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 TEXAS, 
 
 LATE MILITARY OCCUPATION 
 
 EVACUATION. 
 
 BY AN OFFICER OF THE ARMY. 
 
 NEW YOKK : 
 D. VAN NOSTRAXD,' 192 BROADWAY. 
 
 18G2. 
 
TEXAS, 
 
 LATE MILITARY OCCUPATION 
 
 EVACUATION. 
 
 BY AN OFFICER OF THE ARMY. 
 
 NEW YOEK: 
 
 D. VAN NOSTRAXD, 192 BROADWAY. 
 
 1862. 
 
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 0\7 
 
These pages have been linrriedly written from memory ; 
 and contain, I have no doubt, many errors, I designed 
 in writing them, an explanation of the circmnstances 
 which attended tlie surrender of the regulars, and found 
 that in this connection some general description of the 
 country was necessary. 
 
 West Point, July, 1862. 
 
 '^'-•'^■■--■'*— "TS^SSTT 
 
 - EnWIN D. PinLLTPS, 
 
 Captain l.<?^ Infantry V^. S. A. 
 
T E X A.S, 
 
 AND ITS LATE MILITARY OCCUPATION AND EVACUATION. 
 
 In 1790 tlie Jesuit Missions, successively estab- 
 lished northward of the Rio Grande during many 
 preceding years, extended to the head-waters of the 
 Nueces and the San Saba^ and reached nearly to the 
 Sabine river and the sea. The happy influence 
 which the Fathers had acquired over the Indians, 
 seems to have been used with such complete and 
 unremitting devotion to their welfare, that over 
 their native prairies, they had learned to tend large 
 herds and flocks ; while they looked with wonder 
 upon unwonted scenes of wild peace and quiet, of 
 the real nature and cause of which, they could have 
 had no just appreciation. 
 
 They still make upon their powder-horns the or- 
 
6 TEXAS, AND ITS LATE jnLITARY 
 
 nament of the Cross ; and liave within i-eceut years, 
 painted upon the high cliffs of the Concho, the rude 
 picture of a Mission House "^dth its bell and rope — 
 over tlie roofless ruins of which the rank cactus has 
 climbed for years. 
 
 This happy and peaceful period had nearly ex- 
 pii'ed when the insurrection of the Spanish colonies 
 began — for the gradual withdrawal, for the protec- 
 tion of the Capital of Mexico, of the few Spanish 
 troops who had been quartered at the Missions sub- 
 jected the faithful priests first to insult, and finally 
 to savage cruelty, until all had been murdered, 
 driven across the inhospitable wastes to the west- 
 ward, or comj)elled to seek a refuge in the sand isl- 
 ands along the southern coast; and the country re- 
 lapsed into a wilderness, inhabited by wild beasts, 
 and Indians scarcely less so, in their unrestrained 
 freedom. Its vast area is more than three times great- 
 er than that of the six New England States, embrac- 
 ing besides its large tracts devoted to the culture of 
 corn, wheat, cotton, and sugar, nearly one hundred 
 and seventy-five millions of acres of uncultivated land. 
 No small portion of its territoiy was titled by the 
 authoiities of Spain and Mexico, or granted in orig- 
 
OCCUPATION AND EVACUATION. 7 
 
 inal acts of its own Congress and Legislature ; and 
 still tlie public domain numbers perhaps not much 
 less than one hundred millions of acres. Its surface 
 is a vast slope ; the western limits of which, in the 
 barren regions of the Llano Estacado, are four thou- 
 sand five hundred feet, and its central portions two 
 thousand feet above the sea. The coast range along 
 the Gulf of Mexico is a level prairie, extending fifty 
 miles into the interior, intersected by the large 
 rivers, but nearly destitute of timber, if we except 
 the small evergreen mesquite tree — a species of the 
 acacia — which, encumbered in all its branches with 
 the mistletoe, springs in every conceivable locality. 
 Many cool springs and beautiful fresh and salt water 
 lakes are met with in this prairie ; and many wild 
 flowers, which in their wealth of fragrance compen- 
 sate the lack of names, bloom in profusion during 
 nearly the whole year. The region of high rolling 
 plains, of detached liills, and of groves of the dwarf 
 live-oak succeed, and within three hundred miles, 
 mountains of moderate height, rocks, and small rapid 
 streams abound, valleys and aroyas intervene, and 
 the most charming landscapes everywhere appear. 
 Still farther on, the country becomes more broken 
 
8 TEXAS, AND ITS LATE MILITAEY 
 
 and difficult of access, until tlirough six hundred 
 miles of peculiar and diversified scenery, we ap- 
 proach the most inhospitable regions in the Staked 
 Plains of Texas and New Mexico. The state pos- 
 sesses perhaps very little of commercial interest ; 
 has but few ports worthy of notice, among which 
 may be mentioned those of Galveston, Indianola, La- 
 vaca, Brownsville, and the villages of Matagorda 
 Bay, and the connection of these with the interior 
 is of the most indifferent and inadequate description. 
 The villages, and indeed most of the settlements, are 
 in the east; the wilderness is in the middle and 
 the west ; and under heaven there can be no land 
 which merits more the name — more wild, and beau- 
 tiful, and unavailable. 
 
