OT - Civil War Trivia

[Charles]

Yesterday I gave a speech to the United Daughters of the Confederacy about Gen. Lew Wallace's secret mission to Texas. I thought you boys might like a short hand version.

Lew Wallace, who was a Union General from Indiana. He was a lawyer, soldier, U.S. Senator, Governor of New Mexico Territory and U.S. Ambassador to Turkey. However, he is best known as the author of the novel Ben Hur.

Early on in the war of Northen Agression, his command showed up to late to join in a major battle and as a consequence he was relegated to an administrative position. Good Generals show up in time to fight, don't you know!

Anxious to get back into the war and make a name for himself, he came up with the notion to negotiate a seperate peace with Texas, taking them out of the Confederacy and thereby cutting the two way supply line that took cotton from the south to Mexico where it was put on foreign flag ships at Bagdad. Those same ships delivers arms, ammo, medicine and other supplies badly needed by the Confederacy.

In return for Texas leaving the Confederacy, the Union was to allow re-entry without any penalties, and the U.S. would join Texas in kicking the French out of Mexico. They were also, if possible, to take a few northern Mexican states and annex them to Texas and hence to the United States.

Wallace sold this notion to Grant and received permission to make a secret journey to Texas to do the deed. Wallace set sail accross the Gulf of Mexico and landed at the Federal garrison on Brazos Island. Brazos Island was located near the mouth of the Rio Grande River. It was wiped off the map over a hundred years ago by a major hurricane.

Wallace with his staff landed at Brazos Island and sent a message to Brig. Gen. James Slaughter and Col. J.S. "Rip" Ford, he wanted to meet with them. Slaughter and Ford came from Brownsville and met with Wallace at Point Isabel on the mainland. Wallace brought with him cooks, tents and his entire staff. They stayed there for three days while Wallace pitched his plan. This was in March 1865.

Ford and Slaughter didn't respond to his plan but said they would submit it to their superiors. They sent the plan to Gen. Walker who commanded the Military District of Texas who went ballistic at the notion. He released the who draft agreement to a Houston paper and blew the lid off of the whole deal.

In the meantime, Wallace packed up and headed back to Yankee Land. But he, Ford and Slaughter did agree to a truce on the border as they all knew the war was winding down. In reliance on this truce, Ford furloughed most of his troops. The problem was, that in his love for secrecy, Wallace didn't inform the commander of the Federal garrison on Brazos island there was a truce.

After Lee surrendered the Federal garrison decided to move up to Brownville and polish off the Confederate there, thinking they had no more fight in them.

The surrender of Lee did not end the war. Hood had not yet surrendered the Army of Tenn., Jeff Davis was still on the loose, and Slaughter and Ford had not received orders to stack arms and surrender.

Therefore, Ford drew as many of his troups together as he could and moved down to meet the Federal toops and meet them they did. At Palmitto Ranch Ford's men routed the Federals killing about 220 of them with less than a dozen causualties among Ford's men. Many of the Yankees were shot trying to swim the river trying to get into Mexico. Others were ran back to the coast where they boarded boats to get back to Brazos Island.

Gen. Slaughter who had been "very much to the rear" of the fighting, rode his horse into the surf, and fired his pistol at the Yankees who were rowing for all they were worth.

That was the last battle of the war and a clear and decisive victory for the Confederacy.

[C. Cash]

Very neat Charles! I had never heard this and thanks for sharing it!

[Charles]

Addendum: When the war was fully over, the Federal Commander of the Brazos Island forces was Court Martialed for his actions at Palmitto Ranch. Ford testified on his behalf and he was aquitted.

[cnjarvis]

Cool. Thanks for sharing.

[gamekeeper]

Very interesting indeed, thanks for posting.

[Rusty]

Thank you Charles, as an unreconstructed Southerner things like that are of great interest to me as well.

Allow me to ask something else of you, I read in a book by Clive Custler about the search for the "Twin Sisters" after the war. Do you know of anyone who is still conducting a search for them today?

For those not aware of the history the "Twin Sisters were a pair of cannon that were given to the Republic of Texas by the City of Cincinnati, Oh to help them in their fight for freedom against Mexico. They were captured by Northern troops and were about to be destroyed when some Southern soldiers who saw them and recognized them thought about what a shame it would be to have them destroyed. These Confederate soldiers who had been mustered out after the war went to the place where the "Sisters" were and stole them in the dark of night to prevent their destruction. They then hid them, but were never able to find them again.

thank you,
Rusty <><

[Terry Murbach]

GENERAL LEW WALLACE WAS AN ESSOBEE OF THE FIRST WATER. HE WAS A SELF SERVING UNPRINCIPILED LIER. I AM STILL AMAZED THAT SOMEONE FROM THE BILLY THE KID'S GANG DID NOT SHOOT WALLACE AFTER ALL THE stuff HE PULLED IN NEW MEXICO.

[Charles]

A Dr. Graves and his black servant saw the Twin Sisters at a railroad station getting ready to go north. This was in 1865. They stold them at night, burned the wood carriages and rolled the barrels into Buffalo Bayou. Efforts to locate them still have not proved sucessful.

