Raising the 2nd Texas Infantry

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/31/2004

Autograph Letter Signed, Lt. Col. Ashbel Smith, 2nd Reg. Texas Infantry, 2pp. quarto., Head Qrs. Hempstead, November 20, 1862, to Major William B.P. Gaines, Commanding Rendezvous Tyler, Smith Co. The letter reads in most part: “...You will proceed immediately with the assistance of Captain Drake to organize the Conscript Recruits at your rendezvous into four companies, distributing the men equally in these companies. They will be lettered G, H, J, K, and styled respectively Provisional Company G, H, J, K, of the Second Regiment Texas Infantry. To this regiment they are attached, of it they constitute a part and into it they will be incorporated in form eventually on joining the rest of the Regiment. Let this organization be affected without delay. You will assign such temporary officers to the command of these provisional companies as may be necessary for their convenient handling, not announcing any company commander with higher temporary rank than junior 2nd Lieutenant. Each company will require a temporary orderly and an additional sergeant or two and the like number of corporals. These temporary officers & non com. off will probably receive their compensation due their rank, while serving In their selection you will derive much assistance from Captain Drake’s acquaintance with the men. Elections are extremely objectionable’ but if deemed expedient, the non commissioned officers may be elected. You will get your men in readiness to march as early as practicable and put them in motion for Hempstead...” Toning and foxing, else VG.SMITH, Ashbel (1805-1886) Graduated from Yale in 1824 and became a doctor in 1828. After further medical study in Europe, he decided to go to the newly formed Republic of Texas in 1837. When he arrived in Texas he became a roommate of Sam Houston, who appointed him surgeon general of the Army of the Republic of Texas on June 7, 1837. In this role Smith set up an efficient system of operation and established the first hospital in Houston, a military institution. When the Texas Medical Association came into being in 1853, he was chairman of the committee that drafted its constitution and bylaws. When the Civil War began he organized a company, the Bayland Guards, which he drilled and trained. While leading his company, a part of Company C, Second Texas Infantry, at Shiloh, he received a severe arm injury and was cited for bravery, along with the rest of his company. He was promoted to colonel and named commander of the Second Texas Infantry, which he led at several engagements in Mississippi, including Corinth, and the Tallahatchie River. During the siege of Vicksburg, he was in command of a vulnerable earthen fortification at one of the entrances to that city. After the surrender of Vicksburg, Smith was in charge of several positions in the vicinity of Matagorda Peninsula on the Gulf Coast of Texas, and was credited with preventing Union invasions in that area. Towards the end of the war he was put in charge of the defenses of Galveston. After the war he and William P. Ballinger were sent by Governor Pendleton Murrah as commissioners to negotiate peace terms for Texas with Union officials in New Orleans.

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