Today in History:

409 Series I Volume XXVI-I Serial 41 - Port Hudson Part I

Page 409 Chapter XXXVIII. THE RIO GRANDE EXPEDITION, ETC.

Considering that it was doubtless a similar circumstance that impelled the Supreme Governor to issue another decree on the 12th of May, raising the siege, and ordering that the Acting Governor shall dictate proper measures for re-establishing constitutional order in the State, unless he knows positively that its abolition has been suspended.

Considering, lastly, that Tamaulipas is passing through that restrictive position without all the benefits due it from the national cause, and greatly obstructing its local advancement, being all the time an exception in the Federal balance, where there is hardly another State which maintains the siege.

For similar public and notorious considerations, the armed garrison of this city and people respectfully and spontaneously agree upon the following articles for its prompt execution:

ARTICLE 1. Be it enacted, That the state of siege imposed by the decree of January 4, 1862, shall cease in the State, and consequently the Governor-elect, citizens Jesus de la Serna, shall be called to enter anew upon his functions, who, according to the constitution of the State, will arrange for suitably organizing and electing the other constitutional powers wherever they are incomplete through their term of duty having expired, or other causes.

ART. 2. The Governor and Military Commander, C. Manuel Ruiz, who actually exercised both commands in this heroic city, shall cease to exercise them from to-day.

ART. 3. The political authority of C. Juan Fernandez shall also cease, and, until some one be named in his place, this authority will be exercised by the citizen First Alcalde Rafael Quintero.

ART. 4. This resolution shall be communicated to the Supreme Governor, showing him forcibly that, being the spontaneous work of the most perfect unanimity, it is hoped he will give it his supreme approbation.


HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,
Flag-ship McClellan, off Aransas Pass, Tex., November 18, 1863.

GENERAL: I left Brownsville on the 13th, for the purpose of moving against the passes above Brazos Santiago. We completed the embarkation of troops at Brazos Island on the 15th, and sailed on the morning of the 16th for Corpus Christi. The troops on board were the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Maine, Thirty-fourth and Twenty-sixth Iowa, and the Eighth Indiana Regiments, and one battery of artillery, numbering in all about 1,500 men. We reached Corpus Christi the day before yesterday (16th), at 1 o'clock. We expected to be able to cross the bar at Corpus Christi with the Matamoras, one of the boats brought from the Rio Grande, and drawing 3 1/2 feet of water, but we found the passage was impracticable, the bar being covered by only 2 1/2 feet. We were, therefore, compelled to land our troops upon the coast. The disembarkation was superintended by Brigadier-General Ransom (who commanded the troops during the day), and was commenced immediately upon our arrival, and occupied the night. The troops, after landing, commenced a movement toward the upper end of the island, a distance of 22 miles. This march, performed immediately after effecting a most difficult landing by means of boats through the surf, reflects great credit upon the officers and troops engaged. The enemy was completely surprised by our arrival, having no intimation of our presence until the morning, when we presented ourselves. After skirmishing a couple of hours on the island, and some most effective and well-directed


Page 409 Chapter XXXVIII. THE RIO GRANDE EXPEDITION, ETC.