The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 85, July 1981 - April, 1982 Page: 15
497 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Slavery and Vigilantism in Austin
bondsmen. In terms of wealth, the 1856 vigilantes were average Travis
County residents; they had not achieved the same amount of affluence
as the 1854 vigilantes or other political leaders across the state.24 Their
middle-class economic status is shown by the table below:
1856 Austin Vigilantes
Property Owned, 186o Census
Owners of Owners of
Amount Realty Personalty
None 3 5
o-$1,ooo 3 4
$1,000-$5,000 5 6
$5,00ooo-$20,00 3 3
$20,000-$100,000 4 1
over $1 oo,ooo 1
Realty Personalty
median $3,500 $1,500
While the 1854 vigilance committee represented a county-wide
movement by the social and economic elite to deal with a divisive
social problem, the 1856 committee formed in response to an imme-
diate, potentially catastrophic, crisis. In 1856 the regular leaders of
county and city formed a vigilante group in order to bypass the legal
process that they apparently believed hampered energetic investiga-
tion and repression. That the average citizen in Austin participated
more fully in 1856 reflected the fact that the 1854 episode was not an
insurrection and threatened only property.
On November 22 the vigilance committee reported its findings and
recommendations to a public meeting in Austin. Although it con-
demned the unsupervised nighttime religious gatherings of slaves, the
24Thc median age of the twenty vigilantes whose birthdates could be identified was
thirty-seven, only three welc born outside the South. Meaningful comparison on the basis
of average wealth is difficult because two of the 1856 vigilantes owned as much property
as the rest combined, thus drastically inflating the mean figure for the group. When the
holdings of these two wealthiest are excluded, the mean amount of property owned by
the 1856 vigilantes was almost the same as the average Travis County head of household
($12,826 for the vigilantes and $12,126 for the average family head) and just over twice
that of the average family head in Texas. For comparison with the 1854 vigilantes and
statewide political leaders, see p. 8 above The wealth profile of the 1856 vigilantes was
compiled out of the manuscript census returns. U.S. Eighth Census (186o), Schedule 1:
Free Inhabitants, and Schedule 2: Slave Inhabitants, Travis County.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 85, July 1981 - April, 1982, periodical, 1981/1982; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101208/m1/35/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.