DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker in Travis County tells it, and I'll do my best to honor every word. Now settle in, because this one takes you right back to the smoke and scramble of a state trying to hold itself together at the seams. When Texas seceded on February 1, 1861, the 8th Legislature was already in Austin — already in a called session — and they adjourned on February 9.
But they barely had time to catch their breath before they were called back again. March 18, same 8th Legislature, second called session. And after them came the 9th and the 10th, each one walking into a storm the last one left behind.
Now, what does a state legislature do when the whole world is on fire? Well, friend, you are about to find out. These men had to raise, equip, and supply ninety thousand Texas soldiers.
Ninety thousand. And those soldiers weren't staying close to home — they fought on all fronts. Meanwhile, back in Austin, the lawmakers had to figure out how to defend against Indians, against enemy troops, and against enemy ships patrolling two thousand miles of state coastline and frontiers.
Two thousand miles. You start to see the shape of the problem. Then the naval blockade hit, and imports dried up like a creek bed in August.
So the Legislature didn't wait around wringing its hands — it established plants to make guns, powder, cloth, and salt. When the private sector needed a nudge, the lawmakers provided contracts, subsidies, and land grants to encourage industry to help meet the wartime demands for arms, supplies, clothing, and food. They taxed property and business.
They made farmers turn in tithes of their produce — tithes, like a church tithe, only the congregation was a war — to feed citizen and soldier alike. They voted funds to finance state barter in Mexico, trading cotton for factory goods across the border. They voted to aid soldiers' dependents.
They voted to provide medical care and hospitals for Texas troops, in and out of state. These legislatures were in almost continuous session. Think about that.
Almost. Continuous. Session.
And here is where the story gets a little something extra. Poor pay and inflated Confederate money meant many members couldn't afford a proper roof over their heads in Austin. So they lived in tents and covered wagons — right there on the capitol grounds — and cooked their suppers over open campfires.
The men running the state of Texas, managing ninety thousand soldiers and two thousand miles of frontier, were sleeping under canvas and stirring pots in the shadow of the capitol dome. That right there is the whole story in one picture: the weight of an impossible job, carried by men eating beans around a fire they built themselves.
What the marker says
When Texas seceded, Feb. 1, 1861, the 8th Legislature was in Austin in a called session, adjourned Feb. 9. On March 18, the 8th came back for a second called session; the 9th and 10th Legislatures in turn were harassed with problems of the Civil War. They found it necessary to raise, equip and supply 90,000 Texas soldiers, who fought on all fronts; and to provide for defense against Indians, enemy troops and ships on 2000 miles of state coastline and frontiers. As naval blockade reduced imports, the Legislature established plants to make guns, powder, cloth, salt. Contracts, subsidies and land grants were provided to encourage private industry to help meet heavy wartime demands for arms, supplies, clothing, food. The lawmakers taxed property and business and made farmers turn in tithes of produce to feed citizen and soldier. Funds were voted to finance state barter in Mexico of cotton for factory goods; to aid soldiers' dependents; and to provide medical care and hospitals for Texas troops, in and out of state. Legislatures were in almost continuous sessions. Poor pay and inflated Confederate money caused many members to live in tents and covered wagons on the capitol grounds and cook over campfires. (1965)