Texas History Part Three

9: From Reconstruction to the Turn-of-the-Century

Dr. Butler

All images used in this slideshow that aren’t my own photos, are

either in the Public Domain or used under the “Fair Use”

provision of U.S. Copyright law.

The U.S. Army Returns to Texas

After the Civil War, U.S. troops were sent to Texas to:

• Reoccupy federal forts and provide frontier defense

• Maintain law and order

• Protect the freedmen.

After the Civil War,

new frontier forts

were established

while some of the

older forts were

closed down.

Gen. George Armstrong Custer was one of the soldiers sent to Texa. He was

stationed first at Hempstead and then at Austin. A strict disciplinarian, Custer was

reportedly well-liked by the citizens of Austin.

Custer

Fort Richardson, which played an important role in the Red River War of 1874-

1875, was one of the new postwar forts. It was located in Jack County.

4 min. 50 sec.

The Texas Rangers after the Civil War

The Frontier Battalion, 1874-1891

In 1874, Governor Coke signed

an act of the legislature

organizing the Texas Rangers

into two groups. One of these

was the Frontier Battalion, led

by Major John B. Jones.

Jones

The Battalion’s main purpose

was to protect the frontier

against Indian attacks. Over

time, they became law

enforcement officers as well.

Sam Bass (center) was a notorious outlaw

brought to justice by the Texas Rangers.

John Wesley Hardin was another one of

Texas’ most notorious outlaws.

Belle Starr, the “Outlaw Queen,” was

likewise notorious.

One of the Battalion’s few failures

occurred during the infamous El

Paso “Salt War,” in 1877.

5 min. 52 sec.

Texas Buffalo Hunters

The buffalo was essential to the

lifestyle of the Plains Indians.

“Kill every buffalo you can. Every

buffalo dead is an Indian gone.”--Col. Richard I. Dodge, U.S. Army

White people knew that killing the buffalo would

destroy the Plains Indians’ way of life.

In the 1870s and ’80s, thousands of

Buffalo hunters roamed the plains,

including the Texas Panhandle.

Buffalo hides sold for $1 to $1.50

apiece and dried Buffalo tongues

were also in demand.

By 1875, Dallas had become the largest buffalo skin

market and distribution center in the nation. Hides

were also bought and sold at Fort Worth, Waco,

Galveston, and other Texas towns and cities.

Hides were brought from West Texas by mule-drawn

wagons, sometimes 40 wagons at a time.

5 min. 38 sec.

The Salt Creek Massacre

1871

Not surprisingly, the Kiowa and Comanches were unhappy

with the return of the Army and also the buffalo hunters.

2 min. 03 sec.

The Salt Creek Massacre, 1871

Quanah Parker & the Red River War

1875-1877

May 19, 1836: Indians attack Fort Parker, in Limestone

County, killing five and taking several captives.

A young girl, Cynthia Ann

Parker, was one of the

captives. She was traded to

the Comanches and grew up

among them.Photo from Western/History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library

In 1860, after Texas Rangers

led by future governor Sul

Ross defeated the Comanches

at the Battle of Pease River,

Cynthia Ann was “rescued.”

During her captivity, Cynthia

Ann Parker married a

Comanche chief named Peta

Nocona. Her oldest son,

Quanah, grew up to be a leader.

In 1874, the Red River War

broke out in the Texas

Panhandle, when Indians

attacked buffalo hunters at

Adobe Walls.

The Red River War, 1874-1875

Photo from Western/History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library

Quanah Parker led the attack on buffalo hunters

at the Battle of Adobe Walls, June 17, 1874.

Battle of Palo Duro Canyon

September 28, 1874

Led by Colonel Ranald Mackenzie, federal

troops from Fort Richardson defeated the

Comanches at the Battle of Palo Duro

Canyon, and then destroyed hundreds of

horses belonging to them.

Following the destruction of their ponies,

the Southern Plains Indians returned to their

reservations in what is now Oklahoma.

April 1875: Comanches surrender at Fort

Sill, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma).

Quanah Parker

6 min. 47 sec.

The Great Texas Cattle Drives

1867-1885

After the Civil War, Abilene, Kansas businessman Joseph G. McCoy

encouraged Texas cattlemen to drive their steers across the open range

for shipment by rail to the East.

