Felix W. Massey

MASSEY, FELIX W. (1829 ~ 1912). Felix W. Massey, Confederate veteran, was born in Tennessee in 1829, but moved to Texas in 1855. After settling in Hunt County, he enlisted in the Confederate Army on January 31, 1862, and was mustered into Company H, 11th Texas Cavalry, which was also known as Young's Regiment and the 3rd Texas Cavalry.

Soon after his enlistment, the 11th Cavalry was assigned to the Indian Territory and Arkansas, where Massey's horse was shot out from under him at the Battle of Elkhorn, on March 6, 1862. Sometime after that, he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant of Company H, but retained his rank as a private because he failed to report for duty. After being dismounted, the 11th Cavalry moved east of the Mississippi River and participated in the battles of Richmond, Kentucky and Murfreesboro, Tennessee. After leaving Tennessee, the 11th Cavalry was remounted and moved into Georgia, where they participated in the battles of Chickamauga, Knoxville and the Atlanta Campaigns, before moving to Savannah and then into the Carolinas.

Massey, however, deserted his regiment in August, 1864, and signed an Oath of Allegiance to the United States at Nashville, Tennessee on August 16. After signing a second oath on August 29, 1864, while in a military prison in Louisville, Kentucky, he was released on the grounds that he was to remain north of the Ohio River for the remainder of the War.

Sometime after the War, Massey returned to Lone Oak and worked as a clerk and book keeper, until September 16, 1902, when he moved to the Texas Confederate Home in Austin. Upon moving into the Home, he claimed he was a widower, though his wife's name is not known, and listed a R. A. Massey in Fort Worth as his next of kin. It is possible that R. A. was a son or brother to Felix.

After living in the Home for nearly ten years, Felix W. Massey died on July 14, 1912, and was buried in the Texas State Cemetery.

Information taken from: Felix W. Massey, Compiled Military Service Record; Civil War Soldiers & Sailors Systems website, http://www.itd.nps.gov; Confederate Home Roster; The 11th Texas Cavalry, CSA webpage, http://www.angelfire.com/tx/mrcobbs/11TX.html; and The History of the 11th Texas Cavalry Regiment webpage, http://www.11texascav.org/regiment/intro.shtml.