Texas Economy During the Civil War

Primary Source- A Plantation owner son in Austin Co. during the Civil War.

Primary Source: Wife writes Husband about life during the Civil War in Texas. This document is in Major Problems in Texas History, Second Edition and also in Jo Ella Powell Exley, Texas Tears and Texas Sunshine, Voices of Frontier Women

Primary Source: poster of the Union telling the women and children of Galveston that they have four days to evacuate the city before troops move in during the Civil War.

Texas responded to the election of Abraham Lincoln by joining the Confederacy in early 1861, a few weeks before the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter. Although only about one in four Texas families owned slaves, support for secession was strong, with about three quarters of voters supporting secession. Many Texas men immediately joined the war effort, traveling east to fight with other Confederate soldiers. Many others joined but stayed in Texas, with some defending the coastline, some guarding against possible Union attack, and others pushing into New Mexico Territory. A small number joined the Union army.

Secondary Source

CIVIL WAR. The sectional controversies that divided the North and South in the 1850s deeply troubled Texans (see ANTEBELLUM TEXAS). While most Texans had a strong attachment to the Union that they worked so hard to join in 1845, they expressed increasing concern over the attacks upon Southern institutions by Northern political leaders. Although only one Texas family in four owned slaves, most Texans opposed any interference with the institution of slavery, which they believed necessary for the continued growth of the state.

Secondary Source

Secondary Source

The Confederate government issued its own money. Almost all Confederate notes were hand-signed, numbered, and cut by Treasury clerks in Richmond. The currency was backed by bonds and guaranteed only after the signing of a peace treaty between the United States and the Confederacy.