Autograph letter signed by R.A. Knox, 2nd Texas Infantry, to his father. Camp Crump, [Louisiana], 17 April 1864. 2 pages, 4to.

A short letter written to his father, Knox notes that "The detail that was made to go after deserters left yesterday." He includes updates regarding officers, mentioning Confederate Colonel Richard Phillip Crump.

A Virginian by birth, Crump moved to Texas and by 1843 was commissioned a captain in the Army of the Republic of Texas. He was involved in the Snively Expedition, an ill-fated attempt to capture a Mexican supply train. Crumo attended the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1845 before returning to Texas. He enlisted in November 1861, and served in the 32nd Texas Cavalry (First Texas Partisan Rangers), leading them at the battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas (7 December 1862), the Battle of Chustenallah (Indian territory), as well as protecting wagon trains and serving as the rear guard at the Battle of Elkhorn's Tavern. As the war dragged on, they saw more engagements in the Western Theater, including Shelbyville, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Jackson. Near the time of this letter in April 1864, they were stationed near Lauerdale, Mississippi. After the war, Crump returned to Marion County, Texas, where he served as sheriff and staunchly opposed Reconstruction.

Knox's family must not be far as he requests his father to "bring up all my cotton clothes when you come" and suggests that the areas might be the best place to "buy a very nice mare."


[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Letters, Documents, Manuscripts, Ephemera, Texas, Texas Rangers, Republic of Texas, Mexican-American War, Texas Revolution, Sam Houston, Western Expansion]