When the
election of Abraham Lincoln set off the secession movement with South Carolina
and then five other Deep Southern states, Texas opened a convention to consider
joining them in leaving the Union. The
State Convention opened on January 28th 1861 in Austin, Texas with
Oran Roberts as convention president. On
February 1st 1861 the convention voted 166 to 8 in favor of the
Ordinance of Secession. Texas voters
approved the Ordinance on February 23rd 1861, allowing Texas to
become a part of the Confederacy by a margin of 46,129 to 14,697.
Texas would
go on to send men and equipment to support the Confederate fight. They were also the key to bypassing the Union
blockade, using their long border with Mexico for trade; it was sometimes
called the “backdoor of the Confederacy”.
The last battle to be fought in the Civil War occurred at Palmito Ranch
near Brownsville, Texas on May 12th and 13th 1865.
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