The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-12-13
Printed ~ spsesa; Arrangement : Copyrighted, 1885.
STORIES on THE GREAT WAR
LINCOLN AND TEXAS.


Among all the "reminiscences of the great civil
war. appearing during the last twenty years, I
have seen no mention of the very remarkable
episode which I am about to narrate.
The State of Texas fell early into the hands of
the confederates, a convention having passed an
ordinance of secession, Feb. /, 1861, and Gen.
Twiggs having surf endered his whole command
and all the posts. supplies, ETC., on the 18th
of the same month. Comparatively little fight
ing, however, took place within its limits. AS
the war progressed great deal of dissatisfac-
ton and discomfort arose, and, while these feel
ings lacked decided outward manifestations,
they grew deeper and deeper. While there were
hardly any active hostilities to feed the war
fervor and develop the spirit of self-sacrifce,
the iron rule of war times felt in all its rgor
Generals with their stats, military governors
and provost marshals abounded. Martial
law was rigdly enforced. Houses, crops,
cattle and provisions taken at
will for the benefit of the Confederacy. The
roads were unsafe; for marauders. deserters,
robbers, road agents" and desperadoes of all
kinds found golden opportunities. The suffer
inga OF the people were great. Trade was at
standstill, as we'll it might be. The whole coast,
from Sabine Pass to Point Isabel, was block
AIDED by the United States navy; and to export
cotton in any quantity (some 300, 600 bales went
to market in this way it's owners must pay
enormous charges for its transportation by
teams across the State, by dangerous roads and
over desert plains, to the Rio Grande. When
on Mexican soil, it must be taken to Bagdad. at
fha Of no oh
over, when the Confederate authorities found
out the value of this trade, they laid such grev-
ous and varying taxes thereon that, on more
than occasion, the unhappy owners of cot
ton, learning, after all the burden and danger
of transportation were passed, Of an impost
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 confederate armies was
incessant most amusing and gratifying incl
dent 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 of
New York, were really loyal On the contrary,
Matamoras was, at one time, filed with drum
mers" from New York firms 1.-THE members of
which were swearing by the ''old flag" and sub
scrbing to the Union defense committee), eager
to sell not only ordinary merchandise but also
munitions of war to the enemy. They professed
themselves ardent secessionists, and they found
their accounts One night confederate general
gave ball in Brownsville. and invited about
forty of them. Having these faithful Southern
sympathizers on Texas soil, he took them at
their word and conscripted the lot
There were Union men in the State, and not a
few Of them, but graphic pens have told of the
reign of terror under which they lived. The
massacre at New Braunfels furnished bloody
chapter in the history of the war; but that had
no slch effect in bringing the confederate au
thorities into disrepute in the State 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 regiment. Hearing that
their wives were on 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 vessel in
which they had come, they lodged for the night
in the house of the Mexican commandant at
Bagdad. That night confederate force, COM
manded by an officer named Chiffon (acting I'M
der the order 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 tainted them with their cowardly mode of
warfare, whereupon they hanged him in cold
blood, and had the barbarity to send to his wife
tie rope they had used. The Mexican authori-
ties were too late in acting to save him, but they
demanded and secured the release of Colonel
Davis. This latter unfortunate man had been
bound to tree in his night clothes, for two
DAYS and was nearly dead from exposure and
the attacks of mosquitoes When Brownsville
was occupied by the Union forces, the remains
of Captain Montgomery were disnterred, and
then, with an imposing military funeral, buried
at the foot OF the staff ON which at last foated
the American flag, and there they repose to day.
The confederates who remained in the town
were forcibly formed in line and compelled to
witness the ceremony. Captain Montgomery's
sons proclaimed vendetta against his murder
ers, and. for years after the war, the principals
dared not cross the Rio Grande.
On Oct. &c, 1862 an expedition under General
Banks sailed from New Orleans for the mouth
of the Rio Grande. A glance at the map will
show the reader that about two miles above the
mouth of the Great River of the North where it
!,
Brazos Santiago, which practically closes the
southern extremity of an enormous lagoon, the
Laguna de la Madre. lying inside the long and
narrow Padre island, and stretching away north
along the coast as far as Corpus Christi. Some
distance up the river, and opposite the Mexican
city of Matamoras, is Brownsville. This latter
place, as we'll as Brazos Santiago, was occupied
by Banks's expedition; but Brownsville was not
permanently held.
The incidents connected with its occupation
yUn hpQY nnfr In md inn No
proper pilot, Banks lost much of his transporta-
ton, and he was six days in reaching Browns
vile, thirty miles away. During these
six days there wild doings in and
about the town. A terrible panic was caused by
the report of the landing of the Yankees. and a
veritabe pandemonium followed. Thieves were
stealing the cotton and other merchandise lying
on the landing. General Bee was burning the
hospitals and barracks, and blowing up the mag
azines. Suddenly one Vidal, captain in the con-
federate service Ia citizen of Texas, but Mex
lean by BIRTH, who had deserted and taken his
COMPANY with him the moment he heard of the