African Americans in South Texas History

After Emancipation

After Emancipation Cologne,Texas sArA r. MAssEy LOCATED ON u.s. HIGHWAy 59 NEAr THE VICTOrIA County line in eastern Goliad County, about two hours south of san Antonio, is a highway sign for Cologne, a town that has a unique place in Texas history.Today, there is no town, only three collapsed homes, but in 1877, a small village blossomed that was home to freed slaves ofVictoria County and that excluded white inhabitants until the railroad came in 1889. Joseph smith and George Washington were both slaves born in Virginia and after emancipation,both lived in the town ofVictoria.1 In 1850,Victoria County registered 1,396 whites, 52 free blacks, and 571 slaves for a total of 2,019 people. In the town ofVictoria 806 people, including 157 slaves, lived. By 1860,Victoria’s population had expanded to 1,986 residents, including 521 slaves and one free black man.2 Five years later, after the union’s victory in the CivilWar, General Gordon Granger landed on Galveston Island. On June 19, 1865, he issued a proclamation freeing all slaves in Texas.Along with their new freedom, however,African Americans experienced pure, unadulterated fear for their lives. From 1865 to 1868 white Texans committed over 1,500 acts of violence against blacks,including more than 350 murders. Only intervention by the u.s.Congress and the imposition of military rule in the state brought a modicum of safety to African Americans. The era of reconstruction had arrived. The use of the political and legal system to regulate the behavior of African Americans was accompanied by a reign of terror in the state. Fifty thousand federal troops (including black soldiers) marched into Texas occupying all sections of the state. Despite the influx of troops, ฀ 85฀ 86 sArA r. MAssEy lawlessness and chaos prevailed. InVictoria the troops rebuilt the railroad but also committed numerous criminal acts. Black troops reportedly stormed the jail claiming that civil courts had no jurisdiction over the military and released two African American prisoners, one a horse thief and the other a union soldier convicted of robbery.The troops then proceeded to lynch a white man in the jail, who awaited trial for killing an African American.3 For the newly freed slaves smith andWashington, though, it was a time of new civil rights. In the midst of the turmoil, smith and Washington created new lives for themselves and their families by opening a freight and passenger business with mule-drawn wagons that hauled goods from Indianola on the Gulf Coast inland toVictoria,Goliad,and Beeville. With their newly acquired income, in March 1866, Washington bought lot three in block 140 inVictoria for $45 from Martha leonard.4 Within five years, Washington’s home was valued at $300 and he had two horses valued at $70 and six mules valued at $180 plus miscellaneous property valued at $50 for a total taxable wealth of $600. smith, meanwhile, lived in town on lot four in block 41. He was even better off with his home valued at $500, nine horses valued at $270, three cows valued at $20, and miscellaneous property valued at $145 for a total taxable value of $935. Both men paid their state and county taxes.5 Over the next few years, disenfranchised whites sought ways to regain control of the political system and the Klu Klux Klan arrived in Texas.Evidence of the Klan was first noted in March 1868,and by May the Klan began to resort to murder and acts of intimidation directed at freedmen and white republicans. In 1869, a Congressional reconstruction Plan replaced military rule inTexas, giving control of both the state and local governments to loyal radical republicans appointed by the military governor.With the support of President ulysses s.Grant and the u.s.Congress,those who came to power by appointments were the freed African Americans, businessmen from the North (sometimes referred to as “carpetbaggers ”), agents of the Freedmen’s Bureau, and Texans who had supported the union cause.6 In 1870 with the new coalition of voting Af- After฀Emancipation฀ 87฀ rican Americans, the republican government gained a majority. More blacks than whites paid their state and county poll taxes in Victoria. Both smith andWashington registered to vote and paid their poll taxes, thus enabling them to exercise their new right to vote in county and state elections.7 In 1870,smith,age forty...