Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge The Battle of Palmito Ranch The Baltic of Palmito Ranch Counesy of the Univei^ity ofTexas Institute of Texan Cultures On May 12, 1865, weeks after other major The series of violent skirmishes endured for two The Last Battle Confederate armies surrendered at Appomattox days, over twelve miles of prairie. When the Courthouse, Virginia and Bennett Place, North engagement ended on the afternoon of May 13, Carolina, forces of the United States of America with a decisive rout of Federal troops, the and the Confederate States of America clashed Confederacy had prevailed in the last battle of on the coastal plains east of Brownsville, Texas. the American Civil War. The southern tip of Texas played a vital eco The importance of this area also made it a cen nomic role in the conflict in the War Between ter of conflict. In 1863, Union troops captured the States. Shortly after fighting erupted. the military installation of Fort Brown, occupied The Civil War in the Union naval forces established an effective naval Brownsville, and briefly plugged the leak in Lower Rio Grande blockade of Southern ports, severing trade links their blockade. But the Confederates, deter with European markets and crippling the mined to keep the cotton trade flowing, soon Valley of Texas Confederacy's ability to fund its war effort. retook the fort and pushed the Federal troops to Brazos Island. There, the Union forces main The Confederates, however, soon found a way to tained a presence at the Brazos Santiago depot avoid these restrictions. If southern planters and continued to control the coast for the dura could get their cotton to the Mexican city of tion of the war. Matamoros, across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas, the precious cargo could be In March of 1865, as evidence mounted that the loaded onto Mexican merchant ships and sail, war approached its end, local Confederate com untouched, past the prowling Union fleet. In manders, Brigadier General James E. Slaughter time, wagon trains loaded with the "white gold" and Colonel John S. Ford, accepted the Union's flowed into the Lower Rio Grande Valley, mak Major General Lewis Wallace's invitation to ing the area an economic lifeline for the meet at Port Isabel to discuss terms of peace. Confederacy. An informal truce was established and a formal peace seemed near at hand. TEXAS nosa rtzci &rowMVille Rio HEX CO BuJ&j natAnotoS .