USA > Texas > Harrison County > History of Harrison County, Texas 1839 to 1880 > Part 9
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4. To carry out these purposes, organized societies exist everywhere in the North, who send their petitions to Congress and who permit none that they can hinder, to occupy seats therein, but those who will execute their plans. 5. Hence, too, it is, that with the bribe of ten millions of dollars in one hand and the sword in the other, our free soil government has plotted to dismember Texas; and to convert a part of her domain devoted to slavery into free soil territory .
6. Hence it is, that the South, by a stu- pendous fraud, has been driven from California and all participation in any of the other terri- tories acquired from Mexico; and that hence it is, that Congress by its late act abolishing the slave trade in the District of Columbia, has as- serted the right and evinced its determination to abolish the institution altogether.
The article speaks for itself. How truly it repre- sented the viewpoint of the people of Harrison County may be seen when, in 1861, they were called upon to vote on
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the question as to whether Texas should secede from the Union.
All through the decade between 1850 and 1860, charges and counter charges were made. Matters instead of becom- ing better, as some had dared hope, became decidedly worse, until by 1860, only the election of Lincoln was needed to break the camel's back. Never before had an election, local, state, or national, aroused such keen interest. Never before did the Harrison County planter and farmer read the news of the day more religiously, or attend pub- lic meetings more diligently to hear the problems of the day discussed. There were two things every man in Harri- son County who went to the polls in 1860 knew, or believed. In the first place, he knew that Lincoln's position on slavery, "the house divided against itself theory, " made him unacceptable as the president of the United States. In the second place, every man who cast his ballot for candidates opposed to Lincoln believed that if Lincoln were elected, secession would be the result. The politi- cal leaders of the county, by means of a publicity cam- paign, brought about this state of affairs. Each voter was politically educated, so to speak, before he cast his ballot.
As the campaign progressed, one other thing became evident to the people of Harrison County, and that was that
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they did not want Douglas as president. He was not strong enough in his convictions to carry the banner of their party into an election. They considered him a "fence-rider". Breckinridge was different. He made no quibble about stating where he stood on slavery. The political leaders of the county, convinced of this, saw the necessity of centering upon one man - Breckinridge. Douglas' whole political history was then aired before the people, and by the time this was over, he had few friends in the county. Douglas, it was said, dodged the vote on the compromise measures of 1850; that, being a candidate for the Democratic nomination in 1856, and being defeated by Buchanan, bolted after the election, and made war on his party friends and upon his success- ful competitor, the Democratic president; that when Kansas asked to be admitted into the union as a slave state, he stood up in the Senate with Seward, Sumner and others, and said "Keep her out; don't admit Kansas as a slave state"; that Douglas thought squatter sover- eignty a more certain means to exclude slavery than the Wilmot proviso; that he tried to graft it on to the Cincinnati platform (1856) by straining the constitu- tion, and was not willing to give it up when the Supreme Court decided it unconstitutional; that he voted for the Wilmot proviso; that when Lincoln, the Black Republican competitor of Douglas, pressed him at Freeport, and he
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saw free soil and senatorial honors on the one side, and true democracy and defeat on the other, he bent the supple hinges of his knees to free soil and turned his back to democracy and said: "The people of a territory can, by lawful means, exclude slavery from their limits prior to the formation of a state constitution."
