Sparrell Witt Saunders was born on May 2, 1839, in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, to Lemuel and Mary Saunders. The family moved to Washington County, Indiana, around 1852 and then to Fannin County, Texas, around 1857.

 

He enlisted in the Confederate army on October 2, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company F of the 11^th Texas Cavalry. The regiment took part in the Battle of Pea Ridge, the Battle of Stones River, the Battle of Chickamauga, the Atlanta campaign, and the Carolinas campaign. He was promoted to sergeant in May 1862. He remained in the army until the end of the war, and he received a parole in Chesterville, South Carolina, on May 5, 1865.

 

He returned to Fannin County after the war, and he married Miranda Miller on December 12, 1867. They had at least six children: Ilis, born around 1870; Bura, born around 1874; Lemuel, born around 1878; Maude, born around 1880; Mary, born around 1884; and Wilford, born around 1886. He worked as a farmer, and by 1870, he owned $1,000 of personal property. He moved to Grayson County, Texas, in the 1870s. He died in Grayson County on September 22, 1916.

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