27th Cavalry Regiment [also called 1st Texas Legion] was organized during the spring of 1862
using Whitfield's 4th Texas Cavalry Battalion as its nucleus. Many of the men were recruited at
Daingerfield, Clarksville, and Paris, and in Titus County. After fighting at Elkhorn Tavern as a
battalion, only 9 officers and 111 men were present. The unit moved east of the Mississippi River
and was dismounted. It then fought at Iuka and Corinth and during the fall was
remounted. Later it saw action in Mississippi, was assigned to Ross' Brigade, took part in the
Atlanta and Tennessee Campaigns, then returned to Mississippi. This regiment was organized
with 1,007 officers and men, lost twenty-two percent of the 460 engaged at Iuka, and surrendered
only a handful on May 4, 1865. The field officers were Colonels John W. Whitfield and Edwin R.
Hawkins, Lieutenant Colonel John H. Broocks, and Majors Cyrus K. Holman and John T.
Whitfield.
