TEXAS IN THE CIVIL WAR:
A RÉSUMÉ HISTORY

Allan C. Ashcraft, Ph. D.
Assistant Professor of History
The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas

A Publication of the
Texas Civil War Centennial Commission
Austin, Texas
January, 1962

TEXAS CIVIL WAR CENTENNIAL COMMISSION
112 East 18th Street
Austin, Texas

Walter E. Long, Austin, Chairman
Rupert N. Richardson, Abilene, Vice Chairman
Mrs. C. C. Cameron, Austin, Second Vice Chairman

A. Garland Adair | Austin
Mrs. John M. Bennett, Jr. | San Antonio
Lincoln Borglum | Beeville
Mrs. Mike Butler | Austin
Millard Cope | Marshall
Joe Cruze | Driftwood
J. A. Dodd | Kingsville
Mrs. L. E. Dudley | Abilene
John T. Duncan | Bryan
Mrs. R. R. Farmer, Jr. | West Columbia
Mrs. L. J. Gittinger | San Antonio
H. A. Hooks | Kountze
Jess Irwin, Jr. | Austin
Burris C. Jackson | Hillsboro
Ray Kirkpatrick | Austin
Sam Lanham | Waco
Mary Lubbock Lasswell | Austin
F. Lee Lawrence | Tyler
Walter Malec | Hallettsville
Stuart McGregor | Dallas
Tom B. Medders | Wichita Falls
I. C. Parma | Granger
Cooper K. Ragan | Houston
Mrs. Edward Randall, Jr. | Galveston
Joe H. Reynolds | Houston
John Ben Shepperd | Odessa
Harold B. Simpson | Waco
Mrs. H. M. Stamper | Houston
Heyl G. Tebo | Houston
Charles R. Tips | Dallas
Frank E. Tritico | Houston
Mrs. Max Weinert | Seguin
Robert C. Wells | Kingsville
James E. Wheat | Woodville
R. T. Wilkinson | Mount Vernon
Mrs. Dan Lester | Jefferson

George W. Hill Executive Director

PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE

Millard Cope
John T. Duncan
Cooper K. Ragan
F. Lee Lawrence
John Ben Shepperd

★ TEXAS ★ CIVIL WAR CENTENNIAL COMMISSION

FOREWORD

The Texas Civil War Centennial Commission has long felt the need for a booklet setting forth a brief history of Texas’ participation in the Civil War and the Confederacy. Many requests for such a publication have come from schools, organizations and individuals.

We are proud to present “Texas in the Civil War” and feel that it will lead to an understanding of the true story of this period of Texas history.

We are especially indebted to Dr. Allan C. Ashcraft, who prepared “Texas in the Civil War” at no cost to our Commission. Mr. James Wilkins of Tyler contributed the art work. A chronology appears on page 45 and was prepared by the Committee on Chronology. Professor John T. Duncan of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas served as chairman.

This publication is dedicated as a memorial to all Texans who served in the Armed Forces of the Confederate States of America.

Walter E. Long
Chairman

Publications of the
TEXAS CIVIL WAR CENTENNIAL COMMISSION

Texas Civil War Centennial Program

Texas in the Civil War: A Resume History

Texas at Vicksburg published, jointly by the Texas Civil War Centennial Commission and Texas Historical Survey Committee

PRINTED BY WEST TEXAS OFFICE SUPPLY, ODESSA, TEXAS

CONTENTS

FOREWORD 3

TEXAS IN THE CIVIL WAR: A RÉSUMÉ HISTORY 5

TEXAS IN 1860 7

POLITICS, SECESSION, AND WAR 7

MOBILIZATION: EVENTS OF 1861 10

CAMPAIGNING: 1862 12

TEXAS UNITS FIGHTING ELSEWHERE: 1861-1863 15

ISOLATION OF THE SOUTHWEST: 1863 19

BEGINNING OF THE END: 1864 22

FIGHTING BEYOND TEXAS: 1863-1865 25

THE BREAK-UP: 1865 28

NOTES 31

BIBLIOGRAPHY 38

MANUSCRIPTS 38

REPRODUCED COPIES OF MANUSCRIPTS 38

PUBLIC DOCUMENTS 39

OTHER PRIMARY SOURCES 39

SECONDARY SOURCES 39

NEWSPAPERS 40

ARTICLES 41

CHRONOLOGY 43

EVENTS IN TEXAS, 1861-1865 45

TEXAS IN THE CIVIL WAR:
A RÉSUMÉ HISTORY

TEXAS IN 1860

Texas in 1860 was an area where the Old South faded into what was to become the new West. The state was a partially settled land of contrasts surrounded by enemies on all but the Louisiana side.[1] This one friendly boundary was a powerful tie that linked Texas both physically and psychologically with its Southern parent lands.

Because the state was in an early phase of settlement, the population of 420,891 white persons included a great majority of people who had been born in other states or in foreign countries. Barely one-third of the whites had been born in Texas, while over ten percent of them were originally from countries other than the United States. Most of the settlers from other states were from the South.[2] Thus far these hardy individuals had organized counties along the entire length of the Rio Grande and, elsewhere, as far west as the 100th meridian frontier line.

Within the main settled portion could be found several distinctive agricultural regions. The principal center of the cotton plantation system was in a cluster of a half-dozen counties that touched the coast in Matagorda and Brazoria counties, and included the best soil in the Gulf Plains. Much cotton was also raised in the Brazos, Colorado, and Trinity river bottoms. Most of the state’s Negro population (182,566 slaves and 355 free Negroes) lived in the vicinity of these heavy cotton producing counties. To the north and east of the plantation centers was an area of agricultural diversity. Cotton was raised as a “cash crop”, while grains and vegetables were grown for local consumption. Northwest and west of the cotton lands was a subsistence agricultural belt that extended to the frontier. Here, strong men fought marauding Indians and contended with periodic drought in an effort to make a meager living for their families. Finally, to the southwest of the plantations was cattle country, where almost four million unmarketable beeves roamed the open ranges from the San Antonio River to the Rio Grande.

The agrarian nature of 1860 Texas is well reflected in the fact that less than five percent of the population lived in urban areas. There were fifty-two incorporated towns (settlements of over 1,000), of which only San Antonio and Galveston exceeded the 5,000 mark. Other points of minor population concentration were scattered villages and a score of Federal military forts that were situated along the Rio Grande and near the frontier line.[3]

POLITICS, SECESSION, AND WAR

In state politics Texas was divided between a loosely organized Democratic Party and the followers of Sam Houston. Houston’s strong anti-sectional views cost him the gubernatorial election in 1857. Two years later, however, the aging hero of San Jacinto capitalized on a general reaction against sectional extremists and was elected governor on a nationalist platform. When Abraham Lincoln won the Republican presidential nomination in 1860, Governor Houston urged his fellow Texans to keep cool heads and to avoid taking drastic steps that might later be regretted.[4]

In the national election of November, 1860, the voters of the Lone Star State cast a three to one majority for John C. Breckinridge (Southern Democrat) over John Bell (standard bearer of the conservative Constitutional Union Party.) The names of Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas (Northern Democrat) did not appear on Texas ballots. When it was learned that the Republican candidate had won the presidency, Texans, like other Southerners, went into mourning and many replaced United States flags with state banners. Then, when other states of the South called for secession conventions, Texans demanded that the same action be taken in their state.[5]

Governor Houston managed to block all secession calls until December, when Attorney General George M. Flournoy, Associate Justice O. M. Roberts of the State Supreme Court, and lawyer William P. Rogers and John S. Ford took the lead in calling for a state-wide election of secession convention delegates to meet in Austin on January 28, 1861. A subsequent statement explaining this move cited a Texas Constitutional provision that the people “have at all times the unalienable right to alter, reform, or abolish their form of government” as a source of authority for the convention call.[6] It was also at this time that the voters of Texas were promised a popular referendum on the secession assembly’s work; and of the original seven Confederate states, Texas was the only one to hold such an election on the question of secession. Seventy-two prominent citizens, including Lieutenant Governor Edward Clark, signed this second call.

As provisions for the forthcoming election of delegates were being made, Sam Houston called for a special session of the legislature to meet on January 21. The Governor desperately hoped to use the legislative body to neutralize the work of the convention. But this remote possibility was stifled when the House and the Senate promptly adopted an anti-Houston attitude and enthusiastically welcomed the assembling convention.[7]

On Monday. January 28, 1861, the secession delegates organized under the presidency of Judge O. M. Roberts. As late comers kept arriving, the body eventually came to number one hundred seventy-six members. Elected from state legislative districts, the delegates were mainly lawyers, planters, and farmers.[8] In short order a heavy majority approved a resolution to withdraw Texas from the Union, and an Ordinance of Secession was passed by a vote of 166 to 7. This ordinance basically charged that the United States government had failed to meet its responsibilities under the “compact of Union.” Specifically, it was asserted that Federal authority had neglected to give “protection either to the persons of our people upon an exposed frontier, or to the property of our citizens.” The document also condemned the Northern states for attempting to make the central government into “a weapon with which to strike down the interests and prosperity of the people of Texas and her Sister Slaveholding States.” Therefore, concluded the Ordinance, the people of Texas chose to withdraw from the Union and to reclaim all sovereignty delegated to the Federal government when Texas joined the United States.[9]

The convention established a Committee of Public Safety to oversee security matters while the main delegation recessed to await popular approval of secession. Just before being disbanded until March 2, the Austin assembly named seven representatives[10] to the Montgomery, Alabama, convention of the seceding states. These men were to journey to Alabama where they would speak for Texas in the forming of the new Confederate government.[11] With his hand thus forced, Governor Houston ordered an election to be held on February 23 to determine whether or not the Secession Convention’s work would be approved by the people.[12]

Shortly before this election was held, the Committee of Public Safety decided that for purposes of state security the almost 3,000 Federal soldiers stationed in Texas must be surrendered. This delicate matter was settled on February 15, when the followers of Colonel Ben McCulloch suddenly surrounded military departmental headquarters in San Antonio. McCulloch’s strong show of force was sufficient to cause the bloodless surrender of Brevet Major General David E. Twiggs—aged commander of all United States forces in the state. According to the terms of his capitulation, Twiggs was to evacuate his soldiers and turn over all station property to the state.[13]

A week later in the midst of fiery editorials and heated discussions. the mandate on secession was held and county results were forwarded to Austin. On March 2, the anniversary of Texas independence, the Secession Convention re-assembled to canvass the result of the election. Because a quorum was lacking, however, this task had to be postponed until Monday, March 4.[14] Of the one hundred twenty-two counties reporting, only nineteen, located mainly in northern Texas or along the middle of the frontier line, showed a preference to stay with the Union. In overall figures, secession was endorsed by a vote of 46,129 to 14,697. When these results were certified to the convention. President Roberts proclaimed Texas to be “a free, sovereign and independent nation of the earth.”[15] Later that same day a disgruntled Governor Houston officially admitted to his people that a large majority had favored secession.

The convention next considered the complex problem of defending Texas, and at the same time, rushed instructions to the Texas delegation in Montgomery, Alabama, to secure admission of the state to the Confederacy. Sam Houston, when he learned of these actions, charged that the convention was completely overstepping its authority. To counter such protests, the determined secession delegates developed a plan that would ultimately cause Houston to remove himself from office. A resolution was passed requiring all high state officials to swear allegiance to the Confederacy at noon on March 16. When Houston failed to appear at the oath-taking ceremony, the convention declared his office to be vacant. Pro-secessionist Lieutenant Governor Edward Clark assumed the gubernatorial position for the nine months remaining in Houston’s term. Finally, with its work accomplished, the Texas Secession Convention adjourned sine die on March 26.[16]

Meanwhile, the Confederate States government had been organized and Judge John H. Reagan of Texas was named Postmaster General. In late April news reached Texas that Fort Sumter had been fired on. With war between the sections now a reality, Governor Clark promptly set about gearing the state for military action. Measures were taken to capture as prisoners of war all federal troops who had been surrendered by General Twiggs and who were still in the process of leaving the state.[17] Also, the Governor asked for 3,000 volunteers to supplement several existing regiments that had been called into service by the Secession Convention. Later in April, Clark called for an additional 8,000 volunteer infantrymen to serve the South.[18]

Not all Texans were confident that the state had been wise in seceding and in joining the Confederacy. German settlers in the San Antonio-Fredericksburg-New Braunfels areas were especially disturbed over the turn of events. They had never accepted the idea of slavery and they now came to be looked on with distrust when some of their numbers elected to leave the state. A group of North Texans similarly decided to abandon their homes for the security of the United States. Still other malcontents, who wished to escape from the Confederate government or the dangers of war, moved to the Far West or across the Mexican border.[19]

MOBILIZATION: EVENTS OF 1861

Throughout 1861 Governor Clark issued calls for more troops and worked to bolster state defenses. By September Texas had ten regiments in Confederate service or in the process of being organized. Several of these units were in Virginia, while the rest were standing by to secure the state from possible invasion.[20]

The forming of companies was seldom a smooth procedure. For one thing, all Texans wanted to fight on horseback, but the Confederate army already had sufficient cavalrymen and now needed only foot soldiers. Also, the Southern leaders wanted men to serve for the war’s duration, but most volunteers were reluctant to sign up for more than twelve months. While these requirements tended to make young men feel less enthusiastic about serving their country, the state government was seriously hampered in its recruiting operations by an over-anxious Confederate War Department. Richmond kept sending heavy troop levies to the Governor while also authorizing private persons to carry out their own recruiting programs. This resulted in serious recruiting competition between the state and the Confederate officers. In several cases units ear-marked to meet state troop requirements were marched away by “recruiting colonels.” Despite Governor Clark’s protest, this problem continued to exist for many months.[21]

