By May, surrender negotiations between Kirby Smith’s representatives and the United States government were in progress. It was at this time that the last land action of the war took place in the isolated Brownsville sector. In mid-May some eight hundred Union soldiers were moving from their Brazos de Santiago base when they suddenly made contact with several hundred of Colonel John S. Ford’s Confederates who were camped at White’s Ranch. The Southerners had heard nothing of Lee’s surrender, but had been warned of the presence of Union troops by French and Mexican observers on the south side of the Rio Grande. The Federals quickly formed a skirmish line, pushed against the Confederates, and then entrenched in the sandy soil of Palmetto Ranch. As this occurred, Ford managed to position six artillery pieces on Palmetto Hill and fired down into the United States soldiers’ defensive works. This forced the superior Federal command to retire from the field. In all, the Union lost over one hundred prisoners. When these captives convinced Ford of Lee’s surrender, the Texans were so stunned that no pursuit of the retreating enemy soldiers was attempted.[128] Finally, on May 26, Lieutenant General S. B. Buckner, Kirby Smith’s Chief of Staff, negotiated a “military convention of peace” with high Union officials in New Orleans.[129] This act was finalized on June 2 when General Kirby Smith formally signed the articles of surrender aboard the Union warship _Fort Jackson_ in Galveston harbor. In the same month Federal troops arrived to occupy Texas. To impress French observers in Mexico, the Rio Grande was made a point of concentration for occupation soldiers. A strange sight was seen in Galveston on June 16 when the occupation officially started. Three hundred silent Texans watched as a United States transport ship loaded with soldiers was tied to the landing while a blue clad band played “Yankee Doodle.” Three days later, on “Juneteenth,” Major General Gordon Granger, recently named commander of Union forces in Texas, landed at the same port and immediately issued a proclamation declaring free all Texas slaves.[130] Eventually there were over 50,000 Federal soldiers in Texas. Parts of Herron’s Division occupied northeastern Texas. Mower’s Division occupied Galveston. Custer and 4,000 cavalrymen occupied Austin. Merritt occupied San Antonio with an even larger force of mounted men. Elsewhere the state was occupied by the Fourth Corps, the Thirteenth Corps, and the Twenty-Fifth Corps.[131] The war was at last over. Some Texans were able to express pleasure that the end had finally come while others were not talking. A few of the state’s leaders during the war fled to Mexico. The solid citizenry of the state faced the task of creating a respected state government and an enduring nation. They faced this task with a firmness of purpose that has characterized our citizens since the establishment of the Republic of Texas.