The 33rd Texas Cavalry Regiment was a unit of mounted volunteers from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

that fought in the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

merchant James Duff organized the 14th Texas Cavalry Battalion. In summer 1862, the Texas government ordered the battalion to suppress the Union Loyal League, which was composed of

German Texan German Texan (german: Deutschtexaner) is both a term to describe immigrants who arrived in the Republic of Texas from Germany from the 1830s onward and an ethnic category that includes their descendants in today's state of Texas. The arriving Ger ...

s who opposed secession. When a group of Germans fled toward Mexico, Duff led a contingent of soldiers in a pursuit that ended in the so-called

Battle of the Nueces The Nueces Massacre, also known as the Massacre on the Nueces, was a violent confrontation between Confederate soldiers and German Texans on August 10, 1862, in Kinney County, Texas US. Many first-generation immigrants from Germany settled in Cen ...

in August 1862. Most of the Germans were killed in what some named a massacre. The 14th Battalion was subsequently expanded into the 33rd Texas Cavalry Regiment by the addition of some Mexican-American companies raised by

Santos Benavides Santos Benavides (November 1, 1823 – November 9, 1891) was a Confederate colonel during the American Civil War. Benavides was the highest-ranking Tejano soldier in the Confederate military. Biography Benavides was born in Laredo, a des ...

. Benavides became a

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

before leaving the regiment to form his own unit in November 1863. At first, the new regiment was assigned to patrol the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

, and later its duties included defending both the Rio Grande and

Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi (; Ecclesiastical Latin: "'' Body of Christ"'') is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patrici ...

. In April 1864, the regiment transferred to Bonham in north Texas. The unit never engaged regular Federal troops and disbanded in May 1865.

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* * * Units and formations of the Confederate States Army from Texas 1862 establishments in Texas 1865 disestablishments in Texas Military units and formations disestablished in 1865 Military units and formations established in 1862 {{AmericanCivilWar-unit-stub

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