A typical example of the mechanics of forming a unit took place at Marshall in April, 1861, when organization of the W. P. Lane Ranger Company was announced. Volunteers were expected to supply their own mounts while the state agreed to furnish arms. On the appointed day the young men were massed in the center of the town, had their horses examined for serviceability, elected their officers, and were given an oath of allegiance to Texas by a local judge. The rest of the day was spent in preparing the unit’s roll of members and in attending a special church service. The next morning saw the company reassembled in the town square, awaiting the presentation of a flag that had been made by the young ladies of Marshall. After a long and flowery presentation speech, the banner, reported to have measured six by fifteen feet, was accepted by the unit. Then, at noon, amidst tears and kisses, the company took up the march to its destiny. A few miles down the road, however, destiny was delayed while the men were feasted at a local college. By dusk the badly scattered soldiers straggled to a camping site and dined on delicacies that had been brought from home. The Rangers were feted, lauded, and blessed in almost every town through which they passed. Late in May they arrived in San Antonio where they were armed, mustered into Confederate service as Company “F” of the Second Texas Mounted Rifles, and assigned to patrol duty on the state’s frontier.[22]

As more regiments were formed, a growing scarcity of firearms caused grave concern. A few units solved this difficulty by demanding that the enlistees secure weapons on their own initiative. By using this system Captain Strobel’s Company of Terry’s Texas Rangers could boast that each of its men carried a double barrel shotgun, a six-shooter, and an issued “Texas tooth-pick.” This last item was described as a “two edged pointed knife, 24 inches long, and weighing about three pounds, and a man using it could cut another man’s head off and not half try.” Most companies, however, relied on the state to furnish arms. By summer, 1861, Texas had issued almost all of the weapons that it owned.[23]

Because of the increasing scarcity of guns, Governor Clark adopted a policy of keeping the remaining state-owned weapons within the confines of Texas. Future troops mustered into Confederate service would have to draw arms from the Richmond government. Clark also sent agents to Mexico, Cuba, and Europe in a near fruitless effort to make contracts for the purchase of foreign guns. The state likewise encouraged the establishment of local arms factories and powder plants.[24] Such things as military clothing, blankets, and messing equipment would have to come from the penitentiary cloth mills at Huntsville, from private donations through county soldiers’ relief agencies, through trade with Mexico, or from Confederate supply depots.[25]

By fall, 1861, the security of Texas was being jeopardized by Indian depredations along the frontier, by danger of invasions from the north or by way of the coast, and by the possibility of violence along the Mexican border. Repeated dispatches received in Austin reported fierce Indian raids centering in the Brown-Gillespie County area. Also, rumors had it that the Union was preparing a force in Missouri that would momentarily undertake an invasion into Texas. Proof of the United States forces having overrun Missouri was seen when pro-secessionist Governor C. F. Jackson and Lieutenant Governor T. C. Reynolds arrived with the Seal of the State of Missouri and set up a temporary government at Marshall, Texas. Governor Clark took so seriously the threat of a Union thrust into Texas that he expressed his concern to President Jefferson Davis and declared that his state stood ready to assemble 4,000 cavalrymen if it became necessary to block such a move on the part of the enemy. In the same letter to Richmond, Clark indicated a fear that West Texas might be faced with a Union column coming through New Mexico. To defend this approach and to safeguard the frontier from further Indian raids, legislative approval was secured to organize a Frontier Regiment of ten companies.[26]

Texans were likewise fearful of invasions or raids along the coastline, which could be discouraged by building fortifications and by stationing garrisons at such key points as Sabine Pass, Pass Cavallo (in Matagorda County). Port Aransas, and Galveston.[27] Continuous Union naval activity off Galveston caused that island to be regarded as a critical invasion objective. In fact, so serious was this threat that emergency plans were prepared for a quick evacuation of the city and possible destruction of the railroad bridge that linked the island with the mainland.[28]

As Union craft tightened the blockade of Texas port towns, the main unblocked trade route from Texas to the outside world came to be the overland trail from San Antonio to Matamoros. This Mexican town contained a number of merchant houses that were willing to exchange valuable Texas cotton for goods needed by the South. To safeguard this supply route, to control border violence, and to intercept shirkers and Unionists attempting to cross the Rio Grande, Texas kept a number of state troops on patrol duty along the international river.[29]

In spite of these manifold dangers and wartime conditions, Texas politics continued as usual. In November, 1861, an exciting contest allowed Francis R. Lubbock to replace Edward Clark as governor. Lubbock had wide political experience in the Lone Star State and, once assured of his narrow victory, he made a quick trip to Richmond to consult with principal Confederate leaders.[30]

CAMPAIGNING: 1862

Throughout the early mobilization period Texans were anxiously observing the invasion of New Mexico by Lieutenant Colonel John R. Baylor and three hundred men of the Second Texas Rifles. As the summer of 1861 passed, the Baylor force pushed scattered Federal defenders northward along the upper Rio Grande.[31] Despite this early success, the Texas commander made it clear to leaders of the South that he would need many more soldiers to hold these gains. Southern control of the Arizona-New Mexico territory would increase the Confederate land area, it would give the new government access to rich minerals and poorly guarded Union supply dumps, it would secure western Texas from invasion, and it would give the South ownership of the Old Santa Fe Trail gateway to the Far West.[32]

To strengthen Baylor’s position, Brigadier General Henry H. Sibley organized three regiments in San Antonio and proceeded to Fort Bliss in December, 1861. In the meanwhile, a deeply concerned Union War Department rushed forces from California and Colorado to bolster sagging Federal defenses in upper New Mexico. Sibley cut his way to Albuquerque and Santa Fe before these Union relief columns could arrive on the scene. During the battle at Apache Canyon, a United States detachment destroyed the Confederates’ supply train. This disaster plus the intelligence the Federal relief columns were converging on him from two directions caused Sibley to order a withdrawal to southern New Mexico.[33]

This retreat quickly degenerated into a rout, however, as the sick, hungry, and hard-pressed Texans straggled towards El Paso. In all, General Sibley lost over half of his 3,000 men in the withdrawal that ended only after the Union had seized the western tip of Texas. The United States kept patrols and small garrisons in the Davis Mountain region of the state and in El Paso throughout the remaining years of the war.[34]

Union successes in Arkansas in March of 1862 again reminded Texans of the dangers they faced from invasions through that state. The Federal victory at Pea Ridge, where Confederate Brigadier General Ben McCulloch of Texas was killed, opened the way for United States troops to advance on Fayetteville.

To neutralize this threat, Governor Lubbock had several state regiments shifted to Tyler where they could act as guard forces to blunt Union thrusts.[35] Yet, as this precaution was being taken, the sudden fall of New Orleans and ever increasing United States naval activities in the Gulf caused Texans again to cast anxious eyes on their vulnerable coastline. In May, Galveston was partially abandoned under the threat of Union gunboat bombardment that never materialized.[36] Several months later Corpus Christi withstood a four day shelling by three Federal ships.[37]

October saw an overpowering flotilla of eight enemy craft secure the surrender of Galveston Island. With the loss of Galveston, Governor Lubbock sealed off the entire bay area and called for 5,000 volunteers to defend the main coastline. In issuing this call, Lubbock declared that “The crisis of the war seems to be at hand in Texas, and we must prepare to defend our homes, or be driven from them with insult and degradation, and all the horrors of rapine and violence.”[38]

Some five hundred Massachusetts soldiers occupied Galveston while Union Major General N. P. Banks ordered several strong regiments to be transferred from Louisiana to this Texas toe-hold.[39] Before these reinforcements could embark for Galveston, however, Major General John B. Magruder, recently named commander of the Confederate Military District of Texas, instituted a lightening stroke to regain the island for the South. He called for volunteers from Sibley’s veterans and a number of militia companies to mass at Virginia Point. Then in the early hours of January 1, 1863, two converted gunboats, the Neptune and the Bayou City, attacked the United States fleet while Magruder, whose men had crept across the railroad bridge, attacked the Galveston wharves. Within a matter of minutes the attack ended in marked success. The Texans took three Federal ships and over three hundred and fifty prisoners. Galveston was once more under the Stars and Bars.[40]

In various actions during the first two years of the war, Texans took a number of prisoners of war. These men had to be held in custody until arrangements could be made for their exchange. Some of the prisoners were kept in “prison canyon” near Camp Verde in Kerr County. There was a pit-like gully where Union soldiers were allowed to build shacks and to get adequate exercise with little risk of escape. At one time this crude system held six hundred inmates.[41]

A much larger and better equipped prison was Camp Groce, near Hempstead. Prisoners were housed in four long rows of rough barracks that were described as “enclosed cowsheds.” Because of open country to the north and much military patrol activity to the south, few prisoners attempted to escape from Camp Groce.[42]

The largest prison in the state was Camp Ford, four miles northeast of Tyler. Eventually it consisted of ten acres enclosed by a stockade of eighteen foot logs. Prisoners made dugout shelters on a hillside and roofed these “shebangs” with split logs. About 5,000 men were held in confinement there when the prison was operating at maximum capacity.[43]

The Confederate Congress, in April of 1862, passed its first conscription act. Although Texas now had fifty-five regiments formed,[44] all able-bodied young men from eighteen to thirty-five (the age limits were later repeatedly raised) would henceforth be subject to the draft.[45] Indignation against this act caused many protests to be heard in areas that were unenthusiastic about the war. Strongest anti-conscription feeling centered in Gillespie County. In fact, the German settlers near Fredericksburg went so far as to form a five hundred man Union Loyal League to defy the draft and to promote sympathetic feelings for the United States. To suppress this subversive group, Dunn’s and Freer’s state militia companies took control of the town, declared martial law, and gave the citizens six days in which to take an oath of loyalty to the South. Most Germans peacefully complied with this requirement, a few troublemakers were arrested for a short time, and a small number of incorrigibles quietly fled to Mexico.[46]

Occasionally pro-Union refugees would make their way to occupied New Orleans, where they could enlist in Judge E. J. Davis’ First Regiment of Texas United States Volunteers. As this unit grew in size, Texas officials came to fear that it might be used in the execution of raids on the state. One embittered Houston editor, in publishing the facts on Davis’ command, stated “let these refugee traitors set foot on the soil of Texas, whether as mounted or unmounted riflemen, and their blood will wash out their treason.... God grant that their carcasses may all enrich the soil their lives have cursed!”[47]

As passive signs of disloyalty continued to exist, Confederate military and state civil officials decided to cope with Unionism in an overpowering fashion. In mid-1862 martial law was declared over the entire state. Every alien and all native white males over sixteen were to register and to answer the questions of county provost marshals. People were required to have passes to cross county lines. Severe punishments were set for those who attempted to depreciate Confederate currency. Finally, those suspected of disloyalty were to be expelled from their counties—presumably to settle in some other county and conform, or else, to be driven from county to county until they left the state. Unfortunately for the proponents of this stern policy, the martial law decree was not approved by Richmond. That fall President Jefferson Davis declared it to be an unwarranted assumption of power and revoked the entire program.[48]

During the first two years of the war, the state government and the people at home diligently struggled to supply Texas regiments with the essentials of life. Prison made cloth, contributed items of clothing, and special county tax funds and bond sale receipts were forwarded to needy companies.[49] As for the care of the sick and wounded Texans, the financially embarrassed state passed heavy appropriations for the establishment and support of special hospitals for Texas casualties in various parts of the South.[50]

TEXAS UNITS FIGHTING ELSEWHERE: 1861-1863

While the leaders of Texas were busily concerned with the well being of their own state, the men of Texas were actively serving the Confederate cause elsewhere. From the very outbreak of the conflict Texas units made proud names for themselves on all fighting fronts.

The Lone Star State was represented in northern Virginia by three regiments in the brigade of John Bell Hood. This brigade was formed at Dumfries, Virginia, in September of 1861, and consisted mainly of the First Texas Infantry, the Fourth Texas Infantry, and the Fifth Texas Infantry.[51] After intensive training first under L. T. Wigfall,[52] and then under Hood, the Texans were baptised in fire at Elthan’s Landing, Virginia, in May of 1862. Hood’s men had been ordered to protect the Confederate retreat route from Yorktown to Richmond. Suddenly, the Texans ran into a Union skirmish line of unknown strength near the York River. In a running fight, the Texas units chased the enemy for a mile and a half, taking forty prisoners. Hood, frequently apologetic in his reports, mentioned that the density of the forests had limited his movements to such a degree that he was unable to take more captives.[53]

In June, Hood’s Brigade was attached to Jackson’s Corps. Particularly at Gaines’ Mill the unit showed promise of its future greatness. It overran fourteen Union artillery pieces and captured an entire enemy regiment. The cost of these gains was not light, however, as the Fourth Texas lost all of its field grade officers and the entire brigade had five hundred and seventy casualties. General Jackson, on later viewing the site of the Texans’ triumph, declared “the men who carried this position were soldiers indeed!”[54]

The brigade’s next major action was at the Second Battle of the Manassas in the last days of August, 1862. On the 29th, the Texans engaged in a counter-attack that gained six Federal colors. An advance on the following morning cost the Union a mile and a half of ground and four artillery guns. Although Hood had been elevated to the command of a division, he could proudly claim that the Texans’ “gallantry and unflinching courage” were “unsurpassed within the history of the world.” In this great struggle the Fifth Texas lost seven color bearers.[55]

Then, in September, the brigade gained even greater renown at Antietam. At one point the Texans and one other brigade were pitted against two full Union corps. Hood described the event as “the most terrible clash of arms, by far, that has occurred during the war. The two little giant brigades of this [Hood’s] division wrestled with this mighty force, losing hundreds of their gallant officers and men but driving the enemy from his position and forcing him to abandon his guns on our left.”[56] The division’s rear guard action saved the Confederates from near certain annihilation, but at the end of the Antietam campaign only a fraction of the command could still be classed as “effectives.” The Texas Brigade lost five hundred and sixty men out of eight hundred and fifty-four present for duty. The First Texas lost over eighty percent of its original two hundred and twenty-six members.[57]

