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None.
After the annexation of Texas into the United States, the 1st
Legislature provided for an Adjutant General to be appointed by the Governor,
in
On February 1, 1861, the delegates to the Texas Secession Convention adopted an ordinance of secession, which was approved by the voters of the state on February 23. In early March the convention reassembled, declared Texas out of the Union, and adopted a measure making Texas one of the states in the newly formed Confederate States of America.
With the Civil War came the reorganization of the office, an act of December 25, 1861 creating an Adjutant and Inspector General, who would also serve as Quartermaster and Commissary General, and Ordnance Officer. Oversight of the 33 Brigades of the Texas State Troops plus the Frontier Regiment fell to this office, just as later Adjutants General would split their time between the Militia and the Rangers (whatever the prevailing terminology). The manpower and supply demands of the Confederate States Army, often conflicting with the needs and desires of the State of Texas, would affect the entire period of the war.
Most of the major battles of the Civil War were fought east of the Mississippi River. Ironically, the last battle of the war was a victory by John S. Ford over Union forces at Palmito Ranch near Brownsville on May 13, 1865, slightly more than a month after Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. General E. Kirby Smith formally surrendered the Trans-Mississippi Department on June 2, and Union forces under General Gordon Granger entered Galveston on June 19, 1865.
With the Civil War came the reorganization of the office of Texas Adjutant General, an act of December 25, 1861 creating an Adjutant and Inspector General, who would also serve as Quartermaster and Commissary General, and Ordnance Officer. Oversight of the 33 Brigades of the Texas State Troops plus the Frontier Regiment fell to this office.
These records consist of Brigade correspondence of Texas State Troops; correspondence concerning conscription; general, special, and circular orders of military entities (of both the State of Texas and the Confederate States of America); Ranger records of the Frontier Regiment and the Mounted Regiment, Texas State Troops; records of the sick and wounded; and quartermaster records (including both State of Texas Quartermasters and Confederate Quartermasters). They date 1861-1865, and undated.
To prepare this inventory, the described materials were cursorily reviewed to delineate series, to confirm the accuracy of contents lists, to provide an estimate of dates covered, and to determine record types.
These records have been organized by State Archives staff into seven series:
(Identify the item and cite the series), Texas State Troops records, Civil War records, Texas Adjutant General's Department. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
Processing and original finding aid by Tony Black, October 1986
Corrections and revisions by Tony Black, May 1988
Text converted and initial EAD tagging provided by Apex Data Services, December 2000
Corrections and further encoding to TARO project standards by Tony Black, March 2002
Finding aid converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by TARO using the conversion stylesheet v1to02.xsl, July 2003
Civil War records inventory split into three finding aids, and further encoding to DACS standards by Tony Black, May 2010
Accession numbers: 1931/003, 1933/001, 1933/005
The Texas Adjutant General's Department transferred the vast majority of these records to the Texas State Archives on February 21, 1934. In addition, the Secretary of State transferred two volumes on November 5, 1931, and another volume on February 27, 1934.
These records consist of items received by the Adjutant General, mostly from the Brigadier Generals commanding the 33 brigades of Texas State Troops, dating 1861-1865; plus a register of letters received (mostly brigade correspondence), 1862-1863. The majority of the items are either letters, or else poll books and certifications of elections of officers, but there are also quarterly regimental returns, some orders issued from brigade headquarters, a few petitions for exemption from military service, some bonds for assistant quartermasters of brigades, four reports of hired persons, and a handful of morning reports. Some of the earliest letters are addressed to the Secretary of State and forwarded to the Adjutant General. Most of the letters received are labeled on the outside, e.g.:
The register of letters received, dating January 1862-November
1863, contains the following information, in three columns: the name and rank
of the writer, the number of the brigade (or other organizational unit, e.g.,
Frontier Regiment, Quartermaster General, etc.), an item number, the place and
date written, and the
The researcher should also be aware that the
The correspondence is arranged by State Archives staff numerically by brigade, and therein roughly chronologically. Arrangement of entries in the register of letters received is roughly alphabetical by first letter of the last name of the writer, and then numerical/chronological in the order received. (The numbers start over with each letter of the alphabet, so that an item number would be A-1, A-2, B-1, B-2, etc.)
(Identify the item), Brigade correspondence, Texas State Troops records, Civil War records, Texas Adjutant General's Department. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
These records consist of nineteen items providing general
information on brigades of the Texas State Troops, 1861-1863 and undated. The
first group, all oversized, includes the following: an
The second group includes: an
Finally, there is an unidentified index, apparently to officers
of the Texas State Troops and the Confederate States Army in Texas, containing
the following types of entries: e.g.,
(Identify the item), General information on brigades, Texas State Troops records, Civil War records, Texas Adjutant General's Department. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
These records consist mainly of petitions for exemption from state military service, as well as certificates of disability, certificates of substitution, surgeon's reports, protests of exemptions, requests for opinions on the conscript law, depositions of interrogations on conscription, a monthly return of citizens relieved from military duty, and a couple of lists of able-bodied men. Dates covered are 1862-1864, and undated.
