Battle of Brownsville - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Battle of Brownsville took place on November 2-6, 1863 during the American Civil War. It was a successful effort on behalf of the Union Army to disrupt Confederate blockade runners along the Gulf Coast in Texas. The Union assault precipitated the capture of Matamoros

Matamoros, Tamaulipas

Matamoros, officially known as Heroica Matamoros, is a city in the northeastern part of Tamaulipas, in the country of Mexico. It is located on the southern bank of the Rio Grande, directly across the border from Brownsville, Texas, in the United States. Matamoros is the second largest and second...

by a force of Mexican patriots, led by exiled officers living in Brownsville.

Background

During the first half of the war, the Union Navy had successfully blockaded many Southern ports along the Gulf Coast. Cotton trade was a major economic asset for Texas and the whole Confederacy. Initially cotton was transported to Brazos Santiago Pass

Brazos Island

Brazos Island is a barrier island on the Gulf Coast of Texas in the United States, south of the town of South Padre Island.-History:The island is also known as Brazos Santiago Island, a reference to the port of Brazos Santiago, the first Spanish settlement on the island. Later it became the Port...

at the delta of the Rio Grande

Rio Grande

The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...

and exported from Port Isabel. Union forces captured this port and trade was moved inland to Brownsville. From Brownsville goods were transported across the border to Matamoros

Matamoros, Tamaulipas

and from there to neutral ports along the Mexican coast.

The U.S. government was also anxious to show Union presence along the Mexican border since the French army had just invaded Mexico and installed Maximillian

Maximilian I of Mexico

Maximilian I was the only monarch of the Second Mexican Empire.After a distinguished career in the Austrian Navy, he was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico on April 10, 1864, with the backing of Napoleon III of France and a group of Mexican monarchists who sought to revive the Mexican monarchy...

as emperor. Following the Union debacle at the second Battle of Sabine Pass

Second Battle of Sabine Pass

The Second Battle of Sabine Pass took place on September 8, 1863, and was the result of a Union expedition into Confederate-controlled Texas during the American Civil War...

, the U.S. government demanded General Nathaniel P. Banks, commanding the Department of the Gulf, to make another attempt at invading Texas.

Battle

Nathaniel Banks assembled 6,000 soldiers from three brigades from Napoleon J. T. Dana's XIII Corps. The Confederate forces in the area were commanded by General Hamilton P. Bee

Hamilton P. Bee

Hamilton Prioleau Bee was an American politician in early Texas who served one term as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives and later was a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War....

. Bee’s forces consisted of a mere 4 companies from the 33rd Texas Cavalry under Colonel James Duff and another 2 companies of 3 month volunteers. All other Confederates along the coast had been called elsewhere in the wake of the Union attack at Sabine Pass. The total Confederate force amounted to roughly 150 men stationed at Fort Brown

Fort Brown

Fort Brown was a military post of the United States Army in Texas during the later half of 19th century and the early part of the 20th century.-Early years:...

. One company of volunteers under Captain Adrian I. Vidal defected, killing a private and wounding another from the 33rd Texas.

Banks landed the expedition at the mouth of the Rio Grande on November 2, 1863. Bee dispatched two companies of his cavalry to observe and report on the Union landing. Company A under Captain Richard Taylor arrived at the mouth of the Rio Grande while company F under Captain Henry Davis arrived at Point Isabel further north. On November 2 Captain Taylor informed General Bee the Union forces had landed cavalry while Bee made preparatory orders for the evacuation of Brownsville. Colonel William M. Dye's brigade led the Union advance. After chasing off Taylor's Confederate cavalry Dye's men entered the Brownsville around 10:00am on November 6, 1863. General Bee quickly ordered the evacuation of the city and abandoned Fort Brown. He personally supervised the burning of what military supplies and cotton he could. Inside the fort was 8,000 pounds of condemned explosives which caused a great explosion much to the terror of the local citizens.

The Confederates' destruction spread into the city while the soldiers resorted to looting prompting the local citizens into a degree of opposition. A local resident by the name of General José Maria Cobos was a Mexican general and refugee living in exile due to the recent French invasion. General Cobos received permission from the civilian authorities in Brownsville to organize a force to resist the looters and subdue the fires started by the Confederate evacuation.