 Extending: from the latitude of 25° 45' throuo;h 
 nearly eleven degrees to the northward, and having 
 so great an elevation, the softness and purity of its 
 varied climate may seldom be equalled, and can 
 scarcely be surpassed. The periodical northers oc- 
 cur between the months of September and March, 
 formed by the descent of cool air, which upon reach- 
 ing the plains, hurries forward to the current of the 
 trade-winds ; and during the warmer months, moist 
 
OCCUPATION AND EVACUATION. \) 
 
 breezes from the ocean supply the place of the heat- 
 ed air ascending from the prairie, and of the much 
 needed summer rains, until farther to the westward 
 they have, in climbing the Cordilleras ranges, lost 
 all their moisture. These changing winds prevail 
 as far westward as the north-eastern portion of the 
 Staked Plains, to the mouth of the Pecos, and along 
 the Sierra Madre to the sea. Mr. Thorpe, in his ac- 
 count of the Broca Chica and the Brazos Santiago, 
 remarks as to these restless winds along the coast, 
 that " there seems ever to be some troubled spirit in 
 the waters and air, that throws about the voyager's 
 craft, and makes him cautious in his movements." 
 It is indeed the most difficult and hazardous coast 
 with which I am acquainted. Such are some of the 
 general characteristics of Texas; deficient in large 
 navigable rivers, in safe and capacious harbors, in 
 railroads, in timber, in regular supplies of rain, in 
 nearly every thing which may make available the 
 resources of a country, however poor and barren ; 
 abounding in every thing which nature may suj)ply 
 for the wonder of her peculiar votaries. 
 
 In July, 1845, Texas, by the action of its own 
 Congress ratifying the joint resolutions of the Con- 
 
10 TEXAS, A^s'D ITS LATE 5IILITART 
 
 gress of the United States, entered the Union, and 
 became entitled to claim from it that military pro- 
 tection which its own government had been power- 
 less to render during the period of its existence as a 
 separate republic. The Indians, occupying four- 
 fifths of its territory, had hitherto prescribed the ut- 
 most limit of the settlements, but now the throng 
 of domestic and foreign emigration pressing forward 
 to imaginary sources of wealth in the valleys of its 
 upper streams — the commercial advantages present- 
 ed in its roads to North Mexico and Santa Fe, and, 
 over all, the adventurous restlessness Ijy which its 
 unfixed population has ever been actuated — induced 
 those earnest appeals with which she sought the aid 
 of the general government, and in compliance with 
 which, between the date of the conclusion of the 
 peace with Mexico and the close of the year 18G0, 
 there had been stationed in her territory, five regi- 
 ments of infantry, two regiments of dragoons, the 
 regiment of mounted riflemen, and two regiments 
 of artillery. With the exception of tlie extreme 
 upper positions, the points occupied by the troops 
 were upon four consecutive lines of about seventy- 
 five miles, one hundred and fifty miles, two hundred 
 
OCCUPATIOlSr AND EVACTJATIOlSr. 11 
 
 and seventy-five miles, and four hundred miles from 
 the coast, and nearly parallel to its general direction. 
 The very numerous positions which these lines em- 
 braced were not taken in consequence of the opinions 
 of the department commanders; but the troops were 
 perhaps pushed out very far beyond the natural lim- 
 its of just military occupation, by the clamors of the 
 restless people ; and the policy of distril:)uting the 
 troops in weak lines, which, traced upon a map, 
 would embrace more than three thousand miles, be- 
 ing once adopted, might not be carelessly relinquish- 
 ed, since every real or j)rojected settlement in the 
 vicinity of the posts must otherwise be abandoned 
 or frustrated. Meantime, the communication of the 
 scattered garrisons with the headquarters of the 
 department and with the states, was by the means 
 of express mules and by the way of the prairie. 
 
 The political relations of Texas with the general 
 government, had been distinguished by a reliant faith 
 in the efficiency and the justness of the Federal laws, 
 and a pride in her connection with the family of the 
 states, which rendered her poorest people exultant 
 in time of peace, and would have placed them fore- 
 most in deeds of daring in the event of foreign war. 
 
