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Texas in the Civil War: A Résumé History
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In: History - American·History - Modern (1750+)·History - Warfare
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #56709.
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Texas in 1860
Texas in 1860 was an area where the Old South faded into what was to become the new West. The state was a partially settled land of contrasts surrounded by enemies on all but the Louisiana side.[1] This one friendly boundary was a powerful tie that linked Texas both physically and psychologically with its Southern parent lands.
Because the state was in an early phase of settlement, the population of 420,891 white persons included a great majority of people who had been born in other states or in foreign countries. Barely one-third of the whites had been born in Texas, while over ten percent of them were originally from countries other than the United States. Most of the settlers from other states were from the South.[2] Thus far these hardy individuals had organized counties along the entire length of the Rio Grande and, elsewhere, as far west as the 100th meridian frontier line.
Within the main settled portion could be found several distinctive agricultural regions. The principal center of the cotton plantation system was in a cluster of a half-dozen counties that touched the coast in Matagorda and Brazoria counties, and included the best soil in the Gulf Plains. Much cotton was also raised in the Brazos, Colorado, and Trinity river bottoms. Most of the state's Negro population (182,566 slaves and 355 free Negroes) lived in the vicinity of these heavy cotton producing counties. To the north and east of the plantation centers was an area of agricultural diversity. Cotton was raised as a "cash crop", while grains and vegetables were grown for local consumption. Northwest and west of the cotton lands was a subsistence agricultural belt that extended to the frontier. Here, strong men fought marauding Indians and contended with periodic drought in an effort to make a meager living for their families. Finally, to the southwest of the plantations was cattle country, where almost four million unmarketable beeves roamed the open ranges from the San Antonio River to the Rio Grande.
The agrarian nature of 1860 Texas is well reflected in the fact that less than five percent of the population lived in urban areas. There were fifty-two incorporated towns (settlements of over 1,000), of which only San Antonio and Galveston exceeded the 5,000 mark. Other points of minor population concentration were scattered villages and a score of Federal military forts that were situated along the Rio Grande and near the frontier line.[3]
Governor Houston managed to block all secession calls until December, when Attorney General George M. Flournoy, Associate Justice O. M. Roberts of the State Supreme Court, and lawyer William P. Rogers and John S. Ford took the lead in calling for a state-wide election of secession convention delegates to meet in Austin on January 28, 1861. A subsequent statement explaining this move cited a Texas Constitutional provision that the people "have at all times the unalienable right to alter, reform, or abolish their form of government" as a source of authority for the convention call.[6] It was also at this time that the voters of Texas were promised a popular referendum on the secession assembly's work; and of the original seven Confederate states, Texas was the only one to hold such an election on the question of secession. Seventy-two prominent citizens, including Lieutenant Governor Edward Clark, signed this second call.
As provisions for the forthcoming election of delegates were being made, Sam Houston called for a special session of the legislature to meet on January 21. The Governor desperately hoped to use the legislative body to neutralize the work of the convention. But this remote possibility was stifled when the House and the Senate promptly adopted an anti-Houston attitude and enthusiastically welcomed the assembling convention.[7]
On Monday. January 28, 1861, the secession delegates organized under the presidency of Judge O. M. Roberts. As late comers kept arriving, the body eventually came to number one hundred seventy-six members. Elected from state legislative districts, the delegates were mainly lawyers, planters, and farmers.[8] In short order a heavy majority approved a resolution to withdraw Texas from the Union, and an Ordinance of Secession was passed by a vote of 166 to 7. This ordinance basically charged that the United States government had failed to meet its responsibilities under the "compact of Union." Specifically, it was asserted that Federal authority had neglected to give "protection either to the persons of our people upon an exposed frontier, or to the property of our citizens." The document also condemned the Northern states for attempting to make the central government into "a weapon with which to strike down the interests and prosperity of the people of Texas and her Sister Slaveholding States." Therefore, concluded the Ordinance, the people of Texas chose to withdraw from the Union and to reclaim all sovereignty delegated to the Federal government when Texas joined the United States.[9]
The convention established a Committee of Public Safety to oversee security matters while the main delegation recessed to await popular approval of secession. Just before being disbanded until March 2, the Austin assembly named seven representatives[10] to the Montgomery, Alabama, convention of the seceding states. These men were to journey to Alabama where they would speak for Texas in the forming of the new Confederate government.[11] With his hand thus forced, Governor Houston ordered an election to be held on February 23 to determine whether or not the Secession Convention's work would be approved by the people.[12]
Shortly before this election was held, the Committee of Public Safety decided that for purposes of state security the almost 3,000 Federal soldiers stationed in Texas must be surrendered. This delicate matter was settled on February 15, when the followers of Colonel Ben McCulloch suddenly surrounded military departmental headquarters in San Antonio. McCulloch's strong show of force was sufficient to cause the bloodless surrender of Brevet Major General David E. Twiggs--aged commander of all United States forces in the state. According to the terms of his capitulation, Twiggs was to evacuate his soldiers and turn over all station property to the state.[13]
A week later in the midst of fiery editorials and heated discussions. the mandate on secession was held and county results were forwarded to Austin. On March 2, the anniversary of Texas independence, the Secession Convention re-assembled to canvass the result of the election. Because a quorum was lacking, however, this task had to be postponed until Monday, March 4.[14] Of the one hundred twenty-two counties reporting, only nineteen, located mainly in northern Texas or along the middle of the frontier line, showed a preference to stay with the Union. In overall figures, secession was endorsed by a vote of 46,129 to 14,697. When these results were certified to the convention. President Roberts proclaimed Texas to be "a free, sovereign and independent nation of the earth."[15] Later that same day a disgruntled Governor Houston officially admitted to his people that a large majority had favored secession.
The convention next considered the complex problem of defending Texas, and at the same time, rushed instructions to the Texas delegation in Montgomery, Alabama, to secure admission of the state to the Confederacy. Sam Houston, when he learned of these actions, charged that the convention was completely overstepping its authority. To counter such protests, the determined secession delegates developed a plan that would ultimately cause Houston to remove himself from office. A resolution was passed requiring all high state officials to swear allegiance to the Confederacy at noon on March 16. When Houston failed to appear at the oath-taking ceremony, the convention declared his office to be vacant. Pro-secessionist Lieutenant Governor Edward Clark assumed the gubernatorial position for the nine months remaining in Houston's term. Finally, with its work accomplished, the Texas Secession Convention adjourned sine die on March 26.[16]
Meanwhile, the Confederate States government had been organized and Judge John H. Reagan of Texas was named Postmaster General. In late April news reached Texas that Fort Sumter had been fired on. With war between the sections now a reality, Governor Clark promptly set about gearing the state for military action. Measures were taken to capture as prisoners of war all federal troops who had been surrendered by General Twiggs and who were still in the process of leaving the state.[17] Also, the Governor asked for 3,000 volunteers to supplement several existing regiments that had been called into service by the Secession Convention. Later in April, Clark called for an additional 8,000 volunteer infantrymen to serve the South.[18]
Not all Texans were confident that the state had been wise in seceding and in joining the Confederacy. German settlers in the San Antonio-Fredericksburg-New Braunfels areas were especially disturbed over the turn of events. They had never accepted the idea of slavery and they now came to be looked on with distrust when some of their numbers elected to leave the state. A group of North Texans similarly decided to abandon their homes for the security of the United States. Still other malcontents, who wished to escape from the Confederate government or the dangers of war, moved to the Far West or across the Mexican border.[19]
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