March 28, 1863, The New York Herald
To form a correct idea of the affairs of Texas, particularly of that portion of the State bordering on the Mexican frontier, and from which it is divided by the Rio Grande, it is necessary to take into account the geographical nature of either portion of the two countries bordering on that river and the feelings of the people with regard to the rebellion of the Southern States. The two nearest adjoining States of Mexico to Texas on the lower Rio Grande are Tamaulipas and New Leon and Coahuila – the latter being a State formed a few years since by the consolidation of the two States whose joint names it bears. These two States are by far the most powerful in population and wealth of any in that portion of Mexico. Confronting them for many miles there are, on the Texas side of the river, but three military posts. These are Fort Brown, Ringgold Barracks and Fort Duncan. These are old United States forts, and the only posts ever permanently occupied by our troops at any time. After the withdrawal of our forces, through the treason and treachery of Gen. Twiggs, the State rebels took possession of these forts. Fort Brown, the nearest to the mouth of the Rio Grande, was subsequently (in July, 1862) abandoned by the rebels for political reasons, which will be hereafter explained. At the time of their withdrawal they dismantled the fort, seized upon the Mexican steamboats then on the river, in defiance of the protest of Colonel Quiroga, Mexican commandant at Matamoros, and by this means conveyed the heavy guns from Fort Brown to Ringgold Barracks, higher up the river. Since that time the fort has never been occupied by military force, although it commands the two important towns of Brownsville and Matamoros, on either side of the river, being but a half mile distant from the former, and even less than that from the latter, and its defences are fast becoming worthless. The rebels have now concentrated a small force at Ringgold Barracks, not far from Rio Grand City. In the month of June last some few guns that had not been removed from Fort Brown were lying in an unserviceable condition. The bombproofs were in bad order, and there was not a solitary sentinel to be seen in the fort. It was formerly considered an important post, and its means of defence were considerable. It was surrounded by a wide ditch, a broad glacis, with breastworks and had bombproofs inside. About a year ago one of our informants started a covey of quails on the parade ground, near the bombproofs. The other military posts, though dignified by the high sounding titles of forts, possess little claim to be considered as such. They are neither defended by raised earthworks, ditch nor fosse. The ground so designated is merely surrounded by a picket fence, enclosing the shanties of the officers and soldiers. Last summer the small rebel force stationed at Brownsville, in consequence of the visitation of yellow fever among the inhabitants, was removed to Ringgold Barracks, and from that time to this the whole of the lower Rio Grande has been totally abandoned by the rebel troops.
STATE OF OPPOSING PARTIES ON THE RIO GRANDE.
From the treason of Twiggs, which gave to the Texas rebel authorities whole command of the Rio Grande, the rebel government never had more than 1,500 men at any one time throughout the whole region of the Rio Grande, from its mouth up to Fort Duncan. And at the present time there are not more than 600 men stationed in all that distance. Against these 600 rebels on one side of the river there are banded together on the Mexican side, waiting but for the means of armed and disciplined organization, 1,300 loyal Texans, impatiently anxious for the time when they will be in a condition to strike a retributive blow against those who have driven them from home and country. Their superiority of numbers, however, is unavailing from the want of arms and ammunition. A few pistols and rifles comprise their whole armament, and for even these there is a deficiency of powder and caps. A diabolical outrage, committed by the rebels in the first days of their unbridled fury, affords a sad yet glorious illustration of the deep-rooted loyalty of some of the Texan people. Zapata county borders the Rio Grande, its greatest stretch of boundary being that river. It was for the most part peopled by citizens of Mexican descent, many of them born there, strongly attached to the Union and its flag. Just prior to the treason of Twiggs, but when the first mutterings of the storm began to be heard, some of these citizens of Zapata, who had been assured by some of our officers that they would be aided by the United States forces, determined to cling to the Union at all hazards. Our government did not sustain the assurances of its loyal officers by sending them help. This did not deter them from evincing their loyalty, and, faithful amid the faithless, they ran up the Stars and Stripes. This drew upon them an attack, secretly planned and suddenly executed, by an overpowering force of rebel rangers. After a hard fight the whole body of Union men, who on the first surprise seized their arms, were cut down. This bloody episode of the rebellion never reached in its terrible details the knowledge of the Northern people, nor indeed were all the facts known to nine-tenths of the people of Texas till long afterwards. The causes which left the Union men so much at the mercy of the rebels, though outnumbering them two to one, are to be found in the treason of Twiggs, his seizure and transfer to rebel hands