General Mejia
Arrives
Matamoros:

On September 26, 1864, Gen. Tomas Mejia of the Imperialist army with 2,000 men, arrived at Matamoros, the entire populace turning out in an enthusiastic reception, Brig. Gen. T. F. Drayton, of the Confederate forces, temporarily in command, extending his felicitations.

When Mejia arrived at Matamoros on September 26, 1864, he did not fire a shot, and 200 of Cortina's men crossed to Brownsville where they were well received by the Confederates, then in command. At the time of Mejia's arrival, French and Mexican Imperial troops began to come in from San Fernando 90 miles south of Matamoros and Bagdad at the mouth of the Rio Grande. (Here refer to "Sheridan on the Rio Grande" for disposition of Mejia and the French).

From October to January, 1865, with the exception of a constant guerrilla warfare carried on between the Liberals and Imperials on the Mexican side and the occasional firing from the Texas side upon steamboats en route from Bagdad to Matamoros, affairs on the Texas side remained at a standstill. Enlisted with the Imperialists were many of the Confederates, especially those of the Catholic faith, while the Liberals counted on as many of the Union sympathisers or Federal deserters.

Last Battle
U. S. Civil
War. 1865.

On April 9, 1865, Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate army surrendered at Appomatox. The news did not reach Brownsville until May 18, there being no telegraph wires south of New Orleans.

On May 1, 1865, the total Federal forces in Cameron County, Texas, under Brig. Gen. E. B. Brown, consisted of 1,915, as follows; of the 66th U. S. Colored Infantry, 675; 34th Indiana Infantry, 300; 2nd Texas Cavalry (Union), 250, of whom 50 were unmounted; and of the 46th U. S. Colored Infantry, 490.

On May 11, 1865, by order of Col. Theodore H. Barrett, in command, Lieut. Col. David Branson left Brazos Santiago for Point Isabel with 250 men. A severe gale prevented the little steamer from proceeding to the Point, so the troops returned to Brazos and marched southward along the Brazos beach to Boca Chica, a narrow inlet from the Gulf, about 3 miles north of the mouth of the Rio Grande. Fifty men of the 2nd Texas (Union), not mounted, First Lieut. Hancock and Second Lieut. James, joined them with 50 men and the 300, and at 2 A. M., May 12, surrounded White's Ranch, believing that a Confederate outpost of 65 men were camped there.

The Federal forces hid in a thicket on the banks of the Rio Grande about 11⁄2 miles above White's Ranch until 8:30 a. M., May 12, when Mexican and French soldiers of the Imperial Army on the Mexican shore gave the alarm and warned the Confederates.

The Confederates, 190 men under Capt. W. N. Robinson of Gidding's Battalion, immediately began an attack but were forced to retreat. The Federals captured three prisoners, two horses, four beef cattle, and ten days' rations. That afternoon at 3 o'clock, General Slaughter and Col. John S. (Rip) Ford, with about 600 men commanded by Capt. D. M. Wilson and a section of O. G. Jones' light artillery, arrived on the scene, but very little fighting was done, the Federals retiring to White's Ranch for the night. From White's Ranch, Colonel Branson sent a message to Lieutenant-Colonel Barrett, commanding the post at Brazos Santiago, who at day-break of the thirteenth, with 200 men of the 34th Indiana Volunteer Infantry appeared. The Federals succeeded in getting as far as Palmetto Ranch about 12 miles east of Brownsville, where they dug pits. Afterwards they fell back a mile and a half to a bluff then 11 miles from the mouth of the river but which has long since disappeared.

At four P. M. the Confederates began an active advance and endeavored to get between the hills (a mile back from the river) and the mouth, to flank the Federals. They planted two cannon on Palmetto Hill and with these began the actual battle of the day. The Federals, under Captains Miller and Coffin and Lieutenants Foster and Mead retreated.

At about five o'clock, the 34th Indiana broke and retreated at double time. The Federals lost 7 Enfield rifles and accouterments and some camp and garrison equipage. They also lost four officers and 111 men, 30 of whom were killed and some drowned in attempting to swim the river into Mexico. The Federals in full retreat reached Boca Chica at eight P. M.

