Of course, Hays' Second Texas Regiment of Mounted Volunteers (Texas Rangers) had been federalized, so you are correct that we know for a fact just who was issued these revolvers we also know who lost them and how many were lost, as well as how many exploded in use. In Company E alone, we know the following named individuals lost one or more of their revolvers: Pvt. James Chandler (A.M. Truitt's Co, Second Texas), lost one six-shooter at battle of Sequalteplan, Feb 25, 1848; Pvt. Cleveland Coffee (C. Ashton's Co E, Second Texas), lost one six-shooter, cost $30; Pvt. Asa Dial (A.M. Truitt's Co, Second Texas), lost one six-shooter; Pvt. William Fields (A.M. Truitt's Co, Second Texas), lost one six-shooter at Sequalteplan; Pvt. James Hall (Co E, Second Texas), lost one six-shooter; Pvt. William Hammock (A.M. Truitt's Co, Second Texas), lost one six-shooter at Sequalteplan; Pvt. Prince B. Hawes (Ashton's Co E, Second Texas), lost one six-shooter (died at Mexico City, Dec 15, 1847); Pvt. Dennis Hays (C. Ashton's Co E, Second Texas), lost one six-shooter, cost $30; Pvt. Oliver Lathrop (A.M. Truitt's Co, Second Texas), lost one six-shooter and 1 rifle (died at Mexico City, Apr 8, 1848); Pvt. Hezekiah McKelvy (A.M. Truitt?s Co, Second Texas), lost three pistols with holsters and housings; Pvt. R. W. McMullen (Handley's Co, Second Texas), lost one six-shooter; Pvt. Nathan B. Phillips (A.M. Truitt's Co, Second Texas), lost two six-shooters at Sequalteplan; Pvt. John Powers (Co E, Second Texas), lost one six-shooter; Pvt; John Roberts (Co E, Second Texas), lost one six-shooter; Pvt. Felix Scott (Handley's Co, Second Texas), lost one six-shooter; 3rd Corporal Jacob Sessum (A.M. Truitt's Co, Second Texas), lost two six-shooters; Pvt. William H. Smith (C. Ashton's Co E, Second Texas), lost one six-shooter, $30; Pvt. Irvin Stanfield (A.M. Truitt's Co, Second Texas), lost one six-shooter, $30; 1 Lt Amos Strickland (A.M. Truitt's Co, Second Texas), two six-shooters unavoidably exploded (resigned Nov 30, 1847 at Jalapa, Mexico); Pvt. Andrew Stumpf (C. Ashton's Co E, Second Texas), lost one six-shooter; 1st Corporal James Thomas (Truitt's Co, Second Texas), lost two six-shooters, $30 each and accoutrements (died Dec 8, 1847 at Puebla, Mexico); Major Alfred M. Truitt (A.M. Truitt's Co, Second Texas), lost two six-shooters in skirmish with guerillas, March 1847 (elected Major of the Regiment, Oct 26, 1847); Pvt. Andrew Jackson Truitt (A.M. Truitt's Co, Second Texas), lost one six-shooter at Sequalteplan; 2nd Lt Thomas F. Tucker (Truitt's Co, Second Texas), lost two six-shooters at Sequalteplan. Andrew Jackson Truitt (1819-1874) was younger brother of Major Alfred Marion Truitt (1817-1864), the regimental Quartermaster of Hays' Second Regiment, and Major Truitt was subsequently elected as Quartermaster of the 28th Texas Cavalry, C.S.A. and afterwards served as Quartermaster General for the State of Texas, 1864. The brothers Truitt and Lt. Strickland were my great-great-grandfather's nephews. The rest of Hays' command remained in Texas, and occupied the various Ranger forts on the frontier.
Below is taken from a letter written some four months after Captain Middleton Tate Johnson established his Texas Ranger Company at the fort at Marrow Bone Springs, and evidently returned to Shelby County to make preparations for moving his family to what would become Johnson?s Station in Tarrant County, and wished to buy some of John M. Bradley's cattle to take back with him, evidently intended to stock the Ranger station, for which the Fourth Congress had set aside some 320 acres of land around each Ranger station for the express use of cultivation and grazing of cattle in support of the garrison, so sixty head of cattle was not necessarily an exorbitant quantity for Johnson and his family to drive back to Tarrant County. But Bradley was likely one of the nearest ranchers the Johnson knew and had contacted about buying cattle.
