On high point SE, across the Sabine in Louisiana. Busiest East Texas port of entry in the Civil War. Target for enemy movements west across Louisiana repeatedly in 1862-64. Confederate defense post. Supply depot to support constant troop movements, both for fighting and for patrols and recruiting. Crossroads for land and river traffic. Ferry point on old road through swamps. Cotton concentration point. A boom town with gambling, saloons, night life. Patrolled on both sides of the Sabine by Texas troops, to protect troop movements, commercial shipping, stagecoach travel routes, freighters' trains, and herds of cattle and hogs going east on the hoof. Passed Texas troops through by thousands, to go eastward through marshlands and sloughs toward Brashear and New Orleans or upper Mississippi River crossings, to eastern battlefields. Many units went by rail from Houston to Beaumont, then to Sabine Pass and up the river by steamer. Niblett's Bluff welcomed steamers unloading guns, ammunition, clothing, medicines and other goods vital to the Confederacy— swapping these for Texas and Louisiana cotton, called "Money of the Confederacy" because of its purchasing value in world trade.
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