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Talk:Battle of Columbus (1865)

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Quite simply wrong

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This article is quite simply wrong. I am posting the following facts and analysis from the Conclusion of the Civil War article talk page in preparation for correcting the error in this article in the near future.

The Battle of Columbus, Georgia was not the last land battle of the war nor is it "widely regarded" as such. The assertion is based on a single 2010 book, which was repeated in two books on ghosts in the Columbus area that only touched on the topic of the battle, a few guidebooks and a book on linotype, a few personal web page or blog entries, mainly by local boosters, and a few statements or recollections by a few old soldiers many years after the war (first published in the November 1896 issue of Confederate Veteran; and expounded upon by a local historian in 1915)- who were encouraged by a few letters of support by some old commanders who might have wished they had fought in the last battle or did not wish to upset the old gentlemen who sought their support. This is insufficient.

Little if any other support can be found for the assertion that Columbus was the last battle of the war, as contrasted with the last "significant" battle, or last battle in the east, which are not even accurate. The arguments used to support the claim border on sophistry, such as asserting that Columbus was a "battle" but Palmito Ranch, and presumably Boykins Mill, similar size engagements, and other actions after April 16, were something less. Dyer classifies none of them as battles. NPS classifies Palmito Ranch as a battle. (From Selcer, Richard F. Civil War America, 1850 to 1875. New York: Facts On File, 2006. ISBN 978-0-8160-3867-1. Retrieved January 17, 2014. Page 234: "According to the best estimate, some 10,455 clashes of arms were fought between 1861 and 1865....Unfortunately there is no handy guide to Civil War field operations that carefully defines every clash of arms in terms of numbers engaged, duration, casualties and other details.") Charles A. Misulia, author of Columbus, Georgia, 1865: The Last True Battle of the Civil War (March 2010) even hedges a little on his assertions. Here for the record, and in support of changing the assertions in Wikipedia articles about the Battle of Columbus, are quotations from reliable web sites and then books in reverse chronological order which show the vast consensus from 1866 through the present day that the Battle of Palmito Ranch was the last land battle of the war, followed by a list of some battles that took place after Columbus, Georgia, and the references that I could find that refer to the Battle of Columbus, with or without qualification as being the last battle of the war.

