DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Texas Confederate County Commissioners Court over in Washington County. Now, most folks driving through this part of Texas think of the big battles, the generals, the flags — but pull over a minute, because the real machinery of a war runs quieter than cannon fire, and it ran right here. These county commissioners courts — a chief justice and four county commissioners, all of them elected — they were the ones keeping the whole thing from falling apart back home while the fighting raged elsewhere.
Composed of a chief justice, who'd come to be called the county judge, and four commissioners, these boards directed what the marker calls vital Civil War programs. And vital is not too strong a word. Not by a long stretch.
They provided arms, clothing, horses, and saddles for the troops going out from the county. They gave aid to wartime factories. And then — and this is where it gets human, where the weight of it really settles in — they obtained and distributed to soldiers' families the things that had become almost impossible to find: medicine, food, cloth, salt, cotton cards, wool cards.
Scarce, the marker says. Scarce. You think about a mother trying to card wool with nothing to card it with, and suddenly a county commissioner's paperwork feels a little less dry.
County patrols and home guards were set up in many counties, supplied with lead, powder, and gun caps to guard against the enemy, Indians, and bandits. The home front was its own kind of frontier. And all of it had to be paid for somehow.
Bonds were issued. Scrip was issued. A special war tax was assessed on property.
Tax credits were given to citizens who contributed to soldiers' dependents. And those unbranded cattle roaming the range — they were gathered up and sold, the proceeds going to benefit orphans and widows. Now, Washington County was rich and heavily populated, and its court put those advantages to work.
It financed hospitals in Hempstead and Chappell Hill. It contracted the making of army uniforms. It bought kegs of powder and held gun inspections to keep the home defenses sharp.
It printed its own county scrip — fifty-cent bills, one-dollar bills, two-dollar bills, three-dollar bills — because when the regular money dries up, you make your own. Out at Old Mount Vernon, the court established a camp of instruction. In Brenham, a soldiers' home.
Judges, commissioners, dedicated public officials — the marker names no single hero here, and maybe that's the point. This was collective work, unglamorous and unrelenting, carried on by elected men doing what their counties needed them to do. The big battles get the monuments.
But somewhere between a keg of powder and a fifty-cent scrip note, a county kept itself alive. That's the story this marker is telling, and now you've heard it too.
What the marker says
Composed of a chief justice (now county judge) and four county commissioners, these elected governing boards directed vital Civil War programs. Provided arms, clothing, horses and saddles for troops from county. Gave aid to wartime factories. Obtained and distributed to soldier's families scarce medicine, food, cloth, salt and cotton and wool cards. County patrols and home guards were set up in many counties and supplied lead, powder, gun caps to guard against the enemy, Indians and bandits. Funds were raised by issuing bonds and scrip and assessing a special war tax on property. Tax credits were given to citizens for contributions to soldier's dependents. Unbranded cattle were gathered and sold to benefit orphans and widows. Rich, heavily-populated Washington County through its court financed hospitals in Hempstead and Chappell Hill; contracted the making of army uniforms; bought kegs of powder and held gun inspections to maintain home defenses; printed county scrip in 50 (cents), $1, $2, $3 bills; established at Old Mt. Vernon a camp of insctruction and in Brenham a soldiers home. Judges, commissioners and other dedicated public officials did much to strengthen Texas' war effort.