In 1861 the idea was proposed to the Confederate government that in order to raise an army that efforts should be made to organize companies to fight without restraint, under no orders, and would convert captured property to their own private use. They would take care of themselves.
Within 10 days of the proposal, an official reply was The Confederate government preferred that these companies be armed and tendered for the war in the usual way. That the Confederate government preferred that these companies be armed and tendered for the war in the usual way. These men would have to conform to the rules of war of civilized nations. The government must commission the officers and the companies paid for by the state. It was felt if they proceeded according to their own ideas they would have to be regarded as outlaws and pirates.
After some negotiating a law was passed by the Confederate States of America congress to establish that Partisan units could be organized under the following rules:
Sec.1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the President be, and he is hereby authorized to commission such officers as he may deem proper with authority to form bands of partisan rangers, in companies, battalions or regiments, to be composed of such members as the President may approve.
Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That such partisan rangers, after being regularly received in the service, shall be entitled to the same pay, rations, and quarters during their term of service, and be subject to the same regulations as other soldiers.
Sec.3. Be it further enacted, That for any arms and munitions of war captured from the enemy by any body of partisan rangers and delivered to any quartermaster at such place or places as may be designated by a commanding general, the rangers shall be paid their full value in such manner as the Secretary of War may prescribe.
It should be noted that in section 3 of the act are laid down special rules as to arms and munitions captured by the Partisan Rangers. A powerful incentive indeed to enlist in a partisan ranger unit instead of joining the regular Confederate army.
Soon the attraction of the Partisan Ranger Corps was so great that the Confederate authorities had to prohibit transfer from the line to the Partisan Ranger Corps
However, after a recommendation from General Robert E. Lee, on the 20 th of February 1863 , the law authorizing partisan rangers was abolished and almost all partisan rangers were required to join the regular Confederate Army.
On July 5, 1862 at the age of 32, John Emsley Foster rode his horse to Collin County, Texas and along with his brother Robert (who lived in Collin County at the time), joined the Confederate Army. John brought his horse and gun and the government bought the horse for $160, and the gun for $20. The Civil War had been going on for 16 months when they joined and Texas had joined the Confederacy on February 9, 1861 .
The Foster brothers joined Company K of the 5 th Texas Partisan Cavalry Regiment. This unit was known as Martin's Cavalry, so named for its commander Col. Leonidas Martin.
The Foster brothers trained and drilled in the McKinney , TX area until they sent to the Indian Territory on February 6, 1863 , where they were consolidated with the 9th and 10th Texas Cavalry Battalion at Fort Washita , Indian Territory .
On April 24, 1863 John saw his first action when the 5th Texas Partisan Rangers were engaged near Webber Falls in the Indian Territory to repel a raid by Union Col. William Phillips.
In May 1863 the 5th Texas Partisan Rangers engaged in a skirmish near Fort Gibson , Indian Territory . They unsuccessfully attacked a Union supply train five miles from Fort Gibson . Many Confederate Indians were killed in the raid.
On July 17, 1863 the 5th Texas Partisan Rangers fought in the Battle of Honey Springs, in the Creek Nation, Indian Territory , near the present day town of Muskogee , Oklahoma . The 5th Texas Partisan Rangers formed the Confederate center on the battlefield.
Union and Confederate troops had frequently skirmished in the vicinity of Honey Springs Depot. The Union commander in the area, Major General James Blunt, correctly surmised that Confederate forces (mostly Native American troops under the command of Brig. Gen. Douglas Cooper) were about to concentrate and would then attack his force at Fort Gibson. He had ample supplies, and had recently arrived with fresh troops so he decided on a preemptive attack, to fight the Confederates at Honey Springs Depot before Brig Gen William Cabell’s brigade, advancing from Fort Smith , Arkansas , joined them.