  • U.S. National Park Service description of Battle of Palmito Ranch. Retrieved January 20, 2014. "On May 12....Branson promptly led his men off to attack a Confederate camp at Palmito Ranch. After much skirmishing along the way, the Federals attacked the camp and scattered the Confederates. Branson and his men remained at the site to feed themselves and their horses but, at 3:00 pm, a sizable Confederate force appeared, influencing the Federals to retire to White’s Ranch. He sent word of his predicament to Barrett, who reinforced Branson at daybreak, on the 13th, with 200 men of the 34th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. The augmented force, now commanded by Barrett, started out towards Palmito Ranch, skirmishing most of the way. At Palmito Ranch, they destroyed the rest of the supplies not torched the day before and continued on. A few miles forward, they became involved in a sharp firefight. After the fighting stopped, Barrett led his force back to a bluff at Tulosa on the river where the men could prepare dinner and camp for the night. At 4:00 pm, a large Confederate cavalry force, commanded by Col. John S. “Rip” Ford, approached, and the Federals formed a battle line. The Rebels hammered the Union line with artillery. To preclude an enemy flanking movement, Barrett ordered a retreat. The retreat was orderly and skirmishers held the Rebels at a respectable distance. Returning to Boca Chica at 8:00 pm, the men embarked at 4:00 am, on the 14th. This was the last battle in the Civil War."
  • Hunt, Jeffrey William. "PALMITO RANCH, BATTLE OF," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qfp01), accessed January 20, 2014. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. "On May 13, 1865, more than a month after the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee, the last land action of the Civil War took place at Palmito Ranch near Brownsville."
  • Civil War Trust web site. Retrieved January 20, 2014. Civil War Facts. Answers to your Civil War Questions "Q. When was the Civil War fought? The war began when Confederate warships bombarded Union soldiers at Fort Sumter, South Carolina on April 12, 1861. The war ended in Spring, 1865. Robert E. Lee surrendered the last major Confederate army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865. The last battle was fought at Palmito Ranch, Texas, on May 13, 1865."
  • Marvel, William. Battle of Palmetto Ranch: American Civil War's Final Battle Originally published by Civil War Times magazine. Published Online: June 12, 2006. Retrieved from Historynet.com on January 20, 2014. An earlier article in Civil War Times Illustrated on the same topic by Trudeau, Noah Andre, The Last Gun Had Been Fired, July/August 1990, p. 58. Page 63: "The Battle of Palmito Ranch, later termed by [Union commander] Colonel Barrett last actual conflict between hostile forces in the great rebellion," was over." See the excerpt from Barrett's August 10, 1865 report found in the The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies in the reference below to Conyer, Luther. Last Battle of the War. From the Dallas, Texas News, December 1896.
  • Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Des Moines, IA: Dyer Publishing Company, 1908. OCLC 8697590. Page 723: In the Battles, Campaigns, etc. in Georgia section, the engagement on April 16, 1865 at Columbus is classified as "Action, Columbus." The Union loss is given as "6 killed, 24 missing." Page 881: In the Battles, Campaigns, etc. in Texas section, the engagements on May 12-13, 1865 at Palmetto Ranch are classified as "Skirmishes, Palmetto Ranch." The Union loss is given as "118 killed, wounded and captured." A separate skirmish is listed on March 13 at White's Ranch. On page 882, Dyer classifies the June 9, 1863 Battle of Brandy Station as an "engagement." In order for Dyer to classify an action as a battle, it had to be quite large and bloody. Neither Columbus/West Point, Georgia or Palmito Ranch/White's Ranch, Texas were identified as battles. I could not find that his exact criteria for the combat categories were set out anywhere in the text." On page 1733, in the entry for the regimental history of the 62nd Regiment Infantry, Dyer states in the service paragraph: "Expedition from Brazos Santiago May 11-14, 1865. Action at Palmetto Ranch May 12-13, 1865. White's Ranch May 13. Last action of the war."
  • Demy, Timothy J. Brownsville, Texas In Tucker, Spencer C., ed. American Civil War: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection. Santa Barbara, California : ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2013. ISBN 978-1-85109-682-4. Retrieved January 20, 2014. Page 240: "On May 12–13, 1865, Confederate and Union forces skirmished outside Brownsville in the Battle of Palmito Ranch, in what is regarded as the last battle of the war. A few days later, Confederates in Brownsville agreed to a truce. On June 2, 1865, Lieutenant General (sic) Edmund Kirby Smith officially surrendered the Trans-Mississippi theater."
  • Hess, Earl J. The Civil War in the West; Victory and Defeat from the Appalachians to the Mississippi. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0-8078-3542-5.  – via Questia (subscription required) . Also preview at: The Civil War in the West; Victory and Defeat from the Appalachians to the Mississippi. Retrieved January 20, 2014. Page 284: "He pushed on toward Columbus, Georgia, nestled on the east bank of the Chattahoochee River just across the state line. On the evening of April 16, the Federal troopers staged a mounted attack on the earthworks that guarded Columbus on the west side of the river and managed to cross the stream before the bridge was destroyed. That night they captured Columbus with more than one thousand prisoners, along with the important war industry works in the city and its shipyard. Columbus was the last battle of Wilson’s command, for three days later he learned of Lee’s surrender. This did not necessarily mean that the fighting was over, for no one could predict how Confederate commanders in the region would react to the collapse of Rebel resistance in Virginia." Page 292: "[Brig. Gen. And Brevet Maj. Gen.] James H. Wilson informed his subordinates near Macon that Johnston's surrender foretold the doom of the Confederacy. "There remains nothing else to be done except to capture the rebel chiefs and their tresaure, and break up the forces in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas." fn 21 "Wilson to [Benjamin] Grierson, May 2, 1865, Special Field Orders No. 30, HQ Cavalry Corps, Military Division of the Mississippi, May 4, 1865, OR 49(2):580, 601." OR: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1880-1901. OR citation volume (part) page.
  • Hearn, Chester G. The Civil War State by State. Devon: RedBlue Press, 2011. Maps by Mike Marino. ISBN 978-1-908247-04-9. Retrieved January 20, 2014 but no preview. Page 379. "The Last Battle. This engagement occurred after the surrender at Appomattox and took place on the banks of the Rio Grande, about twelve miles east of Brownsville, on May 12-13, 1865."
  • Varhola, Michael J. and Maureen A. Taylor. Life in Civil War America. Cincinnati: Family Tree Books, 2011. ISBN 978-1-4403-1086-7. Retrieved January 17, 2014.  – via Questia (subscription required) . Page 38: "Little fighting took place on Texas soil. The capture and subsequent recapture of Galveston, a major supply port for the Confederacy, were the most important actions, and the Battle of Palmito Ranch, fought after the Rebel surrender at Appomattox, was the last land battle of the war."
  • McComb, David G. Texas: A Modern History. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-292-72314-6. Retrieved January 17, 2014.  – via Questia (subscription required) . Page 74: "On May 13, 1865, Colonel John S. “Rip” Ford forced Union soldiers moving toward Brownsville to retreat to Brazos Island and won the Battle of Palmito Ranch. Texans thus achieved victory in the final battle of the Civil War, but the war was lost."
  • Piston, William Garrett and Thomas P. Sweeney, eds. Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of Missouri in the Civil War. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2009. ISBN 978-1-55728-913-1. Retrieved January 17, 2014. Pages 249-250: "In December 1863, the first black army unit from Missouri was mustered into service at Benton Barracks. The First Missouri Colored Infantry was stationed at St. Louis until February of the following year, when it was ordered to Port Hudson, Louisiana. While there the unit's designation was changed to the Sixty-second Infantry, USCT. In the spring of 1865, they went to Texas, where in May at Palmito Ranch they participated in what is usually recognized as the last engagement of the war."
  • Wagner, Margaret E., Gary W. Gallagher, and Paul Finkelman. The Library of Congress Civil War Desk Reference. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, Inc., 2009 edition. ISBN 978-1-4391-4884-6. First Published 2002. Pages 328-330. "...last engagement of the Civil War." (330) See also page 51: May 29, 1865: Johnson offers amnesty to all who participated directly or indirectly in "the existing rebellion" upon taking the oath of allegiance to the United States. No mention is made of the action at Columbus in the discussion of Wilson's Raid or elsewhere in the book. (Pages 324-325)
  • Weeks, Michael. The Complete Civil War Road Trip Guide. Woodstock, VT: The Countryman Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-88150-860-4. [Distributed by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York.] Retrieved January 17, 2014. Page 182: "Palmito Ranch, the last and perhaps the most unnecessary battle of the Civil War...."
  • Civil War Preservation Trust. Campi, James, ed. and Mary Goundrey, Wendy Valentine. Civil War Sites: The Official Guide to the Civil War Discovery Trail, 2d ed. Guilford, CT: The Globe Pequot Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7627-4435-0. First edition published 2003. Page 308: You may be surprised to learn that the last land battle of the Civil War was fought on Texas soil on May 13, 1865. The Battle of Palmito Ranch occurred more than one month after General Lee's surrender in Virginia."
  • Fredriksen, John C. Civil War Almanac. New York: Facts on File, Inc., Infobase Publishing, 2007. ISBN 978-1-4381-0803-2. Page 591: "While small, Palmito Ranch is also the last pitched encounter of the Civil War."
  • O'Brien, Sean Michael. Irish Americans in the Confederate Army. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2013, 2007. ISBN 978-0-7864-2998-1. Retrieved January 17, 2014. Pages 208-209: "The last battle of the war was fought near Brownsville at Palmito Ranch, Mary 12-13, 1865....Ironically, the last engagement of the Civil War was a Confederate victory."
  • Selcer, Richard F. Civil War America, 1850 to 1875. New York: Facts On File, 2006. ISBN 978-0-8160-3867-1. Retrieved January 17, 2014. Page 268: "May 12-13, 1865. Last battle of the Civil War is fought at Palmito Ranch near the mouth of the Rio Grande River."
  • Townsend, Stephen A. The Yankee Invasion of Texas. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2006. ISBN 978-1-58544-487-8. Retrieved January 17, 2014. Page 130. "It was the last shot of the last battle of the Civil War. Says Confederate casualties were greater as later a Captain Carrington said the Confederates took time to bury their dead.
