DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and this one's got more than a few turns worth slowing down for. We're talking about Lamar County, Confederate States of America. Sit with that a minute.
Because the story doesn't start where you'd expect. Lamar County sat on what you might call uneasy ground — right up against the border of Indian Territory during the Civil War. It lay along the Old Central National Road, surveyed back in 1844 by the Republic of Texas itself, running all the way from San Antonio and crossing the Red River north of Paris.
A military transport center on that road, rich farmland feeding armies, and a county that was — well, deeply, uncomfortably divided about the whole enterprise before it even began. Here's the thing that stops most folks cold. In 1861, when Texas sent delegates to the Secession Convention, Lamar County sent the one delegation that voted unanimously against secession.
Every single one of them. And when the statewide election came, the citizens of Lamar County opposed secession themselves — 663 votes against, 553 in favor. In a state that was marching hard toward the Confederate cause, Lamar County stood up and said: we're not so sure about this.
And then the war came anyway. Once it did, the county raised at least nine combat companies. Nine.
That same county organized the 9th Texas Infantry, led in succession by Colonels S. B. Maxey, W.
H. Young, and W. A.
Stanley. The 9th fought at bloody Shiloh in 1862, and later found itself folded into the famous Hood's Texas Brigade — described right there on the marker as one of the most illustrious armies in the Civil War. And those colonels?
They didn't stay colonels. Maxey rose to become one of just three major generals that the state of Texas gave to the Confederate cause. Young became one of thirty-two brigadier generals.
Thirty-two out of all of Texas — and Lamar County sent one of them. Meanwhile, back home, the county was feeding the Confederacy — literally. Despite unrest, despite rumors of Federal invasion coming down from the north, Lamar County kept producing food for Confederate armies.
And among the most noted Texas contractors of beef to those armies was a Lamar countian named John Chisum, who during the wartime years became a cattle king, building great herds out in the open country to the west. So what do you do with a place like that? A county that voted against the war, then fought it harder than most.
That raised generals and cattle kings and nine companies of men while rumors of invasion rattled the windows. Lamar County didn't fit neatly into the story the Civil War liked to tell about itself — and maybe that's exactly why its story is worth remembering.
What the marker says
Of uneasy border of Indian Territory in the Civil War. A military transport center, on the Old Central National Road surveyed in 1844 by the Republic of Texas, to run from San Antonio, crossing Red River north of Paris. A rich farming area. Lamar County gave much food to the Confederacy, despite unrest over rumors of Federal invasion from the north. In 1861, Lamar County sent to the Texas Secession Convention the one delegation to vote unanimously against secession. Citizens in the statewide election also opposed secession by vote of 663 to 553. Once war came, however, the county raised at least 9 combat companies. Organized 9th Texas Infantry, led in succession by Colonels S. B. Maxey, W. H. Young and W. A. Stanley. The 9th fought at bloody Shiloh in 1862 and later was in famous Hood's Texas Brigade, one of the most illustrious armies in the Civil War. Maxey became one of the 3 major generals and Young one of the 32 brigadier generals given by the state of Texas to the Confederate cause. Among most noted of Texas contractors of beef to feed Confederate armies was a Lamar countian, John Chisum, who during wartime became a cattle king, with great herds in open country to the west.