Those who read closely know that the Calhoun County Museum has a Civil War exhibition. This one will run till May. This 2011 year is a big anniversary year for things that happened in the middle and late 1800’s.We had a most successful 125 year commemoration of Indianola in August. And of course the Civil war started 150 years ago.

Most of the headlines of the Civil war relate all those battles North and East of here. Many know of the battles at places like Bull Run, Gettysburg, Vicksburg and countless other similar battles. Quite a few of those were won by the Confederates. Even when they lost many historians, Abe also, will tell you that the Union generals didn’t follow up the Rebs like they could have.

The Union had many other problems up in the north. A few know about the “Copperhead” movement. There was a concerted effort on several groups to press for peace, rather than fight. Some even wanted to secede and form some other nation like the Confederates had. It is a little reported thorn in the side of the Union.

There were several clashes about “the draft” which was one of the options the Union used in the Civil War. Those of us who have lived through the unrest and arguments about draft and war in the days of Vietnam might have a good idea of the kinds of things that were going on those 150 years ago.

The display at the Museum focuses on the things that happened here in Calhoun County. We had both Rebel and Union soldiers stationed here. We had a Union naval Bombardment of Indianola and Port Lavaca. That led to one of our own, Mr. Singer, to develop mines that were instrumental in helping the Rebels to fight the Union blockade.

That is another aspect of the Civil War that is little publicized. It was important for the Union to keep the South from being able to ship cotton to Britain and other European countries. Britain wanted the cotton for their mills. The south wanted the money to help fight the war. Now, since getting the cotton out was smuggling there are few reports of its success However, it is easy to postulate that a lot of cotton left Texas and helped the Southern war effort. My goodness, the Texas rebels even used cotton bales as armor in their boats. Steel armor plate wasn’t available. The cotton was instrumental in the battles of Galveston and Sabine Pass. We even hid the big Fresnel lens for the Matagorda light house so it would be easier to smuggle cotton in the dark.

You can find these aspects of the Civil War by visiting the museum while the display is open. Just for grins you might remember that the war didn’t end at Appomattox. The Battle of Palmito Ranch, about 12 miles east of Brownsville, took place well after the surrender and that was in Texas.