Texas’s history often has deep roots in lore and tall tales. The author John Steinbeck once said of The Lone Star State, “Texas has its own private history, based on but not limited to the facts.” Sometimes, the truth about Texas and Texans feels torn from a tragic Greek legend. Such is the case of Hood’s Texas Brigade and the Fifth Texas Infantry, a regiment that left an indelible mark on history. These young men from Texas left their homes in 1861 and were everywhere. The odds are excellent if you can name a famous battle in the East; the “Bloody 5th,” as they were sometimes called, were there, charging headlong into a storm of enemy fire.
In this narrative, we will follow this regiment from its formation near Houston in 1861 to the surrender at Appomattox four years later. Of course, no retelling would be complete without recounting its historic counterattack across a blood-strewn cornfield in western Maryland on September 17, 1862. Be sure to join us on June 23 to hear author, Michael S. Lang present – From The Brazos To The Antietam & Beyond: The Story of the Fifth Texas Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
Michael S. Lang has worked as a manager for Federal Express for 38 years and is also a successful photographer. Capturing images of Civil War battlefields is one of his favorite subjects.
Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Michael moved to Frisco, Texas, in 2017. As relative newcomers to the great state of Texas, he and his wife, Rebecca, have spent the last seven years exploring the state and learning about its unique and rich history, including sites related to the Civil War. Michael has loved history since a young boy and has been a student of the Civil War for just as long.
Michael is the author of three books, Decisions at Antietam and Decisions of the Maryland Campaign, and Decisions of the Red River Campaign. These books are all part of the Command Decisions of America’s Civil War series published by the University of Tennessee Press.
Come join leading historians and scholars as they discuss intriguing topics about their latest works and research on the Maryland Campaign and the Civil War during our Civil War Summer Lecture Series. See the complete 2025 schedule.
These indoors programs are held in McKinley Hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m. The church is located at 209W Main Street with a small parking area off the alley. More parking is available on Main and Hall Streets. These lectures free and open to the public. Each week we hold a drawing in which the proceeds support the Save Historic Antietam Foundation. Be sure to check our Facebook page for updates and changes to the schedule.