Douglas had no chance for a comeback. After the above indictments became generally known, he was politi- cally dead in the county. An attempt was made by the Bell supporters in this county to secure a Douglas-Bell fusion ticket, so that when the election was held, the people of this county had two choices, they either voted for Breck- inridge, or they voted for the Bell-Douglas fusion. There was no Lincoln ticket. Eleven hundred went to the polls that day and voted. How momentous the occasion was, and how seriously each voter in the county took the matter may be gathered from an editorial in the Texas Republican just before the election:
To the Polls ! This is the last issue of our paper previous to the election. But one duty remains, and that is for the people of the state to cast their votes. The evidence has been sub- mitted, the argument presented; the great jury of the country has heard both sides, and nothing now remains but the enunciation of their verdict. Never has there been an election in this country involving such momentous consequences. Disguised as it may be, and however unwelcome the reflection, there is but one issue in this canvass. Either the Southern States are to have their Constitutional rights and their equality
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in 'the Union recognized, or they are to be told, that henceforth they are to be regarded and treated as inferiors. In such a contest, we would ask every citizen, how are you going to vote? 79
A final check up in the vote revealed that Breck- inridge had carried the county over the fusion ticket by a majority of 295 votes. 80 Lincoln did not get a single vote. The election over, there were several days of feverish suspense. The people of the county adopted the watchful waiting policy. Colonel Loughery came out on November 17 with the following editorial which seems to have correctly expressed the attitude of the people of Harrison County at that time:
The great question that is agitating the public mind of the South is, what shall be done in case Lincoln is elected? The general sen- timent in Texas so far as we have been able to learn, is against submission to a Black Repub- lican administration. It is a sentiment that will grow deeper and stronger in the popular mind, as the subject is more thoroughly dis- cussed. Such a submission, in our judgment, involves the loss of everything, and if con- summated will end in the prostration of the Southern States.
. 79. Texas Republican, November 3, 1860. 80. Ibid., November 10, 1860.
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the following resolutions:
Whereas, .the platform of the party which has elected Mr. Lincoln to the presidency is hostile to the rights of the slaveholding states, denying as it does to then their equality of rights in the Union, and Whereas, it is desirable that the action of the people of the Southern States in the premises should be uniform, therefore, be it Resolved, That the people of Harrison County be requested to meet at the court- house on Saturday, the first day of Decem- ber next, to consult upon the ways and means necessary to protect our rights as co- equals in the United States of America.
Similar meetings were held throughout the State of Texas. At each of these meetings the same resolutions were passed. Not a county from the Sabine to the Rio Grande voted in favor of submission. Petition after petition came crowding in upon the governor to convene the legislature. In the meantime, there was no proverbial lull before the storm, the people were for action, the storm was on. Still, Governor Houston, who was opposed to secession, hesitated to call the leg- islature together. This resulted in another round of public meetings. The assembly of citizens of Harrison County which convened on November 24, 1860, just a week after the first meeting, was the largest and most imposing ever held in the county. John B. Webster was elected chairman, and he spoke as follows:
In my mind, my friends, there is only one alternative -- resistance or submission __
1. Texas Republican, November 24, 1860.
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defend our rights as men, or basely surrender them to the aggressor. For months it has been known that this crisis would be upon us. We have had time for calm, serious reflection. I have given it my solom and most serious thought. I am not ashamed to say it -- I profess to be a Christian __ I have made it a subject of prayer- ful consideration; and before God, and with a full sense of the high responsibility en- countered, I say that the South should with- draw from the Union.
At this meeting, resolutions were drawn up and adopt- ed, first, calling for another meeting to take place on December 1; second, stating that the election of Abraham Lincoln as president of the United States by a "sectional majority" was a violation of the spirit of the constitution, and should be resisted by the southern states; third, suggesting the calling of a state convention at an early date for the purpose of taking such action "as may seem necessary to secure our rights."
No better description of what took place at this meeting can be given than an editorial written by the editor of the Texas Republican:
I had not the pleasure of participating in the meeting of your citizens on last Saturday. I saw the vast assemblage just before adjournment, and witnessed with joy, the union of both of the political parties of the county, upon one common purpose, re- sistance to the inauguration of Black Re- publican rule over us. It was a public sacrifice of party prejudice upon the altar of patriotism. The admirer of Clay, and the admirer of Calhoun --
2. Ibid. , December 1, 1860.
v 3. Whigs and Democratics.
