Big-Foot's Bad Afternoon

Big-Foot Wallace

Danger at the Watering Hole

Early in the afternoon, a nondescript mail coach parked alongside a watering hole near Devil’s River in Southwest Texas. Tired and very thirsty, the eight-member crew had been traveling non-stop since twelve o’clock midnight from El Paso to San Antonio. The crew leader, referred to as “Cap” (short for Captain) decided to let the horses and mules forage for two to three hours while the crew rested, commonly referred to back then as “nooning it.” To prevent them from wandering off too far, the animals were hobbled by tying ropes or leather straps around their legs.

Cap or his real name, William “Big-Foot” Wallace, had a bad feeling about the campsite.  Shortly before their arrival, telltale signs of Indian activity were encountered such as distant smoke signals and a hoof-beaten trail where fifteen to twenty horses crossed the road they were traveling on. While his crew slept on their blankets, he walked fifty yards over to a knoll to survey the area. Again, those signs appeared.  One of the horses looked up while grazing and stared into the distance.  More disturbing, a deer ran past him, but no wolves were chasing it.  Something was coming! He hurried back to camp to wake his men.

Big-Foot

William Alexander Anderson Wallace was born on April 3,1817 in Lexington, Virginia. He departed for Texas after his brother and cousin were killed in the Goliad Massacre, stating he was going to “take pay out of the Mexicans.” He got the nickname “Big-Foot” after being mistaken for an Indian who had exceptionally large feet. Wallace fought at Salado and Honda River before joining the ill-fated Mier Expedition.  After surrendering to Mexican forces, he and his fellow prisoners were forced to march south to the notorious Perote Prison.  Along the way, Wallace avoided execution by drawing a white bean from a jar. The prisoners who drew a black bean were shot. Suffering from the effects of disease, malnourishment and hard labor, he barely survived his time in prison.  He returned to Texas after his release, later volunteering to fight in the War with Mexico.  Wallace joined John Coffee Hay’s Texas Rangers after the war, fighting mostly Comanches. During the 1850’s, he became captain of his own ranger company. At the same time, Wallace became an expert tracker, frequently called upon to track down runaway slaves heading for freedom in Mexico. He also operated a mail coach, carrying mail from San Antonio to El Paso and back, a hazardous undertaking that included predatory animals, bandits, and Indians, especially Comanches.  

                   

Texas Long Rifle

The Comanches Attack

“Get up, Ben,” said Wallace. “Get up and help me bring in the horses.”

Ben rubbed his eyes. “Injuns about?”

Wallace replied,”I haven’t seen any yet, but they are about here certain.”

They no sooner brought the mules and horses into camp when Ben blurted out, “Cap! They are coming! I hear their horses feet!” Out of the nearby boulders and brush, twenty-three Comanches came galloping toward the camp.  A hail of arrows fell on Wallace and his men while they ducked behind chaparral bushes.  The Texans shot back with rifles and six-shooters, killing four. Three to four charges followed.  With six guns blazing, they held off the Comanches. Overcome with fear, one of Wallace’s men cowered behind a cactus.

“Come out of that,” said Wallace. “And stand up and fight like a man.”

The young man replied, “I would if I could, but I can’t stand it.”

Wallace let him stay there and promised not to say anything about it. Unfortunately, an arrow found its mark and pinned him to the cactus he was hiding in.  The only one of Wallace’s men to be wounded.

The Comanches, however, were not finished. Wallace had his men take cover beneath the coach. This time the Comanches approached on foot, curious about the coach that appeared to have been abandoned.  Holding their fire until they were well within range, Wallace yelled out, “Now score ‘em boys!” Four fell dead from gunfire. Not ones to simply abandon their dead, the Comanches employed a curious method of retrieval. From concealed positions in the brush, they lassoed the feet of their dead fellow warriors and then pulled them into the brush. For Wallace, it was a clear signal the Comanches were retreating. 

