This research guide provides guidance for students who wish to learn more about the Battle of Palmito Ranch (also known as Palmito Hill, Palmetto Hill), the final battle of the U.S. Civil War. Resources from our collections include links to digital collections and books from our library catalog. Links to external resources of interest, including information on historical figures, are also included.
On May 12, 1865, weeks after other major Confederate armies surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia and Bennett Place, North Carolina, forces of the United States of America and the Confederate States of America clashed on the coastal plains east of Brownsville, Texas. The series of violent skirmishes endured for two days, over twelve miles of prairie. When the engagement ended on the afternoon of May 13, with a decisive rout of Federal troops, the Confederacy had prevailed in the last battle of the American Civil War. Learn more from CHAPS Civil War Trail.
Located on the south Texas border region known as the Rio Grande Valley, this trail traverses a five-county region along the Rio Grande [river] between Brownsville and Laredo with a few sites inland where applicable. During the Civil War, the Rio Grande served as a significant point of contention as skirmishes between both Union and Confederate forces erupted along the border between the military forts of Fort McIntosh in Laredo, Ringgold Barracks in Rio Grande City and Fort Brown in Brownsville. It is an important facet of American History that the last land battle of the Civil War was fought along the Mexican border at Palmito Ranch near Brownsville, Texas.
Explore the rich historical heritage of the Rio Grande Valley. The series includes articles written by scholars from a variety of institutions across the United States and Northern Mexico.
"The Ghosts of Historic Palmito Hill Ranch," by Antonio N. Zavaleta
Historical Landmarks of Brownsville Part 4 (2004)
This collection contains photographs of artifacts found at Fort Brown and Palmito Hill Battlefield, including Civil War-era hardware and ammunition. Sponsored by Texas State Library, Train to Share, UTB/TSC, and Manuel Hinojosa.
This collection contains photographs of historical artifacts on display at museums in Port Isabel, including some dating to the Civil War.
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Colonel "Rip" FordMay 26, 1815 – November 3, 1897 See also Rebellious ranger: Rip Ford and the old Southwest, by W.J. Hughes (1964). |
Rip Ford's Texas by |
Image Credit: Corbis via Getty Images/Historical |
John Jefferson Williams(1843 - 1865) John Jefferson Williams was a Union soldier and private in Company B the 34th Regiment Indiana Infantry. He was killed at the Battle of Palmito Ranch, the last land battle of the Civil War, and is generally recognized as the last soldier killed in the American Civil War. Learn more from Fold3. |
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Santos BenavidesNovember 1, 1823 – November 9, 1891 See also the dissertationSantos Benavides: his influence on the lower Rio Grande, 1823-1891, by John Denny Riley (1976) |
Tejano Tiger by |
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Juan Nepomuceno Cortina (1824–1894)Following his service in the Mexican War, Cortina actively protested the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and its treatment of ethnically Mexican landowners, leading to a series of violent clashes along the U.S.-Mexico Border (Cortina Wars, 1859-1863). In 1861, Cortinistas were defeated by Confederate Captain Santos Benavides, thus leading to Cortina's welcoming of Union soldiers in the years to follow. Learn more about Cortina and the Civil War. See also, Cortina: Defending the Mexican Name in Texas, by Jerry D. Thompson (2007) |
Juan Cortina and the Texas-Mexico Frontier, 1859-1877 by The research guides compiled by UTRGV staff and students are intended to assist patrons who are embarking upon new research endeavors. Our goal is to expand their knowledge of the types of resources available on a given topic, including books, archival materials, and websites. In so doing, our compilers have taken care to include collections, digital items, and resources that may be accessed not only through UTRGV but also via other institutions, repositories, and websites.
We wholeheartedly respect the research interests of others. Therefore, please contact us if you wish to submit a resource for consideration, or if you have a question about or an issue with a specific cited resource.
Blue and Gray on the Border by
Runner-up, 2019 Texas Old Missions and Forts Restoration Book Award, sponsored by the Texas Old Missions and Forts Restoration Association (TOMFRA) Most general histories of the Civil War pay scant attention to the many important military events that took place in the Lower Rio Grande Valley along the Texas-Mexico border. It was here, for example, that many of the South's cotton exports, all-important to its funding for the war effort, were shuttled across the Rio Grande into Mexico for shipment to markets across the Atlantic. It was here that the Union blockade was felt perhaps most keenly. And it was here where longstanding cross-border rivalries and shifting political fortunes on both sides of the river made for a constant undercurrent of intrigue. And yet, most accounts of this long and bloody conflict give short shrift to the complexities of the ethnic tensions, political maneuvering, and international diplomacy that vividly colored the Civil War in this region. Now, Christopher L. Miller, Russell K. Skowronek, and Roseann Bacha-Garza have woven together the history and archaeology of the Lower Rio Grande Valley into a densely illustrated travel guide featuring important historical and military sites of the Civil War period. Blue and Gray on the Border integrates the sites, colorful personalities, cross-border conflicts, and intriguing historical vignettes that outline the story of the Civil War along the Texas-Mexico border. This resource-packed book will aid heritage travelers, students, and history buffs in their discovery of the rich history of the Civil War in the Rio Grande Valley.
