Colonel Gideon Egg
A Confederate Soldier—Edna’s Pioneer Business Man

Col. Gideon Egg was a son of Jacob Egg, who was born February 24, 1795, and of Selina Egg, nee Gisler, who was born February 18, 1811. This couple was married in 1832. To this union were born the following children, whose histories are given briefly.

Abraham Egg, born January 13, 1833. Served in Company K, 21 Regiment of Texas Cavalry and in Prat’s Texas Battery, Confederate Army, from February 3, 1862, to October 24, 1864, when he was killed during the retreat of General Price in Western Missouri.

Isaac Egg, born December 17, 1834, and died July, 1909, age seventy-four years, seven months and three days.

Jacob Egg, born September 13, 1836.

Johanna, born May 24, 1838; married Jacob Arnold, and died in Goliad, August, 1867, of yellow fever.

Ernestine Egg, born April 28, 1841, and died in Goliad, August, 1857.

Emilie Egg, born November 3, 1842; married John Heck, and died in Victoria in 1866. Only one child, Mrs. Emilie Goldman, of Victoria, survived.

Selina Egg, born May 10, 1845, married Mariz Lichenstein.

The parents of all their children were born at Flaach, Canton Zierich [Zurich?], Switzerland. They moved to Texas, November 15, 1854, and lived in Goliad where the mother died in August and the father in October, 1866.

The subject, Col. Gideon Egg, was the fifth child and was born December 16, 1839.

He married Miss Emelie Kaapke of Indianola, December, 1873, and to this union were born five sons and three daughters. They are as follows:

Selina Egg who married Professor Wesley Peacock of San Antonio, and now deceased (their second daughter, Anna Peacock, is the wife of Guy Mitchell of Victoria, who formerly served Jackson county as County Judge)

Gideon Egg, Jr.

Emil Egg

Joe Egg

Albert C Egg (sheriff of Jackson County for ten years)

Alfred Egg

Norma Egg (a graduate of the state university)

In Mr. G. Egg’s reminiscing he gives a well-told story of the history of his life. He speaks as follows:

“On November 15, 1854, I left Switzerland with my father, mother, brother and sisters for America. We crossed the ocean on a sailing vessel, and just thirty-six days after we left port in France we arrived in New Orleans. We remained there until February following when we came to Indianola, Texas.

“The day after our arrival at this once-noted Texas port, that afterwards was storm swept and washed into history, we started in our drawn wagons for Goliad County, where the Egg home was established. This mode of travel and the change of scenery was so entirely different from what we had been used to in Switzerland that we almost felt that we had been transported into another world.

“After our home was permanently establish, I did farm work and various other jobs in Goliad County until the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1859 I was operating a ferry boat on the San Antonio River at Goliad for Judge Lea.”

Col. G. Egg volunteered for service to the cause of the Southern Confederacy. He enlisted in Company C of the first regiment of Sibley’s and later served in Tom Green’s brigade. His first service was in New Mexico where he participated in the battles of Val Verde and Glorietta. He was captured with other of his comrades, was made prisoner of war and held at Ft. Union, Santa Fe, N. M. He was finally paroled along with an Irishman named Stevens of San Antonio. They were the last two released, their comrades having been released several hours before. Egg and Stevens traveled seventy-five miles on foot trying to catch the others. South of Albuquerque they overtook the Federal command and were arrested and carried to General Canby, who had them kept under guard three days and then released them. He gave them three days rations, with an order to Kit Carson, frontier scout and Indian fighter who was in command to Fort Gregg, to supply them with rations.

“Next morning,” said Colonel Egg, “the rations were brought out to us. They made such a pile, and were heavy and bulky that we told Kit we could not pack them, and he replied that an order for rations to last the distance should be construed as to include pack mules, and ammunition to protect us against Indians. He then gave us a mule, gun and ammunition to every four men. Thus supplied and equipped, we reached El Paso without experiencing any serious obstacles or difficulties. After crossing the Rio Grande, we overtook our regiment and remained with it until we arrived in El Paso I was exchanged the spring following, but I remained in El Paso with my regiment until July, when we footed it back to San Antonio. In making this march we averaged about twenty-five miles a day. In traveling this arid country we had to make long marches from one watering place to another.

