Bayland Guards to be honored By Wanda Orton August 28, 2010 4:04 pm

The Baytown Historical Preservation Association will dedicate a Texas historical marker Sept. 18 on Highway 146 to honor the Bayland Guards, a Confederate military unit organized by Dr. Ashbel Smith.

In connection with the ceremony, the BHPA plans to honor descendants of these Confederate soldiers from East Harris and West Chambers counties who fought in some of the most significant battles of the Civil War, including Shiloh and Vicksburg.

The Bayland Guards had family connections all over the local area.

After training under Smith at his Evergreen Plantation in present-day Baytown, the Guards were mustered in as Company C on April 17, 1861, assigned to the 2nd Texas Regiment.  Sam Houston’s son, Sam Jr., was a member of the Bayland Guards, as were Samuel E. Jones and Charles Elliott Jones, sons of Anson Jones. Their famous fathers, Houston and Jones, had both served as president of the Republic of Texas.

Military companies from Harris County initially were assigned to the Galveston Infantry Regiment but had their final organization on Oct. 12, 1861, as the 2nd Regiment, Texas Infantry, with others from the Houston and Galveston area. In December of 1861 the regiment was moved to Camp Bee in Houston. 

That must have been quite a sight, seeing the Bayland Guards marching to town. Forget drum and fife, or 76 trombones; these soldiers marched to the strains of a fiddle. Jim Hagerman, a fiddler in the Guards, played a tune called, “The dog he ate in the corner and wiped his mouth with a straw,” and Ashbel Smith, with a big sword, marched near the head of his company.

Ninety strong, the Bayland Guards moved out by train on March 12, 1862, and as they left the depot in Houston they serenaded their wives and sweethearts with “The Girl I Left Behind Me.” 

By train, foot and steamer, they headed east. Arriving at Pittsburg Landing in Tennessee on April 3, the 2nd Texas moved east of the Mississippi River to fight at Shiloh, Corinth, and Hatchie Bridge.

At Shiloh, the Bayland Guards received orders to cover the regiment’s advance into the union camp. With two other companies, they charged. Half of Company C was wounded or killed. Smith received a shot in the arm and was sent to a Memphis hospital.

Sam Houston, Jr., was wounded at Shiloh when a bullet struck the metal-covered New Testament his mother had given him. A Union chaplain had found him, and noting the inscription in the Testament, gave him special care. While he was listed as missing in action for many weeks, Sam Jr. was recovering from his injuries. He returned home to Cedar Point in September 1862.

Ashbel Smith recovered from his wounds and was promoted to lieutenant colonel. Under his command, the Guards, as part of the 2nd Texas Regiment, defended a fortification in the center of the Vicksburg, withstanding two Union assaults on May 22, 1863. For 46 days, the men of the regiment faced daily shelling from land-based artillery and nightly bombardment from the fleet of mortar barges anchored in the Mississippi River.

The unit was later assigned to Moore’s Brigade, Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, and under this command the Bayland Guard was active at Snyder’s Bluff, surrendering with the forces at Vicksburg on July 4, 1863. On July 11, 1863 they were furloughed to Texas as paroled prisoners of war. 

Wanda Orton is a retired managing editor of The Baytown Sun.