Comanche Attack

Bait Then Escape

After emerging from beneath the coach, Wallace’s men began harnessing the horses. Wallace prudently walked over to the knoll to see if the Comanches had left - they hadn’t. A second Comanche war party rode toward him, unaware of the previous fight that had taken place. The war party’s leader or chief rode out  alone for about thirty or forty yards to confront Wallace.  He would find a cool, tough and disdainful adversary. In Spanish, the chief asked him what had happened. Wallace cleverly baited him, telling him that he and his men had fought Comanches and “flogged them genteelly, too!” The chief bristled, replying that, “You are all squaws, and you don’t dare to poke your noses out of the chaparral.” Wallace stated that his mail coach would continue to travel on the road and camp eight miles down the road at California Springs, regardless of any Comanche threats. Turning his back toward the chief, Wallace casually walked back to his camp, leaving the Comanches thinking he would be camping at California Springs that night and vulnerable to their attack.  Instead, Wallace took the opposite direction on the road.  He headed toward Fort Clark and sanctuary from the Comanches. Before the Comanches realized they had been duped, Wallace had put too much distance between them and the mail coach.  It was a masterful escape from certain death. Escorted by a U. S. Cavalry detachment, the mail coach arrived in San Antonio a few days later.

Comance Warrior

Check It Out

Check out John C. Duval’s book, “Big-Foot Wallace, The Texas Ranger and Hunter.” The book was published back in 1871. Based on the author’s interviews with an aging Wallace, the book certainly contains embellishments and half truths.  Wallace  had his prejudices against Hispanics and Native Americans but the book provides an interesting account of frontier Texas.       

“Surrender or I’ll Charge You With The Texas Rangers!” Nathan Bedford Forrest and Terry’s Texas Rangers at 1st Murfreesboro

Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest

Overture

During the early morning hours of July 13, 1862, slumbering members of the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry were wakened by the sounds of gunfire, galloping horses and yelling rebel cavalrymen. Running out of their tents in their night shirts, their only recourse was to head for the neighboring camp of the 9th Michigan Infantry Regiment. Already awake and alert, the Michiganders, along with members of the 7th, tried to form a hollow infantry square, a common tactic used to repulse cavalry charges. Failing in their formation amidst the chaos, they formed a sturdier defensive line behind a cedar fence in front of the Maney house, just north of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The charge stalled, but the rebels’ resolve didn’t, especially among the men of Terry’s Texas Rangers.   

The Importance of Chattanooga

Railroads were vital in maintaining Confederate armies, especially the Army of Northern Virginia. The East Tennessee & Georgia Railroad supplied Robert E. Lee’s troops with food, munitions and manpower. The Southeast Tennessee town of Chattanooga was a crucial  junction on that railroad that must be held. In May 1862, the Union Army of the Ohio, under Major General Don Carlos Buell, was advancing toward Chattanooga from the East. To destroy his supply lines and stall his advance, guerrilla warfare was conducted behind his lines. One Confederate general was more than well-suited for such operations - General Nathan Bedford Forrest.

The Wizard of The Saddle

When it came to fighting, Nathan Bedford Forrest had few, if any, equals.  A self-made man, the Tennessee native made a fortune in cotton and the slave trade, enough to recruit and equip his own calvary battalion. At 6 feet, 2 inches with an explosive demeanor, Forrest cut an imposing figure on a battlefield. His command style was simple - fear and respectability!  You obeyed his orders or suffered the consequences. Before the end of the war, Forrest killed thirty men in hand-to-hand combat, an astounding number for a Major General. He had no formal military training, but had a flair for tactics. Forrest’s genius was in the use of cavalry as mobile infantry to flank Union lines quickly, disrupt their rear and surround them, usually forcing their surrender. His tactics are used today by the U. S. Army, only they use Humvees and Bradley fighting vehicles instead of horses. “Get there first with the most,” said Forrest. Who better to get there first than the 8th Texas Cavalry - Terry’s Texas Rangers.

