By spring, 1865, the soldiers of the trans-Mississippi region were
showing signs of the increasing defeatist feeling. A Union officer who
scouted widely in the Rio Grande valley reported that "the
demoralization of the rebel army in Texas is very extensive. In all the
counties from San Antonio to Austin up to the mountains the rebel
soldiers are coming home in large numbers, and in two or three places
have notified the enrolling officer and provost-marshal that their
services were no longer needed."[122]
But on the other hand, the Confederate government and General Kirby
Smith were taking extreme measures to keep the field forces intact. In
February, 1865, all non-fighting troop details were outlawed except
where soldiers were needed to keep a few key manufacturies in operation,
all white men from eighteen to forty-five were ordered to report for
immediate military service, and all leaves were cancelled.[123] Kirby
Smith implored Richmond to make available the $50,000,000 in back pay
due his men.[124] All Confederate prisoners on parole in Texas were
declared to be exchanged and were commanded to rejoin their units.
Unauthorized absentees were promised pardons if they returned to their
companies within twenty days.[125] Once more Federal invasion troops
were moving up the Red River and down from Arkansas. Only by thus
scraping the bottom of the barrel could Texas hope to keep the
determined foe at bay.
In late April, 1865, just as a number of scandals involving illegal
seizures of privately owned cotton were coming to light, the word
arrived in Texas that General Lee had surrendered in Virginia. General
Kirby Smith and Governor Murrah quickly penned proclamations asking the
soldiers and citizens of the trans-Mississippi region to continue the
struggle. Murrah declared that "These unforeseen calamities imposed
additional responsibilities on the State of Texas" because Southerners
now looked "with eager eyes and anxious hearts to the people and armies
of this Department, for rescue and deliverance. They will not--they must
not look in vain. With God's blessing, it may yet be the proud privilege
of Texas, the youngest of the Confederate Sisters, to redeem the cause
of the Confederacy from its present perils."[126]
But such inspiring words failed miserably to compensate for the common
realization that the Confederacy had failed. It could now be seen that
for many months past the Southwest had endured the war in a desperate
hope that Lee would soon achieve complete victory. With this one great
hope crushed, the entire department was too demoralized to continue the
fight. Desertions in very large numbers followed. Oftentimes bands of
ten and twenty men would leave their undersized regiments in a single
night. In Galveston, only the timely calling out of faithful troops
prevented the attempted desertion of four hundred soldiers.[127]
By May, surrender negotiations between Kirby Smith's representatives and
the United States government were in progress. It was at this time that
the last land action of the war took place in the isolated Brownsville
sector. In mid-May some eight hundred Union soldiers were moving from
their Brazos de Santiago base when they suddenly made contact with
several hundred of Colonel John S. Ford's Confederates who were camped
at White's Ranch. The Southerners had heard nothing of Lee's surrender,
but had been warned of the presence of Union troops by French and
Mexican observers on the south side of the Rio Grande. The Federals
quickly formed a skirmish line, pushed against the Confederates, and
then entrenched in the sandy soil of Palmetto Ranch. As this occurred,
Ford managed to position six artillery pieces on Palmetto Hill and fired
down into the United States soldiers' defensive works. This forced the
superior Federal command to retire from the field. In all, the Union
lost over one hundred prisoners. When these captives convinced Ford of
Lee's surrender, the Texans were so stunned that no pursuit of the
retreating enemy soldiers was attempted.[128]
Finally, on May 26, Lieutenant General S. B. Buckner, Kirby Smith's
Chief of Staff, negotiated a "military convention of peace" with high
Union officials in New Orleans.[129] This act was finalized on June 2
when General Kirby Smith formally signed the articles of surrender
aboard the Union warship _Fort Jackson_ in Galveston harbor. In the same
month Federal troops arrived to occupy Texas. To impress French
observers in Mexico, the Rio Grande was made a point of concentration
for occupation soldiers. A strange sight was seen in Galveston on June
16 when the occupation officially started. Three hundred silent Texans
watched as a United States transport ship loaded with soldiers was tied
to the landing while a blue clad band played "Yankee Doodle." Three days
later, on "Juneteenth," Major General Gordon Granger, recently named
commander of Union forces in Texas, landed at the same port and
immediately issued a proclamation declaring free all Texas slaves.[130]
Eventually there were over 50,000 Federal soldiers in Texas. Parts of
Herron's Division occupied northeastern Texas. Mower's Division occupied
Galveston. Custer and 4,000 cavalrymen occupied Austin. Merritt occupied
San Antonio with an even larger force of mounted men. Elsewhere the
state was occupied by the Fourth Corps, the Thirteenth Corps, and the
Twenty-Fifth Corps.[131]
The war was at last over. Some Texans were able to express pleasure that
the end had finally come while others were not talking. A few of the
state's leaders during the war fled to Mexico. The solid citizenry of
the state faced the task of creating a respected state government and an
enduring nation. They faced this task with a firmness of purpose that
has characterized our citizens since the establishment of the Republic
of Texas.