Chapter Seven

A Frontier Society in Transition

Year Total Urban Rural (%) Black (%)

1860 604,215 26,615 577,600 (96.4)

182,921 (30.0)

1870 818,579 59,521 764,058 (95.6)

253,475 (31.9)

1880 1,591,749 146,795 1,444,954 (93.7)

393,384 (25.0)

1890 2,235,521 349,511 1,886,016 (90.5)

488,171 (21.8)

1900 3,048,710 520,759 2,527,951 (84.5)

650,722 (20.0)

Texas Population (1870-1900)

What do these statistics mean?Stead increase in overall populationSteady increase in urban populationSteady decrease of black population

Who came to Texas?Primarily white southerners

From Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Missouri, Louisiana, and Georgia (in that order)

West Texas provided adequate for cattlemenFarmers followed ranchers

Railroad lines are also responsible for population increases in cities

Texas Population (1870-1900)

After the Civil War, northern U.S. markets for beef spurred the growth of ranching in South TexasKenedy RanchKing Ranch

In the 1880s and 1890s, South Texas acreage was slowly converted to farmlandAs a result, ranch hands became displaced workers

Railroads expanded in the area and urban development increasedCorpus Christi, Laredo, and Brownsville benefitted

greatly from railroad expansion

Growth of South Texas

King Ranch

Captain Richard King

King Ranch in Popular Culture

Kiowas and ComanchesStill ruled over West Texas despite Texan advances on

their territoryTheir society glorified warfareThey finally honed their military tactics (hit and run tactics)Texan migration stopped short of Plains Indian territoryTheir nomadic lifestyle prevented Texans from attacking

any tangible military/social positions Texans feared the Plains tribes

They tortured white victims during or after combatTortured prisoners or mutilated corpses

Abducted white women and childrenThis was usually enough to stave off further migration to the

west

Indian Displacement

FortsFrom 1866 to 1868, the U.S. War Department

established a line of defense Replaced long-established U.S. troops stationed in militia

units and Indian-fighter regiments along the frontierHowever, the Plains tribes proved too resourceful and

cunningEasily avoided the fortsThey were spread too far apart to be effective

“Comanche moon” raidsComanches typically carried out some of their fiercest

raids under the light of a full moonU.S. soldiers began to carry out reconnaissance

missions under a full moon also

Indian Displacement

May 1871 (Young County, TX)

Kiowa Chief Satanta and roughly 150 of his followers near the Fort Sill Reservation raided a supply train

Killed and mutilated 7 of the 12 drivers

Satanta did not want to relinquish Kiowa land in West Texas

The Salt Creek Massacre

Satanta

General William T. Sherman ordered the arrest of Satanta and his followers

They were subsequently arrested, tried, and sentenced to deathHowever, Governor Davis pardoned this in an

attempt to exercise a peace policy towards the Plains Indians

Satanta was released and continued his old ways

He was later recaptured and sent to the Huntsville state prisonDied in 1878 under questionable circumstances

The Salt Creek Massacre

After the Salt Creek Massacre, the U.S. Army led an offensive against the Plains tribesSpearheaded by Col.

Ranald Slidell MackenzieConducted very effective

search and destroy missions on the Panhandle Plains in 1871Against resistant

Comanche bands

Mackenzie’s Raids

Col. Ranald Slidell Mackenzie

Notable Comanche leader Quanah Parker faced Mackenzie’s forces in 1871 Parker was the son of

Cynthia Ann Parker, a white Comanche woman who was abducted in 1836 at Fort Parker (Limestone County)

Objective of Mackenzie’s campaign was the forcible removal of Indians to the reservations Most Indians refused to fight

under circumstances to the advantage of the U.S. Army

Mackenzie’s Raids

Quanah Parker

The U.S. Army resorted to ruthless measuresSlaughtering pony herdsDestroying Indian villagesConfiscating food, weapons, and necessities for

survivalThis policy was effective

Frequency of Indian raids decreased dramatically

Mackenzie’s Raids

Final military operation against the Plains Indians in northwestern Texas

Multi-pronged assault from New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, and West Texas

September 1874 – Mackenzie and his troops skirmish with Comanches at Palo Duro CanyonAfter the skirmish, he ordered the slaughtering of

the tribe’s pony herdWithout their horses, the Comanches were easily

subduedRemnants of the Plains Tribes moved to the

Oklahoma reservations in 1875

Red River War

Their way of life was detrimental to their survivalLacked a system of supply depots and armories

essential for warfareLacked a support network of factories and

farmsLacked an efficient infrastructure effective

enough to stave off whites moving westWar strategy did not favor prolong conflict

against well-trained and well-armed opponentsDecline of the buffalo herds

Decline of the Plains Tribes

Major decline was during the 1870s and 1880sCauses

Tribal migrations increased slaughteringPartially for sustenance and essential byproductsPartially for its trade value (alcohol)