Although some of the petitions are addressed to the appropriate
brigadier general, the adjutant general, the chief justice of the county, or
the county court, most are addressed to the Governor, who in turn may have
forwarded them on to the Adjutant General's office. Notations occasionally say
These items are arranged by State Archives staff roughly chronologically, by month and year.
(Identify the item), Correspondence concerning conscription, Texas State Troops records, Civil War records, Texas Adjutant General's Department. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
These records consist of General Orders, Special Orders, and
Circulars issued by the various military authorities of the state of Texas, and
by those of the Confederacy relating to military affairs within Texas (and
presumably collected by the Texas Adjutant General). They date 1861-1865. These
orders include both printed and holographic documents. The largest single group
of orders, approximately one-fifth of the total, were generated by the
Headquarters of the District of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The Adjutant
and Inspector General of the Confederate War Department in Richmond, Virginia,
issued approximately 40 orders; and an equal number emanated from the State of
Texas' Adjutant and Inspector General. Among the wide variety of other
headquarters issuing orders, sometimes only a handful each, were: the
Trans-Mississippi District, the Rio Grande Military District, the Western
Department, the Department of Texas, the Headquarters of Troops in Texas, the
Eastern Sub-District of Texas, the District of the Indian Territory, the Chief
of the Commissary/Subsistence Office, the Conscript Service of the District of
Texas, the Commandant of Negro Labor, the Reserve Corps of the State of Texas,
McCulloch's Division, Walker's Division, Ringgold Barracks, Camp Colorado, and
perhaps a dozen others. Because of the possibility of misidentification due to
variant terminology and overlapping of jurisdictions, no attempt has been made
to arrange the orders by issuing office (except for the Frontier Regiment; see
Furthermore, no separation into General Orders, Special Orders,
and Circulars has been made, since overlapping functions would render such an
artificial division misleading. Normally, Special Orders concern specific
individuals (e.g.,
Extra (i.e., multiple) copies of printed orders have been removed and are located separately. These date from 1862 and 1863, and were issued mostly by the Adjutant General of Texas or the Headquarters of the District of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The most extreme example of duplication is an order dated December 11, 1862, of which approximately 85 extra copies are on file.
These records are arranged by State Archives staff roughly chronologically.
(Identify the item), Military orders, Texas State Troops records, Civil War records, Texas Adjutant General's Department. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
These records consist of correspondence, regimental poll books, court martial proceedings, general and special orders, monthly returns, powers of attorney, payrolls and reports of extra-duty men and hired persons, returns of medical officers and hospital payrolls, lists of arrests, hospital morning reports, reports of the sick and wounded, and returns of deceased soldiers. They comprise the records of the Frontier Regiment, the Mounted Regiment of Texas State Troops that apparently superseded it, and the three Frontier Districts in Texas, dating 1861-1865, and undated.
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There is one oversized
Monthly and quarterly
Finally, there are two quarterly
These records are arranged by State Archives staff in various ways, depending on the type of document. Ranger correspondence is roughly chronological. Regimental poll books and court martial proceedings are chronological. Military orders are arranged first by type of order (General and Special), and therein numerically--which is to say chronologically. Monthly returns are arranged alphabetically by company, regimental returns chronologically. Reports of hired persons are arranged alphabetically by camp or fort.
(Identify the item), Ranger records, Texas State Troops records, Civil War records, Texas Adjutant General's Department. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
These consist of various records of sick, wounded, and dead soldiers (other than Rangers), 1861-1863.
One item is a copy of the Register of the Texas General Hospital at Quitman, Mississippi, for September through November 1862, with a duplicate for the month of September. This register lists 469 soldiers by name, rank, regiment, company, disease, when admitted, when returned to duty or died, county, and post office. In addition there is a supplemental list of 29 soldiers belonging to Texas commands deceased at the Texas General Hospital at Quitman, Mississippi (September 1, 1862-September 1, 1863); this list gives name, rank, company, regiment, date of death, disease, and amount of money left.
Also included are four lists of casualties. There are two oversized lists of deaths in the 1st and 5th Regiments Texas Infantry (1861-1862), listing date, name, rank, company, cause of death, place of death, and remarks. There is a list of soldiers killed, wounded, missing, and died of disease or privation from the 5th Texas at Gaines' Mill, Virginia (June 27, 1862). Finally, there is a photostat and transcript from the Ashbel Smith Papers at the University of Texas, of casualties in the 2nd Regiment, Texas Volunteer Infantry at Vicksburg.
