Civil War Bombardment of Port Lavaca
Port Lavaca, Calhoun County, Texas
Marker Inscription
As part of the U. S. naval initiative to control Texas Confederate ports, the gunboats "Clifton" and "Westfield" turned to the town then known as Lavaca after easily taking Galveston and Indianola. On October 31, 1862, under a flag of truce, Commander William B. Crenshaw demanded the surrender of Lavaca. Maj. Gen. Daniel D. Shea refused. After an evacuation period of merely 90 minutes, Renshaw's ships attacked the town. The city garrison returned the fire. Partially disabled, the Union boats fell back, but rained a steady barrage upon the town until night came. They resumed shelling the following morning, then retreated. The city streets were ravaged by gunfire, but Port Lavaca remained in Confederate hands until December 1863. (1998)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
As Union forces moved to seize Texas's Confederate ports in 1862, the gunboats Clifton and Westfield turned on the town then called Lavaca after easily taking Galveston and Indianola. On October 31, under a flag of truce, Commander William Renshaw demanded surrender and Maj. Gen. Daniel Shea refused; after a 90-minute evacuation the ships opened fire. The city garrison returned fire, and though the streets were battered by shelling that resumed the next morning, Lavaca stayed in Confederate hands until December 1863.
Why it matters
The bombardment is a vivid episode in the Union's naval campaign to blockade and reclaim the Texas coast, a lesser-known front of the Civil War.
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Related people
- · William B. Renshaw
- · Daniel D. Shea
Related events
- · Bombardment of Lavaca
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Civil War Torpedo Works
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In February 1863 local inventor E. G. Singer tested a torpedo with a novel spring-action ignition system on the shores of Lavaca Bay. With partner Dr. J. R. Fretwell, Captain David A. Bradbury, and other Lavaca citizens, Singer won Confederate authority to manufacture underwater and land mines at an experimental works here. His devices were installed in rivers across the South, from Mississippi's Yazoo to Alabama's Mobile Bay, and helped defend the Matagorda Bay area throughout 1863.
The Battle of Norris Bridge
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Judge Henry Joseph Huck
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Educated in Germany and seasoned as a young merchant in London, Henry Joseph Huck sailed to America in the 1840s and made his way to Indian Point—soon the booming Gulf port of Indianola. He opened lumber yards, became one of Calhoun County's first probate judges, promoted railroads, and served as a Confederate quartermaster during the Civil War. Twice hurricanes battered Indianola, and the catastrophic 1886 storm destroyed his business and the town itself, driving him at last to Austin.
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William Henry Barnes enlisted in the Union Army in early 1864, joining the U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War. That September he was wounded storming the Confederate works at the Battle of New Market Heights in Virginia—valor that earned him the Medal of Honor. Promoted to sergeant and posted to the Texas border, he died of consumption in 1866 and was ultimately reinterred in the San Antonio National Cemetery.