Private Frank Marshall, C.S.A.

Duane's take

Now, what I'm about to tell you comes straight off an official Texas Historical Commission marker; this is my telling of it, word for word in spirit if not in letter. We're three-tenths of a mile from Camp Wood, Real County, and somewhere in this ground rests Private Frank Marshall, C.S.A. He was twenty-nine years old, a Harrison County man, and the marker says he symbolizes every Texan who died for the Confederacy in the Arizona-New Mexico campaign.

That's a heavy thing to carry; being the symbol. And Frank Marshall carries it in silence, right here. He served in the W.

P. Lane Rangers, starting April 19, 1861. He rode a second front: a long, ambitious, punishing front that stretched from San Antonio all the way to Santa Fe.

Frontier posts anchored that line: Camp Wood, Fort Inge, Fort Clark, Camp Hudson, Howard Spring, Fort Lancaster. Six posts holding up one audacious idea. Because what the Confederacy had in mind in 1861 and 1862 was nothing modest.

They wanted to be an ocean-to-ocean nation. The Pacific. California.

The whole sweep of it. The combat forces driving that dream included some names worth remembering: Tom Green, William R. Scurry, W.

P. Hardeman, and William Steele. All Texans.

All of them would go on to become generals in the Confederate army. But in early 1862, they were still earning those stars. In February of 1862, Green and Scurry commanded the troops that won the Battle of Valverde.

That victory, and others that followed, gave the Confederacy enough momentum to occupy Arizona and New Mexico. California shimmered on the horizon like a mirage in the desert heat. And then, as tends to happen with mirages, it receded.

The lines were too long. The supplies were an impossible problem. That's exactly how the marker says it: impossible.

No food worth speakin' of, no blankets, no means of transportation. The army that had dreamed of the Pacific now limped back toward Texas, held together by something harder to name than rations or rifles. When those men finally reached San Antonio, here's what they did.

They hid near the Menger Hotel. They pooled their rags: whatever scraps of clothing remained among all of them, and they dressed one man. Just one.

And they sent him out to get clothes enough so the rest could cover themselves and go home. Let that land for a second. These were the men who had marched toward an ocean.

Now they were sharing rags behind a hotel. But (and the marker makes sure you know this) these same men regrouped. They went on to win many victories later in the Civil War.

The retreat did not finish them. Private Frank Marshall didn't get that far. He died June 16, somewhere in that campaign, twenty-nine years old, a long way from Harrison County.

He's buried three-tenths of a mile from Camp Wood, and the marker standing near him makes sure nobody drives past without knowin' his name.

What the marker says

Buried here, 3/10 mi. from Camp Wood. A 29-year-old Harrison Countian, symbolizes Texans who died for the Confederacy in the Arizona-New Mexico campaign. Served from April 19, 1861, till death June 16, in W. P. Lane Rangers in second front stretched from San Antonio to Santa Fe. Frontier posts at Camp Wood, Ft. Inge, Ft. Clark, Camp Hudson, Howard Spring and Ft. Lancaster supported the 1861-1862 campaign to make the Confederacy an ocean-to-ocean nation. Combat forces included such Texans as Tom Green, Wm. R. Scurry, W. P. Hardeman and Wm. Steele, all later to be generals in the Confederate army. Green and Scurry commanded troops that won Battle of Valverde in Feb. 1862. This victory and others enabled the Confederacy to occupy Arizona and New Mexico and hope to gain California. However, Texas troops found their lines too long and supplies an impossible problem. With scanty food, no blankets, no means of transportation, the army limped back to Texas. On reaching San Antonio, troops hid near the Menger Hotel, pooled their rags to dress one man, then sent out for clothes to cover them so they could go home. Yet these same men re-grouped and won many victories later in the Civil War. (1965)