DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's the source, and here's my telling of it. Now settle in, because this one's got some names you'll recognize and some ground you'll want to know about. On April 27, 1861, a man named Dr.
Ashbel Smith did what a lot of men were doin' all across the South that spring — he gathered volunteers. His came from Bayland, which you know today as Baytown, and from Cedar Bayou in Harris County, and from Barbers Hill over in Chambers County. They called themselves the Bayland Guards, and they drilled right there on Smith's own Evergreen Plantation, workin' local defense along Galveston Bay.
Then on August 13, 1861, they mustered into Confederate forces as Company C of the Galveston Infantry Regiment. By October, the regiment had been redesignated as the Second Texas Infantry Regiment, and come December, it moved to Camp Bee in Houston. Now here's where the story gets a little heavier with history.
Among the men in those ranks were three sons of Republic of Texas presidents — Samuel Houston, Jr., son of Sam Houston, and Charles Elliot Jones and Samuel Edward Jones, sons of Anson Jones. The sons of the men who made Texas, now marchin' into a war that was fixin' to test just about everything. The Bayland Guards fought with the regiment at the Battles of Shiloh, Corinth, and Hatchie Bridge in 1862.
At Shiloh, half of Company C was wounded or killed. Half. Let that sit a moment.
Then came 1863 and the Vicksburg campaign, and if Shiloh was brutal, Vicksburg was something else entirely. The Second Texas Infantry took up position in a crescent-shaped fortification right in the center of the Confederate line of defense. And there they stayed, withstandin' Union assaults and forty-six days and nights of shelling and bombardment.
Forty-six days and nights. The Second Texas and the other defenders were surrendered at Vicksburg on July 4, 1863, and were promptly paroled to make their way back to Texas. The regiment was decimated.
It reorganized at Houston in the fall of 1863, and from there it served out the rest of the war on the Texas coast, from Matagorda to Galveston, helping to deter General Banks' attempt to invade Texas early in 1864. The regiment was surrendered on May 26, 1865. After the war, many of the men who'd been Bayland Guards went on to become leaders and respected individuals in their communities — the kind of quiet ending that doesn't roar, but means everything.
They'd drilled on a plantation, crossed into hell at Shiloh, held a crescent of earth at Vicksburg for forty-six days, and come home. That's the Bayland Guards.
What the marker says
On April 27, 1861, Dr. Ashbel Smith organized a group of volunteers from Bayland (now Baytown) and Cedar Bayou in Harris County, and Barbers Hill in Chambers County. The group, known as the Bayland Guards, drilled on Smith’s Evergreen Plantation and worked in local defense of Galveston Bay. On August 13, 1861, they mustered into the Confederate forces as Company C of the Galveston Infantry Regiment. The regiment was redesignated in October as the Second Texas Infantry Regiment and that December, it moved to Camp Bee in Houston. Among the Bayland Guards were three sons of Republic of Texas presidents Sam Houston and Anson Jones: Samuel Houston, Jr., Charles Elliot Jones and Samuel Edward Jones. The Bayland Guards fought with the rest of the regiment at the Battles of Shiloh, Corinth and Hatchie Bridge in 1862. At the Battle of Shiloh, half of Company C was wounded or killed. During the Vicksburg campaign in 1863, the Second Texas distinguished itself by defending a crescent-shaped fortification in the center of the line of Confederate defense while withstanding Union assaults and 46 days and nights of shelling and bombardment. The Second Texas infantry and the other defenders were surrendered at Vicksburg on July 4, 1863 and were promptly paroled to make their way back to Texas. The decimated regiment reorganized at Houston in the fall of 1863 and served out the war on the Texas coast from Matagorda to Galveston, helping to deter General Banks’ attempt to invade Texas early in 1864. The regiment was surrendered on May 26, 1865. After the war, many members of the Bayland Guards became leaders and respected individuals in their communities.