The Civil War on the Rio Grande, 1846-1876 by
2020, Texas Historical Commission's Governor's Award for Historic Preservation was awarded to the Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools (CHAPS) at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. This book grew out of the CHAPS program. Runner-up, 2019 Texas Old Missions and Forts Restoration Book Award, sponsored by the Texas Old Missions and Forts Restoration Association (TOMFRA) Long known as a place of cross-border intrigue, the Rio Grande's unique role in the history of the American Civil War has been largely forgotten or overlooked. Few know of the dramatic events that took place here or the complex history of ethnic tensions and international intrigue and the clash of colorful characters that marked the unfolding and aftermath of the Civil War in the Lone Star State. To understand the American Civil War in Texas also requires an understanding of the history of Mexico. The Civil War on the Rio Grande focuses on the region's forced annexation from Mexico in 1848 through the Civil War and Reconstruction. In a very real sense, the Lower Rio Grande Valley was a microcosm not only of the United States but also of increasing globalization as revealed by the intersections of races, cultures, economic forces, historical dynamics, and individual destinies. As a companion to Blue and Gray on the Border: The Rio Grande Valley Civil War Trail, this volume provides the scholarly backbone to a larger public history project exploring three decades of ethnic conflict, shifting international alliances, and competing economic proxies at the border. The Civil War on the Rio Grande, 1846-1876 makes a groundbreaking contribution not only to the history of a Texas region in transition but also to the larger history of a nation at war with itself.
From These Honored Dead by
Presenting the best current archaeological scholarship on the American Civil War, From These Honored Dead shows how historical archaeology can uncover the facts beneath the many myths and conflicting memories of the war that have been passed down through generations. By incorporating the results of archaeological investigations, the essays in this volume shed new light on many aspects of the Civil War. Topics include soldier life in camp and on the battlefield, defense mechanisms such as earthworks construction, the role of animals during military operations, and a refreshing focus on the conflict in the Trans-Mississippi West. Supplying a range of methods and exciting conclusions, this book displays the power of archaeology in interpreting this devastating period in U.S. history.
Lone Star Blue and Gray, 2nd Ed by
From the bitter disputes over secession to the ways in which the conflict would be remembered, Texas and Texans were caught up in the momentous struggles of the American Civil War. Tens of thousands of Texans joined military units, and scarcely a household in the state was unaffected as mothers and wives assumed new roles in managing farms and plantations. Still others grappled with the massive social, political, and economic changes wrought by the bloodiest conflict in American history. The sixteen essays (eleven of them new) from some of the leading historians in the field in the second edition of Lone Star Blue and Gray illustrate the rich traditions and continuing vitality of Texas Civil War scholarship. Along with these articles, editors Ralph A. and Robert Wooster provide a succinct introduction to the war and Texas and recommended readings for those seeking further investigations of virtually every aspect of the war as experienced in the Lone Star State.
Texas, the Dark Corner of the Confederacy by
In the summer of 1863 Kate Stone, a twenty-two-year-old refugee from Louisiana, wrote that in Texas she had certainly found "a dark corner of the Confederacy." Excerpts from her diary are among the forty documents dating from the eve of the Civil War to the collapse of the Confederacy, by civilians as well as soldiers in all parts of the state, that make up this lively and informative collection.
The Last Battle of the Civil War by
More than two months after Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865, the New York Times reported a most surprising piece of news. On May 12-13, the last battle of the Civil War had been fought at the southernmost tip of Texas--resulting in a Confederate victory. Although Palmetto Ranch did nothing to change the war's outcome, it added the final irony to a conflict replete with ironies, unexpected successes, and lost opportunities. For these reasons, it has become both one of the most forgotten and most mythologized battles of the Civil War. In this book, Jeffrey Hunt draws on previously unstudied letters and court martial records to offer a full and accurate account of the battle of Palmetto Ranch. As he recreates the events of the fighting that pitted the United States' 62nd Colored Troops and the 34th Indiana Veteran Volunteer Infantry against Texas cavalry and artillery battalions commanded by Colonel John S. "Rip" Ford, Hunt lays to rest many misconceptions about the battle. In particular, he reveals that the Texans were fully aware of events in the East--and still willing to fight for Southern independence. He also demonstrates that, far from fleeing the battle in a panic as some have asserted, the African American troops played a vital role in preventing the Union defeat from becoming a rout.
Mexican Texans in the Union Army by 
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