Submitted by

Charles Rush

 

 

 

 

Falls County Members of Terry's Texas Rangers

8th Texas Cavalry

 

 

The Online Archive of
Terry's Texas Rangers

An Excellent
Genealogical Source

 

 

I have recently finished a novel manuscript of the Civil War in which I characterize various Falls County members of Terry's Texas Rangers, 8th Texas Cavalry.  I hope to furnish brief biographical sketches of these men at the end of the novel. If anyone can add information to the below, please contact Charles.

 

* Charles Allday.  Captain Harrison enlisted him in Wilderville, Falls County, Texas September 10, 1861.  In November 1861, he was on sick leave in Nashville. Service records show Allday absent without leave from October 20 through December 31, 1863, but Ranger reunion records reflect him wounded and captured in July 1863, then exchanged. In January and February 1864, he was in Georgia on duty with General Wharton. Union soldiers captured him at Dickenson, Tennessee on September 9, 1864 and sent him to Camp Chase. The last official records show he was paroled at Camp Chase May 2, 1865 for exchange via New Orleans. Allday lived in Wilderville for some time after the war. In 1898, reunion records show C. A. Allday living in Cartersville, Georgia.

 

* James Allen.  He was born about 1837 in Kentucky. Captain Harrison enlisted him in Wilderville, Falls County, Texas September 10, 1861. He was discharged at Bowling Green by December 1861.  No other information is available, but many men got sick in the first few months with measles or pneumonia and died or were discharged.

 

* Bryant F. Aycock.  He was born December 31, 1829 in Alabama. Captain Harrison enlisted him in Burleson County, Texas September 9, 1861. He is listed as sick in October, 1861 and died at a private house in Bowling Green, Kentucky November 29, 1861. He is buried in the Old City Cemetery, Nashville.

 

*John L. Aycock.  He was born about 1837 in Georgia. He initially enlisted with Company C in Houston on September 12, 1861 and may have transferred to Company A.  Due to illness contracted during the trip through Louisiana or before the company left Houston, Texas. Aycock was discharged for fever and diarrhea December 26, 1861. He returned to Falls County and later recruited a company for Green's Division fighting in Louisiana. Captain John L. Aycock died in 1868 and is buried in Powers Chapel Cemetery, Falls County, Texas.

 

* Joseph Brown.  Captain Harrison enlisted him in Wilderville, Falls County, Texas September 10, 1861. Official service records show him as "left at camp very sick October 26, 1861." He reported from sick leave on December 31, 1861. He was absent and at the hospital in Atlanta from February 1 through May 14, 1863, although "entitled to pay for himself and horse from October 31, 1862 to May 19, 1863." He is recorded at the Atlanta hospital from August 1, 1863 through February 1864. No other information is available.

 

* John C. Capehart/Capeheart.  He was born about 1843 in Texas. Captain Harrison enlisted him in Wilderville, Falls County, Texas September 10, 1861. Sick at Nashville, he reported for duty November 3, 1861. He was discharged in August 1862. No other information is available.

 

* Elijah F. Davison.  Born in Alabama February 17, 1822, Davison was an early Falls County pioneer, arriving in 1853. He enlisted under Captain Harrison in Falls County on September 16, 1861, and records show that he was present for duty through the last recorded official record, February 1864 (Ranger records were destroyed after that date). Wounded at Elk River, Tennessee in May 1862, Davison was out of action for about a month but stayed with the Rangers. A biography states he refused to surrender with the Terry Rangers at the end of the war and made his way back to Falls County. He lived at Westphalia, Falls County for the rest of his life.  Elijah Davison signed Billy Jones's daughter's application for membership in the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1901. He died in Marlin June 11, 1910 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery, Marlin.

 

* Benjamin Franklin Denton.  He was born February 14, 1830 in Tennessee. Captain Harrison recruited him in Falls County in September 1861.  Denton's service record shows the Rangers promoted him to 1st Corporal in May 1863, and that he fought with the Rangers continuously through the last officially recorded service period. No other information is available. He died January 27, 1877 and is buried in the Turtle Creek Cemetery, Kerr County, Texas.

 

* W. H. Evans.  He was born about 1836 in Alabama. Captain Harrison enlisted him in Wilderville, Falls County, Texas September 10, 1861. Service records reported him as absent without leave in March 1862. He was reported as a deserter, as “W.H. Everett,” on July 10, 1863. No other information is available.