After being exchanged, I went with my command to Louisiana, but during the period that I was a paroled prisoner, I made three trips to Mexico, carrying passengers and freighting cotton. At that time in 1863, cotton was selling in Mexico for 35 cents per pound in gold. Later it went to 60 cents per pound. Over there I saw traders from all parts of the world dickering and trading with each other.

“I reported with others to Major Scurry in Houston, and he ordered us to go to Nibbletts Bluff on the Sabine. Arriving there, we learned that the Yankees were forcing Green’s brigade to fall back toward Pleasant Hill and Mansfield. We were then ordered back to Houston and then to Navasota; from the latter place we footed to Shreveport, and on boat down the river to Natchitoches where he joined our command. A day or two after our arrival here General Green took up to Berwick’s Bay. We crossed the bay and captured Brashear City. From this place we made a night attack on Fort Donaldsonville. We found the fort surrounded with a ditch and palisades, and its defenders rained bullets and hand grenades so thick and fast that we concluded they wanted the place much more than we did, so withdrew.

“In the winter following the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill in which our command participated, our company was captured at New Iberia. We were taken to New Orleans and for ten days held in the custom house. We were then taken out between lines and there exchanged, man for man. When we passed into the Confederate lines we learned that our regiment had been sent to Galveston. They left a mule, a hogshead of meal and a half barrel of molasses. With these provisions for our sustenance we had to march to Houston. That portion of Louisiana through which we traveled in the mud and sleet had been thoroughly devastated. The Negros had been brought into Texas, and there was scarcely a chicken, hog, cow or other animals left. It was the hardest trip we had to make during the war. When we reached Houston the Confederates had recaptured Galveston, and the war closed before I returned.”

Thus Col. G. Egg gave the account of his experiences while he was in the army fighting for the cause of the South.

Col. G. Egg was an outstanding citizen of Jackson County. He was in business in Texana for a number of years, then moved to Edna. He was the dean of Jackson County business men, having spent fifty years in mercantile business in this county. He was a thrifty, industrious and a true patriot.

Col. Gideon Egg died November 25, 1923.

The Cavalcade of Jackson County, Third Edition, page 374-377
Used by permission of the Jackson County Historical Commission
 

Gideon Egg
Col. G. Egg

Col. Gideon Egg, one of the best known pioneer citizens and businessmen of this section, a native of Switzerland, 84 years old, died at his home in Edna Sunday afternoon at 3:30 o’clock. Col. Egg was critically ill last March but recovered from this illness and had enjoyed fairly good health until quite recently.

Col. Egg came to Texas with his parents at an early age. The family settled at Indianola and he continued to reside there until 1873, when he moved to Texana, then the county seat of Jackson County, and upon the removal of the county seat to Edna in 1882 following the construction of the Macaroni Railway, he settled there.

The decedent founded the well know mercantile firm of G. Egg and Sons many years ago and was associated with its management at the time of his death. He was a man of distinguished ability, rugged honesty and great public spirit and was noted for his deeds of charity, being highly respected and greatly beloved by everyone. He had a wide acquaintance in Victoria and the news of his death was received with great sorrow here.

Col. Egg is survived by seven of eight children, two daughters and five sons, namely: Mrs. Guy Mitchell, of this city; Miss Norma Egg, of El Paso; and Emil, Albert, Joseph, Alfred and G. Egg, Jr., of Edna. Albert Egg formerly was sheriff of Jackson County. Mrs. Selma Peacock, also a daughter, died a number of years ago. She was the wife of Wesley Peacock, founder of the Peacock College in San Antonio.

The funeral took place from the residence in Edna Monday afternoon at 3 o’clock and was very largely attended, many of the decedent’s old friends from Victoria, Cuero and other places being among those present. The pastor of Edna Presbyterian Church, assisted by Rev. John B. Hudson, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of this city conducted the obsequies. Interment was made in the Edna Cemetery. There were many magnificent floral tributes.

Victoria Advocate, November 27, 1923