The next large scale action in which the brigade participated was at Gettysburg in July of 1863. During a series of attacks against Little Round Top Mountain, the men found that “as fast as we would break one line of the enemy, another fresh one would present itself, the enemy reinforcing his lines in our front from his reserves.”[58] The fighting became so heated that the First Texas ran out of ammunition and had to resort to emptying the cartridge boxes of fallen comrades and enemy dead. When darkness fell on July 2, members of the command piled rocks in front of themselves to protect their forward positions on the slope of the hill. The Texans continued to hold the right of Lee’s line throughout July 3, while Pickett’s great charge against the Union center was broken and the Southern army was bloodily repulsed. Over four hundred of Hood’s men were casualties in this great battle that marked “the high tide of the Confederacy.”[59]

Elsewhere, in the great campaigning area of the Kentucky-Tennessee-Mississippi region, Texas regiments were likewise prominent in military campaigns of this first half of the war. At Shiloh, described by Grant as “the severest battle fought at the West during the war,”[60] Texas was represented by Terry’s Texas Rangers (the Eighth Texas Cavalry), the Second Texas Infantry, and the Ninth Texas Infantry. On April 6, 1862, the Rangers shielded the Confederate left by scouting and blocking enemy flanking sweeps. The next day they protected artillery positions and stood by to lead a counter-attack that never materialized.[61] On the opposite extremity of the gray line the Second Texas cut its way forward for two miles on the first day’s fighting. It captured an entire Union artillery battery and, in the vicinity of the Hornet’s Nest, it secured the surrender of Prentice’s Sixth Union Division. One-third of the members of the Second Texas were casualties by the time General P. G. T. Beauregard ordered a general retreat on April 7. Beauregard had assumed command of Confederate forces after the death of General Albert Sidney Johnston of Texas in the afternoon of the first day.[62] Meanwhile, for two days the Ninth Texas had spearheaded attacks of the Second Brigade, First Division, of Bragg’s Corps.[63]

At Iuka, Mississippi, in September, 1862, Whitfield’s Texas Legion (twelve dismounted companies) and the Third Texas Cavalry (dismounted) captured a Union battery after a one hundred and fifty yard charge into the mouths of the guns. Then, as a Federal regiment sought to flank them, the Texans redressed their line in such a way as to force the new challengers back for several hundred yards. So close was this combat that a company officer of the legion killed the opposing regimental commander with a dragoon pistol. The Texas unit lost almost one-quarter of its men.

One month later the Second Texas Infantry gained fame at Corinth, Mississippi. For two days their courageous commander, Colonel William P. Rogers, led charges against the enemy’s heaviest fortifications. Finally, Rogers managed to plant his regimental flag on the wall of the inner works. Seconds later, however, the Texans were forced to pull back before a Union counter-thrust. In the withdrawal Rogers escaped about twenty paces when his body was riddled by hostile fire. So brave had been this Southern leader that the United States forces gave his body a worthy funeral with full military honors. The Second Texas lost about half of its men in these two days.[64]

In the December battle at Stone’s River (Murfreesboro), Tennessee, a number of Texas organizations were attached to Bragg’s army. Terry’s Texas Rangers, the Fifteenth Texas Cavalry, the Tenth Texas Cavalry, the Eleventh Texas Cavalry, the Ninth Texas Infantry, the Fourteenth Texas Cavalry, and Douglas’ Texas Battery were involved in this conflict. The Rangers raided the enemy’s rear and gained intelligence while the rest of the Lone Star State units, except Maxey’s Ninth Infantry, were grouped together in Ector’s First Brigade of Hardee’s Corps. The Tenth Texas Cavalry took three stands of enemy colors and six artillery pieces, and the Eleventh Texas Cavalry captured three batteries and drove the Union forces back for three miles. The remaining Texas units participated in heavy fighting.[65]

Then, in the spring and early summer of 1863, two Texas organizations, the Second Texas Infantry and eleven companies of Waul’s Legion particularly distinguished themselves in the defense of Vicksburg. When Grant’s men closed in on the river town, the Second Texas was charged with safeguarding the vital Baldwin’s Ferry Road approach to the Southerners’ line. This was judged to be “the assailable point of our lines; the face of danger; the post of honor; the key of this portion of our works of defense.”[66] After preliminary probes against the Texans’ positions, on May 22 the Union threw five regiments against them. Colonel Ashbel Smith, the Second Texas regimental commander, reported that during this horrible struggle “my men received the enemy with a most resolute fire; my cannon belched canisters: my men made the air reel with yells and shouts as they saw the earth strewn with the enemy’s dead. One of the enemy’s regiments staggered and was thrown into utter confusion. Our men, too, fell thick and fast; the detachment of cannoneers suffered particularly.”[67] At times during the days’ fighting, opposing infantrymen were firing within five paces of each other. Cotton bags that had been stacked to shelter the Confederates were torn open by Minie balls, and as whisps of cotton floated through the air some were ignited by the gunfire. In fact, these bits of burning fibre had to be snuffed out by the Texans’ bare hands when they endangered the unit’s ammunition supply. As the unsuccessful Union attackers fell back that night, the Second Texas, all but broken as a military organization, estimated that five hundred United States dead were left on the ground before it.[68]

Beleaguered Vicksburg fell on July 4, but Colonel Smith could claim that his unit was justifiably proud even in defeat.

The Second Texas Infantry achieved one victory—they utterly destroyed any prestige which the enemy might have heretofore felt when the soldiers they should encounter should be Texans.... When the Second Texas Infantry marched through the chain of the enemy’s sentinels, the spirits of most of the men were even then at the highest pitch of fighting valor. Released from the obligation of their parole, and arms placed in their hands, they would have wheeled about, ready and confident.[69]

Also noteworthy in the great Vicksburg campaign was Waul’s Texas Legion, commanded by Colonel T. N. Waul. On May 22, all but two of its companies were defending the outskirts of the town. As an element of General S. D. Lee’s Brigade, these Texans, “Unprotected by breastworks, ... were subject to the most galling fire, and well they sustained the noble cause for which they fought, never relaxing, but [fighting] with increased ardor, until the last of the enemy was prostrated or driven from their sight.” The loss was very severe, particularly so in officers, every officer of the staff present being either killed or seriously wounded.[70] Later, when two Alabama regiments were unable to take a heavily defended United States flag on a close-in parapet, General Lee assigned the task to Waul’s men. They “moved to the assault, retook the fort, drove the enemy through the breach they entered, tore down the stand of colors still floating over the parapet, and sent them to the colonel commanding the Legion, who immediately transmitted it, with a note to General Lee.”[71] At the time of surrender, Waul’s unit had suffered almost seven hundred casualties at Vicksburg and had lost more officers than all the other regiments of the oversized division to which it was attached.[72]

These were instances of but a few Texas units involved in several major engagements. Elsewhere dozens of Lone Star State regiments were proving their military prowess. Naturally not all units were as outstanding as Hood’s, but in the great majority of cases Texas organizations performed in a very impressive manner.

ISOLATION OF THE SOUTHWEST: 1863

Until the latter part of 1863 the Union was unable to hamper the growing cotton traffic from Texas to Mexico. According to the United States Navy Department, there were frequently several hundred ships standing off the mouth of the Rio Grande depositing goods in the Matamoros-Bagdad area and picking up Texas cotton for trans-oceanic shipment. Before the war, scarcely a half-dozen vessels visited these Mexican towns each year.[73] Because the Rio Grande was an international body of water, the Union was unable to blockade it. Foreign vessels, claiming to be trading with Mexico, could not legally be denied use of it. About the only way that this trade could be neutralized was for a Federal force to seize the Texas side of the river and to establish a patrol system to intercept all cotton haulers.[74] Most cotton for the Mexican trade was transported overland by ox wagon from agricultural regions for distances of up to five hundred miles or more. Convoys of three to fifteen ponderous wagons, well equipped with food and water, would normally take about three months to complete a round trip to the Rio Grande. Once across the river, the bales would be exchanged for blankets, shoes, powder, and chemicals used in the manufacturing and servicing of weapons of war.[75]

A small portion of Texas cotton was carried to the outside world by blockade runners. When the Union tightened its blockade against the southeastern part of the Confederacy, a number of runners shifted their bases of operation to the less closely patrolled coast of Texas. By 1863 Tampico, Vera Cruz, and Belize (British Honduras) had become rendezvous areas for cotton runners and cotton purchasers.[76] To gain maximum benefit from cargo space available in ships that were to run the blockade, screw-jacks were used to compress the bales of cotton into holds. It soon became a source of pride among stevedores to force the greatest number of bales into a given ship. In fact one unfortunate vessel was sunk when “over-ambitious bale handlers compressed the cargo through the bottom of the ship.”[77]

Weapons and ammunition continued to be critically short in Texas. General Magruder, in 1863, estimated that 40,000 arms were needed to defend the Department of the Trans-Mississippi West.[78] With only a trickle of guns coming from outside sources, the state continued to urge local craftsmen to produce them. A cartridge factory was set up in the old land office building in Austin. Also in the capital city were a cap factory and a state foundry. Another cap factory, that used home-made machinery, was in Gillespie County. A limited number of firearms were fabricated in Rusk (Whitescarver and Campbell Co.) and near Tyler (Short, Biscoe and Co.) Elsewhere, tiny weapons shops were busy in Dallas County, and in the towns of Columbia, Lancaster, and Marshall.[79]

The first half of 1863 saw campaigning in the Mississippi Valley that was seriously to affect the future of Texas. United States forces sought to wrest control of the great river from the Southerners. As Grant maneuvered to take Vicksburg, northern Confederate stronghold on the great river, Banks moved through Louisiana in preparation for an onslaught against Port Hudson, lowest Mississippi River point still held by the South. To scatter and confuse enemy defenders, Banks advanced on Port Hudson in such a way as to endanger key points in Louisiana.[80] These disruptive thrusts caused many Louisiana planters to bring their slaves into Texas to escape possible capture.[81] Also, Banks’ probes caused many Texas regiments to be shifted to Louisiana, where they were to assist in blocking Banks’ column. Pyron’s Regiment was one such Texas force. As it hurried from Galveston towards Niblett’s Bluff, on the Sabine River enroute to Louisiana, a distinguished British military observer reported on the unit’s appearance as it paraded by:

First came eight or ten instruments braying discordantly, then an enormous Confederate flag, followed by about four hundred men moving by fours—dressed in every variety of costume, and armed with every variety of weapon; about sixty had Enfield rifles; the remainder carried shot-guns (fowling pieces), carbines or long rifles of a peculiar and antiquated manufacture. None had swords or bayonets—all had six-shooters and bowie knives.[82]

Finally, when Banks withdrew to the east of the Mississippi River and proceeded to concentrate against Port Hudson, most Texas commands in the area were shifted to the Red River Valley of northern Louisiana.[83]

That summer the Union forces captured Vicksburg and Port Hudson, thus gaining full control of the Mississippi River. By instituting a very tight gunboat patrol system, the Union was able to transform this river into a formidable barrier that cut the Southwest away from other states of the Confederacy.[84] To size up the new situation Lieutenant General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate Department of the Trans-Mississippi West, called for a conference with the governors of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri. The meeting was held at Marshall in mid-August of 1863. The key question to be discussed was that of Kirby Smith’s powers. While the governors showed a reluctance to admit it, the General would obviously have to become virtual dictator of the isolated trans-Mississippi region. Only in that way could the states involved gain the vital strength in leadership that would allow them to remain undefeated. Tacit recognition of Kirby Smith’s need for extensive control was indicated by the governors’ agreement that he should supervise all defenses and oversee all future cotton transactions with Mexico.[85]

As the Marshall Conference was in progress, the Union War Department ordered an invasion of Texas. In view of French gains against the Juarez government of Mexico, General Banks was told that “there are important reasons why our flag should be restored in some points of Texas with the least possible delay.”[86] Left to his own discretion as to the exact point of attack, Banks decided to land an expedition at Sabine Pass. The main defense of the Pass was an unimpressive earthwork named Fort Griffin which commanded the narrows about one and a half miles below Sabine City. The fort had six guns and was manned by Company “F” of the First Texas Heavy Artillery. This particular unit, under Captain F. H. Odlum and Lieutenant Dick Dowling, was composed of Irish stevedores who had been recruited in Houston and Galveston.

At midnight on September 6, a sentry sighted ship signals off the coast. Because the company commander was absent, Dowling assumed command of the fort. By mid-morning a fleet of twenty-two transport ships and five gunboats was standing off Sabine Pass. On board the vessels was an invasion force of 5,000 men. Until the following dawn the ships stood off the narrows, and then the shelling of Fort Griffin commenced. Dowling, who wished to draw the enemy closer, offered no fire in response. Finally, when three of the enemy gunboats had been lured to within a very close range, the Confederate cannoneers opened with a tremendous barrage of fire. In forty-five minutes the battle ended with Dowling the complete victor. His guns sank two gunboats, damaged one, and drove off the remaining ships. He took three hundred and fifty prisoners, killed almost one hundred men, and gained a number of Federal weapons and supplies. No injuries were suffered on the Southern side, although some of Dowling’s guns were almost ruined by the heat of the rapid firing. The men of the company were highly honored for this success, and their incredible victory served to boost the morale of Texas and of the Confederate cause.[87]

Several months later, a second plan by Banks to take Sabine Pass by an overland march from Louisiana was ruled out due to communication difficulties. Then, in November, the determined Banks succeeded in landing 7,000 troops, including a Negro regiment, on the Brazos de Santiago bar at the mouth of the Rio Grande. When Brigadier General Hamilton P. Bee learned of this at his headquarters in nearby Brownsville, he realized that his 1,200 soldiers could not defend the city. So, on November 3, 1863, Bee and his men evacuated the burning border town.[88] With the Matamoros trade route thus closed by the Union seizure of Brownsville, cotton for Mexico would now have to be hauled either through Laredo, two hundred thirty-five miles upstream from Brownsville, or through Eagle Pass, ninety miles up the river from Laredo. As for continuing the occupation of the Rio Grande Valley, Union commanders agreed that such an effort would involve the use of an unjustified number of regiments.[89]

Elsewhere along the coast, Union troops were similarly active. By the end of 1863 the Federals had limited forces at Corpus Christi, Mustang Island, Pass Cavallo, Saint Joseph’s Island, Indianola, and Port Lavaca. Except for Galveston the enemy controlled the principal coastal towns of the state.[90] But, as Confederate officers and state leaders called for more men and desperately planned to regain Texas ports, high strategic considerations in Washington caused the Union to evacuate most of the occupied coast. It was again a matter of tying up too many regiments, forces that would be needed in 1864 for a massive invasion of the Red River Valley, an action that might well cause the fall of the whole southwest.[91] Gradually the invaders withdrew until the only force remaining on the coast was a strong command located near Brownsville.

