Inventory of the County Archives of Texas: Number 62, De Witt County (Cuero) Page: 12
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12 (First.
entry, p. 25) Historical Sketch
schools Df the various communities were reported to be "well sustained.f42
A new courthouse, the last t be built in the town of Clint n, was accepted
in the summer )f 1858, 43
iost of the early settlers of De UJitt County found either stockraising
or farming their most profitable occupation. Few of them were engaged
in cross-country freighting, or in other commercial pursuits. But
on the eve of the Civil War, the ferries and well-marked roads, which the
county had first maintained for protective purposes, were in use as parts
of s-me of the main commercial routes of the state. De "Titt County lay
between Indianola, the main port of entry on the central gulf coast, and
the important inland city of San Antonio. Some profit is bound to have
accrued to the county from the large amount of freight which crossed it,
for stage coaches and wagon trains were constantly passing along the
roads.44 In 1861 the citizens of Cuero, which was then a very small village,
began to entertain hopes of having a railroad extended from
Victoria t) their town. But the corning of the Civil War killed their
hopes. Construction on the road was abandoned, and Victoria remained
the terminus of the line.45
When the Civil War finally broke out, the boys at Meyersville celebrated
the occasion with much singing and drinking of mustang wine.46
All over the county, the boys and younger men were anxious to organize
themselves into companies and declare their readiness to serve in the
Confederate Army. They were light-hearted and confident, eager t) enlist
at once lest the fighting be over before they c uld reach the battlefields.
Before the legislature could place the State Troops on a war
footing, six c mpanies in De Witt C-unty had organized under an act of
February 15, 1858, which incorporated all "military uniformed companies"
and made them subject to the civil authorities of the state.47 On June
25, 1861, A. J. Scarborough registered the muster roll of his volunteer
cavalry company, the Davis Guards, organized at Terryville. The Coletho
Guards, under Robert Kleberg, and the Guerella Company, under Josiah
Taylor, were the next two companies to register. C. Eckhardt, one of the
founders of Yorktown, organized a company known as the York Town Hulan
Reserve Company. A group of 14 men for reserve or neighborhood duty,
called the Concrete Home Guards, was mustered into service under Captain
:'7. '. Jacobs, to be subject to call of the governor of the state in case
of insurrection Or invasion. A similar company, the Shilo Home Guards,
was organized under Captain H. G. Wood.48 On December 25, 1861, these
companies were included in Brigade District No. 24 of the State Troops.49
42. J. De Cordova, Texas: Her Resources and her Public Men (Philadelphia,
1858), 59; The Texas Almanac for 1857 (Galveston, 1856), 30;
The Texas Almanac for 1858 (Galveston, 1857) , 62.
43. C-m. Ct. Min., B, 331.
44. Cuer' Record, Dec. 31, 1935; Johnson, History, II, 273.
45. Johnson, History, II, 673.
46. Cuero Recrd, Dec. 31, 1935.
47. TA., Feb. 15, 1858, Gamrnel, Laws, 1092.
48. De Witt County, Military Record (see entry no. 101, infra'), A, n.p.
49. T.A., Dec. 25, 1861, Gammel, Laws, V, 455,
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Texas Historical Records Survey. Inventory of the County Archives of Texas: Number 62, De Witt County (Cuero), book, January 1940; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth25252/m1/19/?rotate=90: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.