12 TEXAS, AND ITS LATE MLITAEY 
 
 111 the beginning of the year 1861, she had at the 
 head of her state government, a gentleman of un- 
 questioned abilities, of much experience, and of pro- 
 found discretion. Whatever may have been the po- 
 litical aspirations of General Houston, and however 
 perplexing the paths in which he is said to have 
 sought their attainment, his fearless and continued 
 advocacy of the union of the states will be remem- 
 bered in the land where he is buried, when the dis- 
 tinguishing policies pursued by many who surround- 
 ed him shall have ceased to avail their reputation, 
 or to evoke their memory. 
 
 Nor are the subsequent acts of Lieutenant-Gov- 
 ernor Clarke, who succeeded him, to be construed as 
 more or lees than the acknowledgment of the de- 
 crees of the improperly constituted assemblages in 
 whose hands he had ])een placed. Around him 
 were convened a legislature, made up for the most 
 part of disappointed ^politicians from abroad; and a 
 convention, whose members represented, with few 
 exceptions, the wishes of no classes of the communi- 
 ty — whose homes supplied them no other patri- 
 mony than the privilege of ruining, within its leg- 
 islative halls, their native state ; they were, how- 
 
OCCUPATION AND EVACUATION. 13 
 
 ever, tlie educated men who swayed tlie ignorant 
 masses of the people ; tlieii' measures were taken 
 mth the extremest circumspection, and prosecuted 
 with such vigor, that within a few days, almost the 
 entire population may be said to have been under . 
 arms. 
 
 The convention appointed three commissioners, 
 who were instructed to demand the surrender of all 
 the public property within the limits of the state. 
 The commissioners found it extremely difficult to 
 force the commanding general to any definite action ; 
 for with his habitual caution, he avoided committing 
 himself upon paper, and when pressed to act, he 
 usually said, " I will give up every thing," and the 
 exertions of Colonel Nichols, Assistant Adjutant- 
 General, in all probability prevented a much more 
 disgraceful capitulation than that which followed. 
 In justice to General Twiggs, it may be remarked, 
 that he constantly stated that, in the perplexing 
 emergencies of his situation, he had* repeatedly dis- 
 patched his staff-officers to the seat of the general 
 government, with instructions to unfold the various 
 difficulties under which he labored ; and requesting 
 specific instructions as to the future conduct of af- 
 
14 TEXAS, AND ITS LATE MILITAEY 
 
 fairs, whicli, "vvitli every succeeding clay, were becom- 
 ing more complicated. 
 
 On tlie 18tli of February, General Twiggs, from 
 his headquarters in San Antonio, issued a general 
 order, to the effect that the state of Texas, having 
 through its commissioners demanded the delivery of 
 the military posts and the public property within 
 its limits ; and the commanding general being desir- 
 ous of avoiding even the possibility of a collision 
 between the Federal and the state troops, the posts 
 would be evacuated l)y their garrisons, and the lat- 
 ter would take up, as soon as the necessary prepara- 
 tions could be made, the line of march out of Texas 
 by way of the coast (marching out with their arms, 
 the light batteries with their guns), clothing, camp 
 and garrison equipage, quarter-master's, subsistence, 
 medical, and hosj^ital stores, and such means of trans- 
 portation of every kind as might be necessary for an 
 efficient and orderly movement of the troojis, pre- 
 pared for attack or defence against aggressions from 
 any source, and caiTying with them provisions as far 
 as the coast. Simultaneous with this order, aj^peared 
 a circular of the commissioners, stating that, having 
 been fully empowered by the state of Texas to ex- 
 
OCCUPATION AND EVACUATION. 15 
 
 ercise tlie autliority wliicli tliey had undertaken, 
 they had formally and solemnly agreed with brevet 
 Major-General David E. Twiggs, U. S. Army, com- 
 manding the department of Texas, that the troops 
 of the United States should leave the soil of the 
 state by way of the coast, that they should take 
 with them the arms of the respective corps, includ- 
 ing the battery of light artillery at Fort Duncan, and 
 the battery of the same description at Fort Brown ; 
 and should be allowed the necessary means for reg- 
 ular and comfortable movement — provisions, tents, 
 etc., etc., and transportation. The public proj^erty 
 at the various posts, other than that above mention- 
 ed, to be turned over to agents, to be appointed by 
 the commission; and who would render due and 
 proper receipts to the officers of the army, whom 
 they would relieve from the custody of the public 
 property. This order and circular did not reach the 
 military j)osts until several weeks after their pro- 
 mul2:ation. 
 