 

* James F. Folk/Foak.  Folk was born in Germany in 1841. Captain Harrison enlisted him in Wilderville, Falls County, Texas September 10, 1861. Sick in Nashville until November 20, 1861, records then show him present through the last official records. He died in 1882. He is buried in Powers Chapel Cemetery, Wilderville (no headstone).

 

* Albert M. Gott.   Al Gott was born in Illinois on September 28, 1844. Captain Harrison enlisted him in Wilderville, Falls County, Texas September 10, 1861. The Rangers promoted him to 4th Corporal in December 1863. Service records show A. M. Gott present for duty through the last official record. In 1898, Gott was living in Alta, Cherokee Nation (Oklahoma).

 

* Samuel. S. Gott.  Sam Gott, Al Gott's brother, was an early Falls County pioneer, arriving in 1854. He was born January 16, 1836. Captain Harrison enlisted him in Wilderville, Falls County, Texas September 10, 1861. His company elected him 4th Corporal on October 26, 1861 at Camp Johnston, Bowling Green. He was on sick leave at a private house near Bowling Green, Kentucky in November and December 1861. The Rangers appointed Sam Gott 4th Sergeant July 1, 1862, and he was present for duty through the last official records in February 1864. He died March 20, 1914. His marker is in Powers Chapel Cemetery, Falls County.

 

* John Hogue Pierson.  He was born April 17, 1817, in Kentucky, and came to Texas with his parents in 1818. After the formation of the corps of Texas Rangers on October 17, 1835, Pierson served in a company of rangers for three months and then in a company of cavalry in the Texas revolutionary army. On August 22, 1836, he was severely wounded in a battle with Comanches. In the Mexican War in 1846, Pierson served briefly in John C. Hays's First Regiment, Texas Mounted Riflemen. In 1851 Pierson moved his family to Falls County, where he raised livestock. He also operated a general merchandise store in Marlin for several years. He became a county commissioner of Falls County in 1852 and was appointed on April 9, 1853, as agent and attorney-in-fact by the Falls County Commissioners Court to obtain 640 acres for the town site of Marlin. Captain Harrison enlisted him as a farrier in Wilderville, Falls County, Texas September 10, 1861. Suffering from wounds received in 1836, he received a disability discharge on February 26, 1862, at Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He died on June 9, 1867, and is buried in the Hamilton and Graves-Gentrey Cemetery at Hamilton, Texas.

 

*Jonathan Cochran Pool.  He was born in Georgia August 6, 1806. With his parents and three brothers, he arrived in Texas in 1815. He joined the revolution army of Texas in 1835 and was at the siege of Bexar and was one of 300 volunteers who assaulted San Antonio with Benjamin R. Milam. He was wounded, then later joined Sam Houston's forces and was with him until shortly before the battle of San Jacinto when he was dispatched by Houston to scout Indians and report their movements. He served in the Army of the Republic of Texas to December 1836. After this military service Pool lived in Nacogdoches, Robertson, Walker, and Houston counties before settling in 1852 in Falls County. He was occupied primarily with farming and stock raising. Captain Harrison enlisted him in Wilderville, Falls County, Texas September 10, 1861. Official records indicate Pool was present for duty through December 1861 and reflect him absent without leave by August 1862. He died at his home in Falls County on February 21, 1886, and is buried in the family cemetery southeast of Lott, Falls County, Texas.

 

* Thomas J. Pruett/Pruitt.  He was born in 1840 in Alabama. Captain Harrison enlisted him in Wilderville, Falls County, Texas September 10, 1861. Sick in Nashville until able for duty on November 3, 1861, he was present for duty through the last official records. The Galveston Weekly News of March 22, 1865, reported he was wounded "in hand, slight." Pruett attended the 1898 Ranger reunion and was still alive when Sam Gott died in March 1914. He is buried in Covington Cemetery near Reagan, Falls County, Texas, but there are no dates on his gravestone.

 

* Frank Smolker.  Captain Harrison enlisted him in Wilderville, Falls County, Texas September 10, 1861. He was present for duty in December 1861. He is reported in August 1862 as "supposed dead." Reunion records reflect that he was wounded at Shiloh and died.

 

* D. G. Thompson.  He was born about 1838 in Mississippi. Captain Harrison enlisted him in Wilderville, Falls County, Texas September 10, 1861. The company elected him 4th Sergeant in the initial organization of the regiment in October 1861. Returning to the ranks at his own request, he died at the hospital in Nashville on November 29, 1861. He is buried in the Old City Cemetery, Nashville.

 

THE DEVIL'S CHESSBOARD
A Civil War novel by Charles Rush
http://www.charlesrush.com/