The Story of Union Forces in South Texas During the Civil War
Compiled and Edited by
Norman Rozeff
Harlingen Historical Preservation Society
Revised January 2010

Key Words: Civil War, Union Forces, South Texas, Rio Grande Valley

With an aim to provide a comprehensive but brief overview of Union activities in the Lower Rio Grande Valley during the Civil War, this narrative borrows freely from published and online resources.

The history begins, of course, with Secession of Texas from the Union. This was initiated January 28, 1861 when, at an ad hoc Secession Convention, the delegates overwhelmingly approved an ordinance of secession. It was then ratified by almost a 4 to 1 popular vote on 2/23/61. The state government was reorganized with secession loyalists taking office, and the state then went on to join the Confederacy after seceding from the Union on March 2, 1861.

All told, in early 1861, there were 2,500 U.S. soldiers along the Rio Grande, the western frontier, and at the Eighth Military Department headquartered in San Antonio. They were organized in ten companies, five of which were infantry and the remainder cavalry and artillery. There were United States troops garrisoning Fort Brown and the Ringgold Barracks in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV). These were companies of the First Artillery and Companies C and E of the Third Infantry according to Frank Cushman Pierce in his Texas' Last Frontier. These were under Major W. H. French, 1^st and 2^nd Artillery, Fort Brown; Lieut.Col. E. Backus, 3^rd Infantry, Fort Brown; Capt. B. H. Hill, 1^st Artillery; Lieut. James Thompson, 2^nd Artillery; and 2^nd Lieut. G. D. Bailey, 2^nd Artillery.

At the Brazos Island Depot on February 21, its commander, Lt. James Thompson with only 12 Regular Army artillerymen under him, was confronted by Col. John Salmon "Rip" Ford and E. B. Nichols, Commissioner for Texas. They had sailed from New Orleans after embarking with six companies comprizing about 500 men. From the Southern Steamship Company they had chartered the steamer General Rush and the Shark, a schooner. Thompson had no other option than to surrender the place and property. The Federals had tried to destroy stores and arms that were at the depot, but a considerable quantity was retrieved by Texas forces landing on the island. After Ford lined his troops in three ranks the American flag was slowly lowered and the Lonestar flag of Texas raised.

Even before the ratification was completed Nichols arrived in Brownsville on 2/22/61 and in an interview with Capt.B. H. Hill, commanding Fort Brown, asked those of the U.S. Army who were not inclined to join the Confederacy to depart the state but leave behind arms and ordnance. This latter request was refused. Hill was irrate at the demands and felt that the initiators should be arrested as traitors. He had little choice in the matter when word reached him from Brevet Major General David E. Twiggs, commander of the Eighth Militry Department (Department of Texas). Signed on February 18, 1861 it directed the surrender of all Federal troops and property in the state.

The Steamer Daniel Webster with Maj. Fitz John Porter, Assistant Adjutant General U. S. Army Fort Brown, departed New York on 2/15/61 and arrived at Brazos de Santiago on March 3 to commence evacuating Federal troops. Porter was assisted by Captain George Stoneman of the 2^nd Cavalry and Commisioner Nichols. Transported to New York were Companies M, Second Artillery, and Companies C and E of the 3^rd Infantry. By March 21 the last U.S. officers had departed. One historian noted that Captain Stoneman " 'upon a touching appeal from Colonel Ford' left behind his company's weapons for use of civilians against possible Indian attack." Stoneman and Ford were friendly as they had together fought Indians along the wild frontier of the state. Almost immediately with their departure the Confederates took control of the garrisons. They were not to remain there however as the position would be poorly defensible against possible Union warship bombardments.

A delayed Associated Press report in the Harper's Weekly of April 13, 1861 presents an account and is accompanied by an excellent sketch of Point Isabel's landing facilities at the time.

The small USS Montgomery, under the command of Capt. Charles Hunter, had arrived off the mouth of the Rio Grande on April 29. The captain sent a message ashore to Capt. W. H. Brewin, CSA, at the Brazos Santiago Depot giving the post one day to evacuate any woman and children before commencing a bombardment of the area. Brewin then withdrew his forces beyond the gunnery range of the ship.

As noted above, on 2/21/61 Texas Confederate States of America (CSA) troops under Col. John Ford had captured the U.S. Depot with its mortars, siege guns, and ordnance in the town of Brazos de Santiago on the north end of Brazos Island. General John P. MaGruder of the CSA ordered the blasting of the Point Isabel Lighthouse, but, when executed, it was only damaged. Later its lenses were removed and buried in the backyard of Ford's Brownsville residence.

A ranger with Ford wrote a letter to a friend who in turn forwarded it to the [Little Rock] Arkansas True Democrat. It was reported in part as follows: "We arrived here on the 20^th inst., Col. Ford being commander-in-chief of our company. He is better known in the State as 'Old Rip', and is said to be always in a bad humor unless he is engaged in a fight.

He had scarely gotten more than half-way from the steamer to the barracks when he ordered the American flag to be pulled down and the lone star to be raised in its place. But after some time parlying he was persuaded by his brother officers to show the enemy a little more respect, and he accordingly gave them an hour to breathe. The United States flag was then struck in silence, no one seeming to exalt over it. But when the lone star went up a deafening shout came from Ford and his four hundred and fifty rangers

We have taken about fifty pieces of artillery and will go over to the Rio Grande to-morrow for the purpose of attacking the fort at Brownsville. They are aware of our intentions and are said to be busy making preparations to give us a 'warm reception'. They have one hundred forty field pieces and about three hundred and fifty soldiers, their position behind the fort giving them greatly the advantage. We received a dispatch this evening informing us that they intend to resist to the death.

Our men are nearly all armed with a Minnie rifle, a six-shooter, and a cutlass. You may look for interesting news by the next steamer."

Louis J. Wortham in his "A History of Texas: From Wilderness to Commonwealth" goes on to tell us:

Later as part of the 32^nd Brigade, Cameron County provided the 12^th Infantry (CSA), a unit, usually composed of 115 men.

As the war progressed and the Union Navy became more adept at blockading Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico ports of the Confederate states, the South took another tact to continue exporting its most valuable commodity—cotton. Money-generating cotton was funneled through Texas into Mexico. Texas became a "blockade-running haven" referred to as the "back door" of the Confederacy.

In July 1861 President Abraham Lincoln gave an order to blockade all rebel seaports, including that of Brazos de Santiago (transl.: Arms of St. James) on Brazos Island. Little was accomplished along the South Texas coast until, on 12/5/61, a naval blockade was organized at Point Isabel. This was extended to Brazos Santiago on 2/24/62, one of the participating Federal vessels being the U.S.S. Portsmouth, a 22-gun sloop of war. On May 10, 1863 the U.S.S. Brooklyn sent small boats over the Brazos Santiago Pass bar into the bay to attack schooners involved in smuggling. [Note: Brazos Santiago Pass is that now defined by the jetties projecting from the extreme south end of South Padre Island and the northernmost extent of Brazos Island]. Soon circumventive action was taken by the merchants who were exporting smuggled, southern cotton via Mexico, moving it down the last stretch of the Rio Grande from Matamoros, and then offshore through Brazos Santiago. To avoid confiscation by blockading navy forces they began to fly the flag of Mexico on the lighter boats ferrying the cotton to British ships. It did not take long, that in violation of international neutrality laws, British ships suspected of delivering munitions and the like to the Confederacy via Mexico were seized by the Union off Brazos Island. These seizures led, of course to diplomatic protests. Eventually the British made sure to anchor in Mexican waters for discharge of merchandise to Bagdad, Mexico and the subsequent on-loading of cotton bales.

Anthony Fandino wrote an article titled "at anchor at the mouth of the Riogrande". It appeared surprisingly in the May 2008 issue of U.S. Stamp News, the reason being that it touched upon a stamped letter originating from the Portsmouth. Mail and other supplies were bring delivered to the blockade vessels by the US Navy supply steamers USS Rhode Island and USS Connecticut. Fandino relates "On 2/1/62 Captain S. Swarthout in command of the sloop Portsmouth approached the British steamer Labuan and noticed it being loaded with cotton by a smaller steamer flying a Confederate flag. The lighter suddenly fled to the Texas shore. Captain Swarthout reasoned correctly that the source of the cotton was Texas. The boarding party confirmed this. The ship was seized and sent to a northern prize court. However the resulting court case released the Labuan, as despite her loading Texas cotton she had been at anchor in neutral waters, this making her safe from seizure. Under the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty of 1848 the mouth of the Rio Grande was made a neutral zone never to be blockaded by the U. S.or Mexico one mile north or south."

A letter from a sailor aboard the Portsmouth is reprinted in the article. Together with its misspellings and lack of punctuation, it reads:

From Ralph Wooster in the Handbook of Texas Online we learn more about the trading action:

Few realize that the cotton brokerage and sales entities in New York City were such a major part of that city's economy that many there, including the city's mayor, involved in those operations opposed the war due to its negative effects on their livelihoods.

The Valley area and the Confederate soldiers assigned here were under the control of Col. P. N. Luckett and Col. John S. Ford until Gen. H. P. Bee arrived on 1/29/63. From Fort Brown to Rio Grande City the Confederate force numbered between 1,200 and 1,500 men.

The military strategy of the North generally relegated Texas operations to the back burner but did make sporadic attempts to achieve specific goals. Wortham summarizes the Union events as follows:

Much has been written by Civil War historians about Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks. Banks had been a politician in Massachusetts, and then nationally, from 1849. Considered by President Lincoln for a cabinet post, he was eventually chosen as one of the first major generals of volunteers on 5/16/61. He was resented by United State Military Academy graduates despite the fact he "brought political benefits to the administration, including the ability to attract recruits and money for the Federal cause." His Shenandoah (1862) and Red River (1864) Campaigns are looked upon as defeats for his Union forces.

After the defeat of Confederate-occupied Vicksburg by General Grant, and pretty much complete control of the Mississippi River was then obtained by Federal forces, attention was paid to South Texas.

Various reports outline the activities that occurred. Primarily these are from the adjutants general of the different states. These are the chief administrative officers of an army and who are responsible especially for administration and preservation of personnel records.

Gen. Banks was commanding the Department of the Gulf with Maj. Gen. Napoleon J. T. Dana its Second Division, Thirteenth Army Corps. Under the latter fell the Second Brigade that took on the Rio Grande Expedition and operations on the coast of Texas. It was under the command of Col. William McEntire Dye. The units it initially encompassed were the 94^th Illinois, 19^th Iowa, 20^th Iowa, 13^th Maine, 20^th Wisconsin, 1^st Missouri Artillery (Battery B), 15^th Maine, 1^st Engineers (Corps d'Afrique, a Black unit), 1^st Texas Cavalry, and Pioneer Company (another Black unit).

The formation of the Black units deserves some clarification. The history of the 87^th Infantry—Old, US Colored Troops is as follows: It was organized at New Orleans, Louisiana in October 1863 as the 16^th Infantry, Corps d'Afrique; designated this regiment, April 4, 1864, consolidated with the 95^th Colored Infantry, November 26, 1864, to form the 81^st Colored Infantry (new), designation changed to 87^th Colored Infantry (new), August 14, 1865. The Pioneer Company also consisted of Black soldiers, primarily doing engineering duties. Additional Colored troops of the 87^th were assigned to Brazos Island duty from 9/64 to 5/65 after having been stationed in Morganza, Louisiana.

The Union Army in the Civil War was organized as follows:
company—82 privates, 13 sergeants and corporals, 2 lieutenants, 1 captain or 98 total;

infantry regiment—10 companies or 980 men commanded by a colonel, assisted by a lt. colonel and major;

cavalry regiment—12 companies;

brigade—initially 2 regiments or about 2,000 men commanded by a major general or brig. general;

division—several brigades (normally 3);

corps—several divisions;

army—group of more than one corps.

Initial recruitment for a regiment would be 1,100 with the expectation that reduced numbers would occur due to attrition. As the war progressed losses brought inroads to the stated numbers and in some instances regimental units were combined.

Maj.-Gen. Francis J. Herron took command of the Union forces in the Valley on 1/3/64. Pierce gives a total figure of 6,479 U. S. soldiers along with 16 heavy guns and 12 field guns in the LRGV. General Bee, CSA, had reported to his superiors on 11/5/63 that the 26 Union transports had landed 6,998 troops. Even using spies this could only be a guess.

By February 1864 Major-Gen. Herron would report the garrisoning of Brownsville by the Second Division composed of two brigades. The First Brigade was composed of the 37^th Illinois Infantry, 26^th Indiana Infantry, 91^st Illinois Infantry, the 38^th Iowa Infantry, and Battery E, 1st Missouri Artillery with 1,172 men all told. The Second Brigade consisted of the 20^th Wisconsin Infantry, 19^th Iowa Infantry, the 94^th Illinois Infantry, and Battery B, 1^st Missouri Artillery with a total of 918 men. In addition there were 925 cavalry, though available horses only numbered 650. Herron wished to enhance this number by purchasing local horses at the cost of $40-50 gold or $60-65 in treasury notes. The 37^th Illinois and 26^th Indiana were old regiments that would re-enlist as veterans but would be furloughed within 30 days.

This would put the Brownsville manning at about 3,647 soldiers. In addition Herron listed the two regiments of Colored troops at Point Isabel and Brazos Island. In all these totaled 632 men.

Herron emphasized to his superiors the economic importance of the region to the Confederacy, namely its channeling of cotton into Mexico. He noted that the Matamoros cotton merchant, Belden, had such a great vested interest in the successful smuggling of cotton into Mexico that he had supplied a large number of pistols to Confederate Col. Benavides at Laredo. The merchant Samuel N. Belden, in partnership with Charles Stillman and Simon Mussina, had in 1848 formed the Brownsville Town Company.

