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R 10 2 Into the Fray Why Texans Fought in the Civil War Our cuntry is threatened on every side—already the clanking of the tyrants chain is heard—. . . No, but we will be free, we will be made indepenant again. Then let the fires of patriatism be kindled in every heart and let every man who can, to arm! and “Strike for the green groves of our sires for God and our native land!” James K. Street, 9th Texas Infantry We are fighting for our property and our homes; they [Yankees], for the flimsy and abstract idea that a negro is equal to an Anglo American. H. C. Medford, 11th Texas Infantry B Y 1861, when the Civil War began, Texas had launched a successful revolution and existed as both a republic and a state for a quarter of a century. Throughout this period, many different people and cultures exerted their influences on the Lone Star State. In the time before the Texas Revolution , as part of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas, it had a significant Hispanic influence. After independence—in the Republic era and early statehood—the trend changed, since most people who settled in Texas came from the southern United States. Southerners brought with them their culture and institutions, making Texas very similar to the rest of the South in many respects. Texas in 1861 contained slaves, a plantation economy, a strict code of duty and honor, Southern churches, and a unionist minority; most important, the new Texans had strong feelings toward their families.On the other hand,Texas differed from the rest of the South in several important ways. The most significant of these was that it contained a large number of migrants who had strong connections to other states. At the same time, these newarrivals associated themselves with the strong Texas nationalism that developed during the struggle for independence from Mexico and the nineyears of independence. All of these factors, both simi- Into the Fray 11 larities and differences, influenced Texans in their decisions to take up arms and fight for the Confederacy.1 The most noticeable influence of Southern culture on Texas in 1861 and motivation to fight in the Civil War was slavery. The institution of slavery had existed in Texas for more than forty years by time the war started, ever since the first Anglo settlers had brought their slaves into the region during the second decade of the nineteenth century. The slave trade opened in Texas before its independence, but it was not the principal source of bond labor in the region. Some slaves came to Texas through the African trade during the Republic era, but it provided only a small fraction of the total slave population. A majority of Texas slaves moved to the new region with their masters from the old South. This influx of slaveowners and slaves from the old South allowed Southern culture to permeate Texas, and the state developed a dependence on the “Peculiar Institution.”2 In the decades prior to the Civil War, Texas experienced a major influx of slaves. In the 1840s, the slave population increased at a steady rate as migrants from Southern states brought their slaves with them and others were imported illegally from Africa. Slaves comprised 27 percent of the population in 1840, numbering 38,753 in the 1847 census taken two years after the annexation of Texas. The slave population experienced a dramatic increase during the 1850s, reaching more than 30 percent of the total population of the state, with increased migration after Texas gained U.S. statehood. Though the proportion of the bondsman population appears to have risen only 3 percent during the period, this growth is significant because of the simultaneous white migration into the state from the South and foreign countries. By the eve of the Civil War, the total number of slaves in Texas had grown to 182,566.3 During slavery’s growth in Texas, residents developed strong feelings about the institution and the role it would play in their future. Texans believed slavery was key to the agricultural economy of the state. The bondsmen’s toil had rendered Texas agriculture profitable and made the state self-sufficient in food production , convincing the majorityof Texas economic leaders that the Peculiar Institution was a boon to the state. Editor Charles DeMorse expressed his opinion of slavery in the columns of his newspaper, the Clarksville Northern Standard: “We want more slaves—we need them. . . . We care...

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