Near the end of 1863 the Texans again held a gubernatorial election. When the able Lubbock announced that he would not seek office again, the contest was between Pendleton Murrah and T. J. Chambers. In a dull campaign the ailing Murrah easily won.[92]

BEGINNING OF THE END: 1864

The western frontier of Texas was again being ravaged by Indian raids in 1864. The Frontier Regiment still existed; but, once it was accepted into Confederate service, all but four of its companies were transferred to East Texas. These four companies and a small command known as Bourland’s Border Regiment, stationed near the Red River, simply could not safeguard the state’s extensive line of settlement against heavy Indian attacks.[93] In one raid six hundred Comanches and Kiowas depredated the Elm Creek locality in Young County.[94] The only help that the Texas government could offer the hard-pressed frontiersmen was advice to “fort up” for security. In explaining this means of defense, a state general order stressed the need for “getting together & building blockhouses and stockade to live in. Four, five, or more families might get together in this way, & thus insure the safety of the women & children.”[95] Buck Barry, an experienced Indian fighter, described an ideal stockade as four houses fenced together with picket logs and featuring two log bastions on opposite corners to allow sharpshooters to cover all approaches.[96] Until well after the end of the great sectional struggle, Texas frontier families relied on this passive defensive means during frequent periods of Indian unrest.

With the arrival of spring, 1864, the Federals commenced an invasion up the Red River that was expected to penetrate into Texas. Again General Banks had charge of the expedition. This time his forces moved up the Red River while another Union column pushed southward through Arkansas. The objective of both Federal armies was Shreveport. By late March, General Kirby Smith had received communications that convinced him of the seriousness of these two enemy columns. In all, the enemy forces were estimated to total 50,000 foot soldiers and 8,000 cavalry troops. Major General Richard Taylor, in command of Confederate forces in western Louisiana, and Major General Sterling Price, Confederate commander in Arkansas, were both instructed to pull back cautiously toward Shreveport before the Federal advances. The two commanders were also warned to avoid heavy clashes with the invaders unless success was sure to follow for the Southerners.[97] General Kirby Smith warned Governor Murrah of the situation: “It is my duty to advise you that your State, especially, in its Northern Section, is threatened with immediate invasion, that the means at my disposal are comparatively small and inadequate, and I urge upon you the necessity of putting immediately every armed man in Texas into the field.”[98]

In answer to this situation, drastic means were taken to force men into uniform. Shirkers were arrested and forced into military service, and troops detailed to non-combatant jobs were returned to active commands. Confederate regiments at guard positions in Texas were shifted to Louisiana, while defense of the Gulf ports was left to state soldiers.[99] In the meanwhile, Major General F. Steele and the Union forces in Arkansas pushed across the Little Missouri River to within two hundred miles of Banks, who had now secured Natchitoches, Louisiana. Then, on April 8, 1864, as Banks’ invaders occupied Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, and advanced to within three miles of Mansfield, Louisiana, General Taylor committed his forces in a desperate attempt to throw back the Federals. After a hard fought battle Banks’ army was defeated and compelled to retreat to Pleasant Hill. Taylor’s men retained close contact with the retreating Federals and after equally hard fighting on the second day, the Confederate commander could report that the Union troops were undertaking a night withdrawal to the Red River near Natchitoches. Later Southern reports claimed a Union rout on the first day and a definite check on enemy counter-attack on the second day.[100]

When Union prisoners captured in this fighting were asked what had caused their retreat, some of them claimed that it was “them ‘durned Texans’ hollerin’ that scared them.”[101] Texas troops especially enjoyed the capturing of

A regiment of New York Zouaves all dressed in red flannel trousers, looking somewhat like ladies’ bloomers of later times. They wore dainty red caps with tassels and made a sight for the Texans to look at, and when they were marching by and were halted, the Texas troops pretended to get mad, swore because they had been compelled to fight women. Some of them threw down their guns and declared that if they were to fight any more women they would go home. The Zouaves thought the Texas boys were in earnest and protested loudly that they were not women.[102]

Banks eventually withdrew to Alexandria, barely saving his fleet, which was almost stranded upstream by a sudden fall in the Red River.[103] Meanwhile, in late April, Price forced an enemy retreat in Arkansas. At Poison Springs, Marks’ Mill, and Jenkins’ Ferry, General Steele was repulsed and his command pressed northward. Thus, the overall Union plan to converge on Shreveport was frustrated and Kirby Smith’s men had victoriously repulsed overwhelming numbers.

Although Richmond was delighted to hear this news, these successes in the Trans-Mississippi West had a strange effect on the thinking of Confederate leaders. President Jefferson Davis and the War Department suddenly came to look on Kirby Smith’s scattered, unpaid, and poorly organized army of 30,000 men as a powerful source of reinforcements for hard-pressed Confederate commands to the east of the Mississippi River. Orders were issued for heavy portions of Kirby Smith’s army to cross the great river in August, 1864. At the last moment, however, these plans were cancelled—partly because of the near impossibility of the river crossing operation and partly because of heated protests from General Kirby Smith. While the War Office was justified in seeking relief for the divisions in the east, Kirby Smith made it clear that his regiments were barely capable of securing the Southwest. The loss of any appreciable number of men would spell sure doom for his department.[104]

While Texas now seemed temporarily safe from military advances, other signs of weakness were to be observed. Confederate paper dollars came to be worth only twenty cents or thirty cents in specie. Texas tried to correct this condition by issuing state treasury warrants, but this paper likewise suffered a drastic drop in real value as the war continued.[105] The heavily indebted state pressed Richmond for payment of defense claims; but unfortunately for Texas, these claims were never honored.[106] As for cotton sales in Mexico, this one great source of revenue for the Lone Star State was very poorly managed. Due to conflicting rules set down by the Confederate government, by the departmental commander, by the state military district commander, and by the state civil government, the entire commerce was badly hampered.[107] Added to this were the manipulations of dishonest state and Confederate purchasing and marketing agents. About the only successful cotton brokers were those men who flaunted the laws and smuggled bales across the Rio Grande.

Other serious weaknesses in Texas were a continued scarcity of weapons, a shortage of laborers that forced the Confederate authorities to impress slaves, and refusals on the part of civilians to sell supplies to the army that ultimately resulted in impressments.[108] As for the citizens, they were oppressed by high taxes, inflation, and shortages of basic necessities. By late 1864 shoes cost $30, watermelons sold at $5 each, coffee brought $10 per pound when it was available, and one woman reportedly paid $90 for a yard and a half of denim material.[109] Salt was so scarce that many people dug up the floors of their smoke-houses and leached the soil to regain the saline drippings. Toothbrushes consisted of the chewed ends of twigs. Whole dishes were scarce and were handled with loving care. Paper, quinine, and tea were almost impossible to find.[110] Finally, the overall unhealthy situation of the times was aggravated by unconfirmed reports of Unionist uprisings in the state, unwarranted speculation on future invasions of Texas, and dozens of extremely wild rumors.[111]

FIGHTING BEYOND TEXAS: 1863-1865

After heavy losses at Gettysburg, Hood’s Texas Brigade was shifted to Tennessee in September of 1863. At Chickamauga, the First Texas, Fourth Texas, and Fifth Texas charged through artillery and small arms fire to push repeatedly against a determined enemy in well protected positions. One company of the First Texas had only a single officer and no men surviving as a result of the many days of fighting. The First and Fifth Texas had fewer than one hundred men each who were unscratched at this point of the campaign.[112]

In November, the Texans in Hood’s Brigade marched off with Lieutenant General James Longstreet to capture the Federal stronghold at Knoxville. When this plan miscarried, Longstreet’s army was compelled to spend a miserable and austere winter in northeastern Tennessee. With the spring thaws of 1864, the Texas Brigade again was shifted to the Virginia front. Back in familiar surroundings, the battered regiments struggled to withstand General Grant’s hammering. At the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and other prominent Virginia engagements, the brigade continued to rely on bravery to compensate for its lack of size.

The remaining months of the war saw the Texans manning a portion of the Richmond line and then acting as a rear guard in April of 1865, when Longstreet’s Corps tried to retreat to Danville. As the news of the surrender was heard, the Texans were entrenching themselves in the face of an impending attack. The three Texas regiments had performed remarkable feats of arms and, on a number of occasions, had been singled out by General Lee for praise. But again the price of military fame had been staggering—the historian of Company “M” of the First Texas made this all too clear when he recorded that only six of the company’s original one hundred and twenty-five men were present at the surrender.[113]

Meanwhile, after Hood’s Brigade marched off towards Knoxville in late 1863, almost a dozen Texas units had remained behind to complete the Chattanooga campaign. In Breckinridge’s Corps were the Sixth Texas Infantry, the Seventh Texas Infantry, the Tenth Texas Infantry, the Fifteenth Texas Cavalry (dismounted), the Seventeenth Texas Cavalry, the Eighteenth Texas Cavalry, the Twenty-Fourth Texas Cavalry, the Twenty-Fifth Texas Cavalry, and Douglas’ Texas Battery. Two other Texas cavalry regiments, the Eighth (Terry’s Texas Rangers) and the Eleventh, were assigned to Wheeler’s Cavalry Corps.

On November 24 and 25, the Texas regiments in Cleburne’s Division of Breckinridge’s Corps engaged in bitter combat on Missionary Ridge. As the center of the Confederate line was broken, Texas regiments that had been making progress against the Union right were commanded to fall back to Ringgold, Georgia, twenty miles away, and to make a defensive stand there as the main Southern army pulled back through that town. On November 26, the Texans were manning blocking positions near Ringgold. Strenuous fighting there delayed Union advance elements until General Braxton Bragg’s main forces were safe. At one time in this rear guard action, three Texas companies routed “an entire regiment, the Twenty-ninth Missouri (Federal), capturing their colors and between 60 and 100 prisoners, and causing the attacking brigade to withdraw.”[114] The Texans were tendered a vote of thanks by the main army for their protective screening of the retreat. Hiram B. Granbury, who had recently been given command of a brigade of these Texas regiments, was promoted to the rank of brigadier general for this action.[115]

Throughout 1864 the Texans were active in the fighting that took place in northwestern Georgia and in the defenses of Atlanta. That fall, the men of the Lone Star State were present when John Bell Hood assumed command of the Army of Tennessee and instituted his winter push back into Tennessee. At Franklin, Granbury’s men were all but wiped out in a series of unsuccessful assaults against Union positions on November 30, Granbury being one of the killed. The next morning not a single captain in the brigade was capable of performing duty. The remnants of the shattered Texas regiments were almost captured at Nashville when Union Major General George Thomas’ pressure caused a break in the Southerners’ left and center. As a rout-like withdrawal commenced, the Texans on the extreme right were not given the word to fall back. When they discovered that the rest of the army was retreating, the Texans fell back and were again assigned the serious task of guarding the rear of the main force.[116]

After Hood’s failure in Tennessee, command of the army was returned to General Joseph Johnston in January, 1865. For the rest of the war the Texans in Johnston’s army fought in vain to arrest Sherman’s advance from Savannah into the Carolinas. At the time of the surrender there were only about six hundred men in the eight regiments that composed Granbury’s old brigade. In one company of the Eighteenth Texas Cavalry there were but five men left.[117]

Elsewhere, earlier in the war, Ross’ Cavalry Brigade had engaged in extensive raiding operations in the Alabama-Mississippi-Tennessee area. Ross’ command was composed of the Third Texas Cavalry, the Sixth Texas Cavalry, The Ninth Texas Cavalry, and Twenty-Seventh Texas Cavalry. After patrolling to the south of Vicksburg, the brigade spent much of the remainder of 1864 harassing a large Union force that shifted from the Mississippi Valley to the east, and in defending Atlanta. While striving to delay United States advances against Atlanta, the brigade averaged a fight a day for over three months. Late that fall, Ross was ordered to support Hood’s re-entry into Tennessee. In raids of late November and December, Ross lost over one hundred men; yet he captured over five times that number of prisoners, he seized nine Federal colors, he relieved the enemy of a great amount of equipment, he destroyed two fully loaded United States railway supply trains, and he captured almost fifty supply wagons. Ross’ Brigade ended the war again conducting patrol actions in Mississippi.[118]

Similarly active was Terry’s Texas Rangers. After suffering forty per cent casualties in the Chickamauga-Chattanooga struggles, the Rangers so diligently carried out raids against Federal camps that they crossed and re-crossed the Tennessee River on six different occasions in the winter of 1863-64. After the fall of Atlanta and the commencement of Hood’s Tennessee campaign, the Rangers remained in Georgia with Wheeler’s Cavalry Corps—the only sizable unit left to oppose Sherman’s march across Georgia. When the Union army reached Savannah and redirected its march into the Carolinas, the Texans kept up their futile efforts to delay the advance of the overpowering Federal forces. Finally, in April of 1865, at Greensboro, North Carolina, the Texans learned of General Joseph Johnston’s surrender. In spite of this, a number of men agreed to evade their captors and to flee westward in small groups to join Kirby Smith’s army in the Southwest. But by the time these men reached the Mississippi River, news was heard of the surrender of all Confederate forces to the west. Disappointed brigade members then realized the hopelessness of their situation and disbanded.[119]

Texas contributed heavily to the Confederate military effort in terms of manpower and in the area of leadership. It contributed one general, Albert Sidney Johnston. It was the adopted home of a lieutenant general, John Bell Hood. It furnished three major generals: S. B. Maxey, John A. Wharton, and Tom Green. In addition there were thirty-two brigadier generals and almost one hundred colonels.[120] As for troop units, the Lone Star State supplied the Confederate army with forty-five regiments of cavalry, twenty-three regiments of infantry, twelve battalions of cavalry, four battalions of infantry, one regiment of heavy artillery, and three light artillery batteries. Besides these units mustered into Confederate service, Texas had many organizations that remained under state control. A current listing of named Texas units includes thirty artillery batteries, one artillery regiment, thirty-nine cavalry battalions, sixty-one cavalry regiments, thirteen infantry battalions, twenty-eight infantry regiments, and two legions.[121] These organizations fought in all parts of the South and their operations ranged from Maryland to Arizona and from the Potomac River to the Rio Grande. As for heroism, the state produced such outstanding regiments as those of Hood’s Brigade and such noted individuals as Lieutenant Dick Dowling. In all, the men of Texas did their utmost to support the Southern cause to which they had pledged their allegiance.

