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Texas and the Civil War

The Civil War is considered one of the dramatic milestones of American history, and Texas was in the thick of it. The state mobilized for war, with approximately 90,000 Texans serving in the Confederate and state forces out of a total adult male population estimated at between 100,000 and 110,000 men. Texans fought on many battlefields, and those on the home front met the heavy demands of wartime by exploring new roles for women, by creating new industries, and by making do in the face of wartime shortages. After four years of terrible strife, the war ended with the defeat of the Confederacy and the freeing of some 250,000 Texas African Americans.

As usual, this is an open-book quiz; you might find the Online Handbook entries on the Civil War and various associated topics, such as secession, Unionism, and slavery, useful in answering the questions below. You might also want to use the Online Handbook’s search engine to look up some of the relevant terms.

The Questions

Question 1 :

Secession. Like other cotton-growing and slaveholding states, Texas was thrown into turmoil by the election of Abraham Lincoln as president of the United States, and by the secession of South Carolina in December 1860. On February 23, 1861, Texans went to the polls to vote on secession. The results for the state as a whole were 46,153 for and 14,747 against, and Texas became the seventh state to leave the Union. While support for leaving the Union was strong, there were pockets of Unionist sentiment. Of the 122 counties casting votes, how many cast majorities against secession?

Eighteen
Thirty-five
None
Ten
Five

Question 2 :

The Invasion of New Mexico. In 1861–62 Texans played a major role in Confederate efforts to expand into New Mexico Territory. Henry W. Sibley, a West Point graduate, organized a brigade of Texas cavalry and led an invasion into Union-held Arizona and New Mexico. His forces soon captured Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The climactic battle of the invasion, which forced the Confederate forces to retreat back to Texas, was fought at

Mesilla
Glorieta Pass
Valverde
Santa Fe
Eagle Pass

Question 3 :

Mexican-American Texans in the War. Secession and the Civil War deeply divided the Mexican Americans of Texas. While some joined the Federal forces and many remained neutral, at least 2,500 served in the Confederate army. One unit, the 33rd Cavalry Regiment, operated on the border with Mexico and contained many Mexican American troopers. What member of a prominent border family commanded this regiment, and was the highest ranking Tejano in the Confederate army?

Adrián J. Vidal
Juan N. Cortina
Cristóbal Benavides
Santos Benavides
José Ángel Navarro

Question 4 :

Prison Camps. In the early years of the Civil War prisoners taken by the two sides were generally exchanged within a short time. As the war went on exchanges became less frequent, resulting in large numbers of prisoners crowded into unsanitary prisoner of war camps. This stockade, located near Tyler, Texas, was the largest prison camp west of the Mississippi.

Andersonville
Camp Maxey
Camp Ford
Fort Concho
Camp Travis

Question 5 :

Texas Units. Of all the troops raised in Texas for the Confederate army, only one unit served under Robert E. Lee in his famed Army of Northern Virginia. This unit was

Waul’s Legion
Walker’s Division
Gano’s Brigade
Hood’s Texas Brigade
Terry’s Texas Rangers

Question 6 :

Texas Leaders. A number of prominent Texans served as generals in the Confederate army during the war. This prominent veteran of the Texas Republic was mortally wounded while commanding the Southern army at the decisive battle of Shiloh, Tennessee.

John Bell Hood
Albert Sidney Johnston
James Longstreet
Earl Van Dorn
Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson

Question 7 :

Espionage. This Virginia native smuggled notes on Union plans to Confederate officers and served as a courier for generals Pierre G. T. Beauregard and Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson and their subordinates. Later in life she became an actress, appearing on the stage in several Texas cities and living in Dallas for a time. This intrepid spy was:

Belle Starr
Isabelle Boyd
Susanna Pinckney
Calamity Jane
Clara Barton

Question 8 :

Guerrilla Warfare. While the outcome of the Civil War was decided on the battlefields, partisan warfare was endemic in border areas like Missouri and Kansas. Texas provided a safe winter haven for this Southern guerrilla fighter, an Ohio native who is best known for leading a murderous assault on Union sympathizers at Lawrence, Kansas.

William Clarke Quantrill
Jesse James
Cole Younger
Bloody Bill Anderson
Edmund Kirby Smith

Question 9 :

Unionists. Not all Texans supported the Confederacy. There was strong support for the Union among certain groups, particularly among German Texans in the Hill Country. In August 1862 a party of Unionists attempting to reach Mexico was intercepted by Confederate forces and defeated at a skirmish on which river?

the Rio Grande
the Sabine
the San Gabriel
the Trinity
the Nueces

Question 10 :

The End of Slavery. While Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, African Americans in Texas celebrate their freedom on Juneteenth, so named for June 19, 1865, when the proclamation was read by Union General Gordon Granger as he led a force of federal troops into Texas. What Texas city was Granger occupying when he read the Emancipation Proclamation?

Austin
Dallas
Hempstead
Galveston
Brownsville

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