The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 12, July 1908 - April, 1909 Page: 318
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318
Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
sheriff called out about three hundred citizens of Jefferson, who,
with double-barreled shotguns, overawed Captain Jones and the
one hundred United States regulars under his command. Robert-
son was arrested, brought before the court, and taken in charge
by the sheriff to wait the conclusion of the pending trial so that
his recognizance could be taken.
But Captain Jones had wired to Marshall for reinforcements,
and in less than two hours a regiment of cavalry thundered
through the streets of Jefferson at full gallop and formed around
the courthouse. Then Captain Jones, with his company of in-
fantry, entered the court room and took the prisoner away from
the court at the point of the bayonet. Whereupon the judge said
that if he could not try the big criminals he would not try the
little ones; and he adjourned court and went home, leaving the
field to the military despots.
The claim that we were trying to exercise jurisdiction over the
United States Treasury Department was a pitiful pretense. We
only tried to punish a criminal who was robbing Texas farmers
of their cotton.
Mr. Ramsdell seems to have made, in the main, a faithful re-
port of President Johnson's efforts at reconstruction in Texas. Of
all the public men, north or south, who figured in the events lead-
ing up to the Civil War and in the war itself, Andrew Johnson
was the most consistent. He denied the right of secession, and
proved his faith by remaining in his seat in the Senate, though
Tennessee attached herself to the Confederate States. Again, as
president he denied that the Southern States were out of the
Union; and he maintained that they only had to reorganize their
State governments and send Senators and Representatives to the
United States Congress.
Meanwhile the Radical wing of the Republican party changed
sides. Before the war, they denied the right of secession; but after
the war they recognized it by treating with the Confederate States
as conquered provinces, and by establishing over them a military
dlespotism. In the case of Texas, this despotism lasted from the
passage of the Reconstruction Act of March 2, 1867, to the meet-
ing of the Twelfth Texas Legislature, April 30, 1870.
Had President Lincoln lived no doubt the policy which John-
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 12, July 1908 - April, 1909, periodical, 1909; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101048/m1/356/?rotate=270: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.