This document provides information on the population and demographics of Texas from 1870 to 1900. Some key points:
- The population steadily increased overall and in urban areas during this period, while the black population steadily decreased. Immigration was primarily from southern states.
- Ranching expanded after the Civil War, especially in South Texas, fueled by demand from northern beef markets. Large ranches like the King Ranch emerged. Farming followed ranching.
- Native American tribes like the Comanches still controlled West Texas in the 1870s, but the US Army forcibly removed them to reservations through attacks on villages and slaughtering of pony herds. Their nomadic lifestyle made them difficult to defeat.
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3. What do these statistics mean? Stead increase in overall population Steady increase in urban population Steady decrease of black population Who came to Texas? Primarily white southerners From Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Missouri, Louisiana, and Georgia (in that order) West Texas provided adequate for cattlemen Farmers followed ranchers Railroad lines are also responsible for population increases in cities Texas Population (1870-1900)
4. After the Civil War, northern U.S. markets for beef spurred the growth of ranching in South Texas Kenedy Ranch King Ranch In the 1880s and 1890s, South Texas acreage was slowly converted to farmland As a result, ranch hands became displaced workers Railroads expanded in the area and urban development increased Corpus Christi, Laredo, and Brownsville benefitted greatly from railroad expansion Growth of South Texas
7. Kiowas and Comanches Still ruled over West Texas despite Texan advances on their territory Their society glorified warfare They finally honed their military tactics (hit and run tactics) Texan migration stopped short of Plains Indian territory Their nomadic lifestyle prevented Texans from attacking any tangible military/social positions Texans feared the Plains tribes They tortured white victims during or after combat Tortured prisoners or mutilated corpses Abducted white women and children This was usually enough to stave off further migration to the west Indian Displacement
8. Forts From 1866 to 1868, the U.S. War Department established a line of defense Replaced long-established U.S. troops stationed in militia units and Indian-fighter regiments along the frontier However, the Plains tribes proved too resourceful and cunning Easily avoided the forts They were spread too far apart to be effective “Comanche moon” raids Comanches typically carried out some of their fiercest raids under the light of a full moon U.S. soldiers began to carry out reconnaissance missions under a full moon also Indian Displacement
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10. May 1871 (Young County, TX) Kiowa Chief Satanta and roughly 150 of his followers near the Fort Sill Reservation raided a supply train Killed and mutilated 7 of the 12 drivers Satanta did not want to relinquish Kiowa land in West Texas The Salt Creek Massacre Satanta
11. General William T. Sherman ordered the arrest of Satanta and his followers They were subsequently arrested, tried, and sentenced to death However, Governor Davis pardoned this in an attempt to exercise a peace policy towards the Plains Indians Satanta was released and continued his old ways He was later recaptured and sent to the Huntsville state prison Died in 1878 under questionable circumstances The Salt Creek Massacre
12. After the Salt Creek Massacre, the U.S. Army led an offensive against the Plains tribes Spearheaded by Col. Ranald Slidell Mackenzie Conducted very effective search and destroy missions on the Panhandle Plains in 1871 Against resistant Comanche bands Mackenzie’s Raids Col. Ranald Slidell Mackenzie
13. Notable Comanche leader Quanah Parker faced Mackenzie’s forces in 1871 Parker was the son of Cynthia Ann Parker, a white Comanche woman who was abducted in 1836 at Fort Parker (Limestone County) Objective of Mackenzie’s campaign was the forcible removal of Indians to the reservations Most Indians refused to fight under circumstances to the advantage of the U.S. Army Mackenzie’s Raids Quanah Parker
14. The U.S. Army resorted to ruthless measures Slaughtering pony herds Destroying Indian villages Confiscating food, weapons, and necessities for survival This policy was effective Frequency of Indian raids decreased dramatically Mackenzie’s Raids
15. Final military operation against the Plains Indians in northwestern Texas Multi-pronged assault from New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, and West Texas September 1874 – Mackenzie and his troops skirmish with Comanches at Palo Duro Canyon After the skirmish, he ordered the slaughtering of the tribe’s pony herd Without their horses, the Comanches were easily subdued Remnants of the Plains Tribes moved to the Oklahoma reservations in 1875 Red River War
