USA > Texas > A comprehensive history of Texas, 1685-1897 > Part 13
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PART V. TEXAS AND TEXANS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 1861-1865.
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PREFATORY NOTE.
T was the original purpose of the Publisher of these volumes to make this Part of the work contain a complete account of the operations of Texas troops in the war between the States, as well as a narrative of events within the State during that period. But the great difficulty and delay incident to procuring full and accurate details of the subject from those who were reasonably expected to furnish them, finally compelled the publication of the History without the complete realization of the design as at first conceived. It was concluded to postpone the preparation of a thorough history of Texas and Texans in the Civil War to a sepa- rate volume, which has been definitely arranged for, to appear in the near future. What is here presented, however, will furnish a very fair idea of the organization and services of Texas soldiers in the Confederate armies during the years from 1861 to 1865, as well as a succinct account of the condition and experiences of the State itself for the same period. The first portion of the narrative, covering operations on the coast and in the interior of Texas, is a compilation by Charles 1. Evans, Esq., from official reports and documents, and from valuable manuscripts furnished by Colonel John S. Ford, Major K. M. Van Zandt, and other ex-Confederate officers and soldiers, to whom special acknowledgments are duc. The several sepa- rate chapters on noted brigades and subordinate organizations are duly credited to their authors, and their merits speak conclusively for themselves. Although the Publisher has not received as much practical aid in the collection of the materials for this department of the work as he could have wished, he is yet under many and grateful obligations to the old Confederates throughout the State for their cordial encouragement and sympathy, and it is believed that they will enjoy and prize even this brief and imperfect compilation of the records of their heroic services in the greatest war of modern times. At no distant date it is hoped that their interest in this work will be rewarded by the publication of a complete and appreciative nar- rative of their part in the stirring scenes of those days.
THE PUBLISHER.
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CHAPTER I.
MILITARY EVENTS AND OPERATIONS IN TEXAS AND ALONG THE COASTS AND BORDER, 1861-1865.
HEN the secession convention assembled, Brevet Major-General David E. Twiggs was in command of the United States troops in Texas. After passing the ordinance of secession on the Ist day of February, 1861, it elected a Committee of Public Safety, of which John C. Robertson was chairman. This committee appointed J. H. Rogers, T. J. Devine, S. A. Maverick, and P. N. Luckett commissioners to treat with General Twiggs relative to the surrender to the State of the government property under his control, but the first named did not act with the commission. Upon presenting their credentials from the convention to Gen- eral Twiggs and demanding the public property, he acceded to the demand, and appointed a military commission, consisting of Major Vinton, Major Maclin, and Captain Whiteley, of the army, to negotiate with them respecting the terms and details of the surrender. These commissions met in the city of San Antonio on the 9th of February, and continued their conferences from day to day until the 15th, when intelligence was received that the action of General Twiggs had been disap- proved by the War Department at Washington City, and that he had been removed from command and Colonel C. W. Waite ordered to relieve him. The Committee of Public Safety, seeing in this change a strong probability that the arrangements made with General Twiggs would not be carried out by his successor, took imme- diate steps to seize the government property by force. Ben McCulloch, Henry E. McCulloch, and John S. Ford were appointed colonels of State troops, with instruc- tions to lead three separate bodies of volunteers to designated points and demand of the officers commanding the United States troops an evacuation of the State and the surrender of all government property to the State of Texas. Colonel Ben McCulloch was directed to lead the volunteers under his command to San Anto- nio, Colonel Henry E. McCulloch to lead those under his command to the various posts on the northwestern frontier, and Colonel John S. Ford to lead those under his command to the posts on the lower Rio Grande. Accordingly, on the morning of the 16th of February, a number of volunteer companies, which had assembled near the city of San Antonio under Ben McCulloch to enforce the demand of the committee, marched into the city, placed sentinels at the various department offices, and quietly took possession of everything, including about thirty thousand dollars in gold and silver coin.
The companies participating in this seizure were commanded by Captains John A. Wilcox, James Duff, S. A. Maverick, W. M. Edgar, and others.
