Company D
Private
Born in Kentucky abt 1843. Son of George Isbell,grandson of Daniel Isbell Jr.,gr,grandson of Daniel Sr. ( Revolutionary War Veteran )& Franka Land Isbell ( sister of my 4th gr grandfather.) His CMSR in the National Archives contains only 2 cards. The 2nd card says his ' name is on the roll for Jan-Feb.1863. He enlisted in Searcy Co,Ark.March 25,1862 for 3 yrs. He transferred from Brown`s battalion,Greene`s brigade without his horse and had been paid for all his time March 26,1863.' During the winter of 1863-1864 new men joined the command, and it was redesignated the 11th Missouri Cavalry. He came from Colton Greenes command originally, while it was being reorganized as the 3rd Mo., many men of whom, did not like L. A. Campbell as the Lt. Col. Men transferred out of that command to Shelby`s Brigade, if they had connections in that organization and from the looks of it that is what Isbell had. He was cetainly connected with some well known hot blooded characters. Its clear that he was in Texas at the time the war ended. There is no muster out record at Shreveport, indicating that he very well may have been one of the men who went with Shelby to Mexico, and my money is on that possibility. You won`t find anything on the 11th. All we know is that in early December 1863 the 6th Missouri Cavalry was re-designated the 11th Cavalry. We have yet to run down the General Order (we know which one) that authorized this process. Frankly, the regiment had a number of problems in its early organization, among which were wholesale desertions, problems with the leadership and so forth. So what you have is the same regiment known amongst other names as the 'Southwest Missouri Regiment.'