A Brief History of the 15th Texas Cavalry
by Justin M. Sanders
The 15th Texas Cavalry was organized in Dallas on 10 Mar 1862, was reorganized on 20 Mar 1862, and spent that spring training near Clarksville, TX. Counties where some of the companies were raised were: Co A (Capt. M.L. Harper) Dallas; Co B (Capt. G.B. Pickett) Wise; Co C (Capt. William K. Mastin) Kaufman and Collin; Co D (Capt. Frizzell) Collin; Co E (Capt. M.D. Kennedy) Tarrant; Co G (Capt. A. Faulkner) Denton; Co H (Capt. English) Hunt Co; Co K (Capt. W.H. Cathey) Johnson Co. By May 1862, the regiment was in Little Rock, AR where it was brigaded with the 12th, 14th, 16th, 17th, and 18th Texas Cavalry Regiments. The first fighting experience for the 15th came in a skirmish on 8 July 1862 near Batesville, AR on the Black River.
In the fall of 1862, the regiment was dismounted and served the remainder of the war as infantry. The infantry brigade containing the 15th Texas Dismounted Cavalry was assigned to Ft. Hindman (Arkansas Post). The fort fell to the Union on 11 Jan 1863 and most of its troops were captured. When the captured Confederates were parolled in April, 1863, most remained east of the Mississippi, and eventually the men of the 15th Texas Cavalry were consolidated with those of the 6th and 10th Texas Infantry to form a single regiment. This consolidated regiment saw action as a part of Granbury's Brigade at the Battles of Chickamauga, GA 19 & 20 Sep 1863 and Chattanooga (Missionary Ridge) TN 25 Nov 1863, in the Atlanta Campaign in May through September 1864, and in the Battles of Franklin, TN 30 Nov 1864 and Nashville, TN 15 & 16 Dec 1864. The regiment was disbanded upon the surrender of the Army of Tennessee on 26 April 1865 at Greensboro, NC. For more details on this portion of the regiment, the most complete history is McCaffrey's book listed below.A second portion of the 15th Texas Cavalry, who were not captured at Arkansas Post or who returned to Texas after being released from prison, remained in the Trans-Mississippi Department. This portion of the regiment did some work in rounding up deserters in Texas. It also served guard duty at Camp Ford, a prison camp near Tyler.
REFERENCES:
Service Records of 15th Texas Cavalry, on National Archives Microfilm Publication M363James M. McCaffrey, "This Band of Heroes: Granbury's Texas Brigade, C.S.A."
