Still the Arena of Civil War: Violence and Turmoil in Reconstruction Texas, 1865-1874

Chapter 3: The World Turned Upside Down?: The Military Occupation of Victoria and Calhoun Counties, 1865–1867

113 CHAPTER 3 The World Turned Upside Down?: The Military Occupation of Victoria and Calhoun Counties, 1865–1867 by Charles D. Spurlin T he last remnant of formal Confederate military resistance in the Civil War ended on June 2, 1865, with the capitulation of the Trans-Mississippi Department by Maj. Gen. E. Kirby Smith. Soon thereafter, federal forces under Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, commander of the Thirteenth Army Corps and overall commander of the Union troops in Texas, commenced occupation duty in the state and thus began the first phase of Reconstruction that lasted until 1867. Cavalry units made their way from Louisiana through eastern Texas to reach their assignments in San Antonio and Austin. In addition to the Thirteenth Army Corps and the cavalry regiments, troops from the Twenty-fifth Army Corps were transported by water from City Point, Virginia, to the Texas coast for duty at Indianola and Corpus Christi, but the bulk of the corps was instructed to take positions along the Rio Grande. Meanwhile, the Fourth Army Corps was transported from New Orleans “to Indianola, from thence to Victoria, and ordered to occupy the line from that point to San Antonio.” Further organizational refinement of the federal troops occurred on July 20 when the state was divided into the Eastern, Central, and Western districts under General Orders, No. 4 issued in New Orleans by Maj. Gen. Edward R. S. Canby, commander of the Department of Louisiana and Texas.1 Under the arrangement, the Eastern District with its headquarters at Houston was comprised of the area “east of the Brazos and Navasota Rivers and the meridian of the town of Springfield, on the Navasota River, except the posts included in the Western District of Louisiana.” The Central District was composed of the region “between the Nueces 114 Charles D. Spurlin River and the Eastern District of Texas, as above defined” with temporary headquarters at Victoria whereas the Western District lay “between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River.” Brownsville was designated as the headquarters of the latter district. Maj. Gen. Joseph A. Mower was placed in charge of the Eastern District while Maj. Gen. David S. Stanley was given command of the Central District, and Maj. Gen. Frederick Steele took control of the Western District.2 Further reorganization of the federal forces in Texas occurred during the summer of 1865. The Department of Texas, which had been in existence since 1853, was omitted when the Department of the Gulf was created on February 23, 1862. However, on November 8, 1862, it was placed in the newly formed department. With the reorganization of the army’s military divisions and departments on June 27, 1865, the Department of Texas reappeared and was attached to the Military Division of the Gulf. Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright assumed command of the department on Illustration 4. Maj. Gen. David S. Stanley. (Courtesy of Library of Congress) The World Turned Upside Down? 115 August 6 with headquarters at Galveston. Exactly a year later, the Department of Texas was merged into the Department of the Gulf.3 After the occupying forces arrived in Texas, military commanders became befuddled as to their proper role within the communities. To clear up the confusion, department headquarters in Galveston issued a series of instructions. Under the rules laid out, military authorities could render civilian officials “assistance as may be necessary to enforce the laws against those who may violate them,” but otherwise, military personnel were to limit their efforts “as far as consistent with the good of the service and the protection of the interest of the government, strictly to Military matters.” Only when “the United States is a party, as where officers and Soldiers, employee’s [sic] of the Government and freedmen are concerned,” the right to be tried “before a Military tribunal . . . will be exercised.” However, freedmen could be tried in a civil court “whenever in the opinion of the Military Commander or the Agent of the Freedman’s Bureau, it can be done with a reasonable assurance that justice will be obtained.” To do the latter would relieve “the Military from a heavy burden.” Military officials were further instructed that even though they might believe justice would not be served in a civil court, the accused should be relinquished to an existing “Court of competent jurisdiction . . . without regard to the probable result of the trial.”4 Union soldiers were euphoric when the war...