Book Review: Texas Coastal Defense in the Civil War

Texas Coastal Defense in the Civil War. By William Nelson Fox. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2024. Softcover, 159 pp. $24.99.

Reviewed by Neil P. Chatelain

When one thinks of coastal military and naval activity of the Civil War, the large-scale sieges and assaults of Mobile Bay, Charleston, and Wilmington come to mind. But as William Nelson Fox demonstrates in Texas Coastal Defense in the Civil War, there was a series of coastal campaigns over whether the United States or Confederacy would control the Lone Star State. Fox’s book outlines the varied military and naval efforts made by the Confederacy to protect the Texas coastline. From small beach skirmishes to fortifications guarding ports, to counterstrokes by inland forces against advancing U.S. marches and landings, Fox demonstrates just how the Confederacy kept control of Texas throughout the war.

There has been a growing historiography in recent decades adding to the dialogue of wartime Texas military, blockading, and coastal operations. Fox’s book, while not greatly adding to the historiography, does serve as a good introductory manuscript for readers unfamiliar with Texas and the campaigns within the state. For those in that category, Fox’s book is a solid introductory package to the coastal war in Texas.

The book is small, with its central narrative only 114 pages long. This makes it a relatively easy read, and the text is clear to understand. It is set well, looks good, and is packed with relevant imagery. There is also a timeline of major events along the Texas coast in the back. The book’s bibliography contains a host of archives and various source materials in its bibliography, including many sources from local Texas archives. The only drawback with the book’s actual presentation is that some of the maps are difficult to read.

Fox manages to pack four years of coastal campaigning into his book. To fit the length, that means that most events covered are done in a cursory manner, with little minute-by-minute tracking of battles and skirmishes. Major campaigns such as at Galveston, Sabine Pass, and Brownsville are included, as are early efforts to defend against U.S. blockaders and lesser-known operations. There is not, however, a chapter explaining or evaluating whether the Confederacy’s coastal defense was part of a cohesive strategy or an evaluation of its effectiveness.

Despite its clear presentation, there are some shortcomings that require comment. The book could use some editing work. Paragraphs are often packed with separate asides within the text, set apart in parentheses. Fox makes clear there were a host of organizations defending the Texas coastline, including the Confederate Army, Texas militia, the Confederate Navy, and the Texas Maritime Department. However, Fox makes the common mistake of denoting gunboats in the Confederacy’s Texas Maritime Department with the CSS designation that is generally reserved for vessels of the Confederate Navy, intermixing the two major Confederate naval organizations.

Fox also makes the claim that “if the Union could stop the export of Texas cotton, it could prevent the Confederacy’s access to war supplies and weapons” (9). However, there is no actual statistical analysis of how much cotton was exported from Texas in the war and how much war material entered Texas either via Mexico or by slipping through the blockade. A better statistical presentation of such would have added great value to the work. Finally, Fox lists a good number of primary sources in his bibliography, but often has quotations directly referenced from other secondary sources instead of from where the original firsthand quote comes from.

William Nelson Fox’s Texas Coastal Defense in the Civil War is a solid introductory narrative of U.S. military and naval activity in Texas, as well as Confederate efforts to defend the Lone Star State’s coastline. Those unfamiliar with the Civil War in Texas will find it a useful initial text.