Anglo range animals contaminated the herds with diseasesHorses, cattle, and sheep

European livestock upset the ecology of the regionWhites shot buffalo for sportBuffalo hides became profitable

By the early 1880s, less than 200 buffalo were left on old Texas feeding grounds (previously thousands)

Decline of the Buffalo Herds

Roughly 5 million longhorns grazed throughout Texas in 1865Majority were “mavericks”, belonging to the

first person to brand themEra of the Cattle Kingdom began during the

mid-1860s until the mid-1880sDemand for beef in the North pushed up the

price of cattle$3-4 a head in Texas would bring $30-$40 a

head in the upper Mississippi Valley

The Cattle Kingdom

First “long drive” was in 1866 Passed through the Nueces Valley, Austin, Fort Worth, Denison,

and finished at the railhead at Sedalia, Missouri Dealers would ship the cattle north for huge profits

Problems Bandits and Indians Missourians were problematic

Shot cattle Tried to turn herds back south Did anything to keep cattle out of Missouri

Preferable rail shipping point became Abilene, Kansas as a result Wide-open plains Allowed Texas cowboys to avoid problems in Missouri Texans reached Abilene via the Chisholm Trail Over 35,000 cattle were driven from Texas to Abilene in 1867

Cattle Trails

Cattlemen in the South Plains and Panhandle made free use of grasslands on the open rangeKnown as “free rangers”Notables: John Chisum, Charles Goodnight, C.

C. Slaughter, George Littlefield, and Oliver Loving

Free rangers were often ruthless asserting their “range rights”Used violence to drive away intruders

Many free rangers obtained legal title to public lands when the government put it on the market

Range Rights

Several gigantic ranches emerged out of the need of speculators to legalize claims on the open range

Ranches provided labor and shared profits with financial sponsors

Notable ranches:JA Ranch (Charles Goodnight)

700,000 acres in Palo Duro CanyonShoe Bar Ranch (Thomas S. Bugbee)

450,000 acres in the PanhandleMatador Land and Cattle Company (based out of

Scotland)300,000 acres in Motley County

Land and Cattle Companies

Largest of the Texas ranchesAlong the western boundary of the PanhandleOwned by a Chicago syndicate3,050,000 acres in payment for building the

new state capitol in Austin (1888)

XIT Ranch

Cattle boom waned in the mid-1880sLong drives were not cost-effective

Cattle lost weight on the trail and did not bring premium prices

Kansas law prevented cattle from passing through the stateSpread of Texas tick fever

Land upset the ecological balanceLand could only support so many cattleRanchers routinely overstocked it

Freezes and droughts in the mid-1880s devastated the industryRanchers never recovered

Decline of the Cattle Kingdom

Ranchers divided the entire range with barbed wireCareful calculation on how many cattle each

pasture could containControlled animal breedingNew interest in ranching methods

Ranchers left a settled regionFarmers followed the ranchersWestern expansion of railroads gave rise to

townsAbilene (TX), Sweetwater, Big Spring, Midland,

and Odessa

Legacy of the Cattle Kingdom

Industry did not become profitable until the 1870s

Areas around the San Antonio River, Rio Grande, and Gulf of Mexico were particularly profitableSupported more than 3.5 million Mexican and

Mexican-cross sheep (1885)323,000 goats (1885)

Expansion in the Rio Grande plain lead to expansion in West Texas

Overall, more than 4,750,000 sheep in Texas (1886)Second to California

Sheep and Goat Ranching

Violence picked up after the Civil WarThe 1870s and early 1880s were particularly violent

Vigilante movements90,000 mile triangular expanse

Houston (Gulf Coast), Hill County (west of San Antonio), Dallas/Fort Worth (North Texas)

Types of ViolenceFeudsGunfightingLynchingWhitecappingCattle/Sheep Rustling

Violence and Lawlessness

Known as the longest and bloodiest feud in TexasOccurred in DeWitt County (1867-1876)Identified as a “community feud”

Coalition of immediate and distant relatives, sympathizers, and those who had a vested interest in the outcome

Notable eventsEx-Confederate Doboy Taylor murdered 5 Union soldiers

during military rule (1867)Bill Sutton (Union sympathizer) killed 2 members of the

