Commanded by Col. Ashley W. Spaight, the 11th Battalion of Texas Volunteers, Confederate States Army, was nicknamed the "Swamp Angels." Tracing its origins to the "Sabine Pass Guards" militia formed in 1861, the battalion served during the Civil War to defend the Texas Gulf Coast and Louisiana borders from Federal incursions. Many of them lost their lives during an 1862 yellow fever epidemic at Sabine Pass. The battalion was comprised of southeast Texas residents, many of whom became community and business leaders after the war. (1990)