  • Weitz, Mark A. More Damning Than Slaughter Retrieved January 17, 2014. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0-8032-4797-0.  – via Questia (subscription required) Page vii: "Despite the surrender of Lee at Appomattox and of Joseph Johnston twelve days later, Smith believed that the war was not over as long as an army remained in the field. The last official battle would come in June (sic) 1865, at Palmetto Ranch in southern Texas.
  • Campbell, Randolph. Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0-19-513842-9. Retrieved January 17, 2014.  – via Questia (subscription required) . Page 259: "While the surrender of Texas remained in doubt, Confederate and Union troops fought the last battle of the Civil War on May 13, 1865, at Palmito Ranch near Brownsville. Confederates under Col. “Rip” Ford routed a unit of Federal soldiers that crossed from Brazos Island to the mainland and moved upriver, but even a fighter such as Ford had to admit that the war was over. Several days after the battle, he met with Union officers in Brownsville and arranged to stop the fighting."
  • Axelrod, Alan. America's Wars. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2002. ISBN 978-0-471-32797-4. Retrieved January 17, 2014.  – via Questia (subscription required) . Pages 299-300: "On May 10, President Johnson declared that armed resistance was “virtually at an end,” but three days later, at Palmito Ranch, near Brownsville, Texas, Confederate troops under Edmund Kirby Smith skirmished with Federals. This small engagement was the last fighting of the war. Smith surrendered to Canby on May 26. The very last Confederate commander to surrender was Stand Watie, son of a full-blooded Cherokee father and a half-blooded Cherokee mother, a brigadier general from Indian Territory. He laid down arms on June 23, 1865, at Doakville, Indian Territory."
  • Hunt, Jeffrey Wm. The Last Battle of the Civil War: Palmetto Ranch''. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-292-73461-6. Page 5: "Indeed it was nearly two months after Appomattox when the last of the Confederate armies laid down its arms. Before that event took place there was one last battle on the banks of the Rio Grande near the southern tip of Texas, at a place called Palmetto Ranch, and it was fought just over four weeks after Lee's surrender. Ironically, it was a battle the Confederacy won."
  • In their survey works, some historians such as James M. McPherson, Allan Nevins, Russell Weigley and Harry Hansen do not mention the battles at Columbus, Georgia or Palmito Ranch, much less describe either one as the last battle of the Civil War. McPherson apparently does refer to Palmito Ranch as the last battle of the war in McPherson, James M. The Final Fury. New York, Simon and Shuster, 2002. ISBN 978-0-689-84833-9. Retrieved January 17, 2014. Only a preview was available on line, not including the text about the battle. However, the index entry on page 96 is "Palmito Ranch, last Civil War battle at, 84." This book was written for juvenile readers.
  • Wright, John D. The Language of the Civil War. Westport, CT; London: Oryx Press, 2001. ISBN 978-1-57356-135-8. Retrieved January 17, 2014.  – via Questia (subscription required) . Page 253: "'Rip' The nickname of Confederate Colonel John S. Ford, who commanded the raggedy Cavalry of the West. His nickname stood for "Rest in Peace," because Ford sent many of his enemies to the cemetery. A former physician, newspaper editor, and Texas Ranger, Ford won the last real battle of the Civil War, a month after General Lee had surrendered. His troops were attacked by Colonel Theodore H. Barrett's on May 12, 1865, at Palmito Ranch on the east bank of the Rio Grande, 12 miles from Brownsville, Texas. The two-day battle resulted in 30 Union soldiers killed and wounded and 113 captured, with Ford's men suffering only minor wounds. To avoid the official humiliating surrender of his cavalry to the Yankees, Rip disbanded his unit 13 days after winning the war's final battle."
  • Eicher, David J. The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. ISBN 0-684-84944-5. Retrieved January 20, 2014. Page 843: "On May 12 came the final land battle of the war. Far out in the Trans-Mississippi, to which news traveled slowly, forces clashed near Brownsville, Texas, at Palmito Ranch (sometimes spelled Palmetto Ranch)...The last land action of the was was, ironically, a Confederate victory." On Page 837, Eicher noted this about Columbus: "On the same day [April 16, 1865], Upton struck into Confederate forces at Columbus, capturing that city and its naval works and burning the ram CSS Jackson."
  • Hendrickson, Robert. The Road to Appomattox. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2000. ISBN 978-0-471-14884-5. Retrieved January 17, 2014.  – via Questia (subscription required) . Page 221. "May 13. The battle or skirmish of Palmito Ranch is fought in Texas on the banks of the Rio Grande. Confederate troops under Colonel John R. I. P. (”Rest in Peace”) Ford win this last significant battle of the Civil War, the Union suffering considerable casualties. In the battle Indiana private John Jay Williams becomes the last soldier to be killed in action in a Civil War battle, according to many sources."
  • Kennedy, Frances H., ed. The Civil War Battlefield Guide. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998. ISBN 978-0-395-74012-5. Page 437. "Texas: May 1865 Palmito Ranch (TX 005). Cameron County, May 12-13, 1865. "The last battle of the Civil War was won in Texas by the Confederates." The only mention in this book of the Columbus, Georgia affair, on page 436, is that "…Wilson then pushed east to Columbus, Georgia, another major center of Confederate industry, and occupied it on April 16." The book includes the "384 principal battles designated by the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields. (Page x)
  • Gallaway, E. P. Texas, The Dark Corner of the Confederacy: Contemporary Accounts of the Lone Star State in the Civil War. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1994. ISBN 978-0-8032-2148-2. Retrieved January 17, 2014.  – via Questia (subscription required) . Page 19: "Scattered skirmishes of little significance occurred during the first weeks of April, and then, forty-nine months after the war began at Fort Sumter, the final armed encounter of the conflict was fought in Texas. Ironically, it was a Confederate victory. Ford and his Texans engaged a Federal force on the afternoon of May 13, 1865, at Palmito ranch house, not far from Brownsville."
  • Forgie, George B. Brownsville, Texas: City of Brownsville In Current, Richard N. ed. The Confederacy: Selections from the Four-Volume Macmillan Encyclopedia of the Confederacy New York: Simon & Shuster Macmillan, 1993, introductory material, 1998. ISBN 978-0-02-864920-7. Page 173: "An attempt by Union forces to retake Brownsville in the spring of 1865 led to the last land battle of the Civil War. A month after Appomattox, but before the surrender of Confederate forces in the Trans-Mississippi Department, Federal troops under the command of Theodore H. Barrett advanced toward the city. On May 13, they encountered Ford's Cavalry of the West at Palmito Ranch, on the Rio Grande midway between Brownsville and the Gulf. The Texans routed Barrett's troops and drove them back to their position on the coast." Page 173: Frazier, Donald S. Brownsville, Texas: Battles of Brownsville. "On May 12, the Federals occupied a Confederate camp at Palmito Ranch east of the city. The following day, Colonel Ford and four hundred horsemen who called themselves the 'Cavalry of the West,' aided by a battery of Confederate artillery partially manned by French gunners from Mexico, attacked the Federal column. The Union troops, expecting a fairly easy advance since the principal Confederate armies had surrendered over a month earlier, fled back to Brazos Santiago. This Confederate victory marked the last land battle of the war. Two dozen Federals were killed or wounded while eight-five were captured. Ten Texans were also wounded." (Usual casualty figures given in sources are 30 Federals killed or wounded and 113 captured and as few as five or six Confederates wounded, as in the next article.) Page 1100: Bailey, Anne, J. Trans-Mississippi Department. "When Lee surrendered in April, 1865, Kirby Smith, along with military and civil authorities, issued calls for the people of the Southwest to continue the fight. The last battle of the war occurred in the Trans-Mississippi deep in South Texas where Col. John S. ("Rip") Ford and the Second Texas had not learned that the end was near. Three hundred Federal troops from the island of Brazos Santiago under Col. T. H. Barrett landed on the mainland and headed toward Confederate-held Fort Brown. Barrett, whose command was mostly black soldiers, met a detachment of Ford's regiment at Palmito Ranch near Brownsville, but after a brief skirmish, both sides withdrew. The following day, May 13, Ford struck at the Union soldiers; 113 surrendered and 30 were killed or wounded. The Texans learned from their prisoners that Lee and Johnston had surrendered in April."
  • Josephy, Jr., Alvin M., The Civil War in the American West. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1991. ISBN 978-0-394-56482-1. No preview. Pages 223-224. "On May 13, 1865, after Appomattox, they [the Union force] ventured forth to try to retake Brownsville. Colonel Ford and 300 mounted men had not yet surrendered. They charged the Federals at Palmito Hill and drove them back to their original position. It was the last official battle of the Civil War and the last echo of Banks's frustrated campaigns to take Texas."
  • Ward, Geoffrey C. and Kenneth Burns. The Civil War. New York: Knopf, 1990. ISBN 978-0-394-56285-8. Retrieved January 17, 2014. Page 317: "...where on May 13, 1865, Private John J. Williams of the 34th Indiana became the last man to be killed in the Civil War, in a battle at Palmito Ranch, Texas. This final skirmish was a Confederate victory." (My edition has this on page 397.)
  • Richter, William L. The Army in Texas during Reconstruction, 1865-1870. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1987. ISBN 978-0-89096-282-4. Retrieved January 20, 2014.  – via Questia (subscription required) . Page 17: "Brownsville had been occupied by the Yankees in late 1863, but a lack of manpower prevented them from establishing a good hold on the region. Then in July, 1864, Confederate forces wrested the city from Union control and prevented its recapture in the last battle of the Civil War, at Palmetto Ranch, May 13, 1865."
  • Gillett, Mary C. (US Army). The Army Medical Department, 1818-1865. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1987. OCLC 15550997. Retrieved January 18, 2014. Page 261: "The division that went on to Columbus, Georgia, sustained an additional 28 wounded in capturing that city four days later." Page 263: It was also west of the Mississippi, at Brownsville, Texas, on 13 May 1865 a small number of Union and Confederate soldiers fought the last battle of the Civil War."