Opposing Forces

Forest arrived in Chattanooga on June 11,1862 to a new cavalry command consisting of the 2nd Georgia Cavalry under Colonel J. K. Lawton and Terry’s Texas Rangers under Colonel John H. Wharton.  Their target was the garrison and supply depot at Murfreesboro. The garrison, under the command of Brigadier General Thomas L. Crittenden, consisted of a company of the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry, a Kentucky artillery battery, the 9th Michigan Infantry under Colonel William W. Duffield, and the 3rd Minnesota Infantry under Colonel Henry T. Lester. Three months earlier, the officers of the well disciplined 3rd awarded Lawton a Tiffany sword. Because of a simmering animosity between the 9th and the 3rd, both Union camps were carelessly kept separate, making them vulnerable to a massive cavalry attack.    

3rd Minnesota Infantry Flag

Forrest’s Plan of Attack 

Forrest set out on July 9, 1862.  He stopped at McMinnville for reinforcements and provisions. Two companies of Kentucky infantry and two detachments of Tennessee cavalry were added, bringing the total number of men to 1,400. Scouts and civilian spies kept Forrest informed on the Union camps and locations in Murfreesboro.  During the early morning hours of the 13th, the Rangers took out the union pickets outside of town. Forrest divided his command into three groups. The Rangers would attack the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry and 9th Michigan Infantry camps north of Murfreesboro. Forrest himself would proceed down Woodsbury Pike with the 1st Georgia Cavalry and a detachment of Rangers to capture the courthouse.  The 2nd Georgia Cavalry would charge up between the Nashville Pike and the Lebanon Pike to attack the 3rd Minnesota and cut off any contact between the 3rd Minnesota and the 9th Michigan.  

Murfreesboro (Rutherford County) Courthouse

Forrest Rides

 As the Rangers were routing the Union camps north of Murfreesboro, Forrest raced ahead to secure the town’s courthouse and jail. Inside the jail were 150 political prisoners; local civilians who were arrested for suspected espionage or outright defiance toward Union authorities. The provost guard took positions on the second floor of the courthouse and resisted until Forrest’s men broke through the door and subdued them. The jail was set on fire by a vengeful guard. Fortunately, the prisoners were freed from their cells before the fire could consume them. The Rangers entered the nearby Lyle Hotel, capturing a humiliated General Crittenden. Other officers were rounded up from nearby homes and taverns. The hated provost marshal was found hiding under his wife’s bed.

The Ranger’s attack north of town stalled. Through miscommunication, only a fraction of the Rangers attacked the Union camps, while the rest charged downtown with Forrest and the Georgians. Colonel Wharton was wounded and replaced by Colonel Thomas Harrison. The 9th Michigan’s Colonel Duffield was severely wounded and taken inside the Maney House. His replacement, Lt. Colonel John G. Pankhurst, fortified the 9th’s line with overturned wagons and bales of hay. The outnumbered Rangers kept Pankhurst’s men pinned down with rifle fire.

The attack on the 3rd Minnesota’s camp proved a tougher nut to crack until Forrest personally led a charge after the first two failed, flanking the Union line and capturing their camp. Having surrounded the 3rd, Forrest ordered his men to keep them pinned down. When Forrest’s officers suggested he had done enough and should break off the attack, he replied angrily, “I did not come here to make half a job of it. I mean to have them all.”  Forrest mounted his horse and galloped over to the Rangers position near the 9th Michigan’s line.  It was there, Forrest applied another tactic he became famous for-deception. Under a flag of truce, Pankhurst received a demand to surrender or be put to the sword. According to Ranger Captain J. K. P. Blackburn, Forrest added to the threat with “If you refuse I will charge you with the Texas Rangers under the black flag.” Forrest’s cleverly backed his threat by having his cavalry ride in a continuous loop around the town, giving the illusion to Pankhurst that an overwhelming force was about to storm his position. After conferring with the wounded Duffield, Parkhurst surrendered his command. Forrest applied the same tactic on the 3rd Minnesota - surrender or else.  Surrounded and cut off from their camp, they too surrendered.

