Commander of "Kirby Smith's Confederacy" dies

(Texas Day by Day) On this day in 1893, Edmund Kirby Smith, former commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederacy, died in Sewanee, Tennessee.
The Florida native attended West Point, served in the Mexican War, and was an officer in the Second United States Cavalry on the frontier.
He entered the Confederate service in 1861 and rose to the rank of lieutenant general in October 1862, when he was given command of the Trans-Mississippi Department, including Texas. Continued

Battle of Prairie Grove

(Wikipedia) The Battle of Prairie Grove was a battle of the American Civil War fought on December 7, 1862, that resulted in a tactical stalemate but essentially secured northwest Arkansas for the Union.
In late 1862 Confederate forces had withdrawn from southwest Missouri and were wintering in the wheat-rich and milder climate of northwest Arkansas. Many of the regiments had been transferred to Tennessee, after the defeat at the Battle of Pea Ridge in March, to bolster the Army of Tennessee. Continued

Battle of Cane Hill

"Fighting Joe" Shelby

(Wikipedia) The Battle of Cane Hill was fought during the American Civil War on November 28, 1862 in Washington County, Arkansas. Union troops under Brig. Gen. James G. Blunt drove Confederates under Brig. Gen. John S. Marmaduke back into the Boston Mountains in northwestern Arkansas.
The Battle of Cane Hill was part of a Confederate attempt to drive the Union forces back into Missouri and recapture ground lost during the Pea Ridge campaign of early 1862, when Union forces had secured parts of northern Arkansas.
Now, Confederate General Thomas C. Hindman moved his army of 11,000 soldiers into Fort Smith, Arkansas, and prepared to move across the Boston Mountains into the extreme northwestern corner of the state. Continued

Sul Ross

(Texas Ranger Hall of Fame) Lawrence Sullivan Ross was born September 27, 1838 at Bentonsport, Iowa Territory. In 1839 his family migrated to Texas, first settling in Milam County. By 1849 the family had settled at Waco. Sul Ross attended Baylor University at Independence, Texas and graduated from Wesleyan University, Florence, Alabama in 1859.
... Ross joined the Texas Rangers in 1860, first serving as a lieutenant and later as a captain. He was empowered by Sam Houston to raise a company of men to serve in Young County and the surrounding area. He showed the same skill and courage as a Ranger captain as he had shown earlier with the army.
In December of 1860 he and his company pursued a Comanche raiding party that ended in the battle of Pease River in which Cynthia Ann Parker, who had been captured by the Comanche some 20 years earlier, was rescued. Continued

Lawrence Massacre

Painting by Joe Coleman

(Wikipedia) The Lawrence massacre, also known as Quantrill's raid, was a rebel guerrilla attack during the American Civil War by Quantrill's Raiders, led by William Quantrill, on the Union town of Lawrence, Kansas. The attack on August 21, 1863 targeted Lawrence due to the town's long support of abolition and its reputation as a center for Jayhawkers and Redlegs, which were free-state militia and vigilante groups known for attacking and destroying farms and plantations in Missouri's pro-slavery western counties. Continued

The Great Wagon Train Heist

 

(America's Civil War) On a bright moonlit night, Confederate Brig. Gen. Richard M. Gano, a former physician and respected Indian fighter from Grapevine, Texas, advanced his troopers toward the Union post of Cabin Creek in northeastern Indian Territory. Under the moon’s glare, they could see hundreds of covered wagons.
Captain Patrick Cosgrove, commander of the Union pickets, noticed a line of dim shapes approaching. After one of his pickets fired a warning shot, Cosgrove, in a distinctly Irish brogue, barked out a command to halt. Continued

Riding For The Lone Star: Frontier Cavalry and the Texas Way of War, 1822-1865

Terry's Texas Rangers

(True West) In Nathan Jennings’ Riding for the Lone Star: Frontier Cavalry and the Texas Way of War, 1822-1865, (University of North Texas Press, $32.95), readers get the San Jacinto campaign, Comanche raiders, Texas Rangers and the Mexican and Civil wars, all in one volume. Continued 

Blogger's Note: I bought and read this, and it was very good.

