"Confederate cavalry operating in the Trans-Mississippi during the Civil War has received little scholarly attention, partially because of the paucity of written resources that survived the conflict." "While there are a few published letter collections and a handful of memoirs, little is known of the troopers' daily activities. With the publication of the order book of Parsons's Brigade, a compilation of the original daily orders preserved by members of the brigade during the Civil War, the story of these horsemen comes to light." "The Texans were on the move daily; they skirmished with Union cavalry or scouted enemy positions from the time they arrived in Arkansas in 1862 until the time they returned to Texas in 1865. As cavalry, these Confederates endured a life of privation and hardship, sleeping in the muddy bayous of northeastern Louisiana or along the banks of the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers." "For the first time the reader can follow the everyday life of a Texan in the cavalry as he served the Confederacy faithfully in a losing cause."--Jacket.