Ranger Hat with Lone Star Pin

Aftermath 

By mid-afternoon, Forrest had captured the entire Murfreesboro garrison. The total haul was 1,200 prisoners, a quarter of a million dollars worth of supplies, an artillery battery, and fifty wagons, teams included. Confederate casualties were 65 to 85 men. More important, Buell’s advance was stalled. Fearing a Confederate attack on their base at Nashville, Union troops, to be used against Chattanooga, were dispatched to Nashville instead. Forest and the Rangers had made the ideal pairing.

Terry's Texas Rangers Flag

Shock and Awe on Horseback: The Cavalry Tactics of Terry's Texas Rangers

On a cold, rainy morning, Colonel Tom Harrison, of the 8th Texas Cavalry, scanned the field ahead with his binoculars, looking for Union activity.  With sabers drawn, the15th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment came into view. Harrison smiled before turning to his men. “Now boys, we will have some fun,” he said. “There is a regiment out there preparing to charge us with sabers. Let them come nearly close enough to strike and then feed them with buckshot.” The Pennsylvanians charged while the Texans cooly stood their ground. Before they could close in with their sabers, the Texans released a devastating volley, emptying many saddles and forcing the survivors to retreat. For the 15th Pennsylvania, It was a painful lesson learned; sabers and swords were no longer useful in a cavalry fight, especially when you’re up against Terry’s Texas Rangers.

Since the Spanish Colonial Period, Texans learned the value of a good horse and overwhelming firepower.  Because of the long distances involved and the deadly adversaries they faced, such as  Mexican lancers and Comanche warriors, cavalry became the military arm of choice for Texans. Known as the greatest horsemen on the American continent, if not the world, it was useless to confront Comanches with footslogging infantry and their mule-driven supply wagons. Texans realized a different approach was needed on the vast, hostile frontier. From the Comanches and Kiowas, they learned the tactics of mobile warfare.  From the Mexicans, they learned the basics of frontier horsemanship and riding apparel. Marksmanship came from their ancestors in the United States, especially from states like Tennessee known for  firearm expertise such as the use of the long barrel musket.  With the formation of the Texas Rangers, all that learning and experience was about to pay off.

Organized in September 1861 by Benjamin F. Terry and Thomas Lubbock, the 8th Texas Cavalry or Terry’s Texas Rangers were recruited mostly from the central and gulf coast regions of Texas. Each man was to furnish his own pair of revolvers, horse, bridle, saddle, and rifle or shotgun. As the war progressed, the double barrel shotgun became their chosen weapon.  As for revolvers, the.36 caliber Colt Navy revolver was the overwhelming favorite.  Because of the problem of reloading while riding, each ranger carried 4 to 5 revolvers.

                                           

To widen the scattering of the shot, the shotgun barrels were shortened.  It also made the shotgun easier to shoot on horseback. Though their accuracy was compromised, they were deadly at close range.  One shotgun blast could wound or kill more than one man. By closing in quickly with their horses and then releasing a massive shotgun volley, a Union line of cavalry or infantry could disintegrate into confusion and chaos, especially if they were in the middle of reloading. According to one Ranger, “One volley from the shotguns into their ranks scattered these saber men into useless fragments of a force.”

A preview of coming attractions came at Woodsonville, Kentucky on December 17, 1861. Colonel August Willich, of the 32nd Indiana Infantry, gave the best description of the Rangers’ attack: “With lightening speed, under infernal yelling, great numbers of Texas Rangers rushed upon our whole force,  some of them even between them, and opened fire with rifles and revolvers.” Paired with sheer audacity, it was a method of attack the Rangers excelled at until the end of the war.

Texas Civil War Museum To Close For Good

Texas Civil War Museum

On October 31, 2024, The Texas Civil War Museum will close forever. After 15 years, Ray and Judy Richey have decided to retire. One of the best collections of Civil War artifacts will no longer be available for public viewing. The building has been sold and the artifacts will be sold individually on consignment by The Horse Soldier Antiques of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Except for its Facebook page, the museum website has been taken down.