  • Delaney, Norman C. Palmito ranch, Tex., eng. at. 12-13 May 1865. Page 556. In Historical Times Illustrated History of the Civil War, edited by Patricia L. Faust. New York: Harper & Row, 1986. ISBN 978-0-06-273116-6. "...the situation changed with the arrival on Brazos Island of Union Col. Theodore H. Barrett, an inexperienced and ambitious officer. His coming led to the last engagement of the Civil War, fought 12-13, May 1865. "...30 Federals killed and wounded, and another 113 taken prisoner..." "Ford gave his own casualties as only 5 suffering from minor wounds." No specific mention of the Columbus action is made in a stand-alone article or in the articles about Wilson, James Harrison (832), Wilson's Raid to Selma, Ala (834), or Selma, Ala, capture of (665-666).
  • Bowman, John S., ed. The Civil War Almanac. New York: Facts on File, Bison Book Corp., 1982. ISBN 0-87196-640-9. No preview. Page 168: "13 May 1865...The Battle of Palmitto (sic) Ranch is to be the last significant land battle of the war."
  • Foote, Shelby. The Civil War: A Narrative. Vol. 3, Red River to Appomattox. New York: Random House, 1974. ISBN 978-0-394-46512-8. Page 1019. "Such things as they did now were done on their own, usually under enemy compulsion: for example, a two-day engagement at Palmito Ranch, May 12-13, on the east bank of the Rio Grande near Brownsville, down at the very tip of Texas. Andrew Johnson's May 10 declaration that armed resistance was "virtually at an end" had thus been premature, but only by three days."
  • Long, E. B. The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac, 1861–1865. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971. OCLC 68283123. Page numbers are from 1971 print edition; web address is for 2012 reprint. Page 688. "Last Land Fight. In the last land engagement of any significance...Palmito Ranch on the banks of the Rio Grande." On page 677, for April 16, 1865, Long states: "James Harrison Wilson's Federal cavalry, well into Georgia now, captured West Point and Columbus." On page 687 under May 10 (the date that Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured) Long quotes President Andrew Johnson as stating that "armed resistance to the authority of this Government in the said insurrectionary States may be regarded as virtually at an end..." (emphasis supplied). On page 696, Long notes that on April 2, 1866, President Johnson declared "that the insurrection which heretofore existed in the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida is at an end and is henceforth to be so regarded." On pages 696-697, Long notes that President Johnson declared the insurrection at an end in all the States, including Texas, on August 20, 1866.
  • Black, III, Robert C. The Railroads of the Confederacy. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1952. OCLC 445590. Page 289: "For three more weeks a vague Confederate authority lingered on in Texas, the state wherein, oddly enough, the rule of Richmond had seemed most shadowy. There the last land engagement of the war, Palmetto Ranch, was fought on May 11 (sic), and what is more, was won by the Confederates."
  • Coulter, E. Merton. The Confederate States of America, 1861-1865. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1950. OCLC 478709. Retrieved January 18, 2014. Page 564: "The last instance of resistance took place at Brownsville on May 13, a Confederate victory,..."
  • Benedict, H. Y. Texas In The Encyclopedia Americana. New York: The Encyclopedia Americana Corporation, 1920. OCLC 7308909. Page 465: "The last battle of the Civil War was fought at Palmito, near Palo Alto, on the Rio Grande, on 13 May, 1865."
  • Andrews, Mathew Page The Dixie Book of Days. Philadelphia and London: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1912. OCLC 2634699. Page 115: "Texas troops, C.S.A., defeat Federals in last battle of the War, at Palmito Ranch, 1865, the victors learning from their prisoners that the Confederacy had fallen."
  • Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Des Moines, IA: Dyer Publishing Company, 1908. OCLC 8697590. On page 1733, in the entry for the regimental history of the 62nd Regiment Infantry, Dyer states in the service paragraph: "Expedition from Brazos Santiago May 11-14, 1865. Action at Palmetto Ranch May 12-13, 1865. White's Ranch May 13. Last action of the war."
  • Wood, Walter Birkbeck and Sir James Edward Edmonds. A History of the Civil War in the United States, 1861-5. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons; London: Metheun, 1905. OCLC 2455862. Page 524: "In the Trans-Mississippi Department the last actual fighting of the war took place on May 13th in Texas, and on May 26th, General Kirby Smith, commanding in that Department, surrendered all his forces."
  • Garrison, George P. Texas: A Contest of Civilizations. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1903. OCLC 950883. Page 290. "There was no fighting in the interior of Texas during the whole period of the war, but it is a fact worth noting by the curious that the last engagement between the Federal and the Confederate forces took place at Palmito near Palo Alto on the Rio Grande, May 13, 1865."
  • Wood, Robert C. Confederate Handbook. New Orleans, Graham Press, 1900. OCLC 1526005. Page 32: "The Last Battle of the War. The defense of West Point, Ga., April 16, 1865, by General Robert C. Tyler. with 300 men, against a federal raiding force of 3,700, was the last organized resistance of the Confederates east of the Mississippi River. General Tyler, who had been several times wounded previously, and had lost a leg, was killed in this engagement. On May 13, 1865, at Palmetto Ranch, near Brownsville, Texas, an engagement took place between a Confederate force of 300 under Gen. James E. Slaughter, and a Federal force of 500 under Col. T. H. Barrett. This was the last action of the war." Page 69: "1865. May 13, Palmetto Ranch, near Brownsville, last engagement of the war."
  • Schouler, James. History of the Civil War, 1861-1865. Being vol. VI. of: History of the United States of America, under the Constitution. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1899. OCLC 10963739 Page 619: "After one more skirmish, near Brazos, quite needless, Smith, too, on the 26th of May, surrendered his whole armed force to Canby...."
  • Armstrong, Lt. William H. The Negro as a Soldier. in War Papers Read Before the Indiana Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. Indianapolis: Published by the Commandery, 1898. Page 331: "…and rounding the record up by fighting the last engagement of the war on the far-off Rio Grande."
  • Conyer, Luther. Last Battle of the War. From the Dallas, Texas News, December 1896. In Brock, R. A. Southern Historical Society Papers. Volume XXIV. Richmond: Published by the Society, 1896. OCLC 36141719. Page 309. "The last battle of the war between regularly organized forces was fought in Texas May 13, 1865 and called "the battle of Palmetto Ranch," near the city of Brownsville, Texas, on the Rio Grande." [refuting W. J. Slatter in November 1896 issue of Confederate Veteran magazine asserting that the battle of West Point, Georgia, April 16, 1865, was the last battle of the war between regularly organized forces.] Page 310: Quotes from report of Colonel T. H. Barrett, 62nd United States Colored Infantry, from the Official Records: "Headquarters, Third Brigade, First Division, Twenty-Fifth Army Corps, Camp (near) Brownsville, Tex., August 10, 1865. General: I have the honor to submit the following report of the battle of Palmetto Ranch, Tex., May 13, 1865, the last engagement of the war."
  • Tomes, Robert and John Laird Wilson. Battles of America by Sea and Land: The great civil war. New York: James S. Virtue, 1878. OCLC 1905635. Page 948: "Meanwhile collisions were taking place between portions of the rival forces on the borders of the Rio Grande. One of these, which happened near Brazos Santiago, and which resulted somewhat unfavorably for the Nationals, proved to be the last battle of the war." Page 949: "Such was the battle of Palmetto Ranche, famous for being the last of the Civil War."
  • Lossing, Benson John and William Barritt. Pictorial history of the civil war in the United States of America, Volume 3. OCLC 1007582. Hartford: Thomas Belknap, 1877. Retrieved May 1, 2011. Page 580. "The running fight continued about three hours when the Confederates desisted. So ended the Battle of Palmetto Ranche. It was the last one in the great struggle. At about sunset, on the 13th of May, between White's Ranche and the Boca Chica Strait, in Texas, the Sixty-second United States Colored Infantry, fired the last volley of the war." (Italics in original.)
  • Martin, ed., John H. Columbus, Geo., from Its Selection as a "trading Town" in 1827, to Its Partial Destruction by Wilson's Raid in 1865.. Columbus, GA: Gilbert, Book Printer and Binder, 1874. Page 178. "The enemy arrived in sight of Columbus, on the Alabama side of the river, on Sunday, the 16th of April. We copy from the [Columbus] Enquirer, of June 27th (which was the first number of a paper issued in the city after the raid) an account of the attack and capture of the city....On Sunday, the 16th of April, the last battle of the war, east of the Mississippi river, was fought in Girard, Alabama, opposite this city. The Confederate troops consisted of two regiments of the Georgia State Line, Waddell's battery, some of the forces of Gens. Wofford and Buford, a small number of the Georgia reserves, the organized companies for local defense in this city, besides a number of citizens of Columbus and a few hastily collected reserves of Russell County, Alabama – numbering in all, perhaps, two thousand men." On page 180, the newspaper account names or identifies nine Confederates, including Col. C. A. L. Lamar, who were known to have been killed in the battle. Page 181: "We have called this the last fight east of the Mississippi. There was a sharp fight at West Point on the same day, but earlier in the day. There may possibly have been a brush or two in Western North Carolina after the 16th of April, but nothing like a battle of any importance. A fight occurred two or three weeks later in Western Texas near the old Palo Alto battle ground, in which the Confederates were successful; and this closed the fighting of the civil war, so far as we have any advice." On page 183, Wilson's report is quoted saying that his force captured twelve hundred prisoners while losing twenty-five men killed and wounded.
  • Draper, John William. History of the American Civil War. Volume III. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1870. OCLC 337190. Page 619: "The last conflict of the Civil War occurred May 13th, on the Rio Grande, near Brazos Santiago. A small expedition had set out to surprise a Confederate camp, which it succeeded it doing, but was overtaken on its return by a large force, and defeated, with the loss of 80 men."
  • H. H. Lloyd and Co. Lloyd's Battle History of the Great Rebellion. New York: H.H. Lloyd & Co., 1866. OCLC 3946782. Retrieved November 8, 2012. Page 673. "On the 11th of May, Colonel Barrett conducted a body of troops, about 400 strong, from Brazos to seize a rebel camp, with its horses and cattle, about 15 miles above on the Brownsville road, at Palmetto Ranch....The fight was of some importance, as being the last action of the war."

