Capt. Skillman’s Spy Company, 1863–1865

“…when by special request of Capt. Henry Skillman, who knew his knowledge and worth, he was detailed by Gen. McGruder for scout service on Skillman’s border scouts. He was with the party when it was surprised by thirty-five federals of the California column at midnight. All was asleep, the sentinels were taken, and the party fired on in their beds. Skillman was then killed, and nearly all the party exterminated. Rife was seriously wounded then, two ribs were broken, and one of them has not re-united to this day, thereby incapacitating him from heavy work. He was left for dead on the field but recovered. Then the citizens of Presidio del Norte knowing him and appreciating his services, recommended him to succeed Skillman”

— “Custodian of the Alamo,” San Antonio Light, February 23, 1887.

Henry Skillman was an employee of George Giddings.

When George Giddings was awarded a contract to deliver the mail to California in 1854, he hired Henry Skillman, who had previously carried the mail. Skillman continued in the employ of Giddings until 1861. It was Skillman who carried the last southbound mail from Santa Fé to Mesilla before the Civil War closed the route.¹

When the Civil War began, Skillman, a native of New Jersey but a long-time resident of the upper Rio Grande Valley, cast his lot with the Confederacy even though he was not a secessionist. Confederates under Colonel John R. Baylor had recently captured Fort Fillmore, and Skillman became the sutler there. (A sutler was a civilian who had the concession to operate a retail store on or near a military base).

In October 1861, George Giddings obtained a contract from the Confederate Government to carry the mail between Mesilla in New Mexico Territory and San Antonio. By then, the southern part of New Mexico Territory had been reorganized as the Confederate Territory of Arizona.² Henry Skillman became one of Giddings’ conductors and carried the mail between Mesilla and El Paso.³

Henry Skillman stayed in West Texas.

Skillman stayed behind in West Texas after Sibley’s army returned to San Antonio.⁴ Upon the arrival of Union troops in August 1862, a group of 100 or so Confederate sympathizers fled across the Rio Grande and took refuge in the Mexican town of El Paso del Norte.⁵ There they continued to hold out hope that the Confederacy would reoccupy West Texas. Before 1851, when he became involved in carrying the mails, Skillman had operated a private courier service. With the mail service disrupted, Skillman once again operated a courier service between the upper Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio and California. He had no official contract to carry mail and had no hope of compensation from the Confederate Government.⁶

Skillman’s reputation as a leader of men sparked rumors about the role he intended to play in Confederate Arizona. The first of many rumors that circulated about Skillman’s intentions appeared in the Mesilla Times newspaper on October 12, 1861, when it was reported that he was raising a company to attack “Abe’s men, Apaches, or whatnot.” It appears that the men did not want pay, but “only the property they can take from the Indians.”⁷

Later Skillman and his “handpicked men” were incorporated into a military organization of scouts and spies along the western border of Texas. The Southern sympathizers in El Paso del Norte, across the river from Union-held Fort Bliss, were a valuable source of information on activities of the Union Army, and Skillman became the conduit of this information to military authorities in San Antonio.⁸ Documents later found in Skillman’s possession indicated that he was part of a covert network of spies and couriers linking Confederate sympathizers in California to Confederate military authorities in Texas.⁹

Skillman played a role in a campaign of misinformation designed to keep Federal authorities off balance. Skillman appears to have helped spread rumors that Confederate troops were returning to West Texas. On August 23, 1861, three days after arriving at Fort Bliss, a detachment of the 1st California Cavalry scouted eastward to Fort Davis and found that the West Texas forts were not occupied.¹⁰ The Rebels had, at least for the moment, abandoned the area. Nevertheless, the Federal troops in New Mexico and El Paso could not be sure that they would not return in force. On November 18, 1862, the US Army Headquarters Department of New Mexico received a report of rumors that 6,000 Confederate troops were on the way to attack the upper Rio Grande Valley once again.¹¹

In November, Skillman established a camp near the Mexican town of Presidio del Norte (now Ojinaga, Chihuahua) and kept Federal commanders agitated by fear of an imminent invasion. In response, the US Army dispatched scouts down the Pecos River from Fort Stanton, New Mexico, to as far as Horsehead Crossing to investigate. A party was sent from Ft. Bliss along the Butterfield Road north to Huerco Tanks and Pope’s Crossing on the Pecos River. A third party traveled along the Lower Military Road through Quitman Canyon and Eagle Springs to as far as Fort Davis.¹² According to a rumor reported to the Federal commander, Henry Skillman, and John Stevenson, were said to be in Franklin on November 25, 1862, and had a company of men at Presidio del Norte that would attack El Paso, Texas in six days.¹³

Federal commanders in New Mexico feared a second invasion.