of all the government arms and ammunition, and the purchase by the Knights of the Golden Circle of all the powder and caps on private sale in the State. The unsuspecting Unionists were thus left almost entirely without the first requirement for defence. This great want they could not remedy, for the reason that all the powder subsequently brought into the State has been purchased by the government for the army, and paid for by the cotton contributed by the planters. Private individuals, especially those suspected of loyalty to the government of our fathers, are not permitted to import for sale, or to buy ammunition. Notwithstanding […..] of this great essential to successful resistance and successful assault, parties of the Texans on the Mexican border recrossed the river, made a lodgment there, and make frequent raids on the rebels in Texas, scattering scouts, overthrowing small escorts and destroying subsistence trains. The most recent affair of this kind has been most grossly misrepresented in the Southern papers, and these Southern accounts have been very generally copied by the Northern press. It was stated that a late attack made on a rebel force and train on its way from Ringgold Barracks into the interior was made by a band of Mexicans. This is not the fact. It was made by the Union citizens of Texas, who, driven from their homes, took temporary refuge on Mexican soil – a portion, of that band of 1,300 who have so long impatiently waited for succor from government and for the means of protecting themselves. We learn that one of their number, Captain Gutaviano Zapata, (after whose family the county is named,) has since come on to New Orleans to solicit aid from the government. When the state of affairs on the Rio Grande was first represented to General Butler, that officer at once resolved upon sending a regiment and a battery of field pieces there for the protection of the frontier, although it was not included in his military district. Had General Butler been able to carry out his design, fifteen hundred volunteers, at the very least, would have joined whatever force would have been sent, and thus sustained the loyal men of that region would have been able to overthrow any number of rebels that might be sent against them, and thus deprive the rebel government of the great advantages at present accruing to it from its command of the Rio Grande. General Butler, when first appealed to, authorized Colonel Davis, late Judge of the lower Rio Grande district in Texas, to raise a regiment of cavalry for service in Texas. Colonel Davis set about this work in the city of New Orleans, and has enlisted three hundred Texans, who are now in barracks in that city, and the number is daily increasing. Colonel Davis is convinced, from his perfect knowledge of the country, that with one thousand five hundred men he could command the free navigation of the Rio Grande and afford the fullest protection to the loyal Texans on its banks.
THE RIO GRANDE OPEN TO EASY REOCCUPATION BY FEDERAL TROOPS.
At the present time it would require but a small federal force, landed at some eligible point on the coast, west of Galveston, to reoccupy the whole of the Rio Grande region lying in Texas. And none but those fully acquainted with the immense trade carried on with Mexico, and through Mexico with European countries, can estimate the full extent of the injury that would be inflicted upon the rebel government by wresting it from the command of this frontier water line. Fully alive to the value of this means of intercourse with the outer world, and of securing it in their possession, quite early in the outbreak of the rebellion H. P. Bee, now brigadier general of the rebel forces in Western Texas, was sent to examine into the condition of the military posts and the means of defence on the Rio Grande, and to report what he deemed necessary to be done to strengthen them. His report, which was at the time published in the New Orleans papers, recommended that there should be a force of fifteen thousand men stationed at or near Fort Brown, giving as the reason that if United States troops in any number of strength landed at or near the mouth of the Rio Grande they could march from thence as far as the Nueces river – one hundred and fifty miles inland – through a friendly population. The publication of this report in the New Orleans papers created great dissatisfaction among leading secessionists, because, as they alleged, it pointed out the United States government their most vulnerable point for attack. And in this the Texan secessionists were perfectly right; but they have had much cause for congratulation in the ignorance or supineness of the government in neglecting to seize the Rio Grande. The rebel government took prompt advantage of this great oversight, and sagaciously withdrew the force of some twelve hundred at first maintained along the lower part of the river, leaving but the force already named, some six hundred men, scattered from Fort Duncan below, merely as a protection to the great traffic carried on there. By this means – by maintaining but a small body of troops – they hoped to evade that scrutiny into their operations which the show of an imposing force might have drawn upon them. And here it may be said with all truth that the success which has attended their strategy has contributed much to the maintenance of the rebel army in the Southwest. The army supplies lately destroyed by our gunboat on Red river were chiefly obtained from or through Mexico.
REBEL TRAFFIC ON THE RIO GRANDE.