Blunt began crossing the swollen Arkansas River on July 15, 1863 , and by midnight on July 16-17 he had a force of 3,000 men, composed of whites, Native Americans, and Negroes, force-marching toward Honey Springs. Shortly after dawn skirmishing began and by mid afternoon there was full-scale fighting. The Confederates had wet powder, causing misfires, and the problem intensified when rain began. After stopping one Federal attack, Cooper pulled back to issue fresh ammunition. In the meantime, Cooper began to experience command problems, and he learned that Blunt was about to turn his left flank. The Confederate retreat began, and although Cooper tried a rear-guard action, many of those troops failed and fled. Different tribes headed in different directions, but few were in any mood to fight again even if officers found them. Any possibility of the Confederates taking Fort Gibson was gone.
The 1 st Kansas Colored fought with courage again. Union troops under General James Blunt ran into a strong Confederate force under General Douglas Cooper. After a two-hour bloody engagement, Cooper’s soldiers retreated. The 1 st Kansas , which had held the center of the Union line, advance to within fifty paces of the Confederate line and exchanged fire for some twenty minutes until the Confederates broke and ran.
General Blunt wrote after the battles; “I never saw such fighting as was done by the Negro regiment … the question that Negroes will fight is settled; besides they make better soldiers in every respect than any troops I have ever had under my command.”
Following this battle, Union forces controlled the Indian Territory north of the Arkansas River The Union losses were about 80, while the Confederates lost about 640 men.
On August 27, 1863 the 5 th Texas Partisan Rangers were in a skirmish at Perryville, Choctaw Nation, Indian Nation. The Union Army consisted of a force of 4,500 and the Confederate Army had strength of about 9,000. The Union forces fought their way into Perryville and determined that nearly every building contained Confederate stores, so the buildings were burned. The Union also captured and destroyed a large amount of clothing that was in the Confederate depot on North Folk Town .
Brigadier General William Steele, of the Confederate Army reported the following in his official report about this skirmish: “A Choctaw regiment joined, but about half of its numbers were unarmed. Many of the Cherokees have left to look after their families. Of the two regiments, there are probably not more than 100 in camp.”
On October 9, 1863 the 5th Texas Partisan Rangers were ordered to Bonham , Texas for service under General Henry McCulloch. They were ordered to round up deserters and bring order to the Northeast Texas area. Confederate General Sam Bell Maxey latter wrote that the 5th Texas Partisan Rangers were one of his best regiments and that Col. Martin was a good officer, too good in fact to be chasing deserters through the brush of Northeast Texas. Confederate General Henry McCulloch agreed and wrote that Col. Martin's men had done remarkable service considering the service they were ordered to do.
On November 10, 1863 the 5th Texas Partisan Rangers were placed in General Douglas H. Cooper's Brigade with Col. John Jumper's Seminole Battalion and Col. DeMorse's 29th Texas Cavalry
.
On December 22, 1863 the 5th Texas Partisan Rangers were on furlough for Christmas when they were recalled to duty and ordered to concentrate at McKinney and Pilot Grove to march to Gainesville , Texas to meet a threat of invasion by Kansas Jayhawkers and a small group of Union Cavalry troops. Although the Jayhawkers had entered Gainesville , they departed before the arrival of Col. Martin's men.
On March 21,1864 General Richard Gano took command of the brigade consisting of the 5th Texas Partisan Rangers. General Gano requested Col. Martin to report to him as to the state of arms possessed by the men of the regiment. On March 30, 1864 Col. Martin replied that 1/3 of his men were armed with shotguns, another 1/3 was armed with everything from squirrel rifles to mammoth Belgium rifles and the other 1/3 was completely unarmed.
In
Richmond , Confederate President
Jefferson Davis realized that the original enlistment for the Confederate States
Army was nearing an end. He made a plea for all troops to re-enlist for the
term of the war. Col. Leonidas Martin, commander of the 5th Texas Partisan Rangers
made the following proclamation on behalf of his men in June 1864.
Whereas the 5th Cavalry, Texas Partisan Rangers, having re-enlisted for the war, in obedience to a call from our congress, the following resolutions expressive of their sentiments and feelings are adopted:
First. That we, the officers and men of Martin's Regiment, do most heartily and willingly tender our unanimous services and cordial support to our country in vigorously prosecuting the present war so long as the footprints of the vandal pollutes the soil of our beloved South, pledging ourselves never to sheathe the sword nor lay down the musket until success shall crown our efforts and an honorable peace be proclaimed throughout our land.