In preparation for the expected Confederate invasion, US General Joseph Rodman West ordered Companies D and K of the California Column under Major William McMullen to the Rio Grande in December 1862.¹⁴ West expected Skillman to establish a base below El Paso to open communications with Chihuahua in order to procure supplies for a large force of Confederates advancing up the Pecos River.¹⁵

In March 1863, Federal authorities received word from Reuben W. Creel, a merchant in Chihuahua City who was also acting as a Union agent, that Skillman had a company of rangers in Presidio del Norte and that an officer named Woods and his troops were at Comanche Springs.¹⁶ It was reported that Skillman’s party of 25 men and one wagon left Presidio del Norte in March for Arizona, having hired Pueblo Indians as guides. Afterward, it was reported that he was at Cibolo Ranch, ten leagues upstream of Presidio del Norte.¹⁷

Creel reported that he suspected that Skillman’s activities were an attempt to secure the road from San Antonio to Chihuahua.¹⁸ While it was clear that none of the Federal commanders knew where the spy company was or what they were doing,¹⁹ Creel, who had lived in Chihuahua for many years, may have correctly guessed the intentions of Confederate authorities.²⁰

The Federal army invaded the Texas Gulf Coast in 1863.

The war in the east was going well for the Confederacy. Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeated a Union army at Chancellorsville, Virginia, in early May 1863, and then launched an invasion of Pennsylvania with an army of 75,000 men.

Union authorities in New Mexico watched apprehensively as French troops drove Mexican President Benito Juarez from Mexico City in 1863 and then pursued him and his forces into Chihuahua.²¹ French imperial forces, who were natural allies of the Confederacy, appeared to be gaining strength in Mexico. In 1864, French military officers took control of Mexican towns along the lower Rio Grande.²² With the French military in control of the lower Rio Grande valley, the way would be open to flood the Confederacy with the military supplies it desperately needed.²³ General McGruder of Texas organized a force to be ready if peace should appear imminent, to “take possession of New Mexico and Arizona…so that at the termination of the war they may be ours.”²⁴

In the early months of 1863, the outcome of the war was uncertain, and many in the South believed that victory was possible. Then in July 1863, news reached Texas of the surrender of the Confederate redoubt at Vicksburg and General Robert E. Lee’s defeat at Gettysburg. Even after those decisive defeats, the French threat remained, and Union commanders moved to occupy the Rio Grande Valley to prevent the French from shipping much-needed war supplies to Texas.

In September 1863, a small Confederate battery at Sabine Pass on the Louisiana state line famously fought off a Federal invasion of East Texas.²⁵ A few months later, Confederate military authorities learned that another Federal invasion force had appeared off the Gulf Coast at Corpus Christi.²⁶ Federal troops were put ashore and captured Corpus Christi, Aransas Pass, Indianola, and Brownsville. The US troops that landed near Brownsville soon controlled a large part of the lower Rio Grande Valley as far upstream as Rio Grande City.

The Union Army withdrew many of its troops in the Valley to pursue the Red River campaign.²⁷ However, about 3,500 Federal soldiers were left at Fort Brown, Ringgold Barracks, and other places to obstruct commerce with Mexico and prevent the French from shipping war material to Texas.²⁸ Federal commanders had orders to intercept the Texas cotton trade with Mexico²⁹ and to prevent an alliance between the French army in Mexico and the Confederates in Texas.³⁰

The landing of US troops in Texas in November 1863 was proof that the State’s favorable geographic position would not protect it from an invasion. Confederate authorities had supposed that the western frontier and Indian Territory could not support an invading army and that sandbars along the Gulf Coast would prevent the entry of large vessels or gunboats.³¹ Not fearing invasion from the west, Confederate troops had abandoned all forts in west Texas. Only Fort Clark was garrisoned to block Federal troops from invading along the San Antonio-El Paso Road³², and forts were built along the Gulf Coast to block entry into the few landing points that could be used by an invading force.³³