Herron went on to clarify the situation. He transmitted the following information:

The general pointed out the importance of Brazos Santiago as the only good harbor within 150 miles on either side of the Rio Grande. The depth of water on Brazos Bar was given at 9 feet while the mouth of the Rio Grande had only 2 feet clearance.

Many of the aforementioned units had come down the Mississippi River after the battle of Vicksburg. Banks had tried to seize Sabine Pass, Texas, but "the expedition was a disgraceful failure." He then decided to move on to the South Texas coast after first hiding his intentions with a feint on Opelousas, Louisiana.

The landlubberly army troops were to experience a defining period in their lives. Their transport to Texas would leave them with lifelong impressions. What they were to encounter at sea was an intense, deep, low-pressure system accompanying the passage of a continental cold front. The storm that passed over them left an indelible imprint on their collective memories. The twenty-three transport steamer ships had commenced their voyage from Louisiana in two parallel columns spaced one-half mile apart.

Edwin B. Lufkin, a private of Co E, 13th Maine wrote of the succeeding events in a memoir published in 1898. His experiences of embarking and crossing the Gulf of Mexico are mirrored in other accounts. To quote:

Henry Carl Ketzle of Company A, 37^th Illinois Volunteer Infantry and called the Illinois Greyhounds, also put down his sea transport experiences in a Civil War Diary. He relates of the passage:

At one point eleven mules, one battery wagon, and forage for the livestock aboard were thrown overboard to lighten the draft of a wallowing ship. The General Banks ran low on fuel and had to be towed by another steamer. Captain Edward Gee Miller of the 20^th Wisconsin was another who described the rough seas. He noted one sailor being swept overboard and lost.

David Wildman tells yet another story of the stormy crossing, this time relating the experiences of Lt.T.L. Dilley of the 38^th Iowa Volunteer Regiment. According to Wildman "On October 23, 1863, the regiment embarked on the ocean steamer, Empire City, and joined the expedition to Texas, under the command of Maj.Gen. Banks. There were sixteen transports loaded with troops, and three gunboats accompanied the fleet. The fleet went to sea on October 28^th, and on the 30^th, encountered a heavy storm, during which one of the vessels foundered, but the troops, which she carried, were removed to the Empire City, and no lives were lost."

Lt. Dilley on board the Belvadier (sic) composed letters dated October 31 through November 1, 1863 and addressed to Capt. Know, then editor of the Indianola (Iowa) Visitor. They read:

The honor on November 2, 1863 of being the first to unfurl its colors on the newly seized territory went to the 19^th Iowa Infantry, under Major John Bruce.

One last account of the voyage is provided by J. S. Clark, historian of the 34^th Iowa Regiment. He comments:

While the worst part of the passage was behind them there still awaited some dangers associated with landing. When the fleet did arrive off the island, seas were still too rough to chance a landing that day. Some of the larger vessels let the cavalry horses swim for shore. The George Peabody, the ship carrying some of the First Texas Cavalry, slung twenty-five horses overboard; only seven made it to the beach. Even the next day as the surf had subsided somewhat two sailors and seven soldiers drowned when a boat from the Owasco was swamped during the embarkation. A dispatch dated Nov. 3 states "Commenced landing by lighters and small boat on Brazos Island, consuming several days, and losing two steamers and two schooners."

Lufkin of the 13^th Maine relates:

The 37^th Illinois was joined by the rest of the missing boats on the morning of November 3. Ketzle wrote: November 4, our Regiment crossed the breakers and shortly afterwards in great joy, landed on the sandy beach but suffered for lack of water. Clark commented similarly when he wrote: "We remained on Brazos de Santiago three days on half rations of hard bread and only one quart of water to each man per day. One evening there was a rain when we filled our canteens with water caught on our rubber blankets." Logistics for all units seemed to have been problematic as they moved toward Brownsville.

On this same date the 20^th Iowa and 20^th Wisconsin had failed in the attempt to land, having drowned 3 or 4 men in the breakers and lost a number of arms, accouterments, knapsacks, etc.

Accompanying the fleet to South Texas was the sloop of war, USS Monongahela. With a barkentine rig, this auxiliary screw sloop capable of 12 knots speed was commissioned in early 1863. This 225' vessel was armed with one 200 pounder, two 24 pounders, four 12 pounders and two 11 footers. In the spring of 1864, she resumed blockade duty off Mobile.

A word here about the First Texas Cavalry, USA from the Handbook of Texas Online: During the Civil War, Texas contributed two regiments and two battalions of cavalry to the Federal army. A total of 1,915 men from Texas served the Union; of these 141 died, 12 in action. One source states that "the strength of the Texas Federal Regiments consisted primarily of Mexicans, Germans, and Irishmen." It was organized at New Orleans on November 6, 1862 and was assigned the defense of that city. After other action in Louisiana it embarked October 23 as part of the Rio Grande expedition, landing on the South Texas coast on November 2 and occupying Brownsville four days later. Within a month the First Texas Cavalry, which reached Texas with a strength of 16 officers and 205 enlisted men, grew by slightly over 50 percent. During this time the Second Texas Cavalry Regiment was formed at Brownsville. Both regiments left Texas in July 1864 for duty in Louisiana.

Associated with the First Texas Cavalry is the story of Edmund J. Davis. He first got involved in military affairs in 1859, when as a district judge of the Twelfth Judicial District at Brownsville, he accompanied the ranger unit of Capt. William G. Tobin during the Cortina wars in Brownsville. As the Civil War approached he supported Sam Houston and opposed secession. After secession he refused to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy and was removed from his judgeship. President Lincoln commissioned Davis a colonel in the Union army. Davis then recruited and led the First Texas Cavalry, USA and saw action in Galveston, Matamoros, and the Rio Grande Valley. The latter included his unit marching "to Rio Grande City in order to seize cotton and slaves in an effort to disrupt the border trade."

Davis, a transplanted Floridian, was involved in a defining moment of American history. After the special convention had met and instigated a referendum on secession and which passed 46,129 to 14, 697, individual citizens and federal military men had to decide to swear allegiance to the Confederacy or not. Robert E. Lee, a lieutenant colonel of the 2d Cavalry stationed in Texas was one of those. Davis met with Lee in a small hotel off Main Plaza in San Antonio. As T. R. Fehrenbach relates in his seminal book, Lone Star A History of Texas and Texans : [Davis told]

Davis was involved in an international incident when, on March 15, 1863, Confederate citizens and off-duty soldiers seized Davis in Bagdad, Mexico where he was attempting to take his family out of Texas and recruit men for his unit. He and Union officer Capt. W. W. Montgomery had come to the mouth of the Rio Grande on the Federal Steamer Honduras. This event precipitated diplomatic trouble between the Confederacy and Mexico until Gen. Hamilton P. Bee released Davis to appease Mexican Governor Albino Lopez. Bee's men had however already hung Montgomery, a man of poor reputation who had previously tauted CSA forces. Why legalities were ignored is unknown for, as a prisoner of war, he should have had some rights, unless of course, he was treated either as a spy or a traitor.

Davis was promoted to brigadier general in November 1864 after which time he commanded the cavalry of Gen. Joseph J. Reynolds in the Division of Western Mississippi. On June 2, 1865 he was among those who represented the Union in the surrender of Confederate forces in Texas. In 1869 Davis would be elected governor of Texas in the reconstruction era. His administration favoring the Radical wing of the Republican Party was a very controversial one. Davis was near dictatorial in running the affairs of reconstruction Texas. He lost re-nomination by the Republican Party.

The nation learned of the expedition's landing through newspaper stories. One popular source at the time was Harper's Weekly with its fine illustrations. The 11/28/63 issue carried an article written by a (New York?) Herald reporter who was aboard an expedition vessel. He gave an eye-witness account of General Bank's arrival at Brazos Santiago on November 2. Full of patriotic spirit and stimulating prose, it was prefaced by the statement "The expedition is destined to restore Texas to the Union and put an end to the contraband trade which has been carried on at Matamoras." It read:

Lufkin had noted:

Ketzle recalled this place also. He remarked: (on the 5^th we) "started for mainland by fording Boca Chico (sic), an inlet over one-half mile wide and over four feet deep—most of the boys had to make two trips to bring arms, clothing, and accouterments across, a trip long to be remembered." [Boca Chica is the narrow pass that separates the south tip of Brazos Island from the mainland. It allows Gulf of Mexico waters to enter the shallow marine estuary called the Bahia Grande.] He goes on to state: "After a short rest on mainland, form and march till about 9 p.m. We bivouac near Rio Grande on old battleground of Palo Alto.[This is the southeastern extension of the Palo Alto Plain and not the site of the actual Palo Alto battlesite of the Mexican War.] Remain for two days waiting for rations, resume march on the 8^th of November and by the 9^th reach Brownsville, pass thru town and go camp about one mile beyond."

Col. Charles Block, commanding the 37^th Illinois Regiment, also later remarked on this Boca Chica crossing. "It was a most ludicrous sight. Men with kettles, pans, tin cups, guns, knapsacks, clothes, accoutrements, dotting the wide ford, some naked, others in drawers and shorts, others in full dress." He too noted the severe lacerations sustained from the submerged oyster bed. Later the army engineers were to bridge this outlet with two long india rubber bladders overlaid with cross timbers.

Following the fording at Boca Chica the 13^th Maine moved up river as Lufkin records:

Lt. Col. Hudnutt with the 38^th Iowans gave his impressions of the march to Brownsville. He wrote:

Gen. Bee had learned of the Union landing on the afternoon of 11/2/63 and immediately laid plans for evacuating the area. Of course, General Bee with only about 100 men could offer little resistance. He commenced his preparations for the evacuation. Only a dozen or so local citizens offered any help. With forty-five wagons he planned to transport supplies toward the Nueces River but not before his troops had destroyed portions of Fort Brown and as much cotton as they could.

The government building were burned as was some of the cotton stored in the garrison while many bales were thrown into the river. The fire from the cotton soon went out of control and would eventually destroy an entire block along the riverfront.

Bee and his force of 80 men of the 33^rd Texas Cavalry marched off on November 5 to Santa Gertrudis, now Kingsville. The uncontrolled fires spread to housing and businesses and if this didn't suffice to panic the residents it was the explosion of four tons of powder stored at the fort that caused deep consternation in the citizenry. Imperialist-favoring Mexican General Jose Maria Cobos, who had taken refuge in Brownsville, organized some semblance of order. A few short days later he returned to Matamoros only to be executed by followers of the cunning Juan N. Cortina.

Very little has been documented about the Confederate retreat from Brownsville in 1863.

The following first hand account is unique in that regard and is detailed and comprehensive. As such it deserves reprinting in its entirety despite its length. The ending portion is especially poignant. The original is in the University of Texas Library. Its author is John Warren Hunter (1846-1915). A resident of Sulphur Bluff, Hopkins County, TX when the war broke out, he became a teamster to avoid conscription. He was 17 years of age when he observed the events he describes. After delivering a load of cotton to Brownsville, he crossed to Matamoros where he remained until the end of the war. He later became a teacher, writer, and a newspaper and magazine publisher.

(Hunter goes on to comment that the destruction of the cotton was not wholly General Bee's fault as he received orders from higher up on what to do. [Purportedly Bee received orders from his superior General "Prince John" Bankhead MaGruder.] He also states that Bee received no graft from the cotton trade and died a poor but honest man. Hunt adds that he found William's book, Border Ruffians, authentic except for mistakes with a few minor names.)

At 10:00 a.m. on November 6, 1863, the 94th Illinois Regiment under Col. William M. Dye entered Brownsville, facing light resistance. At 3:00 p.m., with assistance from the 1st Missouri Light Artillery and the 13th Maine Regiment, the town was secured. Brownsville would be used as a base for expeditions up the Rio Grande in order to cut off a route for goods that entered the Confederacy from Mexico. The Second Brigade, excepting the Twentieth Iowa, reached Brownsville the same date. Clark was to relate "the rebels evacuated upon our approach after burning their barracks and all the cotton remaining on the Texas side of the Rio Grande. We could see thousands of bales which they had hastily moved across to the Mexican shore." Some one estimated that there were 10,000 bales now on the Mexico side of the river and only 500 on the US side. The firing of the barracks had spread to adjacent properties destroying them as well. There was no military opposition in Brownsville for the rebel force had retreated to the north and interior at the approach of the Union troops. The First Brigade, excepting the Fifteenth Maine which remained on Brazos, marched on the same day toward Brownsville while the Twentieth Iowa occupied Point Isabel.

Wildman reports in his 38^th Regiment history that:

The Adjutant General's report of the 91^st Illinois Infantry indicates that this unit started for Brownsville on the 6^th of November, "skirmishing all the way with the enemy, under command of the rebel General (Hamilton Prioleau) Bee, and landed at Fort Brown, Texas, on the 9^th day of November, 1863, and went into winter quarters where we remained until December 31, 1863…" This account appears fairly imaginative regarding enemy contact.

E. B. Quiner provides some history of the 20^th Wisconsin and one of its adventures in the Valley. He recounts that the regiment was assigned to the XIII Army Corps and left Carrollton for Texas on the steamer Thomas A. Scott which also carried the 20^th Iowa. On November 1 an unsuccessful attempt was made by Col. Bertram to land at the mouth of the river. Starting in small boats with 100 men, he got into the surf, losing two men of the 20^th Iowa and two sailors drowned. It subsequently joined the rest of the fleet at Brazos Santiago and using a light long-draught boat was able to clear the bar safely at dark. By the 9^th it was camped at Brownsville. After Rebel General Bee fled with his [supposedly] 300 men, the citizens welcomed the Union troops cordially. The prevention of the smuggling of English goods, including cloth and horseshoes, into the Confederacy was one mission of the troops. The English merchants at Matamoras had been doing an immense business.