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17. Their way of life was detrimental to their survival Lacked a system of supply depots and armories essential for warfare Lacked a support network of factories and farms Lacked an efficient infrastructure effective enough to stave off whites moving west War strategy did not favor prolong conflict against well-trained and well-armed opponents Decline of the buffalo herds Decline of the Plains Tribes
18. Major decline was during the 1870s and 1880s Causes Tribal migrations increased slaughtering Partially for sustenance and essential byproducts Partially for its trade value (alcohol) Anglo range animals contaminated the herds with diseases Horses, cattle, and sheep European livestock upset the ecology of the region Whites shot buffalo for sport Buffalo hides became profitable By the early 1880s, less than 200 buffalo were left on old Texas feeding grounds (previously thousands) Decline of the Buffalo Herds
19. Roughly 5 million longhorns grazed throughout Texas in 1865 Majority were “mavericks”, belonging to the first person to brand them Era of the Cattle Kingdom began during the mid-1860s until the mid-1880s Demand for beef in the North pushed up the price of cattle $3-4 a head in Texas would bring $30-$40 a head in the upper Mississippi Valley The Cattle Kingdom
20. First “long drive” was in 1866 Passed through the Nueces Valley, Austin, Fort Worth, Denison, and finished at the railhead at Sedalia, Missouri Dealers would ship the cattle north for huge profits Problems Bandits and Indians Missourians were problematic Shot cattle Tried to turn herds back south Did anything to keep cattle out of Missouri Preferable rail shipping point became Abilene, Kansas as a result Wide-open plains Allowed Texas cowboys to avoid problems in Missouri Texans reached Abilene via the Chisholm Trail Over 35,000 cattle were driven from Texas to Abilene in 1867 Cattle Trails
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22. Cattlemen in the South Plains and Panhandle made free use of grasslands on the open range Known as “free rangers” Notables: John Chisum, Charles Goodnight, C. C. Slaughter, George Littlefield, and Oliver Loving Free rangers were often ruthless asserting their “range rights” Used violence to drive away intruders Many free rangers obtained legal title to public lands when the government put it on the market Range Rights
23. Several gigantic ranches emerged out of the need of speculators to legalize claims on the open range Ranches provided labor and shared profits with financial sponsors Notable ranches: JA Ranch (Charles Goodnight) 700,000 acres in Palo Duro Canyon Shoe Bar Ranch (Thomas S. Bugbee) 450,000 acres in the Panhandle Matador Land and Cattle Company (based out of Scotland) 300,000 acres in Motley County Land and Cattle Companies
24. Largest of the Texas ranches Along the western boundary of the Panhandle Owned by a Chicago syndicate 3,050,000 acres in payment for building the new state capitol in Austin (1888) XIT Ranch
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26. Cattle boom waned in the mid-1880s Long drives were not cost-effective Cattle lost weight on the trail and did not bring premium prices Kansas law prevented cattle from passing through the state Spread of Texas tick fever Land upset the ecological balance Land could only support so many cattle Ranchers routinely overstocked it Freezes and droughts in the mid-1880s devastated the industry Ranchers never recovered Decline of the Cattle Kingdom
27. Ranchers divided the entire range with barbed wire Careful calculation on how many cattle each pasture could contain Controlled animal breeding New interest in ranching methods Ranchers left a settled region Farmers followed the ranchers Western expansion of railroads gave rise to towns Abilene (TX), Sweetwater, Big Spring, Midland, and Odessa Legacy of the Cattle Kingdom
28. Industry did not become profitable until the 1870s Areas around the San Antonio River, Rio Grande, and Gulf of Mexico were particularly profitable Supported more than 3.5 million Mexican and Mexican-cross sheep (1885) 323,000 goats (1885) Expansion in the Rio Grande plain lead to expansion in West Texas Overall, more than 4,750,000 sheep in Texas (1886) Second to California Sheep and Goat Ranching
29. Violence picked up after the Civil War The 1870s and early 1880s were particularly violent Vigilante movements 90,000 mile triangular expanse Houston (Gulf Coast), Hill County (west of San Antonio), Dallas/Fort Worth (North Texas) Types of Violence Feuds Gunfighting Lynching Whitecapping Cattle/Sheep Rustling Violence and Lawlessness
30. Known as the longest and bloodiest feud in Texas Occurred in DeWitt County (1867-1876) Identified as a “community feud” Coalition of immediate and distant relatives, sympathizers, and those who had a vested interest in the outcome Notable events Ex-Confederate Doboy Taylor murdered 5 Union soldiers during military rule (1867) Bill Sutton (Union sympathizer) killed 2 members of the Taylor family By 1874, roughly 2,000 men were involved in the dispute Some hired gunslingers were involved By 1876, the Texas Rangers were called in, effectively ending the feud Sutton-Taylor Feud
