Brownsville During the Civil War
Before and during the Civil War, Brownsville was a major hub in the international trade flowing out of the Rio Grande. Slavery was not common in Brownsville, so when the Civil War erupted, Brownsville residents chose sides for either personal or business reasons. When Texas seceded from the Union in February 1861, Confederates chased their Unionist neighbors out of town and confiscated their properties. Many of those Union supporters fled across the river to Matamoros and formed military units to fight their former neighbors. When Union ships blockaded the southern coastline, planters from Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas shipped their cotton by train to the area south of Houston. From there, the “white gold” as cotton was known, was transferred by wagons on the difficult overland journey to Brownsville, where it could be ferried across the river to Matamoros. Mexico remained a neutral nation, so Union ships could not legally interfere with trade on the Rio Grande or in Mexican ports. By 1862, wagoneers lined up for miles along the road to Brownsville, waiting for their turn to stack their bales on the town’s wharves. Hoping to stop the cotton trade, Union Army General Nathaniel Banks invaded South Texas in 1863. As Banks's troops burned Fort Brown and destroyed cotton cargoes, Unionists returned from Matamoros, reclaimed their property, and this time sent the Confederates rushing to the opposite shore. Military control of the city would change two more times in 1864. In May 1865, the Confederacy surrendered and Union forces, including U.S. Colored Troops, reclaimed Brownsville.
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Location:
Market Square Research Center
1150 Market Square
Brownsville, TX 78520
Access:
Tuesday — Friday: By Appointment Only
Saturday — Monday: CLOSED
Contact:
Market Square is open to scholars, students and amateur researchers by appointment. Contact Market Square for more information or to set up an appointment. (Market Square Research Center is currently by appointment only)
GPS Coordinates
Photos
The Market House, Brownsville, Texas.
Scenes on the Rio Grande - From sketches
by special artist, C.E. H. Bonwill.
The war in Texas - Brownsville, now
occupied by the army under
Major General N.P. Banks,
Showing Santa Cruz Ferry.
Sketch by L. Avery
Elizabeth Street, December 16, 1865