The battle of Palmito Ranch was fought between regularly organized forces of the Union and Confederacy. The Confederate forces in the Trans-Mississippi Deparment under General E. Kirby Smith had not surrendered. The argument that the Civil War was over and this was a "post-war" action is invalid and simply illogical. It makes no sense to describe Palmito Ranch in terms of groups of ex-soldiers fighting each other even though the war was over. They did not think they were ex-soldiers nor do historians. The Confederacy was not going to survive for long. But since neither the government of the Confederate States nor all of its armies had surrendered and Confederate armies were still in the field, the war was not over. Governors and military officers in the Trans-Mississippi wanted to continue the war even after the surrenders in the east were known.

By some of the same arguments used to support the assertion that the Battle of Columbus was the last battle of the war, that it was before Jefferson Davis was captured and Joe Johnston surrendered, the following battles took place later: the Battles of Catawba River or Morgantown, North Carolina (April 17, 1865), Bradford Springs, South Carolina (April 18, 1865), Boykin's Mills, South Carolina (April 18, 1865) (Union casualties noted below), Germantown, Tennessee (April 18, 1865) (Union casualties: 6 killed, 2 wounded, 7 missing), Pleasant Hills, Georgia (April 28, 1865) Double Bridges, Flint River, Georgia (April 18, 1865), Denkin's Mills and Beech Creek, near Statesburg, South Carolina (April 19, 1865), Barnesville, Georgia (April 19, 1865), Spring Hill, Georgia (April 20, 1865), Swannanoa Gap, North Carolina (April 20, 1865), Montpelier Springs, Alabama (April 20, 1865), Mimm's Bridge, Topesofkee Creek, and Rocky Creek Bridge near Macon, Georgia (April 20, 1865), Buzzard's Roost, Georgia (April 22, 1865), Howard's Gap, North Carolina (April 22, 1865), Linn Creek, Missouri (April 22, 1865), Mouth Big Gravois, Missouri (April 22, 1865), Spring Valley, Missouri (April 23, 1865), Munford's Station, Alabama (April 23, 1865), Hendersonville, North Carolina (April 23, 1865), Snake River, Arkansas (April 23, 1865), Boggy Station, Indian Territory (April 24, 1865), Miami, Missouri (April 24, 1865) and Linn Creek, Missouri (April 25, 1865).

