The hanging of two Confederate Army deserters at Corpus Christi in May of 1862 was the only military execution to take place in Nueces County during the Civil War. At that time, the Texas coast from Matagorda to Corpus Christi was blockaded by the Arthur, a union ship commanded by Acting Lieutenant John W. Kittredge. A nearby Confederate outpost on Shell Bank Island, Camp Aransas, was garrisoned by Captain Benjamin Neal’s artillery battery and Captain James Morgan’s Company D of the 3rd Texas Infantry Regiment. The May 21, 1862 issue of the Galveston Weekly News reported that four enlisted men at Camp Aransas tried to desert by stealing a launch to reach the Arthur. One was fatally shot, two were captured and one escaped. The two captured, both reportedly from New York, were promptly court martialed, hanged and unceremoniously buried at the site of the hanging, in the vicinity of Mesquite Street and Upper Broadway. The sentence was carried out by Captain John Ireland, a future governor of Texas. Given the increasing rate of desertions at the time due to conscription and the ongoing pressure from the blockade, these executions would have served as a warning to potential deserters. Local unionists were forced at gunpoint to view the bodies and placards on them reading “traitors take warning” and “union men beware.” As a result, many Corpus Christi unionists fled with their families to Matamoros, Mexico. Confederate military records reveal that actually three deserters, not one, were shot “while trying to escape.” Whether they were deliberately murdered or actually tried to escape custody is not known.