3, 1863; Chickamauga on September 19–20, 1863; the siege of Chattanooga from September to November 1863; the Wilderness on May 5–6, 1864; Spotsylvania Court House from May 8 to 21, 1864; Cold Harbor on June 1–3, 1864; and the Petersburg siege from June 1864 to April 1865. The regiment surrendered along with the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
Throughout the war the First Texas Infantry suffered heavy casualties. At the battle of Antietam the regiment lost 82 percent of its 226 troops engaged. More than 20 percent of its 426 troops were lost at the battle of Gettysburg. At the time of its surrender at Appomattox Court House the regiment had only 16 officers and 133 men. All of the men who surrendered at Appomattox Court House were paroled by the Union Army under Ulysses S. Grant and allowed to return home.
HOOD'S TEXAS BRIGADE. Hood's Texas Brigade was organized on October 22, 1861, in Richmond, Virginia. It was initially commanded by Brig. Gen. Louis T. Wigfall and composed of the First, Fourth, and Fifth Texas Infantry regiments, the only Texas troops to fight in the Eastern Theater. The First was commanded by Wigfall and Lt. Col. Hugh McLeod, the Fourth by Col. John Bell Hood and Lt. Col. John Marshall, and the Fifth by Col. James J. Archer and Lt. Jerome B. Robertson. On November 20, 1861, the Eighteenth Georgia Infantry, commanded by William T. Wofford, was attached. On June 1, 1862, eight infantry companies from Wade Hampton's South Carolina Legion, commanded by Lt. Colonel Martin W. Gary, were added, and in November 1862 the Third Arkansas Infantry, commanded by Col. Van H. Manning, joined the brigade. Both the Georgia and South Carolina units were transferred out in November 1862, but the Third Arkansas remained until the end of the war.
Wigfall resigned command of the brigade on February 20, 1862, and on March 7 Hood was promoted to brigadier general and placed in command. Because of his daring leadership the brigade became known as Hood's Texas Brigade, despite his brief service of only six months as commander. The brigade served throughout the war in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and in James Longstreet's First Corps. It participated in at least twenty-four battles in 1862, including Eltham's Landing, Gaines' Mill, Second Manassas, and Sharpsburg (Antietam). In October the Third Arkansas regiment replaced the Eighteenth Georgia and Hampton's Legion. On November 1, 1862, Brig. Gen. Jerome B. Robertson became brigade commander, and Hood was elevated to command of the division in which the Texas Brigade operated.
In April 1863 the brigade moved to North Carolina; in May it rejoined Lee's army; and on July 1, 2, and 3, it took part in the battle of Gettysburg. In Georgia the brigade fought on September 19 and 20 at Chickamauga, where Hood was wounded and forced to leave his division, ending his official connection with the brigade. In Tennessee the brigade joined in the sieges of Chattanooga and Knoxville. Gen. John Gregg became commander when the brigade returned to Virginia in February 1864. In the battle of the Wilderness, General Lee personally led the Texans in one of the charges. After Gregg was killed in October the brigade was temporarily led by Col. Clinton M. Winkler and Col. F. S. Bass. At the surrender at Appomattox on April 10, 1865, Col. Robert M. Powell commanded the brigade, Capt. W. T. Hill the Fifth regiment, Lt. Col. C. M. Winkler the Fourth, Col. F. S. Bass the First, and Lt. Col. R. S. Taylor the Third Arkansas.
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