During the time that these transactions were taking place at San Antonio, Henry E. McCulloch, with several companies of volunteer State troops, was de-
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A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
manding and receiving, in the name of the State of Texas, the surrender of all the military posts along the frontier north of San Antonio. Among the officers at these posts, Captain E. Kirby Smith, who was in command at Camp Colorado, on Jim Ned Creek, in Coleman County, surrendered to Colonel Henry E. McCulloch, resigned his commission in the United States army, tendered his services to the Confederate States and afterwards became a distinguished lieutenant-general, and was in command of the Trans-Mississippi Department at the close of the war.
While these operations were taking place in the western and northwestern por- tions of the State, Colonel John S. Ford had proceeded to Houston and Galveston, where he was organizing an expedition of volunteers for the capture of Fort Brown and other posts on the lower Rio Grande. Upon his recommendation, Hugh McLeod was appointed lieutenant-colonel of his command, and a camp was organ- ized, where all late United States soldiers who desired to enlist in the army of the Confederate States could do so and find a stopping-place. Mr. E. B. Nichols, a prominent citizen of Galveston, was appointed commissioner on the part of the State government to co-operate with Colonel Ford, and to receive the public prop- erty which should be turned over by the officers of the United States government. Out of his own private fortune he furnished means to delray expenses, and, with the assistance of other distinguished citizens, chartered the steamer General Rusk and the schooner Shark for the transportation of the volunteers from Galveston to Brazos Santiago ; and on February 19, 1861, six companies, consisting of about five hundred men, commanded by Captains Edwards, Odlum, Redwood, Conner, Van Buren, and Davis, sailed from Galveston and came to anchor off the bar at Brazos Santiago on the 21st. Mr. E. B. Nichols and Colonel Ford went ashore at once, and, after some negotiation with Lieutenant James Thompson, of the United States army, commanding a small body of men guarding some stores on Brazos Island, these were withdrawn and the stores were taken in charge by the Texans. The State commissioner, Mr. Nichols, and commander of the troops, Colonel Ford, proceeded to Brownsville, leaving Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Mcleod in command of the troops at Brazos Island. Captain Bennett H. Hill, of the First United States Artillery, was in command at Fort Brown, and refused to recognize officially the authority of the commissioner on the part of the State of Texas, but several infor- mal and friendly interviews were held between them. Captain George Stoneman, afterwards a general in the Union army, was in command of a squadron of the Second United States Cavalry, and expressed himself as being very hopeful of a peaceful solution of the political troubles.
By a calm and prudent course on the part of the representatives of the State government, which was met in a similar spirit by the United States officers, a con- flict was avoided, although it was difficult to restrain some of the hot-headed men and subordinate officers among the State troops.
On February 25, Mr. Nichols returned to Galveston to raise more troops and forward them to Brownsville, and four large companies under Colonel B. F. Terry were forwarded and reached Brazos Santiago, March 22. This reinforcement raised the number of State troops to about fifteen hundred, and a conflict was im- minent any day. As illustrating the feeling among the United States army officers, it is related that those at Brownsville refused to meet or receive an introduction to
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MILITARY EVENTS AND OPERATIONS IN TEXAS.
Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh McLeod, on the ground that he was a graduate of the Military Academy at West Point, and had, in an unsoldierly manner, surrendered his command in the Santa Fe expedition. This most unjust accusation piqued Colonel McLeod very much, and its being entirely groundless did not prevent his extreme mortification and earnest desire to precipitate a conflict between the State and United States troops ; but cooler counsels prevailed, and, while the relations were very strained all the time during the joint occupancy, actual hostilities were prudently avoided. .
On March 3, 1861, the United States steamship Daniel Webster arrived off the bar, and it soon became known that Major Fitz-John Porter, assistant adjutant- general on the staff of General Winfield Scott, was on board. He assured the representatives of the State government that his mission was a purely pacific one, and that under his orders a collision could not occur, unless it was precipitated by the Texas forces. He also expressed himself personally as favoring a peaceful solution of the troubles between the States ; and announced that as soon as the necessary transportation arrived, all the United States troops would take their de- parture. When Major Porter left Fort Brown he placed Captain Stoneman in command of the United States troops at that place, with instructions to receive all public property as it arrived there from the interior posts, and to turn it over to the State authorities in accordance with the agreement previously made between General Twiggs and the State commissioners at San Antonio.
