Texas and the Civil War

1861-1865

Slavery and States’ Rights

Before the Civil War

Growing National Divisions

• Slavery was one of the issues that divided the U.S. along sectional, or regional, lines

• North – population growing due to immigration; factories

• South – agricultural economy; slave labor

Growing National Divisions

• Tariffs – taxes on imports– North – wanted tariffs to protect their

industry– South – did not want tariffs because they

increased the cost of imported items– Southerners argued that the states had

the right to ignore tariffs and other federal laws

– States’ rights – argument that state power was greater than federal power

Growing National Divisions

• Westward expansion = new territories– Congress debated whether territories

would enter as free or slave states– Would affect the balance of power in

Congress– Texas entered in 1845 as a slave state– The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo gave

the U.S. more land

Growing National Divisions

• The Compromise of 1850– Created a way for new territories to

become states– Included the Fugitive Slave Act –

declared that assisting runaway slaves was a crime• Abolition movement – this act, along with

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel (Uncle Tom’s Cabin), increased support for the end of slavery

Growing National Divisions

• Kansas – Nebraska Act– 1854– Allowed Kansas and Nebraska Territories to

decide whether to be free or slave states– Northerners who were a part of the Whig Party

became angry because this act violated the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which prohibited slavery above the 36 30 line.

– The members of the Whig Party helped form the Republican Party which wanted to end slavery

– Sam Houston (U.S. Senator) opposed the act

Growing National Divisions

• Dred Scott decision– 1857 – Supreme Court case– Ruled that African Americans were not

citizens, and therefore could not sue in federal court

– Congress could not ban slavery in any territory

– Shocked northerners– Increased sectional tension

Growing National Divisions• John Brown

– Abolitionist– 1859 -- Led a raid on the federal armory in

Harpers Ferry, Virginia, to start a slave revolt– He and his followers were

hanged for treason– Example

of sectional tensions increasing

Texas Joins the Confederacy

• 1860 – Abraham Lincoln elected president• He received no electoral votes from the

south because many southerners believed he supported abolition

• After the election, South Carolina seceded (formally withdraw) from the Union

• Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia,and Louisiana also seceded

Texas Joins the Confederacy

• Many Texas leaders called for a meeting of the legislature to consider secession

• This angered Unionists – people who wanted to stay in the Union and work out differences about slavery

• One out of four Texans were Unionists• Governor Sam Houston tried to delay the meeting• Delegates at the secession convention voted to

secede • Statewide vote – February 23, 1861 – voted to

secede • March 2, 1861 – Texas became the seventh state

to secede from the U.S.

The Confederacy

• February 1861 – Montgomery, Alabama

• Confederate States of America • Wrote a constitution• Emphasized the sovereignty

(supremacy) of the states and the right of people to hold slaves

• Jefferson Davis – elected president

The Confederacy

• March 5, 1861 – Texas Secession Convention was held

• Created a new state constitution• Same as the 1845 constitution, just

removed the U.S. • Governor Houston refused to take oath of

allegiance to the Confederacy • He was removed from office• Lieutenant Governor Edward Clark

replaced Houston

Convention Results:

For: 166

Against: 8

Statewide Results:

For: 46,153

Against: 14,747

Governor Sam Houston“Let me tell you what is coming. Your

fathers and husbands, you sons and brothers, will be herded at the point of the bayonet. You may, after the sacrifice of countless millions of treasure and hundreds of thousands of lives, as a bare possibility, win southern independence … but I doubt it. The North is determined to preserve this Union.”

The Civil War Begins

A Call to Arms

• The Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861 marked the beginning of the war

• Civil war – is a war between factions, or opposing groups, within the same country

• President Lincoln called for volunteers to put down the rebellion

• VA, AR, TN, and NC seceded

A Call to Arms

• 25,000 Texans were in the Confederate Army– Joined regiments (1,000 soldiers) – Terry’s Texas Rangers– Hood’s Texas Brigade– Ross’s Texas Brigade

• Many officers contributed to the Confederate army also– Albert Sidney Johnston– James W. Throckmorton