 Meantime a general order, dated at the War De- 
 partment, January 28th, relieving General Twiggs 
 from the command of the department of Texas, and 
 directing Colonel Carlos A. Waite, of the first regi- 
 
16 TEXAS, Ain) ITS LATE SIILITAEY 
 
 ment of infantry, to assume tlie command, reached 
 tlie headquarters in San Antonio ; and so soon as the 
 commissioners became aware of the nature of this 
 order, measures were taken to intercept the express- 
 man bearing the order to Colonel Waite, whose reg- 
 imental headquarters were on the Verde Creek, a 
 tributary of the Guadalupe River, and about sixty- 
 five miles from San Antonio. These measures were 
 frustrated by the foresight of Colonel Nichols, who 
 had taken the precaution to send two separate ex- 
 presses; the first was captured and taken back to 
 San Antonio, but the second one reached Camp 
 Verde at twelve o'clock m., on the lYth of Februaiy, 
 and within three hours thereafter, Colonel Waite, 
 escorted by a detachment of cavalry, took the road 
 to San Antonio, where he arrived between one and 
 two o'clock p. M., on the 1 8th, and found that all ne- 
 gotiations were closed, and that General Twiggs 
 had surrendered all of the posts and the public 
 property to the state of Texas ; that the town was 
 occupied by a large force of Texan troops, and 
 that strong guai'ds had been placed over the ord- 
 nance and ordnance stores, the clothing depot, and 
 the commissary and quartermaster's departments, 
 
■ OCCUPATIOIS" AND EVACUATION. 17 
 
 including means of transportation of every kind; 
 while the two companies of United States i-egulars 
 had been withdrawn from the to^\Ti, and were en- 
 camped at some distance from the public stores. 
 General Twiggs' oixler, relinquishing the command 
 and transferring it to Colonel Waite, was issued on 
 the 19th of February, and on the same- day the 
 latter assumed command of the department, and 
 from this time all the efforts of this faithful and 
 accomplished officer were directed to the safe re- 
 moval of the troops from Texas. 
 
 In the latter part of 1859, all the means of trans- 
 portation (mules and ^vagons) at the military posts, 
 over and above such as were indispensable for the 
 purposes of hauling fuel and water for the use of 
 the troops, and for the carrying of the mails, had, 
 in compliance with a circular issued from the quar- 
 termaster's office at the department headquarters, 
 been transferred to the general depot in San Anto- 
 nio; so that the spring of 1861 found the scattered 
 garrisons destitute- of the means necessary for pro- 
 tracted marches across western and middle Texas, 
 but ample provisions for this emergency were found 
 in the stipulations which had been arranged be- 
 
18 TEXAS, AXD ITS LATE MILrTARY 
 
 tween General Twist's and the commissioners. In 
 the circular of the latter, and in the general order of 
 the late commander of the department for the evacua- 
 tion of the posts, and Colonel AVaite having speedily 
 arranged his plans for the movement of the troops, 
 lost no time in urging upon the commissioners a 
 prompt compliance with the agi'eement into which 
 they had entered, and the immediate dispatch of the 
 necessary means of transportation, which were now 
 completely under their own control. 
 
 It is not known that the commissioners deliber- 
 ately planned to delay the transportation, which 
 had to be sent in some instances to distances of 
 more than six hundred miles; but it is certain that 
 the trains were gotten in readiness and dispatched 
 up the country with sucli slowness as to warrant 
 the conclusion that tliey were at the least by no 
 means desirous for the sj^eedy departure of the 
 troops. Some extenuation of the course which they 
 pursued in this, as Avell as in many subsequent trans- 
 actions, all tending to embarrass the action of the 
 department commander, may be had in the anxiety 
 which they may have felt for the safety of the settle- 
 ments, which, with the sudden withdrawal of the 
 
OCCUPATIOlSr AND EVACUATIOlSr. 19 
 
 troops, must be exposed to the incursions of tlie 
 Indians; still, it is j^erliaps natural to presume, that 
 they conceived all delays to be favorable to the 
 purpose, which they doubtless entertained, of per- 
 suading a portion of the troops to join their cause. 
 " They are," say the commissioners in their circular 
 letter of the 18th of February, "our friends, who 
 have hitherto afforded us all the protection in their 
 power ; and it is our duty to see that no insult or 
 indignity is offered them." 
 
