Even though the soldiers from Llano County and the surrounding area enlisted at Camp Terry near Austin on April 1, 1863, unforeseen circumstances would prevent them from engaging in any battle or skirmishes with the Union Army for almost a full year. But, once they became involved in the action, the Confederate Army was slowly pushed south from Arkansas into Louisiana and parts of Texas as the Union strived to take Shreveport and gain full control of the Mississippi River system. One of the first engagements Captain Seth Mabry’s Co. E, 17th Texas Infantry, Allen’s Regiment, participated in was the Battle of Milliken Bend, which occurred on June 7, 1863. Although the unit was involved in numerous conflicts, this battle was by far the most important and the most demanding. Several Llano County men were wounded in the fighting that became hand-to-hand combat, making it one of the Civil War’s most brutal physical encounters. Skirmishes thereafter were milder in comparison, but near the end of the war, Co. E became entrenched in another important engagement that significantly affected our soldiers. It was all part of a three-pronged assault plan approved by President Abraham Lincoln in the spring of 1864 known as the Red River Campaign. The assault was launched against General E. Kirby Smith’s Trans-Mississippi Department, headquartered in Shreveport, Louisiana.
The campaign began on March 12 as the Union fleet entered the mouth of the Red River from the Mississippi River. The first major obstacle the Union forces faced was Fort DeRussy, located in the Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, three miles north of Marksville, Louisiana. The fort had been built in 1862 as an earthen fortification capable of withstanding fire from Union ironclad ships that came up the Mississippi River loaded with artillery, but it had been abandoned in 1863. Southern troops returned to the fort in 1864 and rebuilt it. Possibly because the structure was considered a formidable fortress, Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter and Brigadier-General Andrew Jackson Smith decided to approach the complex from the land side. Smith’s forces were transferred upriver approximately thirty miles from the fort, where they disembarked. The next morning, March 14, 1864, after reconnaissance patrols cleared the Fort DeRussy Road of Rebel pickets, ten thousand Union soldiers began to advance toward the fort. As Smith’s forces advanced, Confederate General John Walker withdrew his division, leaving behind only a skeleton garrison of 325-350 soldiers, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel William Byrd. Included in this skeleton crew were several Llano County men from Co. E, 17th Texas Infantry, including the company’s captain, Seth Mabry.
Smith formed battle lines, and around 6:30 PM he ordered Brigadier-General Joseph A. Mower’s divisions to storm the fort. As the soldiers charged, the Confederate soldiers inside the fort opened fire. Completely overwhelmed, out-numbered, and over powered, within twenty minutes the battle was over. Union casualties at the Battle of Fort DeRussy totaled 48 men killed and wounded and two missing. The Confederacy lost 324 men, with only two killed and five wounded, but 317 men were taken as captives. All the Llano County men at Fort DeRussy became Prisoners of War. Although the battle was small, the Union victory enabled Porter and Smith to continue their trek along the Red River toward their ultimate goal of Shreveport, Louisiana. At the same time, Major General Frederick Steele led another ten thousand Union soldiers out of Little Rock, Arkansas and approached Shreveport from the north and east.
Originally around 120 men enlisted in Co. E 17th Texas Infantry in the spring, 1862. But, by the time of the Battle at Fort DeRussy, the number had changed. A few late comers were added to the roster from time to time. At least eleven, maybe twelve, Llano County men are known to have died from various diseases/illnesses, especially during the unit’s first winter encampment in Arkansas. A large majority of the soldiers had experienced bouts of sickness that rendered them incapable of performing their duties as soldiers. Some of these men were eventually permanently discharged and sent back home. One of the first men to fit this category was George W. Trent, who was discharged in August, 1862 from problems of “blood to the brain.” Another such soldier was Evan B. Morgan, son of early Tow Valley settler, John F. Morgan. He was officially discharged on January 3, 1863, which is sort of ironic and very fortunate since about ten days later another Tow Valley soldier, James Tow, did succumb to sickness.
As the war progressed in 1863 and 1864, records show the men were granted periodic furloughs. Since the Mississippi River region was a long distance from their home in Llano County, the furloughs were granted for 60 days, of which much of the time was spent in travel. At the time of Fort DeRussy, some Llano County men were on furlough and had not yet returned to their unit, thus eluding capture. Others were away from their unit and confined to area Confederate hospitals due to sickness. Some were dispatched to serve in various work-related capacities, such as teamsters or waggoners, nurses, or in the case of Llano County soldier, J.M. Young, as an assistant surgeon. For whatever reason, William P. Hoskins was transferred to Pratts Battery.
