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From the Confederate Veteran: Douglas John Cater "Another loved
veteran obeyed the summons, "Come up higher," when Douglas John
Cater passed suddenly at his home in San Antonio, Tex., November 23,
1931, at the age of ninety years. He took active part in the affairs of
Albert Sidney Johnston Camp, No. 144, U. C. V., and is greatly missed.
D. J. Cater was born in Sparta, Connecuh County, Ala., on March 27, 1841, the son of William Green and Beatnah Greening Cater. His parents moved to Texas in 1846, and to DeSoto Parish, La., in 1847, where his father was a planter for many years.
He enlisted in the Confederate Army at Henderson, Texas, in May, 1861. His regiment, Greer's 3rd Texas Cavalry, went from Dallas in July, 1861, to Missouri to aid General Price. In August, 1862, he transferred to Company I, 19th Louisiana Infantry, to be with his brother, Lieut. Rufus Cater, who, later, was killed at Chickamauga.
He took part in the battles of Wilson Creek, Chustenahlah, Pea Ridge, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Nashville, Spanish Fort, and others. He also served in several brass bands, and was brigade band captain of the last band of the Southern Confederacy.
Reconstruction days were not propitious for his chosen profession of musician, and he farmed for a number of years, later being Postmaster at Lovelady, Tex., and for four years Treasurer of Houston County. Music, however, was always a great interest of his life.
In 1866, he was married to Miss Emily Mary Reagan, of Rusk County, Tex. She and their three little sons preceded him in death by many years. In 1880, he was married to Miss Belle Barbee, of Lovelady, Tex., who survives him with a daughter and three sons, also four grandchildren.
A man of noble purposes, ever loyal to all that was good and true, was D. J. Cater. He was a Mason, and a member of the Baptist Church."
Douglas John Cater (1841-1931) wrote his memoirs of his life as a soldier in the book, As It Was: Reminiscences of a Soldier of the Third Texas Cavalry and the Nineteenth Louisiana Infantry (State House Press, 1990, ISBN: 0-938349-47-3)
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©Ron Brothers and Lee Ann Gerhart, 2000, All Rights Reserved.
June 4, 2000
