USA > Texas > A comprehensive history of Texas, 1685-1897 > Part 44
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Early the next morning the men fell in line in answer to the bugle-call, marched a short distance, and again formed in line of battle, where they awaited the enemy and their breakfast, looking to the front for the one and impatiently glancing to the rear for the other, having had nothing to eat for twenty-four hours. They had been longer without bread than without the enemy. The latter appeared on the scene about ten o'clock, opening fire on our skirmishers, which was kept up all day and most of the following night. It was on this line that the brigade lost Captain Perry, of the Eighteenth Texas, who fell lifeless, pierced by a Minie- ball. No general engagement took place here, however, and the killed and wounded were few. At the close of the second day the enemy withdrew, and re- tired to Atlanta a few days later. General Hood moved his army by the northwest and went into camp near Palmetto, about twenty miles southwest of Atlanta, where he rested his soldiers some weeks while he watched the movements of General Sherman. While in camp at this place Hood was visited by President Davis and his staff, who reviewed and inspected the Army of Tennessee, and evidently helped General Hood plan his ill-fated campaign into Tennessee, which ended in the clis- astrous battles of Franklin and Nashville.
751
BOWSER-NOTES ON GRANBURY'S BRIGADE.
Between the middle and latter part of October, 1864, the army took up its line of march to the rear of General Sherman, crossing the Chattahoochee River on the evening of the first day, camping on the side of a small mountain, the summit of which seemed to be covered with mineral rock or stones. It was here that the brigade was treated to a taste of what was in store for them. Soon after stacking arms a violent thunder- and rain-storm blew up, accompanied by the most blinding and terrible electric disturbance, during which a bolt of lightning struck the earth at the head of the camp, passed along the mountain-side parallel with the line of the brigade, striking more than fifty men prostrate to the ground, killing three of the victims and seriously injuring a dozen more, destroying many muskets, bayo- nets, etc. No soldier who witnessed the sight or felt the shock will ever forget the awe-inspiring sensation of the moment. The following day we reached Sherman's rear and watched the movements of that doughty general, while the balance of the army moved on towards Marietta and Dalton, capturing the forts and block-houses with the small garrisons defending and tearing up the railroads, hoping to cut off the Yankees' supplies. On reaching Dalton the army deflected to the southwest across the Alabama line, resting two days, when they again resumed their march to Tennessee, reaching Florence, Alabama, about the 18th of November, 1864. Here the army again halted, rested a few days, while Hood made an effort to gather supplies to better equip his half-fed, half-clothed army for the Nashville cam- paign, and to call in the few scattering men within call for his final coup. His efforts in gathering stores, however, were not a success, and it was then pitiable to see, and now seems cruel to remember, the brave boys thinly clad and half fed, marching in the coldest of winter without overcoats or tents, with but one blanket, sleeping on the wet and frozen ground. Their suffering was almost past endurance. On the morning of November 23, 1864, Hood's army broke camp, and crossing che river took up their line of march towards Columbia, where he first encountered the enemy, whom he immediately engaged with S. D. Lee's corps. With the others he moved to the right of the city, crossing the river above, soon occupying a posi- tion to the Federal rear, which Granbury's brigade, with Cleburne's division, was first to reach, near Spring Hill. The men of the brigade were wildly enthusiastic, feeling that they had the enemy bagged, but the rest of the army failing to come up until after night, the Federals escaped under cover of darkness, abandoning a large part of their wagons, mules, and army stores. This was the first blunder of that unfortunate campaign, for, with the enthusiasm of the Confederates and de- moralization of the Federals, a vigorous attack by Granbury's brigade, supported by one or two divisions, would have resulted in the capture of Schofield and his eighteen or twenty thousand men ; but it seemed that fate was against Hood and his army and that the god of war was doing all he could to hurry the fratricidal strife to a close. The weather was now getting quite cold, and the men, still wet from wading the deep creeks during the day, sought what sleep they could get on the damp, frosty ground. Early on the morning of the 29th the army was on the move towards Franklin. The pike was literally strewn with broken-down and abandoned wagons, caissons, and dead mules, left by the retreating Federals the night before. About three o'clock in the afternoon Hood's army halted about one mile south of Franklin, and he immediately formed his lines for a general assault
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A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
on the enemy's works, which were in two lines about three hundred yards apart, and from the Confederates' position looked almost impregnable. There was an open woodland to the left of the pike. To the right and in front of Granbury's brigade was an open field or valley. The left of the brigade rested on the pike, the right extending across the open plain to the east. The men calmly marched in order under the inspiration of martial music by one of the finest bands of the army. The command was given by General Cleburne in person to charge and take the works. The enemy's first or outer line, though well fortified and pro- tected by earthworks, was taken without halting or great loss, about one-half of them surrendering in the ditch, the other half of them throwing down their arms and double-quicking towards the inner lines. It was here the first real resistance was met. In a double line of battle, behind a most thoroughly built line of works, protected in front by an almost impassable abatis made with young trees cut from a grove of locusts that grew near by, the tops cut and sharp-pointed ends, all de- fended by a large field battery of heavy cannon belching forth shot and shell, grape and canister, until it seemed to be raining lead and iron. The enemy wavered when the Confederates first reached their works, but the ranks of the gallant Southern boys had been reduced almost one-half by this time, and the Yankees, seeing the small number that had reached their lines, took courage and renewed the conflict, which now became a hand-to-hand struggle. Many of the Southern soldiers passed over the second line of works to be immediately made prisoners. The unequal struggle could have but one ending. After two-thirds of the brigade had fallen dead or wounded, the remainder of the command fell back to the first line of works, which they held until the enemy had abandoned the city, which they did three hours later. The loss in dead and wounded was terrible, and no pen can de- scribe the scene that greeted the eye the next morning. The ground was literally covered with the dead, and in places near the second line of works the blood had actually run over the ground like water. Cleburne, Granbury, every regimental commander, had fallen victims to the enemy's bullets. There was not an officer in the brigade who carried a captain's commission who answered the roll-call the following morning. But "war means fighting and fighting means to kill," and this was war. No soldiers could have done more ; few could have done as much. A Union soldier who had fought in front of Granbury's brigade, writing of that charge some years ago, said : "The Texas troops charged not like men, but like demons ; they fought not like soldiers, but like devils ;" and he eulogized the courage and daring of the brave Texans as only a soldier who had tested that courage could do. About ten o'clock the following day the army moved on to Nashville, reaching there on the evening of December 1. The weather was intensely cold, and the soldiers suffered fearfully from the snow and sleet that fell on their half-clad forms. For two weeks Hood laid siege to the city of Nashville. On the Ist of November the enemy attacked his lines and began the battle, but Granbury's brigade was not actively engaged until the following day, when they defended the extreme right of the Southern army. An attempt was made early in the day to dislodge the command, but every assault was repulsed and their position held throughout the day with slight loss of life. It was about four o'clock in the after- noon that the Confederate left gave way, which was soon followed by a break in the
753
BOWSER-NOTES ON GRANBURY'S BRIGADE.
