CAPT. REUBEN D. KENNEDY

Jim Blackburn, Civil War Collector
 

     Reuben D. Kennedy was 23 years old when he was elected as 2Lt of a company of recruits that were organized on October 26, 1861, (by William C. Wilson) at Fairfield, Freestone County, Texas. Wilson's Company of volunteers mustered in with Col. Nelson's newly formed regiment (10th Texas Infantry) for Camp of Instruction at Galveston, Texas on October 31, 1861. Reuben was born August 3, 1838, and stood 6' 2" tall with black hair, dark eyes and a dark complexion.

     2Lt. Kennedy was promoted to the rank of 1Lt. on July 28, 1862, due to the shift in organization of Company D, due to the resignation of Capt. Wilson due to ill health. 1Lt. John L. Wortham took Wilson's place, and in turn, Kennedy took Wortham's. Capt. Wortham died of disease in Arkansas, on August 24, 1862. 1Lt. Kennedy took immediate command of the company, but would not attain the rank of Capt. until September 16, 1862.

    On November 25, 1862, the 10th Texas Infantry steamed up river from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Arkansas Post, to defend Fort Hindman to the possiblity of the assault by Federal forces. The wait didn't take long, for on January 9, 1863, a fleet of Federal Gunboats commanded by Admiral David Porter, came in view of the fort. Arkansas Post on the White River, was the first in the line of obstacles needed to be taken, ending with Vicksburg, that the United States forces need take in order to control the Mississippi River.

    At 8 o'clock A.M. the Federal fleet commenced a seven hour non-stop barrage of Fort Hindman, battering its defenses. Very few casualties were inflicted for most of the 4,000 troops stationed there, were in the entrenchments 1 mile in advance of the fort. While the barrage was going on, 33,000 troops of Gen. Sherman depart the transports several miles north at Nortrib's Farm. The artillery fire ended that evening around 8pm, and picked up the next morning with the Confederate forces retreating to the works next to the fort.

    Gen. Churchill had been given orders to hold the fort to the last man, and was well prepared to do so, fending off 6 assault by Sherman's forces. The fighting was furious until 4pm, when a white flag mysteriously went up on the far end where the 24th Texas Dismounted Cavalry was positioned. The Confederates mistook the the flag as an order from Gen. Churchill, so several flags simultaneoulsy arose and the fort was surrendered.

    Sherman's men stormed the works and ordered the defenders to stack arms and form ranks. It would have been at this time, that Capt. Kennedy would have surrendered his revolver; a gift presumably presented him, sometime between October 31, 1861 & September 16, 1862, when he held the rank of lieutenant.
 

[Capt. Reuben D. Kennedy's 36cal. Navy Colt Revolver]

[Engraving indicates the revolver was presented to Kennedy when a Lt.]

     Divisional Chief Surgeon C. F. Smith wrote: "When the General rode into the fort and surrendered, he was met by Gen. Sherman, who wished to know where his (Gen. Churchill's) men were. When Gen. C. told him they were all in sight, he seemed surprised, and could scarcely credit the fact that so small a body of troops had succeeded in battling for so long a time, and killing so many of his men."

     The next day it began snowing, and the prisoners of Arkansas Post were packed onto the transports and sent to Northern prisons; the officers to Camp Chase, and the enlisted men divide between Camp Douglas (where the 10th Texas Infantry went) and Camp Butler. After three months of terrible hardship and death in the artic climates of the North, the enlisted prisoners were paroled from prison to be exchanged at City Point, Virginia; the officers would follow several weeks later, and they would be united to be sent to the Army of Tennessee, arriving there on May 17, 1863.

     Upon arriving to Tullahoma, Tennessee, the 10th Texas Infantry was consolidated into one regiment with the 6th Texas Infantry and the 15th Texas Dismounted Cavalry. Due to the consolidation, there became a surplus of officers within the ranks, and the excess were sent to the Trans-Mississippi Department; Capt. Kennedy was one of these officers, for when three regiments of Co. D were joined, Capt. James D. Selkirk of the 6th Texas Infantry has seniority over Capt. Kennedy.

     On March 4, 1864, Col. Hiram Granbury was promoted to the rank of Brig. Gen. and put in command of the Texas Brigade; one of his first acts was to break the 10th Texas Infantry from their consolidation. This act immiately caused a need for officers in the ranks, and Col. Robert Young was assigned to the Trans-Mississippi for those separated. Col. Young arrived at the commencement of the Atlanta Campaign with a handful of the displaced officers; one being Capt. Kennedy.

     Capt. Kennedy fought with distinction in all of the battles of the 10th Texas infantry in command of Co. D, until the battle of Franklin, when he took command of the regiment in the heat of battle; this was due to the fact the Col. Young was killed, then senior Capt. John Formwalt was wounded. At the end of that battle, only 53 men of the 10th Texas Infantry were able for duty.

     Due to attrition of the Army of Tennessee, Gen. Johnston restructured his army on April 9, 1865; at that point, Granbury's Brigade ceased to exist. All 8 regiments were combined into a single regiment, and was renamed the 1st Consolidated Texas Regiment, and was assigned to Govan's Brigade. The 10th Texas Infantry became companys D & E of that regiment, and Capt. Kennedy was placed in command of Co. E, 1st Texas Consolidated Regiment (also known as Granbury's Consolidated Brigade).

     The Army of Tennessee was surrendered to Gen. Sherman at Durham, North Carolina, on April 28, 1865. Capt. Kennedy had in his command, 33 men of Co. E, 1st Texas Consolidated Regiment; there were a total of 80 men left from the old 10th Texas Infantry, and of them, only 6 left from Kennedy's old company.

     Reuben D. Kennedy, at age 46, died on May 3, 1885, and was buried in the Cotton Gin Cemetery of Fairfield, Freestone County, Texas.

Scott McKay