Travis Hensley
Travis Hensley was born on March 17, 1836, in Texas to William R. Hensley and Mary P. Thompson. Hensley grew up in Lavaca, Texas, and his father died there during a cholera epidemic in 1849. By 1850, the family owned $8,000 of real estate, and Hensley and his brother Albert were working as clerks. He married Julia F. Beaumont in Calhoun County, Texas, on October 5, 1858, and they had at least six children together: Sarah, born around 1859; William, born around 1861; Phoebe, born around 1863; May, born around 1865; Julia, born around 1868; and Mary, born around 1873.
Hensley enlisted in the Lavaca Guards on April 20, 1861. According to one report, the men “prefer coast duty but will go anywhere in [the] State.” On May 5, 1862, he joined Company E of Waller’s Texas Cavalry Regiment, serving as a sergeant. He and his comrades “lost their horses, equipments and arms in the skirmish at Bonnet Carre, La” on September 7, 1862. He was reduced to the ranks at some point during the war. He surrendered on June 2, 1865, as part of General Edmund Kirby Smith’s Army of the Trans-Mississippi, and he received his parole on July 12, 1865.
Hensley returned home to Lavaca after the war. By 1870, he was working as a broker, and he owned $4,000 of real estate and $2,000 of personal property. He died in Texas on November 15, 1873.
DATABASE CONTENT
| (57) | Hensley, Travis | 1836-03-17 | 1873-11-15 |
- Conflict Side: Confederacy
- Role: Soldier
- Rank in: Sergeant
- Rank out: Private
- Rank highest: Sergeant
- Gender: Male
- Race: White
Documents - Records: 5
- (547) [writer] ~ Travis Hensley to Julia Hensley, 5 February 1863
- (548) [writer] ~ Travis Hensley to Julia Hensley, 12 February 1863
- (3650) [writer] ~ Travis Hensley to Julia F. Hensley, 6 March 1863
- (3746) [writer] ~ Travis Hensley to Julia F. Hensley, 19 June 1863
- (3748) [associated with] ~ William H. Beaumont to Julia F. Hensley, 1 December 1862
People - Records: 2
Places - Records: 1
- (40) [birth, death] ~ Texas
Regiments - Records: 2
SOURCES
1850 and 1870 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; Texas Muster Roll Index Cards, 1838-1900, available from Ancestry.com; Military Service Record for Travis Hensley, available from Fold3.com.
