CONFEDERATE BIOGRAPHY: WILLIAM P. ROGERS - Harris County, TX

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Copyright.  All rights reserved.
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Submitted by Doris Peirce - ginlu@charter.net
1 February 2002 
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TEXANS WHO WORE THE GRAY by Sid S. Johnson 
WILLIAM P. ROGERS

William P. Rogers, of Houston, who fell at the battle of Corinth 
while leading his regiment, was born in Georgia, Dec 17, 1817.  
In early boyhood his father removed to north Mississippi and 
settled in Monroe county, where he was reared and educated.  He 
inherited the military talent from his father who had served as 
captain with distinction in the Indian wars under Gen.Andrew Jackson.  
He was prepared for the medical profession, which he abandoned for 
that of the law.  In the Mexican War he went out from Columbus as 
first lieutenant of the company of which Colonel A. K. McClung, 
the noted duellist, was captain.  On the organization of the 
regiment at Vicksburg, before departing for Mexico, Jefferson 
Davis was elected colonel, McClung lieutenant colonel and young 
Rogers succeeded McClung as captain of company K, 1st Mississippi 
Rifles regiment.  He was the second man to scale the walls at 
Monterey, and at Buena Vista was conspicuous for his courage and 
reckless daring.  During President Taylor's administration he was 
consul at Vera Cruz, and then removing to Washington, Texas, he 
soon became a prominent lawyer.  His name appears as counsel in 
many important cases in the Supreme Court reports.  Having moved 
to the city of Houston in 1859, he was elected delegate from 
Harris county to the secession convention in January, 1861, and 
signed the ordinance.  He was offered the command of a regiment in 
Virginia, but at the solicitation of his wife, accepted instead the 
rank of lieutenant colonel of the 2nd Texas Infantry.  In the 
spring of 1862 this command was sent east of the Mississippi, and 
Col. Rogers, detained by illness, joined the regiment on the eve 
of the battle of Shiloh, in which he participated with distinction.  
The retreat to Corinth, the defense of that fortified camp against 
the Federal army, and the retreat thence to Tupelo, followed, in 
which he faithfully performed his duties.  In the fall of 1862, 
Gen. Bragg having moved into Kentucky with the main army, Generals 
Price and Van Dorn attacked Rosecrans in the old fortifications 
at Corinth.  In the charge upon the inner works on the second day 
of the assault, Col. Rogers led his regiment directly against the 
front of Fort Robinette, and he had just climbed to the top of 
the parapet and planted the colors, when strong Federal forces 
were seen on the right, and then a volley from the enemy brought 
him down and nearly all the men with him.