 Early in April, Earle Van Dorn, late major in the 
 regular service, an officer of much distinction in the 
 Indian campaigns, who had thrown up his commis- 
 sion on the secession of his native state of Missis- 
 sippi, reappeared upon the coast of Texas, and 
 openly avowed his intention to take with him such 
 companies of the regulars as his abundant reputa- 
 tion might enable him to entice into the service of 
 the Confederate States, and, as if by preconcerted 
 arrangement, the San Antonio newspapers immedi- 
 ately teemed with articles designed to explain, that 
 in the great emergencies which were ensuing, the 
 soldiers were naturally relieved from the oaths of 
 allegiance which they had taken, and were at perfect 
 
20 TEXAS, AISTD ITS LATE inLITAEY 
 
 liberty to quit the service of tlie United States. 
 About this time, Lieutenant Thornton A, AYashing- 
 ton, quartermaster of the first regiment of infantiy, 
 wlio, in the implicit confidence of his commanding 
 officer, had been detached as quartermaster to the 
 port of Indianola, and who was fully depended upon 
 for the transaction of all business relative to the 
 embarkation of the troops, sent in his resignation, 
 and quitted his post and the public j^roperty con- 
 signed to his care. But it is not proj^osed in this 
 connection to enumerate the various difficulties 
 which surrounded the troops, and embarrassed their 
 able commander. How many of these difficulties 
 and impediments may have resulted from the pre- 
 concerted action of individuals, previous to the seces- 
 sion of the state, I am not able to say. Major Barnard, 
 in his interesting " Letter to an English Friend," re- 
 marks : " Mr. Floyd had taken care that the army 
 should not be available to his successor. It was scat- 
 tered on our distant frontiers, and tlie capture of a 
 large portion in Texas was managed through the 
 ao-encv of its commanding officer, a worthy accom- 
 plice and compeer in infamy of such a chief." Mean- 
 time the troops, on receiving their transjoortation. 
 
OCCUPATIOlSr AND EVACUATION. 21 
 
 marclied rapidly down the country, by the way of 
 the El Paso road, by Fort Mason and Fredericks- 
 burgh, and by Eagle Pass and Brownsville. The 
 light batteries, the cavalry, and a portion of the in- 
 fantry, reached the coast in time to embark on the 
 first steamers which arrived, and sailed for the 
 North with sealed orders, w^hile the remainder of the 
 troops, consisting of t^-vo companies of the -first, 
 three companies of the third, and nine companies of 
 the eighth regiments of infantry, were still on the 
 march for the camp of rendezvous at Green Lake, 
 about thirty miles from the coast. 
 
 Among the earliest dispositions made by Colonel 
 Waite, on assuming the command of the depart- 
 ment, had been the selection of this position at Green 
 Lake, and its occupation by the two companies of 
 infantry recently composing the garrison of San 
 Antonio barracks, commanded by brevet Major 
 Larkin Smith, of the eighth, a gentleman whose 
 high qualities have for years been the theme of his 
 own corps, but w^hose subsequent action I am not 
 able to explain ; for immediately after breaking up 
 his camp, near the middle of April, and while un- 
 der orders from his immediate commander at the 
 
22 TEXAS, AND ITS LATE MILITARY 
 
 coast, to proceed to Washington, ^vitli verbal dis- 
 patches to the government, he suddenly threw up 
 his commission, and soon afterward entered the ser- 
 vice of the Confederate States, 
 
 Near the middle of April the last of the trooj^s 
 destined to constitute the next shipment I'eached 
 the vicinity of Indianola, and Major Sibley of the 
 third, senior officer, immediately sent forward the 
 baggage; and the troops, consisting of two com- 
 panies of the first, and the adjutant and non-com- 
 missioned staff and band of the same regiment, 
 three companies of the third, and two companies 
 of the eighth, marched through the town, and 
 sleeping at night upon the long wharf, early in 
 the next morning went on board of the Uvo small 
 steam lighters which had been chartered for their 
 use, and proceeded down Matagorda Bay, to em- 
 bark on the steamer "Star of the West," which, 
 guarded by the Gunboat Mohawk, had for two weeks 
 been lying off the bar a^vaiting their arrival. But on 
 reaching the mouth of the harbor, twenty-five miles 
 below Indianola, they saw no sign of either of these 
 steamers, a circumstance which, though it created 
 some uneasiness in the minds of the officers, and was 
 
OCCUPATION AXB EVACUATION. 23 
 
 somewliat dispiriting to the men, was in itself insuffi- 
 cient to justify aii}^ reasonable apprehension of bad 
 faith on the part of the people ; for it was known that 
 in the constantly prevailing coast winds, the Star of 
 the West had, since her arrival off the bar, twice 
 parted her cables and gone to sea ; and the Mo- 
 hawk, obliged to keep up steam constantly, had in 
 all probability exhausted her supply of fuel, and 
 gone to Havana for coal. More reasonable grounds 
 for suspicion might have been entertained in con- 
 nection with the behavior of the harbor pilots, had 
 these been characterized by as much of vigilance 
 and intelligence as distinguish the pilots in north- 
 ern Avaters, for many of them were absent from 
 their stations, and tlie information afforded by 
 those who remained was exceedingly unsatisfactory; 
 facts, however, which as relating to Texan pilots 
 were not very surprising. However, Major Sibley 
 at once decided to go to sea in the lighters, and 
 make for the port of Tampico, on the coast of Mexico, 
 two or three hundred miles below the mouth of the 
 Rio Grande, at which port was a United States 
 consul, and where it was presumed vessels might 
 be obtained to convey the troops to the North. 
 
