Bartee Haile
An obscure Confederate major with a famous last name presented a secret proposal to the governor of Texas on Oct. 27, 1863. Next came the hard part -- convincing Francis Lubbock that he alone could save the South.
Summer setbacks had dealt a crippling blow to Confederate chances of a military victory. After the Battle of Gettysburg, Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Virginia was in full retreat, and on the western front the fall of Vicksburg had split the South at the Mississippi.
Gone was the euphoric optimism of Bull Run, when Confederate forces looked invincible and their Northern foe seemed so second-rate. While Rebel generals and politicians gamely forecast a dramatic comeback, the weary warriors in the trenches sensed disastrous defeat was just around the bend.
In an ironic twist of fate, the son of John Tyler, the president responsible for Lone Star statehood, slipped into Texas on a mysterious mission that, if successful, would destroy forever the Union his father had served. The young officer’s task was to talk the Texas governor into requesting armed assistance from France before it was too late.
Major John Tyler spent the days prior to his appointment with Gov. Lubbock polishing the final draft of his lengthy appeal. Pleased at last with the finished product, he presented the document in person.
Starting with an analysis of the causes of the Civil War, Tyler cast Great Britain in the role of warmongering villain. The British, who freed their own slaves in 1833, blamed the rising economic challenge from the United States on the existence of chained labor in the South.
To deprive America of this unfair advantage, Tyler claimed the British backed the New England abolitionists whose zealous agitation made sectional strife inevitable. Great Britain would like nothing better, he argued, than for the war to leave both North and South in ruins.
As part of this sinister scheme, the British rejected a proposal from Emperor Napoleon III of France that the two European powers along with Russia offer to mediate the New World conflict. Blocked by British obstinacy, Napoleon chose to seize control of Mexico in 1862 as a prelude to sending troops to fight alongside the Rebs.
After describing the worsening plight of the South, Tyler got right to the point. “The necessity of foreign aid is becoming, if indeed it has not already become, absolute.” As the elected leader of the former Republic of Texas, which in its independent past enjoyed cordial relations with France, Gov. Lubbock was the logical choice to speak to the Emperor on behalf of the Confederacy.
Confronted by the combined might of the Southern states and the French army, the only rational course for the North would be a negotiated peace. However, if reason failed to prevail in Washington, Tyler predicted the Yankees would “fall like Lucifer to rise no more.”
As an odd afterthought and maybe to cover all the possibilities, Tyler digressed for several pages to discuss a massive Rebel retreat to Texas for a heroic last stand. Revealing his firm belief that an armistice was not in the cards, he ended, “The South must be subjugated or the North must perish.”
For Gov. Lubbock, the heretical vision of a Franco-Texan connection was disturbingly familiar. The previous year, the French consul at Galveston had suggested that he pull Texas out of the Confederacy and reestablish the Republic under Napoleonic protection. Lubbock reported the incident to President Jefferson Davis, who ordered the diplomat expelled.
Following on the heels of this episode, the governor could not help but read into Tyler’s words the same traitorous sentiment. Dismissing the major as a misguided pawn of the French, he rejected the preposterous proposition out of hand.
The Texan did not know that Major Tyler was obeying orders and that high-ranking Confederates were behind the plan he considered so subversive. While Tyler was en route to Austin, his commander had written the Rebel minister in Paris imploring him to raise the subject with the French government.
The fact that a copy of this correspondence was forwarded to Jeff Davis clearly indicated the major was not plotting behind the backs of his superiors. Since the South was not in the habit of rewarding traitors, Tyler’s subsequent promotion provided proof positive that his trip to Texas had official sanction.
If Major John Tyler was merely carrying out Confederate policy, why the secrecy and why leave the Texas governor in the dark? Like modern-day presidents, Davis sought “deniability,” the option of denying any knowledge of the flirtation with the French if the diplomatic chess game had embarrassing consequences.
That was why the Confederate leader turned his back on the offer that might have changed the course of the Civil War and ended the conflict in the South’s favor.
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