General H.P. Mabry

A Georgian, H.P. Mabry came to Texas in 1851, was admitted to the bar, and served as a Texas legislator from 1856 to 1860. In April-May 1861 he joined the Confederate expedition that captured Forts Washita and Arbuckle in Indian Territory, and in June 1861 he entered the 3rd Texas Cavalry. He helped win the Battle of Wilson's Creek in the campaign to keep Missouri in Confederate hands, later in 1861 scouted U.S. Gen. Fremont's army near Springfield, Missouri, and had his arm shattered in a Bowie knife fight with seven men seeking to seize him as a spy. He led his regiment at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, in March 1862, and at Iuka, Mississippi, in September 1862 lost a third of his unit, was shot three times, and was captured. Exchanged at Vicksburg late in 1862, he refused to sign parole until a slur on the Confederacy was removed. In command of Mississippi cavalry in 1863-64, he led patrols that repulsed Federal forces from the Yazoo Valley breadbasket, guarded food and forage for Confederate supply, and commanded the cavalry that took, dismantled, and burned the U.S. gunboat Petrel on the Yazoo River. Attached to Gen. Forrest's division, he helped bottle up the enemy in Memphis, formed a rear guard for offensives, destroyed Sherman's communications, and fought pitched battles. Reports by spies placed his horsemen in three different spots hundreds of miles apart on the same day. He was assigned to move Texas cattle, men, and supplies across the tightly guarded Mississippi River. In 1866 he was elected district judge but was removed by Radical Reconstruction authorities. From 1879 to 1885 he practiced law in Fort Worth and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Jefferson.

White Settlement, Texas · United States