Lone Star by T.R. Fehrenbach

Author:T.R. Fehrenbach
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: E-Reads
Published: 1967-12-31T22:00:00+00:00

Texans were intransigent in defending states' rights against the Confederacy; they were strikingly not a problem-oriented breed, who would willingly sacrifice individual freedoms in furtherance of a common goal. This was perhaps the most dominant frontier characteristic in America. But Texas was even more stubborn in defending its own soil. No Federal forces ever penetrated deeply into the state. In fact, Texans carried their own war to the

West.

In 1861, Col. John R. Baylor was entrusted with the defense of the frontier that ran roughly from Fort Worth to the Nueces south of San Antonio and faced Mexico along the Rio Grande. Baylor's soldiers occupied the old U.S. Army posts west of the 98th meridian, the Comanche frontier, and manned the other posts that guarded the route of communications from San Antonio to El Paso. But Baylor was not content to sit out the war fighting Indians. He planned to march west.

On August 1, 1861, Colonel Baylor issued a proclamation establishing the Confederate Territory of Arizona, comprising the former U.S. Territory of New Mexico south of the 43rd parallel. He was declared governor.

To make the proclamation stick, Baylor's regiment rode west. They reached Tucson; the Federal forces were in disorder and fell back. Baylor established a constitutional government in which all posts were held by Texans. There is no evidence that the native Mexican and Indian residents of Arizona paid much attention.

The East–West Butterfield stage route was now firmly in Texan hands from San Antonio to Arizona, but there were strong Federal forces in northern New Mexico. Three regiments of Texas troops, under General H. H. Sibley, moved against these. Sibley scored an early victory at Valverde on February 2, 1862. Now, the Stars and Bars fluttered over Albuquerque and Sante Fe.

The old dream of expanding Texas westward to the limits of the Rio Grande had come true at last.

But Sibley faced the same problems the Texas expedition of 1841 had faced; he was separated from his Texas bases by more than a thousand miles of desert and Indian country. His troops were low on supply. Meanwhile, the Federals mounted a strong effort out of California. Sibley gallantly now presided over a series of Texan disasters, in which the Confederate forces were seriously mauled. Sibley was pushed south, until in the spring of 1862 he had vacated the Confederate Territory of Arizona. As he fell back, the officers of the provisional government packed and departed with him.

The long march back to San Antonio was a horror. Only remnants of the three regiments arrived. In this way died the last Texan dream of driving to the western sea.

The Baylor-Sibley expedition had long-term disastrous results. The Federal forces, now firmly gripping Arizona and New Mexico, made no attempt to invade Texas from the west. But the regiments originally planned to hold the Indian frontier were uselessly dissipated. McCord's State Frontier Regiment was neither disciplined nor effective, and the local county militia or posses were almost useless in the far west.

In the next two years, the Anglo-American frontier recoiled eastward two hundred miles.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.