The Maltby Brothers' Civil War

Chapter 10. "The One Rebel Organ Left"

10 “The One Rebel Organ Left” More than a year after resigning from the army on medical grounds, William Maltby did so for the second time on November 7, 1864. This time his official discharge was authorized by Lieutenant General Edmund Kirby Smith himself. William also had the battery’s Lieutenant John Russell write an official letter stating that he was exempt from further military service, being indispensable to the publication of the Ranchero, and that “he shall be engaged as a printer in the publication of said newspaper.”1 William’s immediate concern was collecting his accumulated captain’s pay, which included the seven-month period he had been a prisoner of war. Ironically, William, who had earlier attempted to convince his Northern captors he was a newspaper printer who just happened to be at Fort Semmes, was now asserting his rights as a former Confederate officer to collect his back pay. William wrote two letters to his former commanding officer, Colonel Hobby, who was now at Galveston—one official and the other personal. In his personal letter, William was effusive in praising Hobby and telling him how pleased he had been to have served under him. In his official letter he noted his concern that he might not receive his back pay because of Lieutenant Conklin’s claim to be captain of the battery “by virtue of [Maltby’s] resignation .” William received a cordial response from his former senior officer, who congratulated him on his safe return to family and friends and assured him that no such promotion had been authorized through the proper channels and that Conklin remained on detached duty with General Magruder. Furthermore , the colonel concurred that William had a “just claim to pay as Captain ” and offered to intervene with the quartermaster on his behalf if it would help. Expressing his appreciation for the “kind expressions of esteem,” Hobby added, “Believe me that we part with mutual respect. I have always received from you, Courtesy & Kindness, and endeavored to do likewise. If I failed, it was an infirmity of my nature, not an intentional desire to be uncivil.”2 In mid-March, William left his mother-in-law’s boardinghouse to join his brother in Brownsville. Grace and the baby would follow him later. An official pass obtained from the US provost marshal at Brownsville, dated March 21, 1865, identifies “Mr. W. H. Maltby” as “Publisher of the ‘Ran- the one rebel organ left" " 1 chero.’” The brothers were now together, and with an old friend as well: Somers Kinney, who had once edited the Nueces Valley in Corpus Christi and more recently The American Flag in Matamoros. Both Henry and Somers were tall, but at two hundred pounds, Henry provided a marked contrast to his colleague’s “lean and hungry” look, causing Henry to refer affectionately to his “devoted junior” as “Cassius.” Henry also wrote of his friend, “As a speaker [Somers] would have achieved fame, were it not that weak lungs deprived him of the powers of oratory.” After serving in the state legislature and failing in an attempt to provide Corpus Christi with a ship channel, Somers had published the Nueces Valley with James Barnard as coeditor. He is said to have written romantic tales that were published under a nom de plume. Maltby and Kinney were kindred spirits, both men highly opinionated with a crusader-like zeal. Henry once compared Somers to a skilled barber: “After having gone over his subject not a hair is left standing and perhaps cutting to the quick a little too often. However, that feature of his writing is not at all a detriment, for every subject fairly needs skinning alive, at this age of the world.” The two friends also shared a sense of humor. In a notice Somers published during one of his colleague’s absences, he wrote, “By agreement with our absent Senior, for whom we pray at night and mourn in the morning , the ‘spicy’ branch of our business is exclusively to be attended to by him.” Somers added, “In consideration of the labors imposed on our Senior, we have agreed not to change the politics of the Ranchero during his abSomers Kinney, 1866. (Brownsville Historical Association) chapter 1 1 sence; so that in addition to not accepting challenges, our politics will not change for at least two weeks.” Now, he and the Maltby brothers would team up to...