2nd Texas Infantry Regiment

The 2nd Regiment, Texas Infantry was an infantry regiment from Texas that served with Confederate States Army in the American Civil War. The regiment was organized by the then Captain John Creed Moore who would become the regiment's 1st Colonel. Many of the men were from Houston and Galveston.[1]

2nd Texas Infantry Regiment
Active1861 – 1865
Country Confederate States of America
Branch Confederate States Army
TypeRegiment
RoleInfantry
Nickname(s)2nd Texas Sharpshooters
EngagementsAmerican Civil War
Commanders
Notable
commanders		John Creed Moore
Noble L. McGinnis
William P. Rogers
Ashbel Smith
Private Charles H. Ruff of Co. G, F, and S, 2nd Texas Infantry Regiment

Notable battles that the regiment has been involved in include the Battle of Shiloh, the Second Battle of Corinth, and the Siege of Vicksburg.[2]

Second Battle of Corinth
Confederate dead outside the parapet of Battery Robinett on October 5. Col. William P. Rogers of the 2nd Texas lies in the left background-his dead horse is to the right
Confederate dead lay gathered at the bottom of the parapet of Battery Robinett on October 5. Col. William P. Rogers of the 2nd Texas lies in the left foreground

The regiment assaulted Battery Robinett, a redan protected by a five-foot ditch, sporting three 20-pounder Parrott rifles commanded by Lt. Henry Robinett. Colonel William P. Rogers, a Mexican–American War comrade of President Jefferson Davis, was among those killed in the charge.[3] Rogers seized his colors to keep them from falling again and jumped a five-foot ditch, leaving his dying horse and assaulted the ramparts of the battery. When canister shot killed him, he was the fifth bearer of his colors to fall that day.[4]

Siege of Vicksburg
Union assault at Vicksburg on May 22, 1863

The regiment was distinguished for its defense of a crescent-shaped fortification, which came to be known as the Second Texas Lunette. The fortification was located in the center of the Vicksburg line of defense constructed to guard the Baldwin Ferry Road. The lunette was the subject of tremendous artillery bombardment and repeated Union assaults directed against the lunette on May 22, 1863.[5]

References
  1. "2nd Regiment, Texas Infantry". National Park Service. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  2. "2nd Texas Infantry Regiment". Civil War Reference. Archived from the original on 12 December 2007. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  3. Welcher, pp. 556–57; Cozzens, pp. 253–63, 267; Woodworth, p. 233; Kennedy, p. 131; Korn, p. 41; Eicher, pp. 377–78; Lamers, pp. 151–54.
  4. Cozzens, p. 255. Eicher, p. 278, states that is one of only a very few Civil War photographs that show an important officer deceased on the field. It is sometimes erroneously reported that Rogers's second-in-command, Colonel Lawrence Sullivan Ross, lies beside him. In fact, Ross went on to become a general and later the governor of Texas. He died in 1898.
  5. "2nd Texas Lunette". National Park Service. Retrieved 26 May 2016.

Further reading
  • The Second Texas Infantry: From Shiloh to Vicksburg, Joseph Chance, Eakin Press, 1984

See also


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