Charles D. Spurlin (historian)
Charles Dennis Spurlin (1932–2013) was a Texas historian and Victoria College professor. He wrote Texas Volunteers in the Mexican War and a history of Waller's 13th Texas Cavalry Battalion, and edited the Civil War diary of Charles A. Leuschner.
Sourcing: mixed 2 genealogy · 2 snippet · 7 reference · 1 book
Life
According to his obituary, Charles Dennis Spurlin was born on 4 August 1932 in Franklin, Texas, and graduated from Mart High School in 1950[1]. He served in the U.S. Army in Korea and received the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Purple Heart[1]. He earned a bachelor's degree from Texas Tech in 1956. In 1960 he became a teaching assistant at Sam Houston State Teachers College while working on his master's degree, which he completed in 1961[1]. He was a Mason, and in Victoria he helped set up the Victoria Women's Softball Association[1]. He died on 15 August 2013, aged 81[1]. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Victoria; his Find a Grave memorial, created on the day he died, carries a veteran flag and transcribes his obituary.[2]
Career
Spurlin taught at Victoria College from 1961 to 2003. He chaired its Social Sciences Department and directed its Local History Collection[1]. According to search-result text from a January 2014 notice in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly (the article itself is paywalled and was not read for this entry), he had also directed the Texas and Local History Collection at the Victoria College/University of Houston–Victoria Library, and had been president of the South Texas Historical Association, chairman of the Victoria County Historical Commission, and a member of the Texas State Historical Association's executive council[3]. He started the "Mystery History" series in the Victoria Advocate[1]. On 23 October 1999 Sara R. Massey interviewed him in Goliad about his personal and professional history for the Institute of Texan Cultures oral history collection, now held by the University of Texas at San Antonio[4].
Works
His best-known book is Texas Volunteers in the Mexican War (Eakin Press, 1998), a study with an extensive roster of Texas soldiers[5]. He had earlier compiled Texas Veterans in the Mexican War: Muster Rolls of Texas Military Units (Victoria, 1984), which Open Library records as self-published[6][7]. He also wrote the Handbook of Texas entry on the Texas Ranger Samuel H. Walker, and an article, "Ranger Walker in the Mexican War", in Military History of Texas and the Southwest (1971)[6]. His other books include West of the Mississippi with Waller's 13th Texas Cavalry Battalion, CSA (Hill Junior College Press, 1971)[8] and The Victoria College, 1925–2000 (Historical Publishing Network, 1999)[9]. According to search-result text, the Southwestern Historical Quarterly notice also lists the Waller's battalion book and the Leuschner diary among his works[3].
The Leuschner diary
Spurlin edited The Civil War Diary of Charles A. Leuschner, published by Eakin Press in 1992. The front matter signs him as being at The Victoria College.[10] Open Library also records an Eakin Press edition dated 2000.[11] The Seventh Star of the Confederacy: Texas during the Civil War (2009) cites his introduction and conclusion to the diary and his regimental figures, including 157 deaths from disease.[12] See Spurlins in the American Civil War.
See also
- Spurlins in the American Civil War · History strong
Spurlins served on both sides of the Civil War. They included Confederates from North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee and Union soldiers from New Hampshire, Iowa, Indiana and Tennessee. This roundup collects service-index records, rosters, pension, pardon and soldiers' home records, and county-history accounts. - Spurlin Family History in America · History mixed
An overview of Spurlin and Spurling families in America, from colonial Virginia and New England through southern and western migration, Civil War service, and published genealogies. - Books by Spurlin authors · Culture strong
A bibliography of books by authors surnamed Spurlin, from 1940s intellectual history and Texas military history to self-published fiction, compiled mainly from Open Library catalogue records. - Notable Spurlins · People strong
An index of notable people surnamed Spurlin, with related Spurling-surname figures listed separately as variants. - Spurlin cemeteries · Places weak
A roundup of burial grounds named for the Spurlin family on Find a Grave: eight Spurlin cemeteries in Arkansas, Tennessee, Indiana, Kentucky and North Carolina, plus Spurlington- and Spurling-named cemeteries and the graves of notable Spurlins. - Spurlins in academia and science · People strong
A roundup of scholars, scientists and faculty surnamed Spurlin, including the Enlightenment historian Paul Merrill Spurlin, the Hercules cellulose chemist Harold M. Spurlin and the literary scholar William J. Spurlin.
References
- ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ Charles Dennis Spurlin obituary (Colonial Funeral Home, Victoria, TX) — Dignity Memorial Genealogy
- ↑ Charles Dennis Spurlin (1932–2013) — Find a Grave Memorial — Evergreen Cemetery, Victoria; obituary transcription Genealogy
- ↑ ↑ "Southwestern Collection," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 117, no. 3 (January 2014): 298–312 — Project MUSE — paywalled and behind a CAPTCHA; only the volume and pages were confirmed, via Internet Archive snapshot, 2025-04-25; the offices and works attributed to it come from search-result text Snippet
- ↑ Interview with Charles D. Spurlin, 1999 — Institute of Texan Cultures Oral History Collection, UTSA Digital Collections Reference
- ↑ Texas Volunteers in the Mexican War — Google Books — Eakin Press, 1998; 302 pp. Reference
- ↑ ↑ Walker, Samuel Hamilton, by Charles Spurlin — Handbook of Texas Online (Texas State Historical Association) — author credit and bibliography Reference
- ↑ Texas veterans in the Mexican War — Open Library Reference
- ↑ West of the Mississippi with Waller's 13th Texas Cavalry Battalion — Open Library Reference
- ↑ The Victoria College, 1925-2000 — Open Library Reference
- ↑ The Civil War Diary of Charles A. Leuschner, ed. Charles D. Spurlin (Eakin Press, 1992) — Internet Archive Book
- ↑ Civil War Diary of Charles A. Leuschner — Open Library — edition record: Eakin Press, 2000 Reference
- ↑ The Seventh Star of the Confederacy: Texas during the Civil War (2009) — Internet Archive (full-text search snippet) Snippet
Last reviewed 2026-09-24.