Mann, Walter L.

Confederate colonel and Galveston lawyer Walter L. Mann was born in Holmes County, Mississippi, December 16, 1838. In 1840 his family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Mann raised a company with Capt. Jas. A. Ware, and was elected First Lieutenant. Shortly afterward he was assigned to duty on the staff of Brigadier General Hamilton P. Bee, who commanded the lower Rio Grande district. In 1864 he was elected Colonel of a regiment of cavalry stationed in and around Galveston for the defense of the coast. Mann was the last Confederate officer to capitulate, on the occasion of the Galveston surrender, June 5, 1865. Mann married Eliza McMorris in November 1865, and after engaging in commercial pursuits in Galveston, devoted the rest of his life to law. In 1869 he entered into a law partnership with Walter Gresham, his cousin, which remained successful until Mann's death on July 10, 1875. Mann was the first president of the Mens' Guild and one of the founders of Grace Episcopal Church, both in Galveston. He and Eliza had four children.