Edward Alfred Pollard, The lost cause; a new Southern history of the War of the Confederates ... Drawn from official sources and approved by the most distinguished Confederate leaders.

Gen. Magruder, who had been appointed to the command of the Con federate forces in Texas, found the harbours of this coast in the possession of the enemy from the Sabine River to Corpus Christi, and the line of the Rio Grande virtually abandoned. He resolved to regain the harbours, if possible, and to occupy the Valley of the Rio Grande in force. The first step of his enterprise contemplated the expulsion of the enemy's vessels from the harbour of Galveston, and the re-possession of that town. Having assembled all the moveable artillery that could be collected in the neighbourhood, he occupied in force the works erected opposite the island on which the town of Galveston stands, and commanding the railway bridge which connects it with the mainland. He also fitted up as gunboats two steamers, the Bayou City and the Neptune, making them shot-proof, by means of bulwarks of cotton bales. The enemy's fleet, then lying in the waters of Galveston, consisted of the Harriet Lane, carrying four heavy guns, and two 24-pounder howitzers, commanded by Capt. Wainwright; the Westfield, flag-ship of Commodore Renshaw; a large propeller, mounting eight heavy guns; the Owasco, a similar ship to the Westfield, mounting eight heavy guns; the Clifton, a steam propeller, four heavy guns; the Sachem, a steam propeller, four heavy guns; two armed transports; two large barques; and an armed schooner.

The enemy's land forces — a few hundred men — were stationed at the end of a long wharf, and were crowded into large buildings immediately under the guns of the steamships. The approaches landward to this position were impeded by two lines of strong barricades, and communication with the shore was destroyed by the removal of portions of the wharf in front of the barricades. It thus became necessary for storming parties to advance by wading through the water, and to mount on the end of the wharf by scaling ladders.

It was arranged by Gen. Magruder that the naval and military operations should be simultaneous, and should commence before daybreak on the 1st January, 1863. The co-operation of the cotton-boats with the land forces was extremely difficult to obtain — the distance the former had to run being thirty miles. The attack was opened a little past midnight by a shot from our land batteries. The moon had gone down, but the Federal ships were still visible by the light of the stars. Leading the centre assault, Gen. Magruder approached to within two squares of the wharves, where the enemy's land forces were stationed, and where he was within three hundred yards of the enemy's formidable fleet. While Magruder engaged the vessels with artillery, the storming party advanced to the assault; the men wading through the water, and bearing with them their scaling ladders with which they endeavoured to reach the end of the wharf