I really hate to hear this museum is closing. It is such an amazing find. We spent HOURS here and…read moreit had a ton of people visiting it. It was definitely my favorite part of our trip to the area! I couldn't believe all the artifacts it possessed.
Texas played a significant role in the American Civil War
Secession: Texas joined the Confederacy in early 1861, a few weeks before the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter. Texas declared its secession from the Union on February 1, 1861, and joined the Confederate States on March 2, 1861, after it had replaced its governor, Sam Houston, who had refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy.
Military: Nearly 90,000 Texans served in the military. Leaders of the Texas forces included legendary figures John Bell Hood, Albert Sidney Johnston, John Bankhead Magruder, Patrick Cleburne, and Ben McCulloch.
Battles: Texas forces fought in many major battles, including Gettysburg, Antietam, Second Manassas, Wilson's Creek, The Wilderness, Vicksburg, Corinth, Shiloh, Chickamauga, Glorieta Pass, Pea Ridge, Gaine's Mill, Franklin, and Mansfield. Texas also defended its own coastline, repulsing Union invaders at Brownsville, Sabine Pass, Galveston, Corpus Christi, and Laredo.
Blockades: The Union blockaded Galveston, Houston, and other ports, making it difficult for farmers to export their crops.
Closing: The surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederacy at Galveston on June 2, 1865 was, as Capt. Benjamin Franklin Sands of the United States Navy noted, "the closing act of the Great Rebellion." Just a few weeks later on June 19, Gen. Gordon Granger, commander of U.S. troops in Texas, arrived in Galveston and ended slavery in Texas by issuing an order that the Emancipation Proclamation was in effect in Texas later to become known as Juneteenth.