Union casualties at Boykin's Mills were 9 killed, 18 wounded, 1 missing. This is a similar number to the Union casualties at Columbus, Georgia, 6 killed, 24 missing, so Boykin's Mills cannot be dismissed as a mere skirmish where a few shots were fired and no one was killed, or maybe even hurt or even as a smaller action than Columbus, Georgia. We also know that the Confederates suffered casualties at Boykin's Mills, including the death of the commanding officer's son.

Here are the only sources I can find in which the Battle of Columbus, Georgia is mentioned as the last battle of the war, with or without qualification. The few unqualified statements are not from books by historians or in books generally about the Civil War. Most of the statements are qualified as shown in bold. If there are other sources which accept the premise that Columbus was the last battle, they are not easily found. (I remember, but could not find, another ghost book which has the "widely regarded" phrase, but without citation.)

  • Morekis, Jim. (2013) Georgia (a Moon guide). Pages 494-495: Linwood Cemetery....Notables buried here include Coca-Cola inventor John Pemberton (who was wounded in the last battle of the Civil War, fought in Columbus); [no citation]
  • Jones, James Pickett. (1976) Yankee Blitzkrieg: Wilson's Raid Through Alabama and Georgia. Page 144: "Some have called the fight for Columbus the Civil War's last battle. Others have found subsequent actions in the west and qualify the claim. To those writers Columbus is the war's last battle east of the Mississippi....An undetermined number of soldiers and the people of Columbus had to pay the price for being engaged in one of the Civil War's last battles, a battle of no real military consequence in a dying conflict."
  • Gray, Jeremy and Jeff Davis, China Williams. (2002) Georgia and the Carolinas. Page 182: "….This is considered the last significant land battle of the Civil War." [no citation]
  • Sullivan, Buddy. (May 2010) Georgia: A State History Page 93 "After a brisk skirmish with Columbus home guards centered on the Chattahoochee River bridges - the last land battle of the war in Georgia - the Federals occupied the city on April 16."
  • McGhee, James E. (2008) Guide to Missouri Confederate Units, 1861-1865. Page 23: "10th Light Battery (Rice's/Barrett's)...." Page 24: "The final fight of the battery occurred at Columbus, Georgia, on April 16, 1865, sometimes referred to as the last battle east of the Mississippi River."
  • Gilbert, Stirling Price. (2010, originally 1946) A Georgia Lawyer: His Observations and Public Service. Page 201: "The last battles of the war in this state were fought in Columbus and West Point on April 16, 1865, following Lee's surrender at Appomattox on April 9th."

I realize this is a long entry but I believe it is probably necessary in order to put to rest both the assertions that the Battle of Columbus, Georgia was the last battle of the war and that it is widely regarded as such. Donner60 (talk) 04:56, 20 April 2015 (UTC)Reply

Note that Wilson's raiders were engaged in the later Battle of Munford (new stub article), in the above list as Munford's Station. Wilson had been injured by a fall from a horse by that time. Donner60 (talk) 07:40, 26 July 2015 (UTC)Reply

The text of this article which I have just changed cited the Official Records as stating the Battle of Columbus is referred to as the "closing conflict of the war." Official Records, I:49, Part One, p. 475. This is not an official statement of the government or compilers of the records but the May 30, 1865 report by Brevet Major General Emory Upton. His report is the report of his division of the Wilson raiders. It may have been his division's last conflict but General John T Croxton, another division commander of Wilson's command, engaged in the Battle of Munford later, and before the surrender of Johnston's army. Boykin's Mill was later, had as many casualties as Columbus and was before Bennett Place. Palmito Ranch was later and was before E. Kirby Smith's surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department. Either Upton did not intend to make a statement other than about his own division's participation in the war, or he was ignorant of the later actions as of May 30, 1865. In any case, this is Upton's take on the matter, not that of the "Official Records," a misleading characterization. Donner60 (talk) 08:34, 26 July 2015 (UTC)Reply

Too strident

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Latest comment: 7 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Donner60, you are obviously well read, articulate, and put forth tremendous effort and energy in your contributions and edits. The materials and sources you provided above are formidable. But in your enthusiasm for your case, you dismiss too many legitimate historians. There truly is a debate as to where the last battle of the civil war occurred. You have done a commendable job in compiling the sources that support the Palmetto Ranch thesis, and it is a very strong case. But the way you dismiss the other side of the argument as only "a few," and when you paint them as "ghost story writers" and "local boosters" as well as "fool's promoting a fringe theory" you lose all respect as an even-handed sober, judicious, and careful historian.

You provided a list of sources that support the Columbus thesis, highlighting silly ghost books, but you either accidentally overlooked a lot of legitimate scholarly sources, or, more likely and worse, you deliberately failed to include them to bolster your opinion. Wikipedia is not for expressing opinion, it is for providing judicious, balanced, and informative information that considers all scholarly views.

Who you conveniently left off your list

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After saying "Here are the only sources I can find" that support the Columbus thesis, what sources did you leave out?--

  • Charles Misulia, COLUMBUS GEORGIA 1865: THE LAST TRUE BATTLE OF THE CIVIL WAR (University of Alabama Press, 2010). You may not like the Crimson Tide, but this is no local booster website. This is a peer-reviewed scholarly treatment published by an academic press. You don't have to agree with Misulia, but to say "I couldn't find it" or to say that the Univ of Alabama press has published "foolish, local boosterism, fringe theory" (your words) or even to say "this book is not a scholarly/academic treatment," reflects more on your judgment than it does on the scholarly source you are judging. And are you prepared to also condemn the long list of Civil War scholars who have endorsed Misulia's book? The scholarly credibility of his reviewers are quite formidable http://www.uapress.ua.edu/product/Columbus-Georgia-1865,4733.aspx
  • James McPherson, quoted in Gardiner, "The Last Battlefield," p. 17, wrote "Misulia makes a plausible case that the cavalry battle at Columbus is the last battle of the civil war." Dismissing Princeton's Professor James McPherson as "foolish, local boosterism or fringe theory" (your words) will certainly, in the end, result in your own embarrassment and dismissal.
  • Robert C. Jones refers to Columbus and West Point as "the final battles of the Civil War as they occurred just before Johnston's surrender on April 26, 1865 in North Carolina. Technically, the Battle of Palmito Ranch in Texas occurred after the war was over." (Jones, THE END OF THE CIVIL WAR IN GEORGIA, 92). Jones is the author of almost as many civil war topics as you!; including but not limited to,


