Palmito Ranch Battlefield: Last Clash of the Blue and the Gray

Palmito Ranch Battlefield: Last Clash of the Blue and the Gray. Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Hundreds of Union and Confederate troops fought the last land battle of the Civil War here on May 12 and 13, 1865, more than a month after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to U.S. General Ulysses S. Grant in Appomattox, Virginia. , Today, this windswept salt prairie looks much the same as it did during the fierce, two-day battle that marked the end of four years of bloody conflict. , Palmito Ranch , May 13, 1865 , Despite news of the surrender, Colonel Theodore H. Barrett, commander of Union forces stationed on Brazos Island, ordered an advance on Brownsville, Texas. On May 12, 1865, U.S. cavalry troops attacked a small party of Confederates, which withdrew to Palmito Ranch. , The next day, reinforcements arrived for both sides. Although U.S. forces outnumbered Confederates two to one, they were outgunned and outflanked. The battle ended in a Confederate victory when Union forces fled back to the coast. , "Though very small in comparison to its great battles, [Palmito Ranch] deserves notice as having closed the long struggle, as it opened, with a Confederate victory." , - Confederate President Jefferson Davis , (captions) , Private John Jefferson Williams, a member of the 34th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, was killed at Palmito Ranch. He was the last Union soldier killed in battle during the Civil War. Wikipedia , Colonel Theodore H. Barrett, commander of Union forces at Brazos Island, had no combat experience prior to the battle at Palmito Ranch. Historians still debate his reasons for ordering the advance. Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN , A former Texas Ranger known as "Old Rip", Colonel John Ford led Confederate troops to victory at Palmito Ranch. Ford was in command of Confederate troops stationed at Fort Brown. DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, Ag2008.0005.