The museum is a Civil War artifact museum with emphasis on weapons, uniforms, flags, and equipment used by Union and Confederate soldiers. In addition, one of the best collections of Victorian Era dresses in the country is featured. Among the museum's many artifacts are a presentation sword that belonged to Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant, Major General Jeb Stuart’s headquarters flag, and Major General Phill Sheridan’s saber.  

Though public opinion was mostly favorable, journalists roundly condemned the museum for not placing enough emphasis on or completely avoiding the issue of slavery. Because the museum is located in the Fort Worth suburb of White Settlement, they couldn’t resist tying the museum to the city’s racist sounding name. Many may rejoice in its closing, but you will never see a collection like this in Texas again-period!

Funding for private museums is often difficult to obtain and is never a sure thing, especially when you have to rely on a large steady stream of paying visitors. Despite the revenue problems, Ray always kept the admission fees low. It was his dream to present his collection to the public. When a civil war diorama, constructed by Arizona high school students, was destroyed by the curator of a Texas military history museum, Ray put up the money for its replacement, unveiled it at the Texas Capitol, and had it placed at the Texas Civil War Museum. To this day, it is the museum’s largest draw. That’s the kind of man he is. 

Though the film may be a bit outdated and the sale of Confederate-themed souvenirs raises eyebrows, there is no intent to propagate racism, domestic terrorism, the Confederate cause or any cause for that matter. Ray and Judy have provided a wonderful gift to Texas that future generations will never see and present generations can only remember through iPhone photos.  

Victorio

Victorio

Mescalero Culture

For centuries, the Apache Indians inhabited the Southwest region of the United Sates and Northern Mexico. The Mescalero Apaches made their homes in present-day New Mexico and the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas. A nomadic, hunter-gatherer people, they lived off the plant that gave them their name, the desert Mescal plant. Like other Apache tribes, there was no overall tribal government. Instead, the Mescalero were divided into 20 to 30 member bands, usually based on family affiliations. In times of conflict, they gathered together under a leader who had proven himself in battle or possessed spiritual skills. They lived in brush shelters called “wicki-ups” or crude teepees made of animal hides.

War With The Spanish

Considered peaceful at first by the Spanish Conquistadores, attitudes changed when those same Spaniards tried to enslave them. The ensuing war led to whole villages and ranches in New Mexico being laid waste, making a mockery of Spanish authority. By the end of the 1700’s and after years of bloody conflict, the Apaches and Spaniards were finally at peace. After Mexico gained its independence in 1824, the war was renewed.

Raiding

Although the desert provided them with sustenance, the Mescalero’s livelihood was raiding.  Mescalero warriors targeted villages in the New Mexico territory, West Texas, and the Mexican State of Coahuila for livestock, horses and captives, mostly females and children. Military force, treachery and treaties did little to overcome the Mescalero; who excelled in guerrilla, hit and run tactics before holing up in remote mountain ranges.

Misery at Bosque Rodondo

After New Mexico and Texas were acquired by the United States, the Mescalero targeted the newly arriving settlers from their camps in the Guadalupe and Davis Mountains. Wagon trains in route to the California gold fields were often attacked, leaving a visible trail of human remains and burnt wagons. In response, a number of U. S. Army forts were established in West Texas and New Mexico to protect residents from Mescalero raids. During the Civil War, Union forces from California, under the command of Brigadier General James Carlton, and with the assistance of famed frontier scout Kit Carson, established martial law in New Mexico.  Carlton adopted a harsh, shoot-on-sight policy toward the Mescalero and Navajos.  Both tribes, who intensely disliked each other, were placed in a dreadful, military-run reservation in Southern New Mexico called Bosque Redondo. Here, the Indians were to establish farms which failed dramatically due to drought, sudden floods and worms. The nearby salty Pecos River was a poor source of drinking water and made the Indians sick. To make matters worse, disease and conflicts with renegade bands of Navajos made conditions intolerable.

