Kindle Available

Horse Sweat and Powder Smoke: The First Texas Cavalry in the Civil War
Regimental history from the time the regiment was raised by Colonel McCulloch to defend against indian warriors tor the time the regiment was part of the Confederate Army under the Colonels Buchel and Yager until the end of the Civil War

Palmito Ranch
Palmito Hill Palmetto Ranch
Civil War Texas


American Civil War
May 12-13, 1865

Last Battle of the Civil War

Kindle Available
Civil War Texas

Civil War Texas
Describes Texas's role in the civil war and notes the location of historical markers, statues, monuments, battle sites, buildings, and museums in Texas that may be visited by those interested in learning more about the war

Since March 1865, a gentleman's agreement precluded fighting between Union and Confederate forces on the Rio Grande. In spite of this agreement, Colonel Theodore H. Barrett, commanding forces at Brazos Santiago, Texas, dispatched an expedition, composed of 250 men of the 62nd U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment and 50 men of the 2nd Texas Cavalry Regiment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel David Branson, to the mainland, on May 11, 1865, to attack reported Rebel outposts and camps.

Prohibited by foul weather from crossing to Point Isabel as instructed, the expedition crossed to Boca Chica much later. At 2:00 am, on May 12, the expeditionary force surrounded the Rebel outpost at White's Ranch, but found no one there. Exhausted, having been up most of the night, Branson secreted his command in a thicket and among weeds on the banks of the Rio Grande and allowed his men to sleep.

Around 8:30 am, people on the Mexican side of the river informed the Rebels of the Federals' whereabouts. Branson promptly led his men off to attack a Confederate camp at Palmito Ranch.

After much skirmishing along the way, the Federals attacked the camp and scattered the Confederates. Branson and his men remained at the site to feed themselves and their horses but, at 3:00 pm, a sizable Confederate force appeared, influencing the Federals to retire to White's Ranch.

Branson sent word of his predicament to Barrett, who reinforced him at daybreak, on the 13th, with 200 men of the 34th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. The augmented force, now commanded by Barrett, started out towards Palmito Ranch, skirmishing most of the way. At Palmito Ranch, they destroyed the rest of the supplies not torched the day before and continued on.

A few miles forward, they became involved in a sharp firefight. After the fighting stopped, Barrett led his force back to a bluff at Tulosa on the river where the men could prepare dinner and camp for the night. At 4:00 pm, a large Confederate cavalry force, commanded by Colonel John S. "Rip" Ford, approached, and the Federals formed a battle line.

The Rebels hammered the Union line with artillery. To preclude an enemy flanking movement, Barrett ordered a retreat. The retreat was orderly and skirmishers held the Rebels at a respectable distance.

Returning to Boca Chica at 8:00 pm, the men embarked at 4:00 am, on the 14th. This was the last battle in the Civil War. Native, African, and Hispanic Americans were all involved in the fighting. Many combatants reported that firing came from the Mexican shore and that some Imperial Mexican forces crossed the Rio Grande but did not take part in the battle. These reports are unproven.

Result(s): Confederate victory

Location: Cameron County

Campaign: Expedition from Brazos Santiago (1865)

Date(s): May 12-13, 1865

Principal Commanders: Colonel Theodore H. Barrett [US]; Colonel John S. "Rip" Ford [CS]

Forces Engaged: Detachments from the 62nd U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment, 2nd Texas Cavalry Regiment, and 34th Indiana Volunteer Infantry [US]; Detachments from Gidding's Regiment, Anderson's Battalion of Cavalry, and numerous other Confederate units and southern sympathizers [CS]

Estimated Casualties: Total unknown (US 118; CS unknown)

Texas Map
Pre-Civil War 1860 Texas map 24 x 36
The period just prior to the Civil War . In this period Texas was in rapid development, trying to get railroad lines to the major cities and shipping points


Kindle Available
Civil War Firearms

Standard Catalog of
Civil War Firearms

Over 700 photographs and a rarity scale for each gun, this comprehensive guide to the thousands of weapons used by Billy Yank and Johnny Reb will be indispensable for historians and collectors.
Civil War: Uniforms, US and Confederate Armies, c.1895
Civil War: Uniforms, US and Confederate Armies
48 in. x 31.5 in. $169.99
Buy at AllPosters.com
Framed