THE BREAK-UP: 1865

By spring, 1865, the soldiers of the trans-Mississippi region were showing signs of the increasing defeatist feeling. A Union officer who scouted widely in the Rio Grande valley reported that “the demoralization of the rebel army in Texas is very extensive. In all the counties from San Antonio to Austin up to the mountains the rebel soldiers are coming home in large numbers, and in two or three places have notified the enrolling officer and provost-marshal that their services were no longer needed.”[122]

But on the other hand, the Confederate government and General Kirby Smith were taking extreme measures to keep the field forces intact. In February, 1865, all non-fighting troop details were outlawed except where soldiers were needed to keep a few key manufacturies in operation, all white men from eighteen to forty-five were ordered to report for immediate military service, and all leaves were cancelled.[123] Kirby Smith implored Richmond to make available the $50,000,000 in back pay due his men.[124] All Confederate prisoners on parole in Texas were declared to be exchanged and were commanded to rejoin their units. Unauthorized absentees were promised pardons if they returned to their companies within twenty days.[125] Once more Federal invasion troops were moving up the Red River and down from Arkansas. Only by thus scraping the bottom of the barrel could Texas hope to keep the determined foe at bay.

In late April, 1865, just as a number of scandals involving illegal seizures of privately owned cotton were coming to light, the word arrived in Texas that General Lee had surrendered in Virginia. General Kirby Smith and Governor Murrah quickly penned proclamations asking the soldiers and citizens of the trans-Mississippi region to continue the struggle. Murrah declared that “These unforeseen calamities imposed additional responsibilities on the State of Texas” because Southerners now looked “with eager eyes and anxious hearts to the people and armies of this Department, for rescue and deliverance. They will not—they must not look in vain. With God’s blessing, it may yet be the proud privilege of Texas, the youngest of the Confederate Sisters, to redeem the cause of the Confederacy from its present perils.”[126]

But such inspiring words failed miserably to compensate for the common realization that the Confederacy had failed. It could now be seen that for many months past the Southwest had endured the war in a desperate hope that Lee would soon achieve complete victory. With this one great hope crushed, the entire department was too demoralized to continue the fight. Desertions in very large numbers followed. Oftentimes bands of ten and twenty men would leave their undersized regiments in a single night. In Galveston, only the timely calling out of faithful troops prevented the attempted desertion of four hundred soldiers.[127]

By May, surrender negotiations between Kirby Smith’s representatives and the United States government were in progress. It was at this time that the last land action of the war took place in the isolated Brownsville sector. In mid-May some eight hundred Union soldiers were moving from their Brazos de Santiago base when they suddenly made contact with several hundred of Colonel John S. Ford’s Confederates who were camped at White’s Ranch. The Southerners had heard nothing of Lee’s surrender, but had been warned of the presence of Union troops by French and Mexican observers on the south side of the Rio Grande. The Federals quickly formed a skirmish line, pushed against the Confederates, and then entrenched in the sandy soil of Palmetto Ranch. As this occurred, Ford managed to position six artillery pieces on Palmetto Hill and fired down into the United States soldiers’ defensive works. This forced the superior Federal command to retire from the field. In all, the Union lost over one hundred prisoners. When these captives convinced Ford of Lee’s surrender, the Texans were so stunned that no pursuit of the retreating enemy soldiers was attempted.[128]

Finally, on May 26, Lieutenant General S. B. Buckner, Kirby Smith’s Chief of Staff, negotiated a “military convention of peace” with high Union officials in New Orleans.[129] This act was finalized on June 2 when General Kirby Smith formally signed the articles of surrender aboard the Union warship Fort Jackson in Galveston harbor. In the same month Federal troops arrived to occupy Texas. To impress French observers in Mexico, the Rio Grande was made a point of concentration for occupation soldiers. A strange sight was seen in Galveston on June 16 when the occupation officially started. Three hundred silent Texans watched as a United States transport ship loaded with soldiers was tied to the landing while a blue clad band played “Yankee Doodle.” Three days later, on “Juneteenth,” Major General Gordon Granger, recently named commander of Union forces in Texas, landed at the same port and immediately issued a proclamation declaring free all Texas slaves.[130] Eventually there were over 50,000 Federal soldiers in Texas. Parts of Herron’s Division occupied northeastern Texas. Mower’s Division occupied Galveston. Custer and 4,000 cavalrymen occupied Austin. Merritt occupied San Antonio with an even larger force of mounted men. Elsewhere the state was occupied by the Fourth Corps, the Thirteenth Corps, and the Twenty-Fifth Corps.[131]

The war was at last over. Some Texans were able to express pleasure that the end had finally come while others were not talking. A few of the state’s leaders during the war fled to Mexico. The solid citizenry of the state faced the task of creating a respected state government and an enduring nation. They faced this task with a firmness of purpose that has characterized our citizens since the establishment of the Republic of Texas.

NOTES

1. To the north were Commanches and Kiowas, to the west were Apaches and hostile New Mexicans, and to the south were unfriendly Mexicans.

2. Population of the United States in 1860 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1864), pp. 472-90.

3. Ibid., Agriculture of the United States in 1860 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1864), pp. 140-51. A. B. Bender, “Principal Military Posts in the Southwest” in The March of Empire (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1952), opposite p. 284.

4. Ernest W. Winkler, Platform of Political Parties in Texas (Bulletin of the University of Texas, 1916: No. 53), pp. 11-80. Llerena Friend, Sam Houston The Great Designer (Austin: The University of Texas Press, 1954) pp. 241 ff. Charles W. Ramsdell, “The Frontier and Secession” in Studies in Southern History and Politics: Inscribed to William Archibald Dunning (New York: Columbia University Press, 1914), p. 74.

5. Hattie J. Roach, A History of Cherokee County (Dallas: Southwest Press, 1934), pp. 61-62. Anna I. Sandbo, “Beginnings of the Secession Movement in Texas” in The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XVIII, No. 2, Oct., 1914, pp. 169-72.

6. The convention call referred to Section I of the “Bill of Rights” of the Texas Constitution of 1845. This section provided that “All political power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority, and instituted for their benefit; and they have at all times the unalienable right to alter, reform, or abolish their form of government, in such a manner as they think expedient.” Constitution of The State of Texas (1845) in H.P.N. Gammel, The Laws of Texas 1822-1897 (Austin: The Gammel Book Co., 1898), II, p. 1277. Oran M. Roberts, “The Political, Legislative, and Judicial History of Texas for its Fifty Years of Statehood” in Dudley G. Wooten, A Comprehensive History of Texas 1685 to 1897 (Dallas: William G. Scarff, 1898), II, p. 88.

7. Edward R. Maher, Jr., “Sam Houston and Secession” in The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, LV, No. 4, Apr., 1952, pp. 453-54. Amelia W. Williams and Eugene C. Barker, The Writings of Sam Houston 1813-1863 (Austin: The University of Texas Press, 1943), VIII, pp. 220-21. Ernest W. Winkler [ed.], Journal of the Secession Convention of Texas 1861 (Austin: Austin Printing Co., 1912), pp. 9-13.

8. Ibid., pp. 20-22, 405-08.

9. Gammel, The Laws of Texas, IV, pp. 1519-20.

10. The seven delegates to Montgomery Convention were: Louis T. Wigfall, John Hemphill, John H. Reagan, John Gregg, W. S. Oldham, T. N. Waul, and William B. Ochiltree.

11. Winkler, Journal of the Secession Convention, pp. 15-85.

12. “Proclamation by the Governor” Executive Record Book Governor F. R. Lubbock 1861 to 1863, No. 279, MSS, p. 187. Texas State Archives.

13. Winkler, Journal of the Secession Convention, pp. 262-83.

14. Roberts, “Fifty Years of Statehood” in Wooten, A Comprehensive History of Texas, II, p. 114.

15. Winkler, Journal of the Secession Convention, pp. 86-90.

16. Ibid., pp. 92-251.

17. “Texas and Texans in the Civil War. 1861-1865” in Wooten, A Comprehensive History of Texas, II, pp. 522-26.

18. “Proclamation to the People of Texas,” Apr. 17, 1861, Executive Record Book, No. 279, pp. 237-40. “Proclamation to the People of Texas”, Apr. 24, 1861. Ibid., pp. 242-43.

19. Ella Lonn, Foreigners in the Confederacy (Chapel Hill: The University of the North Carolina Press, 1940), p. 59, 124. McCulloch to Davis, Mar. 25, 1861. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880-1901), I, 9, pp. 704-05. Hereafter referred to as O.R., and assumed to be Series I unless otherwise indicated. Idem. to idem. Mar. 31, 1861, ibid., p. 705.

20. “Statement of regiments, etc. mustered into the service of the Confederate States,” Sept. 30, 1861, ibid., IV, 1, p. 630.

21. Clark to Legislature, Nov. 1, 1861, Executive Record Book, No. 279, pp. 355 ff. Idem. to Davis, July 28, 1861, Executive Record Book, Governor Edward Clark 1861, No. 80, MSS, p. 97. Texas State Archives.

22. W. W. Heartsill, Fourteen Hundred and 91 Days in the Confederate Army. Bell I. Wiley [ed.] (A Facsimile reproduction of the original.) (Jackson, Tennessee: McCowat-Mercer Press, 1954), p. xv, 2-4, 14 ff, 22-23.

23. The Southern Confederacy (Seguin), Sept. 20, 1861. Clark to Rogers and Felder, May 17, 1861, Executive Record Book No. 80, pp. 70-71. Byrd to McCulloch, Sept. 22, 1861, O.R., 4, p. 109.

24. Clark to Baylor, May 13, 1861, Executive Record Book, No. 80, p. 63. Idem. to Nichols, May 17, 1861, ibid., p. 71. Idem. to Bee, Aug. 15, 1861, ibid., pp. 108-09.

25. Idem., to Carothers, Aug. 29, 1861, ibid., p. 123. Idem. to Walker, Sept. 7, 1861, ibid., pp. 127-28. Myers to Minter, Sept. 14, 1861. O.R., 4, p. 105. Clark to the “People of Texas”, Aug. 31, 1861, Executive Record Book, No. 80, pp. 124-25.

26. Frank Anderson, “Missouri’s Confederate State Capitol at Marshall, Texas” in The Missouri Historical Review, XXVII, No. 3, Apr., 1933, pp. 240-43. Clark to Davis, July 28, 1861, Executive Record Book, No. 80, pp. 97-98. Joseph C. McConnell, The West Texas Frontier (Palo Pinto: Texas Legal Bank and Book Co., 1939), II, p. 46. Gammel, The Laws of Texas, V, pp. 452-54. Lubbock to Reagan, Dec. 27, 1861, O.R., 4, pp. 161-64. Idem. to McCulloch, Dec. 24, 1861. Executive Record Book, Governor F. R. Lubbock, 1861 to 1863, No. 81, MSS, p. 60. Texas State Archives.

27. Pratt to Hunter, July 1, 1861. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of Rebellion (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1912), 16, pp. 829-30. Hereafter referred to as O.R.N. Reports of Stevens, June 12, 1861, ibid., pp. 825-26. Lubbock to McCulloch, Dec. 23, 1861. Executive Record Book, No. 81, pp. 52-53.

28. Idem. to Hébert, Dec. 7, 1861. ibid., pp. 31-34.

29. Bee to Secretary of War, Oct. 12, 1861, O.R., 4, pp. 118-19. Claude Elliott, “Union Sentiment in Texas 1861-1865” in The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, L, No. 4, Apr., 1947, pp. 459-62.

30. William McGraw, Professional Politicians (Washington: The Imperial Press, 1940), pp. 117-18.

31. Galveston Weekly News, Aug. 20, 1861. William C. Whitford, Colorado Volunteers in the Civil War (Denver: The State Historical and National Historical Society, 1906), p. 29. Lynde to Canby, July 7, 1861, O.R., 4, p. 58. Report of Lynde, Aug. 7, 1861, ibid., pp. 5-6.

32. Charles S. Walker, “Causes of the Confederate Invasion of New Mexico” in the New Mexico Historical Review, VIII, No. 2, Apr., 1933, pp. 76-97. Mamie Yeary, Reminiscences of the Boys in Gray 1861-1865 (Dallas: Smith and Lamar, 1912), pp. 247-48. Whitford, Colorado Volunteers, pp. 20-21.