[Charles]

Terry... The whole idea Wallace cooked up to split Texas off from the Union was an attempt to give him a better place in history that he currently occupied. It was a fools errand motivated by self importance.

[RSY]

The surrender of Lee did not end the war. Hood had not yet surrendered the Army of Tenn., Jeff Davis was still on the loose, and Slaughter and Ford had not received orders to stack arms and surrender.

Don't forget General Kirby-Smith.

scott

[Ysabel Kid]

Excellent post!

[C. Cash]

I was just reading in Shelby Foote's "Red River to Appomatox" how Grant was so annoyed with all these side missions(such as Bank's foray into Texas and I would imagine Wallace's excursion here) as they took away men from his main purpose: fighting and defeating the main Armies of Lee in the East and Johnston in the "West," as well as decimating all the resources that these two Armies drew from. He had it right...these were just little side circus acts that distracted from the defeating the main Confederate Armies, which is why so little progress had been made against Lee and Bragg(then Johnston) up until the time that he took Command of the US Armies.

[Leverdude]

Good post Charles!

Theres alot of parallels can be drawn between what we did in the Civil war & how we currently act globally.

[spurgon]

Thanks Charles.
spurgon

[Charles]

C Cash.... Well Grant signed off on Wallace's secret mission to Texas and it did not require or consume resources. It just took the time of a worthless General and his staff. They were not doing anything to aid the war effort anyway.

It was a long shot, but had it worked out, the pay off for the Union would have been great.

[C. Cash]

C Cash.... Well Grant signed off on Wallace's secret mission to Texas and it did not require or consume resources. It just took the time of a worthless General and his staff. They were not doing anything to aid the war effort anyway.

It was a long shot, but had it worked out, the pay off for the Union would have been great.

Yeah...realized that it would not take great resources away.... just making a general comment about where Grant's focus seemed to lie on such matters as of 1864. He seemed to have little to lose here and it probably kept Wallace out of his hair.

[Rexster]

Don't forget that many Texans were not so eager to secede in the first place. Even one of the wartime governors, Throckmorton, had, before secession, argued against secession, and voted against it in the legislature. Sam Houston, of course, famously resisted secession. To drift a bit, I remember some 20th-century "what if" historians arguing that Texas should have seceded from the union, but not joined the South, instead reverting to a republic, and perhaps emerging much stronger for it.

[Charles]

Rexter.... Most Texans in 1861 were in favor of sucession. However many leaders including Sam Houston were not in favor of joining the Confederacy. Unlike the other states, Texas had a right to leave the Union by virtue of the Treaty by which they were annexed to the U.S.

The others states relied on the "States Rights" clause of the Constution for the authority to suceed. The North did not accept their understanding of the Constitution and did not accord the Confererate States of American the status of an independent nation, but considered them to just a rebellion against constitued authority.

My GGGGrandfather (Gen. John D. Pitts) along with Houston and others argued that Texas should suceed and remain and independent country. They thought Texas should just sit the upcoming war out.

There was a period of time between the time Texas left the Union and it joined the Confederacy. When it was all said and done, most Texans came from the South and there were not going to let their kinsmen down by not joining in the fight.

My GGGGrandfather took sick at the sucession convention and was taken by buggy to his home in Hays county, but he died on the way home.

All of his grandsons fought in the war as Confederate soldiers in Texas units.

[John in MS]

I hadn't heard about that episode! Thanks for posting, Charles!

Some here might be interested in the last charge of the Army of Northern Virginia, showing the devotion of the Confederate soldiers even as the war ended. My GGGrandfather was a Lt. in the 14th VA Cav. which led the charge, but he had been captured in late 1864 and was in POW camp at Johnson's Island, Ohio (22 miles from the main gate at Camp Perry, Ohio.) His relatives, however, continued on through the surrender and were present at Appomattox. From the Virginia State Regimental Histories series book on the 14th VA Cav., (commissioned by the State of VA), I quote:

"The next morning, the 9th, we were awakened by cannonading in our front, too close to be comfortable had we not been in the wood and out of sight," recalled Pvt. Bouldin. [Note: in the retreat they had been issued no rations for the previous several days and could find little to eat while foraging. They traveled all day and infiltrated this woods at night under strict silence as they were near the Union lines, did not unsaddle, and slept a few uneasy hours on arms, with their halter straps around their wrists. The story is told from excerpts of accounts given by several of the actual soldiers.]

"About 8:30 am Gen. W.H.F. Lee, with some of his staff rode up "...and asked who was in command. One of the men said "CPT. Bouldin," the brave commander remembered. "When told and directed to myself, he promptly ordered, "Captain, mount your regiment! Mount your horses! Form fours! Forward, march!"... By his orders, we moved forward and downward into the valley and thence through a skirt of woods, and soon came in view of a battery of the enemy that had been shelling during the morning," the CPT. recalled. His relative, Pvt. Bouldin stated, "up a gradual slope in the edge of a pine forest was located a Yankee battery (two guns), supported by infantry behind temporary breastworks of logs, rails and trees."