He then relates this incident:

Matters were so unsettled and unsafe at Metamoras (sic) that the American Consul, Mr. (Leonard, Jr.) Pierce asked protection of General Herron, the two belligerent parties on that side of the river being engaged in constant warfare to the imminent danger of peaceable citizens and non-combatants. General Herron accordingly ordered Colonel Bertram with the Twentieth Wisconsin, Ninety-fourth Illinois, and Battery B, with forty rounds of ammunition and one day's rations, to move to the other side of the river into Mexico, with orders to protect the American Consul, not to fire upon either party unless fired upon-and then to defend themselves. The property in the custody of the Consul was removed to the other side of the river, and Colonel Bertram returned to Fort Brown on the 14^th. Great credit was conceded to Colonel Bertram for the admirable manner in which he managed this affair. The regiment remained at Brownsville, Col. Bertram being in command of the fort until it was evacuated by the Union forces, July 28^th, 1864. They embarked on the 1^st of August, and landed at Carrolton, above New Orleans, on the 5^th, and went into camp.

Another account is more colorful. It prefaced itself by remarking "Colonel Cortina, a Mexican officer with a small army had become engaged in a civil broil with the authorities of Matamoras and in the night attacked the town." The somewhat fanciful account goes on to read:

Frank Pierce in his book quotes the communication American Consul Leonard Pierce, Jr. had addressed to Herron on 1/12/64. It reads:

Gov. Ruiz was shortly thereafter to confirm the state of affairs to Herron who then dispatched Col. Black of the 37^th Illinois Infantry to make a firsthand inspection of the situation. Upon confirmation Herron sent 40 men of the 20^th Wisconsin to take charge of the ferry and four companies of the same regiment to the Consulate.

The American Consulate flying the U.S. flag was located on the principle square's south side and near the Cathedral. It was on the upper story of Francisco Yturria's large mercantile building. This gentleman had learned to amass his fortune under the tutelage of Charles Stillman, Brownsville founder, steamboat baron, and cotton speculator. The consulate's offices were in the front and living quarters to the rear. The astute Yturria had made the second story available to the Americans at no cost. In this manner he hoped to protect his belongings from marauders of any persuasion. Indeed some of valuables transported north may have belonged to Yturria.

Iowa records show that after resting a few days in Brownsville some of the 34^th marched with Forest's Battery F, First Missouri Light Artillery to Point Isabella where they arrived on November 14. The account says, "Our first duty after arriving at this place was to boil every coat and shirt, each pair of pants, socks drawers, and blankets. I need not explain why." [Lice were an ongoing headache for soldiers everywhere throughout the war] The Thirteenth Maine that commenced a march from Brownsville to Point Isabel on the 13^th while the Fifteenth Maine had crossed over from Brazos Island. These soldiers then constituted part of an expeditionary force under the command of Brig.-Gen. Ransom, a brave, dashing, and intelligent general who wounded many times during the war, died in Tennessee, just at its close. Ships would carry them north to see action on Mustang Island.

The 13^th Maine's movement to Point Isabel was again a hardship one. Lufkin tells us:

Nov. 12, we at last received our knapsacks, which had been left at the mouth of the river, and also received orders to march the next morning for Point Isabel. The men on detail having returned, the regiment left Brownsville about 8 a.m., Nov. 13^th. The noon-day halt was made at Resaca de la Palma, and in the afternoon we crossed the plain of Palo Alto, both famous battle-fields of the Mexican War. At Resaca de la Palma there was a small spring, but where we stopped for the night there was no water, and we were obliged, as the plainsmen say, to make a dry camp. In the morning there was issued a small supply of water, which was hauled from Brownsville; and then the regiment started to cross a desert, where for more than twenty miles, there was no water, and no vegetation but scattered bunches of prickly pear.

The scanty ration of water was soon gone, and for the rest of the day the men suffered the torture of thirst; this being aggravated to the highest degree by the desert mirage, which for several hours was very brilliant. Beautiful lakes, surrounded by groves of trees, could be seen on all sides, some of them apparently but a short distance away; and it required all the authority of the officers to keep some of the men from leaving the ranks to fill their canteens. When our march led us toward one of these lakes, it would fade away and another would be seen further on, and soon all realized how great was the delusion.

Just before dark, weary, thirsty, and foot-sore, the regiment reached Point Isabel, where we found an expedition organizing in which we were to take part. We remained in Bivouac, not far from the Point Isabel Lighthouse, till about noon the next day, November 15^th, when the regiment embarked on the steamers Matamoras and Planter, six companies on the former and four on the latter. The Matamoras was a light-draft, stern-wheeler, built at Pittsburgh, Pa. For use on the Rio Grande, and had been loaned Gen. Banks by the Mexican General Cortinas; the Planter was an Alabama River steamer, which had been captured by the blockading fleet while trying to run across from Mobile to Cuba with a load of cotton.

Hodnutt's Iowans didn't reach the town until the 9^th. Prior to that he gives a description:

A soldier in Bones (B) Company writes home: It is expected that our brigade will move up the Rio Grand, about one hundred miles as soon as the water rises, to Ringgold Barracks, and perhaps further. The 91^st Ill., 38^th Iowa and 1^st Mo. Battery, compose the Brigade. The new recruits for the 38^th have not yet arrived, but I have understood that they are on this side of the Gulf. If so they will soon be with us. He adds: Colonel J.O. Hudnutt is now in command of the brigade. Captain Rogers of Co. "F" commanding our regiment and "The camp is kept very clean and tidy, all the rubbish is buried, and nothing allowed to remain above ground that would cause a stench. Every precaution that can be, is taken to preserve the health of the regiment. I trust that in the future we shall have good health." Wildman is to note: During its stay at Brownsville, and for the remainder of its service, the percentage of loss from sickness was no greater than that of the other regiments with which it was associated. The men had become acclimated, and were inured to the hardships of army life. They had learned how to take care of themselves in camp and on the march, and were less susceptible to disease.

Any footnote to Texan participation in the war has to include the strange tale of Adrian J. Vidal. He was born in Monterrey, Mexico in 1840. After his father, Col. Luis Vidal, died his mother Petra (Vela) moved to Mier on the Rio Grande. Steamboat entrepreneur Mifflin Kenedy was smitten by her, and they were married in Brownsville in 1852.

Adrian entered a period of debauchery and at age 21 traveled to San Antonio where he enlisted as a private in the Confederate Army. It soon promoted him to lieutenant and because of his border knowledge sent him with a militia to guard the mouth of the Rio Grande. Shortly rising to the rank of captain he captured a Union gunboat but, impatient and fractious, he mutinied and took his command with him in early 1863. When soldiers were sent by General Bee to rein him in he killed two of them and commenced a period of banditry using Mexico as a sanctuary. By this time the Union had occupied the area, so he enlisted himself and his men as "Vidal's Independent Partisan Rangers". Frustrated once more he deserted the Union army and returned to Mexico to join Benito Juárez along with Juan Nepomuceno Cortina and his fight against Emperor Maximilian. Captured by Imperial troops at Camargo, Adrian was put before a firing squad and executed. Mifflin Kenedy arrived too late to negotiate a ransom, and took Adrian's body to Brownsville for burial.

Once Union forces had taken Brownsville, Andrew Jackson Hamilton was established there as Texas Military Governor. He had been a U.S. Congressman from Western Texas prior to the war. The Handbook of Texas Online tells us that after fleeing Texas:

From the summer of 1865 to the summer of 1866 Hamilton would be Provisional Governor of Texas during its initial Reconstruction.

Major General Banks was already settled in Brownsville by November 9. In a dispatch on that date to Maj. Gen. H. W. Halleck, General–in Chief, U. S. Army, Washington, D.C, Banks reported that:

"Affairs are quiet in Matamoras. Governor Ruiz [He was the Juarista (a supporter of Benito Juarez) military governor.] is in Brownsville, Cortina in power, and messengers have been dispatched for Governor Serna, who resides 200 miles distant. The friendship of the Cortinas party for the American Government has been signally manifested by his placing three Rio Grande steamers on this side of the river under our control. One of these, the Matamoras, is the only boat that can cross the bar.

General Dana arrived in Brownsville last evening. I shall remain here until our affairs are in a settled condition."

He then goes on to entreat for 5,000 to 10,000 men to be assigned him and who would be of "incalculable service in the restoration of Texas." He adds, "Our success, thus far, has exceeded my most sanguine expectations. The people on both sides of the river are friendly to the Government, and if affairs are managed with any discretion, the cause of the Government will be greatly strengthened throughout the whole Southwest.

The Fifteenth Maine Volunteers is at Brazos; the Twentieth Wisconsin at Point Isabel. Two regiments of the Corps d'Afrique, the First and Sixteenth, occupy Brazos Island. The balance of the force connected with the expedition is en route for this point."

At his point in time the cotton trade was suffering a considerable constriction. In an account titled "The Civil War Years in the Valley" compiled by John H. Hunter from material in the files of J.T. Canales and Harbert Davenport we learn of a subterfuge. According to the story set forth, Charles Stillman and his associates, who were major beneficiaries of the Brownsville/Matamoros cotton trade, advised Gen. Dana "that the only way the cotton trade could be broken up was to form an invasion entering on the middle Texas coast between Galveston and Corpus Christi." Dana was convinced of this approach and set about to convince his superior.

While awaiting a decision he continued his campaign locally. He wrote the following in December 1863 to the American Consul at Monterrey:

On December 22, 1863 Col. Ford received confidential orders from Gen. MaGruder. In short they said that Ford was to create the impression that his troops were destined for Indianola but in actuality would head south. Whether this added to the subterfuge or not is unknown, but Dana was transferred to the Matagorda Bay area near Indianola in January 1864. Gen. Francis Herron left in charge of the border area then took a "conservative view of his mission". Conditions in the Valley for the winter of 1863-64 proved to be one of the coldest on record and a drought also continued in the region. Low waters in the river would impede any plans to easily move upstream to cut off the cotton traffic that had been displaced to the northwest.

The expeditionary force under Ransom met with success after departing the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Aransas Pass was captured November 17, 1863, Fort Esperanza on 11/27/63, then on the 29^th the earthworks at Pass Cavallo guarding Matagorda Bay were secured. Lt.-Col. Frank S. Hesseltine of the 13^th Maine was to be awarded the Medal of Honor for his leadership at Matagorda Bay, December 29-30, 1863.

Local military action was generally scant. One action recorded for the Rio Grande Expedition is that of November 20, 1863. General Dana sent a force of 100 mounted men, two howitzers, 100 infantry in wagons and one howitzer on the steamer Mustang to proceed no futher than Rio Grande City. "The First Texas Cavalry under E. J. Davis, the 37^th Illinois, and Battery B marched on Ringgold Barracks, some 200 miles above the Rio Grande, where a force of rebels were said to be and of this date, 11/30, still absent."[Confederate Col. Santos Benavides and his small army were forced to flee across the river to Reynosa. The Second Texas Cavalry USA went on to destroy the salt works at El Sal de Rey.] The excursion was largely a waste of effort. In 1863 a drought had commenced and lowered the river waters to the point that the steamer could nor reach within 30 miles of Roma and took three weeks to return 180 men. The Fremont Rifles of the 37^th Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry were in the LRGV from late 1863 and saw duty guarding the river until February 1864. Between 11/23 and 12/3/63 the regiment participated in the expedition to Rio Grande City. In its first month in the Valley Union forces has manged to lay hands on a mere 800 bales of cotton.here.

Tom Lea in The King Ranch Vol.I relates the notorious actions of a small force of Union cavalrymen at Richard King's Santa Gertrudis Ranch just prior to Christmas Day 1863. King himself had been warned that a force was on its way. He was a marked man in that he was a key player in facilitating the movement of cotton to the border and had profited greatly from the trade.[Lea's book has a detailed chapter on the workings of the cotton trade in South Texas.] He reasoned that his family would be best served by his flight. He placed Francisco Alvarado, one of the first Kineños, in charge of protecting his wife, children, and father-in-law. Union Captain James Speed was on the way with a troop of about sixty armed horsemen, about half of whom were Mexican recruits. They were part of Davis' First Texas Cavalry. Immediately upon arrival they killed Alvarado who came out of the house shouting "Don't fire on this house! There is family here__" They then searched the house for King and not finding him resorted to plunder and destruction, even going so far as to ride horses into the ground floor.

One action of note involved the 91^st Illinois Infantry. It departed Brownsville on 12/31/63 and then conducted its famous raid on Salt Lake, 90 miles out in the enemy country. The Illinois Adjutant General reported: "It captured a lake of salt two miles square, a few hundred horses, mules, and cattle, which were promptly confiscated for the good of the command. The lake we left behind, for the use of future generations.

January 9, 1864, arrived safely back on the Rio Grande, after a march of over 260 miles, without the loss of a man. Here the regiment remained doing frontier duty until the 28^th day of July, when it left Brownsville, and on the 30^th day of July, 1864 arrived at Brazos de Santiago, Tex., and was left to do duty as a garrison of the place until the 11^th day of September, 1864, when the regiment had quite a fight with the rebels near Bagdad, on the north side of Rio Grande River, and it was said at the time a squadron of French troops forded the Rio Grande to help the rebels, but all to no use, for they were driven back on the southeastern portion of the Palo Alto Plain. Rebel loss, 20 killed and left on the field. Our loss, two wounded." The 91^st was to remain in the Valley until December 1864 after which time it was sent by steamer to New Orleans and was later to advance on Mobile, Alabama.

