C.S.A. Texas Muster

On this spot on April 4, 1964, Texans gathered to honor those who made up the greater part of the forces that fought in the Civil War Red River Campaign of 1864–1865 and prevented a Federal invasion of Texas. Descendants answering a roll call for soldiers of 100 years earlier included 37 sons and daughters of those fighters, while grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and other kinsmen represented leaders including Trans-Mississippi commander Gen. E. Kirby Smith, Gens. A.P. Bagby, John R. Baylor, August Buchel, X.B. DeBray, Tom Green, Walter P. Lane, Henry E. McCulloch, Jas. Major, Horace Randal, Wm. R. Scurry, Wm. Steele, John G. Walker, and Thos. Waul, and Cols. Henry Gray, Philip N. Luckett, and P.C. Wood. Friends and descendants of the Valverde Battery restored a century-old gun and brought it from Freestone County to ride in an 8-mile-long parade that moved 36 miles northeastward from here to the Mansfield Battleground, where the cannon shook the earth as it had on April 8, 1864, and the gathering unveiled the first out-of-state marker of the Texas Civil War Centennial, commemorating the Battle of Mansfield.

Center, Texas · United States