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In the summer of 1861, a company was organized in Matagorda, Texas, by Dr. E. A Peareson. Feeling and enthusiasm running high, old and young volunteered. It was necessary to cull out the too old, the too young, and those physically unfit for actual service. The men refused enlistment were bitterly indignant. Indeed, one highly esteemed gentleman rejected because of age and infirmity, committed suicide.
In the early fall of the same year, the Company, called the Matagorda Coast Guards, was sent to a camp of instruction at Victoria, Texas, where it was mustered into the regular Confederate Army October 4th, 1861, as Co. D 6th Texas Infantry, by Col. Garland and Major Haskell, formerly of the U. S. Army. The 6th Texas is one of five regiments mustered into the confederate service with its proper archives preserved at Austin, and in the U. S. War Department.
There were one hundred and eight men and officers in Co. D. Capt. Peareson received a petition signed by the members of his company and the citizens of his home town, urging him to resign, come home and take professional care of the soldier's families. This he reluctantly consented to do. James Selkirk was elected Capt.; Greenberry Stewart, 1st Lt.; John F. Dale, 2nd Lt.; Philip E. Peareson, 3rd Lt.; and Arthur Bruce, ensign and color bearer.
The officers of the regiment were Col. Garland, Lt. Col. Scott Anderson, of Eagle Lake, and Major Haskell. Under these efficient officers, the 6th Texas Infantry marched from Victoria to Arkansas Post, where it became a part of the army of from three to five thousand Confederate soldiers, who under the command of Brig. Gen. Churchill fortified and defended the Post for three days against Gen. Sherman and 75,000 men, 11 gunboats and 120 transports. The transports landed a force in the rear of the confederates, surrounding them, and compelling their surrender, but not until they had killed five thousand Federals, more men than were defending the Post.
In January, 1862, the officers were sent to Johnson's Island and Camp Chase; the privates to Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois. Three of these men who were sick froze to death on the exposed deck of the boat. J. F. Holt was given a detail of Confederate soldiers with orders to bury them. Unused to the usages of war, he demanded coffins, and was told to dig a trench and throw them in it. The bodies of his dead comrades, wrapped in blankets, were reverently laid in this shallow grave. A wooden head board with his initials and the date roughly carved on it, was placed at the head of each grave. They were laid to rest on Island No. 10 in the Mississippi River, near Tiptonville, Tennessee. A loyal southerner living on the island assisted them in this melancholy duty, and promised to care for the graves.
At Camp Butler some of Company D found an unexpected friend in Robert Ludington, formerly of Matagorda. His parents came to that place soon after "Annexation." His father was a brother of Mrs. Galen Hodges. For years his maternal grandfather, Capt. Coates, was organist for Christ Church, until removed by death.
When "Bob" was about fourteen, his father and grandfather both died, and his mother returned to the north to her own people where "Bob" grew to manhood, and was conscripted into the Federal Army in New York. He was uniformly kind and considerate to the Company, especially J. F. Holt, whose mother had in happier days been his Sunday School teacher. He never failed to "give aid and comfort" to them when he could--often at some personal risk. The memory of him was the only happy one they brought from Camp Butler, where fifteen hundred Confederate soldiers died from exposure and smallpox.
In April the survivors were sent to City Point, Virginia where they were exchanged and consolidated. The command consisting of the 6th, 7th, 10th, 15th, 18, 22nd, 24th and 28th regiments were sent to Petersburg, Virginia, where temporary officers were elected and where J. F. Holt was put in command of Co. D.
From Petersburg the Brigade was
sent to garrison Richmond during the battle of Chancellorsville, and
where it prevented the capture of the city by Gen. Stoneman on May
4th. The officers who had now been exchanged rejoined their
companies. John F. Dale had contracted chronic dysentery at Camp Chase; he was first sent to a field hospital, from which he was furloughed home and died in a few weeks after his return.
J. F. Holt was commissioned 3rd Lt.
and took his place. The officers served with their regiment and
companies during the entire war, and when the army of Tennessee was
surrendered by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston at Raleigh, North Carolina,
April 19th, 1865, to Gen. Tecumseh Sherman, there were only fifteen
men fit for active service in Co. D. In the summer campaign of 1862, Gen. Braxton Bragg, of the army of Tennessee, asked for a brigade of Texas infantry; and under Brig. Gen. Deschler a brigade composed of Garland's Gillespies, R. Q. Mills, Wilkes, Major Phillips and three other regiments were sent him and formed the famous Granberry's [Granbury's] Brigade, which was to the Army of Tennessee, what Hood's immortal brigade was to the Army of Virginia.