33. Martin H. Hall, “The Formation of Sibley’s Brigade and the March to New Mexico” in The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, LXI, No. 3, Jan., 1958, pp. 385-405. Theodore Noel, A Campaign from Santa Fe to the Mississippi; Being a History of the Old Sibley Brigade (Shreveport: Shreveport News Printing Establishment, 1865), pp. 5-6. Clark to Hogg, Aug. 16, 1861, Executive Record Book, No. 80, pp. 110-11. General Order No. 10, Dec. 14, 1861, O.R., 4, pp. 157-58. General Order No. 12, Dec. 20, 1861, ibid., p. 159. Wright to Carleton, Jan. 31, 1862, ibid., pp. 90-91. Sibley to Cooper, Feb. 22, 1862, ibid., 9, pp. 505-06. Donaldson to Paul, Mar. 10, 1862, ibid., p. 527. Canby to A. G., Apr. 11, 1862, ibid., pp. 549-50. W. W. Mills, Forty Years at El Paso, 1858-1898 (Chicago: W. B. Conkey, 1901), pp. 54-59. Yeary, Reminiscences, p. 613.

34. Roberts to Thomas, Apr. 23, 1862, O.R., 9, p. 666. William A. Keleher, Turmoil in New Mexico 1846-1868 (Santa Fe: The Rydal Press, 1952), pp. 188 ff.

35. Lubbock to Pike, June 18, 1862, Executive Record Book, No. 81, p. 275.

36. Tri-Weekly Telegraph (Houston), May 24, 1862. Lubbock to Flournoy, Executive Record Book, No. 81, pp. 293-94.

37. Report of Kittredge, O.R.N., 19, pp. 151-52. David D. Porter, The Naval History of the Civil War (New York: The Sherman Publishing Co., 1886), pp. 345-46.

38. DeBray to Moise, Oct. 5, 1862, O.R., 15, p. 148. Cook to Franklin, Oct. 9, 1862, ibid., pp. 151-53. Hébert to Lubbock, Nov. 8, 1862, ibid., p. 858. Lubbock to Washington, Dec. 9, 1862, Executive Record Book, No. 81, p. 436.

39. Banks to President, Dec. 18, 1863 (sic.) O.R., 15, pp. 1096-97.

40. Philip C. Tucker, 3d., “The United States Gunboat Harriet Lane” in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XXI, No. 4, Apr., 1918, pp. 363-69. Porter, Naval History, pp. 269-71. Mrs. E. M. Loughery, War and Reconstruction Times in Texas, 1861-1865 (Austin: Von Boeckmann-Jones Co., 1914), p. 28. Yeary, Reminiscences, p. 139.

41. Chris Emmett, Texas Camel Tales (San Antonio: Naylor Printing Co., 1932), p. 197, 204, 212.

42. A. J. H. Duganne, Camps and Prisons, Twenty Months in the Department of the Gulf (New York: J. P. Robens, 1865), p. 243. Charles C. Nott, Sketches in Prison Camps: A Continuation of Sketches of the War (New York: Anson D. F. Randolph, 1865), pp. 92-93, 171.

43. Ibid., pp. 171-72. Dr. Albert Woldert, A History of Tyler and Smith County, Texas (San Antonio: The Naylor Company, 1948), pp. 39-40. John W. Greene, Camp Ford Prison; and How I Escaped (Toledo: n.p., 1893), p. 27, 29-30, 32.

44. Lubbock to Pickens, Apr. 18, 1962, Executive Record Book, No. 81, p. 225.

45. Charles W. Ramsdell, Reconstruction in Texas (New York: Columbia University, 1910), p. 21.

46. Duff to Gray, June 23, 1862, O.R., II, 4, pp. 785-87. Lonn, Foreigners in the Confederacy, pp. 312-13. Gertrude Harris, A Tale of Men Who Knew Not Fear (San Antonio: Alamo Printing House, 1935), pp. 13-15. H. A. Trexler, “Episode in Border History” in Southwest Review, XVI, No. 2, Jan., 1931, pp. 237-38.

47. Tri-Weekly Telegraph (Houston), Dec. 5, 1862.

48. General Order No. 45, May 30, 1862, O.R., 9, pp. 715-16. Cooper to Hébert, Sept. 12, 1862, ibid., p. 735.

49. Heartsill, 1491 Days, pp. 44-45. Matthew P. Andrews, The Women of the South in War Times (Baltimore: The Norman-Remington Co., 1920), pp. 416-23. Loughery, War in Texas, pp. 14-15. W. Lotto, “Fayette County, Her History and Her People” in Leonie R. Weyand and Houston Wade, An Early History of Fayette County (LaGrange: LaGrange Journal, 1936), p. 252.

50. Lubbock to Rippetoe, Jan. 27, 1862, Executive Record Book, No. 81, pp. 114-15. Idem. to Fluellen, Jan. 27, 1862, ibid., pp. 116-17. Idem. to Lane, Feb. 5, 1862, ibid., p. 138. Idem. to Bryan, July 1, 1862, ibid., pp. 286-88. Idem. to Feris, Nov. 16, 1862, ibid., pp. 388-89, 390.

51. J. B. Hood, Advance and Retreat (New Orleans: Hood Orphan Memorial Fund, 1880), pp. 15-19.

52. In early 1862 Wigfall was elected to the Confederate Senate and Hood gained command of the brigade.

53. Douglas Southall Freeman, Lee’s Lieutenants (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1946), I, pp. 197-99. Hood, Advance and Retreat, p. 21.

54. Ibid., p. 28. Report of Whiting, O.R., 11 pt. 2, pp. 563-64. Report of Hood, ibid., pp. 568-69.

55. Report of Hood, ibid., 12, pt. 2, pt. 604-06. Report of Guild, ibid., p. 560. Report of Robertson, ibid., p. 618.

56. Report of Hood, ibid., 19, pt. 1, pp. 922-24. Report of Frobel, ibid., pp. 924-26.

57. Report of Wofford, ibid., pp. 927-29. Report of Work, ibid., pp. 931-34.

58. Report of Robertson, ibid., 27, pt. 2, pp. 404-07.

59. Harry McCorry Henderson, Texas in the Confederacy (San Antonio: The Naylor Company, 1955), pp. 31-34. Freeman, Lee’s Lieutenants, III, pp. 145 ff.

60. U. S. Grant, Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant (London: Samson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1885), p. 185.

61. William P. Johnston, The Life of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1879), pp. 557, 677. Mrs. Kate Scurry Terrell, “Terry’s Texas Rangers” in Wooten, A Comprehensive History of Texas, II, p. 685.

62. Ibid., pp. 577-80.

63. Johnston, Johnston, pp. 558 ff.

64. Report of Whitfield, O.R., 17, pt. 1, pp. 128-29. Grant, Memoirs, pp. 210-14. “Texas and Texans in the Civil War. 1861-1865” in Wooten, A Comprehensive History of Texas, II, pp. 618-19. “The Service of Texas Troops in the Armies of the Southern Confederacy”, ibid., pp. 608-09. Henderson, Texas in the Confederacy, pp. 114-15.

65. Report of Ector, O.R., 20, pt. 1, p. 929. Report of Lock, ibid., pp. 930-32. Report of Bounds, ibid., pp. 932-33. Organization of the Army of Tennessee, ibid., pp. 658-61. Return of the casualties of the Confederate forces, ibid., pp. 676-81.

66. Smith to Pemberton, July —, 1864, ibid., 24, pt. 2, p. 385.

67. Ibid., p. 388.

68. Ibid., pp. 388-90.

69. Ibid., pp. 393-94.

70. Waul to Memminger, July 30, 1863, ibid., p. 358.

71. Ibid.

72. Ibid. Summary of the casualties in the Confederate forces during the siege of Vicksburg, ibid., p. 328.

73. Welles to Chase, Apr. 21, 1863, O.R.N., 17, p. 417.

74. Idem. to Seward, May 22, 1863, ibid., p. 446.

75. Quintero to Lubbock, Dec. 2, 1861, Gov. Lubbock Ltrs., Oct. 14 and Dec. 2, 11, 15, 1861, MSS. Texas State Archives.

76. W. S. Oldham, Memoirs, 1861-1865, pp. 353-54. Typed copy in The University of Texas Archives, Frederic S. Hill, Twenty Years at Sea (New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1893), pp. 191-92. Frank L. Owsley, King Cotton Diplomacy (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1931), pp. 278-79.

77. William Watson, The Adventures of a Blockade Runner (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1892), pp. 64-65, 79.

78. Magruder to Gorgas, May 30, 1863, O.R., 26, pt. 2, pp. 24-25.

79. Frank Brown, Annals of Travis County and the City of Austin, Chap. XXIII, pp. 3-4. Typed copy in the Texas State Archives. Report of Military Board, Mar., 1865 in Edmund T. Miller, A Financial History of Texas (Bulletin of the University of Texas, 1916: No. 37), p. 138. Don H. Biggers, German Pioneers in Texas (Fredericksburg, Texas: Press of the Fredericksburg Publishing Co., 1925), pp. 98-99. Roach, Cherokee County, pp. 66-67. Dabney White [ed.], East Texas, Its History and Its Makers (New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co., 1940), II, p. 871; III, p. 1248. Richard D. Steuart, “The Story of the Confederate Colt” in Army Ordinance, XV, No. 86, Sept.-Oct., 1934, p. 90.

80. Richard Taylor, Destruction and Reconstruction, Richard B. Harwell [ed.] (New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1955), pp. 143 ff. Joseph B. James, “Edmund Kirby Smith: Soldier of the South.” Unpublished M.A. thesis, University of Florida, 1935, pp. 258-59.

81. Lt. Col. A. J. Fremantle, The Fremantle Diary. Walter Lord [ed.] (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1954), pp. 64-65.

82. Ibid., p. 58.

83. Lubbock to Harris, June 17, 1863, Executive Record Book. Governor F. R. Lubbock, 1861-1863, No. 82, MSS, pp. 112-13. Texas State Archives.

84. Oldham, Memoirs, p. 371.

85. Report of Marshall Conference, Aug. 15, 1863, Executive Record Book No. 82, pp. 129-37. Governors to the People, Aug. 18, 1863, ibid., pp. 137-39.

86. Halleck to Banks, Aug. 6, 1863, O.R., 26, pt. 1, p. 672. Idem. to idem., Aug. 10, 1863, ibid., p. 673. Lincoln to Banks, Aug. 5, 1863 in John G. Nicolay and John Hay, Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln (New York: The Lamb Publishing Company, 1894), IX, p. 56. Idem. to Grant, Aug. 9, 1863, ibid., pp. 64-65.

87. Francis R. Sackett, Dick Dowling (Houston: Gulf Publishing Co., 1937), pp. 16-47. Porter, Naval History, pp. 346-47. Report of Magruder, Sept. 10, 1863, O.R.N., 20, pp. 560-61. Andrew Forest Muir, “Dick Dowling and the Battle of Sabine Pass” in Civil War History, IV, No. 4, Dec., 1958, pp. 414 ff.

88. Kirby Smith to Davis, Nov. 13, 1863, O.R., 26, pt. 2, pp. 410-11.

89. Dana to Stone, Dec. 24, 1863, ibid., pt. 1, pp. 876-78.

90. Banks to Halleck, Dec. 12, 1863, ibid., p. 847.

91. Col. H. L. Landers, “Wet Sand and Cotton” in The Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XIX, No. 1, Jan., 1936, pp. 159-62.

92. James T. DeShields, They Sat in High Place (San Antonio: The Naylor Co., 1940), pp. 241-49.

93. Lubbock to McCulloch, Sept. 2, 1863, Executive Record Book, No. 82. pp. 147-48. Certificate by Murrah, Aug. 6, 1864, Executive Record Book, Gov. Pendleton Murrah 1863-1865, No. 280 [sic], MSS, p. 140. Texas State Archives, James K. Greer, Bois d’Arc to Barb’d Wire Ken Cary: Southwest Frontier Born (Dallas: Dealy and Lowe, 1936), pp. 249 ff.

94. Henry C. Williams, The Indian Raid in Young County, Texas October 13, 1864. Typed copy in The University of Texas Archives.

95. General Order No. 1, Dec. 13, 1864, Gov. P. Murrah, Ltrs., July-Dec., 1864 and undated, 1864, MSS, Texas State Archives.

96. James K. Greer [ed.], A Texas Ranger and Frontiersman. The Days of Buck Barry in Texas 1845-1906. (Dallas: The Southwest Press, 1932), pp. 180-181.

97. James, “Edmund Kirby Smith”, pp. 284-85.

98. Kirby Smith to Murrah, Mar. 31, 1864, Gov. P. Murrah Ltrs., Mar., 1864, MSS. Texas State Archives.

99. General Order No. 57, July 23, 1864, O.R., 41, pt. 2, p. 1021. General Order No. 15, July 10, 1864, ibid., pp. 1002-04. Magruder to Murrah, Mar. 14, 1864, Gov. P. Murrah Ltrs., Mar., 1864.

100. Kirby Smith to Price, Aug. 11, 1864, O.R., 34, pt. 3. p. 759. Taylor to Boggs, ibid., pt. 1, p. 528. Drake to Irwin, Apr. 11, 1864, ibid., pt. 3, pp. 127-28.

101. Yeary, Reminiscences, p. 448.

102. Ibid., p. 627.

103. James G. Wilson, “The Red River Dam” in Galaxy, I, June 1, 1866, pp. 241-45.

104. Kirby Smith to Cooper, Apr. 14, 1864, O.R., 34, pt. 3, pp. 764-65. Idem. to Bragg, Aug. 3, 1864 in collection of the papers of Edmund Kirby Smith, folder No. 45, The University of Texas Library. Taylor to Buckner, Aug. 18, 1864, ibid.

