Battle Of Galveston Quotes

Civilized society owes much more to madams than it realizes. Tales of how the West was won do not mention that conquering the uncivilized terrain was a losing battle until a few fearless and shrewd women stepped in. Before madams arrived on the scene, most “towns” were merely work camps full of men with nowhere to spend their money. The money that madams made from their conveniently captive audience they invested into general stores, clothing shops, hotels and schools; they even bought entire towns. A spattering of tent cities was now on its way to becoming a network of legitimate municipalities.

The cannibalistic Karankawa Indians occupied the Island at least as far back as 1400. Cabeza de Vaca, La Salle, and Jean Lafitte all visited it before Texas was a republic. The Battle of Galveston wasn’t the greatest sea battle of the Civil War, but it was one of the most poignant.

DURING WHAT came to be known as the Texas Revolution, Galveston Island was the capital, and nearly the final retreat for General Sam Houston and his ragtag army. Except for a decisive battle across the bay, on the banks of the San Jacinto River, Galveston might have gone down in history as the second Alamo, and Texas might be part of Mexico.

Most of the other ships in the U.S. fleet had retreated out to sea, but the USS Westfield had run aground. While another officer negotiated a truce with CSA forces, Captain Renshaw decided to blow up the Westfield rather than surrender it to the enemy. The U.S. commander and some of his men laid a trail of gunpowder leading to the ship’s magazine, lighted it, and took to the lifeboats. But something went wrong. The Westfield didn’t immediately explode. Renshaw went back to check the fuse, at which point the ship blew to bits, killing Renshaw and fourteen of his men. When word of Renshaw’s death reached the fleet, Renshaw’s second-in-command ordered it to set sail for New Orleans. The federal troops on Kuhn’s Wharf, abandoned though not defeated, had no choice except to surrender. The Confederates had captured six ships, sunk one, run another aground, and taken nearly 400 prisoners. They had lost 143 men, killed or wounded, and one ship, but they had won the Battle of Galveston and secured the Island, for whatever it was worth.