General Van Dorn issued Special Order # 114, June 15, 1862. It read, As it is at present impracticable to organize a battalion of sharpshooters for each brigade as contemplated in General Order # 34 from the War Department - each division commander will designate one regiment from each brigade to act as sharpshooters. They will be particularly instructed..and carry long range arms.
General Murry's Division sent out Special Order dated August 1, 1862 stating Paragraph II, Major Bridges Battalion of sharpshooters will at once be consolidated with Lieutenant Colonel Stirman's Battalion of Arkansas Cavalry (dismounted) and the whole to be under the command of LtCol Stirman as the regiment of sharpshooters of Phifer's Brigade.
Captain Henry F.W. Bridges was the commander of Company I, 6th Texas Cavalry in May of 1862, the company he had recruited in Dallas County, Texas. In June the company was detached and Bridges was promoted to Major in command of a sharpshooter battalion. Company H, 9th Texas Cavalry was the second company under his command. Captain J. C. Bates was its commander. On August 1, 1862, Bridges was promoted to Lt. Col. At the same time his two companies became companies of Colonel Erasmus J. Stirman's Regiment of Arkansas Sharpshooters for Colonel Charles W. Phifer's Infantry Brigade. Bridges became the Second in Command. At this point Col Ras Stirman commanded a 10 company regiment all dressed in grey as he described it in a letter to his sister. Who commanded Company I from June 1862 till Captain Henry M. Morrison in 1865 is of interest and to be discovered. Morrisons brother was killed at Corinth and another Lieutenant Walter M. Guerin are possibilities. It is believed that Lieutenant Henry M. Morrison ran the company from the summer of 62 till Bridges return from Corinth. For the Holly Springs raid, Bridges was probably in command of Company I. In 1863 Captain Bates moved up to Major for the 9th.
Company I was camped at Camp Murry in May-June 1862. After that they were probably at Camp Armstrong where Company H probably joined them, though this is not confirmed. In September they are at Camp Rodgers, Mississippi near Tupelo, Mississippi. That is where Stirman wrote several letters. On September 11 they marched from Saltillo, Mississippi toward Iuka on a circuitous route of nearly 60 miles. During this time they trained as skirmishers. They were then formally attached to Col Stirman's Regiment and Col. Phifer's Brigade for the battle of Corinth. The were not close enough to help durin the Battle of Iuka on September the 19th. The 3rd Texas and the 27th Texas caught the brunt of the encounter.
They continue training as skirmishers and sharpshooters. On October 3rd, Phifer's brigade moved along a railroad and began to maneuver to the center of mass for the attack. They did not incur heavy combat on October 3rd and the morning of the 4th, but after 10:30 A.M. the attack restarted and as the afternoon wore on, a seam developed between the 50th Illinois Brigade of DuBois Union Division and the 39th Ohio of Fuller's Division. The reserve of Murry's Division was attacking almost in the direction of the seam and the Sharpshooter Regiment was probably able to move through the seam followed by some of Phifer's Brigade. It is highly likely that the Sharpshooters took out the 4 Artillery guns of the 10th Ohio and possibly those of the 5th Minnesota.They drove General Rosecarns Headquarters from the center of Corinth. They were at the Tishomingo Hotel fighting when the gas ran out of the Confederate attack. Had General Van Dorn been able to exploit this break through, Corinth would have been a Confederate win, but reinforcement of the attack did not occur even though it was called. The force that was to replaced, Phifer's Brigade at that point in the battle did not continue the attack. Two Union divisions arrived in Corinth at that time, and Van Dorn's force had to retreat
Because of the greater number of Union Soldiers and the losses the Southerners incurred during the two days of battle, General Van Dorn ordered a general retreat. Both Armies were wore out and neither moved until the middle of next day. Van Dorn was retreating north west when a blocking force closed off his path. The first two units (the 27th Texas Cavalry and Moore's Division which included the 3rd Texas) were strung out along the road northwest of Hatchie (Davis Farm) Bridge and came under heavy canon fire and had to retreat. These units were caught in a murderous crossfire and decimated. The third and fourth units that had crossed the bridge were Col Ras Stirman's Sharpshooters and the 6th Texas Cavalry Regiment (dismounted). Phifer's Brigade was temporaarly under the command of Colonel Lawrence S. Ross. All four of these first units lost men, but Col Ross set up his own blocking action. Because of the curvature of the river and a overlook of the banks, Ross’ was able to provided good covering fire by the Sharpshooters and the 6th Tx Cav, which were soon reinforced by the 9th Texas, Cabell's Brigade and an Artillery Battery, allowing the Army to recover and stopped the Union's advance. They even destroyed two regiments of Union Infantry trying to exploit the battle. Scouts found the Young Crossing, a weir they made into a bridge, to the south, and Van Dorn's Army was able to evade the Union forces. The Army retreated to the Holly Springs area to reform. Stirman's Sharpshooter unit was soon reverted to Arkansas Cavalry and the Texas personnel returned to Bridge's Battalion. Soon they were remounted and returned to their units.
