The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 21, July 1917 - April, 1918 Page: 280
434 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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280 The Southwestern Historical Quarterly
for effective administration, however, and in May 1862, it was
erected into the Trans-Mississippi Department, which was com-
posed of the districts of Arkansas and Texas. The Arkansas dis-
trict, which included Arkansas, Missouri, and that part of Louis-
iana lying north of the Red River, was placed under the command
of Major General T. C. Hindman; while the Texas district, con-
sisting of Texas and the remainder of Louisiana west of the
Mississippi River, was assigned to Major General P. 0. H6bert.2
There was strong objection in Louisiana to this arrangement since
it divided the state between two districts and gave it adequate
protection in neither. The protests which were made to the
President by state officials3 and the steady advance of the Federals
on the Mississippi probably led to the next change. In July
Major General T. H. Holmes was sent to command the Trans-
Mississippi Department. He made Louisiana a separate district
and assigned Major General Richard Taylor to command it. The
Indian Territory was added to the Arkansas District and Arizona
and New Mexico to that of Texas.4
During the first two years of the war, Galveston and minor
posts in Texas had been captured and retaken; New Orleans and
much of the coast country in Louisiana had been seized; Missouri
had been overrun; and the Confederate forces in Arkansas had
lost control of the Mississippi and had been driven south of the
White River. The greater part of this department ,had been un-
touched by invasion, but the continued advance of the Federals
on the Mississippi threatened the separation of the west from
the east. These disasters aroused the people everywhere. In the
west especially the feeling became intense. Soon after the fall
of New Orleans, leading men began to urge the officials at Rich-
mond to make arrangements by which this department could be
maintained and protected if the river should be lost. Guy M.
Bryan of Texas, May 2, 1862, urged upon the congressmen from
his state that the government send representatives of the war and
treasury departments west of the Mississippi. Governor Moore of
Louisiana, two days later, telegraphed the President that if the
'General Orders No. 39, War. Dept., May 26, 1862, Off. Recs., IX, 713;
General Orders No,. 1, [Hbert] June 18, 1862, ibid., 719.
"Moore to Randolph, July 25, 1862, Off. Recs., LIII, 819.
4General Orders No. 5, August 20, 1862, ibid., IX, 731.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 21, July 1917 - April, 1918, periodical, 1918; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101073/m1/286/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.