Raphael Semmes, Memoirs of Service Afloat During the War Between the States

[541] continued fine throughout our run, and on the 11th at noon— having been delayed a day by a calm—we observed in latitude 28° 51′ 45″, and longitude 94° 55′, being just thirty miles from Galveston. I now laid my ship's head for the Galveston light-house, and stood in, intending to get a distant sight of the Banks' fleet before nightfall, and then haul off, and await the approach of night, before I ran in, and made the assault.

I instructed the man at the mast-head, to keep a very bright look-out, and told him what to look out for, viz., an immense fleet anchored off a light-house. The wind was light, and the afternoon was pretty well spent before there was any sign from the mast-head. The look-out at length cried, ‘Land ho! sail ho!’ in quick succession, and I already began to make sure of my game. But the look-out, upon being questioned, said he did not see any fleet of transports, but only five steamers which looked like ships of war. Here was a damper! What could have become of Banks, and his great expedition, and what was this squadron of steam ships-of-war doing here? Presently a shell, thrown by one of the steamers, was seen to burst over the city. ‘Ah, ha!’ exclaimed I, to the officer of the deck who was standing by me, ‘there has been a change of programme here. The enemy would not be firing into his own people, and we must have recaptured Galveston, since our last advices.’ ‘So it would seem,’ replied the officer. And so it turned out. In the interval between our leaving the West Indies, and arriving off Galveston, this city had been retaken by General Magruder, assisted by a gallant seaman of the merchant service, Captain Leon Smith. Smith, with a couple of small river steamers, protected by cotton bags, and having a number of sharpshooters on board, assaulted and captured, or drove to sea the enemy's entire fleet, consisting of several heavily armed steamships.

The recapture of this place from the enemy changed the destination of the Banks' expedition. It rendezvoused at New Orleans, whence General Banks, afterward, attempted the invasion of Texas by the valley of the Red River. He was here met by General Dick Taylor, who, with a much inferior force, demolished him, giving him such a scare, that it was with difficulty Porter could stop him at Alexandria, to assist him in the