Confederate Guns of Navarro County

“The Confederate Guns of Navarro County” by John W. Spencer (The Texas Press, 1986, 152 pages) is the record of all of the men of Navarro County Texas (East Texas with Corsicana as the county seat) who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Mr. Spencer’s purpose in writing the book as he quotes, ” is to provide a published record of all of the men of Navarro County that went to war from the county (Navarro) in an organized unit that fought in the Confederate Army. Mr. Spencer did an excellent job in the muster rolls and brief history of the regiments that these men fought in. From the Arkansas battle at Cotton Plant and the Louisiana battles at Mansfield, Pleasant Hill and Yellow Bayou to the battles of Eltham’s Landing, Gaines’ Mill, Second Manassas (Bull Run), Gettysburg, Chickamauga and the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Courthouse, the men from Navarro County fought bravely and left blood on the battlefield.

At Gettysburg, the men from Navarro County led the attack of the Fourth Texas Infantry Regiment up Little Round Top, and other men from Navarro County in the First Texas Infantry Regiment captured Devil’s Den. Others were skirmishers in front of Hood’s Texas Brigade and cleared the way and developed the fire from the Army of the Potomac for the rest of the men. As Mr. Spencer describes, “the cannons at the Devil’s Den are pouring a killing fire into the Confederate ranks, The Fourth Texas is between the First Texas on the Left and the Fifth Texas on the right. The men from Navarro County drive in the Federal skirmishers and head straight for the cannons on the rocky ridge just above the Devil’s Den. When the Fourth Texas veered to another direction and left the Corsicana men separated from them, they joined the First Texas and fought with them during the assault on the Devil’s Den.” The “Corsicana Invincibles” and the “Navarro Rifles” were in the First Texas Infantry and Fourth Texas Infantry and became an essential part of the men from Texas in Hood’s Texas Brigade. Only three Federal Cannons were captured at Gettysburg and the men from Navarro County were the first to reach the cannons.

Men from Navarro County also joined regiments that fought in the western theater of the Civil War (intense fighting at Chickamauga) and the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the War. The men were in the artillery duel at the Battle of Mansura, the charges at the Battle of Bayou Bourbeau was equal to the charge of the Navarro Rifles at the Battle of Gaines’ Mill. At Yellow Bayou, the men from Navarro County were caught in deadly fire and many were killed.
Mr. Spencer did an excellent job in listing the men from Navarro County in East Texas and the brief histories of the many regiments and brigades the men fought in. This is an important book for anyone doing research or genealogical research of ancestors who fought for the Confederacy. As Mr. Spencer says, “this book will be of interest to all students of Texas history and the Confederate army”. I definitely agree! – review by J Owen, Park Ranger, L.B. Johnson Hist. Park, Tx.