Neeley Family Texas​
David Neeley
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William N​eeley
​Madison's Reg. Texas Cavalry Co. B
3 rd Reg. Arizona's Brigade Phillip's
Neeley Confederate Soldier's
The FIRST TEXAS CAVALRY REGIMENT, ARIZONA BRIGADE, was formed on February 21, 1863 as a result of Special Order #81, District of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, which directed that the First Cavalry Battalion of the Brigade, commanded by Lt. Colonel William P. Hardeman, be consolidated with several independent cavalry companies to form a regiment. Hardeman was commissioned as Colonel of the new Regiment. Other field officers were Lt. Colonel Peter Hardeman (brother of the regimental Colonel who would replace his brother as Colonel), and Major Michael Looscan. After Peter Hardeman took over as Colonel, and Looscan resigned as Major, Edward Riordan became the Lt. Colonel, and Alexander P. Terrell became the regiment’s Major.
THIRD TEXAS CAVALRY, ARIZONA BRIGADE. On May 29, 1862, Lt. Col. John Robert Baylor received authorization from the Confederate War Department to raise "five battalions of Partisan Rangers of six companies each" for what would become known as the Arizona Brigade. The government would pay volunteers a bounty, but expected them to furnish their own arms, equipment, and horses. The purpose of the brigade would be to retake the southwestern territories for the Confederacy, and its ranks would be made up of Texans recently returned from fighting in Arizona and territorial volunteers who had joined the Confederate command at Mesilla. George Madison, former deputy sheriff of Tucson, organized one of the battalions with companies from Burnet, San Saba, and Bell counties. Company B, organized in the San Antonio area, reenlisted many Arizona veterans as well as members of the local Tejano community. When Colonel Baylor lost command of the brigade because his controversial policies toward the Apaches in Arizona became public, Maj. Gen. John Magruder reorganized the small incomplete battalions into three regiments. Madison's Battalion became part of the Third Texas Cavalry, Arizona Brigade. Three additional companies known as Coast Guards because they had served in defense of the Galveston area for over a year also joined the Third. Hendricks's company from Denton, Woods's company from Robertson and Milam counties, and theArizona Scouts completed the regiment. For promotion to colonel of the Third Texas Cavalry, Arizona Brigade, General Magruder chose a member of his own staff, a thirty-year-old Virginian, Capt. Joseph Phillips.
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SECOND TEXAS CAVALRY. The Second Texas Cavalry was originally organized in May 1861 as the Second Texas Mounted Rifles. It was reorganized in April 1862 with all the same officers and enlisted men. The unit was known by several alternate names including Baylor's Cavalry, Ford's Cavalry, Donelson's Cavalry, Littleton';s Cavalry, Nolan's Cavalry, Hardeman's Cavalry, Walker's Cavalry, Pyron's Cavalry, Spencer's Cavalry, and Richardson's Cavalry. The Second Texas Cavalry consisted of 1,200 men from Anderson, Bee, Bexar, Cherokee, Goliad, Harris, Harrison, Houston, Johnson, Karnes, Leon, Lavaca, Live Oak, Nacogdoches, Nueces, Parker, and Uvalde counties. The original field officers included Col. John S. Ford, Lt. John R. Baylor, Maj. John Donelson, Maj. Matthew Nolan, Maj. Charles L. Pyron, Maj. William A. Spencer, Lt. Col. James Walker, and Maj. Edwin Waller, Jr.
The Second Texas was assigned to the Trans-Mississippi Department throughout the war. The unit served garrison duty at Fort Brown and was briefly attached to Sibley's Brigade of the Army of New Mexico. It then served in the districts of Galveston and Houston during 1862. In mid-1862 the Second Texas Cavalry mutinied and was dismounted as a result in early 1863. In the spring they were assigned to the district of Western Louisiana, where they served with Xavier Debray's command. The regiment was reorganized in Austin, Texas, in September 1863, and in the winter of 1863–64 they returned to Texas to serve at Velasco and San Bernard. In November 1862 the Second Texas Cavalry consisted of 752 men, but by July 1864 its numbers decreased to only 167 men. In the fall of 1864 the unit was assigned to the Seventh Texas Cavalry Brigade. In March 1865 the regiment consisted of 150 men who served at San Antonio, Fort Clark, and Fort Duncan.
