Any attempt to trace the history and organization of the Texas Army of the Revolution in detail is doomed to near failure from the start. Records were lost in action, destroyed by error, or in some cases, never kept. Information that does exist is often confusing and at odds with other existing information. This article is intended to serve as an overview of this confusing situation but the author warns that even he is not sure at times of some of the information that he has worked with. If you have a few spare weeks you may wish to consider reading the ten volumes of "Military Records of Texas, 1835-1836", which in spite of it's name is really a collection of any and all documents that relate to the Texas Revolution.

To begin with, the Army of Texas was divided into three separate elements: The Regular Army, The Volunteer Force, and the Militia. To start with we will consider the Militia which actually never served as such during the war. Each municipality was to register it's able bodied men between 16-and 50 and to see that they were in readiness to be called out on the field of battle when needed. The basic unit was to be the platoon of 28 men lead by a Lieutenant. If enough men existed companies could be formed, each of two platoons, with a Captain as an additional officer.

Five companies could make up a Battalion and be lead by a Lieutenant Colonel and a Major. Two such Battalions would make up a Regiment and would have a Colonel present. All officers were to be elected by the men under their command. Regimental staff officers and n.c.o.'s would de detailed. from the ranks of the units present.

The problem with such a system is that it took all the manpower from a given area and left the remaining people there defenceless. One of the militia companies that did see action, from Gonzales, ended up being the only reinforcements that made it to the Alamo and died to the last man. After the Alamo and the start of the Great Runaway Scrape, the militia system collapsed as the men who made up the militia rushed to escort their families to safety. The plight of the families from Gonzales was all too real and few other Mexicans wished to have the same fate befall their family.

The next element of the Texas Army to consider is the Regular Establishment. There are many comments in the Military Records as to the make up and equipment of the proposed fi rmy of Texas. My favorite, which I can`t find now, is the suggestion that the Texas Infantry should fight in ranks, with the 1st. armed with muskets and bayonets for close-in work, and the 2nd armed with rifles for long range work and the 3rd to be equipped with Halbards, to protect the first two ranks from Mexican cavalry. The author thought that an blacksmith should be able to turn these out quickly and that together the army he described would sweep the field.

The final establishment of the Texas Regular Army as approved in the winter of 1835--6 was the following:

Headquarters: 1 Major General Commanding: Sam Houston
Staff Officers;
Adjutant General, Colonel John Wharton
Inspector General, Colonel George W. Hockley
Assistant Inspector General, Major William Cooke
Conunissary General, Lieutenant Colonel John Forbes
Surgeon General, Dr. Alexancer Ewing

Texas Infantry Regiment

Colonel Edward Burleson
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Millard
Major William Oldham

Ten companies of infantry, each company to have 1 Captain, 1 1st. Lieutenant and 1 2nd. Lieutenants, with 54 rank and file. All Staff Officers, i.e. Adjutant Quartermaster, etc., from existing Officers.

Texas Artillery Corps

Colonel Commandant James W.Fannin

The Artillery Corps was divided into 2 Battalions with each having a Lt.Colonel and a Major. Each Battalion had 5 companies with each company having a Captain and a 1st., 2nd. and 3rd. Lieutenant. Size of the companies is not known but I would think that 54 rank and file would be right. Due to the fact that this unit would be divided up into Field detachments, as well as serving in any Coastal Batteriers, it has a much higher establishment of Officers than normally found.

The Cavalry Corps

Lieutenant Colonel William Travis
Major William Miller

There are 6 Troops of Cavalry with each Troop having a Captain, a 1st. and 2nd Lieutenant plus a cornet. Again, Troop size is not mentioned but I will guess that it is about 54 men per Troop, not counting the Officers.

The Ranging Corps

Major R.W. Williamson

This unit served for the protection of the frontier settlements. 3 companies were to be raised with each company to have a Captain, a 1st. and 2nd. Lieutenant.

It should be noted that every Officer's place was filled down to the lowest 3rd. Lieutenant and cornet's position. Few of the Officers appointed to these ranks ever saw active service with their units. The only unit that saw active service was the Regular Infantry Regiment which had a Battalion of 4 companies present at Can Jacinto. The ranks however were used by the Officers, for example, Travis held command of the Alamo by virtue of his commission as Lieutenant Colonel of the Cavalry Corps.

The Ranging Corps had the duty of providing it's own horses and weapons. It did see active service during this period along the frontier and in fact missed being present at San Jacinto by a few days.

