DAVID EDWARD ROTEN, Danville Mounted Riflemen













DAVID EDWARD (ED) ROTEN

© Karen McCann Hett  All Rights Reserved 2003-2014




David Edward (Ed) Roten (Rotten, Rottien) was born May 1, 1834, in Edgefield District, South Carolina, according to his descendants. He was the son of Thomas Roten and Lavicia Permenter and came to Texas in 1855 with his mother and siblings after the death of his father. He was living in Montgomery County, Texas, by 1860 and was employed as a mechanic.

On May 4, 1861, Ed enlisted in the Danville Mounted Riflemen under Capt. S. D. Wooldridge.

The Danville Riflemen was a local Montgomery County militia unit and was part ot the Seventeenth Brigade, Texas State Troops.

Two of Ed's brothers, Larkin Roten and William W. Roten, later served under Captain Wooldridge, both of them joining Company B of the Second Texas Lancers, in the spring in 1862.


Ed left the militia unit by fall of 1861. He was mustered into regular Confederate service on October 10, 1861, in Co. I Fifth Regiment Texas Volunteers. This was a regiment of volunteers which was formed to build fortifications at Galveston under General Paul Octave H�bert and is usually known as the Ninth (Nichols'). Company I was comprised of men who were primarily from Montgomery and Walker Counties.

At he time he was mustered in, Ed was described as being 5 feet 5 inches tall, with blue eyes, dark hair and dark complexion.


The Ninth Nichols' was a six-month regiment, and when the men were mustered out, many of them joined Col. Henry Elmore's Twentieth Texas Infantry. Ed joined Elmore's as a private in Company K.







In 1862 he was promoted to First Corporal and then to Sergeant of Company K. From 1863 to the close of the war, he was in detached service in the ordnance department as a carpenter, making wheels for casons. At the end of the war, he was on detail in the ordnance at Anderson, Grimes County, and he stated that he did not receive a discharge.

Ed returned to Montgomery County after the war, and his name appears on a list of voters who took the amnesty oath in Montgomery County in 1865.

On March 14, 1866 in Madison County, Ed married Alice Anderson Whitten. She was the daughter of Alfred Whitten and Mrs. Nancy Ann Malone and was the sister of cavalrymanJohn D. Whitten. She was also the sister of Mary Jane, wife of E. A. Anderson and of Sarah Eleanor, wife of M. A. McCrory. Alice was born December 10, 1845, in Fayette County, Tennessee, and came to Montgomery County, Texas, with her parents at the age of five.

Alice and Ed settled in Madison County after their marriage. They were living in Midway at the time of the 1870 census. In 1889 they moved with their seven children to Rusk in Cherokee County and lived there for the remainder of their lives.

This image of David Edward Roten was posted on the web pages of descendant Patrick Roten.

In 1914, at the age of eighty, Ed applied for a Texas Confederate Pension. Even though no living former soldiers could be found to attest to his service, the War Department was able to locate his service records.

Ed died on September 10, 1917, due to being hit by a falling tree. His son was reimbursed $30 for his burial expenses as can be seen in the above mortuary warrant.


Alice applied for, and received, a widow's pension based on Ed's service.

Alice died on November 10, 1937. Ed and Alice are buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Cherokee County, Texas.

The above information was compiled from my personal Whitten family records including letters from descendant Bill Vining; from the book, Roten and Related Southern Families by Patrick R. Roten; and from the Compiled Service Records housed in the National Archives, Washington, D. C. Photo of David Edward Roten from the web pages of Patrick Roten of Austin, Texas

For further information and records of all Confederate soldiers of Montgomery County, Texas, as well as histories of the regiments they served in, see Montgomery County, Texas, CSA by Frank M. Johnson. The book may be purchased by visiting Frank's website at frankmjohnson.net or by contacting Frank at [email protected].

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© Karen McCann Hett  All Rights Reserved 2003-2014
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