Commander of "Kirby Smith's Confederacy" dies

(Texas Day by Day) On this day in 1893, Edmund Kirby Smith, former commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederacy, died in Sewanee, Tennessee. The Florida native attended West Point, served in the Mexican War, and was an officer in the Second United States Cavalry on the frontier.
He entered the Confederate service in 1861 and rose to the rank of lieutenant general in October 1862, when he was given command of the Trans-Mississippi Department, including Texas. Continued

Butterfield Overland Mail Discontinues Southwestern Route

A Concord stagecoach circa 1869

(Wikipedia) ... In March 1861, before the American Civil War had actually begun at Fort Sumter, the US Government formally revoked the contract of the Butterfield Overland Stagecoach Company in anticipation of the coming conflict.
An Act of Congress, approved March 2, 1861, discontinued this route and service ceased June 30, 1861. On the same date the central route from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Placerville, California, went into effect. This new route was called the Central Overland California Route.
Under the Confederate States of America, the Butterfield route between Texas and Southern California was operated as part of the Overland Mail Corporation route with limited success from 1861 until early 1862 by George Henry Giddings. Continued

Battle of Prairie Grove

(Wikipedia) The Battle of Prairie Grove was a battle of the American Civil War fought on December 7, 1862, that resulted in a tactical stalemate but essentially secured northwest Arkansas for the Union.
In late 1862 Confederate forces had withdrawn from southwest Missouri and were wintering in the wheat-rich and milder climate of northwest Arkansas. Many of the regiments had been transferred to Tennessee, after the defeat at the Battle of Pea Ridge in March, to bolster the Army of Tennessee. Continued

Battle of Cane Hill

"Fighting Joe" Shelby

(Wikipedia) The Battle of Cane Hill was fought during the American Civil War on November 28, 1862 in Washington County, Arkansas. Union troops under Brig. Gen. James G. Blunt drove Confederates under Brig. Gen. John S. Marmaduke back into the Boston Mountains in northwestern Arkansas. The Battle of Cane Hill was part of a Confederate attempt to drive the Union forces back into Missouri and recapture ground lost during the Pea Ridge campaign of early 1862, when Union forces had secured parts of northern Arkansas. Now, Confederate General Thomas C. Hindman moved his army of 11,000 soldiers into Fort Smith, Arkansas, and prepared to move across the Boston Mountains into the extreme northwestern corner of the state. Continued

Lawrence Massacre

Painting by Joe Coleman

(Wikipedia) The Lawrence massacre, also known as Quantrill's raid, was a rebel guerrilla attack during the American Civil War by Quantrill's Raiders, led by William Quantrill, on the Union town of Lawrence, Kansas. The attack on August 21, 1863 targeted Lawrence due to the town's long support of abolition and its reputation as a center for Jayhawkers and Redlegs, which were free-state militia and vigilante groups known for attacking and destroying farms and plantations in Missouri's pro-slavery western counties. Continued

A Galvanized Yankee

Miller is buried in Hollene Cemetery

Jordan A. Miller, who's final resting place is pictured above, was in the 6th U.S. Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. The 6th consisted of men recruited from Union prison camps. According to the National Park Service Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS), Jordan started the war a Confederate in the 52nd Regiment, Georgia Infantry, was captured and sent to Camp Douglas prison where he was enrolled into the 6th USVI.
Now before you go judging Jordan, remember that Civil War prisons were terrible places, especially after the exchange was discontinued in 1864. The death rate at Camp Douglas is estimated to have been between 17-25% percent. Also keep in mind that these men were recruited under the promise that they would be stationed on the western frontier and not to fight their former comrades. I think it would have been interesting to have met Mr. Miller, one of a select few who was an authority on both sides of the war.

A Memorial Day Segar

 

The letter.

At the start of the American Civil War, my great-grandfather joined the Union Army, and served for the duration, leaving the service a corporal. I don't think his heart was in it though, especially after the gory picture he painted in a letter home, describing the battle of Fort Donelson. Mostly his letters were about what he was going to do after the war, and, like all good Americans, making a buck. In one letter home, he advises his younger brother, that rather than enlisting, he should sell tobacco to the troops: "... you can make more in tobacco than anything else, some of the boys at Jackson made fifteen to twenty dollars a box on plug tobacco. I know you can make a good deal selling segars where you are, for they sold well at Cairo, you can always double your money on one box." Of course, his brother disregarded the advice and enlisted. He too survived the war, mustering out a sergeant. The brothers married sisters, Confederate sisters, and settled in the Southwest, under the Homestead Act, never to become tobacco barons.

My great-grandfather, in happier times.