On May 28, 1865, Brig. Gen. E. B. Brown started all of his force for Brownsville where he arrived on the morning of May 30, 1865, at day-light. The Confederates had left the day before, General Slaughter having turned their artillery over to the Imperialists at Matamoros. Five hundred bales of cotton were captured by General Brown, but more than twice this number had been crossed to Matamoros immediately preceding his arrival, but after the surrender of Lee. General Slaughter, who was an Imperialist sympathizer, crossed over to Matamoros. Colonel Ford was opposed to moving the artillery out of Texas.

BAGDAD, TAMAULIPAS, MEXICO, was known as a settlement as far back as 1780, when the Spaniards who had settled along the Rio Grande first realized the beneficial effects of its cool saleric atmosphere. Since 1840, it had existed as a customshouse port of first entry for all goods destined to Mexico through Matamoros. But not until the stirring events of the American Civil War and the French Invasion did it derive any importance. During 1862, '63, '64, '65, and '66 it was at its highest mark. As many as 15,000 persons inhabited its sandy townsite, dwelling in houses of every

description and with a conglomerate citizenship. From 200 to 300 vessels ranging in size from a 20-ton schooner to a 2,000-ton steamship were constantly anchored three or four miles from its beach, while hundreds of laborers engaged as lightermen in bringing merchandize across the bar from the Gulf to the harbor in the river, enlivened the town.

Directly across from Bagdad, on the Texas side of the Rio Grande, nestled in the sandhills the little town of Clarksville, another war-time village, but with not more than 500 permanent inhabitants. Sandhills were the predominating feature of Clarksville, while Bagdad, on the Mexican side, consisted of a flat sandy, marshy approach running back from the river to the town about 500 yards.

Through the courtesy of the Mexican officials, the American steamboats plying the Rio Grande were permitted to be hauled out for repairs on this marshy flat, and the American carpenters and workmen were permitted to cross the river at will.

Before Mejia's entry into Matamoros, Cortina, Escobedo and Canales besieged Matamoros and patrolled the entire river front on the Mexican side up to within some six miles of Bagdad, where the French troops were encamped and where the French men-of-war were arriving almost weekly.

During August, 1865, Admiral Bosse, commanding the French squadron, sent to the mouth of the Rio Grande, the ships LE DARIEN, LE COLBERT, and LA DROME, he, in person, afterwards coming on the LA BELLONE. On the twenty-second of August, 1865, the French landed four hundred men and took possession of Bagdad, under Commander Veron. The Admiral believed that his force was insufficient to take Matamoros from Cortina who was there with 400 infantry, 500 cavalry, and 12 cannon; and as he was without information as to Mejia, concluded merely to blockade the mouth of the river and force back up the river some smaller

vessels of the enemy which were tied along the banks to the mouth.

Admiral Dupin on August 12, 1865, moved from Tampico towards Victoria. He had hung five Republican (liberal) guerrillas to the lamp posts at Tampico, and three at Victoria, Mexico. He remained at Victoria a short time and then moved towards Matamoros but got no further than San Fernando from whence he retraced his march to Victoria. Dupin was named as provisional Governor of Tamaulipas at Victoria, Mexico, and while there, caused all the records pertaining to the State archive to be destroyed.

In the latter part of December, 1865, Admiral de la Bedoliere (in 1913 ranking admiral in the French Navy) arrived off Bagdad in the warship "TISIPHONE," bringing ammunitions, arms, food, and French reënforcements.

About August, 1865, the Imperialists purchased two river packets, the Antonia and the Eujenia for use between Matamoros and the mouth of the river. These boats were fired on from the American side on several occasions by Mexicans and Americans in sympathy with the Liberal cause. One of these occasions was on November 7, 1865, when at a place on the Mexican side of the river, called Ranchita, about 16 miles east of Matamoros, the Antonia, Anderson commanding, having aboard a detachment of French Marines and a battery of artillery, was fired on by Liberals on the Mexican side. These attackers were dispersed by a well-directed fire which dismounted one of the Liberal's guns.

However, at a point seven miles east of Matamoros the Antonia run aground. Americans and Mexicans from the Texas side began a fierce fire upon her wounding two of the Marines, one seriously. The Eujenia rushed to her rescue and soon brought her to the boat landing on the Mexican side, about a half mile south from the Fort Brown flag-staff.