105. E. T. Miller, “The State Finances of Texas During the Civil War” in The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, XIV, No. 1, July, 1910, pp. 12-13.

106. Commission by Murrah, Jan. 13, 1864, Executive Record Book, No. 280 [sic], p. 58.

107. Charles W. Ramsdell, “The Texas State Military Board” in The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XXVII, No. 4, Apr., 1924, pp. 269-71.

108. Boggs to Magruder, Mar. 22, 1864, O.R., 34, pt. 2, p. 1074. Magruder to Bates, Apr. 22, 1864, ibid., pt. 3, pp. 784-85. Impressment schedule, Jan. 1, 1864, ibid., pt. 2, pp. 811-14.

109. R. H. Williams, With the Border Ruffians, Memoirs of the Far West 1852-1868. E. W. Williams, [ed.] (London: John Murray, 1907), p. 286. Eliza McHattan-Ripley, From Flag to Flag (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1889), p. 102.

110. Ibid., pp. 97-100.

111. Heartsill, 1491 Days, pp. 202-03.

112. D. H. Hamilton, History of Company M. First Texas Volunteer Infantry (n.p., n.p., 1925), pp. 32 ff. John C. West, A Texan in Search of a Fight (Waco: J. S. Hill & Co., 1901), p. 109.

113. Mrs. A. V. Winkler, “Hood’s Texas Brigade” in Wooten, A Comprehensive History of Texas, II, pp. 672-80. Hamilton, Company M, passim.

114. Report to Granbury, O.R., 31, pt. 2, p. 774.

115. Report of Cleburne, ibid., pp. 745-53. Report of Granbury, ibid., pp. 773-75.

116. Richard O’Connor, Hood; Cavalier General (New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1949), pp. 226 ff. O. P. Bowser, “Notes on Granbury’s Brigade” in Wooten, A Comprehensive History of Texas, II, pp. 751-53.

117. Ibid., pp. 753-54.

118. “Texas and Texans in the Civil War” in ibid., pp. 619-27. Report of Ross, O.R., 45, pt. 1, pp. 767-73.

119. Terrell, “Terry’s Texas Rangers” in Wooten, A Comprehensive History of Texas, II, pp. 689-94. J. K. P. Blackburn, Reminiscences of the Terry Rangers (Austin: n.p., 1919), pp. 71-74.

120. Henderson, Texas in the Confederacy, p. xi.

121. Wooten, A Comprehensive History of Texas, II, p. 571. Lester N. Fitzhugh [compiled by], Texas Batteries, Battalions, Regiments, Commanders and Field Officers Confederate States Army 1861-1865 (Midlothian, Texas: Mirror Press, 1959).

122. Dolan to Hurlbut, Apr. 3, 1865, O.R., 48, pt. 2, p. 17.

123. General Order No. 10, Feb. 13, 1865, ibid., pt. 1, pp. 1385-86.

124. James Ford Rhodes, History of the United States From the Compromise of 1850 (New York: The MacMillan Co., 1912-28), V, p. 378.

125. General Order No. 32, Apr. 3, 1865, O.R., II, 8, p. 466. General Order No. 42, Apr. 27, 1865, ibid., 48, pt. 2, pp. 1287-88.

126. Proclamation to the People of Texas, Apr. 27, 1865, Executive Record Book, No. 280, [sic], pp. 12-13.

127. Report of Bell, O.R., 48, pt. 2, pp. 398-403. Magruder to Boggs, Apr. 29, 1865 quoted in A. B. Booth, “Louisiana Confederate Military Records” in Louisiana Historical Quarterly, IV, No. 3, July, 1921, p. 371.

128. Yeary, Reminiscences, pp. 44, 217. Frank C. Pierce, A Brief History of the Rio Grande Valley (Menasha, Wisconsin: George Banta Publishing Co., 1917), pp. 52-54. Florence J. Scott, Old Rough and Ready on the Rio Grande (San Antonio: The Naylor Company, 1935), p. 113.

129. After these negotiations were concluded, Kirby Smith, Murrah, and a number of other leaders left for Mexico.

130. Tri-Weekly Telegraph (Houston), June 20, 1865.

131. Sheridan to Rawlins, Nov. 14, 1866, O.R., 48, pt. 1, pp. 297-303. William A. Ganoe, The History of the United States Army (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1924), p. 299.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

These are selected richer sources of the hundreds of books and documents pertaining to Texas and the Civil War.

MANUSCRIPTS

Executive Record Books and Governor’s Letters (both in Texas State Archives) contain extensive correspondence and records relating to the problems of managing the state during the war.

REPRODUCED COPIES OF MANUSCRIPTS

Collection of the Papers of Edmund Kirby Smith. Folder No. 37-53 (1863-1866). Microfilm in Texas Collection, The University of Texas Library, original at University of North Carolina. Selected military problems of the departmental commander.

Oldham, W. S., Memoirs, 1861-1867. The University of Texas Archives. Rich comments by Texas’ crusty Confederate Senator.

PUBLIC DOCUMENTS

Eighth Census of the United States. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1864. Statistics of 1860 Texas.

Journal of the Secession Convention of Texas 1861. Edited by Ernest W. Winkler. Austin Printing Co., Austin, 1912. Documentary coverage of the convention’s work.

Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1912.

The War of Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1880-1901. Specific parts on Texas are: Series I, Vols. 1, 4, 9, 15, 26, 34, 41, and 48; Series II, Vol. 1.

OTHER PRIMARY SOURCES

Barron, S. B., The Lone Star Defenders, A Chronicle of the Third Texas Cavalry, Ross’ Brigade. The Neale Publishing Co., New York, 1908.

Blessington, Joseph P., The Campaigns of Walker’s Texas Division. Lange, Little & Co., New York, 1875.

DeBray, X. B., A Sketch of the History of DeBray’s (26th) Regiment of Texas Cavalry. Von Boeckmann, Austin, 1884.

Heartsill, W. W., Fourteen Hundred and 91 Days in the Confederate Army. Edited by Bell I. Wiley. McCowat-Mercer Press, Jackson, Tenn., 1954.

McConnell, Joseph C., The West Texas Frontier. Gazette Printing Company, Jacksboro, Texas.

McHatton-Ripley, Eliza, From Flag to Flag. D. Appleton and Co., New York, 1889.

Newcomb, J. P., Sketch of Secession Times in Texas. San Francisco, 1863.

Noel, Theodore, A Campaign from Santa Fe to the Mississippi: Being a History of the Old Sibley Brigade. Shreveport News Printing Establishment, Shreveport, 1865.

North, Thomas, Five Years in Texas; or What You Did Not Hear During the War from January 1861 to January 1866. Elm Street Printing Co., Cincinnati, 1871.

Raines, C. W. [ed.], Six Decades in Texas or Memoirs of Francis Richard Lubbock. Ben C. Jones & Co., Austin, 1900.

Texas Almanac (for the years 1859 through 1865.) Richardson & Co.

SECONDARY SOURCES

Bancroft, Hubert Howe, History of the North Mexican States and Texas. Vol. XVI of The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft. The History Co., San Francisco, 1889.

Blackburn, J. K. P., Reminiscences of the Terry Rangers. Austin, 1919.

Dyer, John P., The Gallant Hood. The Bobbs-Merrill Company, New York, 1950.

Friend, Llerena, Sam Houston The Great Designer. The University of Texas Press, Austin, 1954.

Giles, L. B., Terry’s Texas Rangers. Copyright 1911.

Hamilton, D. H., History of Company M First Texas Volunteer Infantry, 1925.

Henderson, Harry McCorry, Texas in the Confederacy. The Naylor Company, San Antonio, 1955.

James, Joseph B., “Edmund Kirby Smith: Soldier of the South.” Unpublished M.A. thesis, University of Florida, 1935.

Loughery, Mrs. E. M., War and Reconstruction Times in Texas, 1861-1865. Von Boeckmann-Jones Co., Austin, 1914.

Miller, Edmund T., A Financial History of Texas. Bulletin of the University of Texas, 1916: No. 37, July 1, 1916.

Owsley, Frank L., King Cotton Diplomacy. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1931.

Parks, Joseph H., General Edmund Kirby Smith, C.S.A. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, 1954.

Pierce, Frank C., A Brief History of the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Geo. Banta Publishing Co., Menasha, Wisconsin, 1917.

Ramsdell, Charles W., Reconstruction in Texas. Columbia University, New York, 1910.

Rippy, J. Fred, The United States and Mexico. F. S. Crofts & Co., New York, 1931.

Roberts, O. M., Texas. Vol. XI of Confederate Military History. Edited by Gen. Clement A. Evans. Confederate Publishing Company, Atlanta, 1899. A half-volume survey of Texas in the war.

Rose, Victor M., Ross’ Texas Brigade. The Courier-Journal Company, Louisville, 1881.

Smith, Ralph J., Reminiscences of the Civil War. San Marcos, 1911.

Wooten, Dudley, A Comprehensive History of Texas 1685 to 1897. William G. Scarff, Dallas, 1898.

Wright, Marcus J., Texas in the War, 1861-1865. Typed copy in Texas State Archives.

Yeary, Mamie, Compiled by, Reminiscenses of the Boys in Gray 1861-1865. Smith and Lamar, Dallas, 1912.

NEWSPAPERS

Several dozen different newspapers are available covering the period. A general guide to their existence and location is the rather outdated Texas Newspapers 1813-1939. Prepared by Historical Records Survey Program Division of Professional and Survey Projects. W. P. A. of Texas, San Jacinto Museum of History Association, Houston, 1941. Of particular value are:

The Galveston Tri-Weekly News—Texas State Archives and The University of Texas Library.

The Southern Intelligencer (Austin)—Texas State Archives and The University of Texas Library.

The Tri-Weekly Telegraph (Houston)—The University of Texas Library.

ARTICLES

Selections from The Southwestern Historical Quarterly (earlier The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association) are helpful in fitting missing pieces into the picture. Of particular value are:

Bridge, C. A., “The Knights of the Golden Circle”, LIV, No. 3, pp. 287-302.

Crimmins, Col. M. L., “An Episode in the Career of General David E. Twiggs”, XLI, No. 2, pp. 167-73.

Delaney, Robert W., “Matamoros, Fort for Texas during the Civil War”, LVIII, No. 4, pp. 473-87.

Elliott, Claude, “Union Sentiment in Texas 1861-1865”, L, No. 4, pp. 449-77.

Maher, Edward R., Jr., “Sam Houston and Secession”, LV, No. 4, pp. 448-58.

Ramsdell, Charles W., “The Texas State Military Board”, XXVII, No. 4, pp. 253-75.

Sandbo, Anna I., “Beginnings of the Secession Movement in Texas”, XVIII, No. 1, pp. 41-73; No. 2, pp. 162-94.

Valuable articles are also to be found in such journals as:

