The Fifth Military District of the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

was one of five temporary administrative units of the U.S. War Department that existed in the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

from 1867 to 1870. The district was stipulated by the

Reconstruction Act The Reconstruction Acts, or the Military Reconstruction Acts, (March 2, 1867, 14 Stat. 428-430, c.153; March 23, 1867, 15 Stat. 2-5, c.6; July 19, 1867, 15 Stat. 14-16, c.30; and March 11, 1868, 15 Stat. 41, c.25) were four statutes passed duri ...

s during the

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology * Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

period following the American Civil War. It covered the states of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...

. General

Philip Sheridan General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close a ...

served as its first military governor, enforcing the

Reconstruction Acts The Reconstruction Acts, or the Military Reconstruction Acts, (March 2, 1867, 14 Stat. 428-430, c.153; March 23, 1867, 15 Stat. 2-5, c.6; July 19, 1867, 15 Stat. 14-16, c.30; and March 11, 1868, 15 Stat. 41, c.25) were four statutes passed duri ...

and removing some Confederate sympathizers from office. This outraged U.S. President

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a De ...

, who ordered his removal from the Fifth in August 1867. His replacement was the Democrat

Winfield Scott Hancock Winfield Scott Hancock (February 14, 1824 – February 9, 1886) was a United States Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service ...

, who undid much of Sheridan's work. In the three months between Sheridan's removal and Hancock's arrival in New Orleans, the Fifth was led by two interim commanders: Charles Griffin until his death from yellow fever, then

Joseph A. Mower Joseph Anthony Mower (August 22, 1827 – January 6, 1870) was a Union general during the American Civil War. He was a competent officer and well respected by his troops and fellow officers to whom he was known as "Fighting Joe". Major General Wil ...

. When

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union A ...

took office in March 1867, he replaced Hancock with Joseph J. Reynolds, who commanded the Fifth until Texas was readmitted to the Union on March 30, 1870, and military control ended. Several incidents were committed against black federal soldiers at

Fort Brown Fort Brown (originally Fort Texas) was a military post of the United States Army in Cameron County, Texas, during the latter half of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century. Established in 1846, it was the first US Army military ...

in Brownsville, Texas, and elsewhere by Jayhawkers, wild Indians, desperados, etc. Most incident reports fail to identify the perpetrators.

Units

Among the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

forces stationed in

were the U.S. 1st Artillery, the 4th,

6th 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second ...

and 9th Cavalry Regiments, and the 15th, 17th,

20th 20 (twenty; Roman numeral XX) is the natural number following 19 and preceding 21. A group of twenty units may also be referred to as a score. In mathematics *20 is a pronic number. *20 is a tetrahedral number as 1, 4, 10, 20. *20 is the ba ...

, 25th and 41st Infantry Regiments. The "U.S. Military Post Returns 1809-1916", archived by NARA, shows monthly post reports were filed for the U.S. 35th Infantry Regiment stationed in San Antonio, TX from about Dec. 1866 to mid-1870. It was commanded most of the time by Brigadier General (Brevet)

John S. Mason John Sanford Mason (August 21, 1824 – November 29, 1897) was a career officer in the United States Army who served as a General officer, general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.Eicher, p. 367. Early life and career John S. Ma ...

References

{{Reflist Reconstruction Era Departments and districts of the United States Army

Units

See also

References