MAY 14, 1865:
The Battle of Palmito Ranch (The Battle
of Palmetto) (Day Three):
Union
troops scoured the northern bank of the Rio Grande in darkness searching for
the missing Sergeant David Clark. As they rode about with lanterns, Colonel Rip
Ford’s Confederates took potshots at them from the darkness. Though no one was
killed, the night shooting was undoubtedly unnerving. In effect, the Battle of
Palmito Ranch degenerated into a game of Blind Man’s Bluff with guns. Finally,
at 4:00 A.M., the frustrated Colonel Barrett ordered his men back to
Brownsville, and Colonel Rip Ford ordered his men back into camp, claiming
victory.
The
unharmed Sergeant Clark was later brought to Brownsville by Mexican
authorities.
Of
the one thousand men who took part in this desultory three day battle the
forces were divided about equally. 101 Union troops (mostly U.S.C.T.) were
captured, about a score wounded, and four killed. The Confederates suffered 6
wounded and three captured, but no one was killed.
Colonel
John Salmon “Rip” Ford later said of his men, “There was no disposition to visit upon [the U.S.C.T.] a mean spirit of
revenge." Many of Ford’s Texans were Hispanic, and they did not blench
when Ford asked them to “respect the
Negro’s right to vote” after the war.
Within
24 hours an armistice was worked out, and the captured Union troops were
paroled. On May 26th, General Kirby Smith surrendered all
Confederate forces in the Department of The Trans-Mississippi.
Palmito
Ranch is nearly universally considered the “Last Battle of The Civil War” (though it wasn't; it was just the last large engagement). It served no purpose whatsoever, except to
cost the life of John J. Williams (along with three other men), and to allow
the ex-Confederates-to-be to be able to say that the Confederacy “won” the day.
On balance, it was a terrible price to pay for bragging rights.
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