Growing dissatisfaction with the immigration laws and the problem of securing land titles spawned another revolt of the Mexican and Anglo-American populace of the region, culminating in the victory of the antigovernment forces in the battle of Nacogdoches in Piedras and the other Mexican officials were forced to withdraw. Immigrants from the United States continued to pour in to East Texas during the s, many of them passing through Nacogdoches on their way to the Burnet, Zavala, or Vehlein grants further south.
A sizable number also settled in the town or surrounding area. From January 2, , to December 14, , certificates of immigration were issued at Nacogdoches. Also among the stream of immigrants were Choctaws, Creeks, Seminoles, and other Indians, who had been driven out of the Old South. As the clouds of revolution gathered in , Henry Rueg , political chief of the Department of Nacogdoches, called a meeting at which Frost Thorn, Thomas J.
Rusk , and others were appointed to form the Nacogdoches Committee of Vigilance and Safety. The committee organized a militia and collected arms and provisions for the revolution. During the winter of —36 hundreds of volunteers poured through the area on their way south to fight for independence. In June the city of Nacogdoches was officially incorporated with an aldermanic government. Proposals were made to designate Nacogdoches the official capital of the new republic.
After some deliberation Houston was chosen as a compromise site in December In Nacogdoches was again the site of unrest. Menchaca was found guilty but was eventually pardoned by President Mirabeau B. Lamar , and the other cases were dismissed. During the years of the republic Nacogdoches once again prospered.
Although smuggling remained a mainstay of the economy, toward the end of the republican period a new economy based on cotton began developing in the Nacogdoches region. New immigrants from the United States continued to move into the area, many of them accompanied by their slaves. By the county reported slave owners. Most owned only one or two slaves, but six owned more than twenty. John M. Durst , with thirty-nine slaves, was the largest slaveholder, William B.
Burditt, with thirty-three, the second largest. The first statewide census made the following year showed the county to have a population of 4,, of whom 1, were slaves and twenty-eight were free Blacks. Four towns in the county had post offices: Nacogdoches, Douglass, Melrose, and Flournoy's. During the antebellum period, however, Nacogdoches County remained rural and agricultural, with most residents living on farms.
Nacogdoches was the largest town, with a population of , of whom were slaves. A small Mexican population remained, but most had now become largely assimilated, and the town of Nacogdoches lost most of its colonial character.
Among the signs of growing prosperity was the erection of a two-story brick county courthouse in Nacogdoches in In the prerevolutionary period, the only church building in the county was the Catholic church in Nacogdoches, but during the late s and s Protestant congregations were formed there and in the outlying communities. Itinerant preachers also traveled through the county, conducting services and holding revivals.
The earliest schools were established after the revolution, and by the late s several private schools were in operation.
In February Nacogdoches University , probably the first nonsectarian institution of higher learning in Texas, was chartered. A brick building was erected in , and the school operated except for brief periods until Several stage lines began service to Nacogdoches in the s.
Until the late s the Old San Antonio Road remained the principal transportation route through the county. But in Robert S. Patton brought his steamboat Angelina up the Angelina River as far north as Pattonia in the southeastern corner of the county at the mouth of Dorr Creek.
By the boat was making regular trips hauling cotton and other produce downstream to Sabine Pass and returning with provisions, clothing, and other manufactured goods.
In the s flatboat navigation extended as far north as Linn Flat, twenty miles upstream from Pattonia. During the antebellum period the population of Nacogdoches County continued to grow as more and more families arrived. Between and at least families moved to the area.
The overwhelming majority of these immigrants—some 70 percent—came from the Old South, with the largest number coming from Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Census figures from the late antebellum period also show a rapid growth of the slave population. In the county had a population of 3,; 1,, or 27 percent, were slaves. By the total population had increased to 5,, with slaves numbering 2,, or Despite its relatively large slave population, the economy of the county remained largely based on subsistence farming.