centre, and soon Hood's entire army was under a hasty retreat. Failing to receive orders to abandon their position, the brigade was completely flanked and their retreat almost cut off before they left the field, and for the first and only time during their four years' service they double-quicked to the rear in view of the enemy. The army became panic-stricken, and Granbury's brigade was called on to form across the Franklin Pike and protect Ilood's rear. The first resistance was feeble, but the second stand was more effective, and the enemy did no further harm that day. The retreat was kept up, however, until nightfall, and the army reached Franklin before going into camp. Early the next morning Hood's army continued its retreat, Granbury's brigade as usual covering his rear, making a stand just below Spring Hill, where with Bledsoe's Missouri battery they received and successfully repulsed the enemy's charge, which ended the fighting on the part of Hood's infantry in that memorable campaign. The men suffered intensely on this raid. Many of the brigade and numbers of Hood's army came out of Ten- nessee barefooted, all half-clad and never on full rations during the entire campaign. Most of the time it was raining, sleeting, or snowing, part of the time the ground frozen and so rough that it caused the bare feet of the shoeless soldiers to bleed pro- fusely. We camped in and around Columbia that night, falling back to Pulaski the next day, the 17th, where we remained until about noon of the 18th, when the army leisurely returned to the Tennessee River, which was crossed on pontoons the night of the 24th, and the following day went into camp at Tuscumbia, Ala- bama, where the army remained until about the 5th of January, 1865, taking a much-needed rest and securing a few commissary and quartermasters' stores for the half-famished, half-clad soldiers. The army next moved to Corinth, Mississippi, where it remained until January 20, when it again took up its line of march for Tupelo, Mississippi. Thus ended the campaign, and with it the last hope of all intelligent thinking Confederate soldiers of the Army of Tennessee. Those who cared to reflect fully realized that all they had endured, all they had suffered. had been in vain ; their four years of heroism and endurance must go for naught, except to testify to their courage, lofty patriotism, and unequalled endurance ; and how one of the old veterans could nerve himself to battle further for a cause already lost is more than even one of them could explain at this time. On Janu- ary 26 Hood's army was ordered to North Carolina via Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama, Columbus, Milledgeville, and Augusta, Georgia, Fairfield and Chester, South Carolina, then to Salisbury and Raleigh, North Carolina. Here the army was again under the command of Joseph E. Johnston, and about March 4 met Sher- man near Old Bentonville, which was the last battle in which Granbury's brigade participated, and about the 25th of April, 1865, went into camp near Greensboro', where it remained until the terms of surrender were arranged by Generals Sherman and Johnston, and each officer and soldier was furnished with a passport in the shape of parole home. This ended the services of Granbury's Texas brigade, the pride and glory of every soldier whose name was on its roll. At this late day no complete or correct history can be written, as no diary or memoranda can be found giving its experience in 'detail. Few, if any, brigades suffered as greatly during the war between the States as this Texas brigade. Of the eight Texas regi- ments there were not exceeding six hundred soldiers paroled. Of the Eighteenth VOL. II .- 48
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A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
Regiment, which left the State with more than eleven hundred men, only forty-five answered its roll-call the last month of its service. Company E of this regiment organized with one hundred and twenty-seven men and received nine recruits during the war, making a total of one hundred and thirty-six men, surrendered with five men present, one of whoin was still disabled from a wound received at Jonesboro', Georgia. Other regiments and companies suffered quite as great as the Eighteenth did.
PART VI.
THE RESULTS OF FIFTY YEARS OF PROGRESS IN POPU- LATION, MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT, AND GENERAL SOCIAL, EDUCATIONAL, AND RELIGIOUS GROWTH, WITH STATISTICAL TABLES.
755
THE RESULTS OF FIFTY YEARS OF PROGRESS IN POPULATION, MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT, AND GENERAL SOCIAL, EDUCATIONAL, AND RELIGIOUS GROWTH, WITH STATISTICAL TABLES.
BY DUDLEY G. WOOTEN.
[The preparation of this chapter was originally intrusted to the late General S. B. Maxey, than whom no more competent, zealous, and intelligent authority could have been selected. But unfortunately his feeble health for many months and his death in August, 1895, prevented his attention to the work to the extent necessary to complete it. The task was suddenly and unexpectedly devolved upon the editor of these volumes of collecting and arranging the materials for this portion of the history, and he has performed it as exhaustively as the avail- able resources for information would allow. The subjoined statistical tables are compiled from the latest reports of the Census Bureau and of the several departments of the State gov- ernment, and they will be found to contain much valuable and suggestive information. There has until very recently been no systematic or official effort on the part of the State to collect and preserve the data for the history of the material, social, educational, and religious growth of Texas ; so that what is available to the student of these topics is quite desultory and by no means complete nor always authentic. The best that can be done is to present such facts as will in a general way indicate the results of the fifty years of marvellous growth that has char- acterized the career of the State since annexation to the United States, together with a cursory view of the antecedent periods when Texas was a Spanish-Mexican province and an indepen- dent republic. Many of the topics here discussed are more elaborately treated in the special chapters on "The Texas Land System," "The Texas Educational System," "Physical Geog- raphy, Geology, and Material Resources," etc., in this publication, to which the reader is referred.]
