spurlin2012

@InCollection{ spurlin2012,
	crossref = {howell2012},
	author = {Charles D. Spurlin},
	title = {The World Turned Upside Down?: The Military Occupation of Victoria and Calhoun Counties, 1865--1867},
	pages = {113--131},
	year = 2012,
}

Spurlin discusses both white and black Union occupation troops in Victoria and Calhoun counties. “Black soldiers were the first to enter Victoria and Calhoun counties” in early July 1865 (p. 116), and encountered less hostility at Port Lavaca than at Indianola—particularly after murder of Benjamin F. Hill by federal troops while USCT troops from 7th Regiment were “stationed in Victoria” (p. 122). Several other incidents of violence by Union troops against local residents raised dissatisfaction among Victoria residents.

Yet Spurlin argues that military occupation had positive benefits for the counties, and even for residents other than freedpeople—they helped reconstruct railroads and contributed to the economic revitalization of the area. These aspects of military occupation are “too often overshadowed by stories of ill behavior exercised by soldiers” (p. 127).