Non - Military

Non - Military

Captain S. M. Eaton, Signal Officer/Military Division of West Mississippi, to Lt. Col. C. T. Christensen, Assistant Adjutant General/ Military Division of West Mississippi, from New Orleans, La., 18 January 1865:

"...Lars Larsen, a deserter from [O. G.] Jones' (rebel) battery, Brownsville, Tex., makes the following statement - He left Brownsville January 5, 1865. States that there were about 1,100 soldiers at or near Brownsville and 700 at or near Ringgold Barracks. All are mounted. At Galveston (which he visited in September, 1864) there were about 1,400 infantry acting as heavy artillery, and two batteries containing 8 guns and about 170 men. There were four forts, viz. Jackson, Fort Point, Magruder, and South Battery, each mounting two guns. Two forts (Bankhead and Moore) had no guns at that time. There were breast-works around the city. He states also that the crops in Texas during the past year have been heavy..."

ibid., dated 26 January 1865:

"...A further examination of the deserter Lars Larsen discloses the fact that there are four gun-boats in and around Galveston Bay, viz. the Colonel Bell, mounting two guns; the Diana, well armed; the Bayou City, mounting two guns; and the John F. Carr. There is a small supply boat (the Island City) in the bay. There is at the mouth of the Brazos River a stern-wheel steamer, the Lucy Gwin, and at Sabine the Josiah H. Bell, mounting one 32-pounder and two mountain howitzers (sixpounders)."

[Official Records, series I, volume 48, part 2, p. 574]

• The State of Texas County of Cherokee
• Pass Hospital, Tyler, Texas, April 9th, 1864
• State of Texas County of Galveston
• (1858/4) Aadne Holverson - Private, Co E, Frontier Texas Cavalry Regiment