At the present time, by those best informed on the subject, it is computed that there are not less that 700,000 bale of cotton in Texas. The last crop of cotton there was much larger than was generally supposed, and the greater part of two corps is on hand. At the beginning of the war the rebel leaders forced the planters to subscribe a portion of their crop to aid in carrying it on, using intimidation to compel the reluctant. Still later the Governor of Texas (Lubbock) prohibited, by proclamation, cotton from being brought nearer than fifty miles of the Gulf coast, excepting the line of the Rio Grande, the rebel Congress having by express law reserved to planters the right of exporting cotton across that river direct into Mexico. But this is now a dead letter, inasmuch as for a considerable time past the rebel government has been compelling the planters to sell to them the entire balance of their crops, and to accept in payment therefor, at whatever rate the government fixes, Confederate paper. Their wagons and teams are also impressed, with their negroes for drivers, to haul all the cotton thus collected to the river. In this way the rebel government has exported to and through Mexico cotton sufficient to pay for the immense supplies of everything they require, and which they are thus enabled to get in comparative abundance. Through this source they have obtained arms, ammunition, leather, boots and shoes, rope and bagging, provisions, sulphur and saltpetre sufficient to establish and keep going three powder mills, brown cotton domestics of Mexican manufacture, and English and other foreign staple goods, such as they most stand in need, of almost all of these going to the use of the army, very little indeed going into the market or into the hands of private dealers. The trade thus maintained on the Lower Rio Grande appears, from the returns of the rebel Custom House at Brownsville, to have been more important in many respects than the trade of any seaport in the loyal States. This may appear very surprising; but it is nevertheless perfectly true. But almost the whole of this immense trade, and all the facilities for trade are now monopolized by rebel authorities, the people being rigorously excluded from participation in it, and to this exclusiveness is attributable much of the suffering of the population of Texas, and indeed much of the suffering of the non-combatants throughout the whole Southwest. On the Nueces river, in Texas, only one hundred and fifty miles from the Rio Grande, flour is worth $130 per barrel, and corn $12 per bushel – prices unheard of before. No people can stand such prices long.
HOW GOOD ARE TRANSPORTED IN TEXAS.
Cotton is brought from the plantations by wagon or rail to the village of Alleytown, three miles east of the town of Columbus, on the Colorado, and from thence it is hauled on wagons and Mexican carts to different points on the Rio Grande – that for foreign markets to Matamoros; that for the consumption of Mexico to Eagle Pass (Fort Duncan) or Roma, a few miles above Ringgold Barracks, each point of trade being commanded by a military post. We learn that there is no post at present near Laredo. The transportation of cotton into Mexico and of foreign goods of all sorts into Texas is managed as follows: – The cotton carts and wagons which come from the plantations or from Alleytown to the Rio Grande would have to go back empty if they did not take back freight at reasonable rates. They are thus compelled to take government freight to Alleytown, and from thence the freight is transported by rail through Houston to the Sabine river, on the Louisiana line, and from thence again by wagons to the Red river, and from it distributed throughout the whole rebel confederacy and valley of the Mississippi wherever troops are stationed. Sometimes part of this trade is diverted to the Sabine river, where it is put on board small schooners that run along the coast of Western Louisiana, and which, from their small draft of water, are enabled to evade the blockading vessels. By the latest advices from the Consul at Matamoros it appears that there are upwards of five thousand bales of cotton in the neighborhood of Brownsville awaiting exportation, while at the same time there are no less than sixty vessels lying off the mouth of the Rio Grande to receive this cotton. The great want felt there is that of sufficient lighterage, and hence it is that there vessels are not at once discharged and loaded, but are thus detained off the mouth of the river. At the commencement of the war the Texan steam lighters were put under the Mexican flag, to prevent their seizure by the United States blockaders; but these lighters are not by any means sufficient to meet the large contraband trade now carried on from the Rio Grande.
REBEL EXPORT DUTY ON COTTON – HOW THE PLANTERS HAVE BEEN VICTIMIZED.
The rebel government has fixed a high export duty on cotton, amounting to about seventy-five cents per bale. Added to this there is a heavy Mexican tariff levied of a dollar and a half per quintal (100 pounds). Besides, wagon freight must be paid from Matamoros to the mouth of the river, when the cotton is intended for Europe – a distance of twenty-seven miles. From this point it is conveyed by the lighters to the ships at anchor about a mile from the shore. The cost of lighterage is from $5 to $7 per bale, and these separate charges combined fell exceedingly heavy upon the unfortunate Texan exporter when evading the law so long as private exportation was permitted.
