Armies

[stuart]

At the outset when it was requested to determine how the regular army should be organized, the provisional government’s military committee recommended that it should comprise a regiment of infantry and a regiment of artillery and that; “each regiment will consist of two battalions, each battalion of five companies, and each company of fifty-six rank and file” In addition, each of the five companies was to have a total of 11 officers; a captain, two lieutenants, four sergeants and four corporals, all ranked according to precedence. Although these recommendations were specifically embodied in an ‘Act to raise a regular army’, passed on November 24, 1835, the same organizational matrix was intended to be applied to the volunteers as well. For their part they were intended to fall into two classes: ‘Permanent Volunteers’ who were to be enlisted in the service of Texas for a period of not less than six months in return for the promise of 640 acres of land, and the ‘Auxiliary Volunteers’ who signed up for only three months and 320 acres. Unlike the handful of regulars, whose officers were directly appointed by the Provisional Government, all of the volunteers could elect their own officers at the outset, from the captain all the way down to the fourth corporal, but once elected those captains and lieutenants were to receive commissions from the Government, confirming them in their rank until killed, dismissed or resigned.

I’m not entirely sure on this point but I have a suspicion that it may only have been the Permanent Volunteers who were to have proper commissions and thereby come under the command of regular officers.

Grant’s Federal Volunteer Army was a dangerous anomaly in that it was organized according to the matrix laid down by the provisional government, but none of the officers’ commissions were approved – and certainly not Grant’s. Some, like Cooke, eventually decided to stick with the Texian government (and ultimately the old flag), but others like Morris quite openly signed up for the “Federal service of Mexico”.

The Mexicans themselves also seem to have been quite separate. Seguin and his men seem to have been pretty unique in allying so closely with the Americans, because otherwise they were pretty well ignored. Both he and Benavides had a company at the siege of Bexar, but afterwards Seguin for some reason seems to have held aloof from the other Tejano leaders – perhaps some kind of now forgotten family business. Benavides on the other hand was a Federalista who sided with Grant and so far as the Texas government is concerned completely drops out of the picture with never a mention thereafter. Yet he still had a big company which went down to the Rio Grande and was eventually wiped out at Agua Dulce. Same goes for Gonzales and that part of Cos’ army which changed sides. There were a lot of Federalistas out there fighting on the same side as the Texians who all got written out of the story once it became Bunker Hill and embattled American farmers out west.

[Herb]

Copied from the "Osprey" thread:

OK, the four forces were:

The Regular Army: 2 year enlistment
The Permanent Volunteers: Enlisted for the duration of the War
Volunteer Auxiliary Corps: Enlisted for six months
Rangers: Two specifically enlisted forces, the earlier organized by region, the latter a Ranger Battalion organized under Williamson.

Militia, were soldiers not formally enlisted in one of the above forces that turned out for an emergency and then returned home when the emergency passed - or they felt like it. True citizen soldiers.

The Alamo companies,

Forsyth's Cavalry: Regulars
Blazeby's Infantry (NO Greys): Permanent Volunteers
Baker's Infantry (Bowie's men from Goliad): Permanent Volunteers
Carey's Artillery: Permanent Volunteers
Harrison's Company: Auxiliary Volunteers
Seguins Cavalry: Seguin and some men were Regulars, the rest unknown.

White's Company ? Infantry: Permanent Volunteers ?

The Gonzales 32: Were a mixture: Kimbell was a lieutenant enlisting men into Williamson's Rangers when word reached Gonzales about the Alamo. He and some of his previously enlisted men made up part of the 32, another portion were militia that turned out and joined Cpt Martin a member of the Alamo garrison and one of Travis' first messengers.

Besides these companies there was also Neill's Staff: Maj Evans, Ordinance; Maj Jameson, Engineer; Cpt Dickinson Artillery; LT Melton, Quartermaster; Chief Surgeon Pollard; Cavalry Battalion Cdr LTC Travis; and others. Most of these men were either Regulars or Permanent Volunteers.