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the supporter of Bell, and the supporter of Breckenridge __ counseled together and agreed, that until relieved from danger, they would know only their country and own allegiance only to her interests. Webster and Parker, side by side, presided over the meeting; and Holcomb and Ward and Perry, and Taylor agreed in the committee room. Harrison County has achieved much. She has resolved that so far as in her lies, she will not submit to Black Repub- lican rule.
By this time, the people of this county were arous- ed to a feverish heat. It looked as if the evident desires of the people of the state might be circum- vented by the opposition of a governor who was opposed to secession. Houston was still de ermined not to call the state legislature together. People were in a furious state of mind. Things which had previously been overlooked, were now brought up and given a public airing. Perhaps one of the best indications of the intolerance of the people of this county at opposition was in the so-called Whitmore episode. G. W., Whitmore was the representative of this county to the state legislature. During the political campaign, and in those days when it was not definitely known what stand Harrison County would take in case of Lincoln's election, he was said to have made the remark that, "If Abraham Lincoln is constitutionally elected president of the United States, and on that
4. Texas Republican, December 1, 1860.
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account any southern state should secede, I would sustain, or be on the side of the government. 5 No one paid nay great attention to the remark at the time it was made, but in those days which followed, when every man suspected his neighbors and friends until they had proven themselves, the matter was re- opened and became the subject of numerous newspaper articles, street discussions, and petitions. Senti- ment at this time was strongly opposed to the remark. Whitmore was asked to resign, and when he failed to do so, a public assembly of the citizens of the county requested the legislature to demand the resigna- tion of the recalcitrant representative. This object was finally accomplished.
It soon became apparent that the governor would be forced to call the legislature together or else resign. The people of Harrison County did not wait for the assembling of the legislators and the con- Bequent calling of a constitutional convention, but met at the courthouse Saturday, December 1, 1860, and proceeded to elect delegates to the state convention which they felt certain would soon be called. W. B. Hill was asked to address the meeting, and he stated that he was in favor of prompt resistance; that in his opinion the governor should call the legislature to-
5. Ibid., December 8, 1860. Purported to have been said at] Jonesville, October 27, 1860.
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gether, and that this body should call a state conven- tion, at which session the state should secede from the union. At this meeting, W. T. Scott, W. B. Hill, A. Pope, and Gill Mckay, were nominated to represent Harrison County at the.state convention. It was at this meeting that a resolution was adopted requesting the legislature to expel Whitmore from his seat in the lower house. The resolution calling for such action stated that "the sentiments promulgated by him are much better adopted to a northern than to a south- ern constituency. "6
Louis T. Wigfall, one of the United States Senators from Texas, was a native of Harrison County. It was quite natural that the people of this county should be interested in knowing how he felt on the matter of secession, and so when it was called to the attention of the editor of the Texas Republican that Wigfall had written a letter to Judge Leslie A. Thompson, he asked Judge; Thompson for permission to print the contents of the letter. This was readily granted. The letter Follows:
My Dear Sir: -- Though you make no allusion to the present political condition of the country, I take it for granted that you feel some curiosity on the subject. The propositions to settle the question by further amendments, amount to nothing, and are intended to produce division among us. The North will not yield an inch. They will F
6. Texas Republican, December 8, 1860.
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not give us what we are now entitled to. They will not agree to leave us what we have. How idle then to create a division among ourselves, by discussing what we would be willing to take, when nothing has been or will be offered. It is a weak device of the enemy. Butler, of Virginia, is a Union saver of the most unmitigat- ed sort, and so is Powell, of Kentucky. They care not when the axe falls, so they are not permitted to see it. Their hope is to get up in Congress a debate as to what should satisfy the South, and continue it till the elections in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mis- sissippi have taken place, and in the mean- time get up a discussion before the people of those states as to what they would be satisfied with, and have thus the active party defeated. The entire isolation of South Carolina is now the game for which they are playing. Each one of them knows that the constitution as it stands, would not be now ratified in a single northern state, with our construction of it.
