Pvt.  Abner. Pipes

Co. A, 11th Texas Infantry ( Robert's Regiment)

Last Updated February 2, 2009

Abner is listed in the Civil War Soldiers microfilm at the Fort Wayne Library as A. Pipes. I ran across his pension application in the Texas Archives in 1996, also as A. Pipes. There was another Abner Pipes ( who was his cousin Abner) who served in the 22nd Texas Infantry so we have to watch for conflicting records.

The Pension application, completed in 1899 in San Augustine County, Texas, tells us that he was born in 1833, that he joined the 11th Texas Infantry on July 13th, 1861 and that he served until the end of the war. He has two witnesses and a doctor's report that claims that he is a farmer, is indigent, in ill health and is suffering from hereditary Consumptive Diathesis. The pension is granted and the two witnesses are W. E. Williams and D. G. Laggnil ( sic?)

It is interesting that he signs his name as A. Pipes not Abner. His name is listed in several places on the application as A. and never as Abner. I am assuming here that his name is Abner because of the microfilm record using the name Abner and the units (11th Texas Infantry) being the same. 

In early 2008 I found a POW record on ancestry.com for Abner Pipes that confirms this is the same man and his name is Abner. It shows that in 1864 during the Red River Campaign, Abner was captured when the Union Forces attacked Fort DeRussy. He was being held a POW in New Orleans and was later exchanged at Red River, Louisiana.

This Abner Pipes was the son of Abner Pipes Jr. and Nancy Ferrell, Born in Louisiana in 1833/34 and came to Texas before 1850 with his parents. He lived his life as a farmer in and around San Augustine County. He was first married to Grace Newsom in 1858. They had a son named James M. Pipes B. 1859 ( not to be confused with a nephew named James McDaniel Pipes b. 1875). He married a second time to Caroline Wheeler in 1879 and they had a daughter named Elma Dora.

11th Regiment, Texas Infantry (Roberts')

11th Infantry Regiment was assembled at Houston, Texas, during the winter of 1861-1862. Many of the men were recruited in the towns of Clarksville, Henderson, and Marshall, and the counties of Cherokee and Shelby. It was assigned to the Army of New Mexico, then served in H. Randal's and Maclay's Brigade, Trans-Mississippi Department. The unit skirmished in Louisiana and lost 4 killed, 15 wounded, and 32 missing at Bayou Bourdeau. During the Red River Campaign, Company A with 3 officers and 42 men was captured. It moved to Arkansas, fought at Jenkins' Ferry, then was stationed at Shreveport, Louisiana, and later Hemstead, Texas, where it disbanded in May, 1865. The field officers were Colonels A. J. Coupland, James H. Jones, and O.M. Roberts, and Majors Nathaniel J. Caraway and Thomas H. Rountree.

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