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General Walter Paye Lane
Source: The New Texas Handbook |
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| LANE, WALTER PAYE (1817-1892).
Walter Paye Lane, soldier, was born in Cork County,
Ireland, on February 18, 1817, the son of William
and Olivia Lane. The family immigrated to the United
States in 1821 and settled at Fairview, Guernsey
County, Ohio. Lane moved to Texas early in 1836 and
participated in the Texas Revolution. As a member of
Henry W. Karnes's cavalry company, he was wounded in
a skirmish on April 20. He participated the next day
in the battle of San Jacinto and was promoted to
second lieutenant for gallantry on the field. Lane
then served aboard the privateer Thomas Toby in
raids against the Mexican coast until the vessel was
wrecked in a storm in October 1837. In the fall of
1838 he barely escaped with his life from the Battle
Creek Fight. |
| He lived and worked in San Augustine County from
about 1838 until 1843 and then moved to San Antonio,
where he joined Capt. John C. Hays's Texas Rangers
on several scouting expeditions. With the outbreak
of the Mexican War he was elected a first lieutenant
in the First Regiment, Texas Mounted Riflemen, in
June 1846 and participated in the battle of
Monterrey. He rose to the rank of major and was
given command of a battalion. Among his exploits was
the recovery of the remains of the executed members
of the Mier expedition, which were conveyed to La
Grange, Texas, for reinterment. During the gold rush
of 1849, Lane trekked overland to California; he
spent four years as a miner and merchant at Nevada
City and Shasta City. After returning to Texas by
way of Peru, he joined his brother, Judge George
Lane, at Marshall and opened a store. After the
Gadsden Purchase (1854), he wandered off to southern
Arizona to prospect for gold. He operated a ranch
near |
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| Calabasas for a time, then
worked as a clerk at newly established Fort Buchanan for
several months before returning to Marshall, Texas, in 1858
to resume his mercantile business. |
| When the Civil War broke out he
was among the first in Texas to issue a call to arms. Such
was his military reputation that the first Confederate
volunteer company raised in Harrison County was named for
him. Lane himself, however, joined the Third Texas Cavalryqv
regiment as lieutenant colonel in July 1861. He served with
this unit throughout the first year of the war and led his
troops in the battles of Wilson's Creek, Missouri,
Chustenahlah, Indian Territory, and Pea Ridge, Arkansas, as
well as in the battle of Corinth, Mississippi. The Third was
reorganized in May 1862, when the men's one-year enlistment
expired. As the unit had been dismounted, Lane declined to
reenlist and run for colonel. He continued to lead the
regiment for a month, however, at the request of its
members, including its newly elected colonel. During this
time he commanded the unit at the battle of Franklin,
Mississippi. The conduct of the regiment during this action
was singled out for particular praise by Gen. P. G. T.
Beauregard. Subsequently, Lane returned to Texas and during
the summer raised a new regiment, the First Texas Partisan
Rangers. While he was absent from this unit because of
illness, the regiment fought at the battle of Prairie Grove,
Arkansas, on December 7, 1862. Lane commanded the unit in
the Atchafalaya and Donaldsonville raids in Louisiana in
1863. In the course of Nathaniel P. Banks's Red River
campaign, Lane's unit was heavily engaged at the battle of
Mansfield on April 8, 1864, and he himself was severely
wounded. After his recovery, he rejoined his regiment near
Hempstead, Texas, and assumed command of a brigade. His
promotion to the rank of brigadier general was confirmed on
March 18, 1865. |
| Lane returned to his mercantile
business at Marshall after the war, served as deputy federal
marshal, and assisted in the foundation of the Texas
Veterans Association. He was elected treasurer of Harrison
County in 1880. With his brother George, Lane belonged to
that group of Democrats who restored white supremacy to the
county after 1878. Lane, who never married, died on January
28, 1892, and was buried at Marshall with full military
honors. |
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Grave of General Walter Paye Lane |
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