My great, great grandfather Elijah D. Wyatt was a sutler with the 10th Texas Cavalry. He operated a tannery in Coffeeville and provide harness and leather goods to the recruits at Camp Tally. Col. M.F. Locke was placed in command of the 10th Texas Cavalry (dismounted) and it was raised in Upshur,Smith, Rusk and Cherokee Counties with new recruits from Camp Tally at Coffeeville in Upshur County.

In December 1861, my great great grandfather loaded several wagons with harness and leather goods and was marched to Little Rock Arkansas with the 10th Texas Cavalry. The regiment was marched to Clarksville Texas and by the spring of 1862 the regiment was in Little Rock Arkansas. Many of the troops of the 10th Texas Cavalry suffered from a measles epidemic and exposure during the long march. My great, great grandfather died of measles in early 1862 and is buried in the Confederate Cemetery in Little Rock.

The suvivors of the epidemic were sent east of the Mississippi River and were combined with Ector's Brigade and saw their first action at Richmond Kentucky then at Murphresboro,Tennessee. They remained with Ector's Brigade for the remaineder of the warand saw action at Vicksburg and other locations in Mississippi. At the end of the war, only about 200 of the original 1000 recruits of the 10th Texas Cavalry returned to their homes. That created a severe economic hardship in the area and on the families in particular. Many families left the region for the new settlements in central and west Texas.