Now, with two Federal armies on the Rio Grande, the Confederates assumed a more defensive posture³⁴, and the services of Skillman’s spy company were needed even more than before. After the Federal invasion of the Gulf Coast, Confederate authorities strengthened their surveillance of the western approaches to San Antonio. They feared that the US Army could send a land force from New Mexico Territory to cooperate with an invasion along the Gulf Coast.³⁵

In response to the Federal occupation of the lower Rio Grande Valley, the Texans shifted the large cross-border trade in cotton upriver above Laredo.³⁶ Supplies purchased in Matamoros were freighted to San Antonio via Eagle Pass to avoid Federal troops.³⁷ Confederate authorities in San Antonio must have been preparing for the complete loss of their trade routes between San Antonio and Mexico through the lower Rio Grande Valley when they instructed Skillman to reconnoiter the road to Presidio del Norte.

When word of the Federal invasion of the Texas Gulf Coast reached San Antonio on November 23, 1863, Rife was not with his company but was on sick leave in San Antonio.³⁸ During the emergency caused by the Federal invasion, Colonel Dickinson, the Confederate commander in San Antonio, assigned Rife to scout the Lower El Paso Road between Fort Clark and Comanche Springs (Fort Stockton) and report on the movement of Union Troops. Rife led a detachment of six men, all of whom were exempts (meaning that they were not eligible for the draft, probably because they were overage). Rife was directed to maintain communications with Henry Skillman, who was watching the Upper Road to prevent either party from being cut off. In his report to headquarters in San Antonio, Major Andrew Dickinson referred to Rife as an “old frontiersman.”³⁹ While Rife was 40 years old, Dickenson was referring to Rife’s many years of experience in West Texas rather than to his actual age. Colonel Dickinson knew that many of Rife’s peers had not lived for 25 years, as he had, on the edge of civilization.

Henry Skillman commanded a spy company.

On November 17, 1863, Roy Bean, a Confederate sympathizer from California, recruited twenty mounted men in San Antonio who were willing to serve in “a spy company to range upon this frontier.” These men were probably part of a large group of exiled Confederates from New Mexico and Arizona who had taken up residence in San Antonio.⁴⁰ He applied to Colonel A. D. Dickinson, the Confederate commander at San Antonio, for a commission to enter into this service.⁴¹

Roy Bean may not have known that a company of scouts or spies had already been operating on the western frontier for some time.⁴² Skillman’s company was strengthened and reorganized. In official communications between Confederate authorities such as Colonel John Ford, Skillman was now referred to as “Captain”⁴³, perhaps reflecting the fact that his courier service had evolved into a military organization. Even if he had not done so before, by February 1864, Skillman was reporting to Colonel John S. Ford, who commanded the 2nd Regiment, Texas Mounted Rifles.⁴⁴

Thomas Rife was assigned to Captain Skillman’s company of scouts.

On February 4, 1864, Colonel Ford, commanding Confederate expeditionary forces on the lower Rio Grande, received a letter from Henry Skillman requesting that Tom Rife be assigned to his Spy Company. Skillman said, “Before I can start for the upper country, I must recruit men suited for the kind of duty I will have to perform…I must have not only good men but good frontiersmen.”⁴⁵ The request was forwarded to General Wood, Rife’s regimental commander, and then to Captain Sam Lytle, Rife’s company commander.

The 2nd Lieutenant of Company H, John K. Minder, also offered his recommendation in regards to Rife’s qualifications in a letter to Brigadier General P. C. Wood on February 12, 1864. Lieutenant Minder thought that Rife was “qualified in every way for that kind of service from his perfect knowledge of the upper country (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California) and possessing the qualities of a true soldier.” Rife had been detached from the 36th Regiment since November 1863 and was now formally assigned to the spy company. In March, records indicate that his pay was still due from the date of his enlistment, his horse was valued at $150, and his equipment was valued at $40.⁴⁶

It is not clear what Skillman’s actual orders were, but his men helped the Confederate military map the best route for the movement of troops from San Antonio to El Paso.⁴⁷ Skillman and his men rode from San Antonio, heading west. On March 9, 1864, Colonel John Ford reported that Captain Skillman had “gone above,” i.e., upriver. Other units under Ford’s command were deployed to oppose the Federal force advancing up the Rio Grande from Brownsville.⁴⁸

Federal troops attacked Skillman’s company.

