Throughout the early mobilization period Texans were anxiously observing the invasion of New Mexico by Lieutenant Colonel John R. Baylor and three hundred men of the Second Texas Rifles. As the summer of 1861 passed, the Baylor force pushed scattered Federal defenders northward along the upper Rio Grande.[31] Despite this early success, the Texas commander made it clear to leaders of the South that he would need many more soldiers to hold these gains. Southern control of the Arizona-New Mexico territory would increase the Confederate land area, it would give the new government access to rich minerals and poorly guarded Union supply dumps, it would secure western Texas from invasion, and it would give the South ownership of the Old Santa Fe Trail gateway to the Far West.[32]
To strengthen Baylor’s position, Brigadier General Henry H. Sibley organized three regiments in San Antonio and proceeded to Fort Bliss in December, 1861. In the meanwhile, a deeply concerned Union War Department rushed forces from California and Colorado to bolster sagging Federal defenses in upper New Mexico. Sibley cut his way to Albuquerque and Santa Fe before these Union relief columns could arrive on the scene. During the battle at Apache Canyon, a United States detachment destroyed the Confederates’ supply train. This disaster plus the intelligence the Federal relief columns were converging on him from two directions caused Sibley to order a withdrawal to southern New Mexico.[33]
This retreat quickly degenerated into a rout, however, as the sick, hungry, and hard-pressed Texans straggled towards El Paso. In all, General Sibley lost over half of his 3,000 men in the withdrawal that ended only after the Union had seized the western tip of Texas. The United States kept patrols and small garrisons in the Davis Mountain region of the state and in El Paso throughout the remaining years of the war.[34]
Union successes in Arkansas in March of 1862 again reminded Texans of the dangers they faced from invasions through that state. The Federal victory at Pea Ridge, where Confederate Brigadier General Ben McCulloch of Texas was killed, opened the way for United States troops to advance on Fayetteville.
To neutralize this threat, Governor Lubbock had several state regiments shifted to Tyler where they could act as guard forces to blunt Union thrusts.[35] Yet, as this precaution was being taken, the sudden fall of New Orleans and ever increasing United States naval activities in the Gulf caused Texans again to cast anxious eyes on their vulnerable coastline. In May, Galveston was partially abandoned under the threat of Union gunboat bombardment that never materialized.[36] Several months later Corpus Christi withstood a four day shelling by three Federal ships.[37]
October saw an overpowering flotilla of eight enemy craft secure the surrender of Galveston Island. With the loss of Galveston, Governor Lubbock sealed off the entire bay area and called for 5,000 volunteers to defend the main coastline. In issuing this call, Lubbock declared that “The crisis of the war seems to be at hand in Texas, and we must prepare to defend our homes, or be driven from them with insult and degradation, and all the horrors of rapine and violence.”[38]
Some five hundred Massachusetts soldiers occupied Galveston while Union Major General N. P. Banks ordered several strong regiments to be transferred from Louisiana to this Texas toe-hold.[39] Before these reinforcements could embark for Galveston, however, Major General John B. Magruder, recently named commander of the Confederate Military District of Texas, instituted a lightening stroke to regain the island for the South. He called for volunteers from Sibley’s veterans and a number of militia companies to mass at Virginia Point. Then in the early hours of January 1, 1863, two converted gunboats, the Neptune and the Bayou City, attacked the United States fleet while Magruder, whose men had crept across the railroad bridge, attacked the Galveston wharves. Within a matter of minutes the attack ended in marked success. The Texans took three Federal ships and over three hundred and fifty prisoners. Galveston was once more under the Stars and Bars.[40]
In various actions during the first two years of the war, Texans took a number of prisoners of war. These men had to be held in custody until arrangements could be made for their exchange. Some of the prisoners were kept in “prison canyon” near Camp Verde in Kerr County. There was a pit-like gully where Union soldiers were allowed to build shacks and to get adequate exercise with little risk of escape. At one time this crude system held six hundred inmates.[41]
A much larger and better equipped prison was Camp Groce, near Hempstead. Prisoners were housed in four long rows of rough barracks that were described as “enclosed cowsheds.” Because of open country to the north and much military patrol activity to the south, few prisoners attempted to escape from Camp Groce.[42]
The largest prison in the state was Camp Ford, four miles northeast of Tyler. Eventually it consisted of ten acres enclosed by a stockade of eighteen foot logs. Prisoners made dugout shelters on a hillside and roofed these “shebangs” with split logs. About 5,000 men were held in confinement there when the prison was operating at maximum capacity.[43]