24 TEXAS, AND ITS LATE JIILITAEY 
 
 There were at tbis time crowded upon these two 
 small lighters seven companies of infantry, Avith 
 their anns and camp equipage, the non-commis- 
 sioned staff and band of one regiment, and not less 
 than thirty laundresses. Only one day's supply of 
 provisions and water for the troops had been 
 taken, as the Star of the West had on hoard for 
 their use some twenty thousand rations; and as the 
 terms of the late capitulation did not pennit the 
 taking of any supplies whatever beyond the coast. 
 Soon after Major Sibley had taken the resolution to 
 proceed to Tampico, he ascertained that neither of 
 the lighters had more than five or six hours' coal on 
 board, and there remained to him no other course 
 than to abandon his jiroject, and returning to Indi- 
 anola to take possession of his supplies while he 
 had the power of reaching them ; for the low, sandy, 
 and almost impassable shores of Matagorda Bay 
 afford no means of sustenance, and even the water 
 is very impure and brackish. Accordingly the 
 lighters returned, and in the same evening the 
 troops disembarked, and taking possession of their 
 supplies, encamped near Indianola; and the next 
 day Lieutenant Whipple of the third, with a 
 
OCCUPATION AND EVACUATION. 25 
 
 small guard, was clispatclied down the bay to watch 
 for the appearance of the trans]3ort and the gunboat. 
 This officer soon returned with very important in- 
 formation. No sign of either steamer was visiljle ; 
 but he had ascertained that two or three pieces of 
 cannon had been placed in position upon the wharf 
 at Saluria, so as to command the channel near its 
 entrance to the sea. 
 
 This demonstration of hostile intentions appeared 
 conclusive, and Major Sibley immediately detached 
 Lieutenant Whipple with as many men as a small 
 yacht could accommodate, with orders to take ad- 
 vantage of the favorable wind which was blowing, 
 and under cover of the night to land at Saluria and 
 caj^ture the guns ; and before daylight in the morn- 
 ing. Captain Bowman of the third, with forty men, 
 was sent forward to support him, should his assist- 
 ance be necessary. In the evening both expedi- 
 tions returned ; Lieutenant Whipple having ascer- 
 tained that the guns had been removed, probably 
 up St. Mary's bayou, or by a sloop ^o La Yaca. 
 
 Meantime Major Sibley had taken possession of 
 the only means of trans^^ortation in the harbor, 
 with which it was practicable to go to sea, con- 
 
20 TEXAS, AKD ITS LATE MILITARY 
 
 sistino' of two scliooners of about one liuiulred and 
 fifty tons burden eaeli, recently from northern 
 ports, and only one of wliicli liad diseliarged lier 
 cargo. A strong guard occupied tlie long wliarf, 
 and a fotigue party of a hundred men was de- 
 tached for the work of unloading the freighted 
 schooner, which continued all night, and so soon 
 as this work was accomplished, and the necessary 
 supplies were placed on board, the troops em- 
 barked, and, towed by tlie lighters, the two 
 schooners proceeded down the bay. Strong south- 
 easterly winds were Ijlowing across the l^ar, and 
 the weather outside was evidently stormy; but 
 long before reaching the lower bay, the masters 
 of the schooners had informed Major Sible}^, that 
 ■vvith their overcrowded decks, the schooners could 
 not jiossibly be maniged in the open sea; but 
 that in case an additional trans])ort could be pro- 
 cured to take off a portion of the troops, the}" 
 would have no hesitation in attempting to pass 
 the channel of the bar, even without pilots, and 
 though they were but slightly acquainted with the 
 coast. However, night came on before the vessels 
 had reached the vicinity of the l)ar, over which the 
 
OCCUPATION AND EVACUATION. 27 
 
 rapid surf was pushing, and tlie darkness soon 
 made it impossible for the lighters to tow them 
 through its narrow channel. They anchored at 
 dark, and Captain Bo^vman, of the third, and 
 Lieutenant Greene, of the first, with a detach- 
 ment of thirty men, were sent on board one of 
 the lighters, and taking advantage of this neces- 
 sary delay, were directed to proceed up the bay 
 and brino; down a brio- which was known to be 
 somewhere ahove, and might have reached In- 
 dianola since the departure of the schooners. The 
 next day presented no indications of more favor- 
 able weather; however, a steamer's smoke was 
 visible to the seaward, and it was presumed that 
 the Star of the West or the Mohawk was ap- 
 proaching the coast. As the day wore on, the 
 steamer closed under the projecting strips of land 
 to the south-eastward, though nothing but the 
 dense smoke from her stacks was visible ; not a 
 solitary sail appeared in the offing, and no pilots 
 came near the vessels. Detachments of troops 
 were sent off in the boats of the schooners to fill 
 the ^vater liarrels which had l)een emptied, as 
 there was on board scarcely a sufficient supply 
 
