Welch's Texas Cavalry Company: History and Legacy
By: Charles D. Grear
Published: March 30, 2011
Capt. Otis G. Welch organized Welch's Texas Cavalry Company late in 1861 with men from Northeast Texas to serve in the Indian Territory and Arkansas. From its organization until April 1863, the company remained independent except for a brief period in 1862 when it was attached to the First Cherokee Mounted Rifles in Cooper's Brigade. The company experienced limited fighting and skirmishing until it came under the command of Brig. Gen. Richard Gano in April 1863. When the company of forty-four men transferred to the Gano's Brigade, Captain Welch transferred to command Company E of the Twenty-ninth Texas Cavalry Regiment. Frank Gano, the son of General Gano, replaced Welch and changed the company's name to Gano's Guards, which became the personal escort for the general and served him until the disbandment of the brigade in early 1865.
Bibliography:
Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Texas, National Archives and Records Service, Washington. Mamie Yeary, Reminiscences of the Boys in Grey, 1861–1865 (McGregor, Texas, 1912; rpt., Dayton, Ohio: Morningside, 1986).
Time Periods:
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Charles D. Grear, “Welch’s Texas Cavalry Company,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed May 19, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/welchs-texas-cavalry-company.
TID:
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- March 30, 2011
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