T HE early settlement and development of Texas were astonishingly slow and difficult. For three hundred years after Cabeza de Vaca and his ship- wrecked companions landed on the coasts of the unknown province, the valleys and prairies of this vast region remained tenantless and unexplored, save by the precarious efforts of Catholic missionaries, the occasional adventures of Spanish and French filibusters, the feeble and flickering prosperity of a few garrison towns, and the predatory existence of wandering Indian tribes. The colony of La Salle, the expeditions of De Leon, the establishment and mutations of the various missions, the journeys of St. Denis, La Harpe, and Perez, the desperate sallies of Magee and Long, the alternate struggles of Spanish governors and commandants to establish and maintain some show of authority and civilization in the territory then known as the New Philippines, -all these were but successive exhibitions of the real desolation
757
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A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
and lethargy that yet prevailed in this fertile and virgin wilderness. At the close of the eighteenth century, in spite of the treasure, sacrifice, and energy that had been expended by both the military and ecclesiastical powers of New Spain, Texas was still an unsettled and almost an unknown country.
The next twenty years witnessed but little progress towards the population or development of the province, although it was an era of increasing interest in the resources and future destiny of the region included between the Red River and the Rio Grande. The premonitory struggles of the Mexican patriots under Hidalgo and Morelos gave promise of a successful revolt from Spain, and the eyes of Ameri- can adventurers and colonists were directed towards the prospect of this new field for enterprise and skill in the event that republican liberty should be established here. The Revolution of 1821 came, and the hoped-for republic was founded on the ruins of the Spanish viceroyalty. Texas was apparently assured of a political career not materially different from that of an American State, and the inviting liberality of the early colonization laws of the Mexican federation soon attracted the vigorous and aspiring citizens of the United States of the North to new homes beyond the Sabine. Even before the assurance of a liberal government and kindly institutions had been given, the ambitious and hardy spirit of the Austins had led them to seek concessions at the hands of the Spanish rulers of Mexico, and there can be no doubt that the influence of the younger Austin had much to do with the first favorable legislation of the new republic of Mexico.
The period of American colonization in Texas dates from the first colony of Stephen F. Austin, in 1822, and for the next ten years the influx of a slow but splendid immigration filled up many of the choice valleys of the district between the Trinity and the Colorado, while the ancient seats of Spanish settlement at Nacog- doches and along the Neches and Angelina became favorite spots for the new-comers from the States. The perils and hardships of those primitive days were very severe, and only the hardiest and the most daring could survive the continual struggle for supremacy over the roughnesses of the wilderness and the bloody competition of its wild and ruthless savages. Still, there was a measure of prosperity and content- ment among the old settlers, and they met the necessities of the situation with dauntless spirits. All would have been well but for the inevitable conflict that was steadily approaching between two irreconcilable races influenced by widely different views of governmental and civil institutions, and inheriting essentially antagonistic traditions of life, liberty, and law. The social and political temper of the Anglo- American settlers could never be brought into harmony with the pseudo-republican principles of a government that still retained the infamous features of the Spanish colonial system. Still less would they submit to the arbitrary operations of a thinly- disguised despotism. This was the true cause of the Texas Revolution. Its suc- cess, after inany and marvellous struggles and sacrifices, ushered into the family of nations a new republic, founded on the well-attested principles of political, civil, and religious freedom so illustriously portrayed in the constitution and laws of its still young but puissant parent on the north.
The new nation began its career with comparatively few citizens, an empty treasury, a burdensome public debt. a poor but sturdy population, and an extensive domain abounding in great but undeveloped resources. Its destiny was still to
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WOOTEN-RESULTS OF FIFTY YEARS OF PROGRESS.
some extent shadowed by the malignant threats and lowering frowns of the Mexican government, but its hopes were brightened by the welcoming friendship of many older and powerful sovereignties, while the consciousness of its own inherent strength inspired its people with prophetic pride and supplied its rulers with loyal courage and patriotic zeal.