Some people said Bridges was a Colonel later in the war, but that is not likely. His Company fought well, they were not employed as sharpshooters, but as an Infantry regiment or as skirmishers. It is highly likely that their shooting helped exploit the break in the Union lines and definitely allowed the safe flight from Hatchie Bridge. If Ras Stirman's Regiment had been employed as skirmishers across Phifer's font during the Battle of Corinth, the results might have been different. If the reserve had been placed behind Stirman's brigade and exploited the break through things might have been different. This would have placed the axis of attack where it could have done the most damage and pulled forces from fighting the 6th and 9th which would have allowed them more room to maneuver. A lot of what ifs occurred that day. A Van Dorn win would have surely changed the course of the war.
A company of the 6th and a company of the 9th made up the Texas battalion. Added to Stirman's eight made a regiment. In his letter's he described them all dressed in grey, but there is nothing of this in the 6th or 9th histories nor that of Ras Stirman's Regiment. Most do not give him credit for having a regiment, because they do not have the Texas battalion attachment. This unit was available in July 1862. Long before the sharpshooter regiments in the east. It was trained to operate as Infantry and as skirmishers. BG Lawrence S. Ross said the infantry training made his cavalry a better unit. It is likely the men of companies I and H made their regiments better being trained as skirmishers.
The 6th Texas Cavalry involvement with sharpshooters as a unit continued for a while until the two companies were returned to their regiments. The Regiment still called on their services for scouting and special detachments and raids. They may well have acted as sharpshooters on horseback. Major Henry F. Bridges, was killed commanding a detachment of two companies ( H & I??) providing security for Major General Stephen D. Lee on February 4, 1864, near Yazoo city Mississippi. His detachment charged a far larger unit and routed it, much to General Lee’s surprise.
The above information came from e-mails from Danny Odem on 12 April 05, Bill Gurley same day, Ras Stirman's letters, Bill McCue on 6 Apr 05. All this was at the Texas Civil War Message Board. Data also came from Peter Cozzin's book, The Darkest Days of The War, the Battles of Iuka and Corinth, from Bret Weatherford's e-mail 8 Jun 05, and from histories provided from the National Records and Hill College when I requested military records. The data on Major Bridges death came from General Lee’s report in the Southern Historical Society documents. Assignment of Company H, 9th Texas Cavalry as a sharpshooter company was found in Griscom's Diary, a day by day summary of the 9ths conduct with Ross' Texas Cavalry Brigade. Company had 1 KIA, 16 wounded and 8 missing after Hatchie Bridge and Corinth. It is likely that each company of Stirman's Regiment had 50 to 60 men available. All faired as did Company H. This meant they had over 10 killed, 160 wounded and 80 captured or missing. My GGF broke his arm during the fighting of Company I at Corinth or Hatchie Bridge. He was captured and returned to Company I about two weeks later. In the middle of November the 6th was remounted and in December were part of the raid on Grants Resupply Depot at Holly Springs. This raid along with one by General Forrest to the North in Tennessee, caused the war to be at least one year longer.
Any thing that deviates from reality, may be my own imagination which tends to enjoy this research. William K. (Bill) Nolan, LTC USAR Retired.
