The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1885-12-23
WAR STORIES.
Peculiar Position of Texas in
the Civil Conflict.
A TALE OF THE TIME
President Lincoln's Remarkable Plan
for Detaching Texas From the
Southern Confederacy.

narrate.
The State of Texas fell early into tt
hands OF the ~Confederates; aconventio
having passed an ordinance of s~ecessio
February /, 1861, and General Twigl
having surrendered his whole command
and all the posts, wal supplies, etc., on tt
eighteenth of the same month. Compare
lively little fighting, however, took plat
within it's limits. As the war progressed
a great deal of dissatisfaction and discol
tent arose; and, while these feeling
lacked decided outward manifestation
they grew deeper and deeper. While thel
were hardly any active hostilities to lee
the war ferver and develop the spirit {
s~elf-sacriice, the iron rule OF war times wa
felt in all it's rigor. Generals with thei
stalls, military governors and proves
marshals% abounded, Martial law was rig
idly enforced. Houses, crops, cattle an
provisions were taken at will for the ben
eft OF the Confederacy. The roads wer
unsafe; for %marauders, deserters, robbers
sroad agents" and desperadoes OF al
kinds found golden opportunities. Tn
sufferings of the people were great. Trad
was at a standstill. as well it might be
The whole coast from Sabine Pass to Poin'
Isabel was blocked by the United States
Navy, and to export cotton in any guam
tity (some three hundred thousand bale'
went to market in that way) its W
ers must
A ENORMOUS
for it's transportation by teams across thu
state by dangerous roads and over desert
plains to the Rio Grande. When on Next
can soil it must be taken to Bagdad, al
the mouth OF the river, and then shipped
Moreover, when the Confederate authori.
ties found out the value OF this trade they
laid such grievous and varying taxes there
on that, on more han one occasion, the
unhappy owners OF cotton, learning, after
all the burden and danger OF t~ransporta'
ton were passed, Of an import which meant
ruin, actually committed suicide.
Supplies OF all sorts from outside were
scanty and enormously expensive, and the
drain upon the population to fill the Con.
federate armies was incessant. A most
amusing and gratifying incident occurred
in this connection. We are in the habit Of
thinking that all nominal Union men in the
North. and especially in the great city e4
New York, were really loyal. On the con
trary, Matamoras was at one time filled
with ''drummers" from New York firms
1.-THE members of which were swearing by
the ''old flag and subscribing to the Union
Defence ~committee), eager to sell not only
ordinary merchandise, but also munitions
OF war to the enemy. They protested them
selves ardent secessionists, and they found
their count One night a Confederate gen:
eral gave a ball at Brownsville, and invited
about forty OF them. Having these faith.
full Southern sympathizers on Texas soil,
he took them at their word and conscripted
the lot.
THE UNION MEN IN TEXAS.
There were Union men in the State. ard
not a few of them; but graphic pens have
told of the reign OF terror under which they
lived. The massacre at New Braunfels fur
nished a bloody chapter in the history oil
the war; but that had no such effect in
bringing the Confederate authorities into
disrepute in the State as did, for instance,
a tragedy far less widely known. Two
loyal Texans, Davis and Montgomery by
name, were respectively Colonel of the
First Texas (Union) cavalry, and Captain
commanding a company Of the same regi
ment. Hearing that their wives were Oh
Mexican soil they both left New Orleans
and proceeded by sea to Bagdad, and
thence some distance into the country.
Davis found his wife, but Montgomery did
not find his. On their way back to the
for the night in the house OF the
Mexican commandment at Bagdad. That
night a Confederate force, commanded by
an officer named Chiffon, (acting under the
orders OF General Bee) crossed the river,
attacked the house and kidnapped the two
Union officers. As they were carrying them
away, Montgomery reviled them and
haunted them with their cowardly mode Of
warfare, whereupon they hanged him in
cold blood, and had the barbarity to send
to his wife the rope they had used. The
Mexican authorities were toe late in acting
to save him, but they demanded and
secured the release OF Colonel Davis. This
latter unfortunate man had been bound to
a tree, in his night clothes, for tw days and
was nearly dead from exposure and the
attacks of mosquitoes When Brownsville
was occupied by the Union forces the re-
mains of Captain Montgomery were disin-
tered, and then, with a%nimpOsing military
funeral, buried at the foot OF the staff on
which It last foated the American flag,
and there they repose to-day. The Con-
federates who remained in town were fore
IDLY formed in line and compelled to wit
ness the ceremony. Captain MontgOlnerys'
sons proclaimed a vendetta against his
murderers, and, for years after the war
the principals dared not cross the Rio
Grande.
BANKS EXPEDITION.
On October 26, 1868. an expedition under
General Banks sailed from New Orleans for
the mouth of the Rio Grande. A glance at
the map will show the readers that, about
two miles above hegreat river OF the North
(where it is very narrow, there is a small
island called Brazos Santiago, which prac-
tically closes the southern extremity OF an
lagoon, the Laguna de la Madre,
lying inside the long and narrow Padre
isls nd, and stretching away north along
the coast as far as Corpus Christi. Some
Mexican city OF Matamoras, is Browns.
Vile. This latter place. as well as Brazos
Santiago, was occupied by Banks expe'
dition, but Brownsville was not perman'
emily held.
The incidents connected with its occupa.
patton were most dramatic. In landing,
having no proper pilot, Banks lost much
OF his transportation, and he var six days
in reaching Brownsville, thirty miles away.
During these six days there were wild doings
in and about the town. A terrible panic
al caused by the report OF the landing 81
the Yankees, and u veritable pande-
mOnluIu OllO"cO 4AIcNcS WCIc olcdiAuS
the cotton and other merchandise lying On
the landing. General Bee was burning the
hospitals and barracks and blowing up
the magazines. Suddenly one Vidal, cap,
tain in the Confederate service, "a citizen oil
Texas but a Mexican by birth), who had
deserted and taken his company with him
the moment he heard OF the landing,
charged upon the outskirts OF the town.
He hanged and shot a number OF Confeder-
ates, and clamored for the blood OF General
Bee. The latter fed, his path lighted only
bythe fires be had kindled, and never
stopped till he had reached Goliad.
As a relief to the savage picture it is in
teresting to know of the doings of the Con-
federate collector OF customs. This ardent
secessionist was from the State OF Rhode
Island, and, while he was ready to make as
many sacrifices as was Artemus Ward he re-
tanned the thrifty habits OF New England.
..Let us leave nothing for the - Yam.
KEGS" cried he. Let us burn the custom
house books!" and he did it. How he came
out of the transaction the sagacious reader
may surmise.
A LONELY OFFICIAL.
Some soldiers were left on the little island
of Brazos Santiago, and a collector OF the
This gentleman erected a rame
building of two rooms raised on piles hard
" high enough to save it from being flooded.
On top was a cupola, the lantern in which
for a long time as a big lighthouse.
A flag was hoisted, and to the great salts
action of the authorities at Washington