150 years ago today, on August 3, 1861, the first Civil War battle in Texas took place on the beach at Galveston. It was a memorable affair for all who witnessed it, and as it turned out, almost everyone in Galveston was a witness. Only a month earlier, on July 2, the Union steamer USS South Carolina had arrived at Galveston to start the blockade of Texas. In command of the Union vessel was Captain James Alden, an experienced seaman who was determined to control the entrances to Galveston Bay. It was difficult for one ship to block all of the entrances to the bay so Captain Alden quickly took action to capture some small ships to supplement his blockading efforts. By the end of July, the blockading fleet included the schooner Dart, a small pilot vessel that Alden was using as a tender.
Watching the Federal blockaders from the beach was a small force of Confederate artillerymen in a crude but effective fortification. Even before the Civil War a small fort had existed on the beach at Galveston, protecting the city against an enemy (Mexico) that might approach from the Gulf. When it became obvious that the Civil War was approaching, the Confederate commander of Galveston had ordered the “Old South Battery” (located on the beach between 21st and 22nd street) to be strengthened with some smooth-bore 32-pounder cannons. These guns had been captured from the Federal forces that had been forced to evacuate Texas earlier in 1861.
In charge of the Confederate garrison at the South Battery was Colonel John Creed Moore. Moore, a West Pointer from Tennessee, had been sent to Texas to raise a regiment. That regiment would eventually become the Second Texas Infantry and Moore would ultimately lead that regiment with distinction in 1862 at the Battle of Shiloh. But in August 1861, Moore was the closest thing that Galveston had to an experienced artillery commander. Eager to show the people of Texas that he was qualified to lead their men into battle, Col. Moore stepped in to command the battery that stood between Galveston and the enemy fleet.
Most of the men serving under Col. Moore in the South Battery were from a company known as the “Turner Rifles.” That company, commanded by Captain E.B.H. Schneider, included a number of German soldiers from Houston. Schneider’s company was in the process of being officially welcomed into the Confederate service as Company “C” of the First Texas Heavy Artillery.
On the morning of August 3, 1861, Captain Alden ordered the Union schooner Dart to cruise down the Gulf side of the Island and reconnoiter the Confederate batteries. As the Dart drew even with the Confederate battery, Col. Moore calmly directed his artillerymen to fire a few rounds to test the range of his guns and chase away the small enemy vessel. The Dart quickly responded with a few rounds from its pivot gun and a small but spirited exchange of fire followed. Another small Confederate battery at the foot of 15th Street also participated in this action. After a short period of firing, the Dart returned to its anchorage near the South Carolina and both sides analyzed what had happened and considered their next move.
The noise coming from the beach had alerted the citizens of Galveston that something with potential entertainment value was going on. Many packed picnic lunches and headed to the beach with their entire families in tow to see what the afternoon might bring. Men, women and children packed the sand dunes near the fort, eagerly awaiting the resumption of hostilities. Food and beverage vendors grabbed their wares and made their way through the crowds, doing a brisk business as the hot afternoon stretched on without any firing from either side. The crowd of onlookers grew increasingly restless.
Over on the Federal steamer South Carolina, Captain Alden was weighing his options. He believed that the initial firing on the Dart had probably been some sort of demonstration or mistake and hated to commence hostilities and potentially destroy the town over such a minor event. But as the afternoon wore on, and no explanation or apology from the Confederates was forthcoming, Alden decided that he could not let the incident go unchallenged. Shortly before five o’clock, Alden took the South Carolina in closer to the beach, daring the Confederates to again open fire. As the Union steamer got within a mile of the beach the Confederates once more opened fire and the South Carolina commenced a bombardment with its big guns. The first battle at Galveston had begun.
This was very early in the war and neither side had gunners that were very experienced with their weapons. This became painfully obvious to the many Galvestonians who had come to witness the battle. They quickly came to understand that witnessing a bombardment from close range was a poor idea as shells exploded in the sand dunes around the fort, sending the spectators into a panicked scramble for safety. As one observer noted, “in the flight, some of the old citizens developed marvelous speed and left many of the younger generation far in the rear by their fleetness and impatient desire to get beyond the reach of danger in the shortest imaginable space of time.”
At the conclusion of the fighting, which lasted less than an hour, the South Carolina had suffered no injury at all. In a report back to Washington, Captain Alden described the Confederate battery’s performance as “extremely bad, considering the large object that this ship, almost entirely light, presents.” Over on the beach, the Confederate garrison had pretty much the same reaction to the Union steamer’s bombardment. Nobody in the fort had been injured or killed.
Unfortunately, the same could not be said about the spectators. One man had been killed and several boys had been wounded. The man who had been killed was named Fisher. Described in newspaper accounts as a “foreigner,” no one was quite certain whether Mr. Fisher had been Italian or Portuguese. What they could agree on was that Fisher had been decapitated by a Union shell. Ironically, a foreign non-combatant had become the first Civil War casualty for Galveston
Several days later, a group of foreign consuls wrote a letter of protest to Captain Alden, demanding to know why he had fired a shell in the midst of a crowd of unarmed citizens. Alden replied indignantly that responsibility for the casualties lay with Col. Moore and his Confederate artillerymen, who had fired at him knowing that they were surrounded by a crowd of citizens.
The battle between the South Carolina and the South Battery had not been a decisive contest. No territory had been lost or won; no combatants had been injured or killed. But the battle did have one important result. The people of Galveston now knew what this war meant for them. One of the South Carolina’s shells had reached almost to Broadway from a mile offshore. A newspaperman did some quick calculations and warned that the Union would undoubtedly come with even bigger guns that were capable of throwing shot and shell clear across the Island. The lesson of what had happened to Mr. Fisher was not lost on Galveston citizens, a large number of whom began streaming toward Houston and the interior with as many of their belongings as they could carry. Merchants closed their stores, businesses relocated, and eventually even the Galveston newspaper moved inland to escape the Federal invasion that was now commonly believed to be just a matter of time. The war had begun.
Edward T. Cotham, Jr. is the author of four books on the Civil War, including Battle on the Bay: The Civil War Struggle for Galveston.