The importance of La Sal de Rey is outlined in the Handbook of Texas Online. It states, "In the Civil War a huge increase in the demand for salt caused the state government to take control of its mining and export. Governor Francis R. Lubbock appointed Antonio Salinas of Brownsville as controlling agent, and after allowing Jesus Cardenas, owner of the lake, to sell the salt already mined, the confederate government rushed salt to designated points by camel caravan, each camel carrying 600 pounds. Freight thefts, however, caused so many problems that the camel project was abandoned." Eileen Mattei writes that the price for salt rose to $8 a bushel and that "The wagons that smuggled southern cotton to the Mexican border port of Bagdad returned home with cargoes of salt and guns until the Yankees captured the salt lake in 1863."

Ketzle in his diary briefly reports that his Illinois Greyhounds had camped in the

neighborhood of Brownsville from November 9 until the 21^st.

In an Expedition report covering November 1863, it was noted, "The remainder of the troops are at Point Isabel and Brazos Island, engaged in fortifying and holding those posts. Health of the troops generally good. A large amount of cotton and valuable stores have been captured and turned over to proper departments, for which the various staff reports will account." In reality the quantities of cotton the Union would secure over time were scant compared to the totals being shipped through the area.

The winter of 1863-64 was one of record breaking cold. Coupled with the drought this brought a shortage of forage for the cavalry livestock. Bone rattling northers cutailed military movements. A strange phenomenon occurred in this period. Cattle in search of grass and escape from the cold moved unobstuctedly south in what has been termed "The Big Drift."

In 1876 an old-time Brownsville resident gave a "Centennial" address. This was William A. Neale, an Englishman who had come to Mexico in 1820 to serve in the navy of that country. Before Brownsville was even established Neale had crossed the river from Matamoros to the area north of that city. Years later he operated the stage coach line between Brownsville and Point Isabel. Soon after its start he constructed a hotel near what is now 14^th Street between Adams and Washington. It was a rambling structure covering nearly a quarter block. "During the Federal occupation of Brownsville in the Civil War the soldiers started tearing down the building, taking lumber to Fort Brown to build barracks."

Neale, still an English citizen, in an appeal to the general in command demanded that the troops be stopped at once. Alas, only the tail end of the structure remained when removal operations ceased. That part was repaired and retained as the Neale home. Being of fine material and construction, the low frame house still exists today.[As development in Brownsville progressed the house was moved to the Fort Brown area across from the resaca.With the erection of a border fence in 2009, it is scheduled to be relocated a second time.]

In January 1864 Maj.-Gen. Francis J. Herron assumed command of the XIII Corps and occupied the Texas coast with headquarter in Brownsville. There were about 6,500 troops in South Texas. This Medal of Honor recipient had been a hero at Prairie Grove, Arkansas and Vicksburg. While here he provided aid to Mexican President Benito Juárez and prevented French troops of Emperor Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria from establishing themselves along the Rio Grande. Herron was scheduled to depart in July for Alabama when the Department in South Texas was divided and given to the Trans Mississippi Department.

In March 1864 Union forces moved against Laredo in an attempt to seize thousands of bales of cotton there. Late in November, a force of 1500, consisting of the 1st Texas (Union) and 2nd Texas (Union) Cavalry regiments, under the command of Brigadier General Edmund Jackson Davis, the Unionist Texan. The 1st was a unit that came over from New Orleans while the 2nd was formed in Brownsville and composed of Unionist Hispanics. The force went up the Rio Grande aboard the steamer Mustang and seized Ringgold Barracks and the town of Roma with no resistance. As word of the advance spread up the river to the town of Laredo, a local leader, Santos Benavides, who was a local merchant and political leader, became concerned. As leader of Laredo’s Hispanic population, and one time mayor in 1856, he had thrown in his lot with the Confederacy as other Hispanics became pro-Unionists. This was the condition along the river as various factions vied for supremacy. With the withdrawal of General Bee’s troops, Benavides, a Confederate Colonel, had the only creditable force in South Texas, and that wasn’t much. Fortunately, the Federals halted for the winter, allowing the Rebels to gather supplies for the fight that was surely coming.

An article in the Civil War Times Illustrated (August 1980) detailed what was to follow:

Early in 1864, a reconnaissance force of 25 led by Lieutenant Martin Gonzales left Laredo and rode 200 miles into deep South Texas and managed to track Federal movements, revealing that Davis’ troops were on the move and heading for Laredo. On March 17, 1864, Confederate troops under Colonel John "Rip" Ford left San Antonio on what was called the "Rio Grande Expedition" hoping to take back the lower Rio Grande Valley. The lead elements were ambushed by Union guerrillas under Cecilio Valerio, a pro-Union Hispanic attached to the 2nd Texas (Union), and stopped. This left Benavides with only a total of 72 militiamen in order to defend Laredo.
March 19, 1864: a relative of Benavides named Cayetano de la Garze rode into Laredo and reported that a force of 1000 was approaching the town. Benavides ordered bales of cotton, at the time being stacked for shipment into Mexico, be used as barricades in case of street to street fighting. He also ordered the cotton burned if things went against the Confederates. As citizen volunteers lined the roofs of Laredo, Benavides, also ailing, led his small force out to face the enemy.
The Federal force approaching Laredo actually consisted of 200 men, half under Valerio and the other half under Jim Fisk, another guerilla. In order to get to Laredo, the Federals crossed into Mexico and rode up the south bank until they were within a few miles of their objective, then they crossed the river again and soon was within a half mile of the town. Benavides placed his 42 men into a corral east of town and sent the remainder into Laredo as a final defensive line. As the Union troops approached the corral, they split into groups of 40 and began to launch their attack. Through three hours of fighting, Benavides’ men held off the Federals with no Rebel causalities, but managed to inflict substantial losses on them. After three heavy assaults and with night falling, the men of the 2nd Texas (Union) had to retreat to the southeast and make camp three miles away. In the early morning hours of March 20, Confederate cavalry, who were in a camp 25 miles to the north, arrived to reinforce Benavides, with the added effect of forcing the Union force to break camp and retreat further away. On March 21, a scouting party sent from Laredo and commanded by Benavides’ brother Refugio found a trail of abandoned equipment, some of it bloody, and spotting several groups of Federals who were running back toward Brownsville. The Federal force had totally broken.
Benavides’ illness caught up with him and he collapsed while checking out a report on another force of Union troops approaching Laredo (this turned out to be one of his own scouting parties). Soon, help arrived in the form of Colonel Ford’s troops from San Antonio, the ambush only delaying them. Laredo became the staging area for a new Confederate offensive to drive the Federals from South Texas. Benavides had to sit out the first stages of the offensive due to his illness, but recovered in time to participate in driving the Federals from Brownsville and ending Edmund Davis’ dream to re-conquer Texas for the Union. Benavides would be promoted to Brigadier General for his actions.

Col. Benavides had defended the town and forced Federal soldiers to retire down the river. In their hasty retreat they abandoned rifles, pistols, and ammunition at the Ringgold Barracks. These fell into the hands of Col. Ford.

The political and social unheavals occurring in Mexico, coupled with the incursion of Emperor Maximilian, made that side of the border ever bit as volatile as the U.S. side where battle tides of the Civil War caused uncertain and fluctuating events. Juan Cortina with his ever-changing alliances in the state of Tamaulipas only added to the confusion and challenges facing Union military leaders in the region. It is little wonder that in the Wisconsin Adjutant General's history confusing and prejudicial statements were made. Still they reflect the attitudes at he time and are deserving of attention. Several passages are of note in portraying the Brownsville area of the period. They state:

By June 1864 army engineers, with Col. Hodnutt in charge, began to construct a railroad from Brazos de Santiago to the river in order to facilitate the movement of supplies. [See the Cameron County Historical Commission website's online essay "Nathaniel White, La Feria's Man of Mystery" for more on this railroad completed the following year by Gen. Phil Sheridan.]

CSA forces under Ford kept prodding. On June 22 at the Ebonal Ranch his men forced Union pickets to retreat towards nearby Brownsville. On July 25 Ford advanced to Brownsville's outskirts. From a natural depression, named Dead Man's Hollow, about one-half mile west of the town he commeneced a long-range artillery exchange. Neither side accomplished much.

Meanwhile the Union army began to retrench in the area and cut its manning to about 2,500 soldiers and ,while abandoning Fort Brown on July 28, 1864, kept a presence on Brazos Island for the remainder of the war. One account says that 2,000 refugees accompanied the retreat. When Ford's men reconnoited on July 30 they found that the U.S. forces had departed leaving a trail of discarded equipment indicating the haste of their retreat. Col. Henry Martyn Day was left in command of this residue force that included a number of Black soldiers protected by eleven artillery pieces. In early May 1865 there were 1,600 Federal soldiers on the island. Day, from Washington County, NY, was with the XIII Corps, Department of the Gulf from 25 August 1863 until reassigned to Alabama on 26 March 1865. Herron was to depart his command in August 1864. His replacement was to be Brig.- Gen. Fitz Henry Warren. Warren was a Massachusetts native who had moved to Iowa. He was an assistant postmaster general in 1849, famed editorial writer, politician, and had organized the 1^st Regiment Iowa Volunteer Cavalry among his other accomplishments.

By July 30 Brownsville was then in the possession of a group of armed Confederate citizens before the arrival of the Cavalry of the West and Lt. Colonel Daniel Showalter. In less than five months Ford, and circumstances, had removed the Yankees from Laredo to Brownsville and, in fact, to an area below Orive Bend. Ford, who had earlier relinguished his officer's commission, accomplished this without help from the organized Confederate army in Texas. The then forty-nine year old did it by dint of his strong personality, his leadership, his previous accomplishments, and his magnetic attraction for men who would follow him despite numerous depredations they might, and would, encounter. Ford, in fact, was suffering much of the time from malaria and other adverse physically debilitating health conditions.

Rear Admiral David G. Farragut dispatched Commander Henry French to the mouth of the Rio Grande with a mission "of a most delicate character… to prevent the introduction of munitions of war… and the exit of cotton from Texas." Naturally the cotton trade resumed despite the blockade of warships on the coast. Commander French of the S.S. Albatross would, like other US Navy commanders, board foreign vessels to check papers, but always found them in order. Cargo ships at the mouth of the river in Mexican waters came from Britain, Spain, Prussia, Denmark, and Brazil among other nations. Hunter clarifies what was transpiring. The Federal blockade commander wrote the American consul in Matamoros as follows:

U. S. Consul Leonard Pierce honestly replied (9/16/62) to the remarks as follows:

By 1864 cotton was bringing 75 to 82 cents gold per pound. It had risen steadily from 16 cents in August 1862.

With Federal troops encamped at Clarksville in August 1864, they were able to somewhat impede the easy flow of cotton into Mexico. However, when they removed themselves to Brazos Island, the trade by the spring of 1865 had risen to about 2,000 bales per month.

Different volunteer units were also experiencing the end of their commitments to military service and Fort Brown saw the mustering out of numerous veterans. These included Battery E of the 1^st Missouri Light Artillery (Cole's) mustered out in June 1864. Soldiers of the 37^th Illinois Veteran volunteer Infantry were veteranized 2/28/64 but given a furlough until April after which time they were moved to Memphis, Tennessee. The 26^th Indiana also re-enlisted and was sent home on furlough. As a result, by February 1864, the First Brigade, now under Col. Hodnutt, consisted of only the 38^th Iowa and 91^st Illinois.

While the battlefield had slight dangers here, the threat of disease was ever present. Soldiers were to die of typhoid fever, pneumonia, tuberculosis (consumption), chronic diarrhea, congestive chills, cholera, and malaria [also at the time called ague]. Small pox was also an occasional visitor. Gen. Herren himself was afflicted with it but survived the ordeal. Although yellow fever was the scourge of many ports during the war and had hit New Orleans, there is no record of it affecting Valley soldiers.

It wasn't until late 1865 that supplemental medical aid was sent to the Valley by the Northwest Sanitary Commission. This was a private agency that through volunteer efforts supplied food, medical dressings, and other supplies to military hospitals. The famed Eliza Emily Chappell Porter traveled to the Valley to aid facilities in Brownsville and Brazos Island. Her husband with the 1^st Illinois Light Artillery Regiment would later become chaplain at Fort Brown and she head of the Presbyterian-sponsored coeducational Rio Grande Seminary in Brownsville.

Gen. Dana would make note of the low morale of the Union troops in this period. The low spirit manifested itself in the lack of discipline brought on, in part, by erratic pay periods, idleness, inactivity, and a pay differential between white and Black soldiers. The former were compensated at $13 per month the latter $9.

The army would need an object lesson and found it in the case of Pablo Garcia. He was part of the First Texas Cavalry Regiment created by Col. John Haynes of Brownsville. Most men of this regiment were Texans of Mexican ethnicity. An estimated 958 such ethnics fought for the Union, most in the 2^nd Texas Cavalry. By the second half of 1864 about 200 had deserted the 2nd with good reason. They lacked supplies, uniforms, and were concerned that they were to be sent to Louisiana.

Private Garcia was charged with leaving his sentry post on 5/10/64. Captain Edward G. Miller presided at Garcia's court-martial. Garcia was found guilty and sentenced to be executed by a firing squad on 6/27/64. He bravely faced the twelve man musketry. Soldiers of the fort were then marched by to view the grisly scene of Garcia's body. They could not help but be stunned by the justice meted for a seemingly minor offence.

For a period of nine tranquil months the 38^th Iowa Volunteer Infantry remained on duty in Brownsville. A series of letter written by 27-year old Capt. Horace Baldwin to his 20- year old wife Catherine (Katie) traces his life in Brownsville in the year 1864. Mainly professing the love of his wife, the letters touch on the temptations here of liquor and loose women. Some of the latter had come from New Orleans to conduct business. Also the soldiers could daily get an eyeful of Mexican women bathing unabashedly in the river along the Matamoros shore. Periodic rumors would arise about the Rebels organizing a force to attack the Union troops, but nothing ever came of them. Soon the excitement would recede and the soldiers would settle back into the old dull and monotonous camp life.

