| Notes |
- In 1861 Robert Gilmore Penn owned over eight hundred acres of land, five slaves, eighty horses, one hundred cattle, twenty sheep, and other miscellaneous property. The total was worth an impressive $11,760. As with the estates of his brothers, William and John Wesley, the progression of the war seemed to have little impact on his fortunes at first. The value of his lands held steady; he maintained his slaveholding status; and the size of his herds made modest increases. His total estate climbed to $12,690 in 1862, but in 1865 his holdings were worth only $5,890. The devaluation of real and personal property was but one of the manifestations of the economic uncertainty, even chaos, brought on by the Civil War.
But for the Penn family whose sons were of fighting age, the confusion and loss proved more than economic. Robert Gilmore Penn's older brother, William Penn, was killed at Pea Ridge, Arkansas (see above). His brother John Wesley Penn, commanded troops (see above). Robert Gilmore Penn began his military service as a member of the Cedar Hill Cavalry Company. As a private, he served with the Home Guard also under Captain Richard L. Sullivan. But later Robert joined the Texas Cavalry in the Regiment of Colonel Nathaniel M. Burford who was a prominent Dallas resident. On March 21, 1862, he enlisted at Dallas and served in Captain Allen Beard's unit. When he was mustered in, Robert was described as being twenty-six years of age, standing five feet and ten and one-half inches tall, and having grey eyes and black hair. He served in the regiment along with seventy-five other men and was a member of Company B. Robert was mustered in on March 21 and on May 8, 1862; he received bounty pay of $50 on June 24, 1862. The Nineteenth Regiment of the Texas Cavalry was attached to Hawes', G. W. Carter's, Flourney's, W. Steele's, and W. H. Parson's Brigade, Trans-Mississippi Department. Five men were killed, nineteen wounded, and nine were missing from the unit after Marmaduke's Missouri Raid. The unit continued its service, fighting in Arkansas, and then serving in the operations against Bank's Red River Campaign. The regiment returned to Arkansas and then ended the war at Marshall, Texas, where it disbanded in May 1865.
The following is a copy of a letter he wrote during the Civil War:
Camp Calley's Ridge, Arkansas
May 18, 1863
Dear Brother and Sister:
I received your very welcome letter yesterday dated 15th Apr. 1863 and was glad to heare that you all was well. We are now camped about 45 miles east of Jackson Port. We wil remaine here - or near here - for about two weeks to rest our horses and get them shod - unless routed by the enemy. We camped in Missouri on the 18 night of Apr. for the first time. We went to Petersen on a forced march traveling almost day and night. There was about 600 feds stationed at Paterson. Our brigade went one rode(sic) and a Missouri Brigade went another. The two Brigades were to meet at Paterson at the same time, Colonel Carter's Regt. was in the advance of our Brigade. I suppose he thought it would be an easy game and rushed on with his Regt. and Captain Pratt's Battery and got to Paterson about two hours before the Mo. Brigade.
.................
R. G. Gilmore
After the war Robert Gilmore Penn's estate depreciated further. During the late 1860's Robert G. Penn began selling some of his land, essentially reducing his acreage that he held within each of his surveys. He maintained an estate equal to approximately half of his antebellum estate and continued to keep horses and cattle and to retain a good amount of miscellaneous property following the war. In 1870, he was thirty-four years of age, a farmer whose real estate was valued at $4,500 and personal property at $1,785.
He was a thirty-second degree Mason. He traded land in Duncanville for large land tracts in Concho County, Texas, but lost it all in a swindle, involving British investors. He went to Altus, Oklahoma, and filed for a section of land.
He stated in some papers that his land was in Greer County, but this is not where Altus is at the present time, possibly the boundaries have changed over the years.
He later married (2) Betty Shikles.
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1835 - 1911 (76 years)
