6th Regiment, Texas Cavalry (Wharton, Stone's)(2nd Regiment) - Confederate

Brief History
Called Ross', Stone's, Wharton's and Griffith's Regiment, this collection of Texas Horsemen earned a place in history. The regiment was organized in north Dallas at the fair grounds and trained in an area south of Dallas, Texas called Camp Bartow. Many of the companies came already organized from Ranger or County Militia, and others were filled out by enlistments. One of the most illustrious members enlisted as a private and rose to brigadier general. He was Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross a future governor of Texas and President of Texas AM University. Two of the members made brigadier general and two became governors. When the unit was surrendered on May 4th, 1865, at Jackson, Mississippi it only had about 200 men remaining. The Muster rolls of the unit showed over 1150 soldiers in ten companies and a Field Staff (headquarters) in 1861. Records also show the unit was also called the 2nd Texas Cavalry but this error is probably related to Colonel B. Warren Stone who came back to Texas in the summer of 1862 and raised a second unit which also bore his name. When B. Warren Stone led the regiment into Indian Territory during the move to Arkansas in October 1861, and the units trained as they marched. Lt. Col. Griffith was given command of a detachment which fought Indians at ChustoTalasah. Stone commanded at Pea Ridge and Corinth I, but by May, Sul Ross had been elected Colonel and Stone was on the way back to Texas. Ross commanded the regiment at Corinth II and Hatchie Bridge, Griffith was in command for Holly Springs, and by the time the unit moved into Tennessee in the spring of 1862, Jack Wharton was commanding and Ross was acting as brigade commander. After the unit went back to Mississippi in 1863, Wharton had morale problems and almost a mutiny. Finally he resigned command and Peter Ross commanded the regiment for the rest of the war. Lt. Col. John Griffith engineered a brilliant raid to Holly Springs, Mississippi, in December 1862, and captured several million dollars of material and along with a raid General Nathan Bedford Forest in Tennessee cause General Grant to regroup at Memphis and added almost a year to the war. Following the raid Griffith's health failed and he returned to Texas. Almost a year later he was promoted to brigadier general over a district in Texas by the governor. Under Colonel Peter F. Ross the unit was in continuous contact for more than 100 days on the flank of General Joseph Johnston's Army in Sul Ross' Brigade and Walker's Division. Their opponents were cavalries of General Sherman's Army. They fought in the Battles of Rome, Dallas, New Hope Church, Kenasaw Mountain, and went with Hood's Army into Tennessee. During 1862. 1863 they went from 1000 to 600 men with disease causing more losses than wounds or desertions. In the next two year's more were lost to battle and desertion. Battle took the larger number. The unit fought bravely and on many occasions victoriously in a delaying action toward Atlanta. They were said to have been one of the most dependable regiments in the Army, but then lacked discipline and were extremely rough. This comment could have described any Ranger unit of that time frame.

Companies in this Regiment with the Counties of Origin

 * Field Staff Recruited from all the units.
 * Company A, Recruited in Dallas, Collin, and Kaufman Counties.
 * Company B, Recruited in Collin, Limestone and Kaufman Counties.
 * Company C, Recruited in Collin and Dallas Counties.
 * Company D, Recruited in Dallas and Travis Counties.
 * Company E, Recruited in Van Zandt County.
 * Company F (Lancaster Guards), Recruited in Dallas County.
 * Company G, Recruited in McLennan County.
 * Company H, Recruited in Bell County from Bob White's Ranging Company.
 * Company I, Recruited in Dallas and Henderson Counties and returning Ranger's of Bridge's Company
 * Company K, Recruited in Collin County returning from Ranger duty.

The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors database lists 1,825 men on its roster for this unit. roster.

Other Sources

 * Beginning United States Civil War Research gives steps for finding information about a Civil War soldier. It covers the major records that should be used. Additional records are described in ‘Texas in the Civil War’ and ‘United States Civil War, 1861 to 1865’ (see below).


 * National Park Service, The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, is searchable by soldier's name and state. It contains basic facts about soldiers on both sides of the Civil War, a list of regiments, descriptions of significant battles, sources of the information, and suggestions for where to find additional information.


 * Texas in the Civil War describes many Confederate and Union sources, specifically for Texas, and how to find them.. These include compiled service records, pension records, rosters, cemetery records, Internet databases, published books, etc.


 * United States Civil War, 1861 to 1865 describes and explains United States and Confederate States records, rather than state records, and how to find them. These include veterans’ censuses, compiled service records, pension records, rosters, cemetery records, Internet databases, published books, etc.


 * Kirk, Stephen S. Sul Ross' Sixth Texas Cavalry : six-shooters &amp; Bowie knives. (Independence, Missouri : Two Trails Pub., c2008), and Sul Ross' Brigade: 3rd Texas Cavalry, 6th Texas Cavalry, 9th Texas Cavalry, 27th Texas Cavalry. (Harrisonville, Missouri : Burnt District Press, c2012),


 * Whitfield - Ross Texas Cavalry Brigade http://www.rosstexascavalrybrigade.com a website which provides rosters, histories, biographies, and as much data as can be found on this brigade and its' 4 regiments, the 3rd, the 6th, the 9th and the 27th Regiments of Texas Cavalry. The 27th is also known as the Whitfield Legion, 1st Legion or Texas Legion.