Taylor familyBy 1874, roughly 2,000 men were involved in the dispute

Some hired gunslingers were involvedBy 1876, the Texas Rangers were called in, effectively

ending the feud

Sutton-Taylor Feud

DeWitt County Courthouse

Most prominent and dangerous gunfighter after the Civil War Killed more men than Billy

the Kid, Jesse James, or “Wild Bill” Hickok

Killed more than 20 men from 1868-1878

Ardent supporter of the Confederate cause Terrorized blacks Terrorized Gov. Davis’ state

policeHired gun for the Sutton-

Taylor feud

John Wesley Hardin

John Wesley Hardin

Hardin’s Grave, El Paso, Texas

LynchingTypically a racially charged form of extralegal

justice used to assert white supremacy on black and Mexican Texans

Rape and murder were typical charges for lynchingLynching numbers increase after the decline of the

Ku Klux Klan in the early 1870sContinued until the mid-1940s in TexasRoughly 500 black lynchings were estimated

between 1870 and 1900The number declines around 1890, but picks back up

during the Progressive eraAnti-lynch laws had little effect

Lynching

Has a distinctive connection to the Ku Klux Klan of the 1870s Originally a ritualized form of enforcing community standards,

appropriate behavior, and traditional rights Men who abused their wives/children People who were lazy Women who had children out of wedlock

Took on a distinct anti-black characteristic in Texas and the South In Central Texas, economic motives were cause for whitecapping

incidents Attempting to scare black sharecroppers off of land that whites felt they

had a right to work Forms of violence

Burning down houses Beating and abusing blacks in front of other blacks Public whipping

Non-violent forms of whitecapping Posting signs on blacks’ or merchants’ doors Verbal threats Public humiliation

Whitecapping

1874 – The Texas Rangers replaced Gov. Davis’ state police force

Two Units:Special Force (Captain L. H. McNelly, commander)Frontier Battalion (Major John B. Jones, commander)

AssignmentsCollecting taxesEnsuring safety of prisoners from extralegal mobsMaintaining peace during court casesMonitoring electionsMediating labor disputesEnforcing quaruntines

Texas Rangers

Major John B. Jones

Captain L. H. McNelly

Extreme enforcementFrequently overstepped the laws they were

enforcingLey de fuga (law of flight)

Mexican tradition (empowered law enforcement to shoot fleeing prisoners)

Became standard practiceEntered Mexico illegally numerous times“justifiable homicide” was allowed to thwart

particularly violent crimesBeatings and indiscreet shootings to restore order

Society consented to the Rangers’ use of excessive force

Texas Rangers

San AntonioCenter of military installations and point of

departure for western explorationPopulation: 20,000 (1880)

HoustonBecame a huge port city in the late 19th century

due to the confluence of railroadsPopulation: 9,000 (1870) / 44,000 (1900)

GalvestonAnother major port cityPopulation: 14,000 (1870)Hit by a devastating hurricane in 1900

Texas Cities

San Antonio, Texas, 1905

Houston, Texas, 1905

Galveston, Texas, 1905

DallasBecame a transporation/shipping center for

North Texas Attracted many ranchers and farmersBecame a hub for financial and cultural activity

Fort WorthBecame a major city after the cattle boom of

the 1870s and 1880sBy 1900, it was the 5th largest city in the state

Texas Cities

Dallas City Hall, 1906

Fort Worth City Hall, 1908

Minority CommunitiesTexas did not have numerous self-sustaining

black communities during this periodDid not have business districts and professionals to

serve the minority communitiesMost develop and become fully segregated in

the early 20th centuryMexicans had fully segregated communities

(barrios) in some townsSan Antonio and Corpus ChristiSmall business districts existed, but poverty

prevented professionals from sustaining needed services (doctors, lawyers)

Texas Cities

Settlers used religious gatherings to escape from general isolation of a society still primarily on the frontier

People traveled by horseback or wagon to church houses, schools, or tents where ministers would come preachCircuit riders were common during this period

Conservative Protestantism was the most commonBaptists and Methodists were the largest

denominations

Religion

Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)Founded in Paris, Texas (1882)Led to opportunities for women to campaign

for prohibition and other political issuesChild labor lawsEducational opportunities for women and childrenWomen’s suffrage

Successfully lobbied the state legislature to found Texas Women’s University

Women’s Organizations

Women’s Club MovementTexas Federation of Women’s Clubs (TFWC) founded in

WacoFocused on literary studies initiallyMembership mainly from the middle classTurned to public activism

Cultural issuesImproving social conditionsEnhancing educationPromoting child welfareBeautifying municipalitiesSanitation issues

These become some of the primary issues of the Progressive era

Women’s Organizations

“German Belt”Germans represented the largest ethnicity of

immigrants in TexasPrimarily located in three areas of Central

TexasPopulation: 30,000 (1860) / 130,000 (1887)

Other GroupsSlavs (Fayetteville)Czechs (West)Poles (around the San Antonio River and

Brazos River)

European Immigrants