In , 38, acres were under cultivation. Of these, 20, were planted in corn, while only 11, acres were devoted to cotton. The remaining land included 1, acres in wheat, fourteen acres in sugar, and 5, acres in various other crops, mostly vegetables. Although most families raised a few cows or pigs, stock farming formed only a modest part of the economy. Small farms rather than large plantations were also the rule. Although three men held more than slaves in , including John J.
Hayter , the largest slaveholder with slaves, the majority of slaveholders had fewer than ten slaves, most only one or two. The Democratic party polled over 70 percent of the vote in the presidential elections of , , and Only the Whig party , which received 24 percent of the votes cast in and 21 percent in , attracted a sizable number of the remaining voters.
During the pivotal election of Democrat John C. Breckinridge attracted 67 percent of the votes, but a large minority, some 33 percent, cast their votes for Consitutional Union party candidate John Bell.
The county's White inhabitants overwhelmingly supported the secession movement during the winter of — When the Secession Ordinance was submitted for popular approval in February , county voters approved the measure to In contrast to many other East Texas counties, however, Nacogdoches County also had a significant number who opposed secession, possibly due to the large number of small farmers, who were less likely to support the measure than plantation owners, as well as the comparatively large Mexican population.
County residents nevertheless strongly supported the Confederate war effort. One source estimated that as many as 2, men from the county served in either state or Confederate army units.
County residents also supplied money and provisions. The Battle cleared East Texas of Mexican troops and made the independence movement much less dangerous. The men camped for a few days at this site near Sterne's home.
They were honored with a "Feast of Liberty" in the orchard in front of the house. At the banquet, bear, beef, mutton, turkeys, raccoon, and other specialties were served. With glasses of Rhine wine from Sterne's cellar, toasts were make and speeches delivered. The Greys had walked into Nacogdoches; they left on horses with arms provided by the citizens. They reached San Antonio before the seige of Bexar, December , Most of the volunteers died in later battles of the Revolution, many at the Alamo.
The city saw three independent republics before the Lone Star Republic. The first producing oil well in the state was drilled here in However, it was not oil but the coming of the railroad that transformed the republican city into an important commercial center.
In the 19th century, the local economy was based on cotton, tobacco, timber, education, and general merchandising. Only the last three came into the second half of the 20th century.
Augustus Magee, a former lieutenant in the U. Army, joined forces with Barnardo Guitierrez and attempted to take Texas. The men recruited 3, men to their cause and printed the first newspaper in Texas, called "Gaceta de Tejas," to gather support for their cause. Some major battles were fought with Mexican forces, but the group was defeated. Texas was declared a province of Mexico, which by this time had declared its independence from Spain.
Many assumed that Texas had been included in the Louisiana Purchase. Because of this, in , Dr. James Long led an expedition to claim Texas for the United States. Long made his headquarters at the Old Stone Fort, but his group was wiped out while he was on Galveston Island trying to obtain the assistance of the famous pirate and privateer, Jean Lafitte.
Long made a second attempt to claim Texas for the U. In , Mexico gave settlers from the U. The impresario who was given the contract to settle Nacogdoches was Haden Edwards. He was given permission to bring in families. When he traveled to Nacogdoches, he found that the land for which he had bargained was already settled by Native Americans and descendants of early Mexican settlers.
He complained to the Mexican government and his contract was cancelled. In the group was Adolphus Sterne, a local businessman who would later become instrumental in the war for Texas' independence. The group called themselves the Fredonians. The Fredonians had little support from local residents, and they lowered the flag and scattered before Mexican soldiers arrived to arrest them.
Photo courtesy Dana Goolsby , November Admissions Oak Grove Cemetery - N. Lanana St, at Hospital St. Including four signers of Texas Declaration of Independence. Old Nacogdoches University - building today a museum. On Washington Square, Thomas J. Rusk Middle School campus. Mound and Hughes St. The oldest union church in Texas. Austin State University, and visitors can drop by and get a good idea of what the first building in Nacogdoches looked like.
Closed Monday and holidays. Mize Azalea Garden - Texas' largest azalea garden. Open daily. Lanana St.
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