Problems On The Reservation

In 1865, the Mescalero began leaving the reservation in small groups and made their way back to their ancestral homes in the mountains. A total failure, Bosque Redondo was closed. In its place, a new reservation system was adopted; the San Carlos Agency in Arizona was established for the Apaches.  After the Mescalero bands were rounded up and placed on the reservation, problems quickly arose, mostly from white squatters looking to exploit the region’s mineral wealth or sell the Indians cheap whiskey, corrupt U. S. Government officials who cheated them, malnourishment, and U. S. soldiers who would rather shoot them than reach an understanding. In 1869, President Ulysses S. Grant established a Board of Indian Commissioners to manage the reservations. In an abrupt departure from military control, agents from the various Protestant denominations were appointed to train Native Americans in farming and Christianity, though still under the watchful and scornful eye of the U. S. Army. 

The Rise Of Victorio

From among the many Apache bands a skillful leader and tactician arose that would frustrate the U. S. Army and Mexican militias for many months to come. A Mexican by birth, Victorio was probably born around 1825 in Chihuahua City prior to his abduction by the Apaches during a raid.  While growing up, he learned Apache customs and war tactics under his mentor, the great Apache Chief Mangas Colorados, who was later tortured, killed and beheaded by U. S. soldiers. Defiant toward U. S. authority, Victorio became the leader of a mixed band of Mescalero and Mimbrenos Apaches. On November 10, 1877, Victoria and his band left San Carlos for Ojo Caliente in New Mexico - a sacred place for the Mescalero. The U. S. Government held to its policy of concentration; the Mescalero were to be forcibly brought back to the San Carlos Agency. Victorio had other plans.  With 80 men, he departed for the mountains in August 1878.  What followed was a game of cat and mouse.  Victorio’s warriors, who never numbered more than 250, would raid ranches and villages and then head for the mountains. The U. S. Cavalry would give chase until Victorio ambushed them, took their horses, and disappeared across the U. S. Border with Mexico. 

Ambush

At an army post near Ojo Caliente, Mescalero warriors killed 7 army privates and made off with 47 horses, practically dismounting the army post’s garrison. Troops from Fort Bayard followed Victorio’s trail until they were ambushed at the headwaters of the Animas River.  Facing annihilation, the troops were forced to retreat on foot, leaving 53 of their horses behind. Herding his captured horses before him, Victorio found refuge in the Candelaria Mountains in the Mexican State of Chihuahua. A militia unit from the village of Carrizal discovered Victorio’s camp before recklessly attacking it.  True to form, Victorio ambushed them, killing 30 Mexicans.  Ten Texas Rangers crossed the border to assist the panicked Mexicans, but the Indians were long gone. 

Fight At Hembrillo Canyon

Colonel Edward Hatch came down from Santa Fe to head up a thousand man force to subdue Victorio. According to his plan, soldiers and Indian scouts were to converge on New Mexico from every direction to trap him. Like many military plans, it looked better on paper as compared to its actual execution.  As with any desert campaign that involved men, horses and mules, you had to have access to water, something that wasn’t readily available in the arid Southwest. A column of thirsty cavalry, which included the famed Buffalo Soldiers under Captain Henry Carroll, went looking for a spring in the steep-walled Hembrillo Canyon.  What they found was a well-laid ambush. Carroll’s seventy-one dismounted men were penned down. Mad with thirst, many of their horses had bolted for the nearby spring which was held by the Apaches. A detachment from the 6th Cavalry arrived on the scene, driving away the Mescalero. Carroll and 7 of his buffalo soldiers were wounded.  Again,Victorio got away.