Second. That we esteem it a privilege and an honor to have the opportunity afforded us to thus make known to our friends at home that we still are determined to protect the sanctity of their homes, honor, lives, and property from the ruthless hirelings of the north, or sacrifice our lives upon the altar of our country; to our comrades in arms that we are resolved to stand by them as friend to friend in battling for the great and glorious cause for which they are so nobly contending.
Third. That we tender to our commanding officers our hearty and cordial support in their efforts to drive the dastardly foe from our soil and in promoting the good and prosperity of our country.
L. M. Martin Chairman/Geo. White Secretary.
General Sam Bell Maxey, commander of the Indian Territory added the following comments:
They breathe the right spirit. They show that desertion is not part of the creed of these men. They pledge themselves, should occasion offer, to emulate the glorious heroes who from Virginia to New Mexico who have immortalized the Texas soldier. While Texans are upholding the honor and renown of their glorious state in this mighty struggle now going on - never before equaled in the world's history - what can be thought of the cowardly skulks who are now deserting their comrades and country, and of the equally low-down scuffs who uphold them in it? Let every soldier in the Indian Territory determine to be a man, and fight the thing out. Let desertion be a "stink ball" in the nostrils of every soldier.
Texas flag as adopted during the Civil War
On the morning of July 27, 1864 the 5th Texas Partisan Rangers fought in the Battle of Massard's Prairie, five miles southeast from Fort Smith , Arkansas . There they attacked Union General Thayer's outpost near the fort. The 5th Texas Partisan Rangers engaged the 6th Kansas Cavalry. The Kansas Cavalry troops were surprised by the attack. As a result its horses were stampeded causing the Union Cavalry to fight dismounted. After a fighting retreat of a mile, the 6th Kansas Cavalry commander, Major David Mefford was unable to break the Confederate line and the 6th Kansas Cavalry surrendered.
On September 19, 1864 the 5th Texas Partisan Rangers participated in one of the most daring raids of the war, the Battle of Cabin Creek in the Indian Territory . In the early morning hours the 5th Texas Partisan Rangers, under General Richard Gano, waited in the timber on the Fort Scott road headed for Fort Gibson . At 2 a.m. the 5th Texas Partisan Rangers with the Confederate Indians under General Stand Watie attacked the Union wagon train. The Confederate force quickly surrounded the wagon train. General Gano used his artillery against the Union detachment guarding the supply train. Fearing reinforcements that might arrive the next day, General Gano's Texas Cavalry, with General Stand Watie's Confederate Indians (General Watie was a Cherokee Chief) drove in to the Union right. The Union troops fled and left the million-dollar supply train to the hungry, poorly clothed Confederate troops. General Gano said of his troops that they had marched 400 miles in 14 days and destroyed 1.5 million dollars in Union property that consisted of 225 wagons and $500,000.00 in U.S. currency. The Confederate Government in Richmond praised General Stand Watie and General Gano along with their troops for their noble raid.
On December 29, 1864 the 5th Texas Partisan Rangers were ordered back to Bonham , Texas for temporary duty for General Henry McCulloch.
On February 26,1865 the 5th Texas Partisan Rangers were ordered to march for Marshall , Texas . When they arrived they were dismounted and told to prepare for a Union invasion force of 5,000 men that would strike the Texas coast from New Orleans . It was an invasion that would never come, as the war was almost at its end. The following day the 5th Texas Partisan Rangers were consolidated into Gould's Brigade, also known as the 23rd Texas Cavalry due to the reduced numbers caused by death, disease, and desertion.
Finally, after much hardship on both the North and the South, Robert E. Lee and Joseph E. Johnson surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, and at Smithfield , North Carolina , in April 1865 respectively. However, the news was slow to reach Texas and the last battle of the Civil War was fought May 13, 1865 at Palmito Ranch near Brownsville with the determined Confederate forces defeating the Union.
In March 1865 John’s unit was dismounted and two months later in on May 26, 1865 , General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate forces in the Trans-Mississippi Department surrendered his forces. The war was over.
After the surrender John and his brother Robert were released from service. John was discharged with the rank of Private, and Robert, who had entered the war as a Private, was discharged as a musician.