Egbert A. Treadwell was born around 1836 in Georgia to David and Rachel Treadwell. His father was a farmer who owned $1,600 of real estate by 1850. The family moved to Benton County, Alabama, soon after he was born, and he eventually settled in Texas. He enlisted in the Confederate army on April 15, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company A of the 2nd Texas Cavalry. As he explained to his family, he joined the "State Service to protect the frontier from the Indians." He died on January 13, 1862, in Mesilla in present-day New Mexico.