The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959 Page: 278

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

tured by H. H. Sibley at Valverde, New Mexico. Mr. Buchanan
quotes an interesting paragraph from William Clarke Whitford,
Colorado Volunteers in the Civil War (Colorado State Historical
and Natural History Society, 19o6), p. i38:
Of the further history of the guns that formed McRae's battery,
Captain Deane supplied me with the information embodied in this
paragraph, and which he received personally from Major T. T. Teel,
at El Paso, shortly before the death of that brave and chivalrous
Confederate soldier. The battery comprised four i2-pound and two
6-pound brass guns, and, as I have stated on an earlier page, they
were turned, immediately after their capture, upon the Union troops
at Valverde. In the subsequent fighting farther north they were so
used again. Because of the desperate struggle over them at the time
of their capture, General Sibley's defeated and impoverished men
dragged them back to Texas, even after all their other artillery had
been abandoned. Five of the guns were used by General "Dick"
Taylor until the close of the war, and then were thrown into the Red
River, in the bed of which they remain to this day. At the time of
the battery's capture the axle of one of the guns had been weakened
by a round shot, and when those of Sibley's men who had the battery
in charge reached El Paso they left the injured gun in that city,
where it is still preserved-a treasured memento of men who knew
not fear. Upon its upper surface, at the breech and on that of its
muzzle, discolorations, which no man would remove, are yet plainly
seen. "These," said Major Teel to Captain Deane, as the two stood
by the piece of artillery, "were made by the blood of McRae and
Lockridge, both of whose bodies sank and rested across this gun."
Mr. Buchanan would like to know whether or not the Civil
War cannon is still in the environs of El Paso. Probably the
incident of throwing the guns into Red River occurred at the
battle of Mansfield. Any persons having information on these
questions are requested to communicate with Mr. Buchanan.
The DeWitt County Museum had its formal opening on May
1o, 1958, in Cuero. Located in the Chamber of Commerce
building, the museum is the culmination of plans that have been
underway for several years. Numbers of citizens participated in
the project; businessmen contributed show cases and interested
individuals contributed the labor and the exhibits. Mrs. A. W.
Schaffner, Junior Historian sponsor in the Green DeWitt-Arnecke-
ville School, has been instrumental in making the museum a
reality.

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