The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 70, July 1966 - April, 1967 Page: 152
728 p. : maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Public Library, it was edited by Katherine Hart and Elizabeth
Kemp and published in a handsome format designed by Kim
Taylor.
Parsons' Cavalry Brigade was one of the most active units in the
Trans-Mississippi Department. Its commander claimed that units
of his brigade participated in forty-eight distinct engagements
during the war. Walton, a first lieutenant in Company B, 21st
Texas Cavalry, was apparently unusually talented as a scout and
detached from his company for much of the war in such a
capacity. His story is highly personalized and concerns itself
more with his adventures than with the activities and operations
of his command.
The author experienced an exciting life in the army and wrote
his story with verve and color. Particularly remarkable are his
exploits "on scout" around Helena, Arkansas, in 1862-1863. The
Civil War historian will be especially interested in Walton's ac-
count of Marmaduke's campaign into Missouri, sometimes called
the Cape Girardeau Raid. Walton, though he believed the expe-
dition to be "unwise, hardy-e foolish thing to do," was placed
in command of the advance guard. On the retreat out of Mis-
souri he drew the command of the extreme rear guard to cover
the retreat and barely escaped with his life, having to swim the
St. Francis River under fire, after the Confederate pontoon bridge
had been prematurely destroyed.
Though this account is so personal that it lacks details relished
by the historian, it is full of high adventure and fighting. The
omission of dates by the author coupled with his failure to iden-
tify the engagements in which he participated complicate its
usefulness as a research tool.
Editing of the manuscript appears to have been held to a
minimum. Missing words were supplied and the brief footnotes
are helpful. The interesting dust jacket is a facsimile of two
pages of the handwritten manuscript.
The book is a significant addition to other source material per-
taining to Parsons' Brigade which has appeared in print during
the last few years. The Friends of the Austin Public Library are
to be highly commended for its publication.
F. LEE LAWRENCE
Tyler, Texas152
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 70, July 1966 - April, 1967, periodical, 1967; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101199/m1/170/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.