In spite of all the pressure brought to bear, Houston, still refrained from calling the legislature together. Finally, exasperated by his opposition, a 3 plan for a state convention, recommended by sixty-one leaders of the state, including such men as the lieutenant governor, judges of the Supreme Court, and others prominent in Texas politics, was drawn up and sent in circular form to every county in the state. All of the leading newspapers of the state supported the plan. Houston, seeing the hopelessness of further delay, finally called the legislature together. This body ordered an election of delegates to a state con- Vention to meet in Austin the fourth Monday of January,
7. Ibid., January 5, 1861.
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1861. Harrison County at once proceeded to elect those men nominated by the assembly held the latter part of November. 8
When the news of the secession of South Carolina reached Harrison County, great excitement was pre- cipitated. A state had dared to secede from the union; 1 the ice was broken. This news was considered so im- portant as to warrant the calling of another public assembly. This assembly met in Marshall on the first Saturday in January at which meeting the following preamble and resolutions were adopted.
Whereas, We have received reliable in- telligence of the secession of the State of South Carolina from the confederation of States heretofore constituting the United States of America, and whereas, we, the people of Harrison County do fully recognize the right of the State of South Carloina to secede from said Union, she being alone re- sponsible to the God of nations for the result of the act.
1 Therefore, be it resolved, That we do fully concur the justice of the action of the gallant State of South Carolina in with- drawing the powers delegated to the general government of the 23d of May, 1788; we pledge ourselves individually and collectively render all such material aid as may be necessary to support and sustain her in her said action.
Resolved, That the said motives and in_ terests which have prompted the State of South Carolina to withdraw from the Con- federacy in like manner exist in other slave holding states, and a common interest and a common safety demand that they also should "do likewise", --
"And if it is to be done 'Twere well 'twere quickly done. "9
8. Ibid., December 29, 1860. W.B. Hill, one of the delegates nominated was unable to go, so W.B.Ochiltree was substituted.
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9. Ibid., January 5, 1861.
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The state convention which met in Austin at the call of the legislature voted in favor of submitting the question of secession to the people. On February 23, 1861, the Texas Republican came out with a clarion call to the citizens of Harrison County to vote. This paper stated in a few words the position of all those people in the Southland who believed in states rights. there was an exaggeration, such was due to the stress and excitement of the times. The article went on to say that the constitution of this country had been trampled in the dust and destroyed; that an abolition president was about to be inaugurated -- a man surrounded by the advocates of John Brown, the proclaimers of the "irrepressible conflict", and the equality of the races; that he and his party were pledged to subjugation, and had threatened the South with the sword should it dare resist. Then came the challenge:
Are you freemen or slaves? Will you con- sent to live under such a government, and bow down in abject submission to such an administra- tion, or will you take your position, with the citizens of those gallant states that have de .. clared for "secession" and the Constitution of our fathers?
We do not question your fidelity to the principles of free government, or belive that you will fail to prove yourselves worthy sons of illustrious sires. We say, therefore, go . to the polls. Let nothing prevent you, and show that Harrison County, among the faith- ful and true, stands conspicuous for patriotism and united action. 10
In the face of such a challenge, it was not likely
10. Texas Republican, February 23, 1861.
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that many men would stay home from the polls on March 2. The citizens of the county on this date voted on three questions: first, "for Secession", or "against secession"; second, "for asking G. W. Whitmore to resign as County Representative", or "against asking G. W. Whitmore to resign as County Representative"; third, to elect two delegates to the state convention, then in session, to take the place of two who had been previously elected but had resigned. On the first question, voters of the county by a majority of 822 votes for secession; only 44 votes were registered against this proposal. On the second proposition, by a vote of 706 to 46, G. W. Whitmore was asked by his constituents to resign. On the third, M. J. Hall and E. H. Baxter were elected as delegates to the state convention. 11
Similar action was then in every other county in the state. Harrison, Shelby, and a few other East Texas Counties were stronger for secession than other counties to the west. The result was, an ordinance of secession passed by the state convention and Texas took her place by the side of her sister states who had preceded her in this act. Houston, because he would not take the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, was forced to resign, and Edward Clark, form Harrison County, the
ll. Ibid., March 9, 1861.