Records indicate no more than 350 Confederate soldier were inside the fort on March 14, 1864. These men were a smattering of several different Trans Mississippi regiments, of which Co. E was only one unit. It is not totally clear where many of Captain Mabry’s men were at the time of the battle, but they were apparently not all at the fort. Records from the Civil War Research Center in Hillsboro, Texas for individual soldiers do not verify all of the Llano County men in Co. E who were taken captive. However, KNOWN soldiers specifically from Llano County who were captured on that fateful day include the Company Captain Seth Mabry, as well as Miles Barler, Clinton Breazeale, J. H. Davis, Franklin P. Epperson, George W. Larremore, Peyton R. Smith, James Knox Polk Arant, and Mordecai Owen..
Civil War papers specifically state these men were captured at Fort DeRussy on March 14, 1863 and received at Baton Rouge on March 17th. From there, they were taken to New Orleans, Louisiana for confinement beginning March 20th. Indications are their place of incarceration was not a bona fide prison as we view prisons in this day and time or as later history documents the conditions found at some of the Civil War’s most notorious prisons, such as Andersonville in the South, and Camp Douglas in the North. Captain Mabry’s papers give the address for the facility as 21 Rampart Street, New Orleans. There are incidents that show the men were given more freedoms and privileges than might be expected. Seth Mabry was allowed to obtain writing material and to compose a letter to the commander asking for a several hour parole on a specific day to visit friends who were in New Orleans! Miles Barler’s memoirs written in his later years indicate ladies from New Orleans frequently visited the men and brought food and other needed items. Such privileges were unheard of in other prisons.
Several men from Co. E spent much of their time as Prisoners of War confined in Federal hospitals. One man shown to have been a resident of Llano County at the time of his enlistment at the age of twenty at Camp Terry on April 1, 1862 was J. H. Davis. Mr. Davis as of this time has not been clearly identified. His story, however, verifies this aspect of the POW experience. Davis had been placed on sick leave at Marksville, Louisiana since February 27, 1864. But, he was well enough to return to Co. E only to be captured at Fort DeRussy on March 14th. He appears to have never fully recovered from his illness, which was diagnosed in prison in June at the U.S.A. General Hospital Barracks in New Orleans as “varioloid,” a mild form of smallpox. Then in July at the St. Louis U.S.A. General Hospital, also in New Orleans, hospital records added severe diarrhea to his list of ailments.
Sometime in July, 1864, arrangements were made to move the soldiers elsewhere. According to Barler, the men thought they were going to be sent further north to prisons that had already gained a reputation for deplorable conditions and cruelty. The men were placed aboard a steamship for deportation. A good many soldiers chose to jump overboard into the river in hopes to escape. Barler and fellow Llano County soldier, Clinton Breazeale, were seriously considering the same plan of action, but they heard from unknowns sources that a prisoner exchange might be in order, so they remained on board. The rumor turned out to be true, as on July 22, 1864, the men from Co. E, along with others, were exchanged at Red River Landing. What happened after the exchange is mostly conjecture. By then, any attempt of the Confederate forces to overcome the Union was futile. As previously stated, Company E never again functioned as a full-strength unit. The remaining soldiers were ordered to go to Hempstead, Texas, where the company eventually dissolved altogether by the end of the war. Some of the soldiers in Co. E seem to have taken permanent absences of leave, without permission, never to return. All interest and hope was lost, and all the men wanted to do was return to their family and homes. Records confirm that by the time the war was officially over April 9, 1864, many immediately deserted once they got the news. Several Llano County men chose this alternative, including Miles Barler, who abandoned the unit at Piedmont Springs on April 13, 1864.
Most of the Llano County soldiers from Co. E returned to their Central Texas homes after the war, but their physical and emotional scars would affect them the rest of their lives. Eventually, some of the soldiers relocated, mostly in the newly opened areas to the west. Others, like Franklin P. Epperson, died shortly afterwards. Thankfully, Civil War records and memoirs of men like Miles Barler have preserved forever the historical trail of Co. E.
Karylon Hallmark Russell
SOURCES:
Records on file at Hill College, Hillsboro, Texas in the Texas Heritage Museum Historical Research Center; Ohiocivilwarcentral.com/entry; mycivilwar.com/battles; nps.gov/abpp/battles; ancestry.com; EARLY DAYS IN LLANO (Miles Barler); LLANO CO. FAMILY ALBUM ( p. 113).