Death At Tres Castillos

After the fight at Hembrillo Canyon, Victorio headed back into the Candelaria Mountains across the Rio Grande.  By the fall of 1880, time was running out for Victorio.  After a failed attempt to liberate fellow Mescaleros from San Carlos, the U. S. Cavalry, Texas Rangers, militia companies and citizen posses were all on the hunt.  That didn’t stop small bands of Victorio’s followers from jumping civilian parties in Texas, killing the chief engineer of the Texas Pacific Railroad. The end came in Mexico, south of El Paso, in the Tres Castillos Mountains.  Mexican forces surrounded his camp on October 9, 1880, killing 86 warriors.  Though his body was never identified, it was believed he committed suicide rather than face certain death from the hated Mexicans.  In a macabre procession, Mescalero scalps, attached to poles, were displayed to the residents of Chihuahua City. One esteemed writer calculated that Victorio’s band “seldom more than seventy-five strong, had taken the lives of more than one thousand white’s and Mexicans while eluding three American cavalry regiments, two American infantry regiments, a huge number of Mexican troops, and a contingent of Texas Rangers.”

The Miraculous Survivals of Private Nance - Part 2

Waxahachie Confederate Powder Mill Site

Recuperation and a New Job

After almost two months of recuperation at the family farm in Dallas County, David Nance packed his mule and horse for his return to Arkansas. He arrived in Little Rock on December 5,1862 and then proceeded to Des Arc, where Parson’s Cavalry Brigade was bivouacked. It was there he learned of his new assignment, making gunpowder in Waxahachie, Texas. Nance had made an unnecessary 800-mile trip due to the fault of his commanding officer. He mailed his assignment order to the wrong address. To protect his son from the fighting that nearly killed him, Nance’s father, Quill, arranged to have him work for a former neighbor, William Rowen; who built a Confederate powder mill in Waxahachie. Unknown to Quill, he had inadvertently placed his son in a very hazardous undertaking.

The Hazards of Gunpowder

Confederate gunpowder production during the Civil War, especially in the hands of untrained amateurs, is rife with accidental explosions that killed dozens outright or burned them so horribly, they died a short time later. An explosion at the Brown Island Powder Works near Richmond killed twenty-nine employees, mostly teenage girls.  At the Jackson Arsenal in Jackson, Mississippi, forty-seven were blown to pieces. Into this deadly world stepped David Nance - a total novice.

The Waxahachie Powder Mill

The Waxahachie Powder Mill consisted mainly of three barn-like structures: a furnace shed, a powder house, and a rolling mill, crudely powered by a treadwheel with ten little mules trotting atop it. The furnace shed produced charcoal from willow and maple wood brought in by local woodcutters. Afterwards, the charcoal was mixed with sulfur to form a gray compound called mash. In a cauldron, potassium nitrate or saltpeter was heated before being rinsed and crushed into powder.  The nitrate and mash were transported by tramcar to the mill where Nance worked.  Both were poured together into ten mortars, where they were blended and crushed with mule-powered cylinders into a mill cake, later shaved into gunpowder. From there the gunpowder was taken to the powder house and poured into wooded kegs.

A Lack of Safety

With no standard safety procedures in place and a hot, filthy powder mill with minimal ventilation, an explosion was bound to occur. To make matters worse, there were only five workers, including Nance, for the whole tedious, backbreaking operation. The Confederacy’s demand for manpower along with the government’s conscription act left few men available to work in munitions plants. After working long hours to meet their quotas, fatigue set in, increasing the likelihood of a devastating accident.

Explosion

The accident came soon enough on April 29,1863. In one of the mortars, an explosion set off a chain of explosions that blew Nance and two of his co-workers off their feet and away from a quick exit. Before he could get out of the mill, his gunpowder saturated clothes were set on fire. Severely burned, he managed to tear them off before getting outside and diving into a well. His two co-workers, including the mill owner Rowen, became human torches. Totally in flames, they also dived into the well.  Both died from their burns.  Luckily and once again, Nance survived.  With the exception of the powder house, the powder mill was a total loss. Though the cause was never determined, it was likely a spark from one of the mortar’s mixing cylinders that set off the powder. Recuperating at home for the second time, Nance had time to reflect:

“In the battle of Cache River, the first ball fired from the enemy’s guns hit me; and when I tried a second time to shoot at a man, a stray ball from a gun right at me prevented me again. Then the enemy captured me and I got away a half hour later. Then all who had erysipelas in my ward at St. John’s hospital died but me, and now in this awful explosion I alone was left again. These facts impressed me in a way I cannot describe.”

