Book Description

This is a first hand account by Robert Hamilton Williams, a British subject, an adventurer, and world traveler who joined the Confederate cause, first with a band of Missouri partisan rangers, then as a captain in the Texas 33rd Cavalry Regiment.Williams had a fine eye for detail and tells the story of the troops in Texas against the Indians and the Abolitionists in a compelling manner. The following excerpt tells of his joining the war effort.FULLY resolved to throw in my lot with the South, I now joined a company of mounted Rangers, raised by A. B. Miller, who, though a professional gambler, had the reputation of a plucky fighting man, and was at once elected orderly sergeant myself. No oath of enlistment was taken, but there was no fear of desertion or insubordination, since death would have been the penalty for either crime.Our company was the best mounted and equipped in the Southern force, and, as soon as we were mustered, moved into camp at Salt Creek, about three miles from Leavenworth City, where about eight hundred Missouri and Southern volunteers were assembled.Our commander was "General" Davy Atchison, a well-known and influential character in those parts. When I met him, and served under him, he was about fifty-five years of age, and one of the most popular men in his section of the country; in fact, a typical Western politician. A lawyer by profession, he was also a planter, and large slave-owner; consequently thoroughly "Sound on the goose." At this time he was U.S. Senator for the State of Missouri, and had been Vice-President of the United States. As an Indian fighter and hunter he had made himself a great reputation.We have Americanized the spelling and added a roster of the Texas 33rd Cavalry regiment which includes several pictures of men who served in the regiment.