In 1863 the Union capture of Texas was viewed as crucial to the 
strategy to deny the Confederacy the territory west of the 
Mississippi and thus to break the back of its military force. Union 
efforts to cut off the Texas trade were characterized by short, 
unsuccessful forays, primarily in East and South Texas. Here, 
Stephen A. Townsend examines one of these, known as the Rio 
Grande Expedition, which left New Orleans on October 26, 1863.
       
    Townsend carefully traces the actions—and inaction—of the 
Union forces from the capture of Brownsville, through the advance 
up the coast with the help of Union Loyalists, until General 
Ulysses S. Grant ordered the abandonment of all of Texas except 
Brownsville in March 1864. Townsend analyzes the effects of the 
campaign on the local populace, the morale and good order of the 
two armies involved, U.S. diplomatic relations with France, the 
Texas cotton trade, and postwar politics in the state. He 
thoughtfully assesses the benefits and losses to the Northern war 
effort of this only sustained occupation of Texas.

    No understanding of the Civil War west of the Mississippi—or 
its place in the Union strategy for the Deep South—will be 
complete without this informative study.

_________________________________________________________

STEPHEN A. TOWNSEND teaches history at New Mexico 
Junior College in Hobbs. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of 
North Texas.


Number Eight: Canseco-Keck History Series


What people are saying about this book

“Crisply written and well-researched, The Yankee Invasion of 
Texas tells an important and interesting story about as well as it 
can be told.”—Southwestern Historical Quarterly, April 2007

". . . an informative and richly detailed narrative of Union efforts to 
establish a military presence in Texas and curtail trade between 
Texas and Mexico."—East Texas Historical Association, Summer 
2007