Around noon General Banks personally arrived in the city and by 4:00pm the remaining Union forces arrived. Colonel Dye was put in command of the post and the Union army encamped in the city, the army barracks at Fort Brown having been destroyed. The Union forces also captured a large supply of cotton left behind by the Confederates.

Aftermath

The loss of Brownsville significantly disrupted Confederate cotton trade. The new trade route into Mexico lay roughly 300 miles northwest. Brownsville provided a base for further Union operations against Mustang Island and Fort Esperanza up the Texas coast. General Cobos took his vigilante force across the border and seized control of Matamoros. There he continued to be of concern to General Banks.

Confederate forces made an attempt to recapture Brownsville in 1864. Colonel John S. “Rip” Ford assembled a large force of cavalry. On July 30, 1864 Ford found the new Union commander, Francis J. Herron

Francis J. Herron

Francis Jay Herron , was a Union general during the American Civil War.-Biography:Francis J. Herron attended the Western University of Pennsylvania, but left at the age of sixteen without completing his degree to become a bank clerk. In 1855, he joined his three brothers in Dubuque, Iowa, where...

, had already abandoned Brownsville and the Confederates were able to reoccupy the city.

Union Department of the Gulf
Army of the Gulf
The Army of the Gulf was a Union army that served in the general area of the Gulf states controlled by Union forces. It mainly saw action in Louisiana and Alabama.-History:...

Maj Gen Nathaniel P. Banks

XIII Corps

Maj Gen Napoleon J. T. Dana

Division	Brigade	Regiments and Others
First Division BG Cadwallader C. Washburn Cadwallader C. Washburn Cadwallader Colden Washburn was an American businessman, politician, and soldier noted for founding what would later become General Mills and working in government for Wisconsin. He was born in Livermore, Maine, one of seven brothers that included Israel Washburn, Jr., Elihu B. Washburne, William D...	1st Brigade Col Henry D. Washburn Henry D. Washburn Henry Dana Washburn was a U.S. Representative from Indiana and a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Biography:...	8th Indiana Infantry – Maj Kennedy 18th Indiana Infantry – Ltc Charles 33rd Illinois Infantry – Col Lippencott 99th Illinois Infantry – Col Bailey 7th Battery, Michigan Light Artillery – Lt Stillman
	2nd Brigade (attached to 1st Brigade)	23rd Iowa Infantry - Col Glasgow
Second Division MG Napoleon J. T. Dana	1st Brigade BG William Vandever	37th Illinois Infantry – Col John Charles Black 91st Illinois Infantry – Col Henry M. Day 26th Indiana Infantry – Col John G. Clark 34th Iowa Infantry – Col George W. Clark 38th Iowa Infantry – Maj Charles Chadwick Batteries E, 1st Missouri Artillery – Cpt Joseph B. Atwater Batteries F, 1st Missouri Artillery – Cpt Joseph B. Atwater
	2nd Brigade Col William M. Dye	13th Maine Infantry - Ltc Frank Hesseltine 19th Iowa Infantry - Maj John Bruce 20th Iowa Infantry - Maj William Thompson 20th Wisconsin Infantry - Col Henry Bertram Henry Bertram Henry Bertram was a Prussian immigrant to the United States who was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He served in the Trans-Mississippi and Western Theaters.... 94th Illinois Infantry - Col John McNulta Battery B, 1st Missouri Artillery - Cpt Martin Welfey
	Attached	15th Maine – Ltc Benjamin Murray, Jr. 1st Engineers, Corps D’Afrique – Col John Hodge 16th Infantry, Corps D’Afrique – Col Matthew Kempsey 1st Texas Cavalry – Col Edmund J. Davis Edmund J. Davis Edmund Jackson Davis was an American lawyer, soldier, and politician. He was a Southern Unionist and served as a Union general in the American Civil War, besides serving one term as the 14th Governor of Texas.-Early years:... Pioneer Company – Cpt Alden H. Jumper

Confederate District of Texas, New Mexico & Arizona

Maj Gen John B. Magruder

John B. Magruder

John Bankhead Magruder was a career military officer who served in the armies of three nations. He was a U.S. Army officer in the Mexican-American War, a Confederate general during the American Civil War, and a postbellum general in the Imperial Mexican Army...

1st Division - Brigadier General Hamilton P. Bee