[TRK]

Wolfpack, have you ever put together, or thought about attempting, a table of organization for the Bexar garrison circa February 1836? Granted, it's probably something that would change from day to day and week to week.

[Herb]

It might be something interesting to try. I think we'd need to start when Grant and Johnson left Bejar, develop a table for what Neill had at the time, then try to show a revised table as major additions or subtractions occured, eg Bowie's arrival with Baker's Company or Travis with Forsyth's.

A couple of problems I can identify off the top of my head is both Patton, and Dimett had small companies at Bejar during this time frame. I'm not sure when Patton left, but it was before Santa Anna's arrival and I believe with the purpose of raising a new company. Dimett, however, left the 23rd under what I consider somewhat questionable circumstances. There's an assumption by most authors I've read that their companies were rolled up into Baker's, but I'm not aware of any primary sources for that conclusion.

The other problem has been our ongoing debate about the Tejanos/Seguin's company.

[Herb]

stuart said:

I’m not entirely sure on this point but I have a suspicion that it may only have been the Permanent Volunteers who were to have proper commissions and thereby come under the command of regular officers.

Stuart, According to"New Orleans and the Texas Revolution" both the Permanent Volunteers and Auxiliary Volunteers chose their own officers, however the Auxiliary Volunteers fell under the command of the Regular Army. Which seems to match with with what happened in Bejar with the Permanent Volunteers choosing Bowie as their commander instead of Travis.

[Herb]

Stuart, didn't you recently write something about White's Company, Bexar Guards (?) ?

I'm confused on trying to track them.

Terry, you and your brother omitted them from the garrison, perhaps you can help?

[stuart]

Its a good question which needs further investigation. I think I did once have them down as part of the garrison but on reflection I think the Neill roll is the key. There seem to have been a number of companies in the garrison before Grant's departure on January 1 and when he left he took all sorts of people with him. I think that afterwards the boys who were left sat down and sorted themselves out as the Neill roll records into a single consolidated infantry company under Blazeby and an artillery company under Carey.
The question which then arises is were the later arrivals (Travis cavalry excepted) assigned to either of these companies or did they remain as independent units?

[Herb]

I'm going in circles right now. Going to have to do a lot more digging.

[Allen Wiener]

I admire you guys for taking on this skull-buster. I think that any new account of the Alamo should include a brief description of how military units were formed and operated in that war. The election of officers is interesting. I think the militia also elected its own officers, but they could "un-elect" them too and replace them whenever they liked. I also understand that militia, at least at times, could actually vote on whether or not to take part in a given action, which sounds bizzare by today's standards. Stuart -- I know virtually zip about Culloden, but didn't something like that exist at that battle? That is, various units taking off in mid battle or mid campaign to fight someone else, or each other?

AW

[tman56]

Wolfpack asked:

"Terry, you and your brother omitted them from the garrison, perhaps you can help?"

Wolf,

Right off the top of my head, unfortunately, I can't. I do know that for the breakdown of the garrison we relied mostly on existing work done by Kevin Young, and Groneman and Rosenthal's "Roll Call" (which, although it was a great advancement for its day, is somewhat dated by today's standards).

I've been swamped at work, and just got back from a long weekend out of town watching the British garrison at Michilimackinac get slaughtered by the Ojibwa, et. al. three days running (you'd think they'd learn...), but I'll try and get into my file boxes downstairs and see if I can find anything. Keep going, and I'll post again as soon as I can.

tman56

[Herb]

Thanks Terry, sounds like life in the old NW is keeping you busy!

[10thmountain]

Hello,
Any information on the US Army volunteers? Also, how many units were in uniforms? Finally, I looking for information pertaining to the tactics of the time.

[sailorcliff]

I have a list of units and personnel I got off the net of Houston's army at the final battle of the revolution if you would like it put up. It gives the various companies and the units they belonged to and their muster rolls.