Texas Revolution and Civil War, Galveston County
Galveston, Galveston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Following Laffite's expulsion from Galveston, settlers from the West Indies began to arrive. Within a few years, Galveston became a principal port to the Republic of Texas. Galveston was declared a port of entry in 1825 by Mexico and a customs house was established. The city served as Capital of the Republic of Texas when President David G. Burnett and his Cabinet were forced to abandon the interior at the time San Houston's forces met and defeated the Mexican army at San Jacinto in 1836. Michel B. Menard purchased what is now the present site of Galveston from the Republic of Texas in 1836 for $50,000. Galveston County was created in 1838 by an act of the Texas Congress. The city of Galveston was incorporated in 1839. During the next decade, Galveston shared in the rapid growth and development of Texas. Churches were established and banks were founded. The Galveston "News" began publication and the first Federal court in Texas was established. The city was soon to become the most important cultural and commercial center in the state. In 1858, trackage of the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad was completed between the Island and Houston. By July, 1861, the Federal blockade was extended to Texas. Confederate forces evacuated Galveston in October, 1862, but in 1863, with General John Bankhead Magruder in command, the Confederate forces occupied the city, capturing four vessels and some 300 Federal troops. The Confederate forces remained here until the end of the Civil War.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
After the pirate Lafitte was driven from Galveston, West Indian settlers arrived and the island grew into the chief port of a rising Texas, declared a port of entry by Mexico in 1825. It briefly served as capital of the Republic when President Burnet's cabinet fled the interior during the 1836 San Jacinto campaign, and Michel B. Menard soon bought the townsite for $50,000. During the Civil War, Confederate forces evacuated the city in 1862 but retook it in 1863 under General John Bankhead Magruder, capturing Union ships and troops and holding it to the war's end.
Why it matters
Galveston's arc from Republic-era capital to Confederate stronghold makes it a single vantage point on Texas's passage from independence through statehood into the Civil War.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Few places in Texas have lived through as many eras as Galveston. In the early nineteenth century the island was a remote, lawless outpost, best known as a base for privateers operating in the Gulf of Mexico. Its great natural harbor was the one thing no one could ignore, and once the privateers were driven out, settlers and traders began to arrive, including newcomers from the West Indies.
Under Mexican rule Texas was a frontier province drawing American and European settlers, and a port was essential to its growth. Mexico declared Galveston a port of entry in 1825 and set up a customs house. After Texas won independence in 1836, the island became one of the Republic's principal gateways to the world.
In the decades that followed, Texas moved from independent republic to statehood in 1845, and then toward secession and civil war. Galveston was at the center of each change. It was the place where goods, people, news, and eventually armies arrived by sea.
People & events
The spring of 1836 was a desperate time for the young Texas government. As Mexican armies advanced, interim President David G. Burnet and his cabinet retreated toward the coast, and Galveston briefly served as the Republic's capital. While they held on at the island's edge, Sam Houston's army met and defeated the Mexican forces at San Jacinto, a victory that secured Texas independence.
That same year Michel B. Menard bought the land that became the city from the Republic of Texas for $50,000. The investment paid off. Galveston County was created in 1838, the city was incorporated in 1839, and over the next decade it filled out with churches, banks, a newspaper, the Galveston News, and the first federal court in Texas. By 1858 a railroad connected the island to Houston, tying the port to the growing interior.
The Civil War put that prosperity at risk. By July 1861 the Union blockade reached the Texas coast, and in October 1862 Confederate forces pulled out of the city. Their absence did not last. Under General John Bankhead Magruder, Confederates retook Galveston in 1863 in a daring operation that captured four vessels and some 300 Union troops. The city stayed in Confederate hands until the end of the war.
Its place in the American story
Galveston offers a single vantage point on Texas's remarkable journey: Mexican port, refuge of a revolutionary government, capital of an independent republic, American state, Confederate stronghold. Few American cities have lived under so many flags and systems of government in so short a time.
Its rise also shows how ports built nineteenth-century America. Before railroads laced the continent together, harbors like Galveston were the doorways through which immigrants arrived and cotton and other goods went out. The city's banks, courts, and newspapers made it a model of how a frontier region joined the national economy.
The Civil War chapter matters too. The Union blockade was a major part of the North's strategy to strangle the Confederacy, and the fight over Galveston shows how seriously both sides took the Gulf ports. The city's wartime story did not end with the fighting. Galveston is also where Union troops announced emancipation to the enslaved people of Texas in June 1865, the event remembered today as Juneteenth.
If you visit
Galveston rewards slow exploring. As you stand at this marker, think of the island as it was in the 1830s: a sandy barrier island with a great harbor, not yet a city, briefly holding the fate of a new republic.
Much of the Galveston you see today was shaped by later events, especially the devastating hurricane of 1900 and the rebuilding that followed. Look for the older commercial buildings and historic neighborhoods that survived, and let them help you imagine the busy port described on this marker.
The harbor is the key to the whole story, so make time to walk near the waterfront and look out at the channel that drew traders, blockade ships, and armies. Galveston is an easy drive from Houston and makes a rich day or weekend of history. Watch for the many other historical markers across the island that fill in chapters this one only touches on.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · David G. Burnet
- · Michel B. Menard
- · John Bankhead Magruder
Related events
- · Battle of San Jacinto
- · Battle of Galveston
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
James Love
Galveston, TX
A veteran of the War of 1812, lawyer James Love came to Texas in 1837 and helped found the city of Galveston, becoming a political ally of Mirabeau B. Lamar. He served as a delegate to the 1845 convention that approved annexation to the United States and held several judicial posts. Though in his sixties, he enlisted in Terry's Texas Rangers during the Civil War and later became the first judge of the Harris and Galveston County Criminal Court.
Early History of Galveston County
Galveston, TX
Long a crossroads for Native peoples, privateers, and Spanish and French explorers, Galveston Island briefly became the seat of the Republic of Texas in 1836. As Santa Anna's army pushed east, President David G. Burnet's improvised cabinet fled Washington-on-the-Brazos and sheltered here until the Texan victory at San Jacinto. From this port the fledgling Texas Navy, later reorganized under President Lamar and Commodore Edwin W. Moore, guarded the coast against Mexican invasion until U.S. annexation in 1846.
George Campbell Childress
Galveston, TX
Born to a prominent Nashville family, George Campbell Childress trained as a lawyer and editor before following his uncle, the empresario Sterling Robertson, to Texas. Elected a delegate to the Convention of 1836, he is regarded as the primary author of the Texas Declaration of Independence, adopted on March 2, 1836. His later efforts to win recognition and build a law practice failed, and, despondent, he took his own life in Galveston in 1841; Childress County was named in his honor.
Confederate Mariner: Leon Smith
Galveston, TX
Leon Smith went to sea from New England at thirteen and was a steamship captain by twenty before the Civil War carried him to the Texas coast. Commanding the marine department of the Confederate military district, he armored his ships with cotton bales and, with just two days' notice, prepared the waterborne assault that helped win the Battle of Galveston on New Year's Day 1863. Months later he rode through enemy fire to fight alongside Dick Dowling's men at the victory of Sabine Pass. His ships ran the Federal blockade, trading Texas cotton overseas for the guns, medicine, and goods the South could not otherwise obtain.