It was agreed between the State authorities and the commander of the United States forces that all the United States troops should be removed from Texas, those at San Antonio and contiguous points being ordered to Green Lake, near Indianola, and those on the Rio Grande to Brazos Santiago, to await transportation to the north. Upon the expected withdrawal of the United States troops, the question of the protection of the frontier against Indian depredations and forays by Mexican banditti began to attract the serious attention of the State authorities. Much well- founded apprehension was felt and expressed that serious consequences would result from leaving the frontiers entirely unsupported ; and the Committee of Public Safety began at once to address itself to this question. Two regiments of mounted men were ordered to be raised for this purpose ; and before they were completed, the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States had passed an act authorizing the raising of a provisional army. Under this act, these two regiments were mus- tered into the Confederate army for the period of six months. These were the First Regiment Texas Mounted Rifles, commanded by Colonel H. E. McCulloch, and garrisoned the posts on the northwestern frontier from Fort Mason to Red River ; and the Second Regiment Texas Mounted Rifles, commanded by Colonel John S. Ford, which garrisoned the posts from El Paso to the mouth of the Rio Grande. These regiments were soon filled up, and ample provision made for the protection of the frontiers.
Up to this time the delusive hope had been indulged by many that war would not result from the secession of the Southern States, and the United States troops were being permitted to depart in peace ; but on April 17, after the hostile demon- strations in Charleston harbor and the firing on Fort Sumter, Colonel H. E. McCulloch addressed a communication to the Confederate States Secretary of War,
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A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
suggesting that when the agreement was made to permit the United States troops to leave the State with their arms war did not exist ; but that since then the condi- tions had materially changed, and war between the North and South was clearly imminent, if not already begun. Under these changed conditions he suggested it would be right and proper not to permit the armed forces of the enemy to march out of the territory with their arms and equipments ; and that unless ordered to the contrary at once, he would require them to surrender their arms and disperse. The Secretary of War replied by approving the course indicated by Colonel McCul- loch, and ordered him to hold the United States troops as prisoners of war ; but before any action had been taken by him, on April 21, Colonel Earl Van Dorn assumed command of the Department of Texas, under orders from the Confederate States War Department, and proceeded forthwith to carry out these instructions. A few days afterwards, on April 25, seven companies under Major C. C. Sibley, of the Third Infantry, surrendered to Colonel Van Dorn at Saluria, and were paroled as prisoners of war. The surrender was not made by Major Sibley without at- tempting to escape on the transports that were awaiting him in Matagorda Bay. The intention to attempt to escape having been discovered by Colonel Van Dorn, he seized the steamship Star of the West before Major Sibley reached her anchor- age, which he was intending to do in the steamship General Rusk. Four steamers arrived from Galveston the night of the 24th, with about one thousand armed vol- unteers and several pieces of artillery, and completely cut off the escape of the United States troops by sea ; and a land force of twenty-one companies of volun- teers having arrived from the interior, Major Sibley was obliged to surrender on the terms proposed. The companies composing the land force which assembled to back up the demand of Colonel Van Dorn with arms, if necessary, were commanded by the following officers : Captain Herbert, of Colorado County ; Captain Scar- borough, of De Witt ; Captain McDonnell, of Caldwell ; Captain A. C. Horton, of Matagorda ; Captain W. R. Friend, of De Witt ; Captain Hampton, of Victoria ; Captain Upton, of Colorado ; Captain Hall, of Fort Bend ; Captain Jones, of Gon- zales ; Captain Williams, of Lavaca ; Captain Fulcrod, of Goliad ; Captain Kyle, of Hays ; Captain D. M. Stapp, of Calhoun ; Captain Searcy, of Colorado ; Cap- tain Phillips, of Lavaca ; Captain Finlay, of Lavaca ; Captain Pearson, of Mata- gorda ; Captain C. S. Olden, of Jackson ; Captain Barkley, of Fayette ; and Cap- tain Gordon, of Matagorda.
Several companies under Captains Pitts, Tobin, Ashby, Bogges, and Nelson, with a battery of light artillery under Captain W. M. Edgar, all commanded by Colonel H. E. McCulloch, made a forced march from San Antonio to get in at the capture, but did not arrive until after the surrender.
