Spaight, Ashley Wood, 1821-1911

Born in Alabama to John and Matilda (Wood) Spaight, Ashley Wood Spaight (1821-1911) served in the Creek War before graduating from the University of North Carolina in 1842. He later began a law practice with Thomas W. Watts and served in the Alabama Legislature (1846-1848). In 1854, Spaight married Victoria M. Riggs, and the couple settled on a plantation in Liberty County, Texas, in 1861. During the Civil War, he joined the Confederate Army, organizing the Moss Bluff Rebels and commanding as lieutenant colonel the 11th Texas Cavalry Battalion, also known as Spaight’s Regiment of Texas Volunteers. In 1864, Spaight, now a colonel, took command of the 21st Texas Infantry and the Confederate headquarters at Houston. Following his service as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1866, Spaight moved to Galveston in 1869. From 1881 to 1883, he served as state commissioner of insurance, statistics, and history, supervising the publication of The Resources, Soil, and Climate of Texas in 1882.

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