Baldwin frequently complained about the boredom and of "old Maj. Chadwick", an officer over him that he considered incompetent. He also expressed no admiration for the hard-drinking Herron and indicated he was anxious for him to be relieved. He took notice of the malodorous smells wafting from across the river. "Over in Matamoros dead horses and cattle are allowed to lie around the streets, and if they are ever removed it is to a place just opposite our camp and there they remain until decomposed. The skeletons of hundreds of animals are now lying within a short distance of the Mexican city. I cannot see how they can bear the smell of them—as they are closer the city than they are to us and when the wind comes from that direction we can scarcely put up with the smell."

In mid-March 1864 Baldwin wrote home of the death of his fellow Iowan and neighbor Sgt. Sholts, who had suffered many months with chronic diarrhea. He wrote that he had "his boys put on their best clothes—and told them I wanted them to look and to do their best—and they done it—I never saw men do better. As we marched through the streets of Brownsville going to the grave, the people flocked out in crowds to see us—I have not written his wife yet…poor woman how I pity her and her two little one." He writes, "Thus it is that our comrades are passing away. Twenty-nine have gone—almost half of our number when we left Dubuque—but I am in hopes that our loss will not be so great in the next year."

By the end of April Baldwin wrote his wife that the cavalry was out scouting for Rebel activity, that Old Fort Brown had been thoroughly repaired and several heavy guns mounted in it, and that the available force was 2,500 men. Lastly, he expressed confidence in the ability of the soldiers to defend the fortification, even under the attack of a superior force. Col. Ford at this time vastly overestimated the Union contingent in Brownsville and accordingly acted cautiously.

The fortifications at Fort Brown were minimal relative to other forts to be found across the country. In July 1861 Col. Ford had received some funds from Gov. Edward Clark to use in repairs of Old Fort Brown and some improvements were made at that time. In one dispatch to his superiors Herron had described the fort's defenses as consisting of a "series of small redoubts, connected by strong rifle-pits, extending across a peninsula just above the town. These works are constructed of sand, and, although not as strong as could be wished, would nevertheless enable the garrison to make a stout defense. They mount at the present time three guns, two 20-pounder Parrotts, and one 24, smooth."

A Parrott (rifle) was a type of muzzle loading rifle-bore artillery weapon. It was created in 1860 and manufactured with a combination of cast iron and wrought iron. A 20 pounder was the next to smallest size, having about a 3" bore and a range up to 1,900 yards with a trained crew. Its barrel alone weighed over 1,800 pounds. Although it had a welded wrought iron reinforcing band, it still retained a poor reputation for safety.

The 24 (smooth) was a muzzle-loading smooth bore cannon with a diameter of 5.8" and a tube length of 124". With a six pound explosive charge it propelled 24.3 lbs. of shot up to a range of 1,592 yards. Iron models weighed 5,790 lbs.

With pressing military concerns in Alabama requiring more soldiers, the Union forces in the LRGV had by 6/23/64 abandoned nearly all of their outposts along the river. Gen. Herron was relieved of his command in the Valley on 7/12/64 and in two days later sailed for Morganza, Louisiana. He took with him all the forces except the 91^st Illinois, 1^st Texas Cavalry under Capt. P. G. Temple, 1^st Missouri Artillery under Lieut. A. Hils, 19^th Iowa Infantry, and the 81^st Negro Engineers who remained at Brazos Santiago under Col. H. M. Day.

Col. J. O. Hodnutt, in command of the 38^th Iowa Brigade, was to write:

This regiment had left Brownsville on July 28, 1864 and on the 31^st at Brazos Island embarked on the steamer City of Richmond for New Orleans. It then moved on to Alabama for the successful siege of Fort Morgan.

The Confederates quickly moved in to fill the vacuum. It was on 6/23/64 (another source says 6/21/64) that Col. Ford and twelve other officers leading 250 men crossed the Arroyo Colorado at the shallow Paso de Gigante south of the El Gigante Ranch [this is currently the very south end of Dilworth Road, Harlingen.] The contingent encountered a force of 100 men of Companies A and C, Davis' First Texas Cavalry, camped at Las Rucias Ranch (now just west of the current community of Los Indios). They were engaged in picket duty under Capt. Temple. After taking refuge in the only brick building in the area the Federals were to be defeated with a loss of two killed, five wounded, and 28 taken captive. Many fled across the river. Captain Temple was reported to have "left early" to rejoin Herron. This was just before Giddings and his battalion arrived on the scene. In his account Fehrenbach relates that many Union men were killed and 30 captured while only eight escaped to report the incident to Gen Herron. Still another historian gives the figures of 36 taken prisoner, 20 killed, 20 horses recovered along with arms and equipment. Herron did not repond with an offensive move. On the Confederate side three or four were killed and 11 wounded. Ford then tried to cut off communications between Brownsville and Brazos Santiago but failed in this tactic.

The engagements that then ensued are best characterized by the term "skirmishes" rather than battles. One such event occurred on 8/9/64 when 75 men from the 81^st Negro Engineers went to Point Isabel from the post on Brazos Island in order to collect lumber that had been landed there for their use. A small contingent of Confederates surprise them and then retreated. So did the Federals under Captain Jordan. They retreated and embarked on the little steamer Hale that had brought them across the bay. The following day Capt. William M. Shepherd of the 91^st Illinois took a detachment from his regiment and also soldiers from the 19^th Iowa back to Point Isabel. The few Confederates retired upon being confronted by this larger force. The fact was that by 8/1/64 there were but 1,200 Union soldiers now stationed at the Brazos de Santiago post under the command of Colonel Day.

The scenario of military action becomes confusing at this point, for in the region Liberal Mexican soldiers were confronting the Imperialist army of Maximilian. Having heard that the Confederates were herding cattle at White's Ranch to turn over to Imperialist forces across the river, Col. Day on 9/6/64 set off with 300 men of the 91^st Illinois and First Texas Cavalry together with one 12-lb. howitzer from the 1^st Missouri Artillery. At Palmito Hill Day encountered a small detachment of the 33^rd Texas Cavalry Confederate under Capt. Richard Taylor. It was soon driven off and the cattle confiscated. After Taylor retreated to Brownsville and recounted the circumstances, Baird's regiment and Lt.-Col. Showalter with a force of 600 moved south to retake the cattle.

In the meantime Cortina's Liberal forces had been repelled in an attempt to attack the French forces in Bagdad. In retreat, the fleeing soldiers crossed the river to the U. S. side. Once there Col. Day demanded that the refugees turn over all their arms. They did so, but when Showalter's forces showed up at Palmito Hill the arms were returned so the Mexicans could assist the Federals in the ensuing confrontation on 9/6/64. The combined forces took the day after two days of fighting. Cortina's artillery shelling of Showalter's ranks helped to turn the tide of battle. The routed Confederates retreated back to Brownsville. On the way they encountered Giddings' Battalion that Ford had sent south to reinforce Palmito Hill. When George Giddings came up to the fleeing Confederates he was able to stabilize a defense. He relived Showalter, who had alcohol problems, on the spot.

Gidddings then counterattacked and drove Day's forces back to the island. Ford proclaimed that the Union forces had suffered 550 casualties, a wildly exaggerated number.

Fourteen of Cortina's men had been captured in the contest however. Day then claimed that the Mexicans were regularly enlisted soldiers. Southern records would later claim that the whole episode had been orchestrated and that Cortina was supposed to advance and take Brownsville for the Union. By 9/22/64 the evasive Cortina, who controlled Matamoros, had made an agreement with Ford allowing the Confederates unlimited passage between Brownsville and Matamoros.

John H. Hunter's account of the foregoing has a slightly different twist as could be expected with anything connected with the mercurial and opportunistic Cortina. According to Hunter the following transpired after Cortina came to believe the French would soon take Matamoros:

On the night of September 9, 1864, Cortina crossed with some 500 to 600 men and joined Federal forces approaching Brownsville from Brazos Island. The Confederate outposts near Palmeto Ranch discovered the move and called in reinforcements. A pitched battle was fought and Cortina's force was split. He and approximately half of the force recrossed into Mexico to make their escape. However, Ford managed to capture 12 known Cortina men. These twelve were important because Ford called on the Union commander, Col. Day, to state definitely whether these men were actually Union soldiers or plain bandits. On September 13, Col. Day gave a written reply to the effect that these men were formerly members of Cortina's Brigade but were regular enlisted men in the service of the U. S. flag and entitled to treatment as other prisoners of war. This admission saved them from the firing squad and, at the same time, confirmed the information passed over by Gen. Servando Canales.

Exchanges would continue. On 10/14/64, fifty Confederates reached Boca Chica and met an equal force of Day's. When Federal warships were thought to enter the fray, the Confederates retreated. Neither side sustained casualties.

There was to be one last major military engagement in the LRGV. When the end of the Confederacy was evidenced in March 1865," local Confederate commanders, Brig. Gen. James E. Slaughter and Col. John S. Ford accepted Maj. Gen. Lewis Wallace's invitation to meet at Point Isabel on March 6 to discuss terms of peace. [Slaughter, in November 1864, had established the Western Sub District Headquarters in Brownsville.] An informal truce was established and a formal peace seemed at hand." Wallace had wined and dined his guests with $600 of vittles and libations. The meeting was amiable.

Hunter provides the background behind Wallace's actions. He relates:

Gen. Lew Wallace of the Ben Hur fame, convinced Gen. Grant that he could obtain the surrender of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department if given a free hand to make contact and spread his diplomatic pitch. Grant issued a formal order for Lew Wallace to "inspect" forces at Brazos Island. He sent Wallace without any formal credentials and clearly told him not to make any proposal in the name of the U.S. Government. It was purely a "fishing expedition", but Grant put a warship at his disposal for the trip and assured him that, if he could arrange a surrender offer, it would have Grant's support in order to get government official approval. His trip and proposal are well documented. The bait being offered to Confederates was a plan to join forces and drive Maximillian out of Mexico. A large portion of the Confederacy had nursed that idea with hopes that a slice of Northern Mexico could be taken over and set up as a new slave territory.

Among other things Wallace did offer that the Texas Confederate forces would be permitted to retain their arms for use in Mexico. Slaughter and Ford stated that they were not authorized to act in any manner regarding any proposals. When they forwarded transcripts of the talks, marked "top secret" to Gen. Walker in Houston, he was outraged by its contents and criticized both for transmitting it to him. He soundly rejected any "proposal of surrender apart from a general surrender of the Confederate Government."

All later learned of Gen. Lee's surrender of his Army of Virginia to Gen. Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865. This didn't occur until May 18. According to Pierce, on May 1, 1865 the total number of Union soldiers in Cameron County and under the command of Brig. Gen. E. B. Brown was 1,915 of which 1,165 were Colored.

This agreement was broken when Col. Theodore H. Barrett, who commanded the forces at Brazos de Santiago, precipitated an attack on Rebel forces at White's Ranch. Barrett was a new politically-appointed officer who possibly had political ambitions for the postwar period. He wished to pad his resume. He was in command of the 62^nd Infantry (Negro). He was also in charge of the 34^th Indiana, the Morton Rifles; a New York regiment commanded by Lt. Col. Robert G. Momsen; and some Texas cavalry commanded by Brownsville man, Col John L. "Jack" Haynes.

He asked his commander General E. B. Brown "for permission to demostrate against the Confederates." This request was denied, but Barrett moved ahead despite the orders given to him and over the protests of Lt. Colonel David Branson of the 34^th Indiana. One historian goes so far as to contend that Brown himself may have ordered the attack in order to seize the valuable 2000 cotton bales stored in Brownsville warehouses.

Initially Barrett had planned to move into Point Isabel and likely on to Fort Brown which he may have believed would soon be evacuated by retreating Confederates. Bad weather had changed this strategy. On 5/11/65 Barrett had dispatched 250 men of the 62^nd U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment (Missouri) and 50 unmounted men of the 2^nd Texas Cavalry Regiment USA under the command of Lt.-Col. David Branson. First Lieutenat Hancock and Second Lieutenat James were officers on the scene.The Rebels, believed to be 65 in number, were not at White's Ranch when the Union soldiers arrived at 2 a.m., so they moved about a mile and a half further and settled down for the night in brush along the river. Sympathertic Mexican forces alerted the Confederates to the Union soldiers' presence. The next morning (the 12^th) Branson sought action with a group of Confederates at the Palmito Ranch about 1 ½ mile above White's Ranch. In a brief morning skirmish concluded by noon, the Union soldiers drove Confederate Capt. George Roberson (a second source names this individual Capt. W. N. Robinson) and the 190 men of Lt. Col. Giddings's Texas Cavalry Battalion back toward Brownsville. Three Confederates were captured along with two horses, four cows, and the 10 days rations which had just been issued.

Giddings, upon being confronted, had sent word to Brownsville requesting help. Reinforcements for them lingered at Fort Brown. These were General James Edwin Slaughter and Col. John S. Ford with 600 men commanded by Capt. D. M. Wilson and a section of Capt. O. G. Jones' light artillery. Slaughter and Ford were not in agreement as to what action to pursue. Slaughter favored a retreat while the diehard Ford wished to attack. No action occurred as Branson retreated to White's Ranch for the night. Once here he sent a messenger to the island requesting reinforcements. These appeared at daybreak of the 13th as 200 men of the 34^th Indiana Volunteers under the command of Lt. Col. Robert G. Morrison.. Lt.-Col. Barrett also joined the force and assumed overall command. This brought the Union force total to 550. However, the late arriving soldiers were exhausted from the forced nighttime march and the humid heat they experienced. Two six-mule teams hauled surplus ammunition and supplies. The contingent had crossed Boca Chica at 9:30 p.m.

