Desertion During the Civil War
During America’s civil war the forces on both sides were faced with serious criminal and disciplinary problems, including cowardice under fire and desertion, theft, rape and even murder. The problem of desertion would be met by a court martial but until two events occurred in 1863 desertion was not considered a capital offense.

In the south it was desertion to the enemy that tipped the scales, while in the north it was repeated desertions by the same man. The record of executions shows that Massachusetts recorded only four executions: one man shot on January 31, 1768 and three men shot between September 1, 1774 and January 5, 1777. In New York four men were shot for desertion on June 4, 1814. There were no further firing squad executions for desertion until January 6, 1863, several years after the hostilities began. Three deserters from the Confederate Army were executed by firing squad in Texas, the first being Thomas “Nicaragua” Smith on January 6, 1863, and John Summers was shot by a Union Army firing squad at Fort Scott in Kansas on May 13, 1863. North Carolina hanged twenty-two Confederate Army deserters between April 5, 1864 and April 22, 1864, and the last man executed for desertion was George McDonald, who was shot by a Union Army firing squad in Maryland on September 27, 1864. Certainly men were deserting during those first two years of the Civil War but what finally started the executions was the injury caused to morale and discipline by the egregious nature of those offenses: deserting to the enemy [Smith] and deserting more than once [Summers].
 
 In 1856 Thomas Smith enlisted in General William “filibuster” Walker’s expeditionary force into Nicaragua, where he tried to take and maintain control of the country. After several fierce battles the remnants of Walker’s army, in May 1857, surrendered to Commander Charles Davis of the U. S. Steamsloop of War St. Mary and were transported back to America, some men put ashore at Mobile, Alabama and the remainder at New Orleans. Smith, who distinguished himself in several of those battles, acquired the sobriquet “Nicaragua” Smith in New Orleans before drifting west to Galveston, Texas, and arriving in 1860 just as the secessionists and unionists were locked in a battle of words and principles in anticipation of the Civil War. The turmoil had drawn a number of hard cases to Galveston and a wave of crime spread over the city, particularly burglary and arson but these crimes were interspersed with an occasional murder. The police force was small and incapable of handling the increase in crime and criminals so the citizens, taking the matter into their own hands, formed a “committee of safety.” They captured the undesirables and marched Smith and his cohorts to the Central Wharf and put them on a steamer bound for Houston, with the injunction not to return. With outbreak of war Smith returned to Galveston and enlisted in Cook’s artillery unit, and he was assigned to man the artillery earthwork at Pelican Spit two miles from the city. He served until the summer of 1862, stole a small boat, and deserted to the United States’ frigate Santee, then blockading the port. He swore allegiance to the Union and was taken to New Orleans where he enlisted in the 1st Texas Regiment of United States Volunteers.

 The first action at Galveston occurred on August 3 and 5, 1861 when the federal gunboats South Carolina and Dart shelled the city but, though the bombardment was heavy, there was little damage and few casualties. From that date the port of Galveston was blockaded but the federal forces made no attempt to enter the city. The blockade consisted of eight vessels but primarily consisted of four armed steamers and a mortar boat. On October 4, 1862 at 7:00 a.m. the Harriet Lane crossed the bar under a white flag and soon afterward, upon a signal, the other three steamers crossed the bar towing the mortar boat, and they fired their twenty-one guns at the single ten inch gun at Fort Point. The confederate gun was quickly disabled so after it was spiked the artillery men fled into the city. The fleet continued toward Galveston, staying out of range of two twenty-four pounder guns on the east side of the city, and anchored. Seeing the situation hopeless, and invasion imminent, these two guns were spiked and all war material was shipped out of the city.

