David Nugent
The grave marker for Pvt. John J. Williams
Contrary to popular belief, the Civil War did not end on April 9, 1865, when Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox, Virginia. There were other Confederate armies in the field, as well, and the war did not close until the last of them laid down their arms. These final surrenders worked their way from east to west, with Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith’s army, headquartered at Shreveport, being the last major rebel force to give up.
Some of Kirby Smith’s units operated in south Texas near Brownsville. The opposing forces in this remote backwater area realized their fighting would not change the war’s outcome and had agreed to an informal truce in March 1865.
The Confederates there learned of Lee’s surrender on May 1, supposedly when a passenger on a passing vessel tossed them a newspaper. This news would seem to confirm the wisdom of a truce, but everything changed when Col. Theodore H. Barrett assumed command of the Union garrison on Brazos Santiago Island at the mouth of the Rio Grande.
Barrett led a brigade that included the 62nd and 87th U.S. Colored Troops, 2nd Texas Cavalry (Union) and the 34th Indiana. In all, Barrett had about 1,700 men under his command.
In May, the thirty-year-old Barrett unilaterally decided to violate the truce, although it is not clear as to why. Some say the untested officer wanted to win some military fame before the war ended, while others believed he was trying to capture horses or cotton from the enemy. Whatever the reason, Barrett decided to attack the rebels.
Before daylight on May 12, Barrett assembled 800 men from the 62nd U.S. Colored Troops and part of the 2nd Texas Cavalry (Union). Crossing over to the mainland, he attacked the Confederates at Palmito Ranch, located on the Rio Grande about twelve miles from Brownsville.
Facing little opposition, the federals managed to capture three prisoners and some supplies but retreated when they, in turn, were attacked by about one hundred Confederate cavalrymen. Both sides then settled in for the night and called for reinforcements. Barrett sent about 300 men from the 34th Indiana to help, while Col. John S. “Rip” Ford arrived to take command of the Confederates.
Ford was a legend among the Texans, having served as a Texas Ranger and Indian fighter, fought in the Mexican War and worked as a doctor and newspaper publisher. He was also a politician who had served in the congress and senate of the Republic of Texas and as mayor of Brownsville. Ford earned his nickname “Rip” during the Mexican War when he added “Rest in Peace” next to the names of his men who were killed in battle.
Ford only had about 300 cavalrymen and six cannons. The latter may have been provided by the French army that was occupying parts of Mexico at the time.
On the afternoon of May 13, Ford attacked, and the Union line collapsed. As the men fell back in confusion, the 34th Indiana and a few other troops tried to hold back the victorious rebels so their comrades could escape. Witnesses claimed that French soldiers across the Rio Grande also fired on the Yankees as they retreated back to Brazos Santiago Island.
This last documented battle of the Civil War was a Confederate victory, with Barrett losing more than one hundred men to Ford’s six. Thirteen days later, Ford disbanded his cavalrymen, and Kirby Smith surrendered his army on June 2. Rather than surrender, Rip Ford led a few Confederates across the Rio Grande to live in Mexico, but Ford later returned.
I am familiar with the Battle of Palmito Ranch, but David Nugent brought to my attention a little-known trivial detail about the Civil War’s last battle. Like me, Nugent has wanderlust, and likes to visit historical sites. Recently, he went to the Alexandria National Cemetery in Pineville and discovered the grave marker for Pvt. John J. Williams of Company B, 34th Indiana.
Williams was among the skirmishers who remained behind at Palmito Ranch to hold off the pursuing rebels. Shot in the battle’s waning moments, he is generally recognized as being the last man killed in the Civil War.
Born in 1843 in Jay County, Indiana, Williams joined the 34th Indiana in September 1863. For the next twenty months, he drilled and served on garrison duty, for a time in New Orleans. The fight at Palmito Ranch was Williams’ first and only combat experience.
After the war, the federal government disinterred thousands of dead Union soldiers from countless battlefields across the nation and reburied them in a number of newly created national cemeteries. The Alexandria National Cemetery was established in 1867, and Williams’ body was taken there. Although his remains were disinterred again in 1897 or 1898 and moved to the Jay County Infirmary Cemetery in Indiana, his headstone is still in Pineville, Louisiana.
Dr. Terry L. Jones is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. An autographed copy of “Louisiana Pastimes,” a collection of the author’s stories, costs $25. Contact him at tljones505@gmail.com.
