To repel another expected invasion along the Texas coast the call went out to form new units to defend the state. The draft ages were expanded to include not only younger recruits, but also older. It was during this time of need for the South that a company of men from Upshur and adjoining counties was organized as a cavalry unit. The size of a normal company was about 100 men and officers. The custom of the day was to elect officers and non-commissioned officers by the men of each company. George E. Warren was made captain of the Upshur County men and served in that capacity for the remainder of the war.

In 1863 ten companies from east and north Texas were designated to be combined into a regiment and designated the 35th Texas Cavalry. A veteran of the Mexican War and a lawyer named James B. Likens had volunteered early in the war. He commanded a battalion of state troops along the upper Gulf Coast prior to being promoted Colonel and given command of the new regiment. By November, Col Likens had assembled his ten companies near Houston.

This first winter was bitter cold and all the troops and their horses suffered from lack of food, forage, camp equipment, clothes, and medical supplies. The 35th was brigaded with other units and patrolled along the coast from Harris County to Matagorda Island as Federal feints and probes were attempted in several locations. The weather and constant movement of the regiment began to take it’s toll not in battle casualties, but sickness and disease.

By early 1864, the Federals had set their sights on Shreveport, Louisiana and possibly east Texas via the Red River. The six regiments of General Bee’s Division were ordered to report to General Richard Taylor’s army defending against the invasion with all haste. By the time lead units of Bee’s Division reached Taylor, he had been pushed back by overwhelming numbers to Sabine Crossroads near Mansfield, Louisiana. The Confederates made a stand on April 8 and gave the Union armies under General Nathanial Banks a crushing defeat.

For six weeks, Taylor’s small army of fewer than 4,000 men were in daily contact with the enemy. They made every effort to force into submission an army of over 20,000 before they could reach the safety of the Mississippi River and the protection of their gunboats. Although unsuccessful in capturing Banks’ army, the Red River Valley was finally cleared of the invaders. Confederate troops, including Liken’s Regiment, made reconnaissance and skirmished against Federal operations in the southern part of the state until early 1865. The 35th was dismounted and sent back to Texas. In May, the remaining 232 men and officers are found stationed in Galveston. By the end of the month they were sent by train to Navasota where they received honorable discharges from the Confederate Army and went home.

The only KNOWN members of Company G, Liken’s 35th Cavalry Regiment:
George E. Warren - Captain
R. W. Ford - 1st Lt
E. W. McGraw - 2nd Lt
A. T. Gillespie - 2nd Lt (resigned)
W. R. Johnson - 2nd Lt DD.
John Benton, David Dickson, Ephrain Hicks, D. H. Hoover, S. P. Morgan, J. M. Todd, W. R. Wright, W. P. Earp, Henry Grogan, W. A. Grogan, D. H. Hoover, O. B. Moore, John A. Stevens, Robert L. Suggs, J. M. Morgan, A. M. Phillips, R.J. Davis (died in service).

Information concerning Liken’s Regiment and/or Captain Warren’s Company G is very scarce. It would be much appreciated if anyone with letters, diaries, pictures, etc of veterans of this unit could contact me, John D. Stevens.