Texas: Civil War and Reconstruction

During the pre–Civil War period settlers, attracted by cheap land, poured into Texas. Although open range cattle ranching was beginning to spread rapidly, cotton was the state's chief crop. The planter class, with its slaveholding interests, was strong and carried the state for the Confederacy, despite the opposition of Sam Houston and his followers. During the Civil War, Texas was the only Confederate state not overrun by Union troops. Remaining relatively prosperous, it liberally contributed men and provisions to the Southern cause.

Reconstruction brought great lawlessness, aggravated by the appearance of roving desperadoes. Radical Republicans, carpetbaggers, and scalawags controlled the government for several years, during which time they managed to lay the foundations for better road and school systems. Texas was readmitted to the Union in Mar., 1870, after ratifying the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments. Although Texas was not as racially embittered as the Deep South, the Ku Klux Klan and its methods flourished for a time as a means of opposing the policies of the radical Republicans.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Industry in the Late Twentieth Century
• Oil, Industrialization, and World Wars
• The Late Nineteenth Century
• Civil War and Reconstruction
• The Texas Republic and U.S. Annexation
• Independence from Mexico
• American Expeditions and Settlement
• Spanish Exploration and Colonization
• Government, Politics, and Higher Education
• Economy
• Places of Interest
• West Texas
• High Plains
• Blackland Prairies
• Rio Grande Valley
• Gulf Coast
• East Texas
• Geography
• Facts and Figures
• Bibliography

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