On the 9th of May six companies of the Eighth Infantry, under Lieutenant- Colonel 1. V. D. Reeve, surrendered to Colonel H. E. McCulloch at San Lucas Spring, fifteen miles west of San Antonio, while on the march from Fort Bliss to that city. The volunteer companies participating in this capture were the ones heretofore mentioned as having marched from San Antonio under Colonel McCul- loch,-one under Captain James H. Fry ; a battalion of six companies under Captains Maverick, Wilcox. Kampmann, Navarro, and Prescott, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel James Duff and Major John Carolan ; one company under Cap-
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MILITARY EVENTS AND OPERATIONS IN TEXAS.
tain Goode ; two companies of Ford's regiment under Captains Walker and Pyron, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John R. Baylor ; and a battery of light artillery under Captain Teel.
A short time prior to the surrender of these troops, Mr. F. W. Lander, a special commissioner from President Lincoln, arrived at Austin to negotiate with Governor Houston, with a view to rendering him such aid as might be necessary to sustain his authority in overcoming the secession movement ; and to this end Colonel Waite was ordered, in case Governor Houston indicated to Mr. Lander a willingness to enter into the scheme, to erect fortifications at Indianola and hold the place until reinforcements could be sent him. This movement, however, fell through for the want of Governor Houston's acquiescence. He not only declined the proffered assistance, but protested against it most strongly. He wrote to Colonel Waite as follows : " I have received intelligence that you have, or will soon receive, orders to concentrate your command at Indianola, in this State, to sustain me in the exercise of my official functions. Allow me most respectfully to decline any such assistance of the United States government, and to mnost earnestly protest against the concentration of troops or the erection of fortifications in Texas, and request that you remove all such troops out of this State at the earliest date practi- cable ; or, at any rate, by all means take no action towards hostile movements until further ordered by the government at Washington City, or particularly of Texas."
At the same time Mr. Lander wrote Colonel Waite from Austin that his mis- sion had been undertaken by order of the Secretary of State of the United States. and was endorsed by General Scott and President Lincoln ; but that it had neces- sarily failed on account of the determination of Governor Houston to protest against such military aid being rendered him.
In May Colonel W. C. Young entered the Indian Territory with a regiment of volunteer State troops and captured Forts Arbuckle, Washita, and Cobb, the . United States troops retiring towards Kansas upon his approach. He made a treaty of peace with the Chickasaw Indians, agreeing that the Confederate States would feed and protect them, as had been previously done by the United States government ; and turned over to them all the government stores found in the above- named forts.
In the early days of 1861, during the excitement incident to the secession of the State and the withdrawal of the United States troops, the United States steam- ship Star of the Il'est was captured by Texas volunteers off the Texas coast near In- dianola, which created intense and wide-spread excitement at the time, owing partly to the fact that this was the vessel which had a short time previously attempted to carry supplies of ordnance and commissary stores to Fort Sumter, and thus drawn from the Confederate batteries at Charleston the first shot of the great Civil War which reverberated around the world. The exact date of this incident cannot be fixed definitely. The War Records published by authority of the United States government contain no reference to the affair, and the date as well as the details have been gathered from the memory of gentlemen who participated in it. From these it appears that it must have occurred about April 17, because the capture was only a few days prior to the surrender of the United States troops under Major C. C. Sibley at Indianola, and this is known to have been on the 25th day of April.
