May 26, 1865. |
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and artillery, and at the same time a heavy body of cavalry and a section of a battery, under cover of a chaparral, succeeded in flanking his little force, with the intention of getting in his rear.
The attacking force was under the command of General J. E. Slaughter.
The Rio Grande was on Barrett's left.
He had no artillery; his situation was extremely critical; and he had no alternative but to fall back, fighting.
This was done with skill and bravery.
Forty-eight men of the Thirty-fourth Indiana, thrown out as skirmishers to protect the flank of that regiment, were cut off and captured by Slaughter's cavalry.
One half of the Sixty-second United States (colored) troops, covering the recoiling force, were deployed as skirmishers, and formed a line a mile in length, protecting both front and right flank.
It resisted every attempt of the Confederate cavalry to penetrate it. Such attempts were repulsed with loss to the assailants.
The entire regiment moved back with great precision.
The running fight continued about three hours, when the Con. federates desisted.
So ended the battle of Palmetto Ranche.
It was the last one in the. great struggle.
At about sunset, on the 13th of May, 1865, between White's Ranche and the Boca Chico Strait, in Texas, the Sixty-second United States Colored Infantry, fired the last volley of the war.1 The conflict was near the old battle-ground of General Taylor, at Palo Alto, in 1846, about two thousand miles from the first considerable battle-ground at Bull Run.
The extent of the field of conflict occupied in the Civil War may be comprehended by considering the fact, that the region between Bull Run and the Rio Grande, had been fought over, lightly or heavily, at almost every league.
Sheridan's appearance at New Orleans sent dismay to the hearts of the Confederates in the Trans-Mississippi region, and the men in arms refused longer to follow their leaders in a hopeless struggle.
Kirby Smith formally surrendered
his entire command to General Canby, and thereby rendered an advance of Sheridan into Western Louisiana and Texas unnecessary.
Before the surrender was actually effected, Kirby Smith exhibited “the bad faith of first disbanding most of his army, and permitting an indiscriminate plunder of the public property.”
2 The soldiers helped themselves to whatever Confederate property they could lay their hands on — subsistence and transportation — and departed for their homes.
General Smith and a few of his followers fled into Texas.
1 Written communication to the author, by Colonel Barrett, dated June 16, 1868. His reported loss in this expedition, in killed, wounded and prisoners, was 4 officers and 111 men. His force was 450 strong; Slaughter's 675, with a battery of six 12-pounder field-pieces. T]he last man. wounded in the war by a rebel bullet was Sergeant Crockett, of the Sixty-second United States Colored Infantry, who received it in his leg in this engagement. He bound up the wound with his handkerchief, and kept on fighting to the end.
2 General Grant's Report, July 22, 1865. In closing that report, General Grant said: “It has been my fortune to see the armies of both the West and the East fight battles, and from what I have seen, I know there is no difference in their fighting qualities. All that it was possible for men to do in battle, they have done. The Western armies commenced their battles in the Mississippi Valley, and received the final surrender of the remnant of the principal army opposed to them, in North Carolina. The armies of the East commenced their battles on the river from which the Army of the Potomac derived its name, and received the final surrender of their old antagonist, at Appomattox Court-House, Virginia. The splendid achievements of each have nation-alized our victories, removed all sectional jealousies (of which we have unfortunately experienced too much), and the cause of crimination and recrimination, that might have followed, had either section failed in its duty. All have a proud record, and all sections can well congratulate themselves and each other, for having done their full share in restoring the supremacy of law over every foot of territory belonging to the United States. Let them hope for perpetual peace and harmony with that enemy whose manhood, however mistaken the cause, drew forth such ‘ herculean deeds of valor.’ ”
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