Although the threat of an invasion of New Mexico by the Confederates had evaporated, the Federal commander in New Mexico was determined to be rid of Skillman. On April 3, 1864, Captain Albert H. French, a man familiar with West Texas and New Mexico, set out from San Elizário with 25 men of Company A of the California Column with pack mules carrying twenty days of supplies. He had orders to capture or kill Skillman and his company of spies. The party passed abandoned Fort Quitman and proceeded to Eagle Springs, Van Horn’s Well, Dead Man’s Hole, Barrell Springs, Fort Davis, and then down to the Rio Grande along the old Salt Road. On April 14 at Cottonwood Springs, the men, by chance and good fortune, found an inscription carved on a tree indicating that Skillman had arrived there on the 3rd. Realizing that Skillman was probably still in the vicinity, Captain French sent scouts ahead to find Skillman’s camp. They chanced upon the camp six miles away at Spenser’s Ranch, one mile downstream of the present town of Presidio, Texas, on the old Fortin Road near the river crossing.⁴⁹ Skillman was unaware of the presence of the Federal soldiers.

Captain French planned to attack the camp after the Confederates were asleep and waited until after midnight to begin his approach. After walking and crawling for an hour, the attacking party reached Skillman’s camp at 1:30 was on April 15, 1864. After the order to surrender was given, a few moments of fighting ensued. According to Captain French’s report,⁵⁰ two men, including Skillman, were killed outright; two (including Rife) were mortally wounded; four prisoners were taken, and two men escaped across the river. Captain French and his captives arrived back at Fort Quitman on April 22, 1864.⁵¹

In his report, Captain French listed the other members of Skillman’s unit. They were (Jarvis) Hubble, (George) Clown (Garner), (Tom) Rife, McMullen, (William) Ford, Thimble, Coburn, Hoover, and Allan. The men who escaped were William Ford (who was guarding the horses) and Thimble (who crawled away into the brush).⁵²

Rife somehow survived and was taken to Presidio del Norte and cared for by Confederate sympathizers. He had been shot in the chest and suffered two broken ribs. According to Rife, the Confederates in Presidio del Norte later nominated him to take Skillman’s place, perhaps as a courier between them and San Antonio, or as a spy.⁵³ It appears that Rife remained in Presidio del Norte while his wounds healed. He never fully recovered and was unable to do physical work after that.⁵⁴ Almost a year later, in March 1865, Rife was still on the rolls of Company H, 32th Regiment, Texas Cavalry, and listed as on detached service with Major Skillman’s scout company. It is not known whether or not the spy company was rebuilt after Skillman’s death and what role, if any, Rife played in it.

Over 100 years later, gravediggers at the Catholic Church in Presidio, found “a huge skeleton…with blond hair and a long blond beard.” Many believe that these were the remains of Henry Skillman.⁵⁵

Confederate soldiers in Texas were paroled after the surrender.

Word of the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and other Confederate units east of the Mississippi reached Confederate troops in Texas. The soldiers began to leave their camps for home in late May 1865. Confederate military commanders traveled to Galveston to sign a paper providing “for acts of war on the part of the troops to cease.”⁵⁶ Most of the men of the Confederate army in Texas did not wait for surrender papers to be signed and were no longer with their units at the time of surrender. Consequently, they were not paroled. Superintended by Federal Officers, places were appointed where Confederate soldiers could be paroled, to remedy this deficiency.⁵⁷

Rife remained on the rolls of Company H on detached service until at least until March 1865, shortly before the unit disbanded. Most men of Company H were from San Antonio and were paroled there in August 1865. Captain Samuel Lytle, who commanded Company H, was paroled in San Antonio on August 18, 1865.⁵⁸ A few days later, on August 22, 1865, Rife surrendered to Federal authorities in San Antonio and was paroled.⁵⁹