A Longhorn that cost $4 in Texas could be sold for $30 to

$40 at the railhead.

All the major cattle trails led north out of Texas to railheads

in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri.

The peak year of the “Open Range” era was 1871,

when more than 700,000 cattle were driven north.

This outdoor sculpture in Dallas’ Pioneer

Park commemorates the Sedalia and

Baxter Springs Trail, a.k.a.. The “Shawnee

Trail,” which passed through Dallas and

up the Preston Road.

By 1880, more than 6 million cattle had

been driven north from Texas.

The arrival of the railroads in Texas in the

1870s, combined with the invention of barbed

wire, ended the great cattle drives. 11 min. 0 sec.

7 min. 47 sec.

The Ranching Business

Following the end of the Civil War, several large cattle

ranches were established by men called “Cattle Kings.”

The three most famous were Richard King, Charles

Goodnight, and Christopher Columbus Slaughter.

King

Goodnight Slaughter

Founded by Richard King in 1853, the 825,000 acre

King Ranch in South Texas is still the largest ranch

in Texas and one of the largest in the world. At

1,289 square miles, it is larger than the state of

Rhode Island! (1,214 square miles)

King

Its brand is the “Running W.”

The King Ranch is also famous its signature Santa

Gertrudis cattle, which were developed on the ranch

by breeding Brahma bulls with shorthorn beef cattle.3 min. 34 sec.

Charles Goodnight, known as the “Father of the Texas

Panhandle, had a ranch in Armstrong County, where he not

only raised cattle but also kept a herd of buffalo!

Goodnight4 min. 18 sec.

One of Texas’ largest and most important cattle

ranchers, Col. C. C. Slaughter, lived in Dallas.

This marker at Doan’s Crossing, Texas shows

Slaughter’s “Lazy S” cattle brand.

In 1873 Slaughter helped organize the

Cattle Raisers Association and the

National Beef Producers & Consumers

Association in 1884.

Col. Slaughter was also the largest contributor

to Baylor Hospital in East Dallas.

When Slaughter died in 1919, he was buried at

Dallas’ Greenwood Cemetery.

Texas: Cotton King of America

In 1881, Texas was third among 14 states in cotton production. By

1890, it was first, a position it still held in 1900.

By 1898, “fully half” of Texas’ cotton crop was being grown

within 100 miles of Dallas. This was also a little more than

one-eighth (1,789,327 bales) of the world’s supply!

Most of this cotton came to Dallas, where it was ginned (had

the seeds removed), baled, then bought and sold.

Texas had several cotton-related businesses including the

Dallas Cotton and Woolen Mill, which opened in South

Dallas in 1888. Its 250 workers (mostly women and

children) made it the largest industrial employer in the city.

Cotton Oil CompanyCotton Machine Company

Not surprisingly, after it was built in 1930, the football

field at Fair Park was named the “Cotton Bowl.”

The Railroads Come To Texas

During the post-Civil War period, the U.S.

Government gave railroads 128 million acres

of land in order to encourage their expansion.

In Texas, where there were no federal

public lands, the state government gave

railroads large land grants.

The two most important railroads in

Texas were the Houston and Texas

Central, which ran south to north from

Galveston to Denison, giving Texas a

link to the northern states, and the Texas

and Pacific, which ran east to west from

Shreveport, Louisiana to El Paso,

linking Texas to both California and also

the eastern states.

The arrival of the railroads was a major

factor in the post-Civil War growth of

Dallas and other Texas cities.

In 1889, the state legislature passed a

law that, among other things, required

separate passenger cars or

compartments for black and white

passengers. It also required all railroads

doing business in Texas to maintain an

office in the state.

In 1891, the state legislature

created the Texas Railroad

Commission. Its job was to

regulate the railroads in

Texas and set freight rates.

Today’s Texans can

experience the early days of

railroads by taking a ride on

the Texas State Railroad,

which runs from Palestine

to Rusk in East Texas.

6 min. 47 sec.

A Texas Institution

The University of Texas is born

On September 15, 1883, as provided for in

the 1876 state constitution, the new

University of Texas was formally opened

for classes, even though its main building

was not completed until 1899.

