6th Texas Infantry Regiment

Captain Sam W. McCallister, who had been given a commission to raise an infantry company for Confederate service to rendezvous at Camp McCulloch, wrote a letter to General Hebert on November 11, 1861, outlining his difficulty in obtaining Texans to go into infantry companies. "They say they will go mounted, but no other way; that is, a majority say so." He went on to request permission to enlist Federal prisoners that were then at Camp Verde, provided they could get certificates authorizing the Confederate States pay what is due them by the old Government. "They would nearly all to a man join the Southern Army, and there are about 350 of them." General Hebert passed on the request to the Commanding General who refused to comply to it stating "no appropriation had been made for such purpose, and they could not be paid." They could however enlist without back pay (A). This apparently never occurred because Captain McAllister ultimately managed to recruit the majority of his company in San Antonio during the month of March 1862. This company was mustered in as Company K.

The regiment remained at Camp McCulloch drilling recruiting men to achieve an adequate strength until the latter part of May 1862. During this period, in December 1861, a federal vessel in Pass Cavallo was sighted and four companies of the regiment, Companies A, B, D, and G were dispatched to meet this possible threat. Captain Rupley's Company A was ordered by Col. Garland to take position at Saluria, to guard the ferry across the main bayou and to afford any other assistance as necessary. The other three companies, under Lieutenant Colonel Anderson, took position at Indianola (B) where, according to Jim Turner of Company G "the men feasted on fish and oysters and had a good time generally" (C). Later on February 6, 1862, another concern of federal movements caused Companies A and D to be sent to Fort Esperanza, near Saluria, for a brief period.

Jim Turner in his memoirs, wrote the following about Colonel Robert Garland: "Our colonel was an old army officer and having spent twenty five years in the regular army, was a perfect martinet and everything had to be done in strict accordance with military rules. He kept us hard at work drilling and converted the regiment into a machine which would move with clock-like precision".(C)

During their stay at Camp McCulloch, the soldiers were furnished with new uniforms made of light brown cloth manufactured at the state penitentiary. The men were furnished with new Springfields or Enfield Rifles and Accoutrements. The regiment also procured a large number of wagons, tents and supplies.

May – September 1862 – On May 22, 1862, the regiment took up the line of march, passing through Hallettsville, and then halting for a week at Eagle Lake, where there were a depot and four or five houses. During the march, at a pace of about ten miles a day, the regimental musicians performed as the troops passed through the towns. At the Eagle Lake Depot, the soldiers boarded the railroad cars on June 6, and went through Richmond, Houston, and Navasota, the wagon train traveling by road. During the encampment at Navasota, a member of the regiment stole a revolver that belonged to Captain C.F. Naunheim, Commanding Company I. The man was caught when he attempted to sell the pistol on the same day it was taken. The soldier was tried, convicted and drummed out of service, with his head half-shaved and astride a fence rail carried by blacks, as his former comrades lined the street and watched.

After three days at Navasota, the route then lay, in easy marches never traveling more than 20 miles a day and generally much less, through Anderson, Crockett, Mount Vernon, and Tyler where it remained five to seven days, then on to Dangerfield, and Gilmer. (C,1) The 6th Regt. crossed the Sulphur River into Bowie County at Epperson's Ferry south of current day New Boston on July 12, 1862. Ferriage was paid at the time of crossing.

In mid July the regiment crossed the Red River at Fulton (2) where Texarkana now lies (C), passed through Washington and Antwine, and halted at a place near the old village of Rock Port, where Malvern now stands. Here an outbreak of measles incapacitated many of the soldiers (1).

By the time the Sixth Texas had crossed into Arkansas, its regimental flag arrived from Victoria. The standard was produced by Mrs. Richard Owens and her daughters.... she procured the necessary supplies and produce a banner made of red merino, bordered with a white silk fringe. Located in the center was a 28 by 36 inch blue shield which contained twelve silk or satin white stars that circled, six on each side, a large star that represented the State of Texas. Stitched in white silk was "Sixth Texas Infantry Regiment" (1, pg 8)

"Day after day we march in the woods and God knows if we will come out again," wrote Private Franz Coller. "I have never seen such a poor region as we see out here in east Texas and Arkansas."[4] After a rest of ten days, the regiment marched to Benton, camped on the Saline River two miles from town for two weeks, and then started for Pine Bluff, leaving a number of men in the hospital there with measles. After arriving at Pine Bluff, the regiment went into camp at Camp Holmes (2).

September 1862 – General Holmes ordered the Sixth Texas Infantry and the Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Cavalry (dismounted) to Arkansas Post, a community 117 miles below Little Rock and twenty-five miles from the mouth of the Arkansas River. The town was selected as a site for the construction of a Confederate fort that was deemed necessary to help defend the Arkansas River. The Sixth and Twenty-fourth marched together leisurely down the Arkansas River until they reached the Jourdan plantation eighteen miles above the Post. September 18 – Early in the evening a courier brought work that the Federals were advancing to destroy the fortifications. (Jim Turner) 400 volunteers from both regiments agreed to proceed on to the Post. They left after dark and traveled across fields and took small trails and paths.

September 19, 1862 – The 400 volunteers of both Regiments arrives at Arkansas Post at sunrise where they did not find any enemy. (from One of Cleburne's Command, pg3)

September 21, 1862 – The remainder of the sixth and twenty fourth regiments arrive at Arkansas Post.(")

September 28, 1862 – Reorganization of the Confederate Army in Northwestern Arkansas, southwestern Missouri and the Indian Territory occurs and Major General Thomas C. Hindman was placed in charge of the First Army Corps, Army of the West. The Sixth Texas became part of the First Army Corps' First Brigade. Garland was given command of the brigade and Lieutenant Colonel T. Scott Anderson assumes command of the Sixth Texas.(Diary of Charles Leuschner, pg 9 – O.R., Series I, Vol. XII, 883–885.)

October – November 1862 – The regiment worked to complete the fortifications at the Post. In November an abundance of supplies begun to arrive at the Post, shoes, woolen clothe, blankets and commissary goods were sent from Little Rock to the Post. (D.C.L., pg 10)

• Texas Civil War Confederate Units

• 6th Texas Infantry Company K Reenactors

• Spurlin, Charles D. The Civil War Diary of Charles A. Leuschner, Eakin Press, 2000. ISBN 0890158533.