Paroled Confederates were required to sign an oath, called the Amnesty Oath, before receiving their parole. A few individuals, such as men who had been Federal postmasters and mail contractors before the war, were not eligible for the amnesty and could not take the oath.⁶⁰ Rife took the oath as was required.⁶¹ The Amnesty Oath required ex-Confederates to swear allegiance to the US Constitution and its laws and to accept the fact that the slaves were free.⁶² The oath that Rife and his compatriots signed read as follows: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm), in the presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the Union of the States thereunder; and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the existing rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves, So help me God.”⁶³

Hundreds of men who could not or would not sign the oath fled to Mexico and points south.⁶⁴ The Houston Tri-Weekly Telegraph edition of June 30, 1865, stated, “Our city, for the last week or more, has been full of persons on their way to Mexico, to escape arrest by the United States authorities. Among the number are Governor Murrah, Ex-Governors Moore, and Allen, of Louisiana, Generals Kirby Smith, Price, Magruder, and Shelby. The last is accompanied with about 300 men of his former command.”⁶⁵ Others, including George Giddings, applied for and were granted pardons in 1866.⁶⁶

---

---

1. Austerman, Sharps Rifles and Spanish Mules, 180 ↩︎

2. William W. Mills, Forty Years at El Paso, 1858-1898, Recollections of War, Politics, Adventure, Events, Narratives, Sketches, Etc., (El Paso, C. Hertzog, 1962), 39 ↩︎

3. Jack C. Scannell, “A survey of the Stagecoach Mail in the Trans-Pecos, 1850-1861,” West Texas Historical Association Year Book 47, (1971), 121; The Charleston Mercury (Charleston, SC), January 16, 1862 ↩︎

4. Austerman, “The San Antonio-El Paso Mail, CSA,” 97 ↩︎

5. Hammons, A History of El Paso County, Texas, to 1900, 49,87 ↩︎

6. Austerman, Sharps Rifles and Spanish Mules, 190 ↩︎

7. Thompson, “Drama in the Desert,” 109 ↩︎

8. The Rocky Mountain News (Denver, Co.), May 18, 1864 ↩︎

9. Austerman, “The San Antonio-El Paso Mail, CSA,” 97 ↩︎

10. Austerman, “The San Antonio-El Paso Mail, CSA,” 95 ↩︎

11. United States War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Vols: 15, 605 ↩︎

12. Thompson, “Drama in the Desert,” 111 ↩︎

13. United States War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Vols: 15, 607 ↩︎

14. Thompson, “Drama in the Desert,” 110 ↩︎

15. Thompson, “Drama the Desert,” 111; United States War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1 Vol: 15, 607 ↩︎

16. United States War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1 Vol: 15, 377 ↩︎

17. United States War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Vol: 15, 426 ↩︎

18. Thompson, “Drama in the Desert,” 113 ↩︎

19. Letter from Col. Joseph West (USA) to Henry Skillman, Unfiled Papers and Slips Belonging in Confederate Service Records, M347, Roll 364, RG 109 ↩︎

20. United States War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1 Vol: 15, 426 ↩︎

21. Alexander Edwin Sweet, Alex Sweet’s Texas: The Lighter Side of Lone Star History, (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986), 88 ↩︎

22. William L. Richter, The Army in Texas During Reconstruction, 1865-1870, (College Station, Texas, Texas A&M University Press, 1987), 24; Farber, Texas, C,S.A., 210 ↩︎

23. Richter, The Army in Texas During Reconstruction, 12; Farber, Texas, C.S.A., 114 ↩︎

24. United States War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Vol: 50, 62 ↩︎

25. Wharton, Texas Under Many Flags, 95 ↩︎

26. Thomas Rife Record, 36th Texas Cavalry Regiment ↩︎

27. Evans, Confederate Military History, Vol. XI, 120; Wharton, Texas Under Many Flags, 96 ↩︎

28. Evans, Confederate Military History, Vol. XI: 120 ↩︎

29. Evans, Confederate Military History, Vol. XI: 119 ↩︎

30. Farber, Texas, C.S.A., 250 ↩︎

31. Evans, Confederate Military History, Vol. XI: 65 ↩︎

32. Letter from Andrew G. Dickinson, Compiled Service Records of Confederate General and Staff Officers, and Nonregimental Enlisted Men, M331, Roll 75, RG 109, NARA ↩︎