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A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
From Captain William Scrimgeour and Captain Robert G. Murray, the former of whom was the pilot and the latter fireman on board the General Rusk, and Mr. Robert M. Franklin, who was a member of the Galveston Artillery, and all of whom are now honored residents of the city of Galveston, the following facts are gleaned. It seems that as soon as Colonel Earl Van Dorn was appointed to the regular army of the Confederate States, he formed the design of compelling the surrender of all the United States troops in Texas and discharging them on parole, and in compliance therewith he arrived at Galveston on April 16 and called for meetings of the several volunteer military companies at their respective armories. At these meetings he announced that he had instructions from the Confederate War Department to call for volunteers, and to raise a force which would be adequate to insure the surrender of all the Federal troops in Texas without the necessity of bloodshed ; and as a large body of such troops were then marching from San Antonio to Indianola with the intention of there embarking for the Northern States, he desired to raise imme- diately a sufficient force to proceed by water and intercept them at Indianola. The steamship Matagorda, a freight and passenger packet of the Harris & Morgan Line, Captain John Y. Lawless, commander, was then lying at the wharf in Galveston, ready to sail on her regular trip to Indianola, and Colonel Van Dorn detained her to carry the volunteers. By midnight he had only secured about eighty men, as the holiday soldiers of that period had not as yet learned to move on such short notice. He decided, however, to proceed at once with these and take the chances of recruiting his force after reaching Indianola, and he left Galveston about four o'clock A.M. on the morning of the 17th with the following force, viz. : a detach- ment of the Galveston Artillery, consisting of twenty men and two six-pounder field pieces, under Lieutenants Van Buren and Malone ; the Turner Rifles, forty men strong, under Captain John Mueller, who was afterwards captain of Company F, Second Texas Infantry, and was killed in the assault on Battery Robinett at Corinth, Mississippi ; and a detachment of twenty men from the Wigfall Guards. All of these were volunteers, who had not yet enlisted in the Confederate service.
As the Matagorda approached Pass Cavallo, the entrance to Matagorda Bay and Indianola, a large steamer was discovered lying at anchor off the bar. The men were ordered below, out of sight, and the Matagorda, about an hour before sunset, glided by the unknown steamer into the bay, and stopped her engines oppo- site the Powder Horn wharf. To the surprise of all on board, the shore was found to be dotted with the blue coats of the Federal soldiers, who had reached the coast earlier than expected, and in such numbers as to deter Colonel Van Dorn from demanding their surrender, as his orders were not to precipitate a conflict. Without landing, the Matagorda steamed across to the Saluria wharf, when after night she called by signal her companion steamer, the General Rusk, which was lying at the Indianola wharf, about fifteen miles up the bay. The Rusk, under command of Captain Leon Smith, ran down to the Matagorda, and gave the information to Colonel Van Dorn that the steamer outside the bar was the Star of the West, noted as the vessel which had drawn the fire of the first gun of the Civil War ; and that arrangements had been made to use the Rask in carrying the Federal troops across the bar to this transport.
This was the first intelligence which Colonel Van Dorn had of the presence of
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MILITARY EVENTS AND OPERATIONS IN TEXAS.
the Star of the Wl'est, but he at once determined to capture her, and quickly formed his plan of doing so.
He transferred his entire force to the Rusk and sailed out for the purpose of surprising the transport. The moon was shining brightly, painting with all the colors of the rainbow the fleecy Gulf clouds as they were driven landward by a hali gale from the south. As the General Rusk passed over the bar the dim out- line of the Star of the West, plunging and tugging at her cable, appeared upon the horizon ; and in a short time the ships were within hailing distance of each other, a voice from the watch on the transport, came over the rolling billows : "Ship ahoy! avast there, you'll run in to us ! What vessel is that?" The answer was returned in the stentorian voice of Captain Leon Smith : "The General Rusk ; I have some troops for you ; stand by to catch our line." The captain of the transport replied : "Keep off, you'll tear my ship to pieces ; I cannot let you come alongside in this gale !" "All right," returned Captain Smith, " I have orders to sail for New York, and will have to put the troops back on shore." This caused a short parley on the transport, after which came the words : "Send us your line." The Rusk's cable was made fast, and after a hard pull by both sailors and soldiers she was brought alongside the anchored transport, both vessels pitching on the heavy swell so as to make the boarding very difficult. The orders to the men were to board quietly and scatter over the vessel in squads, without disclosing their character, and without using any violence, if it could be avoided.
The officers and watch on the transport rendered every assistance to their sup- posed friends in getting aboard, and when it was accomplished the boarders scattered about the quarter-deck, engine-room, and forecastle, ready and prepared to over- come any resistance which might be offered. Colonel Van Dorn approached the captain of the vessel, made himself known, and informed him that he had taken possession of the vessel in the name of the Confederate States. That officer was probably more surprised than ever before in his life ; he cursed and swore as none but a sailor can, and declared that a d-d ungentlemanly trick had been played upon him. As was natural, he took the loss of his vessel very hard, and was quite morose during the subsequent trip to New Orleans.
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