But the most flagrant injustice to which the planter was subjected arose from the cupidity of the military commander, and from which he could not with safety protect himself, or even seek redress in the proper quarter, consisted in this: that whenever a planter brought his cotton to the post the commandant compelled him to fork over silver in exchange for Confederate notes, five dollars for each bale; and in this exchange of specie for paper the planter was egregiously fleeced. The modus operandi was very effective. For each bale brought down for exportation the commander compelled the owner to give him $5 in gold or silver in exchange for a Confederate $5 bill. The owner may have had objections to the exchange, but he dared not to refuse. He was told by the commandant that he wanted the silver to make necessary purchases for his command at Matamoros, where they did not and don’t take Confederate paper. Had one refused, the impressive question would have been put to him, Sir, is not Confederate money good enough for you? – and to respond in the negative would have been so palpably treasonable and dangerous that further hesitation must have vanished before it; and thus the trader had no other resource than to submit with the best grace he might to the extortion of the man in power.
SOURCE OF THE SUPPLY OF SALT.
Since the destruction of the salt works at the mouth of St. Bernard by the Union gunboats, salt for the supply of the people of the whole of Western Texas is principally drawn from a salt lake in Texas, in the valley of the Rio Grande, some twenty-five miles from the Mexican town of Reynoss, the salt work in the mountains being barely adequate to supply the people of a few neighboring counties. This fact ought to appear to the government as an additional incentive to its occupation of the valley of the Rio Grande. This small lake, some three feet deep, is capable of supplying salt without other preparation than is necessary to procure it, which is done by simply prying it up from the bottom and transporting it wherever needed. So inexhaustible is the supply furnished by this reservoir of salt that it has been the resource of the great portion of Northeastern Mexico ever since its earliest occupation by the Spanish conquerors.
TEXANS IN THE REBEL ARMY.
Under the reign of terror established throughout the whole of Texas, the State sent twenty-two full regiments to the rebel army. Independently of this there was subsequently organized a force of fourteen thousand men, as further aid to the rebel government in carrying on the war. A portion of this latter force, we are told, have been sent to the aid of their rebel brethren in Arkansas. The Conscript law is rigorously carried out in Texas. It embraces all men capable of bearing arms from the age of sixteen up to sixty. At one time an attempt was made to enforce a State and Confederate conscription law, which embraced individuals of different ages. The Confederate conscription is looked upon with great abhorrence by all classes of people; and in consequence the desertions from the army into Mexico have been very numerous. Large slaveholders are not conscripted.
THE RIO GRANDE FRONTIER.
If the weather be wet, as it invariably is in the winter and spring, it becomes then almost impossible to enter Texas by the Red river, the surrounding region for miles being almost morass, impassable to troops and trains. So is the country back of Sabine Pass and back of Galveston. Five railroads converge at Houston, from whence diverges a trunk line to the port of Galveston, and by their aid all the Confederate forces, wherever stationed within one hundred and fifty miles of Galveston, can be massed in very brief time at Galveston, or by means of one of these roads at the Sabine river, on the Louisiana line. Therefore, Texas cannot be attacked with advantage at either of these points – the Sabine river or Galveston. Most of the transportation trains belonging to the United States surrendered by Twiggs to the rebels were sent with the State contingent out of the State. The remainder accompanied Sibley’s expedition into New Mexico, and never returned. All the army wagons and trains being thus lost to the State, the rebels are compelled to depend upon their railroads entirely as the means of transportation for men and supplies. There are several military camps of instruction in the State, within easy reach of these railroads. The true points of attack are, in case of an adequate force being sent, by Indianola, and, in case of a small force only being despatched for this service, Corpus Christi, Point Isabel, or the mouth of the Rio Grande, all which points offer facilities for successful attack. Indeed, any point on the Gulf coast west of Galveston is open for attack, and can be attacked with greater advantage than any other portion of the State. The failures made at Galveston and Sabine Pass corroborate this view.
THE FRENCH IN MEXICO DEPENDANT ON THE UNITED STATES FOR SUPPLIES.
In the meantime it must not be forgotten that the French, owing to the scarcity of breadstuffs in Europe, are deriving all the provisions for the use of their army in Mexico from the ports of the United States, and that their forces could not have remained thus long in Mexico had our government excluded them from purchasing. They are in no condition to intervene.
In view of the foregoing facts, it is not strange that the attention of the public is now pointed towards Texas. We have matters on this subject in reserve, which will appear when the operations of the government render it no longer expedient that they should be held back.