28 TEXAS, AND ITS LATE MILITARY 
 
 for Key West or Havana. Meantime the remain- 
 ing lighter had nearly exhausted her fuel, and 
 was let go ; and during the afternoon the appear- 
 ance of the other lighter, with the brig, was anx- 
 iously expected; but night at leng-th closed in 
 with no signs of either, while the wind across 
 the narrow, crooked channel of the dangerous bar 
 was still freshening. At ten o'clock, though 
 the night was dark, dense volumes of smoke 
 M'ere seen not far above the schooners, and a 
 l)oat, with a small party, commanded by Lieu- 
 tenant Hopkins, of the third, left the command- 
 ing officer's schooner to ascertain the cause. This 
 careful and sagacious officer soon returned with 
 the information that several steamers were an- 
 chored above the schooners, and it was now appa- 
 rent that Caj^tain Bowman's detachment had been 
 captured, and that the schooners were entrapped 
 to the Avindward, by the steamer which had l^een 
 supposed the Star of the AVest, and in the other 
 direction l:)y the steamers which had arrived in 
 the niorht. At davli2:ht three steamers were seen 
 at anchor five hundred yards above the schoon- 
 ers, each having on a full head of steam, their 
 
OCCUPATIOlSr AND EYACUATIOjST. 29 
 
 double decks siirroiuided with tiers of cotton- 
 bales, and bearing, as is believed, tlie pieces of 
 cannon wliicli were mentioned as havino: been 
 at Saluria some days previous. 
 
 Later in the mornins; tlie lars;e steamer wliicli 
 had l)een lying outside passed the bar, and, ^^itli 
 steam up, anchored three hundred yards to the 
 windward of the schooners, bearing upon her decks 
 one twenty-four-pounder and two field-pieces. The 
 Texan troops on board of the four steamers num- 
 bered between one thousand and fourteen hundred 
 men, supplied with various kinds of fire-arms, and 
 having between three and seven pieces of cannon. 
 The reo'ulars on the two schooners numbered not far 
 from three hundred men, armed with the rifle and 
 bayonet; still it is presumed the latter had been 
 something more than a match for their opponents 
 could they have met them in the field. The steamers 
 possessed, however, the capability of running around 
 the schooners, and of sinking either of them before 
 she could get under way; and there was therefore 
 nothing left but to accede to the formal demand 
 which had been made in the morning by Earle Van 
 Dorn, colonel in the Confederate States army, com- 
 
30 TEXAS, AND ITS LATE ^MILITARY 
 
 manding the Texan troops in Matagorda Bay, 
 through his commissioners, avIio came off to the 
 schooners under a flag of truce. The terms of the 
 capitulation were accordingly arranged in the course 
 of the day, and Major Sibley, with the approval of 
 all of his officers, suiTendered; the Texans, besides 
 capturing the troops, obtaining by this affair more 
 than three hundred fine rifles, with equipments, 
 and the camp e(2ui2iage of seven companies of 
 infantrj^ 
 
 Tlie particulars of this first surrender have been 
 thus minutely I'elated, in consequence of the some- 
 what severe strictures which appeared in the news- 
 papers, and which did not, so far as has been ob- 
 served, attach to the other column of seven compa- 
 nies of the eighth, under Lieutenant Colonel Reeve, 
 which was still (late in Ajiril) marching down the 
 El Paso road. Indeed, the particulars of the cap- 
 ture of the last-named column can need no lengthy 
 recital ; f^r, on its reaching middle Texas, in the 
 month of ^May, the supplies necessary to its advance 
 were in the hands of the ao'ents of the Confederate 
 States; while, at the smallest estimate, fifteen thou- 
 sand men, with two splendid batteries of light 
 
OCCUPATION AND EVACUATION. di 
 
 artillery, opposed its marcli in any direction. To 
 Lave advanced into tlie settlements witli liis com- 
 mand of three or four hundred men, would have 
 been more prudent in Colonel Reeve, than without 
 supplies to have retreated toward the Rio Grande ; 
 and either course would have been alike preposter- 
 ous, and he accordingly surrendered. 
 
