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Although there were few military engagements in Texas during the War Between the States, thousands of Texans went east into the fighting. Texas also was the scene of the last battle.

A Moment in Time is a brief, exciting and compelling journey into the past. Created to excite and enlighten the public about the past, its relevance to the present and its impact on the future, A Moment In Time is a captivating historical narrative that is currently broadcast worldwide.

Transcript

Lead: Although there were few military engagements in Texas during the War Between the States, thousands of Texans went east into the fighting. Texas also was the scene of the last battle.

Intro: A Moment In Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Texas joined the Confederacy in March 1861 and supplied as many as 90,000 soldiers during the four years of conflict. Although several Texas regiments were deployed east of the Mississippi, about two-thirds remained in the west and the southwest defending against Union attempts at invasion, being particularly vigilant at ports and on borders, through which supplies flowed to support the Confederate war effort. Texas troops also warded off Indian and Mexican attacks and other regiments were sent west in a futile attempt to expand the Confederacy into Arizona and New Mexico.

The two most well known Texas battles were in 1863, earlier when rebel forces recaptured Union occupied Galveston, and the Battle of Sabine Pass in September 1863, in which Confederate forces thwarted a Union invasion at the Gulf Coast.

The last land battle of the Civil War was fought twelve miles east of Brownsville, Texas on the Mexican border on May 13, 1865 - more than a month after Appomattox. Known as the Battle of Palmito Ranch, Confederate soldiers and southern sympathizers determined to fight to the bitter end, clashed with a Federal unit en route to Fort Brown near Brownsville. Ironically, the rebels won, but shortly thereafter, Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered Texas to Union representatives. The war in Texas and the in rest of the south was over.

Research assistance by Ashley Yates and Ann Johnson. At the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts.

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