Terry's Texas Rangers and Clarkson's Independent Rangers

Portales Cemetery, New Mexico

(Wikipedia) The 8th Texas Cavalry, (1861–1865), popularly known as Terry's Texas Rangers, was a regiment of Texas volunteers for the Confederate States Army assembled by Colonel Benjamin Franklin Terry in August 1861. Though lesser known than The Texas Brigade, famous for their actions during the Battle of Gettysburg, the "Terry Rangers" distinguished themselves at several battles during the Civil War. In four years of service, Terry's Texas Rangers fought in about 275 engagements in seven states. The regiment earned a reputation that ranked it among the most effective mounted regiments in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. Continued

(David L. Haimerl) Colonel James J. Clarkson was authorized in late March 1862 to raise a battalion of cavalry, consisting of six companies, for special service. A few days later, Clarkson received instructions that his battalion would be tasked with interdicting the Federal line of communications traversing the Santa Fe Trail. His unit would never accomplish this assignment. A Federal invasion of the Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, loomed on the horizon. By June 16, 1862, Clarkson had raised five companies which were encamped along the Grand River in Indian Territory. Continued

19th Texas Cavalry

Portales Cemetery

(TSHA) The Nineteenth Texas Cavalry served in the Trans-Mississippi Department as part of Parsons's Brigade throughout the Civil War. The regiment mustered into the Confederate Army on March 31, 1862, when fear of the draft encouraged many men to join the cavalry before being inducted into the infantry. ... Throughout its three years of service, the Nineteenth provided valuable service as scouts and raiders and took part in the defense of Texas in the Red River campaign of 1864. Continued

How the Civil War Became the Indian Wars

U.S. troops at Fort Sumner (Wikipedia)

(Disunion) On Dec. 21, 1866, a year and a half after Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant ostensibly closed the book on the Civil War’s final chapter at Appomattox Court House, another soldier, Capt. William Fetterman, led cavalrymen from Fort Phil Kearny, a federal outpost in Wyoming, toward the base of the Big Horn range. The men planned to attack Indians who had reportedly been menacing local settlers. Instead, a group of Arapahos, Cheyennes and Lakotas, including a warrior named Crazy Horse, killed Fetterman and 80 of his men. It was the Army’s worst defeat on the Plains to date. The Civil War was over, but the Indian wars were just beginning.

These two conflicts, long segregated in history and memory, were in fact intertwined. Continued

The End of the Civil War War in the West

Family of John and Rose Surguy, Coalgate, Oklahoma, circa 1895. John and his brother served in the Union Army, Rose's brothers, three of whom were killed in battle, served in Confederate units. Such situations were not unusual in the Old West.

(NYTimes) After Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865, the Civil War continued. After the final pitched battle at Palmito Ranch, Texas, on May 12-13, 1865, the Civil War continued. After Cherokee leader Stand Watie became the last Confederate general to surrender on June 23, 1865, the Civil War continued. Even after Aug. 20, 1866, when Andrew Johnson formally declared an end to the war and began to pull back the troops occupying the former Confederate states, the war wasn’t really over, at least not in the American West. Continued

Sign from a postbellum hotel bar in Tucumcari, New Mexico reads,
 "We do not discuss Politics, Religion, or the Civil War."

The Last Stand of the Civil War

Santos Benavides, the highest-ranking Tejano soldier in the Confederate Army,
commanded a regiment at Palmetto Ranch.

(NYTimes) PALMITO RANCH, Tex. – On the flat, cactus-studded coastal plain of South Texas the prevailing wind brings the salty smell of the Gulf of Mexico. Gloomy, low-hanging clouds stream overhead, northward. Other than the saw grass and yucca, the landscape is featureless, bounded only by the muddy Rio Grande and the sea.

It was here, though, that the American Civil War ended in its final and ultimately pointless battle, 150 years ago. Continued

1863: The Cherokees Free Their Slaves

General Stand Watie CSA

(NYTimes) Following on the heels of the Emancipation Proclamation, in February 1863 the Cherokee Nation declared that all slaves within its limits were “forever free.” In 1983, the descendants of these slaves, known as the Cherokee Freedmen, were removed from tribal membership rolls and prohibited from voting in Cherokee elections. A series of protracted legal battles over Freedmen citizenship ensued and continue today. Questions on the status of the Cherokees’ former slaves in tribal life originated in the complicated landscape of the Civil War in Indian Territory, a story of an internal civil war within the larger conflict. Although the Cherokee Nation had initially joined the Confederacy, Principal Chief John Ross and his supporters began discussions with Northern forces during the summer of 1862. These loyal Cherokees convened a meeting of the National Council at Cowskin Prairie and produced two distinct emancipation acts, documents that reverberate in today’s controversies over the legal standing of the Cherokee Freedmen. Continued