William Williston Heartsill journal

This collection contains a journal of William Williston Heartsill’s involvement and observations of the American Civil War including the battles of Chickamauga and Vicksburg. Other topics covered are Texas ranching, botany, Indigenous and Mexican affairs, and the Texas Secession Convention.

William Williston Heartsill was a Confederate soldier and enlisted with W.P. Lane’s Texas Rangers unit in 1861. In 1863 the unit joined General Braxton’s army in Tennessee. Many deserted, walking back from Tennessee to Texas. After the war Heartsill became a grocer and saddle salesman in Marshall, Texas. He later moved to Waco, Texas and died there in 1916.

The original materials are held by the Woodson Research Center in Fondren Library. Search the finding aid/inventory for the William Williston Heartsill journal, MS 035.