On the 3rd of November 1863, my Regiment – the 18th Texas, with [Oran Milo] Roberts’ 11th Infantry and [Joseph W.] Speight’s 15th Texas Infantry, were sent off on detached service. While on this duty, on the day already named, these three Small regiments, in connection with several Regiments of Teas Cavalry, had a desperate engagement [the Battle of Bayou Bourbeau] with an outlying camp of about 6,000 Federals. The fighting was hot and in my own Regiment I lost nearly one third of my command, besides having five color bearers shot dead on the battle field. The sixth [was] killed, also, we supposed, until we [found him] barely alive, having been shot through the temple with a mini-ball…
I had in this fight only about 200 men owing to sickness, men on furlough, barefooted men, etc., and lost 57 men killed and wounded.
After we had captured the Yankee Camp and several hundred prisoners, Gen. Tom Green, who was in command, ordered all the Infantry to come to the south side of a small but deep dry run just in the edge of the timber. The camp we had attacked and partly captured was an advanced camp of some 6,000 men under immediate control of Genl. [General Stephen G.] Burbridge, but belonging to a much larger one of about 20,000 men [located] in caps five or six miles south, and well supplied with cavalry and artillery, and over 20,000 infantry.