Texas State Battle Map
Confederate President Jefferson Davis
Civil War Submarines
Confederate Johhny Cakes Recipe
Civil War Picture Album
Kids Zone Underground Railroad
Kids Zone Gettysburg
State Battle Maps
American Civil War Exhibits
Civil War Summary
Women in the War


Only a Private: A Texan Remembers the Civil War : The Memoirs of William J. Oliphant
A first-hand account of the common soldier's point of view. No colonel or general, William Oliphant was, "only a private." His perspective provides a window into Texas during the first days of the Civil War, and first-hand descriptions of battles
Kindle Available
Civil War Texas

Civil War Texas
Describes Texas's role in the civil war and notes the location of historical markers, statues, monuments, battle sites, buildings, and museums in Texas that may be visited by those interested in learning more about the war.
Fate of Texas
The Fate of Texas: The Civil War and the Lone Star State
When Texas joined the Confederacy and fought in the war, its fate was uncertain. The war touched every portion of the population and all aspects of life in Texas.

Tainted Breeze: The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas, 1862
October 1, 1862, state militia arrested more than two hundred Unionists from five northern counties . At least forty-four prisoners were hanged, others were lynched in neighboring communities

Battle Flags of Texans in the Confederacy
Excellent Confederate Flag information resource

Jefferson Davis: Unconquerable Heart
Shades of Blue and Gray

No scholar can fail to appreciate Allen's exhaustive research,, nor any layman fail to be amazed at her mass of fact and significant detail

Battle on the Bay:
The Civil War Struggle for Galveston

Civil War history of Galveston is one of the last untold stories from America's bloodiest war, despite the fact that Galveston was a focal point of hostilities throughout the conflict. Galveston emerged as one of the Confederacy's only lifelines to the outside world.

The Last Battle of the Civil War
Palmetto Ranch

May 12-13, the last battle of the Civil War had been fought at the southernmost tip of Texas—resulting in a Confederate victory. Although Palmetto Ranch did nothing to change the war's outcome, it added the final irony to a conflict replete with ironies
Southern Journey Henry Gusley
The Southern Journey of a Civil War Marine : The Illustrated Note-Book of Henry O. Gusley

On September 28, 1863, the Galveston Tri-Weekly News caught its readers' attention with an item headlined "A Yankee Note-Book." It was the first installment of a diary confiscated from U.S. Marine Henry O. Gusley, who had been captured at the Battle of Sabine Pass. Gusley's diary proved so popular with readers that they clamored for more, causing the newspaper to run each excerpt twice until the whole diary was published. For many in Gusley's Confederate readership, his diary provided a rare glimpse into the opinions and feelings of an ordinary Yankee--an enemy whom, they quickly discovered, it would be easy to regard as a friend. This book contains the complete text of Henry Gusley's Civil War diary
Walker Texas Division
Walker's Texas Division, C.S.A: Greyhounds of the Trans-Mississippi (Conflicting Worlds: New Dimensions of the American Civil War)

Colorfully known as the "Greyhound Division" for its lean and speedy marches across thousands of miles in three states, Major General John G. Walker's infantry division in the Confederate army was the largest body of Texans—about 12,000 men at its formation—to serve in the American Civil War. From its creation in 1862 until its disbandment at the war's end, Walker's unit remained, uniquely for either side in the conflict, a stable group of soldiers from a single state. Richard Lowe's compelling saga shows how this collection of farm boys, store clerks, carpenters, and lawyers became the trans-Mississippi's most potent Confederate fighting unit
Bourland in North Texas
Bourland in North Texas and Indian Territory During the Civil War: Fort Cobb, Fort Arbuckle & the Wichita Mountains

The Indian conflicts during the period 1861 through 1865 on the Southern frontier - the frontier of the Confederate States of America. When the United States military forces withdrew in the face of the establishment of the new fledgling Southern republic, a partial defense vacuum was created in the areas contiguous to the Indian lands. This book deals with the Texas-Oklahoma border area, the Red River area. Texas had to contribute its sons not only to the struggle to maintain the nascent Confederate army in the War for Southern Independence but additionally to fill the need for border security with the many Indian tribes

Galveston Texas current weather city history and chamber of commerce hotel Bed and Breakfast camping


Sources:
U.S. National Park Service
U.S. Library of Congress.