Fort Esperanza (Debray) on Matagorda Island

Fort Esperanza sketch by Enos Reed

Fort Esperanza was built on Matagorda Island and was hotly disputed during the Civil War. This is a detail of a drawing by Enos Reed of Company K, 34th Iowa Regiment, in December 1863. In the top right it shows the confederate ship The Granite City which was one of three schooners captured in 1863.

𝕋he north wall is 140 yds. long, the west wall 200 yds. long and the entire wall 20 ft. thick and 14 ft. high.

𝕋he gun mounted on platform 1 is a 184 lb. pivot gun.

𝕋he dots (°) represent the position of torpedos that have been dug out since our troops occupied the 𝔽t.

𝔹rigade, 4th Wisconsin, 13th Army Corps., 13th Maine, 34th Iowa.

ℝifle pit occupied by the rebs.

The rich history of Matagorda Island and, in particular, Saluria and  Fort Esperanza is covered in this article from Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 61, July 1957 - April 1958, H. Bailey Carroll, editor, pp. 66-100.

Saluria, Fort Esperanza, and Military Operations on the Texas Coast, 1861-1864

This detailed sketch by Thomas Nast shows Union troops marching along the main street of old Indlanola and published in the New York Illustrated News, April 6, 1861. Nast is the artist also known for creating America's rotund Santa Claus, the Democratic Party donkey and the Republican elephantby Lester N. Fitzhugh (the capture by Union troops was also reported in the New York Times by Col. H.D. Washburne and in Camp & Field in the march, from Indianola to Saluria, of The Old 16th Ohio regiment by Cpl. Theodore D. Wolbach, Company E).

The fort was also known as Fort Debray (after Colonel Xavier Blanchard Debray). The plan indicates the fort had one 10" Columbiad and six 24 pounders. Plan of Fort Debray, Matagorda Island which is dated December 24th, 1864 and delivered in person to the Bureau by Lt. Col. H.T. Douglas (Corps of Engr.)

Download large maps of Fort Debray and Fort Esperanza.