The Second Texas Cavalry participated in several engagements during the Civil War. The regiment fought at San Lucas Springs, Mesilla, San Augustine Springs, Fort Stanton, Fort Craig, Fort Bliss, Fort Thorn, Canada Alamosa, Camp Robledo, and Fort Inge. In 1862 the unit was engaged in the Sibley campaign at the battles of Valverde and Glorieta in New Mexico and Boutte Station and Bayou des Allemands in Louisiana. The Second Texas Cavalry returned to Texas where they fought at Fort Clark near the Nueces River. In January 1863 several companies were engaged at Galveston Island and Sabine Pass in Texas, while several other companies were captured at Arkansas Post, Arkansas. Following parole the unit was involved in operations in Western Louisiana in the spring of 1863. The Second Texas Cavalry was engaged at Bayou Vermillion, Bayou Beouf, LaFourche Crossing, and campaigns in the Teche Country. They returned to Texas in early 1864 and remained there for the duration of the war. The men were dismounted in March 1865 and gradually disbanded in mid-May as a substantial number of the men fled across the Rio Grande into Mexico. The Second Texas Cavalry was officially surrendered with Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith at Galveston on June 2, 1865.
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EIGHTH TEXAS CAVALRY
TERRY'S TEXAS RANGERS
The Eighth Texas Cavalry, a group of Texas volunteers for the Confederate Army popularly known as Terry's Texas Rangers, was assembled by Benjamin Franklin Terry in August 1861. Each man was required to furnish a shotgun or carbine, a Colt revolver (see COLT REVOLVERS), a Bowie knife, and a saddle, bridle, and blanket. The army would provide the mounts. The regiment was mustered into Confederate service at Houston on September 9, 1861. Terry was elected colonel, Thomas S. Lubbock lieutenant colonel, and Thomas Harrison major. With the death of Colonel Terry at the battle of Woodsonville, Kentucky, on December 8, 1861, Lubbock, then sick in a Bowling Green, Kentucky, hospital, was advanced to command of the regiment, but he died within a few days. Subsequently, John Austin Wharton was elected colonel and John G. Walker lieutenant colonel of the regiment. When Wharton was promoted to brigadier general in the fall of 1862, Harrison became the regimental commander; he served in that post until the end of the war.
Although the regiment had been promised duty in Virginia, it was diverted to Bowling Green, Kentucky, at the request of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, who was in command of the Confederate army headquartered there. The Terry Rangers distinguished themselves at the battles of Shiloh (April 6–8, 1862), Perryville (October 8, 1862), Murfreesboro (December 31, 1862–January 2, 1863), Chickamauga (September 19–20, 1863), and Chattanooga (November 24–25, 1863); in the Atlanta campaign (May 1–September 2, 1864); and as raiders in Kentucky and Tennessee under Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. The rangers were also part of the inadequate force under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston that attempted to slow Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's inexorable "march to the sea" during the final months of the war. Terry's Rangers delivered what was probably the last charge of the Army of Tennessee at the battle of Bentonville (March 19–20, 1865). Rather than surrender with the rest of Johnston's army at Durham Station, North Carolina, on April 26, 1865, 158 of the reported 248 survivors of the regiment slipped through Union lines to join other Confederates yet in the field. With the total collapse of the Southern cause, however, the Terry Rangers drifted home as individuals and in small groups, having never officially surrendered. With the exception of Hood's Texas Brigade, the Eighth Texas Cavalry was probably the best-known Texas unit to serve in the Civil War. It earned a reputation that ranked it among the most effective mounted regiments in the western theater of operations.
Houston Neeley
Barne's Regiment Co. E
Texas Cavalry
C.S.A.
G.M. Neeley
William Neeley
The War between the States Union verses Confederate, Brother against Brother. The Civil war 1861-1865. This page features our family men who served as Confederate Soldier's. We also have Neeley's that served as Union Soldier's Please see the Union Soldier's Link for Neeley Union Soldier's.
