Texas Coast Showing Points of Occupation of Expedition Under Major General N.P. Banks, November 1863
From the earliest foot paths to modern highways, people have traversed Texas to make connections. Historic maps provide a glimpse into these journeys. Through the cartographic resources of the Texas General Land Office and the personal collection of Frank and Carol Holcomb of Houston, Connecting Texas: Three Centuries of Trails, Rails, and Roads invites you to learn about how Texas and Texans have connected over the last 300 years. The exhibit runs at the Witte Museum in San Antonio through September 2018.
This map represents a particularly contentious episode in the Union Army’s efforts to secure Southern ports during the Civil War. Fear of aid from the French Imperialist government in Mexico to Confederates in Texas, as well as the desire to cut off the army’s valuable supply routes along the Gulf Coast, drove President Lincoln to send an expedition led by Major General Nathaniel P. Banks.
After failing to halt the advance of Stonewall Jackson’s troops at Shenandoah in Virginia, taking command of the Department of the Gulf was Banks’ chance to redeem his reputation. He commenced a siege attack on Port Hudson in Louisiana in May 1863, leading African-American troops in their first test of battle.[1] After several months of fighting, Banks successfully gained control of the Mississippi River, cutting off Confederate access to Texas. His next major endeavor was to gain control of the Gulf ports in Texas and Louisiana.
Initial attempts to control Texas were disastrous. Banks sent troops from New Orleans to the mouth of the Sabine River. A railroad line in the area led to Houston — occupying the city would secure important supply posts and further isolate Texas from the rest of the Confederate states. The Confederate army, lying in wait for the Union at the newly constructed Fort Griffin, was outnumbered but heavily fortified. This encounter at the beginning of September 1863 resulted in the Union Army’s resounding defeat and the loss of several Union Navy ships at the Battle of Sabine Pass.[2] The depth of the pass is noted on the map, southeast of Beaumont.
In late October 1863, Banks was finally able to land a detachment of Union troops at the mouth of the Rio Grande. He moved as far west along the river as Rio Grande City, and then headed north to Indianola, successfully taking several Texan coastal ports. These sites are marked by U.S. flags.
Banks also took notes regarding the depth of other potential landing sites along the coast during the winter of 1863 — the Brazos in particular “opened to 9' for a time.” Galveston, held briefly by the Union in the previous year, remained under Confederate control after being taken in an attack by General John B. Magruder in what Banks considered “the most unfortunate affair” that occurred while he was commander of the department.[3] Over the course of the war, the barrier island changed hands several times. This attack secured it for the Confederacy for the remainder of the hostilities.[4]
Through his coastal possession, Banks helped repel Napoleon’s ambition to establish French control of Mexico and assist the Confederacy from the south.[5] Several mishaps and skirmishes involving the Union naval fleet, however, inhibited the desired total occupation of Texas. He noted the loss of several ships in October and November of 1863. The steamer Union was lost and two schooners foundered off the Texas coast on Oct. 31. The steamer Nassau was lost on Brazos Pass on Nov. 5, off the southern tip of Isla del Padre close to Point Isabelle. The steamer Bagley was lost on Nov. 18 at Aransas Pass. Also noted are the British supply schooners Alfred H. Partridgeand Kate Stewart, which were intercepted by the Confederacy.[6]
Manuscript notations indicate that the southern tip of Matagorda Island was “fortified.” The Union gained control of the entire island by early January 1864. In the southern portion of the state, Banks recorded the locations of several water sources northeast of Rio Grande City. He sent a brigade of the Texas Union Cavalry under Colonel Edmund J. Davis to successfully take control of Ringold Barracks, a military installation constructed east of Rio Grande City at the end of the U.S.-Mexican War to protect the citizens of the city from border incursions.[7]
Banks intended to send troops as far west as San Antonio and marked many potential routes in red on the map. Despite Texas being part of the Confederacy, there were pockets in the interior of the state which were sympathetic to the Union. Relying, perhaps naively, on these sympathies — mostly from German Texan immigrants in central Texas, who largely opposed both secession and slavery — Banks believed he would face little resistance from residents once a Union post was established. His efforts to take and keep the Texas coast under Union control, however, left his numbers depleted.
