by Dr. Pelham Mead

The end of the Civil War had come with 10,000 confederates surrendering at a farm house in North Carolina. General Smith met with Union General Sherman and worked out the details of the Surrender. Meanwhile, General Grant was back in Washington, D.C. and when he received the details of the surrender he knew that The politicians in Washington, D.C. would never allow the Southerners Conditional surrender similar to the terms General Lee was offered. Secretary of War Stanton wanted blood and wanted the South to pay for repartitions . General Grant took a train to North Caroline to inform General Sherman that the terms of the surrender were too easy.

That night General Smith told the Texas Rangers that totaled 250 out of the 1,000 it started with that they had a choice to surrender or run and be considered criminals of war. The Texas Rangers met together after the meeting and 100 Rangers decided not to give up their shot guns and pistols. That night 100 Texas Rangers slipped through the Union Picketts and broke up into small groups afterward and tried to find their way back to Texas with all of the Union troops trying to hunt them down. The 8th division had to cross the Smokey Mountains with the Union soldiers close on their heels. When they approached the gorge Union soldiers were already stationed there waiting to stop fleeing Confederates. The 8th division dismounted and walked their horses around the pickets in the dark that night and made their way in to Tennesee. Eventually, they made it back to New Orleans where they boarded ships head to Galveston, Texas. When they got to Galveston the Mayor had the city under Marshall law to stop riots. They had to wait until the Mayor would allow ships to dock in Galveston. When they made it back to their homes in Texas, Carpet baggers were everywhere buying out destroyed farms. They were also forming the negros into negro Militia and started parading them around the farm communities. Texas was in chaos in those days. Eventually, hundreds of Texans sold their ranches or farms and fled to Brazil. Never to return to America.