At 3:30 p.m. the demand was made to surrender but the confederates negotiated a four day truce to evacuate women and children, and used the time to strip the city of everything which could be of value to the enemy. They evacuated the city of all civilians and moved their forces a short distance away, but kept up patrols so the federal forces would feel their presence. The confederates were planning a counter attack and they commandeered two steamboats lying in Buffalo Bayou, named the Bayou City and the Neptune, armed each with one gun, armored them with two tiers of cotton bales, and dubbed their creations the “cottonclads.” The crews, volunteers from Green’s Brigade, were armed with Enfield rifles and shotguns, and General John B. Magruder then put together a “storming force” of over five hundred men. The coordinated  attack began at midnight of January 1, 1863 and took an entire day, but they managed to overpower the federal forces and capture the occupying troops of the 1st Texas Regiment of United States Volunteers. They captured the gunboats as well, including the Harriet Lane which was rammed by the Bayou City and boarded, but the flagship Westfield was blown up when the powder magazine exploded. The guns of the Harriet Lane – consisting of three nine inch guns, a rifled twenty-two pounder, and two twenty-four pound howitzers – were stripped from the ship and placed in earthworks to guard the city, and the confederates then declared Galveston open for foreign trade.

On January 2 the transport ship Cambria, out of New Orleans, steamed to the outer bank of Galveston and signaled for a pilot to guide them into port. Aboard the Cambria were the remaining troops of 1st Texas Regiment of United States Volunteers. They did not know that the rest of their forces were captured, and the ship also carried heavy siege guns, two locomotives, and flat cars, all of which could be of use to the Confederacy. When there was no response Colonel E. J. Davis sent a yawl into port with four oarsmen and Smith, who was familiar with the city, with instructions to bring back a pilot. The yawl rowed alongside the Harriet Lane, a federal sidewheel gunboat, and boarded. All five men were immediately captured and Smith was recognized. Then a ruse was implemented by General Magruder where confederate Captain John Payne would dress in civilian clothes appropriate for a harbor pilot and go to the Cambria, then bring her into port where she could be captured with all troops and materials aboard. Payne sailed the pilot schooner Lecompte to the Cambria and had just started making way for port when he was recognized by several U. S. troops, made a prisoner, and the Cambria steamed for New Orleans. Payne was nearly lynched by the troops but Colonel Davis intervened and lodged his prisoner safely in the brig, then took him to New Orleans. Payne was questioned by Admiral David Faragut, dispelled the rumors that all of the captured troops had been executed, and then he was given the freedom of the city. Payne was treated like an honored guest for months, then released and he returned to his military duties at Galveston.

 The four oarsmen joined their fellow troopers under guard, but Smith was tried by a court martial on January 5 charged with deserting to the enemy. He was found guilty of all charges and specifications and sentenced to be shot on January 6, 1863.  When the time arrived Smith was taken from the guard house and escorted to the open plain on the east of the city cemetery. Five hundred confederate troops, under arms, were assembled on each side of an open corridor to witness the execution. Smith was positioned at one end of the open corridor, stood up in front of his coffin, and the firing squad formed at the other end. He was asked if he had any final words, and he cursed the Southern Confederacy with vile epithets, and concluded, “bury me face down.” While Smith ranted the firing squad was ordered to “Make ready” and “Aim,” and when the tirade ended the order “Fire” was given and Smith fell across his coffin, his body pierced by a number of musket balls. He was immediately pronounced dead and his body was buried in an unmarked grave in an obscure corner of the Potter’s Field portion of the cemetery. Smith was only one of three deserters to face a firing squad in Texas, one will remain forever anonymous but the other two were E. Hempel and E. P. Allen.
 
 Two days after Smith was executed a new, heavier blockading fleet arrived outside the bar at the entrance to Galveston. Commodore H. H. Bell learned that the confederates had declared the port open and, though he allowed no ships to pass in or out, did nothing more for nearly two weeks when he issued the following proclamation: U. S. Steamsloop Brooklyn off Galveston, January 20, 1863 – whereas General J. R. Magruder on January 4, 1863 declared the port of Galveston open for trade with all friendly nations, therefore the undersigned warns all concerned that the port of Galveston and the whole coast of Texas are under an actual blockade by a sufficient force of United States vessels; and any merchant vessels appearing before the ports of Texas, or attempting to pass out, will be captured and sent into an open port of the United States for adjudication. H. H. Bell.

 The Galveston Daily News [TX]: January 2, 1863; August 1, 1898; February 19, 1922; January 1, 1933; May 17, 1942.