Bunting, R. F. (Robert Franklin), 1828-1891

Robert F. Bunting (1828-1891) was a Presbyterian minister as well as the chaplain of Terry’s Texas Rangers. The Presbyterian Church sent Bunting, a Pennsylvanian born minister, to Texas as a missionary in 1852. By 1856, Bunting had established churches in La Grange, Columbus, Round Top, and San Antonio. Bunting helped form the Presbyterian Church of the Confederate States of America, by participating in the secession of the Southern Presbyterian Church from the Northern in 1861.

Bunting was the chaplain and historian for Terry’s Texas Rangers (the Eighth Texas Cavalry) starting in 1861 until the end of the Civil War in 1865. Additionally, Bunting served as a war correspondent for the Houston Daily Telegraph and Tri-Weekly Telegraph and the San Antonio Herald, contributing ninety-five letters concerning the actions of the regiment. Furthermore, during the war Bunting ran a private postal service as well as the Texas Hospital for Texas soldiers in Auburn, Alabama. Bunting continued to serve as a Presbyterian minister all over the South, including Tennessee, Georgia, and Texas, until his death in 1891.

Source: Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "Bunting, Robert Franklin," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/BB/fbu22.html (accessed June 30, 2010).

From the guide to the Bunting, Robert Franklin Papers 1944; 1945; 1946; 1947; 1948; 95-266., 1861-1865, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)