Texas Day by Day

On this day in 1861, 500 Federal troops stranded at the port of Saluria in Calhoun County were forced to surrender to Confederate colonel Earl Van Dorn. Saluria, at the eastern end of Matagorda Island, was founded in the 1840s and was a thriving port and ranching center in the 1850s. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Federal troops flocked to the coast, hoping to find transport to the North. Van Dorn intercepted 500 of them at Saluria. After being paroled, they were allowed to sail for New York. During the federal blockade of 1862, when invasion seemed imminent, Saluria inhabitants fled to the mainland. Confederate troops stationed at nearby Fort Esperanza later burned the town, dismantled the lighthouse, and drove most of the cattle off the island. Confederate artillerymen defended the fort until November 29, 1863, when they retreated to the mainland. In June 1864 Federal troops left Fort Esperanza. Afterward, citizens began moving back to the island. What finally destroyed Saluria was hurricanes, in 1875 and 1886. By 1904 a rural school with one teacher and seven students was the only vestige of the community. The more famous nearby port of Indianola was similarly destroyed.

On this day in 1838, the United States and the Republic of Texas signed the Convention of Limits, which recognized Texas claims to disputed territory in Red River County (the present Bowie, Red River, Franklin, Titus, Morris, and Cass counties). The agreement also set the west bank of the Sabine River as the eastern boundary of Texas. However, tension continued between the two countries regarding Indian depredations along the republic's northern border. U.S. chargé d'affaires Alcée La Branche protested Texas army crossings of the border in pursuit of Indians. In the twentieth century the exact location of the Texas-Louisiana border became the subject of a dispute between the two states.

On this day in 1875, three Black Seminole scouts earned the Medal of Honor for gallantry in action. Pompey Factor, Isaac Payne, and John Ward, along with their commander, Lt. John Lapham Bullis of the Twenty-fourth United States Infantry, were pursuing a band of twenty-five or thirty Comanche Indians near Langtry. The scouts dismounted, crept up on the Indians, and opened fire. They killed three and wounded another before withdrawing to their horses because they were in danger of being surrounded. Bullis was unable to mount because his horse had broken away. The three scouts turned back into the face of hostile Indian fire, mounted Bullis behind them, and alternately carried him to safety.