Texas Almanac, 1939-1940 Page: 73
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HISTORY OF TEXAS. 73
the sea was made by two steamers, on
the decks of which fortifications had
been erected with bales of cotton. Gal-
veston remained in the hands of the
Confederates until the end of the war. In
September, 1863, Sabine Pass was at-
tacked by gunboats of the United States
Navy convoying a force of 5,000 soldiers,
whom it hoped could be landed for an
invasion of Southeast Texas. A force
at Sabine Pass under Lieut. Dick Dow-
ling hotly resisted the federal attack and
repulsed it with heavy losses. There was
also federal activity along the Mexican
border in the Rio Grande Valley where a
lucrative business had grown up in the
export of cotton which was bringing a
fabulous price at the time due to the
federal blockage of all Confederate
ports. It wasin the Lower Valley
in May, 1865, that the last shot of the
Civil War was fired.
Pendleton Murrah was elected to suc-
ceed Lubbock and served from Nov. 5,
1863-June 17, 1865, when he fled to
Mexico with the fall of the Confederacy.
Gen. E. Kirby Smith, who commanded
the department including Texas, surren-
dered May 30, following Lee's surrender
April 9. After the departure of Gov-
ernor Murrah for Mexico, Lieut.-Gov.
Fletcher S. Stockdale became Governor
but Gen. Gordon Granger of the United
States Army had been placed in com-
mand of Texas, and A. J. Hamilton had
been appointed Governor by President
Andrew Johnson.
ERA OF RECONSTRUCTION.
Reconstruction brought the darkest
hours of Texas history except, possibly,
the brief space of the Revolutionary era
between the fall of the Alamo and San
Jacinto. Outright military rule lasted
only a short time, but even after con-
stitutional government was set up under
the new regime, the institution of the
"ironclad oath" barred from participa-
tion in elections practically the entire
body of citizenry who had control of
state policies prior to and during the
Civil War. The state was flooded with
fortune seekers and adventurers from
the North who came to be known as
Carpetbaggers because, it was said, they
came with all their possessions in a sin-
gle carpetbag. From their dominance
of political affairs during Reconstruc-
tion it came to be known as the era of
Carpetbag rule.
Governor Hamilton served from June
17, 1865, to Aug. 9, 1866. A reconstruc-
tion convention, to which unionist citi-
zens selected delegates, met in Austin
Feb. 10, 1866, and declared acts of the
secession convention void. A constitu-
tion was adopted harmonizing with the
Federal Constitution and an election or-
dered in July, at which J. W. Throck-
morton was elected Governor.Governor Throckmorton served from
Aug. 9, 1866, to Aug. 8, 1867. After much
conflict in the National Congress, how-
ever, Texas, with the remainder of the
South, was placed under military rule.
Gen. Phil Sheridan was put in command
of the district, including Texas. Throck-
morton and Sheridan could not agree in
policy and the Governor was removed.
Elisha M. Pease, who had served as Gov-
ernor from 1854 to 1857, inclusive, was
appointed. Governor Pease served from
Aug. 8, 1867, until Sept. 30, 1869, a pe-
riod of great confusion. A constitutional
convention was convened in Austin June
1, 1868, but after much bitter wran-
gling recessed, meeting again in Decem-
ber and in February, 1869, the conven-
tion, which had consisted only of "radi-
cal" or extreme unionist citizens, and
had been constantly under military dom-
ination, did not finish its work. The doc-
ument was finished by the Secretary of
State under military orders and adopted
by popular ballot (of those then having
the privilege) on Nov. 30, 1869. Gov-
ernor Pease, a unionist but stanch Texas
patriot, became discouraged and resigned
Sept. 30. For several months there was
an interregnum without a head of the
Texas civil government. In the Novem-
ber election, at which the Constitution
was ratified, Edmund J. Davis was elect-
ed Governor.
The campaign of 1869 was attended by
much bitterness in politics. The Union
Leagues had sprung up in Texas during
the two preceding years, dominated by
"radical" whites, but maintaining po-
litical power locally and in the State
Government largely through the negro
vote. The secret, oath-bound Ku Klux
Klan sprang up in Texas, as in other
states of the South, and exerted an in-
fluence in opposition to the Union
Leagues until removal of requirement of
the "ironclad oath" permitted the con-
servative political element to regain con-
trol of the state.
The administration of Davis (Jan. 8,
1870, to Jan. 15, 1874) was unpopular,
Davis was elected before the provision
for the ironclad oath was removed
hence by an electorate that did not in-
clude ex-soldiers of the Confederate
armies. He was highhanded in his pol-
icies and the state police force which he
organized met with universal disapprov-
al. Included in constructive legislation
of his term, which was four years under
the Constitution of 1869, was that im-
proving the educational system of the
state.
Having ratified the Thirteenth, Four-
teenth and Fifteenth Amendments to
the Federal Constitution, Texas was re-
admitted to the Union by act of Con-
gress, March 30, 1870. The ironclad
oath was removed and the radicaY or
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Texas Almanac, 1939-1940, book, 1939; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117163/m1/75/?rotate=90: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.