150 years ago today the Civil War ended. Yes, I know, General Lee signed the papers of surrender at Appomattox Court House a month earlier. But the war, in isolated pockets, carried on until May 13, 150 years ago. The two-day Battle of Palmito Ranch, with the final casualty of the war, took place east of Brownsville, Texas ended the fighting of that terrible war. There were a few other tiny battles after this date but no more casualties, thus leaving the Battle of Palmito Ranch listed by historians as the official last battle of the war.
To end today, we need a bit of Wyoming stuff here. How about a couple of Wyoming photos I took today.
5 comments:
Of course there is a Wyoming element to it, in that this meant that, with the war now being over, all the state units posted to the West would now start to muster out, and the Regulars would return.
I'd post a link to this on my Today In Wyoming History blog but the Blogger add on doesn't work with the new version of Firefox, darn it!
Thanks, it did make for interesting times in the west
Indeed, while all the bloodshed in the West during the war wouldn't equal many single days in single battles east of the Miss during the war, the war did have a big impact on the West. State units came in, as Federal units went back East. In New Mexico the Confederacy attempted a bit of an invasion. State units from the new states in the West, such as California and Colorado, saw some campaigning throughout the war (including some infamous actions).
And the Homestead Act was passed, with all that would mean for the West.
The devastation of the Civil War played a great part in thr history of the frontier and the West. Many people were displaced by the War itself and its outcome. I suspect thst many participants--including displaced civilians--may well have suffered from what is now called post-traumatic stress disorder. The use and over-use of alcihol and opiates may well have escalated social dislocation. A certain dentist from Georgia developed consumption and fled to the frontier areas to await his fate. A young West Point graduate gave exemplary service during the Civil War and the early years of the post-war period. While he had been basically only a moderate drinker--if even that--at about the age of forty he became a hopeless drunk within a short period of time and had to be retired on disability. At the time of his death in 1889 he wss a complete mental case.
An article about Ransld McKenzie? and his disabilities and ultimate fate sppeared in "Old West" in 1989 for the centennial of his death.
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