DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Battle of Galveston — and friend, it is some kind of story. October 4, 1862. Commander W.
B. Renshaw sails his fleet right into Galveston harbor and demands the city surrender. Now Galveston was the most important port in Texas, but here's the thing — it was largely unguarded.
The Confederate commanders had looked at the place and decided it simply couldn't be defended. So after an exchange of gunfire, the city gave it up. Just like that, one of the crown jewels of Texas falls into Union hands.
Enter Major General J. B. Magruder.
He's placed in charge of Confederate forces in Texas after that loss, and he is not the kind of man who shrugs and moves on. He quickly organizes a plan for the island's recapture, and this is where the story gets good. Magruder needed a navy.
He didn't have one. So he improvised. He took two steamers, lined their hulls with cotton bales, and put cavalry soldiers on them as fighting men.
Cotton-clad steamboats crewed by horsemen. You can't make that up — and I didn't, the marker did. He sent foot soldiers into Galveston under the cover of darkness in the early morning hours of January 1, 1863.
New Year's Day. The ground forces pushed toward the wharf but couldn't seize it. Even so, they managed to engage some of the Union ships right there on shore, and that kept Union eyes pointed the wrong direction.
Because coming in from behind — the makeshift Confederate fleet was moving. The rebel steamer Neptune was sunk in shallow water. That's the cost of fighting with improvised boats.
But the Bayou City — she boarded the Federal gunboat Harriet Lane. Boarding actions, hand to hand, on the water. Then came the moment that sealed the whole thing.
Renshaw's own flagship, the Westfield, was destroyed in an explosion. It killed Commander Renshaw himself and several of his crewmen. The man who had sailed in and demanded Galveston's surrender four months earlier was gone.
The remaining Union ships didn't wait around to see what happened next. Despite demands for their surrender, they fled Galveston Bay. Galveston stayed under Confederate control from that January morning all the way through the duration of the war.
A port the Confederacy had already written off, taken back by cotton-armored steamboats and cavalry who'd never been to sea. Sometimes the most important battles are the ones where somebody refuses to accept the first answer they were given.
What the marker says
As part of the Union blockade of the Texas coast, Commander W. B. Renshaw led his small fleet into Galveston harbor to demand the surrender of this most important Texas port on October 4, 1862. Largely unguarded, as it was considered indefensible, the city surrendered after an exchange of gunfire. Major General J. B. Magruder was placed in charge of the Confederate forces in Texas after the loss of Galveston. He quickly organized a plan for the island's recapture. Improvising a navy, he refitted two steamers as gunboats by lining their hulls with cotton and manning them with cavalry. Foot soldiers were sent into Galveston in the darkness of early morning on January 1, 1863. Though the ground forces failed to seize the wharf, they engaged some of the Union ships as the makeshift Confederate fleet surprised the Union navy from behind. The rebel ship "Neptune" was sunk in shallow water. The Federal "Harriet Lane" was boarded by the steamer "Bayou City." Renshaw's flagship, the "Westfield," was destroyed in an explosion that killed the commander and several crewmen. Remaining Union ships fled Galveston Bay despite demands for surrender. Galveston remained under Confederate control for the duration of the war. (1998)