Xavier Blanchard DeBray.
Fort Esperanza, Texas, also known as Fort DeBray, was named in honor of Colonel Xavier Blanchard Debray, commander of the Sub-Military District of Houston. This earthwork fort was located on the eastern shore of Matagorda Island. Built to guard the Cavallo Pass, the entry to Matagorda Bay, construction began in December 1861. Fort Esperanza was also tasked with guarding Fort Washington, a 1842 small fort put up near the lighthouse on the extreme southeast corner of Matagorda Island.
Fort Esperanza was armed with nine guns, including eight 14-pounders and one 128-pounder, and was out of range of any weapons upon large federal vessels in the Gulf. In the end, however, the Federal forces still invaded the pass in October 1862. Overmanned and over-gunned, the Confederates fled to Indianola. They returned once the Federals had retreated. Union forces again invaded the following year, in November, and took over the fort, which they used as their base of operations for the next several months. In the Spring, they were withdrawn from Matagorda Bay to participate in other campaigns.
The post was reoccupied by the Confederates in June, who held it until the end of the war. In 1868, a storm destroyed the eastern walls of the fortress; a decade later, the rest had eroded. Today, the only visible remains of the location are a few outlying emplacements and rifle pits.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated November 2025.
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