In Spartan Band (coined from a chaplain's eulogistic poem) author 
Thomas Reid traces the Civil War history of the 13th Texas Cavalry, a 
unit drawn from eleven counties in East Texas. The cavalry regiment 
organized in the spring of 1862 but was ordered to dismount once in 
Arkansas. The regiment gradually evolved into a tough, well-trained 
unit during action at Lake Providence, Fort De Russy, Mansfield, 
Pleasant Hill, and Jenkins' Ferry, as part of Maj. Gen. John G. 
Walker's Texas division in the Trans-Mississippi Department.

    Reid researched letters, documents, and diaries gleaned from more 
than one hundred descendants of the soldiers, answering many 
questions relating to their experiences and final resting places. He 
also includes detailed information on battle casualty figures, 
equipment issued to each company, slave ownership, wealth of 
officers, deaths due to disease, and the effects of conscription on the
regiment's composition.


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THOMAS REID teaches history at Lamar University, where he 
received his Master of Arts degree. Formerly an employee of the 
Department of the Army, he served six years on active duty and 
sixteen in the Army Reserve. He lives in Woodville, Texas.


Number Nine: War and the Southwest Series


What people are saying about this book

"The 13th comes to life through Thomas Reid's exhaustive research 
and entertaining writing style. This book should serve as a model for 
Civil War regimental histories."—Terry L. Jones, author of Lee's Tigers