 Newton, Texas
We settled first near Milam, and moved four years later to a farm four miles south of San Augustine. I was one of four brothers who served in the Texas Army in 1835-36. In the fall of 1835 I enlisted in Capt. Henry W. Augustine's company and participated in the siege of Bexar. Again I volunteered for the Texas army in March 1836 and served in a company from Sabine County under Capt. Benjamin Franklin Bryant. With Col. Sidney Sherman's Second Regiment I fought in the battle of San Jacinto. It is possible that I was the youngest Texas soldier in that battle, but heck, there was a whole lot of youngsters there. I was discharged on May 1st but I enlisted a third time on July 4, 1836, and served for three months in Capt. William Scurlock's company from San Augustine. I married my wife Nancy McMahon in 1838; we had eleven children. We had a place out by Quicksand Creek in Newton County.
After the war I went back home to Newton County. There, I served as tax assessor/collector of Newton County from 1856 to 1860, when the census evaluated my property at $5,000; the 1861 tax roll shows that I owned one slave, but he was a free man, the census paper just didn't have a place for negros back then.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, I raised and was captain of a company that became Company C of James B. Likens's
Battalion of Texas Volunteers. After a reorganization of the battalion, it was designated the 11th or Spaight's Battalion of Texas Volunteers, and I was elected by the men to the rank of major. I led my troops in the battle of Fordoche or Stirling's Plantation in southern Louisiana on
September 29, 1863, where my son, James Patton Irvine, was killed. Me, I contracted yellow fever in the swamp, as did many of my soldiers. I had to resign my commission in December 1864, due to my the yellow fever.
I am a Mason and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. My Lord took me home on May 17, 1876, and I am buried at Wilson's Chapel, Newton County. A state marker was erected on my grave in 1963.
If you are interested in protecting and promoting the ideals that motivated your Confederate ancestor, we need you. The memory and reputation of the Confederate American, as well as the motives for thier suffering and sacrifice, are being consciously distorted by some in an attempt to alter history. Unless the we, descendants of Southern patriots combat these efforts, a unique part of our nations' cultural heritage will cease to exist. Don't put it off another minute, do your part to preserve your Southern Heritage!!!!
If you are interested in learning more about us, we invite you to join us for one of our many meetings or activties. Places and times vary, but by calling our Camp Adjutant John Hillman in Newton (409-379-3597),you can be sure to get up to date times and places! We hope to meet you soon!
 The Sons of Confederate Veterans is a genealogical-historical organization dedicated to preserving the history and honoring the memory of our Confederate ancestors. The SCV is the direct heir of the United Confederate Veterans, and the oldest hereditary organization for male descendants of Confederate soldiers. Organized at Richmond, Virginia, in 1896, the SCV continues to serve as a historical, patriotic, and non-political organization dedicated to insuring that a true history of the 1861-65 period is preserved. The Sons of Confederate Veterans is not affiliated with any other organization, with the exception of The Military Order of the Stars and Bars, an organization for the male descendants of the Confederate Officer Corps and civil government officials.
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