(Identify the item), Records of other sick, wounded, and dead, Texas State Troops records, Civil War records, Texas Adjutant General's Department. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
These records consist of quartermaster returns, and other quartermaster records (requisitions, ordnance returns, and medical returns for the various State of Texas quartermasters, and also for the various Confederate quartermasters who operated in and for Texas; state vouchers, articles of agreement, statements, estimates of funds required, receipts of public funds, various abstracts, and reports and payrolls of hired persons, all strictly for the State of Texas). The records date 1861-1865, and undated.
These records are organized into two subseries:
(Identify the item and cite the subseries), Quartermaster records, Texas State Troops records, Civil War records, Texas Adjutant General's Department. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
These records consist of monthly and quarterly returns of
quartermaster's stores, subsistence stores, provisions, clothing, and camp and
garrison equipage, plus the supporting documents that accompanied those
returns: receipts and abstracts; inventories, lists, and invoices; certificates
of loss and wastage; and so forth. They date 1861-1865, and undated. Returns of
ordnance and ordnance stores, and of medicines and hospital stores, are
described separately. And since the quartermaster returns account for all
supplies
Because of confusion and overlapping of jurisdictions, no attempt has been made to separate Texas state quartermaster returns from those of the Confederacy. Many of the records, especially those pertaining to Austin, San Antonio, and the various depots, are probably Confederate tax-in-kind records; but unless specifically identified as such, they are not included in the tax-in-kind group of Confederate records. Of those returns that are not identified by location, a majority are probably either from in the field or from the various quartermasters' headquarters in Austin or San Antonio.
More than one-fourth of these records originated in the various headquarters in Austin, 1861-1865. About one-half originated in the frontier installations that stretched along three major lines: the Rio Grande Military District from Ft. McIntosh (near Laredo) to Ft. Brown (near Brownsville); the line of captured federal forts extending through West Texas from below the Big Bend to Ft. Bliss; and the posts--some of them captured federal posts, some of them established for the Frontier Regiment under James M. Norris--stretching through the center of the state from Red River Station to Ft. Duncan (near Eagle Pass on the Rio Grande). A significant number of these records reveal supplies surrendered to the state of Texas by the United States Army in the spring of 1861. A relatively small number of records, grouped after those of San Antonio, come from about three dozen other sites in the state; some of these sites were quartermaster depots and/or munitions factories, others were training camps or temporary headquarters for state and/or Confederate troops. Quite often, a location is represented by only one or two documents. Finally, a handful of documents come from sites outside Texas, in Arkansas, Arizona Territory, Indian Territory, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Missouri.
The following charts indicate the Texas locations that are represented by these and succeeding quartermaster records.
These records are arranged by State Archives staff alphabetically by camp/fort/depot/station, and chronological therein.
(Identify the item), Quartermaster returns, Quartermaster records, Texas State Troops records, Civil War records, Texas Adjutant General's Department. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
These records consist of requisitions, ordnance returns, medical returns, state vouchers, articles of agreement, state of Texas statements, estimates of state funds required, receipts of state public funds, various state abstracts, pay vouchers, and reports and payrolls of hired men. They comprise the other quartermaster records (exclusive of quartermaster returns) of the State of Texas, dating 1861-1865, and undated.
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State of Texas
Because of the standardized nature of these and subsequent quartermaster records, it was possible to separate those pertaining to the State from those pertaining to the Confederacy.
Contracts or
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There are also
Among the various
The officers represented are: Brigadier Generals J. D. McAdoo and John S. Griffiths; Colonels Horace Cone, Sackful Machin, and H. E. McCulloch; Lieutenant Colonel P. N. Luckett; Majors William Quayle, George B. Erath, James M. Hunter, Oscar A. Norwood, Russell De Armond, and J. D. Newsome; Captains B. E. Tarver, John R. Franklin, W. A. Montgomery, W. H. Hamman, John P. Hill, Albert S. Roberts, and H. W. Cook; 1st Lieutenants G. H. Wooten, Sam C. Upshaw, and A. K. Leigh; and Agent/Receiver James Duff.
Finally, the
These records are arranged by State Archives staff by type of document. Therein arrangement varies. Requisitions, ordnance returns, and medical returns are arranged in four lists: major sites in Texas, other sites in Texas, sites outside Texas (each further arranged alphabetically by camp/fort/depot/station, and therein chronologically), and those with no location (arranged chronologically). Vouchers, statements, estimates of state funds required, receipts of state public funds, and abstracts are arranged alphabetically by camp/fort/depot/station, and chronologically therein. Articles of agreement are arranged chronologically. Pay vouchers are arranged alphabetically by the name of the officer.
(Identify the item), Other state quartermaster records, Quartermaster records, Texas State Troops records, Civil War records, Texas Adjutant General's Department. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.