32. Most prominent and dangerous gunfighter after the Civil War Killed more men than Billy the Kid, Jesse James, or “Wild Bill” Hickok Killed more than 20 men from 1868-1878 Ardent supporter of the Confederate cause Terrorized blacks Terrorized Gov. Davis’ state police Hired gun for the Sutton-Taylor feud John Wesley Hardin
34. Lynching Typically a racially charged form of extralegal justice used to assert white supremacy on black and Mexican Texans Rape and murder were typical charges for lynching Lynching numbers increase after the decline of the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1870s Continued until the mid-1940s in Texas Roughly 500 black lynchings were estimated between 1870 and 1900 The number declines around 1890, but picks back up during the Progressive era Anti-lynch laws had little effect Lynching
35. Has a distinctive connection to the Ku Klux Klan of the 1870s Originally a ritualized form of enforcing community standards, appropriate behavior, and traditional rights Men who abused their wives/children People who were lazy Women who had children out of wedlock Took on a distinct anti-black characteristic in Texas and the South In Central Texas, economic motives were cause for whitecapping incidents Attempting to scare black sharecroppers off of land that whites felt they had a right to work Forms of violence Burning down houses Beating and abusing blacks in front of other blacks Public whipping Non-violent forms of whitecapping Posting signs on blacks’ or merchants’ doors Verbal threats Public humiliation Whitecapping
36. 1874 – The Texas Rangers replaced Gov. Davis’ state police force Two Units: Special Force (Captain L. H. McNelly, commander) Frontier Battalion (Major John B. Jones, commander) Assignments Collecting taxes Ensuring safety of prisoners from extralegal mobs Maintaining peace during court cases Monitoring elections Mediating labor disputes Enforcing quaruntines Texas Rangers
38. Extreme enforcement Frequently overstepped the laws they were enforcing Ley de fuga(law of flight) Mexican tradition (empowered law enforcement to shoot fleeing prisoners) Became standard practice Entered Mexico illegally numerous times “justifiable homicide” was allowed to thwart particularly violent crimes Beatings and indiscreet shootings to restore order Society consented to the Rangers’ use of excessive force Texas Rangers
39. San Antonio Center of military installations and point of departure for western exploration Population: 20,000 (1880) Houston Became a huge port city in the late 19th century due to the confluence of railroads Population: 9,000 (1870) / 44,000 (1900) Galveston Another major port city Population: 14,000 (1870) Hit by a devastating hurricane in 1900 Texas Cities
43. Dallas Became a transporation/shipping center for North Texas Attracted many ranchers and farmers Became a hub for financial and cultural activity Fort Worth Became a major city after the cattle boom of the 1870s and 1880s By 1900, it was the 5th largest city in the state Texas Cities
46. Minority Communities Texas did not have numerous self-sustaining black communities during this period Did not have business districts and professionals to serve the minority communities Most develop and become fully segregated in the early 20th century Mexicans had fully segregated communities (barrios) in some towns San Antonio and Corpus Christi Small business districts existed, but poverty prevented professionals from sustaining needed services (doctors, lawyers) Texas Cities
47. Settlers used religious gatherings to escape from general isolation of a society still primarily on the frontier People traveled by horseback or wagon to church houses, schools, or tents where ministers would come preach Circuit riders were common during this period Conservative Protestantism was the most common Baptists and Methodists were the largest denominations Religion
48. Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) Founded in Paris, Texas (1882) Led to opportunities for women to campaign for prohibition and other political issues Child labor laws Educational opportunities for women and children Women’s suffrage Successfully lobbied the state legislature to found Texas Women’s University Women’s Organizations
49. Women’s Club Movement Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs (TFWC) founded in Waco Focused on literary studies initially Membership mainly from the middle class Turned to public activism Cultural issues Improving social conditions Enhancing education Promoting child welfare Beautifying municipalities Sanitation issues These become some of the primary issues of the Progressive era Women’s Organizations
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51. “German Belt” Germans represented the largest ethnicity of immigrants in Texas Primarily located in three areas of Central Texas Population: 30,000 (1860) / 130,000 (1887) Other Groups Slavs (Fayetteville) Czechs (West) Poles (around the San Antonio River and Brazos River) European Immigrants