When Gen. Joseph E. Johnston was reviewing the troops after the hard fought battle of New Hope Church, he took off his hat to Granberry's [Granbury's] Brigade and kept his head bared until they had passed, in acknowledgement of their gallant charge which had turned a threatened defeat into a victory for the Confederate Army. Granberry's [Granbury's] Brigade was in the battles of Wartrace, Fura, Corinth, Chattanooga, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Altoona, Lookout Mountain, Franklin, Atlanta, Murfreesboro and Jonesborough, and may skirmishes.
At Jonesboro July 22nd, 1864, J. F. Holt's right arm was shattered by a minnie ball, just below the shoulder. Chris Zipprian carried him off the battlefield. In a field hospital his arm was operated on, a portion of the bone above and below the wound was sawed off in such a manner as to resect or splice the bone. This was done without anesthetics. The U. S. government had made Quinine contraband of war. When the supply in the south had been exhausted it was with the greatest difficulty that even a small quantity could be obtained from the limited amount smuggled into the south, or brought in on blockade runners. From the field hospital he was sent to Alabama. He was furloughed home in December, 1864 and reached Matagorda January 1st, 1865. In the early summer of this year his arm was again operated on by the surgeon of the Federal troops stationed in Matagorda, assisted by Dr. J. T. Fry. In December, 1865, he went to New Orleans to Dr. Warren Stone, the most eminent surgeon of the south, who successfully operated on his arm. In three months he returned home with it thoroughly healed. It was shorter than the other arm, and never very strong. It gave him no more trouble. He lived to advanced age of 84, happy in a devoted family and rejoicing in his great grandchildren, and passed peacefully away March 31st 1921, respected by the entire community for his uprightness, and loved by many for the sweetness of his character, in the County where for 72 years he had lived an unblemished life.
In 1865 two companies of Negro soldiers, officered by white men, were stationed in Matagorda. They were noisy and disposed to be insolent. Those who came in contact with Major Rand and other officers testified to their being gentlemen, but the public at large refused "to be convinced against its will," and sandwiched them between overseers and "slave drivers," men who bought and sold slaves as an occupation, regarded with disgust, but tolerated as a necessary evil in the south. In passing them on the side-walks ladies (whose fathers, husbands brothers and sweethearts had fought, bled and some of them died for their country) would draw their skirts closer and hold handkerchiefs to their noses as if the Yankee officers smelt to Heaven; others more dignified would severely ignore them, pass by with unseeing eyes, heads held high. This may seem silly now, but at that time Sherman's March to the Sea, and that contemptible little minded Miles' gratuitous insults to and shackling of President Davis was fresh in their minds. They hated the Yankees bitterly and generously, and the bitter years of reconstruction that followed the close of the war vindicated and justified them.
Members of Co. D. were often detailed on outside service for short periods of time. E. J. Inglehart, who was wounded in three battles was employed as a dispatch bearer to Gen. Bedford Forest. Wm. Dunbar often did duty as a scout, and sometimes penetrated a Yankee camp and brought timely information. Gid Wilkerson, the youngest (only 16) and the smallest soldier of them all, who when being examined for enlistment had to tip-toe to get his ramrod into his gun, became an expert sharpshooter; on one occasion when the two armies were opposite each other, behind breastworks and supposedly out of range, a yankee soldier would jump on a parapet, yell and wave defiance at the "Rebels." A soldier in Co. D, infuriated by his insolence shouted, "Damn that Yank, I'll bet you can't pick him off Gid."
Gid raised his rifle and saying, "I'll scare him anyhow," fired, the Yankee sprang in the air, crumpled and fell outside their breastworks. Well he asked for it, said Gid as they watched his comrades carry his body inside their trenches.
From 1864 until the surrender of the Confederate army at Appomattox, Lt. Philip E. Peareson served as aide on Granberry's [Granbury's] staff with the rank of Captain.
There are not many of Co. D left, some rest in Arkansas, in Mississippi, in Georgia and Tennessee battlefields, and a few came home and lived to an old age. There are three in Matagorda now John Phillips, Wm. Dunbar and Chris Zipprian, aged white men, waiting their last roll call.
October 24th 1925 |
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Matagorda Cemetery |
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In the 6th Texas Regiment in the Battles of Missionary Ridge, near Ringgold, Ga., on the 27th November, 1863. Company D, Captain James Selkirk commanding.
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Of the 6th and 15th Texas Regiments, at Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee.
November 29th:
November 30th:
Galveston Daily News, March 4, 1865 |
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Certificate of Mustering Officer.
I Certify, on Honor, That I have carefully
examined the men whose names are borne on this Roll, their horses
and equipments, and have accepted them into the service of the
Confederate States for the term of ___ |
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