The Union forces advanced this day to Palmito Ranch, reaching it between seven and eight a.m. and again encountered Roberson. A skirmish ensued after which the Confeerate retreated. All stores found were burned as well as the ranch buildings after which time the Union forces then moved forward against a resisting but outmanned CSA force.With his troops needing rest Barrett fell back a mile and a half to a bluff on Tulosa Ranch and dug in at this point. The 34^th had already taken its position here.The ranch was southwest of Palmito and 12 miles east of Boca Chica.

Ford assembled the Second Cavalry troops loyal to him and Col. Santos Benevides' Texas Cavalry Regiment (all told about 300) and six pieces of artillery. Barrett in his later report characterized these as 12 pounders. These were augmented by Roberson's men. By 11 a.m. May 13 Ford's cavalry was on the scene. By mid-afternoon near Rancho San Martin Ford sighted Col. Barrett's force. He issued orders for a two-pronged attack. At 4 p.m. Jones' artillery, some manned by French volunteers, commenced a bombardment creating considerably terror in Union ranks. The Union force had no artillery to answer back. Ford's aggressive cavalry in its flank attack quickly had the 34^th Indiana and the 2^nd Texas on the run. The Union skirmish line was broken. One hundred ten men under captains Miller and Coffin and lieutenants Foster and Mead had been left behind as skirmishers. A dramatic cavalry charge by Captain Robinson broke this defensive line. Forty-eight were captured. Within a few hours the outcome was clearly in favor of Ford. Erroneously Barrett had come to believe that he was outnumbered by a two to one margin. He ordered a retreat, but picket lines to be manned by soldiers of the 62^nd were not initially established to slow the attacking Confederates. Chaos prevailed. Ford pursued the enemy to Cobb's Ranch, which was two miles from Boca Chica. He then broke off the engagement, as thoughts of cutting off the Union troops with his small force might have imperiled them if they were trapped between the retreating force and reinforcement coming from Brazos Island.

After a victory had already been assured the Confederates, Gen. Slaughter was to arrive late in the day along with the battalion commanded by Col. Thomas C. Cater. He now exhibited the desire to take full advantage of the chaos and ordered the tired troops to resume battle. Ford however was commanding both exhausted men and horses. He felt that the firing would alert Union forces on the island who would then reinforce Barrett. Slaughter with a somewhat fresher force moved to cut off the retreating Union soldiers who would have to move across a narrow levee that spanned a tide-water slough. Fortunately for them the Federals were able to move the majority across the morass to where a bluff afforded a defensive position. As the sun set that day the Federal forces had been driven all the way back to Brazos Island. Were it not for 140 men of the 62nd Colored Infantry who formed a skirmish line north from the river to effect a somewhat orderly retreat by the remaining Union soldiers, losses would have been great. The CSA's Captain Carrington, perhaps with overtones of racial prejudice, later stated "Branson's Negro regiment was quickly demoralized and fled in dismay." Once on the island the Federals could be covered by fire from a Union sloop of war and the confrontation drew to a close. Showalter in a belated arrival would ride toward the island and fire his pistol in a showy but empty display of bravado.

Scattered fire from both sides was exchanged for a short period. A shell, possibly from the S. S. Isabella, landed between the two forces. A 17-year old Reb got overexcited and blasted away with his Enfield rifle in the direction of the explosion. "The last gun had been fired."

John Jefferson Williams of the 34^th Indiana Volunteer Infantry is documented as the last man killed at the Battle at Palmito Ranch and hence the last soldier to die in an active skirmish of the Civil War. In the four-hour fight, twenty to thirty Federals were said to have died (some drowning while attempting to swim the river to Mexico and some even killed by Mexican sympathizers). Barrett's August 10 report to headquarters of the Third Brigade noted 111 Federal casualties, both dead and wounded. Fehrenbach states that the 34^th Indiana had lost 220 of its 300 complement. In fear of losing their lives some had thrown down their arms and surrendered though most of Hancock's company escaped capture. This statistic appears to be inflated. Nine Union men sustained wounds while one hundred eleven men and four officers were captured by the Confederates. Still another historian believed 30 Federals were killed and 113 taken prisoner. The prisoners were soon released by Ford regardless of their origin, that is, even the "Southern renegades" among them. Later reports to the Union commander stated that many of Haynes' Texas Unionists were shot after they surrendered. Haynes himself was spared. Other combatants suspected that "most of these Southern deserters had died fighting rather than surrender."

It was lax discipline on the part of the 34^th Indiana under Col. Morrison that resulted in "the relative disorder of its retreat". A court martial of Morrison was later held, but he was exonerated. Ford later wrote that Barrett "seemed to have lost his presence of mind" and to have led his troops off the field in a "rather confused manner". It is with some irony that the last battle of the Civil War was a victory for the Confederate States of America.

In May 1965 on the centennial anniversary of the Civil War, United Daughters of the Confederacy and Sons of Confederate Veterans organizations met in Brownsville. A pamphlet titled "Battle of Palmito Ranch" was published. Its synopsis of the last battle ran as follows:

Union officers committed themselves to educating the Blacks in their commands. It was done in a military fashion however. General Order No. 31 issued to the Missouri Black Regiment at Morganza, Louisiana, July 3, 1864 by Lt. Col. David Branson stated in effect that all non-commissioned officers of the command who should fail to learn to read by January 1, 1865 would be reduced in rank. It went on to say, "All soldiers of this command who have by any means learned to read and write, will aid and assist to the extent of their ability their fellow soldiers to learn these invaluable arts, without which no man is properly fitted to perform the duties of a free citizen."

Once encamped at Brazos Santiago Branson continued in the same vein with his Gen. Orders No. 35 of 10/29/64, to wit:

On 1/25/65 Maj. J. K. Hudson, commanding the regiment, in his General Orders No. 4 provided a carrot rather than a stick when he ordered:

It was in April 1865 that Gen Grant ordered Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan to the southwest immediately with a goal to cut off any fleeing Confederate soldiers and Confederate government officials while at the same time securing and sealing off the U.S.-Mexico border from French imperial forces under Archduke Maximilian who had installed himself as emperor of Mexico in 1864. Once in New Orleans Sheridan found Gen. Kirby-Smith, CSA, ready to surrender his remaining forces. Kirby-Smith did so verbally on May 26. On May 29, 1865 Sheridan announced his assumption of command of the military Division of the Southwest. The day before Union Brig. Gen. E. B. Brown had started all of his forces for Brownsville. When they arrived there on the morning of May 30, any Confederate artillery to be secured had been turned over to the Imperialists by Gen. J. E. Slaughter, CSA.

Gen. Grant had promised Sheridan 25,000 men under Maj.-Gen. J. J. Reynolds. These would be from the 4^th Army Corps at Nashville Tennessee and the 25^th Army Corps at City Point, Virginia. Gen. Frederick Steele arrived with the bulk of the 25^th Army Corps between June 6 and 9, 1865. Sheridan himself arrived on the scene on June 23. To improve supply logistics, one of his first acts was to complete the construction of an 18-mile railroad between Brazos and White's Ranch. This became the Valley's first railroad.

In his Memoirs of P.H. Sheridan, General Philip Sheridan provides considerable information on his Texas activities. In Volume II, Part V, Chapter IX he especially details his operations along the Rio Grande and how they abetted the Juaritas Republicans of Mexico in overthrowing Maximilian and the Imperialists. The memoir is available online through the Gutenburg Organization.

The following four paragraphs are largely material from William Richter's book on the Army's role in Reconstruction in Texas.

It was on May 30, 1865 that the Confederates conceded the inevitable and surrendered Brownsville to Union forces without a fight. "Three days later, General Edmund Kirby-Smith, commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederacy surrendered the last Confederate army to the United States and brought the Civil War to a close." The Confederate soldiers, now released from any military obligations, quickly dispersed in all directions, taking their small arms with them.

The XIII Corps, under Brevet Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, was broken into three segments in May 1865 in order to handle the vast Texas area. Federal troop did not arrive to restore order in Texas until 6/19/65 when 2,000 troops arrived in Galveston Island. On this date he issued Gen. Orders No. 3 that simply said, "All slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer." His Gen. Orders No. 4 "declared all acts passed by the state authorities during the rebellion to be null and void. Confederate civil and military personnel were ordered to report to Houston, Galveston, Bonham, San Antonio, Marshall, or Brownsville to be paroled. All public property seized after the surrender was to be turned over to the Federal officials in these same towns. Those who failed to comply would be arrested and held as prisoners of war. Granger declared that those who violated the law by committing acts of homicide or theft were "outlaws and enemies of the human race who will be dealt with accordingly."

Outside of Galveston the Union found the initial logistics of occupation difficult. Other Texas harbors simply lacked depth. Because the harbors were very shallow, men and matériel had to be off-loaded with lighters at all points except Galveston. Shallow-draft boats were in short supply and had to be requisitioned in order to get men and materiel ashore. Granger accordingly asked Sheridan for shallow-draft boats to use at Indianola, Corpus Christi, and Brazos Santiago.

"Having accomplished his initial instructions, Granger then spread his forces across the vast Texas interior. The physical size of Texas was overwhelming to most soldiers stationed there and caused many mistaken notions about distances and travel time needed. More important, the size of Texas strained an already overtaxed supply and transportation system. The third division of Granger's corps landed at the mouth of the Rio Grande, under the command of Brevet Major General Frederick Steele."

Expecting further trouble, Granger had detached Steele's command from the XIII Corps to secure the border with Mexico. Steele accepted the surrender of Brownsville on May 31 and received orders from Granger to advance up the river as far as Roma. He was also assigned command responsibilities in Indianola and Corpus Christi. Marching from the coast on a northerly route, the army occupied Roma on June 20 but didn't reach the Ringgold Barracks in Rio Grande City until August 1 due to the lack of troops and transport.

Steele recommended further movement up the Rio Grande to Fort McIntosh, and Eagle Pass to seal off the Mexican border from refugees and bandits.

Soldiers of Gen. Frederick Steele's Third Division and its 25^th Army Corps took possession of Fort Brown in the summer of 1865. Maj. Gen Steele, a West Point graduate, was to command the Western District of Texas with its headquarters in Brownsville from July through October 1865. Steele took part in the Red River Campaign and the Camden Expedition, where he was ultimately defeated at Jenkin's Ferry. In February 1865, he was transferred to the Department of the Gulf and led a division in the Union operations in the Mobile Campaign. At the close of the war received the brevet of brigadier-general of the Regular Army, for services in the capture of Little Rock, and that of major-general for services during the war. He was then transferred to Texas, and placed in command on the Rio Grande. The 27^th and 28^th Wisconsin were also sent to the island in June 1865. In the following two months they marched to Brownsville according to memoirs of Corporal Friedrich Buker. [Note: Frederick Herman Konrad Buker was born in Prussia 9/13/1840. He came to America in 1847. When the war started he was living in Wisconsin and was then 21 years old. He became part of the 27^th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. His Company C was composed primarily of German ethnics, most of whom spoke little English. This extract from his German language diary begins in May 1865.]

In Brasos we had to unload a ship and when we had unloaded it we weren’t supposed to get on it. That was the cause of some hot blood to surge in the veins of the old soldiers. It was agreed among the soldiers that the ship should not leave the harbor, and they wanted to turn around the cannons on the batteries and drill it into the ground. I saw they weren’t kidding. I went to the commander. I said he had to speak out. Now he said to the old soldiers they themselves should go up on the ship and inspect it. If they wanted to risk it, he wanted to be free of the blame if it sank, for it was an old ship. That cooled down their anger somewhat. One couldn’t blame us either for the day before and then the whole night we had unloaded the ship with every last bit of strength that we had. And now not to travel home on it… It was inspected, and the soldiers wanted to go home… And, on the 2^nd of September, in the evening, we were already at 7:00 already in Galveston, and the Gulf was as beautiful as it could be until we got to New Orleans. But ever onward to the homeland… Nothing else held any interest for us. We were now on our way home. Now we arrived in Cairo, Illinois, and we were supposed to travel to Chicago in cattle cars. That made us again somewhat annoyed.

Historian Richter tells us, "Fully one-half of all the soldiers sent to Texas were stationed along the Rio Grande to intimidate Maximilian and the Mexican imperialists and to suppress continued riding by bands of desperadoes on both sides of the river."

"Steele's ability to close off the Rio Grande depended on the arrival of the XXV (Colored) Corps from Virginia. Composed of some twenty thousand veteran soldiers, this unit had been organized in December, 1863. The corps had taken part in the Petersburg siege, was bloodied at the Battle of the Crater, and was the first unit to enter Richmond in 1865.

Commanded by Brevet Major General Godfrey Weitzel, the XXV Corps had the greatest distance to travel to reach Texas. To reduce the amount of shipping needed, Weitzel was ordered to take only one-half of his wagons and one-fourth of his mules to the Southwest, along with a ''fair quantity of entrenching tools." The corps was to draw forty days' rations and embark from City Point, Virginia. By June, 1865, the XXV Corps had arrived at New Orleans, and Granger recommended that only one brigade be used to secure Indianola, another to land at Corpus Christi, while the rest of the corps would disembark at Brazos Santiago and be formed as a "movable column" to reinforce Steele."

