Twenty-First Texas Infantry

The Twenty-first Texas Infantry Regiment was created out of the consolidation of the Twenty-first Texas Infantry Battalion, also known as Griffin’s Texas Infantry Battalion, and the Eleventh Texas Cavalry and Infantry Battalion in the spring of 1864. Although technically a legion because it included cavalry and infantry, the regiment never officially received that designation. Col. Ashley W. Spaight commanded the regiment with field officers Lt. Col. William H. Griffin and Maj. Felix C. McReynolds. In the spring of 1864 the regiment was on duty at Galveston and was stationed along the Texas coast throughout that year and served at Sabine Pass and Matagorda Island. In Texas the men of the regiment saw no combat; they served primarily as scouts and performed garrison duty. After a short assignment at Marshall, Texas, during the winter of 1864–65 the regiment moved to Shreveport, Louisiana. The regiment served there until April 1865 without any combat. The Twenty-first Infantry then returned to Texas and disbanded in May1865 shortly before the surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department in June 1865.