RAY, JAMES L. (1840 ~ 1929). Confederate veteran James L. Ray was born in 1840 in Tennessee. Ray's family moved to Texas in 1843 and eventually settled in Mineola, Wood County. Ray lived in Mineola for the rest of his life, excluding his term of service in the Confederacy and his stay in the Confederate Men's Home in Austin.
Ray served in Company A, 10th Texas Cavalry in General M. D. Ector's Brigade, eventually gaining the rank of corporal. The 10th was organized in the fall of 1861 and was dismounted in April of 1862. The 10th served in the Army of Kentucky, the Army of the West, the Army of Tennessee and the Army of Mississippi and saw diverse action in many theaters of the war. The unit fought in the Vicksburg Campaign, the Atlanta Campaign and the Meridian Campaign among many.
The 10th Texas was surrendered by its officers at Citronelle, Alabama on May 4, 1865. Ray was discharged from Union custody a short time later at Mobile, Alabama, according to his pension records.
Ray returned to Mineola and married Martha Jane Edmondston, the widow of a W.F. Edmondston in 1888. The two had one son together, a Shaw D. Ray of Hollis, Oklahoma.
Ray was granted a Confederate Pension in 1914 and moved to the Confederate Men's Home in Austin at an unknown time.
Ray died at the Home on April 23, 1929 and was buried at the Texas State Cemetery. He was survived by his wife who lived in the home with him. She died on July 18, 1943 and was buried next to her husband.
Information taken from Texas State Cemetery file materials. |
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