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

Palmito Ranch
Palmito Hill Palmetto Ranch
Civil War Texas

American Civil War
May 12-13, 1865

Last Battle of the Civil War

Texas Border Defense
Frontier Defense in the Civil War: Texas' Rangers and Rebels
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Texans suddenly faced the dilemma of having to confront two enemies: US armed forces and the Plains Indians.

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


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
Civil War Store

Texans in the Confederate Cavalry
Often outnumbered Texas Cavalry, through Bravado or sheer madness, frequently helped turn the tide of battle. From Colonel Parsons' assault on the Federal Navy during the Red River Campaign of 1864 to Terry's Texas Rangers with General Wheeler's horsemen badgering Sherman on his "March to the Sea,"
Sabine Pass: The Confederacy's Thermopylae
Confederate president Jefferson Davis made the claim: "That battle at Sabine Pass was more remarkable than the battle at Thermopylae." Sabine Pass was the site of one of the most decisive Civil War battles
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
A Rebel Wife in Texas: The Diary and Letters of Elizabeth Scott Neblett, 1852-1864
Elizabeth Neblett's observations on slave and class relations, regional politics, lynching, farm management, medical practices, mental illness, and the Civil War in Texas.

The Black Civil War Soldiers of Illinois: The Story of the Twenty-Ninth U.S. Colored Infantry
Study in the lives of black recruits in the Civil War era, and a journey into the hinterlands of an American racial pathos. Throughout this study, Miller explores in detail the biographies of individual soldiers, revealing their often convoluted histories 		Standing Soldiers Kneeling Slaves
Standing Soldiers, Kneeling Slaves
The United States of America originated as a slave society, holding millions of Africans and their descendants in bondage, and remained so until a civil war took the lives of a half million soldiers, some once slaves themselves.		 Honor in Command Colored Troops
Honor in Command: Lt. Freeman S. Bowley's Civil War Service in the 30th United States Colored Infantry
A young white officer who served as a lieutenant in a regiment of U.S. Colored Troops in the Union Army, is the work of a superb storyteller who describes how his Civil War experiences transformed him from a callow youth into an honorable man. Describing in detail his relationship with the men in his company, Bowley extols the role of black soldiers and their officers in the Union victory.
Campfires of Freedom: The Camp Life of Black Soldiers During the Civil War
African-Americans - both freemen and ex-slaves - enlisted for a variety of reasons, from patriotism to sheer poverty. Like many of their white counterparts, they attributed theological significance to the war

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.
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
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'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 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.