Daniel Elijah Hardin (Cass’ great-grandfather) fought at the Battle of Vicksburg, which is one of the most important Union victories of the Civil War. Daniel fought in Waul’s Legion, which was comprised of Texas Infantry, Calvary and Artillery units. They played an important role for the Confederate in the Battle of Vicksburg despite the Union’s eventual victory in that battle.

According to a Texas Confederate Pension, applied for by Daniel Hardin’s widow, Daniel served from 1861 to 1865. Although born in South Carolina and married in Alabama, he enlisted at Gonzales, Texas and was in Company C of the Willis’ Cavalry Battallion, Waul’s Texas Legion.
At the Battle of Vicksburg, Waul's Texas Legion is known for repelling the Union Army breach of Confederate lines during Ulysses S. Grant's largest and final organized assault on the "Fortress City" of Vicksburg, on May 22, 1863. (Wikipedia)
- After Union troops, most notably the 77th Illinois, under command of John Alexander McClernand successfully penetrated Confederate defenses, McClernand urged Grant to follow with his own assault. Unsure of the accuracy of the message, Grant failed to follow suit. Waul's Legion, seeing the Union breach, rushed to aid the waning lines. After hours of intense hand-to-hand combat, the Legion put the Union troops to flight and captured two Union banners which had been placed on the fortress parapets. By the time Grant realized there was a definitive breach of enemy fortifications it was too late; Waul's Texas Legion had seized the day. The angered Grant, believing McClernand was recklessly chasing glory and thus caused an unnecessary loss of Union soldiers, relieved the politician-general from his post. Being that this was the second failed assault to capture Vicksburg by force, Grant had to resort to starving the Army of Mississippi into the submission. After 47 days cut off from food and supplies, the defenders of Vicksburg were forced to surrender to Grant's Army of the Tennessee on July 4, 1863. (Wikipedia)

Cass Eldridge Phillips