Secession was an issue that Hunt County residents did not agree on. The county vote on secession was close, 416 to 339, but ultimately secession won.[1] Once the war started hundreds of county men joined and fought in the war effort.[2] Greenville raised a company that fought in both Arkansas and eastern Tennessee.[3] Hunt County was a part of the 8th military district which consisted of Fannin, Hunt, Grayson, Collin, Dallas Denton, Tarrant and Cooke counties. Several local militias were also created in the county including DuBose’s Militia, Martin’s Militia, Reno’s Militia, Wilson’s Militia, Pace’s Militia and Piner’s Militia.
Martin D. Hart, a local Hunt County lawyer, representative (1857-1859), senator (1860-1861), and the second richest man in the county (in 1860) led the anti-secession minority, along with his brother Hardin. Martin made a number of speeches at the County Courthouse in attempts to persuade county residents to the anti-secession side.[4] In 1861, Hart signed the “Address to the People of the State” which was the anti-secessionist senate statement against the majority secessionists on the eve before Texas joined the Confederacy.[5] After Texas seceded from the Union, Hart resigned his seat in the Senate and returned to Hunt County to resume his law practice.[6] Hart was elected captain of the Greenville Guards in 1861 which was a company of mounted volunteers. He wrote Governor Clark, pledging the company’s services “in defense of Texas whenever she is invaded or threatened with invasion.” In 1862, he received a commission from the Confederates to go to NW Arkansas and operate a company but instead went to Missouri and received Union papers. He and his men then went to Arkansas where they attacked Confederate forces and Hart allegedly assassinated two “prominent secessionists.”[7] He and some of his men were captured by Confederate troops on January 18, 1863. They were taken to Fort Smith, where he and his first lieutenant, J. W. Hays of Illinois, were court-martialed and hanged on January 23, 1863.[8]
[1] https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hunt-county.
[2] https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hunt-county.
[3] https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/greenville-tx-hunt-county
[4] https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hart-martin-d.
[5] https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hart-martin-d.
[6] https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hart-martin-d.
[7] https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hart-martin-d.
[8] https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hart-martin-d.
William Bush, a landowner, farmer and stock raiser, enlisted in the Confederacy in 1862 and became the lieutenant of Company G of the Thirty-fourth Texas Cavalry Regiment, also known as the Second Partisan Rangers. He saw action with this unit in Arkansas, Missouri and Louisiana and was promoted to captain and major. In May 1863 Bush was promoted to lieutenant colonel and put in command of the regiment. He commanded the regiment at the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, in 1864 and remained in command until its surrender on June 2, 1865. After the war, Bush returned to Texas where he became one of Hunt County’s largest landholders and continued farming and stock raising.
By the end of 1861, 25,000 Texans were in the Confederate army with two-thirds of them in the cavalry. By the end of the war an estimated 70,000 – 90,000 Texans saw military service in the war and fought in every major battle except for First Manassas and Chancellorsville. No less than 37 Texans served as general officers in the Confederate Army. A much smaller number of people from Texas served in the Union army, approximately 2,132 White and 47 Black people. The number of Black residents of the county began to grow during the war (from about 577 to more than 1,200) as slaveholders were moving their enslaved populations from other Southern states to Texas to prevent enslaved people from running away or being freed by invading Union forces.[1] For the whole of Texas the number increased from 182,000 in 1860 to more than 230,000 by the end of the war. The status of Black Texans was precarious. The official number of free Blacks in Texas fell to 355 before the war (however those numbers from the census are probably undercounted). Enslaved people endured longer hours, harder work and harsher punishments while free Blacks found little support from White laws and courts. Those that gained their freedom were not allowed to remain in the state without permission from the legislature. Some were arrested and chose to be re-enslaved to stay with their families while others were able to defy the law and find work.
The war transformed life for women across the state. They were encouraged to support the Confederate army by contributing to the war effort. They sewed flags and banners for local regiments and made uniforms, clothing and tents for soldiers. Many marched in parades, wrote editorials in newspapers, attended political gatherings, raised funds, participated in aid societies and even organized local militias. The women had to take care of their homes, manage farms, oversee slaves, plant, sow, harvest, sell their farm products and deal with shortages for an extended period of time while the men were away fighting.
Texas was the only Confederate state to border a foreign country. Trade with Mexico made more materials available to Texas than other states. They managed to smuggle 320,000 bales of cotton through Mexican ports. In exchange, Texans received military supplies, medicine, dry goods, food, iron goods, liquor, coffee, and tobacco which helped with shortages throughout the state.
The last battle of the war happened in Texas near Brownsville at the battle of Palmito Ranch on May 13, 1865, where the Union troops were defeated. From captured prisoners they learned that Confederate forces were surrendering all over the South. Kirby Smith tried to keep his command intact but his soldiers refused to stay and started heading for their homes. Some Texans joined other Confederates in fleeing to Mexico. On June 2, 1865, Generals Smith and Magruder signed the formal terms of surrender for their commands. The remaining slaves in Texas achieved freedom with the arrival of General Gordon Granger and Union forces of occupation on June 19, 1865, which is why and when Juneteenth is celebrated.
[1] https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hunt-county.
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