Recommended reading for Texas units

[BShajari]

Pards,

For those of you who want to know more about Texas units in the Civil War, I would highly recommend Dr. Ralph Wooster's books. He's a history professor at my alma matar and I had him for several Civil War classes in my undergraduate days at Lamar University in Beaumont, TX. He's written several books on this topic and I think that his works are a great resource that not too many people know about.

So far, I've read these books: "Lone Star Regiments In Gray", "Texas and Texans in the Civil War", and "Lone Star Generals in Gray".

If you are in a Texas unit, want to have a Texas unit impression, or just want to know more about the Lone Star State's contribution to the Confederacy, I would highly recommend these books.

Brian

[Annette Bethke]

Re: Recommended reading for Texas units

I have a bibliography of books on Texas at http://www.txcwcivilian.org/id88.html; many of Dr. Wooster's books are there.

[BShajari]

Re: Recommended reading for Texas units

Annette,

Thanks for sharing this link!! I've known Dr. Wooster for many years now and have always enjoyed his classes. You may also want to add Cotham's book on the Battle of Sabine Pass..."Sabine Pass: the Confederacy's Thermopylae".

[J.H. Moore]

Re: Recommended reading for Texas units

Annette,

Thanks for sharing this link!! I've known Dr. Wooster for many years now and have always enjoyed his classes. You may also want to add Cotham's book on the Battle of Sabine Pass..."Sabine Pass: the Confederacy's Thermopylae".

Dick Dowling, yes sir! What a small world! I was born and raised in Groves. The first reenactment I ever saw was at Sabine Battleground. Thanks for the recommendations on the resources. I recently joined up with Company H of the 1st Texas Inf. out of Madison, CT. I thought it would be the perfect unit for an East Texas boy.


Randy Patterson
1st Texas Inf.
Company H

[BShajari]

Re: Recommended reading for Texas units

Randy,

Glad to see you on here! I gew up in Beaumont myself, and that too, was my first engagement!! When did you go?
Anything by Dr. Ralph Wooster is great.

Brian

[J.H. Moore]

Re: Recommended reading for Texas units

It's been so long, I can't recall. It was sometime in the late 90's, as I was still in high school. I'm just getting into CW impressions. For years, I my focus was WWII, but after working at Mystic Seaport, where it is always 1876, it's changed. Mystic Seaport is a working/living museum and we regularly have role-players on the grounds. Having a knowledge of the CW is beneficial to our impressions as it is "recent" history.

I've been digging through research materials for accurate uniform descriptions and unit history. Fortunately, a fair amount of resources exsist for my outfit.

[Auld Pelty]

Re: Recommended reading for Texas units

And I grew up in Beaumont, so I must be well qualified to post on this thread. My friend, Thomas Reid, also teaches history at Lamar and he wrote, "Spartan Band, Burnett's 13th Texas Cavalry in the Civil War", which is fine book about a Trans-MS unit. Another book about SE Texans that I can recommend is "Moss Bluff Rebel, A Texas Pioneer in the Civil War" by Phillip Caudill.

[BShajari]

Re: Recommended reading for Texas units

Thanks for the recommendations, Fergus!

[Silas]

Re: Recommended reading for Texas units

Second Texas Regiment of Infantry of Shiloh, Corinth and Vicksburg fame : http://www.archive.org/details/reminiscencesofc00smit

[BShajari]

Re: Recommended reading for Texas units

I was reading through "Lone Star Blue and Gray" by Dr. Wooster on the Battle of Sabine Pass and found this very interesting:

"On September 13, from Sabine Pass he [Maj Gen Magruder], issued a lengthy general order in which he listed the members of the Davis Guards by name and conferred on them the privilege of having embroidered upon their caps the word 'SABINE' enclosed within a wreath". (1)

(1) Headquarters, District of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, Confederate (late U.S) steamer Clifton, Sabine Pass, General Orders No. -, September 13, 1863.

(2) Ralph Wooster, Lone Star Blue and Gray: Essays on Texas in the Civil War (Fred H. and Ella Mae Moore Texas History Reprint Series, No 17), ed. Ralph A. Wooster (Austin: Texas State Historical Assn, 1996), 200.

[BShajari]

Re: Recommended reading for Texas units

Also, this is a website for a local historian, W.T. Block, that has all of his essays on Southeast Texas during the CW. Great information, especially on the lives of individual soldiers. I've used his work quite a bit in researching Texas units. He sadly passed away in 2007.

http://www.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/document.htm

Brian

[Shockoe Hill Cats]

Re: Recommended reading for Texas units

Nichlas A. Davis, Chaplain Davis and Hood's Texas Brigade. Louisiana State University Press, 1999.