While for some modern historians it would be rather hard to explain Johnson, a former Regulator leader, trying to do business with Bradley, a former Moderator leader, less than four years after the end of the conflict known as the Regulator-Moderator War, especially since Bradley's death was reported as a reason for continuing hostilities, yet, once it is understood that this was not the Captain John M. Bradley who was slain by Moorman, Captain Johnson must have explicitly trusted this John M. Bradley (former sheriff of Shelby County, 1838-41) well enough to have sent his young 12-year-old son to hand-deliver a letter 60 miles away in southern Panola County, and wait there for Bradley's reply?
Shelbyville, 17 May 1848
Mr John Bradley
Dr Sir, I Send my Son Thomas up to let you know that I have been unexpectedly detained here, by the Sicknefs of brother Berryman and that I am still willing to buy you cattle according to the offer I made you. And will take any number that you can get ready not exceeding 60 in all, but I want all the old large Steers that can be found. And I have not be particulars a bout the number of cows & calves, So that I can get a few that is gentle and good for milk. If you Still wish to let me have the cattle, go to gathering as Soon as possible and let my little boy know what you determine to do.
Respectfuly yours,
M.T. Johnson
In verifying that the letter was indeed by Middleton Tate Johnson, a comparison of the signature, "M.T. Johnson" to another specimen from a receipt when Johnson served in the Ninth Congress, dated January 1845, leaves little doubt as to the authenticity of this letter. But clearly, of any man living at that time, we can rest assured that Middleton Tate Johnson, a former Regulator, would have known whether Captain John M. Bradley was slain in 1844, and Captain Johnson almost certainly would not have written such a letter to a ghost, much less sent his young son on this task.
Bradley's step-sons Wade Hampton Choate (1826-1849) and his brother Stokeley B. Choate (1832-1848) had each served in Colonel John Coffee Hays' 1st Regiment of Texas Mounted Volunteers (USV), with Stokeley serving in Captain Isaac Ferguson?s Company (Co. I), mustered in June 1847, latterly commanded by Lt. Ephraim M. Daggett, while Wade serving in Captain Gabriel M. Armstrong?s Company (Co. G), and was subsequently mustered out near Veracruz, Mexico, on May 1, 1848. Both Wade and Stokely lost horses at sea in transport from Brazos Santiago to Veracruz, and Wade also had a commutation for clothing. Included in his estate papers is a receipt, dated at New Orleans, on 18 May when Wade spent some $40 on clothes. It was Major Alford Marion Truitt (1817-1864), who served as Hays' adjutant, and was who bought the two government horse claims out of the "Guardian Sale" held on 10 January 1852. Truitt's brother, Andrew J. Truitt (1819-1874) married 1849 to Elizabeth Johnson (1833-1928), a daughter of Allen H. Johnson (1795-1845), of Shelby County, an elder brother to former Texas Congressman Alvey R. Johnson (1803-1862). A.R. Johnson was the 'de bonis non' (second) administrator on the estates of the deceased Christopher "Kit" Choate (1776-1834), his widow, Elizabeth (McFadden) Choate Bradley (1792-1847), her second husband John M. Bradley (1794-1849) formerly of Georgia, and her son, Wade H. Choate (1826-1849) who had been the first administrator; all of Shelby County, Texas.
Another of Truitt's brothers, Captain Levi Marion Truitt (1827-1905) was son-in-law to Elijah Morris (1791-1865) , who was the father-in-law to Dr. Robert Burns (1813-1855) of Logansport, Louisiana, the man who killed Charles Watt Moorman (1816-1850). Burns' step-son, Dr. Jacob Smith (1833-1882) married in 1851 to Ellenor L. Johnson (1834-1874), eldest daughter of A.R. Johnson, and a sister to Benjamin Milam Johnson (1838-1915), my great-grandfather. I have only been working with these family papers for 30 years.