Banks sent requests for more troops, but inexplicable hesitance and outright refusal from the military powers in Washington left him lacking the manpower and confidence needed to hold the city. He wrote to President Lincoln several times, seeking to clarify the chain of command and the extent of the Union’s desire to occupy the Texas interior, to little effect.[8] His superiors recalled him to New Orleans only a month after his coastal successes, for what became one of the largest failures of the Union Army in the Gulf during the entirety of the Civil War.
President Lincoln ordered an offensive against Shreveport, the Confederate capital of Louisiana, in early 1864. Capturing the city would secure a key supply post and severely limit Confederate access to Texas from the east, an operation that came to be known as the Red River Campaign. Banks, along with Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman, expressed opposition to this plan, especially because it would require the withdrawal of Banks’ already thinly-spread troops, but as it was approved by both Lincoln and General-in-Chief Henry W. Halleck, he had no choice but to obey.[9]Banks’ apprehension of the campaign’s effectiveness proved correct. Despite being outnumbered, the Confederate Army soundly defeated Union troops in April 1864 and forced them to retreat.[10]
This map serves not only as a record of one of Banks’ last active duty assignments for the Union but as a historical “what if” of Texas’ fate during the Civil War. The effect of Union control on the entirety of Texas would have put a stranglehold on supply to or from any western territory the Confederacy wanted to absorb. This would only have been successful, however, had Banks been able to retake Galveston, as well as retain his hold on the Texas Gulf Coast and the southwestern interior of the state. Instead, a lack of steady communication and planning between Banks and the War Department in Washington lost the Texas coast for the Union for the remainder of the war. Despite the failure of the Red River Campaign, however, he was honorably discharged and returned home to Massachusetts.
The original of this map can be found at the National Archives.
Can’t make it to San Antonio? You can view the maps in this exhibit in high definition on the GLO’s website where you can also purchase reproductions and support the Save Texas History Program.
[1] “Nathaniel Banks,” Civil War Trust, accessed March 14, 2018, https://www.civilwar.org/learn/biographies/nathaniel-banks.
[2]Handbook of Texas Online, Alwyn Barr, “Sabine Pass, Battle Of,” accessed August 22, 2017, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qes02.
[3]Ralph A. Wooster, Texas And Texans In The Civil War(Place of publication not identified: Eakin Press, 1996), 69.
[4]Harvey Rice, “Battle of Galveston saved Texas from Union invasion,” Houston Chronicle, January 01, 2013, accessed March 14, 2018, https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Battle-of-Galveston-saved-Texas-from-Union-4158740.php.
[5] “Nathaniel P. Banks,” National Archives and Records Administration, accessed March 14, 2018, https://www.archives.gov/boston/exhibits/banks.
[6] “Correspondence Concerning Claims Against Great Britain,” Google Books, 371, accessed March 14, 2018, https://books.google.com/books?id=ColRAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA371&lpg=PA371&dq=schooner%2Bpartridge%2Bkate&source=bl&ots=kz6GMyoMVX&sig=XX5-d9sDFL-dReXyiuY988su_tk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwighdTRm-zZAhVJKKwKHam7AbkQ6AEITzAJ#v=onepage&q=schooner%20partridge%20kate&f=false.
[7]Handbook of Texas Online, Garna L. Christian, “Fort Ringgold,” accessed March 12, 2018, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qbf42.
[8]American Memory: Remaining Collections. Accessed February 28, 2018. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem%2Fmal%3A%40field%28DOCID%2B%40lit%28d2888000%29%29.
[9]Banks’ Red River Original Report, accessed March 14, 2018, http://www.civilwarhome.com/banksredriver.html.
[10]Handbook of Texas Online, Art Leatherwood, “Red River Campaign,” accessed August 15, 2017, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qdr01.