The real poverty of the republic of Texas in population, material wealth, and available resources is at this day but faintly realized. No census of the province had ever been taken, but rough estimates had been made from time to time during the preceding century. In 1744 the white inhabitants of Texas did not exceed 1500 ; in 1765 they had decreased to half that number, and the estimated commerce and trade of every description was about $175,000 annually. In 1806 there were about 7000 whites and reduced Indians, of whom nearly one-third lived in and around San Antonio de Bexar. In 1831 the influx of Americans under the empre- sarios had raised the white population to about 20,000, and in 1834 Santa Anna sent his trusted officer, Colonel Juan N. Almonte, to make observations and a detailed report of the condition of the province. In that year Almonte estimated the total white population at 21,000, distributed in thirteen municipalities, as follows : Bexar, 2400 ; San Patricio, 600 ; Matagorda, 1400 ; Nacogdoches, 3500 ; Jones- borough, 2000 ; Goliad, 700 ; San Felipe, 2500 ; Gonzales, 900 ; San Augustine, 2500 ; Victoria, 300 ; Columbia, 2100; Mina, 1100; Liberty, 1000. He also reported the total exports of the province at $1,080,000, consisting of cotton, cattle, grain, and peltries, and the imports at $590,000.
In September, 1836, six months after Texas had declared her independence, the President of the United States sent Mr. Henry M. Morfit to investigate the resources and conditions of the country. He made a detailed report as to the state of affairs in the infant republic, estimating the population as follows :-
Anglo-Americans.
30,000
Mexicans
3 .- 470
Indians
1.1,200
Negroes
5,000
Total estimated population, September 1, 1836 52,670
At the date of the inauguration of the permanent government of the republic, in the fall of 1836, the financial plight of the country was deplorable. The public debt was easily a million and a quarter of dollars, public obligations were worthless ; the trade, foreign and domestic, had been practically destroyed by the war for independence ; the people had been broken up in their homes and business by months of terror, uncertainty, and turmoil ; the territory was rapidly filling up with new immigrants, many of them not of the most desirable class ; and the cessation of hostilities had left unemployed and unsatisfied a large number of ambitious, turbulent, and intriguing men, some of them not without merit and ability, but whose presence and pernicious activity were not conducive to wise and peaceful counsels. There were no railroads and but very few and primitive modes of trans- portation of any kind, no factories, no mines, none of the practical sources of public revenue or private prosperity. There was simply a vast and fertile landed domain, whose prospective value was but lightly appreciated, but sufficiently seductive to
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A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
arouse personal cupidity and inspire legislative schemes for its rapid and improv- ident dissipation. Schools were scarce and but feebly supported, one newspaper had survived the Revolution, the government itself was without a fixed habitation, and its duration and destiny seemed doubtful even to the hardy and hopeful spirits whose valor had won its existence and recognition. This was the condition in 1836, and the ten years that followed were filled with debts, doubts, and difficulties innu- merable ; but the result, wrought amid many perils and privations, culminated in the ultimate redemption of the government from all of its embarrassments, the assured prosperity of a thrifty and increasing population, and its incorporation as a stable commonwealth among the co-equal States of the American Union.
The joint resolution of the Congress of the United States for the annexation of Texas was approved March 1, 1845. In accordance with its terms a State Consti- tution was framed and adopted by the Texas convention. August 27, 1845, was submitted to a vote of the people, together with the question of annexation, in the following October, and, by a vote of 4174 for to 312 against, it was ratified by the people of Texas. On December 29, 18.45, the Constitution thus framed and adopted was accepted by the Congress of the United States, and from this last-named date Texas legally became one of the United States of America. The new State gov- ernment, however, which was elected in December, 1845, did not assume its func- tions until the following February, 1846. For purposes of practical computation we may adopt January 1, 1846, as the beginning-point in the history of Texas as an American State, so that on January 1, 1896, she closed her first half-century of Statchood. Taking these dates as the limits of observation, the subject of this chapter may be conveniently treated under the following sub-heads :--
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