Return to Service

After a summer of searing pain while learning to move his limbs again, Nance worked two weeks in his uncle’s wool-processing plant before traveling to Louisiana. Along the way, he saw evidence of a collapsing Confederate army: Low moral, emaciated soldiers dressed in lice-infested rags, pitifully thin horses, dilapidated wagons, and shortages of everything. Food was no longer supplied solely by army purchase, but pilfered by the soldiers themselves from nearby farms and shops at the expense of outraged citizens. 

Duty in Louisiana

Nance rejoined his brigade at Vienna, Louisiana. Parson’s Brigade spent the fall and winter months performing a variety of duties, mostly scouting Union positions or hunting feral hogs for the Central Commissary and Rations Depot in Shreveport. The least likable of duties was the round up of draft dodgers and deserters in Louisiana, Arkansas and The Indian Territory.  After their arrest, they were herded to Shreveport to fill the army’s depleted ranks. Nance was able to replace his old double barrel shotgun with a more accurate Enfield rifle. He would not have it for long.

The Red River Campaign

The spring of 1864 brought a long anticipated Union offensive up the Red River with the goal of capturing Shreveport, the Confederate headquarters of the Trans-Mississippi Department.  From there, Union troops, under Major General Nathaniel Banks, would march into East Texas, confiscating cotton along the way for New England textile mills. Protected by ironclad gunboats, under Admiral David D. Porter, Banks’ 51,000 men appeared unstoppable in the face of Major General Richard Taylor’s threadbare, paltry 15,000. Confederate cavalry under the redoubtable Tom Green harassed Banks’ every move, buying time for Taylor to assemble his troops at Mansfield, just south of Shreveport. Hampered by a massive column of plodding supply wagons along a narrow, muddy road and the unbearable, humid climate, Banks was defeated by Taylor. Banks retreated toward the safety of his gunboats on the Red River.  Parsons’ Brigade, held in reserve during the battle, followed Banks toward Alexandria. Along the way, they attempted to stop Porter’s gunboats and transports but failed due largely to the gunboats’ awesome firepower, which decapitated General Green with a well placed shot. The Confederates could only watch and take potshots while the boats made their escape. 

Wounded at Yellow Bayou

Taylor’s pursuit of Banks ended at Yellow Bayou, where Banks’ remaining troops crossed the Atchafalaya River and then boarded steam transports bound for New Orleans. To protect the retreating troops, a defensive line, next to a former Confederate fort, was established.  Confederate troops, under General J. A. Wharton, who replaced Tom Green, launched a foolhardy charge to break the Union line. Using double canister shots, Union artillery decimated the Confederate ranks. Again, Nance was wounded when a minie ball struck his Enfield and then ricocheted into his chest, just behind his heart.  His Enfield obliterated, he managed to make it to a trench, where he probably passed out. After two fruitless charges, Wharton’s troops fell back, almost leaving Nance to certain capture. He bolted from the trench in time for a Union volley to graze his neck, severing an artery.  Luckily, a friend stopped the bleeding from Nance’s neck wound. A field surgeon removed the minie ball from his back.  

Texas Homecoming

Mercifully, Yellow Bayou would be Nance’s last battle. He survived the remaining months of the war, before returning home. Now a civilian, Nance farmed land his father had given him, becoming prosperous from raising wheat and oats, both in heavy demand after the war. He married and raised four children at his farm in Bonham, Texas. David Nance died at the age of eighty-two at his family farm in Dallas County.  He is buried at the William Rawlings Cemetery near Lancaster.