DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and friends, this one's got layers. Corsicana, Navarro County, 1860. The presidential election results come in that November, and the citizens of this town don't wait around to see which way the wind blows.
They walk right up to the Courthouse, lower the Stars and Stripes, and run the Texas flag up in its place. That is a statement. That is a town that knows its mind.
Early in 1861, influential men took to the Square with drums — actual drums — beating a rhythm to pull soldiers into Confederate service. And it worked. Some 450 Navarro County men enlisted.
Among them were two officers who would go on to make outstanding records: Colonel Roger Q. Mills and Colonel Clinton M. Winkler.
Names worth remembering. Inside that same Courthouse, the county commissioners weren't just watching — they were appropriating funds. Money for arms and ammunition.
Money to support the families the soldiers left behind. This community was committed, down to the ledger books. Then comes 1864, and the war is grinding on.
Supplies are short everywhere. So who steps up to stock the Confederate Quartermaster Depot — located right here on this very corner, in a store building? Old men.
Women. Children. Civilians doing what they could, carrying what they had, keeping the cause alive as long as they were able.
But causes end. In 1865, after the Confederate surrender, Federal troops arrived in Corsicana. Under Lieutenant A.
R. Chaffee, they camped right here on this corner to enforce the peace terms. Now — most folks swallowed hard and let it be.
Most folks. One civilian resisting those troops was a sixteen-year-old by the name of John Wesley Hardin. Not yet celebrated.
Not yet notorious. Just a teenager with a grudge and a pistol. He wasn't famous yet when he notched that pistol in a fight with soldiers ten miles south of town — but the name has a certain ring to it in hindsight, doesn't it.
The Federal troops eventually withdrew, and in 1872, the Texas Democratic Convention met right here in Corsicana. They made plans. Deliberate, determined plans — and out of those plans, military despotism was replaced by civilian control of state government by bona fide Texans.
From drums on the Square to a convention hall deciding the future — this corner saw the whole arc. The raising of a flag. The rhythm of recruitment.
The quiet sacrifice of ordinary people stocking a depot. A teenager with a chip on his shoulder who'd one day be infamous. And finally, a room full of men deciding that Texans would govern Texas.
Some corners just carry more history than they let on.
What the marker says
A center of patriotism especially committed to the Southern cause. After the Nov. 1860 presidential election, citizens lowered the Stars and Stripes and ran up the Texas flag on the Courthouse. Early in 1861 influential men beat drums on the Square to recruit soldiers for the Confederacy. Some 450 Navarro County men enlisted. These included two officers who made outstanding records, Cols. Roger Q. Mills and Clinton M. Winkler. In the Courthouse, county commissioners appropriated funds for arms and ammunition and for support of soldiers' families. In 1864, civilians -- including old men, women and children -- helped stock a Confederate Quartermaster Depot which was located in a store building on this corner. After the Confederate surrender in 1865, Federal troops under Lt. A. R. Chaffee camped on this corner to enforce peace terms. One civilian resisting the troops was John Wesley Hardin, then only 16, and not yet a celebrated gunman. But he notched his pistol in a fight with soldiers 10 miles south of town. The Texas Democratic Convention met in Corsicana in 1872, after Federal troops withdrew, and made plans whereby military despotism was replaced by civilian control of state government by bona fide Texans.