Galveston was a Civil War engagement fought in Texas, 1863. It was a Confederate victory.
Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder, who became the Confederate commander of military forces in Texas on November 29, 1862, gave the recapture of Galveston top priority. At 3:00 am on New Year's Day, 1863, four Confederate gunboats appeared, coming down the bay toward Galveston. Soon afterward, the Rebels commenced a land attack. The Union forces in Galveston were three companies of the 42nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment under the command of Col. Isaac S. Burrell. The Confederates captured or killed all of them except for the regiment's adjutant. They also took Harriet Lane, by boarding her, and two barks and a schooner. Cdr. W.B. Renshaw's flagship, U.S.S. Westfield, ran aground when trying to help Harriet Lane and, at 10:00 am, she was blown up to prevent her capture by the Confederates. Galveston was in Confederate hands again although the Union blockade would limit commerce in and out of the harbor.
Combining ships and soldiers, the fight at Galveston unfolded during the American Civil War on January 1, 1863, as Confederate forces led by Major Gen. John B. Magruder drove the occupying Union garrison out of the Texas city.
Once the cutter Harriet Lane had been lost, Union Fleet Commander William B. Renshaw destroyed the grounded USS Westfield by explosion rather than let it be captured. This action was misread by Union soldiers stationed on land, who believed it signaled surrender and consequently set down their weapons.
Because an earlier clash, the Battle of Galveston Harbor in October 1862, is at times referred to as the First Battle of Galveston, this later engagement is occasionally known as the Second Battle of Galveston.
Leon Smith led two Confederate cottonclads, the CS Bayou City and the CS Neptune, out of Houston toward Galveston, hoping to challenge the Union ships anchored there. That fleet included the Clifton, the Harriet Lane, the Westfield, the Owasco, the Corypheus, and the Sachem, giving the Union side a six-to-two advantage in vessels. The Neptune took heavy fire and went down before long, while the Bayou City managed a notable feat, taking the Harriet Lane as a prize.
Amid this fighting, the Westfield ran aground on a sandbar. Both sides paused hostilities under a brief truce, and even with their smaller numbers, the Confederates sent an officer forward to discuss terms for a Union surrender. They proposed that every Union vessel present give up, with the exception of one ship that would be free to depart the harbor carrying the crews from the rest. William B. Renshaw, commanding the Union fleet, turned down this proposal and chose instead to blow up the stranded Westfield so it could not be seized by the enemy.
The charges detonated ahead of schedule, killing Renshaw along with a number of his men. Watching from shore, Union soldiers mistakenly believed their fleet was giving up and put down their weapons in response. The other Union ships never surrendered, however, and managed to withdraw safely to New Orleans, which remained in Union hands.
This page covers Galveston. A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside historic sites, land records, and everything else the record holds within a few miles:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
The account on this page is written by Aubrey Research from cited sources. Wikipedia is cited as a reference; its text is not reproduced.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in the US, drawing on NRHP records, battlefield archives, census history and geological data to tell the full story of a place.