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lieutenant governor, took the oath as governor.
The Civil War. -- On March 18, the state convention, which was still in session at Austin, passed an ordin- ance empowering the governor to raise two regiments of soldiers for frontier service. These men were to re- place United States troops who were abandoning their posts, and to effectually provide for the military defense of the state. They were to be enlisted for twelve months, if required. Sheriff A. W. Crawford of Harrison County, was appointed enrolling officer of this district. Crawford authorized Samuel J. Richardson to raise a company, and in a short time applications to the number of 110, men had been received from this and adjoining counties. 12 This company, with Richardson as captain, was named the W. P. Lane Rangers, in honor of W> P. Lane, of Marshall. It was the first company to be raised in this section of the state. It was composed of young men mostly between the ages of eighteen and twenty- five. Just before this company left for duties assigned to it by the atate, it was presented with a flag which the ladies of Marshall had made. 13 This flag was presented
12. Texas Republican, April 6, 1861,
13. The flag was composed of three bars, the middle one being white and the outer two red. In the upper left corner was a blue field with eight stars to represent the Beceded states, while on the right was one lone star to represent the "Lone Star State". The motto of the company, "Semper Paratus", was printed on the back of the flag,
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to Robert Ross Wright who was the company's color bearer; and who, when he came back from war, brought this tattered flag with him. It remained for many years in the possession of the Wright family, one of its most cherished possessions.
At the time of secession, few people thought that there would be war. As time passed, however, it became more and more apparent that war must come, still the people of the Southland were not alarmed. They had no idea that a war of four years duration, terrible as all wars are, was to follow. They were ready and anxious to meet their foe on the field of battle, if for no other reason than to see them run back home. Something of the attitude of the people of Harrison County in this respect may be gathered from a speech delivered at the Fair Park, on June 22, 1861, by Senator Louis T. Wigfall, now a senator to the Confederate congre88. This speech in part follows:
I think if the President of the Old United States, one Abraham Lincoln by name, could look upon you this evening, see the brave faces and hear the beating hearts of this multitude, he would, probably, not feel inclined to remain in his present shoes. (Laughter) They say that you are raw troops, not well drilled, and, therefore, not able to meet the trained bands whom that malignant and insane peacock __ (Laughter) ... as he has been called by one of Virginia's sons, has brought into the field to subjugate your state and government. But follow soldiers, admitting this to be true, which you will know is not, I believe that if you are whipped you will never find it out. It is pluck, and not numbers, which counts upon the field of battle.
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This was what purchased the terrible victories of Poitiers and Crecy, three hundred years ago, and it is what will tell in the present age in favor of you who are fighting for your rights and firesides.
You who have been born, as it were, almost upon horseback, with rifles in your hands, ought to feel it no longer a question as to whether your slaves are to be freemen, hut whether you are to be slaves __ whether the people of Confederate States are to be allowed the right which was declared by our ancestors to be inalienable, of abolishing or altering whenever you see fit, your form of government, and re-constructing or substituting another in its stead. If this is not an incentive to nerve your arms in self-defense, you will never have one, (Cheers) It is said by the vulgar fanatic who has been elevated to the office of President that you have no such rights and shall not exercise them. He says, further, that those who have volunteered to carry into effect his behests, shall have parceled out to them portions of your soil, but I tell you my friends, I believe that the soil will be damp with your blood, and the blood of your women before the result takes place. You have the will and you have the strength to accomplish your freedom. The people of the South are with you; and, as for me, so help me God, I cross not your border until that freedom is secured. (Cheers, amid which the band in attendance struck up in the Air of Dixie, and the crowd adjourned to the parade ground to witness the review of troops.
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