Bouldin formed the regiment into fours with the colors in the front. Leech reported that he, with color-bearer Wilson, Samuel Walker and John H. Whitmore made up the first four. The remnants of the Stonewall Brigade were in a skirmish line on the left flank. Whitmore recalled young Taylor Ford, whom he described as "a brave and mischevious boy," commenting when the first shell was fired at the regiment: "That is the bass of the tune of what we are about to play," and when the small arms began, "That is the tenor."

Lee told the redoubtable commander, " 'CPT. Bouldin, capture that battery.' We were in a depression, and if the men manning their battery saw us, they had not gotten our range. Their shells were passing over our heads and exploding beyond us."

"Forward, charge! Boys, follow me!" rang out the command. "With the yell, our poor, jaded horses bore us across that field as well as they could," Leech recalled. Slowed by a fence, the gray riders "did not hesitate but a moment, and rushed on, through shot and shell... It was a pell mell, hurray, boys, who'll get there first charge, and strange as it may appear ... we charged without sabres and but few pistols. A few of the Charlotte company had sabres. We had Spencer and Enfield rifles."

"When we charged... there was a Yankee on foot. As he ran by, Ford struck him with his gun and remarked "If I can't kill them one way, I will try another" remembered Whitmore.

"Across the field we dashed, right up to the guns, shooting the gunners and support down with our Colt navies. Just as our colors were planted on one of the guns, out of the woods on our left flank came a troop of Yankee cavalry in fine style. With empty pistols and disorganized as we were, every man wheeled his horse to the left and we drew sabres and went at them with steel in a hand-to-hand combat," PVT Bouldin related. "We soon sent them back in great confusion from which they had come, capturing quite a number of prisoners, among them, their Major, Moore."

Walker told Whitmore, "Let's try to kill that flag bearer. I'd like to have that flag." Just at this time, a minnie ball struck him from the crossfire, the Rockbridge trooper recalled. "The ball struck him slightly above the knee, and he bled freely. He fell and struck against my horse, and asked me not to leave him." [Note: Walker had just returned to duty with the Rockbridge Dragoons on April 5th, after a bout with typhoid fever.] The same volley had fatally wounded James Wilson in the breast. William L. Moffett vividly remembered the scene: "His beautiful bay mare stood near him, and the colors of our regiment were furled and leaning against a tree, never to be unfurled again. I do not remember who was with him, but think that it was his brother. I knew he was dying, my heart sank within me when he said to me, 'Moffett, it is hard to die now, just as the war is over.'" CPT Bouldin believed Wilson was wounded while planting the flag on the captured guns. Leech said it occurred when the regiment slowed to get around the fence before getting to the cannon.

"Our attention was now called again to the infantry, who had abandoned their works and fallen back, and from behind trees were picking our boys off their horses. One dash was sufficient. We rode through their camp just in rear of the guns. They were preparing breakfast. I passed fire after fire where they were cooking beefsteak, ham and eggs, and there was real coffee in cans on the fire. I was tempted to stop, but I couldn't," lamented PVT Bouldin. The young trooper captured 4 Yankees and took them to the rear. He presented to CPT Bouldin a belt with a saber and two pistols. Their intrepid leader had emptied his pistol in the assault.

The CPT recalled that some of the men could not resist the temptations of the food and grabbed some on the return from this last charge. The two Napoleons (some reported four) with horses and caissons complete, were taken to the rear and turned over to a Confederate battery... The 14th had been supported in the charge by the 9th VA Cavalry. The new commander reported Generals Beale and "Rooney" Lee acting with "great gallantry" on the field. "This is said to be the last charge ever made by, and this the last man killed in battle in the Army of Northern Virginia," he added.

"After our charge, we were ordered from the field. When we started, we saw some of the infantry falling back slowly, and no Yankees following them. After we had gotten a little ways, Genl. W.H.F. Lee said that Genl. R.E. Lee had surrendered," Bouldin continued.
[edited for brevity]

In the confusion, the regimental colors were apparently left leaning against the tree, where they were picked up by Sgt. John Donaldson, Co. L, 4th PA Cavalry after the battle. He received the Medal of Honor for this on May 3, 1865...

[About their return after the surrender], Bouldin wrote: "Our squad moved on rapidly north and crossed the James River [near Bent Creek bridge which was burned], I think about dark. ... I cannot describe, and do not wish to, the awful feeling we had when we thought over the events and the result of four years just passed. We all knew that we had discharged our duty and it was now but to submit to the inevitable."

Bouldin concluded with a fitting epitaph to the Fourteenth Virginia Cavalry:

"It gives me the greatest pleasure to testify to the gallantry of the men and officers of our old company [and regiment] in many hard-fought battles. Even when hope was gone, and all looked dark, they were willing to do their duty as soldiers, and led in one of the most desperate charges ever made, with such spirit as to overcome every obstacle."


John