The Campaigns of Walker’s Texas Division

Texas Civil War veteran Joseph P. Blessington left us a special book. First published in 1875, it is based on meticulous journals he kept during his service.

What did Blessington do during the war? He served in the only division made up of troops from a single state and the largest unit of Texas troops.

This large unit in which Blessington served was Walker’s Texas Division, also known as Walker’s Greyhounds, or the Greyhound Division. They served in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, never crossing the Mississippi River. That’s a telling detail. These men were all volunteers and many enlistments early in the war had stipulations. Some regiments saw themselves as defenders of Texas from invasion and only consented to be deployed in adjacent states to do just that. Walker’s was one such division. Joseph Blessington did not just rely on his journals, he interviewed other Greyhound Division veterans and pored over the official records. This is a complete history.