John F. Pipes

Pvt. Company K., 19th Texas Cavalry

Last updated on August 7, 2000

John F. Pipes was the oldest son of Morris Pipes and Sallie Montgomery. Born in 1828 in Marion County, Kentucky, and one of  eight children, he was overlooked in the data that surrounds the Pipes family in that area. His year of birth and the fact that he married in 1853 and soon moved to Texas with his wife's family caused him to be only a number in the 1830 and 1840 census and he was in another county in the 1850 census. His Father in Law, Thomas Jefferson Nash, had a great desire to start a new life in the south west and after scouting out the north east corner of Texas in 1853, he moved his entire family, his household, slaves, several children and also three of his sons in law and their families as well.

John and Isabella gave birth to four children in Texas between 1854 and 1863 and one of them, Samuel J. Pipes, some twenty years later, became part of the Texas legend of Sam Bass and his outlaw gang. The other children: Mariella, John R., and Sarah have not been traced as of this writing.

John F. Pipes enlisted in the 19th Texas Cavalry in April 1861 at Breckenridge, Texas by James Thomas and was mustered into the19th Cavalry in May of that year. He brought his own horse and equipment valued at $150.00, as did most Civil War Confederate cavalry units. He was described as 5' 11" tall, with gray eyes and Brown hair. It is important to note that two of his brothers were also soldiers, with the interesting twist that his brother Elias Hardin rode with John Hunt Morgan's Raiders out of Kentucky and his other brother Levi Allen joined the Union Army and rode with the 6th Kentucky Cavalry. Elias and Levi had at least one skirmish against each other but it is not suspected that John faced or joined with either of his brothers.

It has been very difficult to trace the exact movements and actions of the 19th, but we do know from the Texas military records that John died on May 6, 1862. We do not know if he was killed in action or died from disease. At that time the 19th was part of Parsons Texas Brigade and were involved in Arkansas actions against the enemy in protecting Little Rock.

After his death and after the war, Isabella re-married to a man named J. N. Jones and  they raised the Pipes children and children of their own as well. It appears that John's youngest daughter may have been born while he was away as her birth is given as 1863.

The 19th Cavalry Regiment was organized by Colonel N. M. Burford during the spring of 1862 with about 850 men. Many of the men were recruited at Dallas, Tyler, and Hillsboro, and in Ellis and Dallas counties. The unit was attached to Hawes', G. W.Carter's, Flourney's, W. Steele's, and W H. Parsons' Brigade, Trans-Mississippi Department. During Marmaduke's Missouri Raid, the unit reported 5 killed, 19 wounded, and 9 missing. It went on to skirmish in Arkansas, then was involved in the operations against Banks' Red River Campaign. Later it was again active in Arkansas and ended the war at Marshall, Texas, where it disbanded in May, 1865. Colonel Nathaniel M. Burford, Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin W Watson, and Major Joel T. Davis were in command.

Sources:

Author Anne J. Bailey has written about the 19th Texas Cavalry in two books. The first is "Texans in the Confederate Cavalry" and the second is "Between the Enemy and Texas; Parson's Texas Cavalry in the Civil War". A third volume titled "Campaigning With Parson's Texas Cavalry Brigade, CSA; The Journals and Letters of the Four Orr Brothers, 12th Texas Cavalry" was edited by John Q. Anderson.

National Archives Military record for John F. Pipes, Census records from Kentucky and Texas for 1830 to 1880, and a Volume entitled "Confederate Indigent families of Texas during the War"; A book entitled " Proud Heritage; Pioneer families of Dallas County" with no author; another entitled "Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County, Texas" by the Lewis Publishing Co. in 1892; and finally " Dallas County, a record of its Pioneers and Progress" By John H. Cochran

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