33. Farber, Texas, C.S.A., 204 ↩︎

34. Thompson, “Drama in the Desert,” 117 ↩︎

35. Farber, Texas, C.S.A., 91-2, 119 ↩︎

36. Oates, Rip Ford’s Texas by John Salmon Ford, 355; Florence Johnson Scott, Old Rough and Ready on the Rio Grande, (Waco, Texas: Texian Press, 1969), 131 ↩︎

37. Oates, Rip Ford’s Texas by John Salmon Ford, 342; August Santleben, A Texas Pioneer, (New York and Washington: The Neale Publishing Co, 1910), 22 ↩︎

38. Thomas Rife Record, 36th Texas Cavalry Regiment ↩︎

39. Letter from Andrew G. Dickinson, Compiled Service Records of Confederate General and Staff Officers, and Nonregimental Enlisted Men, M331, Roll 75, RG 109, NARA ↩︎

40. “Journal of Arizona History,”” Vol: 33, No. 1, Spring 1992, 57 ↩︎

41. Letter, to Col A G Dickinson, November 17, 1863, Combined Service Records Confederate General and Staff Officers, and Nonregimental Enlisted Men, M331, RG 109, NARA ↩︎

42. United States War Department, Records of Confederate Soldiers who served during the Civil War, RG 109, Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms, 1861-65, M346, roll 941 ↩︎

43. Thompson, “Drama the Desert,” 109; United States War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1 Vol. 15: 1033 ↩︎

44. Thomas Rife Record, 36th Texas Cavalry Regiment ↩︎

45. Thomas Rife Record, 36th Texas Cavalry Regiment ↩︎

46. Thomas Rife Record, 36th Texas Cavalry Regiment ↩︎

47. “San Antonio to El Paso Route, Map 1004J,”” Map Collection, ARIS-TSLAC ↩︎

48. United States War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Vol: 15: 1033 ↩︎

49. Carlysle Graham Raht, The Romance of Davis Mountains and Big Bend Country: A History, (El Paso: The Rahtbooks Company, 1919), 151 ↩︎

50. Report of Capt. A.H. French to Brig. Gen. James H. Carleton, May 5,1864 Commander, Entry 3165, Letters Received, File 18F 1864, Records of the United States Army Continental Command, 1821-1920, RG 393, NARA ↩︎

51. Roy L. Swift and Leavitt Corning Jr., Three Roads to Chihuahua: The Great Wagon Roads that Opened the Southwest, 1823-1883, (Austin: Eakin Press, 1988), 199-201; United States War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Vol: 34: 880 ↩︎

52. Capt. A.H. French to Brig. Gen. James H. Carleton, May 5,1864 ↩︎

53. The San Antonio Light, February 23, 1887 ↩︎

54. San Antonio Express, August 11, 1881 ↩︎

55. Swift and Leavitt Corning Jr., Three Roads to Chihuahua, 356, note 60 ↩︎

56. Richter, The Army in Texas During Reconstruction, 13 ↩︎

57. Evans, Confederate Military History, Vol. XI: 140 ↩︎

58. Samuel Lytle Record, 36th Texas Cavalry Regiment, Combined Service Record of Confederate Soldiers from Texas Units, NARA M323 ↩︎

59. Thomas Rife Record, 36th Texas Cavalry Regiment ↩︎

60. Anonymous, Special Presidential Pardons for Confederate Soldiers: A listing of former Confederate soldiers requesting full pardon from President Andrew Johnson, Mountain Press, (Signal Mountain, Tennessee: Mountain Press, 1999), i-iii ↩︎

61. United States War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies, Series 1-Volume 1: 578-580 ↩︎

62. McDonald, Jose Antonio Navarro, 258 ↩︎

63. Vinton Lee James, Frontier and Pioneer Recollections, (San Antonio: Artes Graficas, 1938), 35; Scott, Old Rough and Ready on the Rio Grande, 175 ↩︎

64. Jay Wertz and Edwin C. Bearss, Smithsonian’s Great Battles and Battlefields of the Civil War, 313; Swanson, Atlas of the Civil War Month by Month, 112 ↩︎

65. Houston Tri-Weekly Telegraph, June 30, 1865 ↩︎

66. Anonymous, Special Presidential Pardons for Confederate Soldiers: A listing of former Confederate soldiers requesting full pardon from President Andrew Johnson, 149 ↩︎