August 8, 2022
August 8, 2022This information is not intended to honor or glorify the Confederacy. The information is included to document some activities of Company F, 22nd Texas Volunteer Infantry, CSA.
James E. Walker served as a private in Company F. The unit was organized on March 10, 1862 in Polk County, Texas by Rev. J. A. Scruggs and became part of Walker's Texas Division.
Initially, the following were elected officers of Company F: John Guynes, captain; George S. Shotwell, first lieutenant; John R. Oates, second lieutenant; Henry Wesley Vinson, third lieutenant; and, J. A. Scruggs, chaplain.
During the course of James E. Walker's service, the 22nd Texas Volunteer Infantry participated in the following battles:
**Young's Point, Louisiana (June 7, 1863);
**operations against the advance of the Federal Army under Gen. Banks from Franklin, Louisiana (March 14-26, 1864);
**Natchitoches, Louisiana (March 31, 1864);
** Wilson's Farm, Louisiana (April 7, 1864);
**Sabine Cross Roads, Mansfield, Louisiana (April 8, 1864);
**Pleasant Hill, Louisiana (April 9, 1864);
**operations against Gen. Steele from Little Rock to Camden, Arkansas, including engagements at Marks' Mills, Arkansas (April 15, 1864); and,
**Jenkins Ferry, Arkansas (April 30, 1864).
James E. Walker was killed in the Battle of Jenkins Ferry, Arkansas. The location of the Battle of Jenkins Ferry was a thickly-timbered bottom. The ground was covered with water, from ankle to knee deep. During the battle visibility was poor, owing to hard rain, dense fog and clouds of smoke which hung in the thick woods.
The following is a Union account of the Battle of Jenkins Ferry:
"On the 28th of April [1864, Union General] Steele abandoned Camden, crossed the Washita, and, continually skirmishing with the enemy's cavalry, proceeded to the Sabine. By this retreat he had just escaped disaster. [Confederate General] Kirby Smith, having thrust back [Union] General Banks, was now prepared to strike Steele. As it was, Smith assailed the rear of the retreating column as the latter was crossing the Sabine at Jenkins Ferry. A portion of the army was already across the river, and thus the brunt of the attack fell upon the two rear brigades until re-enforcements were brought up by [Union] General Rice. The enemy succeeded finally in turning the left, but the line was restored, and by noon the attack was repulsed, and the army crossed the bridge. No artillery could be used on account of the nature of the ground. The Federal loss was 700 killed and wounded. That of the enemy was estimated as over three times that number."
[quoted from Pictorial History of the Civil War, p. 593, by Alfred H. Guernsey and Henry M. Alden (1866, The Fairfax Press–reprint)]]
As mentioned, the battle ended with Union forces retreating across the Sabine River. The dead were buried by Confederate forces. One member of Walker's Texas Division recalled the burials:
"Soon after the battle ended, a detail of men were employed in burying the dead. Armed with shovel, pickaxe, and spade, they proceeded along the battle-ground to complete this mournful task, which the enemy were unable to accomplish. The ground was thickly strewn with the ghastly and mangled forms. The effluvium from the swollen, festering forms was too horrible for human endurance. No conception of the imagination, no power of human language, could do justice to such a horrible scene."
[quoted from The Campaigns of Walker's Texas Division, p.254, by Joseph Blasingame (1875, Lange, Little & Co.–reprint)]
In July of 1864 Walker's Texas Division neared the Mississippi River. There is some disagreement as to whether the Division was ever ordered to cross the Mississippi River, some saying that an attempted crossing failed while others saying that a crossing was neither ordered nor attempted.
There is general agreement that some of the men in Walker's Texas Division deserted in order to avoid an anticipated river crossing but there is disagreement as to the scope of the desertions. One soldier wrote that some few of the troops deserted, in order to escape crossing the river, but the mass of the troops were ready to embark at a moment's warning.
