The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963 Page: 340
641 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
their duty to themselves and their families. None regretted the
necessity of their action more than themselves; and having herein
made known to the world all the facts which governed them in
the discharge of their solemn duty, they rest their case and will
patiently abide the decision of a generous public.
ORIGIN OF THE ORDER
Early in the year 1858, after the organization and establishment
of the "Overland Mail""' through Texas, people of every shade of
opinion and men guilty of every species of crime began to pour
into the State from all quarters of the globe.
This magnificent enterprise that reached "from the rivers to
the ends of the earth" entered the State in Grayson County on
the north and passed beyond her western boundary at El Paso.
With St. Louis as the great north-western depot, immigration
teamed into Northern Texas by this line to an extent hitherto
unknown. So rapid was this influx of a heterogeneous population
that in a short time the character of the citizenship in Cooke and
Grayson counties was materially changed. Until that time this
section was thinly settled, with a quiet, hardy, industrious popu-
lation which had not been excited and disturbed by political
divisions and discussions. This sudden and rushing tide caused
alarm among the older inhabitants; not because they did not
desire immigration; but because the actions and conduct of so
many strangers in their midst created suspicions and fears that
the interests of the old class would not harmonize with the new.
This increasing volume of immigration continued until the
question of secession became open for discussion and after the
people, with great unanimity, pronounced for the right of seces-
8John Butterfield's Southern Overland Mail Route between St. Louis, Missouri,
and San Francisco, California, began operation on September 15, 1858. It con-
tinued as a contract mail, express, and passenger stage line operating across Northern
Texas until March 1, 1861. It entered Texas by way of Colbert's Ferry on the Red
River eight miles east of Preston Bend. It ran fifteen miles south to Sherman, thence
fifteen miles west to its next relay point, Diamond's Station (the homeplace of
John R. Diamond, one mile west of present-day Whitesboro, Grayson County).
Its third relay point was Gainesville, seventeen miles to the west in Cooke County,
from whence it continued by way of Jacksboro, present-day Graham, and other
points in West Texas to El Paso and on to the Pacific coast. Rupert N. Richardson,
"Some Details of the Southern Overland Mail," Southwestern Historical Quarterly,
XXIX, 1-18.340
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963, periodical, 1963; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101196/m1/364/?rotate=180: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.