May 12, 1865---The Battle of Palmito Ranch (Day One)

MAY 12, 1865:           

“What more is wanting?” --- a Prosecutor in the Lincoln Assassination Conspiracy Trial

I

Two places claim the fame of hosting the “last formal surrender” of Confederate troops east of the Mississippi River. Given the time lag of communications in the 19^th Century, no one knows which was the “first last” surrender and which was the “last last” surrender, only that they both occurred on this day:

In Kingston, Georgia, General William Tatum Wofford C.S.A. surrendered all troops in the Military Subdistrict of Northern Georgia.  

In the isolated western North Carolina town of Franklin, known as “the most inaccessible portion of the Confederacy,” the 69^th Regiment C.S.A. (also known as the Highlanders or Thomas’ Legion of Cherokee Warriors) strikes its colors to Union forces upon hearing of the surrenders of Lee, Johnston, Taylor and Forrest.  The nearest railroad to Franklin was located six miles east over isolated mountain paths in Morganton. There was no telegraph system in the entire region. A runner brought the news that the war had ended after a difficult traverse of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The surrender at Franklin, N.C. The papers were signed in flag-draped Dixie Hall to the left

II

The Battle of Palmito Ranch (The Battle of Palmetto) (Day One):      

Far away from both western North Carolina and northern Georgia, a battle between the Blue and the Gray erupted along the banks of the Rio Grande River near Brownsville, Texas.

The Battle of Palmito Ranch was considered a freak battle even in its day. The Union and Confederate forces in the area had largely been observing an informal cease-fire for many months. Such fighting as there was generally pitted the Americans in alliance with the Mexican Nationalists against the Imperial Forces of Mexico’s French-backed army.

U.S. forces held Brownsville, but C.S. forces held the river fords, and though there was essentially no reason to contest the fords, the Union Commander, Colonel Theodore Barrett decided to break the Confederate hold on the river.

Why he did so is still questioned. Negotiations to close out the war and accept a Confederate surrender had begun in March 1865 on the General Officer level, and though they were lagging, there was no real chance that local hostilities would reignite, except if by forced intention. Barrett, who had had little combat experience, it is thought, wanted to get his “last licks in” before the war formally ended by surrender. It is also thought that he wanted to seize the Confederate-held cotton fields and warehouses near the river (perhaps for profit, perhaps as a bargaining chip in negotiations, perhaps to deny the cotton to Mexican raiders).

In the afternoon, Barrett’s men, the 62^nd U.S.C.T. began skirmishing with Confederate pickets along the river. Confederate cavalry drove the Union forces back, and combat, which had been light, ended for the day.  

III

What more is wanting?  Surely no word further need be spoken to show that John Wilkes Booth was in this conspiracy; that John Surratt was in this conspiracy; and that Jefferson Davis and his several agents named, in Canada, were in this conspiracy . . .  Jefferson Davis is as clearly proven guilty of this conspiracy as John Wilkes Booth, by whose hand Jefferson Davis inflicted the mortal wound on Abraham Lincoln.

The first testimony takes place in the trial of the Lincoln Assassination conspirators this day. All the Defendants plead Not Guilty to all charges.

The Prosecution begins its arguments by proffering evidence of the direct involvement of Jefferson Davis in the conspiracy.

Little of what is presented has anything much to do with the actions of the Defendants themselves.

IV

Lieutenant General Edmund Kirby Smith C.S.A. disappoints the denizens of the newly-minted capital city of the Confederacy when he announces that he will be moving the Headquarters of the Department of the Trans-Mississippi from Shreveport, Louisiana to Houston, Texas. Smith, like Jefferson Davis, refuses to believe that the 40,000 troops spoken of in the Trans-Mississippi are phantoms. He assumes he can organize and direct a war in Texas more effectively in Texas. This would be true if only he had an army.

As soon as he organizes his local troops and they begin to march west, his army (of about 6,000) begins to disintegrate. Every morning hundreds of men are reported AWOL, and some units are down to one or two troopers, often a sergeant and a color-bearer. By the time he reaches Texas, even the redoubtable Kirby Smith will be forced to acknowledge the obvious. 

"Kirby Smithdom":  Smith, as Departmental Military Commander, ran the Trans-Mississippi as a military dictatorship, overriding the local Governors and State Legislatures, but he was much less successful in controlling the citizenry and the widely-scattered troop concentrations