Reminiscences of the Terry Rangers Page: 5
vii, 79 p. ; 26 cm.View a full description of this book.
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Off to the Conflict 5'
to constitute the regiment, but more and more were enlisted until
the number reached 1170, an average of 117 to each company, and
others, I don't recall how many, were denied the privilege of
enlistment.
A Lieutenant Sparks, who had belonged to the United States
army if I mistake not, came authorized to administer the oath of
allegiance to the Confederate States and enroll us as her soldiers.
A little incident happened at the time which showed the feelings
and determination of the men. They were lined up on three sides
of a hollow square (as I now remember). The enrolling officer in
the center asked this question, "Do you men wish to be sworn into
service for twelve months or for three years or for during the war ?"
With a unanimity never surpassed, a shout unheard of before, that
whole body of men shouted, "For the war," "For the war !" not
one expecting or caring to return until the war was over, long or
short, and the invaders had been .driven from our borders.
And now the regiment is ready fur service, as fine a body as ever
mustered for warfare. The majority of them were college boys,
and cowboys, professional men, men with finished education, men
just out of college, others still under-graduates, men raised in the
saddles, as it were, experts with lariat and with six shooters, and
not a few from the farm, from the counting houses and from shops.
Just why the regiment did not elect field officers and become a
fully organized body of soldiers at Houston I never knew. In the
absence of this organization, the companies not being numbered or
lettered, each company was called by its captain's name. Ours
was Captain Strobel's company, and was sent forward as the vanguard
of the regiment toward the seat of war by Colonel Terry
who assumed command although he refused to be called Colonel
until he should be elected to the position by his men. The election
took place in Kentucky in December following.
The company was put in box freight cars and started eastward over
what was afterwards to be called the Sunset Route, which at that
time ran east from Eagle Lake, Colorado County, Texas, through
the city of HoustQn, to New Iberia, Louisiana.3 Our baggage and
'Mr. Blacklburn's memory is slightly .at fault here. The railroads ran
from Alleyton on the Colorado, a few miles northwest o.f Eagle Lake, to
Harrisburg, and from Houston to Beaumont, though the track of this
latter road was laid to Orange. See Atlas of Offical Records, Plate CLVII;
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Blackburn, J. K. P. Reminiscences of the Terry Rangers, book, 1919; [Austin, Texas]. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth46826/m1/14/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .