Battle of Palmito Ranch The Battle of Palmito Ranch , also known as the Battle of Palmito Hill and the Battle of Palmetto Ranch , was fought on May 12 – 13 , 1865 , shortly after the end of the American Civil War . It was the last major clash of arms of the war . Many historians , as well as the " Official Record of the Civil War " , consider the Battle of Palmito Ranch to be a post - Civil War encounter , with the Battle of Columbus in April being the recognized last battle of the Civil War . However , the last Confederate general to surrender was Brigadier General Chief Stand Watie of the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles in Doaksville , Indian Territory on 23 June 1865 . Background . The battle was fought on the banks of the Rio Grande about east of Brownsville , Texas , and a few miles from the seaport of Los Brazos de Santiago , which was located on the present - day ship channel of the Port of Brownsville . In the kaleidoscope of events following the surrender of Robert E . Lee ' s army on April 9 , Palmito Ranch was nearly ignored . Early in 1865 , both sides in south Texas honored a gentlemen ' s agreement that there was no point to further hostilities . After July 28 , 1864 , most of the 6 , 500 Union troops pulled out of the lower Rio Grande Valley , including Brownsville , which they had occupied on November 2 , 1863 , for other campaigns . The Confederates sought to protect their remaining ports for cotton sales to Europe , as well as importation of supplies . Mexicans tended to side with the Confederates due to a lucrative smuggling trade . Maj . Gen . Lew Wallace proposed a negotiated end of hostilities in Texas between his forces and those of Confederate Brig . Gen . James E . Slaughter , and met with Slaughter ' s subordinate Col . John Salmon Ford at Port Isabel in March 1865 . Despite Slaughter ' s and Ford ' s concurrence that further prior notice in writing . A brigade of 1 , 900 Union troops commanded by Col . Robert B . Jones of the 34th Indiana Veteran Volunteer Infantry were on blockade duty , garrisoned at the Port of Brazos Santiago , on the mouth of the current ship channel of the Port of Brownsville . The 34th Indiana , 400 strong , was an experienced infantry regiment that had seen combat in the Vicksburg Campaign and had been reorganized in December 1863 as a " Veteran " regiment , re - enlisting veteran troops of several regiments whose original enlistments had expired . It deployed to the Port of Los Brazos de Santiago on December 22 , 1864 , replacing the 91st Illinois Volunteer Infantry , which returned to New Orleans . The brigade also included the 87th and 62nd United States Colored Infantry Regiments ( " United States Colored Troops " , or U . S . C . T . ) , with a combined strength of approximately 1 , 100 . Shortly after Walker rejected the armistice proposal , Jones resigned his commission to return to Indiana , replaced in command of the 34th Indiana by its lieutenant colonel , Robert G . Morrison , and at Los Brazos de Santiago by Colonel Theodore H . Barrett , commander of the 62nd U . S . C . T . Barrett , 30 , had been an officer since 1862 , but was without combat experience . Eager to advance in rank , he had volunteered to command one of the newly raised " colored " regiments in 1863 and was appointed colonel of the 1st Missouri Colored Infantry , which in March 1864 was federalized in Louisiana as the 62nd U . S . C . T . Barrett contracted malaria in the summer of 1864 , and while he was on convalescent leave , the 62nd was posted to Brazos Santiago , where Barrett rejoined it in February 1865 . Why the battle happened remains something of a mystery . The French Foreign Legion was occupying neighboring Matamoros , Mexico , at the time , and was said to have reinforced the Confederate forces in Brownsville . Barrett ' s detractors among the brigade suggested soon after the battle that he had desired " a little battlefield glory before the war ended altogether . " Others theorized that Barrett needed horses for the 300 dismounted cavalry in his brigade and for other purposes . Historian Louis J . Schuler , in a 1960 pamphlet entitled " The last battle in the War Between the States , May 13 , 1865 : Confederate Force of 300 defeats 1 , 700 Federals near Brownsville , Texas " , asserts that Brig - Gen . Egbert B . Brown of the U . S . Volunteers ordered the expedition with the object of seizing for sale as contraband 2 , 000 bales of cotton stored in Brownsville . However , Brown was not appointed to command at Brazos Santiago until later in May . Battle . On May 11 , Barrett instructed his lieutenant colonel , David Branson , to attack the Confederate encampments commanded by Ford at White and Palmito Ranches near Fort Brown , outside Brownsville . Branson ' s Union forces consisted of 250 men of the 62nd U . S . C . T . in eight companies and two companies of the ( U . S . ) 2nd Texas Cavalry Battalion , 50 men without mounts . They crossed from Brazos Santiago to the mainland across the Boca Chica Pass during a storm on the evening of May 11 and made a night march upriver to attack the Confederate encampment . At first Branson ' s expedition was successful , capturing three prisoners and some supplies , although it failed to achieve the desired surprise . During the afternoon , Confederate forces under Captain William N . Robinson counterattacked with less than 100 cavalry , driving Branson back to White ' s Ranch , where the fighting stopped for the night . Both sides sent for reinforcements : Ford arrived with the remainder of his cavalry force and six French guns ( for a total of 300 men ) , while Barrett came with 200 troops of the 34th Indiana in nine understrength companies . The next day , Barrett started advancing westward , passing a half mile to the west of Palmito Ranch , with skirmishers from the 34th Indiana deployed in front . Ford attacked Barrett ' s force as it was skirmishing with an advance Confederate force along the Rio Grande about 4 p . m . Ford sent a couple of companies with artillery to attack the Union right flank , sending the remainder of his force into a frontal attack . After some confusion and fierce fighting , the Union forces retreated back towards Boca Chica . Barrett attempted to form a rearguard , but Confederate artillery prevented him from rallying a significant force to do so . During the retreat , which lasted until the 14th , 50 members of the 34th Indiana ' s rear guard company , 30 stragglers , and 20 of the dismounted cavalry were surrounded in a bend of the Rio Grande and captured . Aftermath . In Barrett ' s official report of August 10 , 1865 , he reported 115 Union casualties : one killed , nine wounded , and 105 captured . Confederate casualties were reported as five or six wounded , with none killed . Historian and Ford biographer Stephen B . Oates , however , concludes that Union deaths were much higher , numbering approximately 30 , many of whom drowned in the Rio Grande or were attacked and killed by French border guards on the Mexican side . He likewise estimated Confederate casualties at approximately the same number . However , using court - martial testimony and post returns from Brazos Santiago , Texas A & M International University historian Jerry D . Thompson determined that : Like the war ' s first big battle at First Bull Run , which also yielded little gain for either side , the battle is recorded as a Confederate victory . Two weeks later , Texan forces surrendered formally on May 26 , 1865 ; Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered his forces in the Trans - Mississippi Department on June 2 . Most senior Confederate commanders in Texas ( including Smith , Walker , Slaughter , and Ford ) and many troops and equipment fled across the border to Mexico , possibly to ally with Imperial French forces , or Mexican forces with Benito Juárez . The Military Division of the Southwest ( after June 27 the Division of the Gulf ) , commanded by Maj . Gen . Phillip H . Sheridan , occupied Texas between June and August . Consisting of the IV Corps , XIII Corps , the African - American XXV Corps , and two 4 , 000 - man cavalry divisions commanded by Brig - Gen . Wesley Merritt and Maj - Gen . George A . Custer , it aggregated a 50 , 000 - man force on the Gulf Coast and along the Rio Grande to pressure the French intervention in Mexico and garrison the Reconstruction Department of Texas . In July 1865 , Barrett preferred charges of disobedience of orders , neglect of duty , abandoning his colors , and conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline against Morrison for actions in the battle , resulting in the latter ' s court martial . Confederate Col . Ford , who had returned from Mexico at the request of Union Gen . Frederick Steele to act as parole commissioner for disbanding Confederate forces , appeared as a defense witness and assisted in absolving Morrison for responsibility for the defeat . The following material is from first - hand and published sources . They are recounts of the role of Hispanic Confederate veterans and the treatment of black POWs in South Texas . There were Hispanic Confederate veterans at Fort Brown in Brownsville and on the field of Palmito Ranch . Col . Santos Benavides , who was the highest ranking Hispanic in either army , led between 100 and 150 Mexicans in the Brownsville Campaign in May 1865 . " Some of the Sixty - Second Colored Regiment were also taken . They had been led to believe that if captured they would either be shot or returned to slavery . They were agreeably surprised when they were paroled and permitted to depart with the white prisoners . Several of the prisoners were from Austin and vicinity . They were assured they would be treated as prisoners of war . There was no disposition to visit upon them a mean spirit of revenge . " - Colonel John Salmon Ford , May 1865 . When Colonel Ford surrendered his command following the campaign of Palmito Ranch he urged his men to honor their paroles . He insisted that " The negro had a right to vote . " Private John J . Williams of the 34th Indiana was the last fatality during the Battle at Palmito Ranch , making him likely the final combat death of the war . Fighting in the battle involved Caucasian , African - American , Hispanic , and Native American troops . Reports of shots from the Mexican side , the sounding of a warning to the Confederates of the Union approach , the crossing of Imperial cavalry into Texas , and the participation by several among Ford ' s troops are unverified , despite many witnesses reporting shooting from the Mexican shore .