Journal of Southern History

Mississippi Valley Historical Review

Southern Historical Society Papers

Southwest Review

West Texas Historical Association Year Book

CHRONOLOGY

EVENTS IN TEXAS, 1861-1865

1861
January
5 | Destruction of the printing office of Die Union in Galveston by mob.
21 | Convening of the State Legislature in Austin in compliance with Governor Houston’s proclamation of December 17, 1860.
28 | Approval of the State Legislature of a joint resolution authorizing the impending state convention to act for the people of Texas on the question of secession.
| Holding a Secession Convention in Austin by request of prominent citizens (O. M. Roberts, George Flournoy, Guy M. Bryan, W. S. Oldham and John Marshall) made on December 3, 1860.
30 | Appointment of a Committee of Public Safety by the Secession Convention.
February
1 | Approval of an ordinance of secession by the Secession Convention.
2 | Committee of Public Safety directed to seize all Federal property in Texas.
4 | Adjournment of the Secession Convention until March 2.
6 | Address to the people of Texas by the opponents of secession (D. G. Burnett, E. M. Pease, E. J. Davis, A. J. Hamilton, J. W. Throckmorton, John and George Hancock).
9 | Proclamation by Governor Houston ordering an election to be held February 23 for ratifying or rejecting the Ordinance of Secession.
| Adjournment of the Called Session of the Legislature until March 18.
16 | Seizure of the U.S. Army Military Post, San Antonio, by representatives and forces under orders of the Committee of Safety.
18 | Surrender of U.S. Military posts in Texas by General David E. Twiggs.
19 | Substitution of Colonel Carlos A. Waite for General Twiggs as U.S. Army Commander, Department of Texas.
21 | Seizure of U.S. property at Brazos Santiago by Colonel “Rip” Ford’s Volunteers upon orders of the Committee of Safety.
21 | Abandonment of Camp Cooper, Throckmorton County, by U.S. troops.
23 | State election for ratifying or rejecting the Ordinance of Secession.
26 | Abandonment of Camp Colorado, Coleman County, by U.S. troops.
March
1 | Dismissal of General Twiggs from U.S. Army service.
2 | Reassembly of the Secession Convention in Austin.
| Seizure of U.S. revenU.S.hooner Henry Dodge by armed forces acting under orders of the Committee of Safety.
4 | Votes canvassed on secession ordinance: for secession, 46,129; against, 14,697.
7 | Abandonment of Ringgold Barracks, Starr County, and Camp Verde, Kerr County, by U.S. troops.
12 | Abandonment of Camp McIntosh, Webb County, by U.S. troops.
15 | Abandonment of Camp Wood, Real County, by U.S. troops.
16 | Administering the Confederate oath of office to state officials in the presence of the Secession Convention; Governor Houston refused to take the oath.
17 | Abandonment of Camp Hudson. Val Verde County, by U.S. troops.
19 | Abandonment of Forts Clark, Kinney County; Inge, Uvalde County; and Lancaster, Crockett County, by U.S. troops.
| Governor Sam Houston’s farewell address published in newspapers.
20 | Abandonment of Fort Brown, Cameron County, and Fort Duncan, Maverick County, by U.S. troops.
23 | Abandonment of Fort Chadbourne, Coke County, by U.S. troops.
| Ratification of the permanent Constitution of the Confederate States by the Secession Convention.
25 | Adjournment of the Secession Convention.
29 | Abandonment of Fort Mason, Mason County, by U.S. troops.
31 | Abandonment of Fort Bliss, El Paso County, by U.S. troops.
April
5 | Abandonment of Fort Quitman, Hudspeth County, by U.S. troops.
9 | Adjournment of the called session of the legislature.
11 | Arrival in New York of Federal troops from Texas aboard U.S.S. Coatzacoalcos.
12 | Fort Sumter fired upon.
13 | Abandonment of Fort Davis, Jeff Davis County, by U.S. troops.
17 | Texas Volunteers under Colonel Earl Van Dorn, C.S.A., capture Star Of The West off Texas coast near Indianola.
20 | Seizure of U.S. Coast Guard schooner Twilight by W. A. Jones, Deputy Custom Collector, Aransas, Texas.
21 | Assumption of Military Command of Texas by Colonel Earl Van Doren, C.S.A.
23 | U.S. Army officers at San Antonio made prisoners of war; capture of 8th U.S. Infantry near San Antonio.
25 | Surrender of U.S. forces at Indianola.
| Abandonment of Fort Stockton, Pecos County, by U.S. troops.
May
9 | Capture of U.S. troops near San Lucas Springs or Adams Hill, fifteen miles west of San Antonio.
5 | Capture of Forts Arbuckle, Cobb and Washita, Indian Territory, by Texas state troops commanded by Colonel W. C. Young.
13-14 | Burning of the Alamo Express office, San Antonio by the Knights of the Golden Circle
June
? | Organization in Virginia of the First Texas Infantry Regiment.
13 | Organization of the Third Regiment, Texas Cavalry.
July
2 | Blockading of Galveston initiated by the U.S.S. South Carolina.
4-12 | Destruction and capture of twelve vessels off Galveston by the U.S.S. South Carolina.
| Taking the Oath of Allegiance to the State of Texas and the Confederacy by Live Oak County residents at a mass meeting in Oakville.
8 | Ordering of Brigadier General H. H. Sibley of Texas to expel U.S. forces from New Mexico.
27 | Fort Filmore near Mesilla, New Mexico, captured by Second Regiment Texas Mounted Rifles under Lieutenant Colonel John R. Baylor, C.S.A.
August
? | Skirmishing near Fort Bliss; preparation of Confederate forces for the invasion of New Mexico.
3 | Bombardment of Confederate batteries at Galveston by U.S.S. South Carolina.
11 | Ambushing of Lieutenant May’s detachment of fourteen men, Company D, Second Regiment Texas Mounted Rifles, in a fight with Apaches near Fort Bliss.
14 | Appointment of General Paul O. Hébert, Commander of all Confederate troops in Texas.
September
6 | Mustering of the Sixth Regiment of Texas Cavalry into service at Camp Bartow, Dallas County.
7 | Capturing of the Solidad Cos off Galveston. Its cargo was coffee.
9 | Mustering into service Terry’s Texas Rangers at Houston.
18 | Transferring the command of Confederate troops in Texas from General Van Dorn to General Hébert.
October
1-20 | Discovery of a secret organization in Cooke and adjacent counties to overthrow the Confederate state Government resulting in numerous hangings in and near Gainesville.
2 | Organization of the Ninth Texas Cavalry at Brogden Springs, twelve miles north of Sherman.
3 | Capturing of the Reindeer off San Luis Pass by the U.S.S. Sam Houston.
5-8 | Evacuation of Galveston during a four day truce.
11-16 | Military Operations from Fort Inge, Uvalde County, against Indians led by Sergeant W. Barrett and Company D, Second Regiment Texas Mounted Rifles.
22 | Sibley’s Brigade leaves San Antonio for the invasion of New Mexico.
27 | Capturing of the brig Delta off Galveston by the U.S.S. Santee.
November
1 | Skirmishing between Indians and a scouting party of the First Texas Regiment Mounted Rifles near Pease River.
7 | Francis R. Lubbock inaugurated governor.
8 | Capture of the Royal Yacht by Federal sailors in Bolivar Channel.
12 | Organization of the First, Fourth and Fifth Texas Infantry Regiments and the Eighteenth Georgia Regiment into a brigade.
December
7 | Suspension by Texas Legislature of all law providing for the collection of certain debts and liabilities on bonds, promissory notes, bills of exchange and contracts for money payments until January 1, 1864, or six months after the end of the war, except for those applying to enemy aliens.
30 | Capturing of the schooner Gasonne off Galveston.
1862
January
6 | Permission by the State Legislature to Anderson County allowing the levying and collection of taxes sufficient to pay for 128 Morse Rifles.
| Legislative appropriation of $5,000 to pay the cost of transporting all clothing or other contributions to Texans in the Confederate service.
8 | Legislative provision for a Hospital Fund of $150,000 to care for the sick and wounded Texas Soldiers.
11 | Legislation creating a State Military Board with authority to buy arms and munitions, to manufacture arms and munitions and establish foundries for the manufacture of ordinance and arms.
13 | Legislative authorization of County Patrols.
14 | Legislative appropriation of $1,000,000 for military purposes.
February
11-13 | Policing of Aransas Bay by Federal Navy.
21 | Defeat by General H. H. Sibley’s Brigade of the Federal forces at Val Verde and the capture of Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
22 | Attack on Aransas Pass by U.S. Navy.
March
25 | Organization of Sixteenth Texas Volunteer Infantry Regiment at Camp Groce near Hempstead, Texas.
28 | Defeat of General H. H. Sibley’s Brigade at Glorietta, N. M.; return of troops to Texas and collapse of John R. Baylor’s Confederate government in the Arizona Territory.
April
5 | Patroling by the U.S. Navy in San Luis Pass, Galveston Island.
? | Organizing and enlisting of the Thirty-First Texas Cavalry for the duration of the war.
16 | Enactment of the first Confederate conscription law.
22 | Capture of U.S. Navy launches off Aransas Pass.
25 | Capture of U.S. Troops at Saluria (Matagorda Island).
| Surrender of U.S. forces at Indianola.
May
14-15 | U.S. Navy demonstrations at Galveston.
26 | Creation of the Trans-Mississippi Military Department of the Confederacy.
30 | Declaration of martial law in Texas.
July
4 | Attack on U.S. vessels at Velasco.
7-17 | Increased Patrol activity by U.S. Navy in San Luis Pass.
August
? | Burning of Fort Bliss by retreating units of Sibley’s Regiment; reoccupation of reservation by Federals.
10 | Skirmishing at Nueces River, near Fort Clark, Texas, between Unionists and Confederates.
11 | Action by U.S. Navy at Velasco.
12 | Capture of the Breaker and the destruction of the Hannah at Corpus Christi.
16-18 | Bombardment of Corpus Christi by U.S. Navy.
20 | Placing Texas and Arizona Territory in the Trans-Mississippi Military Department.
September
2 | Enactment of new Confederate conscription law raising the age limit to include all males from 18 to 45; repeal of martial law in Texas.
13-14 | Operations at Flour Bluff, near Corpus Christi.
24 | U.S. Navy bombards and captures Sabine Pass.
26 | U.S. Navy captured Sabine City.
27 | U.S. Navy attempts to burn railroad bridge across Taylor’s Bayou in Jefferson County.
October
2 | Burning of the railroad depot at Beaumont.
5 | Capture of Galveston by U.S. forces.
10 | Arrival of General J. B. Magruder to command Confederate forces in Texas.
29 | Confederate troops attack U.S. Steamer Dan at Sabine City.
31 | Bombardment of Lavaca by U.S. Naval forces.
November
14 | Naming of A. J. Hamilton Federal Military Governor of Texas.
20 | U.S. Naval action near Matagorda.
29 | General J. B. Magruder assumes command of District of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona with headquarters in Houston.
December
12 | Naval action against Confederate installation on Padre Island.
24 | Occupation of Galveston by Federal forces.
1863
January
1 | Confederate use of a combined land and water attack to capture Galveston as well as the Harriett Lane and to destroy the Westfield.
11 | Naval engagement near Galveston between the Federal Hatteras and the Confederate Alabama.
31 | Confederate gunboats Josia Bell and Uncle Ben capture Union warships Morning Light and Velocity off Sabine Pass.
March
5 | Legislative addition of $200,000 to the Hospital Fund; appropriation of $600,000 for distribution among needy members of soldier’s families and doubling of state tax rate.
April
18 | U.S. Navy paid a call on Sabine Pass, resulting in capture of landing party.
May
3 | U.S. Navy landing party upon Joseph Island attacked and repulsed.
22 | Capture of the schooner Stingaree on the Brazos River.
30 | U.S. Navy attack at Port Isabel.
August
10-13 | Mutiny at Galveston.
September
8 | Repulse of General Bank’s expedition at Sabine Pass by Lieutenant Dick Dowling’s men.
November
2-6 | Occupation of Brazos Island and Brownsville, result of Federal combined army and navy action.
5 | Pendleton Murrah inaugurated Governor.
17 | Capture of Confederate battery at Aransas Pass.
22 | Skirmishing in Cedar Bayou, Matagorda County.
25 | U.S. Navy attack on and capture of Fort Esperanza, Matagorda Island.
December
1 | A. J. Hamilton arrives at Brownsville and attempts to exercise authority as Military Governor of Texas.
10 | Legislative authorization for the Governor to sell $2,000,000 of cotton bonds.
15 | Enactment of law defining “sedition” and “disloyalty” and setting the punishment upon conviction before a jury.
| Legislative appropriation of $200,000 for the Hospital Fund.
| Legislative appropriation of $1,000,000 to be spent in the next biennium for support and maintenance of families of Texas officers and soldiers.
16 | Appropriation of $1,000,000 in Confederate State Treasury notes to be expended for the defense of the state’s western frontier, 1864 and 1865. Severe Indian raids in Montague and Cooke counties.
23 | Indianola occupied by a Federal Brigade.
29 | Skirmishing of Confederates and Federals on Matagorda Bay; attack of U.S. Navy on Cavallo Pass.
1864
January
3 | Major General Francis J. Herron assumed command of Federal forces on the Rio Grande.
8 | Naval action at entrance of Caney Creek, Matagorda County.
21-25 | Reconnaissance on Matagorda Peninsula.
February
11 | Bombardment and destruction of the town of Lamar, Aransas County, by the Federal Navy.
17 | Changing of conscription law to include ages 17 to 50 and to make exemptions from service subject to approval of President Davis.
23 | Naval fighting near Indianola.
March
12 | Evacuating Fort McIntosh by the Confederates.
13 | Skirmishing at Los Patricios or San Patricio by Federal and Confederate troops.
16 | Skirmish at Santa Rosa, Cameron County, by Federal and Confederate troops.
17 | Attack on Corpus Christi by Confederates.
19 | Federal attack on Laredo.
21 | Attack at Velasco by Union blockading ship.
22 | Defeat of Federals under E. J. Davis near Laredo.
| Affair at Corpus Christi.
April
12-13 | U.S. Navy expedition up Matagorda Bay.
June
15 | Evacuation of U.S. held Cavallo Pass.
19 | Skirmishing at Eagle Pass.
26 | Skirmishing at Los Rucias, 24 miles from Brownsville.
July
7 | Expedition into Galveston Bay by ships of the U.S. Navy.
30 | Reoccupation of Brownsville by Confederate forces.
August
4-15 | Military operations off Brazos Santiago Island by Federal Forces.
17 | General J. B. Magruder transferred to District of Arkansas and Major General John G. Walker assumed command in Texas.
19 | Skirmishing at Port Isabel.
September
6 | Skirmishing at Palmetto Ranch near Brazos Santiago.
October
13-20 | Indian engagement on Elm Creek near Fort Belknap, Young County, on the 13th; operations against the Indians until 20th.
14 | Skirmishing of Federals and Confederates at Boca Chica Pass, near Brownsville.
November
12 | Passage of a joint resolution by the Legislature expressing an unfavorable attitude toward agitation for a reunion of the states by rewriting the constitution so as to include guarantees favorable to the Confederate states.
15 | Legislative appropriation for the annual use of 600,000 yards of cloth and excess thread manufactured by the state penitentiary to be distributed to indigent families and dependents of Texas soldiers; distribution to be the task of the county courts.
December
15-20 | Raiding by Indians from Oklahoma in Montague and other North Texas counties.
1865
January
8 | Texas troops defeated in Dove Creek Indian Fight, 16 miles south of San Angelo.
February
10 | Creation of the Military Department of the Gulf, to include Texas and Louisiana by the U.S. Government.
March
31 | Replacing of General John G. Walker by General J. B. Magruder as Commander of the District of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
April 19 to May 17
| Negotiations for Confederate surrender in Trans-Mississippi.
May
11-14 | Federal expedition from Brazos Santiago Island; skirmishing and fighting on 12th and 13th at Palmetto and White’s ranch, last fighting of the war.
25 | Alerting of the 25th U.S. Army Corps for duty in Texas.
29 | Assumption of command by General Phil H. Sheridan, U.S.A., of the Military Division of the Southwest.
June
2 | Surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department, C.S.A., by General Kirby Smith at Galveston.
17 | Assumption of command of all U.S. troops in Texas by General Gordon Granger.
| Appointment of A. J. Hamilton provisional governor of Texas.
19 | General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and issued order freeing all slaves in Texas and Louisiana.
27 | Assumption of command by General Phil H. Sheridan of the Military Division of the Gulf.
| Naming of General E. R. S. Canby as commander of the Department of Louisiana and Texas.

COVER DESIGN BY JAMES LEWIS WILKINS

Transcriber’s Notes

Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.

Silently corrected a few palpable typos.

In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.