The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 58, July 1954 - April, 1955 Page: 19
650 p. : ill., maps (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Ben McCulloch: A Big Captain
McCulloch, who had done all he could to supply arms for
Texas, was ready for military action. To achieve this service, he
offered to the Secretary of War of the Confederacy a regiment
which would arm and pay its own expenses to Virginia. Plans
must have been made previously, because many Texans had al-
ready gone east for that purpose.0 The Confederate govern-
ment, however, refused to accept McCulloch's offer. McCulloch
appeared in Virginia at the beginning of the war and even ven-
tured into Washington, where he was suspected of laying a plan
for the capture of the capital."' On June 13, 1861, E. D. Town-
send, assistant adjutant general of the United States, wrote that
Ben McCulloch had two regiments of sharpshooters coming from
Texas.72
After the Confederacy turned down his offer to take a Texas
regiment into enemy territory, McCulloch turned his attention
toward obtaining a commission in the Confederate Army. Since
1855, however, when McCulloch tried to get the commission of
colonel in the United States cavalry, relations between Jefferson
Davis and McCulloch had been strained. McCulloch feared these
past differences might prevent his obtaining a commission in the
Confederate Army, but President Davis realized that McCulloch's
experience and ability would be of great value to the Confederacy.
A colonelcy was first offered, but when this commission was re-
fused, Davis submitted the nomination of Ben McCulloch as
brigadier general, which was accepted by the Confederate Con-
gress on May 11, 186x.'
General McCulloch was ordered to report immediately to his
command in Indian Territory. In pursuance of these orders he
reported to Fort Smith, Arkansas, about May 2o, 1861, "without
a dollar, a man or a gun, charged with the duty of creating an
army and defending the Indian Territory."74 His arrival was well
7Olbid., May 4, 1861.
71Edwin M. Stanton to President Buchanan, April 11, 1861, in James Bassett
Moore (ed), Works of James Buchanan (12 vols.; Philadelphia, 191o-191 ), XI,
80o; Robert Tomes, The War with the South (3 vols.; New York, n.d.), I, 434.
72Assistant Adjutant General to Major General Robert Patterson, June 12, 1861,
in War of the Rebellion, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
tWashington, 1880-19o1), Series I, Vol. II, 680.
73Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, i86xz-865 (7
vols.; Washington, 19o4-19o5), I, Second Session called, 213.
74Adjutant and Inspector General to McCulloch, May 13, 1861. Official Records,
Series I, Vol. III, 575; Speer, Encyclopedia of the New West, Part I, 296.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 58, July 1954 - April, 1955, periodical, 1955; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101158/m1/37/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.