Sgt. Christopher Columbus Neal of Company E, 1st Battalion, Texas Sharpshooters enlisted as a private in Hunt County, Texas, with Captain Benjamin Martin's 1st Texas Sharpshooters at age 30 on April 30, 1862. Recruits in sharpshooter units were good shots and were issued Model 1859 Sharp's Rifles. In December 1862, he was reassigned to Company E as a sergeant. That winter the battalion moved to Fort DeRussy on the Red River near Marksville, Louisiana. On February 20, 1863, he was admitted to the Confederate Hospital in Marksville suffering from measles or smallpox, dangerous diseases in the mid-19th century. He died from disease on March 2, 1863, and was buried in the Fort DeRussy Cemetery in Marksville.