Texas Readies for War

• Texas troops were ill equipped• A force led by Ben McCulloch was able to

capture military supplies from the U.S. Army general in San Antonio

• Industries to get ready for war– Gunpowder mill (Austin)– Cannons and ammunition (Tyler)– Iron foundries (Jefferson and Rusk)– Cloth – prisoners at Huntsville– Saddles, tents, uniforms, and wagons– Cattle, cotton, and food crops (corn)

Resources and Strategies

• North advantages– Larger population– More railroads– More factories to produce weapons and

supplies– Established government to raise money for war

• South advantages– Experienced military leaders– Experience in riding horses and using firearms

(cavalry)

Total U.S Population: 31,443,321

Total Texas Population: 604,215

South: 9,101,090

Resources and Strategies

• South strategy– Beginning – stay on the defensive, wear down

the Union– War supplies from Europe– Gain foreign support (Great Britain) – cotton

diplomacy

• North strategy– Naval blockade (to conquer the large amount

of territory)– Take control of the Mississippi River and cut

the Confederacy in two

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Scott-anaconda.jpg

Resources and Strategies

• Three theaters (or regions) of war– East (Washington D.C and Richmond,

VA)– Tennessee and Mississippi– West of the Mississippi River– Texans fought in all three

The Major Battles of the Civil War

• The major battles took place east of the Mississippi River

• July 1861 – Union troops marched south to capture Richmond; First Battle of Bull Run

• Confederate troops held off Union attacks for the following year

• Battle of Antietam – Robert E. Lee’s army clashed with Union forces in Maryland, Union victory (Sept. 1862)

• Gettysburg – PA, Union victory (July 1-3, 1863)• Lee was on the defensive for the rest of the war

The Major Battlesof the Civil War

• Mississippi River Valley– Battle of Shiloh (April 1862) – Ulysses S.

Grant; Union victory– Vicksburg, Mississippi – important

because of control of the traffic on the river– Grant began the six-week Siege of

Vicksburg– Ironclads – ships heavily armed with iron– The town surrendered on July 4, 1863 – The Confederacy was split in two

Campaigns in Texas and the Southwest

The New Mexico Campaign

• Texas forces had claimed the New Mexico territory

• Fall 1861 – General Henry H. Sibley took three Texas regiments to seize the Southwest

• Sibley’s troops won a battle against Union soldiers at Valverde, NM

• Texans seized Albuquerque and Santa Fe• The army was weakened by disease and lack of

water• Battle of Glorieta Pass (March 1862) – forced

Sibley and his troops to retreat to Texas• Union forces kept control of the Southwest for

the rest of the war.

Fighting at Galveston Island• By the summer of 1862, the Union navy had

blockaded Texas ports• General John G. Magruder, the commander of

Confederate forces in Texas, made plans to recapture Galveston

• Magruder’s men converted two steamboats to gunboats

• Lined the sides of the boats with cotton bales – cottonclads

• Troops commanded by Tom Green boarded the ships

• Other soldiers prepared for an attack from the mainland

• January 1, 1863 – the attack began• The Confederacy was able to defeat the Union

forces and regain control of Galveston

The Battle of Sabine Pass

• In September 1863, Union troops set sail from New Orleans

• General William B. Franklin and about 4,000 troops planned to invade Texas through Sabine Pass, march overland to Houston, and the capture Galveston

• Confederate lieutenant Richard Dowling and about 45 soldiers (Davis Guards) were to protect the pass

The Battle of Sabine Pass

• Fort Griffin• September 8, 1863• Confederate victory• Helped restore southern confidence

The Coast and South Texas

• Union General Nathanial Banks captured Brazos Island

• Wanted to capture Brownsville and stop trade between Texas and Mexico

• Texans transported cotton into Mexico and from Mexico shipped the cotton overseas in order to get supplies

• Union troops captured Brownsville in November 1863

The Coast and South Texas

• Banks split his forces• One group captured Matagorda Island and

occupied Indianola• Colonel Edmund J. Davis of Texas, led the

other group of Union soldiers to capture Rio Grande City

• Davis’s attack on Laredo failed• Santos Benavides – the highest

ranking Mexican American to serve in the Confederate army, turned back to attack

The Coast and South Texas

• Union forces were called away from Brownsville and Colonel John S. Ford quickly recaptured the town for the Confederacy

