Federal Gold & Rebel Cotton

This historic story begins on the old Laredo Road south of San Antonio, Texas in the spring of 1861. You will be riding along with a young federal lieutenant and an older veteran sergeant who are traveling together in civilian clothing. They find they have been given a mission by their commander that they cannot accomplish because of the rebels who have taken over the Texas government. They meet with a kindly old white trader and his black companion who turn out to be their best friends and saviors. The story goes on to describe other loyal Unionists who escaped across the Rio Grande into Mexico for the duration of the Civil War.

You will live with these civilians and soldiers across the border along with the Mexican citizens for those four terrible war years and learn how they coped. The Texas rebels after a short period as an independent nation became part of the Confederacy but fared no better. In order to pursue the senseless conflict, that consumed some 700,000 soldiers and sailors on both sides, the south had to rely on smuggling for her main source of supplies. The primary wealth of the South was cotton, and it had to pass through Mexico for supplies and funds. On the North's side they had to keep the textile mills on the United States East Coast as well as England, France, Spain, and Germany supplied with that important staple.

You will discover the banditry, smuggling, commerce, and military action that happened along the old Rio Grande, and the outright skullduggery that was called glory. And then after Lee surrendered, the last battle of the War-Between-the-States was fought at the southern tip of Texas on the Mexican border, and the Confederacy won!

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