 On the 23rd of April, one day previous 
 to the cajDture of the first column of the troops, 
 Colonel Waite, with his staff, and all of the offi- 
 cers on duty at San Antonio, were made prisoners, 
 under circumstances peculiarly aggravating; for, 
 to the declarations of the former, that neither him- 
 self nor his staff-officers could even perceive the 
 validity of the claim which their captors assumed 
 to the exercise of the delegated authority of the 
 Congress of Montgomery, it Avas only replied, that 
 it should, at the least, Ije made apparent that he 
 and the other gentlemen were prisoners ; and that 
 physical force should not be wanting as a fiiU and 
 sufficient argument, in the circumstances of the ap- 
 parent distrust, which was exhibited in the agents 
 of the Confederate States; one of whom. Major 
 Maclin, had until quite recently retained his com- 
 
32 TEXAS, .AND ITS LATE MILITARY 
 
 mission as paymaster, in the service of the United 
 States. 
 
 Of course, the discussions which ensued were un- 
 availing ; nor could appeal he had from these 
 agents, to a people who perceived only their first 
 men leading the Avay toward that ol>ject, which 
 the latter hlinded their own eyes in pursuing, and 
 which the ignorant had been taught to imagine they 
 beheld in the full light of justice and reason ; for 
 party heat, and the frenzy, which have been dis- 
 played upon less grave political questions in happier 
 times, found here no wise exam])les of restraint, but 
 every encouragement to their indulgence. 
 
 Colonel Waite, and the officers at San Antonio, 
 as Avell as the officers and men of Major Sildey's 
 command, were permitted, should they desire it, the 
 privilege of returning to the North on parole ; every 
 inducement being at the same time presented for 
 the troops to quit their allegiance and enter the 
 service of the Confederate States, 
 
 The giving and the receiving of a parole must be 
 matter of equal delicacy ; for he who from a sense 
 of duty, or who, actuated by interested motives, 
 may ask a pledge of honor from another, must be 
 
t> OCCUPATIOJN- AND EVACUATION. 33 
 
 sensible of a power whicli lie is wielding, wliicli 
 makes up for tlie disinclination to acquiescence in 
 tlie other ; and lie who shall render such a pledge 
 must be aware that he will purchase at the price of 
 an equal power, all of the privileges and the immu- 
 nities which it may be equal to ; and it is ])resumed 
 that no one Avould consent to give his parole, who 
 should be aware that in refusino- to do so, he niis-ht 
 subserve any interest of his government : but if in 
 giving it he yieldno such interest, it is conjectured 
 there may often be no reasonable grounds for with- 
 holdins: it. Colonel Waite and the officers at San 
 Antonio, as well as the officers and men of Major 
 Sibley's command, were paroled. The latter officer 
 obtained an additional transport for his troops, and 
 so soon as the necessary arrangements could be 
 made, the vessels passed the bar and proceeded to 
 sea : they reached New York harbor in a voyage of 
 thirty days. Colonel Reeve's command, which was 
 captured in May, comprised all of the remaining 
 troops who occupied the dejDartment of Texas. 
 They were not permitted to return on parole, but 
 were held as close prisoners at San Antonio. The 
 Texaus had now captured fourteen companies of the 
 
34 TEXAS, AND ITS LATE SIILITARY 
 
 regulars, including two companies of the first, 
 three companies of the third, and nine companies 
 of the eighth regiments of infantry, numbering, 
 perhaps, not far from seven hundred men, with 
 rifles, camp equipage, and ordnance stores; and 
 the United States no longer held military posses- 
 sion of the state. 
 
 During the years of its occupation by the troops, 
 the state had steadily advanced in prosperity, and 
 all of its natural resources had been most rapidly 
 developed, until from having been in 1845 almost 
 without a foreign commerce, the value of her ex- 
 ports to Great Britain alone, in 1860, cannot have 
 been far short of ten millions of dollars, while her 
 trade with New Orleans and the various Northern 
 ports may have amounted to five millions more. 
 
 Post-offices and judicial tribunals had been es- 
 tablished in the new counties which were con- 
 structed as the troops advanced west^^'ard, and 
 laro-e tracts of land embraced within their limits, 
 not suited to the pi'oduction of the cereal grains, 
 supplied in every season of the year abundant 
 pasturage, to immense herds of beef cattle and 
 horses. 
 
OCCUPATION AND EVACUATION. 35 
 
 The disorderly population of former years had 
 become a law abiding people, who, emulous in all 
 the advantages of cultivated life, had grown obser- 
 vant of the rules and customs which are prescribed 
 for their attainment. 
 
 With the withdrawal of the troops from Texas, 
 her days of progress were for the present num- 
 bered ; the settlements were broken up, and twenty 
 years of the returning peace, may scarcely suffice 
 to replace them. 
 
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