pany of Texas Light Infantry at Lavaca was a “poorly equipped home
guard unit consisting mainly of middle-aged men unfit for active
field service.” Refusing to surrender their town the Union commanders allowed an hour and half for its citizens, who recently had been
ravished by the yellow fever, to evacuate the town. The truce expired
and 20 minutes later the Union Navy proceeded to throw at the town,
“every variety of missiles that were ever invented to kill a man”.
Isaac Merritt Singer, Founder Of
The Singer Sewing Company And
Uncle To Captain E. C. Singer
In October 1862, two Federal gunboats, the
USS Clifton and USS Westfield steam into
Matagorda Bay, with the intent of placing the
towns of Indianola and Lavaca under the control of the “blue-coats.” Indianola fell to Union
troops Oct. 26 after the town leaders had a
short meeting with Captains Law of the Clifton and Renshaw of the Westfield. Leaving a
small garrison of troops in Indianola the Union
side-wheelers steamed into Lavaca Bay with
intentions of having Lavaca surrender to the
same fate as Indianola.
Oct. 31 at approximately 11 a.m., the Union
Commanders made contact with the city leaders of Lavaca. Two of them were Major Daniel
Shea and Private Edgar Collins Singer. Lavaca was guarded by two batteries of the “Texas
Fourth Artillery Battalion” under the command of Major Shea. According to Mark Ragan in his paper, “Singer’s Secret Service Corps:
Causing Chaos during the Civil War,” the com-
The Texas Coast’s Best Regional Magazine
41