author
L. B. Giles
b. 1841
A Texas Civil War veteran wrote this firsthand account of the famed Terry Rangers, blending memory, military history, and the pride of a survivor who saw the regiment up close.
1 Audiobook
Terry's Texas Rangers
by L. B. Giles
About the author
Born in Texas in 1841, Leonidas Banton Giles is remembered as the author of Terry's Texas Rangers, a memoir of the 8th Texas Cavalry. Records and library catalogs identify him as Leonidas B. Giles and place his life from 1841 to 1922.
His book grew out of direct experience. Antiquarian and catalog sources describing the first edition note that he served in Terry's regiment and was wounded at the Battle of Rowlett's Station, the same fight in which the regiment's founder, Benjamin Franklin Terry, was killed.
Published in 1911, Terry's Texas Rangers has lasted as a piece of Civil War and Texas history because it comes from someone who was there. Rather than sounding distant or academic, it carries the voice of a veteran trying to preserve the story of his regiment for later generations.