The Red River Campaign

• Union troops had left Brownsville to take part in the Red River Campaign

• Union leaders wanted to invade northeastern Texas from Louisiana along the Red River

• April 8, 1864 – General Richard Taylor intercepted Banks at Sabine Crossroads

• April 18, 1864 – Confederate forces also turned back Union attacks at Poison Springs, Arkansas

The Texas Home Front

The Wartime Economy and the Draft

• Texas faced hardships during the Civil War.• Goods became expensive and scarce• Newspapers stopped operation because

lack of paper• Short supply of medicines• Used thorns for pins and wallpaper for

writing papers• Instead of coffee, used corn, okra, parched

peanuts, or sweet potatoes to make drinks• More homespun clothing

The Wartime Economy and the Draft

• Farmers grew corn and wheat and less cotton to feed the army

• Crop production increased because slaveholders sent their slaves to Texas to prevent their being freed by Union troops

• Women and children ran farms and plantations

• Women also worked in small factories, made items at home, and created groups to support the war efforts

The Wartime Economy and the Draft

• Politicians also focused on the war effort• Francis R. Lubbock was elected governor

in 1861 and joined the Confederate army in 1863

• Pendleton Murrah was elected governor in 1863

• Both governors struggled with state debts, defending the frontier against raids by Indians, and raising troops for the Confederacy.

The Wartime Economy and the Draft

• In April 1862, the Confederate Congress passed a draft, or requirement of military service

• All white males between the ages of 18 and 35 had to serve (later 17 to 50)

• Men could buy their way out of service or provide a substitute

• “rich man’s war, poor man’s fight”

Unionists in Texas

• Many German Americans and Mexican Americans remained neutral

• Some Unionists fled Texas to avoid the draft

• Confederate officials placed some towns with large Unionist population under martial law, or rule by armed forces

• Unionists were attacked and even killed when trying to protest

• Unionists in North Texas

The End of the War

The War Draws to a Close

• After the Battle of Gettysburg and the fall of Vicksburg in July 1863, Union forces moved into the South

• In 1864, Lincoln ordered Grant to take command in the eastern theater

• Grant moved his army into eastern Virginia and engaged Lee’s troops in a series of battles

• Grant continued to Richmond

The War Draws to a Close

• Union General William Tecumseh Sherman led an army south from Tennessee toward Atlanta, an important railroad center

• Sherman captured Atlanta and set out for Savannah

• As his troops marched through Georgia, they destroyed crops, livestock, and railroads

The War Draws to a Close

• General John Bell Hood of Texas was unable to stop Sherman

• Sherman completed his March to the Sea in December 1864

• Grant was pursuing Lee• In April 1865, Union forces surrounded

Lee’s army near the town of Appomattox Courthouse, VA.

• Lee met with Grant on April 9 and agreed to the Union’s terms of surrender.

Battle at Palmito Ranch• Word of Lee’s surrender reached Brownsville in

May 1865• Many soldiers left to return home• General E. Kirby Smith urged the war to continue• On May 12, Union soldiers moved inland to

occupy Brownsville• The next day, Union and Confederate soldiers

clashed at Palmito Ranch• John S. Ford• The Confederate troops won the battle and took

100 prisoners • The last land battle of the Civil War was a

Confederate victory, but the South had already lost the war.

Consequences of the War

• 620,000 Americans lost their lives in the Civil War, making it the deadliest conflict in U.S. history

• 90,000 Texans served • Many soldiers suffered serious

injuries

Consequences of the War

• Economy:– Cotton trade nearly stopped– Deaths of many men put hardships on

businesses, farms, and plantations• Politics:

– Governor Murrah and other officials fled to Mexico after the war

– State government collapsed– No order

Consequences of the War

• Social:– Enslaved Texans saw the war as a

struggle for freedom– African Americans in Texas wondered

about their future– In 1863, President Lincoln had issued

the Emancipation Proclamation – stated that slaves were free in those areas rebelling against the U.S.

– 250,000 freed slaves in Texas were uncertain what would happen next

John Bell Hood

Francis Lubbock

John Reagan

Thomas Green

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Civil War

• Fort Sumter

• Anaconda Plan

• Texas in the Civil War

• Lee Surrenders to Grant