Pvt. William F. Miller, 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles
I have recently received some family ancestral information, and among it some Civil War information of my maternal GG grandfather, William F. "Franklin" Miller, a private in the 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles, later designated the 2nd Texas Cavalry, and possibly later designated the 3rd Texas Cavalry (regimental designations are the bane of my existence).
Born in 1820, Miller seems to have been a man of relative means, having received a patent from the state of Texas to farm a 4,000 acre plot of land in Goliad County, where he had settled in 1850-1851, originally hailing from Tennessee. The size of this land, in addition to its location, leads me to believe that in all probability he was a slaveholder.
Miller enlisted as a private in 1861 and served the entire war in that rank. He joined the "Confederate" service [read "Texas Service"] with his brother Asa, and Miller’s two sons, J.P. "White" Miller and Peter Miller, one of whom deserted, probably in 1863 to get married, and another (perhaps the same one) murdered long after the war, under a cloud of "a bad reputation."
The 2nd Texas has a history that is both intruiging and mildly infamous. In 1861, they were among the Confederate forces that had forced General Twiggs to surrender the fort he had commanded in Texas, and I believe that Robert E. Lee was present at this time. Also in this year, the regiment's then-commander, John Baylor, ordered the regiment or an element of it to feint a truce with thus far hostile Apaches, and to kill them once their guard was down. Whether this order was carried out and whether my GG grandfather and relatives participated is not clear to me, but there is an account that a copy of Baylor's order reached Jefferson Davis in Richmond, who replied hotly that there was no Confederate law that allowed for extermination [murder] of hostile Indians.
Most interesting to me is the Army of New Mexico service of this regiment. At the time of Glorieta Pass, the regiment was commanded by Major Pyron, like Baylor an avid secessionist. An advanced picket comprised of elements of this regiment was captured early in the battle, and what remained later participated in assailing the Union (Coloradoan) right flank. The end result of Glorieta is commonly known, but what I have yet to determine is how much of the 2nd Texas was actually present, and how many and what companies were serving elsewhere at the time of this battle.
Much of the regiment’s Civil War assignments were operations against Apaches, a Federal Texas regiment, garrison duties, and preventing Unionist insurrection from a significant, anti-slavery German population in Texas. The regiment was active in the January ’63 battle of Galveston, and afterwards saw activity in Louisiana in an effort to prevent Federal forces in Louisiana from contributing further to the siege of Vicksburg. Some or all of the regiment retreated after a skirmish (La Forche?) because their powder had gotten wet, rendering their weapons useless.
In 1864 the 2nd Texas went and did what Walker’s Texas Division had threatened to do: they mutinied. Apparently sensing that the progress of the War presented an increasingly looming threat to the state of Texas, they left Richard Taylor’s command against orders and in spite of Kirby Smith’s order that the regiment return to Taylor’s command, and from this point John Magruder seems to have taken some measures to see that the Texans indeed remained in Texas, thereafter awaiting a Federal invasion that did not come.
In ’65, they may have been re-designated the 3rd Texas Cavalry. Interestingly, Samuel Richardson, a captain in this regiment and famous for the jaguar-skin trousers and holsters, is actually on the list in the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System as a captain in the 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles/2nd Texas Cavalry, as opposed to the 3rd Texas Cavalry designation he is given in the Confederate Echoes of Glory.
The information above is admittedly vague and far from conclusive, much more research is being done. It is likely that the regiment simply disbanded when the War was over.
At any rate, grandpa and family were an interesting bunch.
Jonathan Vaughan
2nd Texas Couch Potatoes
Last edited by J_V; 02-11-2010 at 01:47.
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It rather inspires me to write a bit about my ancestors, and I hope the same feeling inspires others to tell about their past family members.
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