    • A Guide to the Civil War in Alabama
    • A Guide to the Civil War in Georgia
    • Great Naval Battles of the Civil War
    • The Battle of Chickamauga: A Brief History
    • Retracing the Route of Sherman's March to the Sea
    • The Confederate Invasion of New Mexico
    • Conspirators, Assassins, and the Death of Abraham Lincoln
    • The Fifteen Most Critical Moments of the Civil War
    • Civil War Prison Camps: A Brief History
    • The Battle of Allatoona Pass: The Forgotten Battle of Sherman's Atlanta Campaign
    • Bleeding Kansas: The Real Start of the Civil War
    • Famous Songs of the Civil War
    • The Top 10 Innovations of the Civil War
    • The Top 20 Most Influential Leaders of the Civil War
    • The Top 25 Civil War Spies and Irregulars
    • The Top 10 Reasons Why the Civil War Was Won in the West
    • Lost Confederate Gold
    • Retracing the Route of Sherman's Atlanta Campaign
    • The Top 20 Best - and Worst - Generals of the Civil War
    • The W&A, the 'General', and the Andrews Raid: A Brief History
    • The Battle of Griswoldville: An Infantry Battle on Sherman's March to the Sea
    • The Top 25 Most Influential Women of the Civil War
    • McCook's Raid and the Battle of Brown's Mill

(You may not agree with Mr. Jones' conclusion, but to dismiss him as a fool who has no erudition on the topic at hand, reflects more on the quality of your own judgment than it does his).

  • Gardiner, "The Last Battlefield of the Civil War." Journal of America's Military Past XXXVIII (Summer 2013), 5-22. You seem to entirely avoid this piece of research. Is your view that the peer-review editors/military historians of this Journal are not scholars? The article also provides a plethora of other sources, both primary and secondary, that claim Columbus was the last battle. You address none of them. This doesn't appear to be book about ghosts.
  • Bellware, Daniel A. “The Last Battle. Period. Really,” Civil War Times Illustrated, 42 (April 2003), 48—56. This is no ghost fiction either. But not only do you not deal with it, you entirely omit it.
  • Dr. Daniel Crosswell, distinguished Military Historian and Professor, "The war ended by the time the Confederate government dissolved and the Battle of Columbus, Georgia was the last engagement which qualifies as a battle prior to the dissolution of the Confederacy."

http://www.nightlinx.com/events/eventdetail.php?event_id=343910472473896 are you prepared to tell Dr. Crosswell that he is a fool? Or would it perhaps just be better to say you disagree with his analysis?

  • Chandler, LAST DAYS OF THE CONFEDERACY IN NE GEORGIA (2015), 79. You couldn't find this book.
  • Richard Lifshey; James Bridges; Patrick Cusick, The Last Ditch: The Final Battle of the Civil War (2007). You couldn't find this. It was an award-winning research piece.
  • Kennedy, Linda, "The Destruction of Columbus, Georgia: The Last Battle of the War Between the States" (1996). Apparently your google doesn't work well.

Generals Wilson, Winslow, and Upton; Colonel Theodore Allen

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  • General James H. Wilson, "it was the last real battle of the war."

http://books.google.com/books?id=ljgOAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA265&lpg=PA265&dq=%22the+last+real+battle%22+wilson&source=bl&ots=CWYOoEfrnA&sig=JdEnkH94dF3i8QsDbkgechWakyc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CC0Q6AEwA2oVChMIx9GVjMyTyAIVjJ6ACh2JZgM8#v=onepage&q=%22the%20last%20real%20battle%22%20wilson&f=false)

  • General Edward F. Winslow, "I have always considered that engagement, by the number present and the results achieved, to be the final battle of the war."

http://sites.google.com/a/columbusstate.edu/primary-sources/winslow

  • General Emory Upton, "By 10.00 p. M. Columbus, with its vast munitions of war, 1500 prisoners and 24 guns was in our hands. This, which was the closing conflict of the war" (Official Records, I:49, Part One, p. 475). Your suggestion that General Upton was only referring to his own division's "closing conflict" would lead any reader with a modicum of judiciousness to question whether you are able to handle sources reasonably or whether you clearly have a "dog in this fight."

Some of these fellows are West-Pointers with perhaps more military training than even you. You seem to want to dismiss these high ranking officers as buffoons who were only trying to embellish their own importance. I'm not saying you have to agree with their conclusions, but to dismiss them as "fools" whose opinions are not worthy of consideration would cause an educated reader to wonder whether or not your handling of scholarly disagreement can be trusted. And that is a bit concerning given the amount of material you post to Wikipedia.

You seem to dismiss Swift's article in the Journal of the Military Service Institution simply on the grounds of its publication date. You don't address the merits.

The bottom line is this: you obviously have the right to hold the opinion that the scholars who disagree with you are wrong. What you don't have a right to do is pretend that they don't exist, or dismiss scholars with ad hominems like "ghost story writers, fools, local boosters, fringe theorists, and bloggers." You have a very extensive fingerprint on Wikipedia, and if you wish to be taken seriously, you have to handle issues of scholarly controversy with proper balance. Wikipedia readers lose whenever an opinionated editor comes in and authoritatively rewrites articles to reflect his own opinions rather than reflect the actual debate among experts. That's what you have done here and I think it is bad for Wiki and it's readership.

Sure, you probably have more scholarly noses on your side of the court. Fine. There are more scholars who believe Oswald acted alone than otherwise; but Wiki gives a fair share to those who don't think Oswald acted alone, and doesn't just dismiss them as kooks. That's where you aren't in keeping with the Wiki mission here. And, in the end, your whole argument seems to be reduced to a case of "I have a lot more secondary sources on my side." Whatever happened to relaying facts and letting them be judged on their own merit? (signed:Quag52)

