Col. Daniel W. Spurlock, Corsicana, TX., then Caddo Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Mike Miller Date: 1999-2000 ************************************************** ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** * Colonel Daniel W. Spurlock, one of the men attracted to Shreveport through his connection with the oil industry, in which he has risen to important executive responsibilities, has had an unusual career in military service for one who has closely followed the affairs of civil life during the 'World war period. Colonel Spurlock was born at Corsicana, Texas, June 27, 1889, son of Robert ~v1. and Elizabeth (Nokes) Spurlock. His father was born in Tennessee and his mother in Kentucky, and the family settled in Navarro County, Texas, during the '70s. In the public schools of Corsicana and in the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College Daniel W. Spurlock acquired his early education. Soon after leaving school he was attracted into the oil industry of the Southwest, and since 1916 his home has been in Shreveport, where he is one of the executives of the Standard Pipe Line Company of Louisiana, a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company. His position is that of purchasing agent, his office being in the Continental Bank Building. As a soldier and officer of the National Guard and United States Army his service and training have been such as to make him about as near a professional soldier as one can well be in civilian life. He was not more than seventeen when he first joined the National Guard of Texas, in which he rose to commissioned officer as high as captain and was still in his teens. In January, 1917, he enlisted at Shreveport in Company L of the First Louisiana Infantry, and soon afterwards was made its captain and had command of the company when it mobilized at Camp Nichols, New Orleans, April, 1917, for service in the World war. The company became a unit of the One Hundred and Fifty-sixth Infantry, United States Army, a part of the Thirty-ninth Division. In the latter part of 1917 Colonel Spurlock's company and Company H of the One Hundred and Fifty-sixth were organized into the One Hundred and Forty-second Machine Gun Battalion, and its commanding officer, with the rank of major, was Daniel W. Spurlock. Subsequently he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel of infantry, and as such was assigned to duty in command of the Fourth Officers Training School at Camp Beauregard, Alexandria, Louisiana. Later he was assigned as lieutenant colonel of the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Infantry in the Thirty-ninth Division and went overseas with this command in July, 1918. In France Colonel Spurlock completed the course in the Line School of Infantry at Langres. October 28, 1918, he was ordered to the Three Hundred and Fifty-third Infantry, Eighty-ninth Division, as lieutenant colonel, and as such served in the Army of Occupation at Prum, Germany, near the Belgian frontier. Later he attended the Artillery School at La Valdahan, France, where he completed the Course and subsequently was assigned to the Second Division as lieutenant colonel of the Twenty-third Infantry, and was in command of the Twenty-third while it was stationed at Rengsclort. For a short time he had command of the Third Brigade of the Second Division. Returning to America with the Second Division in August, 1919, Colonel Spur1ock was stationed at Camp Travis, Texas, and in the latter part of October, 1919, received his discharge with the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Twenty-third Infantry at Camp Pike, Arkansas. Colonel Spurlock has a commission in the Officers Reserve Corps of the United States Army with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He is also a thirty-second degree Mason. Mrs. Spurlock is of a distinguished Louisiana family. She was Miss Ramona Cannon, daughter of Fenelon and Sybille Cannon, of Marksville, Avoyelles Parish. Her grandfather, Capt. Fenelon Cannon, played a distinguished part as an officer in the Confederate Army and in the public life of Louisiana during the reconstruction period. The Cannon family were among the earliest settlers of Avoyelles and Rapides parishes, owning a great plantation at Cheneyville in the latter parish. Colonel and Mrs. Spurlock have three children, named Ramona Cannon, Dan W., Jr., and Sybille Margaret. A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 132, by Henry E. Chambers. Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.