Sec. 14.3

​The Effects of War

​Because no major battles of the Civil War were fought in Texas, the state did not suffer the destruction of war as severely as states such as Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina. Yet the people in Texas still felt the pain of war. Their absence meant more responsibilities
for those left behind.

The citizens of Texas faced other serious problems. Also, a U.S. blockade reduced the sale of farm products and caused supply shortages. The economy in Texas suffered.

Even though most people in Texas strongly supported the Confederacy, about one-fourth of Texans had been against secession. Their numbers grew during the war as the Confederate army lost battles, soldiers were killed or lost limbs, and the people at home faced shortages and other hardships.


Confederate supporters feared that the Peace Party would aid the Union in defeating the
Confederacy and Texas. Some even served in the Confederate army. Opposition to the Confederate draft caused German Texans in Gillespie, Kerr, and Kendall Counties to organize the Union Loyal League for service in the federal army. Many of the Union soldiers were killed during the battle, and the wounded were executed later.


A monument was later built in Comfort, Texas, to honor the Germans and one Mexican
American who died fighting for the Union.
Many Tejanos served in the Confederate army.

​

​Union Supporters in Texas

​During the war Texans continued raising cotton and cattle and producing other products. With many of the men gone to fight, Texas women took on the men’s work in addition to their own. Women ran post offices, stores, managed farms, helped drive cattle to market and made weapons. They also sent boxes filled with badly needed food supplies to soldiers at the front. Many women and men in Texas also worked in factories during the war. Iron furnaces opened in East Texas, and the state government had prisoners in Huntsville make clothes. The U.S. blockade of the Confederate states kept goods from entering or leaving these states.

​Wartime Economy

​With the blockade stopping the normal flow
of trade goods, many items were in short supply.
Goods such as clothes and shoes became very
scarce. Medicines and hospital supplies were sent
to the battle lines instead of to the towns. Honey took the place of sugar, and
homespun clothes replaced clothing bought in
stores. People left to fight and others had to take over their duties.

​Home Front Hardships

​During the war many slaves were sent to Texas to keep them from running away or being taken from farms and plantations in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi.

The slaves were often accompanied by their owners, who were unhappy for being forced out of their homes.
All these issues increased tension between Union and Confederate supporters.

​Refugees

​By the spring of 1865—four years after it had begun—it seemed certain that the Confederacy would lose the Civil War. After a series of defeats, Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the Civil War.

Word of the surrender traveled slowly. Some Confederate forces continued to fight even after the surrender. Confederate general Edmund Kirby Smith signed the official surrender of the Trans-Mississippi area, including Texas, on June 2, 1865, almost two months after Lee had surrendered.

​The War’s End