Jim Martin,
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"Who was the TST Brig-Gen. A. Smith?"
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Your posting along with Sandy Smotek's sheds light on a mystery. Please help us solve it.
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Brig-Gen. A. Smith was mentioned in seven letters dated Jan. 1863 to Nov. 1863. of the "Appendix E. 9th Militia Brigade Correspondence" section of my 1,046-page book with the return address of Paris, Lamar County, Texas. We had not found this A. Smith, because most brigade generals of the Texas State Troops live in their brigade districts, i.e., either Lamar or Hopkins Counties. ..In TEXAS BURIAL SITES OF CIVIL WAR NOTABLES pp369 and 411, by Bruce Allardice (et.al.), who frequent this message board, has entries: "Smith, Alex.: General Texas State Troops" and "Smith, Alex: Searched for by not located," respectively.
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See my web page that defines the Texas militia brigade districts.
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http://www.bourlandcivilwar.com/SevenMilitiaBrigades.htm
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King Thedford is listed in the 1860 Harrison Co TX census. After thumbing through my AMERICAN CIVIL WAR DATABASE, I could not find the captain of Company H, that Jim Martin referenced, of the 6th Texas Milita Brigade (Harrison County was in the 6th Militia. Again, see:
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http://www.bourlandcivilwar.com/SevenMilitiaBrigades.htm
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To further confuse this mystery, in the 9th TX Milita brigade, an ongoing feud was at hand when "Brig-Gen A. Smith" was appointed by the Governor. ..Yes, brigadier generals of the Texas State Troops were appoined. I submit that this "Brig-Gen. A. Smith" was either a fictional name OR from beyond Lamar and Hopkins Counties.
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Below is the header for the 9th Texas Militia Brigade in my 1,046-page book.
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Appendix E. 9th Militia Brigade: Lamar and Hopkins Counties
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William H. Johnson was appointed as the brigadier general of the Lamar County area by Texas Governor Sam Houston in March 1860 under the Act of February 14, 1860. On June 17, 1861 Governor Clark appointed William Harvey Shelton as the brigadier general of the Lamar County area even though Johnson thought his commission as a brigadier general was still active. An election was held on August 16, 1861 to settle the dispute and Shelton became the Brigadier General of the Lamar County area. On December 25, 1861 the Texas Legislature formed the 9th Militia Brigade District. By January 27, 1863, the Brigadier General Alexander Smith was commanding the 9th Brigade.
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On March 1, 1864 the State of Texas was reorganized into six (6) brigade districts, replacing the 33 brigade districts, and Brig-General J.W. Throckmorton and Major William Quayle was assigned to Brigade District No. 3 headquartered at Decatur, Texas.
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The 9th Militia Brigade, Texas State Troops, should not be confused with the 9th Texas Cavalry CSA, the 9th Texas Infantry CSA, the 9th Texas Cavalry Partisan Battalion CSA (commanded by J.L. Randolph), the 9th Texas Field Battery Light Artillery “Lamar Artillery” CSA (commanded by James M. Daniel), plus the South Texas CSA military unit, 9th Regt. Texas Infantry, organized by E.B. Nichols.
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The scope of my study is already too broad for one sane person, so I hate to venture beyond the 34 counties in the seven militia brigades that I address in my huge book.
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Darren Ivey, a participant of this message board, is writing a book that addresses an outline of the history of the Texas Rangers, and yes, they were called Texas State Troops during the Civl War era. Let's hope he rubs out some of these wrinkles. It behooves us, as Texans scholars, to help him as much as we can.
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Patti, prochette@Juno.com
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