SPAIGHT’S BATTALION HISTORY

 

Spaight’s 11^th Cavalry & Infantry Battalion

 

The 11^th was a mixed command organized with 400 men in April 1862 and served in the Department of Texas, formerly known as the 6^th Texas Infantry Battalion it can trace its origins to the “Sabine Pass Guards” Militia formed in 1861.  Some of Colonel Ashley Spaight’s Texas Confederate volunteer companies were also known as the “Swamp Angels,” all of which served to defend the Texas gulf coast and Louisiana borders from Federal incursions. The unit was assigned to Hubert’s Brigade in the Trans-Mississippi Department, many of whom lost their lives during the 1862 “Yellow Jack” epidemic at Sabine Pass. 

 

During the spring of 1864 it was merged in the 21^st Texan Infantry Regiment, which was a consolidation of the 11^th and Griffin’s Texas Infantry Battalion.  Serving in the Trans-Mississippi Department the unit was stationed at Sabine Pass.  The unit now consisted of 14 officers and 235 men.  Later the unit moved into parts of Louisiana returning again to Texas and disbanding in June of 1865.

 

These battalions was comprised of mostly southeast Texas residents, many of whom became community and business leaders after the war.

 

 

 

Spring 1862: Commander    LtCol Ashley W Spaight and Major  J S Irvine

Spring 1864: Commander    Colonel Ashley W Spaight, LtCol William M Griffin, and Major Felix C. McReynolds

 

For more info on Spaight’s Battalion, please refer to the East Texas Journal, XXX, No.1 (1992)