Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 29.djvu/316

 300 Southern Historical Society Papers.

lant captains as ere commission bore commanded the thirty com- panies. As far as the eye could reach was a long line of gray. Three thousand bright Texas boys, mostly from eighteen to twenty- five years of age, with Enfield rifles and bayonets glittering in the sun, they presented a spectacle for the admiration of all beholders. The farm, the ranch, the storehouse, the school-room, and the cot- tage, throughout the length and breadth of our Empire State, had all contributed their quota to swell the ranks of this remarkable body of men. Do you doubt for a moment that as they stood there, a solid phalanx, a thousand miles from home, surrounded by the troops from every State of the Confederacy, as the sole representa- tives of the Lone Star State, they realized Texas had committed to their care and keeping her fair fame, and they were determined to bear aloft the sacred honor of their State upon the points of their bayonets to victory or to death ? Their lips were yet warm with mother's, or wife's, or sweetheart's kiss, and with the parting bene- diction to come home with their shields or on them, they were inspired by the deeds of the illustrious heroes of the Alamo, Goliad, and San Jacinto, and they pledged their faith to carve a name for them- selves and for Texas equal to the Tenth Legion of Caesar or the Old Guard of Napoleon.

HOW THE FEARFUL DRAMA BEGAN.

But enough of this. The fearful drama of 1862 is about to begin. In the early spring the Federal army, some 200,000 men, under Mc- Clellan, changed its base from the Potomac to the Peninsula at York- town, of historic memory. They were confronted by Magi'uder with some 10,000 or 15,000 troops, who held the vast horde of Federal troops at bay until the arrival of General Johnston, who rapidly marched from the line of the Rappahannock to reinforce Magruder. After confronting him for several days, our army began its retreat toward Richmond Hood's brigade, then belonging to Whiting's division, covering the retreat to Williamsburg, passing through that town, while the battle of Williamsburg was in progress. The divis- ion was moved rapidly to Elthain's Landing, on York river, in order to cover an anticipated movement calculated to intercept the retreat of the army. Here, for the first time in the campaign, the Texas troops engaged the enemy, in a densely wooded country along the York river. The Fourth and Fifth did but little fighting, but the First Texas encountered the enemy in strong force and a severe en- gagement ensued, in which that regiment drove at least double their