Last and not least we have the Volunteer Forces of Texas, a term which covers a multitude of units and commands. The starting point of the Texas `volunteers can be said to be the town of Gonzales, when on October 2nd., a force of 168 volunteers clashed with a Mexican force of 100 men attempting to reclaim a small cannon which the town used to drive off Indians. In an election of Officers a Colonel John Moore and a Lieutenant Colonel J.W.E. Wallace were named. Their march into battle consisted of the cavalry [50] in advance followed by the field gun. On either side of the gun a company of flankers were present aswell as an open column. An additional company of infantry followed up in the rear. If the open columns were part of the companies acting as tankers, then the company size for infantry was about 40 men. If the open columns were in addition, i.e. separate companies, then 5 infantry companies were present with a strength of 25 men each. Either way it is an extremely interesting formation to use.

The Texas force which marched on man Antonio de Bexar after Gonzales was also a Volunteer force, though its make up is still a mystery. Companies were organized into Divisions and Divisions were organized into Battalions. The basic units were the company and Division. As to the number of men in a company while the minimum number was 30 and  the maximum 70, the number depended on how popular the commanding officer was at any time. Soldiers who were unhappy simply moved to a new company. Likewise the companies seem to move about within Divisions depending on how the Divisional Commander and Company Commander got along.

As men and officers came and went, new elections were held and anyone who wanted to form their own unit could try to recruit from other commands. During late October and November of 1835, this force beseiged General Cos, held together only by the fact that Stephen Austin was their Commander in Chief.

In late November Austin was called to the U.S. and Edward Byrleson was elected C IN C. With his election the authority of the Texas Army began to collapse. The arrival of Volunteer Companies from the States such as the 1st. and 2nd Companies of the New Orleans Greys, the Alabama Red Rovers and the Mobile Greys, began to change the nature of the Texas Army. More of the real Texans went home to their families leaving the newcomers holding the seige. Where as Burleson saw the struggle as part of the dispute between the Federalist and Centralist Parties, with Cos on the Centralist's side [Santa Anna's Central Government in Mexico City] and the Texicans on the Federalist's side, these new Volunteers viewed the struggle as a War of Independence.

The first Texas flags confirmed this view made up as they were with a Mexican tricolour with the numbers "1824" on it standing for the Constitution of 1824 and with two stars on it which stood for the separation of the state of Coahuila-Texas into two different states. <

The Volunteer Companies from the U.S. had one element in common, that was, they elected their officers. Some units came with uniforms, some without. In size they varied from Crockett's Mounted Tennessee Rifles of 17 men to the Georgia Battalion, a group of 4 companies of some 200 volunteers from that state. When uniforms existed they were often militia copies in grey of U.S. Army uniforms [Mobile and New Orleans], or the old hunting shirt [the Alabama Red Rovers in reddish-brown shirts and trousers].

They did not take to an authority such as Houston claimed, for since they did not help elect the Provisional Government, they saw no reason to obey it. While Travis and his small band of Regulars worked on the Alamo, James Bowie's unit of Volunteers sat across the river in San Antonio and watched. Copies of journals and letters indicate that if a number of men wanted to leave, they did so and came back when they wanted.

With the loss of Goliad and San Antonio de Bexar, Houston started rebuilding the Texas Army. Starting at Gonzales, which had been the rallying point for the reinforcements for the Alamo, Houston began to build. The resulting Army is one that was neither Regular nor Volunteer, but one that had a mixture of both as Houston tried to find the elements he needed in both.

At Gonzales Houston found 374 men gathered, but with the command claimed by James Neill, former Commander of the Alamo, and Lt. Colonel of the Texas Army Edward Burleson, former commander of the forces that had captured San Antonio de Bexar, plus Alexander Somervell who had brought a 100 or so men to Gonzales and Sidney Sherman who raised a Volunteer Company from Newport, Kentucky and Cincinnati area, and who was all for fighting now.

In order to unite the command, Houston ordered the formation of the 1st. Regiment of Texas Volunteers, with the result that Edward Burleson was elected Colonel, Sidney Sherman Lieutenant Colonel and Somerville as Major. Neill was ordered to take charge of the Artillery, which consisted of two 4 lb cannons though they were quickly spiked and hurled into the river on Houston's orders.

Ten Companies were organized, lettered A through K, skipping the letter I as was common to the U.S. Army even then. Houston then marched his Army to his named "camp west of the Brazos" near Groce's Plantation.

[This extract from the above article, which was first published in the "Midwest Wargamer's Association Newsletter", No.14 March-April 1985, and is reprinted with the permission of the Editor Hal Thingum]

To be continued