Strident? Even though you accuse me of using the word "fools" twice, a search of this page will show the only two uses of the word are in your accusations. Nor did I use the word "buffoons." (I do think that Wikipedia looks foolish by having an article that pushes this minority point of view without even pointing out what the majority point of view is and I do use the word foolish in an edit summary in that context; that is far different from stating that I used words such as buffoons and fools to refer to the proponents of the opposite view. What I may have used in an edit summary with its limitations and in that context does not relate to or qualify what I have written above.) I would suggest that you are the one using the ad hominems. Look back at the sarcasm and other ad hominems with which you address me and distort my statements of fact and conclusions. That is typical of someone who has a weak case and wishes to attack the messenger in order to divert attention. McPherson has taken both sides of this in different places and just where is it that I call Jones or anyone else a fool or a buffoon?
There may be a few other sources, local or not easily found despite what you portray. I am sorry that I missed them but they don't change the conclusion or make the opposite viewpoint the majority view, much less an exclusive and conclusive one as you now portray it. I may have missed a few on the other side. These additional references still do not overcome the references and scholarship from just after the war to the present day about what the last battle was nor the facts that the Boykins Mill battle, not even considering Palmito Ranch, was about the same size and the Munford battle, among others, was later.
The vast majority of scholarship, plus the historical record, show that this battle was not the last battle of the civil war. You don't advance your case by unwarranted name-calling and distortion of my statements. Also, you have no idea what kind of military training I may have or any other fact about me that you wish to denigrate, any more that I know for sure whether you are a Columbus or nearby resident who wants to boost your locality. Of course, it is not about that, is it? That is just another ad hominem and distraction. This is about historical research and writing and presentation of the majority view.
You are the one distorting Wikipedia, not presenting a balanced view and not adhering to a neutral point of view by taking out all the contrary references and pushing a local point of view with a thin basis. I think that is bad for Wikipedia and the readership. I suppose I may have to leave this for a third person to deal with as an edit war is not something I wish to engage in. At least the information above will be available to anyone who cares to look at this page. Donner60 (talk) 04:32, 27 January 2017 (UTC)Reply

Key date

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Latest comment: 2 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion

The Confederacy officially dissolved itself on May 5th. This seems the obvious date to reckon as the war's end. Battles or skirmishes after this date should be classified as postwar hostilities. Valetude (talk) 16:44, 10 May 2018 (UTC)Reply

Conclusion of the American Civil War. Donner60 (talk) 04:21, 29 August 2018 (UTC)Reply
Probably of no matter here but I just posted threads with numerous references on Talk:American Civil War showing the various dates for the end of the Civil War. Many sources say it ended at different times for different purposes. See quotes from Professor Neff. The war did not end on May 5 and numerous historians above do not reckon the Battle of Palmetto Ranch as "postwar hostilities." See among other things General Grant's General Orders No. 90 (May 11, 1865) and General Bussey's Orders General Orders No. 24 (June 2, 1865), both linked on the talk page. Another reference of interest: * Walmsley, James Elliott.[1] "The Last Meeting of the Confederate Cabinet." The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. Vol. 6, No. 3 (Dec., 1919), pp. 336-349. Open access. I am posting this brief message here as information for the record if anyone wishes to look at it. I just happened to look back here for some references that I knew I could find on this page. I doubt if it gets much if any traffic. Donner60 (talk) 09:30, 13 June 2022 (UTC)Reply

Naming?

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Latest comment: 6 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
It is also known as the Battle of Girard, Alabama (now Phenix City).
Alternative names are generally the ones used by Union and Confederate sources. Was this the case here? Otherwise, which sources differ about the official naming? Valetude (talk) 15:50, 11 May 2018 (UTC)Reply

End of the War Date; Mischaracterization of "Remaining Resisters"

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Latest comment: 2 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Although the introduction to the article is now somewhat balanced, this statement later in the text in particular is simply incorrect (except for the date of Davis's capture): "President Andrew Johnson, who had succeeded Lincoln, declared the war over on May 10, 1865. This was the day that President Jefferson Davis was captured. Johnson characterized remaining resisters as no longer combatants, but "fugitives."[21]"

The proclamation is cited in footnote 21 and can easily be read by clicking the link. There are other sources for the full text of the proclamation cited in other articles as well. (A New York Times article with a misleadingly general headline and which conflates a March 9 executive order with the March 10 proclamation, although the article is cited as dated May 9, is not an accurate reference. One reason in particular is because of the headline about withdrawal of belligerent rights which is stated too generally as shown in the analysis below.)

It is clear that Johnson did not declare the war over in the proclamation and did not characterize "remaining resisters" but rather only "persons by whom that resistance was directed" (and commerce raiders) as captives or fugitives. For convenience in making my point without having to refer to the link, I copy the relevant parts of the proclamation:

"Whereas armed resistance to the authority of this Government in the said insurrectionary States may be regarded as virtually at an end, and the persons by whom that resistance, as well as the operations of insurgent cruisers, was directed are fugitives or captives;..." (emphasis supplied)

Note the following from the quote: "armed resistance...may be regarded as virtually at an end" which is not the same as stating that the war was finally and completely over. Also note "persons by whom that resistance was directed...are fugitives or captives" (as well as naval commerce raiders). This does not refer to all combatants or resisters but to the persons who directed the resistance, and to those who operated commerce raider cruisers and continue to do so, who are specially singled out.

In the first amnesty proclamation by President Johnson of May 29, 1865, army officers above the rank of colonel, navy captains and above and high ranking officials of the Confederate and state governments were excluded. This clearly shows that the "persons by whom that resistance was directed" were considered to be high ranking officers and officials, not all remaining resisters or combatants on May 10. Some of these high ranking officers and officials had been captured, others were still on the run on May 10 and in fact had escaped or later escaped to foreign countries. By 1867, amnesty was even applied to Jefferson Davis.

Moreover, some sizable Confederate Army formations had yet to surrender. They were not treated differently from those that surrendered earlier when they did surrender.

In the substantive part of the proclamation as opposed to the "whereas" clauses giving the background for the order, the proclamation only specifies the withdrawal of belligerent rights for commerce raider cruiser crews who do not stop the raiding - as shown by the following paragraph from the proclamation:

"Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, hereby enjoin all naval, military, and civil officers of the United States diligently to endeavor, by all lawful means, to arrest the said cruisers and to bring them into a port of the United States, in order that they may be prevented from committing further depredations on commerce and that the persons on board of them may no longer enjoy impunity for their crimes." (emphasis supplied)

Again, note the end of belligerent rights ("impunity for their crimes") only applies to "persons on board them" (the cruisers). No reference is made to any resister or combatant or official with respect to withdrawal of belligerent rights or characterization of them as fugitives other than "the persons on board them." The substance of the order portion of the proclamation deals solely with commerce raiders.

While I suppose this should be cleaned up, the above posts show the intensity with which supporters of the proposition that this was the last battle of the Civil War or that the war ended no later than the May 10 proclamation which dealt only with commerce raiders. I am reluctant to excite opposition which I think could be caused as a reaction to my earlier work on this article. I do think my statements and references in this post clearly support some clean up of the article text but I will leave it to be dealt with later (likely by someone else who may agree with this post). Otherwise, I hope many readers will see and consider this post and agree that the statement quoted from the existing text is not an accurate summary or characterization of the proclamation or a conclusion that can be drawn from it. Donner60 (talk) 06:09, 30 May 2022 (UTC)Reply

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