Brevet Maj. Godfrey Weitzel's XXV Corps was moved to Texas and split, with some soldiers going to Corpus Christi and some to Roma. In addition the 28^th Regiment U.S. Colored organized in Indiana embarked to Brazos Santiago and the LRGV (and also Corpus Christi) 6/10 to 7/1/65. They served there until 11/65 at which time they were mustered out. The fact was that as white volunteer regimental units were quickly mustered out at he end of the conflict, the Colored units were not discharged as rapidly. The Colored troops then filled the breach in Texas. This did not sit well with white Texans and became yet another sore point in the Reconstruction Era. On 11/14/66 Sheridan is quoted as saying, "The condition of civil affairs in Texas is anomalous, singular, and unsatisfactory." It was not until January 1867 that Grant gave orders to demobilize the last of the Negro volunteers.

A brief account in Pierce's book indicates that the Black soldiers in the area were being treated shabbily and reacted accordingly. In the terminology of the time, he relates:

Some discharged Black soldiers were sympathetic to the cause of Benito Juárez and joined his forces to fight against the Imperialists. On the other hand fleeing Confederate soldiers would join the Imperialists in hope of gleaning French support for the CSA. Maximilian and his army were conquered in Queretaro whereupon Juaristas executed him before a firing squad on June 19, 1867.

Some Civil War historians have characterized Gen. Bank's Rio Grande campaign as unsuccessful. Louis J. Schuler in his book The Last Battle writes: "The Yankee occupation of Brownsville was a disappointment to the Union. The border country at that time being in a drought condition and the Rio Grande being so low, it was impossible for river craft to navigate, making it impracticable for the Federals to pursue the Confederates. [That] supplies took two days by wagon train from Brazos Island and Point Isabel [to Brownsville] was the main detriment."

General in Chief Henry W. Halleck had been very displeased with Bank's unauthorized Texas operation. He characterized the Brownsville invasion as another "wild goose chase."

Obviously any assessment is complex. James A. Irby wrote a slim book titled "Backdoor at Bagdad: The Civil War on the Rio Grande". According to the blog of a Civil War buff, the book provides "a pretty good summary of the role the Rio Grande played in the Civil War" and "introduces readers to the complexity of the blockade at the river's mouth and the tangled web of political/economic interplay at the border between Confederate, U.S., Imperial French, and Mexican interests." He adds, "Irby comes down somewhere in the middle of the debate over how important the Rio Grande trade was to the Confederate war effort. He blames the Confederate government's disorganized response for the general misuse of the economic opportunities the region offered. The Union war effort similarly failed to commit enough resources to choking off the cross border trade. On the other hand, he admits that the numbers needed to completely secure the border made such an effort unfeasible."

References

Mary Margaret McAllen Amberson, James A. McAllen and Margaret H. McAllen. I Would Rather Sleep in Texas, Austin, Texas Historical Association, 2003.

Lewis J. Wortham. The History of Texas: From Wilderness to Commonwealth. 5 Vol., Fort Worth, 1924.

Eugene M. Ott, Jr. & Gene Lich. First Texas Calvary, USA. The Handbook of Texas

Online. <http://www.tsha.utexas.edu.handbook/online/>

James A. Marten. Hamilton, Andrew Jackson. The Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu.handbook/online/

William L. Richter. The Army in Texas During Reconstruction 1865-1870. Texas A & M Univ. Press, College Station, 1987.

Fredrich Buker. Memoirs of a Union Soldier. [Translated from the German by Prof. Donald Becker], Civil War Veterans of Clark County, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Valley Library Service.

Stephen A. Townsend. The Yankee Invasion of Texas. Texas A&M Univ. Press, College Station, 2006.

Tom Lea, The King Ranch Vol. I, Little, Brown & Company, Boston, 1957

Horace C. Baldwin. "Letters to Kate". <iagenweb.or/chicasaw/militaryindex.htm>

Forces Garrisoning Brownsville, Texas-Second Division, Thirteenth Army Corps. <members aol.com/wis20th/or/or16.html>

"Quiner's" History 20^th Wisconsin. <members.aol.com/wis20th/>

Second Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry.< http://www.secondwi.com/>

David Wildman. 38^th Regiment Iowa Volunteer Regiment-The Martyred Regiment. <freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~cooverfamily/dw-preservation-2.html>

91^st Illinois Infantry, Civil War. http://www.illinoiscivilwar.org/cw91-agr.html

Brewster Hudspeth. The Short but Eventful Life of Adrian J. Vidal. <http://www.texasescapes.com/FallingBehind/Short-but-EventfullifeofAdrian-J-Vidal.htm>

Texas Military Forces in the Civil War. http://www.texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.org/tnghist11.htm

Henry Carl Ketzle. Diary of the 37^th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. <www.ketzle.com/diary>

Edwin B. Lufkin. History of the Thirteenth Maine Regiment. http://members.aol.com/Maine13th/lufkinhistory

J.S. Clark. The History of the 34^th Infantry of Iowa. www.brumm.com/genealogy/walkermoyers/certificates/Iowa34th.html

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Battle of Palmito Ranch.

National Park Service (CWSAC Battle Summaries). Palmito Ranch. http://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/tx005.htm

Union-U.S. Colored Troops Infantry. www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/uncolinf3.htm

Wikipedia: Miscellaneous, including artillery, Heron, Steele, Banks, Dana, etc.

James A. Irby. Backdoor at Bagdad: The Civil War on the Rio Grande. Texas Western Press, 1977.

Palmito Ranch: The Last Battle of the Civil War. http://buffalo soldier.net/Palmito Ranch, Last Battle of the Civil War.htm

The History Net. Palmetto Ranch: War's Final Battle. http://historynet.com/cwti/bl-palmetto-ranch/index1.html

Frank Cushman Pierce. Texas' Last Frontier A Brief History of the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Originally published 1917. Republished March 1962, Rio Grande Valley Historical Society.

T. R. Fehrenbach. Lone Star A History of Texas and Texans. Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1968.

Philip H. Sheridan. Memoirs of P.H. Sheridan. http://www.gutenburg.org/etext/5858

47. Palmito Ranch Battlefield in Historic Landmarks of Brownsville. http://www.blue.utb.edu/localhistory/historical_landmarks_page%204.htm

Bales of cotton stored along the Matamoros, Mexico shoreline of the Rio Grande.

Fort Brown and Rio Grande steamboats as seen from Matamoros, Mexico

Edmund J. Davis as a Union officer.

Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks.

Maj. Gen. Francis J. Herron

Gen. Hamilton P. Bee, CSA

Col. John S. "Rip" Ford, CSA

Harper's Weekly Drawing of Brazos Santiago Landing, November 2, 1863.

Note: Point Isabel Lighthouse in the right middle distance.

Tom Lea drawing of Col. John Ford Tom Lea drawing of Charles Stillman

In December 2006 Port Isabel area historian Rod Bates published an article in the Island Breeze later republished in the Valley Morning Star .The article recount an event eerily similar to those recorded several years previous to Union troops landing on Brazos Island. Here is Bates' article in its entirety:

Recently my friend Calvin Walker showed me fascinating series of letters written by an American infantry officer during and just after the Civil War. [The letters of the 19 years old have been collected and printed in a book titled My dear parents; an Englishman's letters home from the American Civil War as edited by A. S. Lewis.]

Among the letters is one that illustrates the difficulty of landing at the mouth of the Rio Grande, at the port of Clarksville, Texas or Bagdad, Mexico in those days.

James Horrocks of Farnsworth, Lancashire, England, wrote the letters in the mid-1860s through the 1870s. Horrocks seems to have gotten in trouble with a young lady of his area and so fled to America, where he assumed the alias Andrew Ross to avoid discovery. Thankfully he kept in regular contact with his kinfolk back home via the postal service, so we can enjoy his historic observations of our area.

Horrocks gained employment as a non-commissioned officer in the 5^th New Jersey Battery Army of the James, as Andrew Ross (an alias), and served honorably throughout the remainder of the Civil War.

Promotion to commissioned officer status came when he volunteered to serve in the 8^th U.S. Colored Infantry late in the war. This was a common route to rapid promotion because the Army found it difficult to find sufficient white officers willing to command a regiment of black troops. Higher rank (and pay with grade) was offered to fill the need. Often, a non-commissioned officer such as "Mr. Ross" could find himself promoted to captain or higher in one stroke of a general's pen.

When the Civil War ended, Ross was still obligated to fulfill the terms of his enlistment, so he remained with the U.S. Colored Infantry as they were ordered to South Texas in June 1865, as part of a large deployment of troops sent to the Rio Grande border to show force to the French occupying Mexico.

The men of the 8^th were crammed like sardines aboard the steamship Illinois and, on June 11, 1865, they sailed for the Rio Grande. Upon arrival, they dropped anchor offshore and were unable to disembark because of rough seas. They waited quite some time for the Gulf of Mexico to calm, but a dwindling water supply forced them to make an attempt to reach shore. So the men were transferred by rowboat to the schooner Alice Dell to make the landing. The trouble started there.

The crowded conditions aboard the steamship were soon forgotten, as seven companies of uneasy soldiers were packed onto the little schooner. The men could easily see the line of breakers near the shore and the presence of wrecked vessels was ominous. The captain of the schooner said that there were two ways through the breakers into port, and he expected no trouble. He was optimistic.

The crowded conditions aboard the Alice Dell made hoisting the sails difficult for the crew, and the ropes fouled, causing the schooner to drift off course. The men braced for a collision with the shallow bar as the crew deployed an anchor. The brisk winds and heavy seas caused the anchor to drag as the vessel was pounded by the violent waves and began to take on water. Worse, she was drifting straight for another shipwreck.

The schooner finally stuck hard to the bottom, and the crew brought the pumps into action to keep her afloat. The captain called the officers below decks and begged the men to give a favorable report upon reaching the beach, so the government would pay for his vessel. They informed the captain that they were not sure if they would make any reports in this world.

The pumps did their job, and the vessel broke free of the bar. Extra line was played out, and when the vessel was within 100 fathoms of shore, the men were sent by ropes through the shark-infested water.

Once upon the beach, the men were marched to Brazos de Santiago to receive orders. One week later, after a "short walk" through blazing heat and poisonous critters, Ross and the 8^th found themselves posted at Ringgold Barracks, some 150 miles inland of their brush with Poseidon's wrath near the point.

Brazos Island Maps

Norman Rozeff

June 2009

When John McGibny called me about two old maps he had copied and wished to donate to the Harlingen Library, I was excited. Being a map lover, I was amazed that he possessed two Valley-related maps going back to 1865. When I later met with John in the Archive Room of the library and unscrolled the maps, I could not have been more pleased by what I encountered. Here were two large maps, approximately 24" by 36" each. They both were of Brazos Island and vicinity and had been produced by the U.S. Army for military use.

The older of the two maps, titled "North End of Brazos Island", was made under the direction of Capt. P.C. Hains, Acting Chief Engineer, Department of the Army, dated July 10, 1865. The second, smaller scale map dated January 23, 1866, was drawn by S. E. McGregory, 1^st Lt. 96^th U.S. Colored Infantry and Acting Engineer and is titled "U.S. Military Railroad from Brazos Santiago to Whites Ranch". It was part of a Report of Inspection sent to Maj. General Wright. On both maps is a wealth of information, for what existed in terms of military fortifications, infrastructure, support, and amenities that disappeared forever many decades ago. In fact the depot had been abandoned after the ferocious hurricane of 1867 that also demolished Clarksville, Texas, Bagdad, Mexico, and inundated both Brazos Island and Point Isabel.

Brazos Island had first experienced military activities in the Mexican War. The military under General Zachary Taylor established a base on the north end of Brazos Island at the start of the Mexican War in 1846. Its purpose was to be a landing, supply depot, encampment, and staging area for further military action in Mexico itself. This poorly sheltered port and that at Point Isabel, where Fort Polk was erected, were the only ports for hundreds of miles of coastline. They were made accessible by the shallow Brazos Santiago Pass between Brazos Island and Padre Island to the north. Point Isabel had the drawback of being only accessible to shallow draft craft. At these locations General Winfield Scott in February 1847 was to amass a force of 12,000 soldiers preparatory to commencing an amphibious invasion of Vera Cruz, Mexico on March 10, 1847.

The older map shows a solitary dock at the west end of Brazos Santiago Pass. Near it may be a large warehouse. Sixteen other buildings that parallel the pass include the port headquarters. Further east, also paralleling the pass is drawn ten rows of four tents each of the 34^th Indiana Volunteers.

Just south of the dock is the Lagoon Battery with its four light field guns facing north from the embrasures. An embrasure is an opening with sides flaring outwar5d in a wall or parapet of a fortification, usually for firing a cannon. On the east end of the island is shown the Channel Battery with eight seacoast howitzers. Off the southeast coast of Padre Island is marked the wreck of the Nona..(?), and the sand bar is mapped to the wreck's southeast.

Stretched halfway across the island from the Lagoon Battery is apparently an earthen and sand ramp. Halfway along it is Redoubt C with one 30 lb. Parrott Barbette and five light field guns. A Parrott (rifle) was a type of muzzle loading rifle-bore artillery weapon. It was created in 1860 and manufactured with a combination of cast iron and wrought iron. A 30 pounder had a 4.2" bore, was 126" in length, weighed 4,200 lbs. and could fire a 29 lb. shell 6,700yards. Although it had a welded wrought iron reinforcing band, it still retained a poor reputation for safety. A barbette is a mound of earth or specially protected platform on which guns are mounted to fire over a parapet.

Halfway across the island itself is Redoubt B. It has three 30 lb. Parrott Barbettes and four 24 lb. howitzer embrasures. From it to the east side of the island runs a timber wall backed by soil. Near its very end is Redoubt A. It contains two 30 lb. Parrott Rifle Barbettes and four 24 lb. howitzers. All the armament except the Channel Battery face south down the island.

