Union successes in Arkansas in March of 1862 again reminded Texans of the dangers they faced from invasions through that state. The Federal victory at Pea Ridge, where Confederate Brigadier General Ben McCulloch of Texas was killed, opened the way for United States troops to advance on Fayetteville.
To neutralize this threat, Governor Lubbock had several state regiments shifted to Tyler where they could act as guard forces to blunt Union thrusts.[35] Yet, as this precaution was being taken, the sudden fall of New Orleans and ever increasing United States naval activities in the Gulf caused Texans again to cast anxious eyes on their vulnerable coastline. In May, Galveston was partially abandoned under the threat of Union gunboat bombardment that never materialized.[36] Several months later Corpus Christi withstood a four day shelling by three Federal ships.[37]
October saw an overpowering flotilla of eight enemy craft secure the surrender of Galveston Island. With the loss of Galveston, Governor Lubbock sealed off the entire bay area and called for 5,000 volunteers to defend the main coastline. In issuing this call, Lubbock declared that “The crisis of the war seems to be at hand in Texas, and we must prepare to defend our homes, or be driven from them with insult and degradation, and all the horrors of rapine and violence.”[38]
Some five hundred Massachusetts soldiers occupied Galveston while Union Major General N. P. Banks ordered several strong regiments to be transferred from Louisiana to this Texas toe-hold.[39] Before these reinforcements could embark for Galveston, however, Major General John B. Magruder, recently named commander of the Confederate Military District of Texas, instituted a lightening stroke to regain the island for the South. He called for volunteers from Sibley’s veterans and a number of militia companies to mass at Virginia Point. Then in the early hours of January 1, 1863, two converted gunboats, the _Neptune_ and the _Bayou City_, attacked the United States fleet while Magruder, whose men had crept across the railroad bridge, attacked the Galveston wharves. Within a matter of minutes the attack ended in marked success. The Texans took three Federal ships and over three hundred and fifty prisoners. Galveston was once more under the Stars and Bars.[40]