The Lone Star defenders; a chronicle of the Third Texas cavalry, Ross brigade Page: 34 of 306
3 p. l., 3-276 p. front., 10 port 21 cm.View a full description of this book.
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28 THE LONE STAR DEFENDERS
into messes of sixteen men each, and each mess was
provided with the Sibley tent, the officers being
provided with wall tents. Fairly mounted, we were
pretty well equipped now, our chief deficiency being
the very poor condition of the mules and the lack of
proper arms, for the men, in mustering, had gathered
up shotguns, rifles, and any kind of gun obtainable
at home, many of them being without a firearm of
any kind. A large number had had huge knives
made in the blacksmith shops, with blade eighteen
to twenty-four inches long, shaped something like a
butcher's cleaver, keen-edged, with a stout handle, a
weapon after the order of a Cuban machete. These
were carried in leather scabbards, hung to the saddle,
and with these deadly weapons the boys expected
to ride through the ranks of the Federal armies and
chop down the men right and left. Now, however,
to this equipment were added the pair of holster pistols.
These very large, brass-mounted, single-barreled
pistols-with barrels about a foot long-carried
a large musket ball, and were suspended in holsters
that fitted over the horn of the saddle, thus
placing them in a convenient position for use. In
addition to all this, every fellow carried a grass
rope at least forty feet long and an iron stake pin.
These latter were for staking out the horses to
graze, and many was the untrained horse that paid
dear for learning the art of "walking the rope,"
for an educated animal would never injure himself
in the least.
All things being ready, we now started on our
long march, accompanied by Captain J. J. Goode's
battery, which had been organized at Dallas, to join
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Barron, S. B. The Lone Star defenders; a chronicle of the Third Texas cavalry, Ross brigade, book, 1908; New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth27719/m1/34/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Public Library.