Almost immediately northwest of Redoubt A and just beyond a line of sand dunes is the camp of the 81^st U.S. Colored Infantry, that unbeknownst to the map maker had already been renumbered the 87^th. The 34^th Indiana and the 81^st were to be involved in the infamous last battle of the Civil War at Palmito Ranch in May 1865 during which soldiers of the 81^st saved the 34^th from a complete rout by Confederate forces.

About 4,000' south of the dock is shown Dyers Island within the very south end of the Laguna del Madre. It is barely an island in that only a shallow stream of water separates it from Brazos Island. Its importance is that on its north end are five hospital buildings. That they are isolated may be due to the fact that they were treating less wounded than they were victims of cholera, dysentery, and yellow fever.

On the left 12" of the map are six figures that illustrate in detail the construction of the redoubts, the timber fence, and other defense structures of earth and sand.

By the time map 2 was drawn considerable additional construction had occurred at the depot. Three piers are now shown, the largest being T shaped. A double row of six large buildings extend in a southeast direction from near the channel. Sixty-two smaller buildings line the outer perimeter of the larger structures. At least 50 other structures have been erected around the docks and the north end of the island. Where the Coastal Battery once stood a lighthouse now has been erected. The timber defense line across the east half of the island is still in place but the soil embankment line is gone. The hospitals are gone from Dyers Island.

The five foot gage railroad track, the very first in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, runs from the dock area by Redoubt B on its way down the east side of the island and close to the shoreline. Its purpose is to facilitate the transport of military materiel from the port to the river where steamboats would carry it upstream. Called Sheridan's Railroad after General Phil Sheridan, who was sent here to prevent French and possible renewed Confederate incursion from within Mexico and to reintegrate Texans into the Union, the railroad ran four miles to Boca Chica and then five miles more to White Ranch. The railroad, with the official name "Brazos Santiago and Rio Grande Railroad", had its first track laid in May 1864. The bridge across Boca Chica was erected in August of that year and a locomotive and eight platform cars were soon unloaded only to be almost immediately transshipped to Fort Morgan, Alabama when Union forces in the Valley reduced their complement. Beyond the Boca Chica trestle crossing a tent camp is shown near the end of the road coming from the river. It appears to be on a loma of the Bahia Grande. Sandy flats subject to tidal overflows are noted south of Boca Chica. Closer to Whites Ranch on the road is shown a larger tent camp.

With the cessation of the war Sheridan still wanted to extend the rail, completed in December 1865, from White Ranch to Brownsville but was denied funds for his request.

The system was sold without inspection to two Californians, West and Chenery, for $108,000. They overpaid but were gambling that they could win rights from the state to extend the line to Brownsville. They didn't. In January 1867 they sued the government claiming the property had been misrepresented. Fortunately for them the government took back the line the following month, for in March a strong norther brought exceptionally high tides that washed out or inundated portions of the track. The hurricane of October 1867 completed the devastation. Nearly all the infrastructure was demolished. The railroad would disappear into the shifting sands except for long lasting trestle timbers to be found here and there. The maps document history now obscured by time.

When the Union Helped Mexico Independence **

Norman Rozeff

October 2009

Mexico, more often than not has looked at its giant neighbor to the north with suspicion. In the 19^th century heavy-handed intrusions, frequently leading to loss of territory, have been reason enough to be skeptical of American intentions. It may come as a surprise then for readers to learn of events in which the U. S. acted to promote the independence and physical integrity of Mexico. Of course, this country's self-interests also played a role.

As the American Civil War drew to a close, Federal political and military leaders in Washington became concerned with what might happen to Confederate States of America armed forces after a ceasefire was reached. .

** This essay is drawn largely from "The Memoirs of General Philip H. Sheridan" Vol.II, Part V, Chapter IX.

The thought was that soldiers in Texas, with their armament, would slip south of the border into Mexico. There they might side with the Hapsburg Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian who had been proclaimed Emperor of Mexico. Maximilian was waging a war with native forces lead by Benito Juarez. Additionally the possibility existed that the lightly-secured border could then be breached by a combined force aimed at returning Texas and regions to its west to the fold of Mexico.

This being the situation, on May 17, 1865 Major General Philip H. Sheridan was assigned the command west of the Mississippi and ordered to proceed to the West without delay. The letter of instruction stated "Your duty is to restore Texas, and that part of the Louisiana held by the enemy, to the Union in the shortest practicable time, in a way most effectual for securing permanent peace."

To succeed he was to be given about 25,000 men of all arms. Lt-General Ulysses S. Grant was even more specific when he wrote among other instructions: "Place a strong force on the Rio Grande, holding it at least to a point opposite Camargo, and above that of supplies can be procured." Grant later added: " I think the Rio Grande should be strongly held, whether the forces in Texas surrender or not, and that no time should be lost in getting troops there. If war is to be made, they will be in the right place." He then went on to ensure Sheridan that additional forces would be available if called for. By the end of 1865 the total number of American military men along the border was said to number 52,000.

Sheridan was ready to move but greatly disappointed in that he wouldn't be able to remain in Washington until after the Grand Review scheduled for the 23^rd and 24^th of May. He wished to share the this victory honor with the troops that had been under his command.

Grant, however, in a personal meeting with Sheridan, provided him an additional motive for the urgent action. He stated that "he looked upon the invasion of Mexico by Maximilian as part of the rebellion itself because of the encouragement that invasion had received from the Confederacy, and that our success in putting down secession would never be complete till the French and Austrian invaders were compelled to quit the territory of our sister republic. With regard to this matter, though, he said it would be necessary for me to act with great circumspection, since the Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, was much opposed to the use of our troops along the border in any active way that would be likely to involve us in a war with European powers."

The French occupation of Mexico had come about through a series of miscalculations on the part of former Chief Justice of Mexico and then President, Benito Pablo Juarez. In 1857 and 1858 civil war had broken out between the liberals led by Juarez and the conservatives. In 1859 the U. S. recognized Juarez as the legitimate President. That year after issuing a church confiscation decree, Juarez also suspended all payments to foreign creditors. This was followed by the seizure of the port of Vera Cruz by France, British, and Spain. The latter two were repaid, but not France. This provided Louis Napoleon Bonaparte a pretext to proclaim a Mexican monarchy that was soon accepted by the conservatives. The ten obscure general, Porfirio Diaz, routed the French in the battle at Puebla on May 5, 1862. The Cinco de Mayo brought about a French escalation. Initially the French overcame Liberal military opposition. Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph of Austria was offered the throne. Maximilian came to Mexico on May 28, 1864 accompanied by his wife Charlotta, who was the daughter of the King of the Belgiums, and Austrian and Belgium troops.

The 25,000 American troops embarked from City Point, Virginia. Sheridan himself went to St. Louis from where he took a steamboat to New Orleans. When he reached the mouth of the Red River in Louisiana he received word from General Canby that General Edmund Kirby-Smith, commanding the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department had surrendered under terms similar to that of Lee at Gettysburg. However, Sheridan believed that the surrender was not carried out in good faith, "particularly by Texas troops." He would later learn that they had marched off to the interior of the State "in several organized bodies, carrying with them their camp equipage, arms, ammunition, and even some artillery, with the ultimate purpose of going to Mexico." This knowledge was to color Sheridan's actions from that time forward.

As a consequence Sheridan broke the forces under him into two units. One, under General J. F. Herron set out for Houston and San Antonio. The Fourth Corps was split between Victoria and San Antonio The bulk of the Twenty-fifth Corps under General Frederick Steele went to Brazos Santiago with a goal to hold Brownsville and the line of the Rio Grande. Once here its object was to prevent the escaping Confederates from joining forces with Maximilian. In June Sheridan himself went to Brownsville in an effort to impress the Imperialists.

In May 1864 construction of a unique railroad had begun. Sheridan gave orders to rush the completion of the railroad from the Brazos Santiago docks south across Boca Chica and on to Clarksville, a distance of about 18 miles. It would abet the movement of supplies for the forces to come. This became the Valley's first, albeit short-lived, railroad.

Scouts and spies were sent out along the border and into northern Mexico in order to check on the movement of Imperial forces and also the state of ex-confederates. General Steele made a show of force along the Rio Grande and asked the Imperialist General, Tomas Mejia, in Matamoros to return certain armaments and munitions that had been turned over to him by fleeing Confederates. The fact was that after the last battle of the Civil War at Palmito Hill, the ranking Confederate general in South Texas, James E. Slaughter, over the objection of Col. John "Rip" Ford, had sold Mejia artillery for 20,000 silver pesos. Slaughter intended to keep the proceeds for himself or the no longer existing Confederacy, but Ford rightfully insisted that the money belonged to the troops. Ford arrested Slaughter at pistol-point, confiscated the silver, and distributed the funds as back pay to the Calvary of the West.

At first Mejia was intimidated almost to the point that he was ready to withdraw from the region. Then word from Washington and a softening of the American stance allowed him the continued occupation of the city. At this point Maximilian's army came to possess all the accessible sections of Mexico. The Republic under President Juarez almost succumbed.

Hardly circumspect, Sheridan on his own initiative took aggressive action. Going to San Antonio he reviewed Merritt's cavalry and the Fourth Corps stationed there. He then took a cavalry regiment to Fort Duncan across from Piedras Negras, Mexico on the Rio Grande. Once here he opened communications with President Juarez through one of the latter's staff. The word of this spread quickly, and rumors flew that additional troops from San Antonio might soon be on the way. Naturally this inspired those promoting the Liberal cause. The deception was further strengthened when inquiries were circulated in Mexico about the availability of forage. These reports and demonstrations were effective, for the Imperialists were so alarmed that they withdrew French and Austrian troops from Matamoros and practically the whole of northern Mexico as far as Monterrey. General Mejia, however, with his pro-Imperialist Mexican soldiers continued to garrison Matamoros.

This retreat encouraged the Juaristas. A considerable number of army recruits were collected at Camargo, Mier, and other points. Meanwhile Juan Nepomucena Cortina commenced to harass the defenders of Matamoras and kept them tied up. Sheridan in a duplicitous action purposely left arms and ammunition on the U.S. side of the border but allowed them to fall into the hands of the Liberals under General Escobedo, who Sheridan profiled as "a man of much force of character." Complaints in a correspondence by the French Minister sent to the State Department were passed directly on to Sheridan. Washington again directed the preservation of strict neutrality.

Unhappy with the leadership of either General Cortina or General Antonio Canales, Sheridan turned to the older General, Jose Maria Jesus Carvajal (also spelled Carabajal), with whom he was not impressed. After the French invasion the Texas–born and bilingual Carvajal had been made a General of Division, sent to the U. S. on a delicate mission, and entrusted to purchase arms, munitions of war, war vessels, and issue bonds of his country to the extent of thirty million dollars. For this his nation was indebted.

Mejia, pressured by Cortina and Canales, had recently abandoned Matamoros. After visiting Carvajal in Matamoros Sheridan came away with the strong conviction that the aged general was unsuitable. He recommended Major Young as a liaison and a go-between.

Major Young took it upon himself to recruit in New Orleans a band of men to act as bodyguards for Carvajal, but before they arrived Canales had deposed Carvajal. Later these mercenaries tried to reach Escobedo to provide the same service. Their party was attacked on American soil by ex-Confederates and renegade Mexican rancheros. Young was killed and a number of his men were drowned as they attempted to escape across the river. Twenty did escape and joined Escobedo, but they were in no shape to do much for him.

Juarez's term as President of the Mexican Republic expired in December 1865, but due to the circumstances he continued in office by proclamation. This was despite the Mexican Constitution provision designating the President of the Supreme Court for the succession. This individual, Ortega, was in the U.S. and now came forward to claim the presidency. He proceeded to New Orleans and then sailed for Brazos Santiago. Sheridan sent instructions to Col. Sedgewick, commanding Brownsville, and who also had soldiers in Matamoros protecting neutral merchants there, to arrest Ortega and turn him over to Escobedo after Escobedo took authorized control of Matamoros. This was executed and Ortega was removed from further machinations.

During the winter and spring of 1865-66 Sheridan covertly supplied arms and ammunition to the Liberals. As many as 30,000 muskets came from the Baton Rouge Arsenal alone. By mid-summer Juarez, now with a good size army, had possession of the whole Rio Grande border region.

With words flying that French troops were to be withdrawn, Empress Carlotta sailed home to beg assistance from Napoleon III. Her pleas fell on deaf ears, for on January 10, 1867 Napoleon sent a message to the French consul in New Orleans. It read in part:

"Do not compel the Emperor to abdicate, but do not delay the departure of the troops; bring back all those who will not remain there."

The abandoned Maximilian held on until the spring. Taken prisoner at Santiago de Queretaro, he was tried and executed (June 19, 1867). Secretary of State Seward tried to save Maximilian from execution. His message passed through Sheridan at New Orleans. Sheridan sped it on to Tampico from where one of his scouts, Sgt. White, carried it cross-country. Seward's entreaty was refused. General Tomas Mejia was also executed by a firing squad. The fact was that Maximilian had shown little mercy to his opponents when he had the upper hand. His reign from April 10, 1864 was little more than three years.

It is clear that the appearance of American forces along the border keyed resistance for partisans of the Republic. As Sheridan was to write: "Our appearance in such force along the border permitted Liberal leaders, refugees from their homes, to establish rendezvous whence they could promulgate their plans in safety, while the countenance thus given the cause, when hope was well-nigh gone, incited the Mexican people to renewed resistance. Beginning again with scant means, for they had lost about all, the Liberals saw their cause, under the influence of such significant and powerful backing, progress and steadily grow so strong that within two years Imperialism had receive its death-blow."

That twist in history is how the Union helped to secure Mexico's independence. Benito Juarez remained in power until his death in 1872. In 1877 the hero of Puebla, Porfirio Diaz, became President and remained in office for 30 years.