James Robert Erwin

Born: 1 March 1839 

Enlisted: June 1861 (Died 8 months later)

Died: 19 February 1862

TEXANS WHO WORE THE GREY 

By Sid S. Johnson Page 150 
James Robert Erwin was born at Lafayette, Chambers county, Ala., 1st of March, 1839, and removed with his father, Col. Thos. B. Erwin, who settled in Smith county, in 1850. Young Erwin enlisted in June 1861, in the Douglas Texas Battery, and died near Fayetteville, Ark., February 19th 1862. He made a good Confederate soldier, but died of pneumonia after the short but meritorious service. He was a young man of great promise and had he lived longer would have made his mark in the business world. He was an educated man, bouyant and full of vim, and personally very popular with his associates.

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LONE STAR PRIDE: THE GOOD-DOUGLAS TEXAS BATTERY, CSA 1861-1865
By Andrew F Lang

Throughout the winter, the Army of the West remained dormant. awaiting marching orders for the spring. Life in the camp was "monotonous and [dragged] on heavily," as Private Sam Thompson remembered in his journal. Men in the battery often played practical jokes on one another to pass the time. The battery lost its second member when young Robert Erwin contracted a cold and in short time developed pneumonia as a result of the harsh Arkansas winter. The disease could not be contained, and Erwin died just after the new year in January 1862.

 

JAMES B. LUNSFORD

Rutherford College, N. C. June 26, 1907

(This is an account of the conditions that led up to James' death)

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We remained in Missouri till near Christmas, and went into winter quarters near Fayetteville, Ark. We built substantial quarters for the men and stables for the horses. There were two other batteries quartered with us: Hart's Battery from Little Rock, and Province's Battery from Ft. Smith, all three under Maj. Bradfute of McCulloch's staff.

It was here that we were placed under discipline, according to a strict construction of the army regulations. We had guard lines around the quarters and sentries walked their beats in silence except the "Who goes there?" if any one approached: and in the night to call out the "All is well!" every hour. We submitted to all this cheerfully and thought we were soldiers: but when a severe North Arkansas winter came upon us we demanded fires at the guard posts. Maj. Bradfute, who had spent 20 years in the regular army, remonstrated with us, appealed to our patriotism and the oath we had taken. He was replied to by Dick Small, W. S. Waites and others, to the effect that he, himself, had taken an oath, and that if his oath as an officer meant anything, he should protect the health of the men under him and not sacrifice their lives in such weather, in the interest of discipline, when there was not an enemy within 200 miles. The fires were extinguished by a detail sent out by Maj. Bradfute from another company, but the Texans, rallying to the sentinels from camp, immediately rebuilt them. Maj. Bradfute reluctantly submitted, and remained afterwards our friend. We were not under his command after that winter.