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of the
President, and of treason, where he remained a long time, treated with the greatest kindness and consideration, and was finally admitted
to bail, and went to
Europe with his family and has never been brought to trial.
Notwithstanding the downfall of the civil and military power of the
Confederates eastward of the
Mississippi, the
Rebels west of it, under the command and the influence of
General E. Kirby Smith, were disposed to continue the contest longer.
That leader issued a
general order, containing an address to his soldiers, on the 21st of April, in which, after saying, “Great disasters have overtaken us; the Army of Northern Virginia and our commander-in-chief, are prisoners of war,” he told them that upon their action depended the hopes of the
Confederacy--“the hopes of the nation” --and he exhorted them to fight on in the defense of all that was dear.
“You possess the means of long resistance,” he said; “you have hopes of succor from abroad.
Protract the struggle, and you will surely receive the aid of nations who already deeply sympathize with you.”
He entreated them to stand by their colors, and assured them of final success.
Public meetings were held in
Texas, and resolutions to continue the contest were adopted.
To meet this danger,
General Sheridan was sent to New Orleans with a large force, and made vigorous preparations for a campaign in
Texas.
In the mean time, there had been collisions between the hostile forces on the borders of the
Rio Grande.
Colonel Theodore H. Barrett, of the Sixty-second United States Colored Infantry, was in command of the
National forces at
Brazos Santiago, in Texas, and on the evening of the 11th of May,
he sent about three hundred men, composed of two hundred and fifty of his own regiment and fifty of the Second Texas Cavalry, not mounted, to the main-land, under
Lieutenant-Colonel Branson, to attack some Confederates on the
Rio Grande.
The principal object of the Nationals was to procure horses for mounting the cavalry.
They marched all night, and early the next morning attacked and drove the foe at Palmetto Ranche, and seized their camp and its contents, with some horses and cattle, and a number of men made prisoners.
Bronson fell back, and on the morning of the 13th,
he was joined by
Lieutenant-Colonel Mor rison, with about two hundred men of the Thirty-fourth Indiana, veterans, when
Colonel Barrett assumed command, in person, and ordered an advance in the direction of Palmetto Ranche, where the
Confederates were again in considerable force.
These were again driven off, and stores not destroyed before, were now consumed, and the buildings burned.
Nearly all the forenoon was spent in skirmishing, and early in the afternoon a slight engagement took place, but without much effect.
By a, vigorous charge, the
Confederates were driven several miles.
Colonel Barrett relinquished the pursuit for the purpose of resting his men, on a hill about a mile from Palmetto Ranche.
There, at about four o'clock, he was assailed in front by a large body of Confederates, infantry