2 min. 17 sec.

Another Texas Institution

The State Fair is Born

In January 1886, a group of

Dallas bankers and businessmen

got together in the Merchants

Exchange Building to form a

State Fair Association.

W. H. Gaston

C. A. Keating

But in April a disagreement

arose over a site for the fair.

Gaston and the other bankers

favored a site on the edge of

East Dallas.

Keating and the “Implement

Men” preferred a site in North

Dallas. They called the East

Dallas site “the worst kind of

hog wallow.”

The result? Two state fairs!!!

The Texas State Fair ran from

Oct. 25 through Oct. 30, 1886

in North Dallas.

The Dallas State Fair ran from Oct. 26

through Nov. 6, 1886 in East Dallas.

In 1887 the two money-losing fairs

combined to form the Texas State

Fair and Dallas Exposition,

agreeing to use the East Dallas site.

By the 1890s, the State Fair was well on

the way to becoming a state institution.

A New State Capitol

1888

In 1881, the state capitol, built in 1853,

was destroyed by fire. Even before it

burned, plans were being made to replace

it with a much larger structure,

In February 1888, the new Texas state capitol was

completed. A statue called “the Goddess of Liberty”

(popularly known as “Old Hatchet Face,” was

erected on top of the dome.

The original statue

(replaced in 1986) now

stands in the state history

museum in Austin.

Some Capitol Facts:

• Cost $4 million to build

• Designed by a Chicago architectural firm

• Made of Texas pink granite from Burnet county

• Built in “Doric” style

• Contains 260 rooms

• At 311 feet, it is taller than any other capitol building

in the United States, including the national capitol in

Washington, D.C. (288 feet)

The building’s interior is just

as magnificent as the outside,

especially the dome.

13 min. 49 sec.

The Texas-born Governor

James Stephen Hogg

James Stephen Hogg, born in Rusk in 1851,

was not only the first native-born Texas

governor (served 1891-1895), but also the

first governor since the Civil War who did

not serve in the Confederate army. Hogg

was also a proponent of the “New South

Creed.” which embraced a diversification of

the South’s economy through industrial

growth.

Although Hogg did not advocate racial

equality, in 1893 he denounced lawlessness,

mob rule and lynching, which affected

blacks more often than whites.

Hogg was also known for having a daughter

named Ima. Her supposed sister, “Ura,” is

just an urban myth.

Ima Hogg

Texas in the Spanish-American War

1898

When the Spanish-American War started in 1898,

thousands of Texans volunteered for service.

Because the war was of such short duration (about 3

months), no Texas troops left the country to fight in Cuba.

However, the First Texas

Volunteer Infantry served

on occupation duty in Cuba

from December 1898 to

March 1899.

The 33rd U.S. Volunteer Infantry, raised in San Antonio and consisting

almost entirely of Texans, served in the Philippine-American War, in

which the United States fought a brutal 3-year-long campaign against a

people who wished to have their freedom and independence.

Texas’ only other connection to the

Spanish-American War is that some of

the “Rough Riders,” led by future

president Theodore Roosevelt, were

recruited in Texas. TR also bought the

regiment’s horses and trained his men

near San Antonio. "We drew a great many recruits from Texas,

and from nowhere did we get a higher

average, for many of them had served in that

famous body of frontier fighters, the Texas

Rangers. Of course, these rangers needed no

teaching. They were trained to obey and to

take responsibility. They were splendid shots,

horsemen, and trailers. They were

accustomed to living in the open, to enduring

great fatigue and hardship, and to

encountering all kinds of danger.“

--Theodore Roosevelt, Lt. Col., USV

The bar of San Antonio’s Menger Hotel is

sometimes called “the Roosevelt Room,” because

TR liked to have a drink there. It is said he also

recruited some of his troops at the hotel.

San Antonio’s Roosevelt Park is the site of the

Rough Riders’ camp and training ground.

The Rough Riders in Cuba

(as imagined by an artist)

The Rough Riders in Reality

Battle of Kettle Hill, July 1, 1898

Roosevelt led the charge on his horse “Little Texas.”