These desertions led to the execution of Captain John Guynes, commander of Co. F, 22nd Texas Volunteer Infantry. A fellow soldier wrote:
"On the evening of the 16th [of October, 1864], we witnessed the melancholy performance of shooting Captain John Guynes, Company F, 22d Texas Infantry. He was accused of encouraging his men to desert, when we were expected to cross the Mississippi River. He was a man of about fifty years old, and very much admired by his men, and well liked by the officers of his brigade. Every effort was made to have him reprieved, but all without avail."
[quoted from The Campaigns of Walker's Texas Division, pp. 279-80, by Joseph Blasingame (1875, Lange, Little & Co.–reprint)]
Following the execution, Company F's leaders were George S. Shotwell, captain, John R. Oates, first lieutenant, Henry Wesley Vinson, second lieutenant, and William Bailey Shotwell third lieutenant. The 22nd Texas Infantry returned to Texas in March of 1865 and was disbanded at Hempstead, Texas on May 5, 1865.
The following men are known to have served in Company F:
Allison, John
Austin, S. A.
Avants, Jacob
Baird, J. C.
Bartlett, Brit
Berry, T. A.
Beverly, Richard
Bingham, M. V.
Bowlin, William
Brock, Ben
Brock, Beverett
Brock, Green M.
Brock, Henry
Brock, James L.
Brock, William
Brown, J. M.
Brown, J. S.
Brown, William
Burns, William H.
Burns, Zach
Butler, John K.
Butler, Robert
Cain, Elijah
Cain, Unknown
Calvert, George
Calvert, Joshua
Cannon, Jobe J.
Chamliss, William
Collins, Newt.
Collins, W. H.
Courville, J. B.
Cummings, Henry
Davis, C. C.
Davis, W. J.
Dewalt, Lucian
Dunnam, A. J.
Elkins, James
Flowers, E. B.
Garner, F. T.
Garner, James
Gassiott, S. E.
Gaylord, Robert
Green, John
Griffin, Byrd
Guynes, John
Hamilton, Arthur
Hamilton, S. A.
Hamilton, William M.
Hanna, James
Hanna, William A.
Harper, James
Harvey, Z. T.
Haynes, I. F.
Hendrix, George W.
Hickman, Asa
Hickman, James
Hickman, M. T.
Hicks, Ben
Hill, James E.
Hinson, J. R.
Hinson, W. M.
Holder, William A.
Johnson, B. F.
Jones, Joe
Ketchum, Joe
Ketim, Unknown
Kinard, D.
Lot, Calvin
Lott, Absalom
Lowe, Alex
Mann, A.
Manry, D. T.
Mccormick, John
Mccormick, Sam
Mclemore, John
Moore, George A.
Morris, Joe
Moulds, Lem
Nelson, Henry
Oates, A. J.
Oates, John R.
Overstreet, C.
Parker, Ashley
Parker, Logan
Parker, M. S.
Parker, P.
Pelt, Durant
Perry, J. E.
Pitts, M. C.
Poe, John
Poe, W. L.
Pounds, E. E.
Ray, T. J.
Ritter, Levi
Roden, Basil
Roden, M. P.
Roe, Elias
Roe, Joel A.
Roe, John
Roe, Sam
Rowe, Hilliary
Scarborough, A. B.
Scarborough, James
Scarborough, Theo.
Scruggs, J. A.
Shotwell, George S.
Shotwell, J. H.
Shotwell, W. B.
Sikes, William A.
Simmons, Charles
Simmons, T. F.
Simmons, Tom
Smith, J. W.
Smith, William W. Buck
Standley, Daniel
Summers, Caley
Taylor, John B.
Templeton, A. J.
Thompson, George
Thornton, Frank
Thornton, Joe
Turner, James
Usher, Robert
Varner, William F.
Vinson, George
Vinson, Henry W.
Waldrep, John
Walker, H. H.
Walker, J. E.
Walker, John
Wallace, Byron
Walters, Elisha
Walters, James
Walters, John W.
Walters, William
Warr, G. W.
Williams, Allen
Williams, H. W.
Williams, I. A.
Williams, Robert
Williams, Tom
Wills, W. W.
Wolfe, Henry
Wolfe, James
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