DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, every place worth its salt in Texas has a nickname, but not every place earns one like this. They called it the Free State of Van Zandt — and friend, that name did not come from nowhere.
The marker says it was a pioneer nickname appropriate to the area's many freedoms, and when you hear what those freedoms were, you'll understand why the people out here wore that title like a badge stitched onto their best Sunday coat. Food was obtained with little effort in these parts. And though the Indians fought white men here as late as 1842, by 1847 the settlers were sleeping in the open — out under the stars — with no dread of Indians or wild animals.
No dread. Think about what it takes to get to a place like that. Van Zandt County itself was created in 1848, carved out of its parent county, Henderson.
And here's where it gets interesting. According to tradition — and in Texas, tradition carries considerable weight — Van Zandt County, by a legal accident, had freedom from sharing the debts of Henderson County. Now, I'm not going to tell you exactly how that happened, because the marker only calls it a legal accident.
But I will tell you this: Van Zandt was proud of that unusual advantage. Real proud. The kind of proud that sticks around for generations.
Now, Van Zandt wasn't alone in this Free State business. Texas has a long history of places deciding, at one point or another, that they'd rather be their own thing entirely. There was the Republic of Fredonia, proclaimed in Nacogdoches in 1826.
It endured for a few weeks. A few weeks. Bold, brief, and gone.
Then along the Mexican border, citizens maintained the Republic of the Rio Grande — and that one held on through 1839 and into 1840. Hidalgo County, down near that same border, developed great self-reliance through recurring border troubles, and called itself a republic from 1852 all the way to 1872. And up in the Panhandle, a county formed the secessionist Free State of Ochiltree in the 1890s.
The marker draws a line under all of these with a single quiet observation: all secessions have been brief. Every single one. And that brings us to the biggest what-if in Texas history.
When Texas voted in 1845 to become part of the United States, it was given the right to become not one state — but five. Five separate states. Texas looked at that offer and declined.
Declined. So instead of five states sorting out their own identities, you got one Texas, and all those Free State movements, the Van Zandts and the Ochiltrees and the Fredonias, they soon lost their force. What held people together, the marker says, was something stronger than any secession.
It was the memory of the ten proud years of the Republic — and those memories gave the people an unusual loyalty to Texas that outlasted every flag anyone tried to raise in its place. The Free State of Van Zandt. It never seceded for real.
It didn't need to. It had already earned something rarer than independence — it had earned the reputation.
What the marker says
Pioneer nickname appropriate to this area's many freedoms-- particularly from want and fear. (Food was obtained with little effort; and although the Indians fought white men here as late as 1842, the settlers by 1847 slept in the open with no dread of Indians or wild animals.) According to tradition, Van Zandt County (created 1848) also by a legal accident had freedom from sharing debts of its parent county, Henderson-- and was proud of that unusual advantage. Other parts of Texas share "Free State" traditions. An 1826 "Republic of Fredonia" was proclaimed in Nacogdoches and endured for a few weeks. Along the Mexican border, citizens maintained in 1839-1840 the "Republic of the Rio Grande." Because it developed great self-reliance in recurring border troubles, Hidalgo County called itself a republic, 1852-1872. A Panhandle County formed the secessionist "Free State of Ochiltree" in the 1890s. All secessions have been brief. When Texas in 1845 voted to become a part of the United States, it was given (but declined) the right to become five states. Such movements as "The Free State of Van Zandt" soon lost force. Memories of the ten proud years of the Republic give the people unusual loyalty to Texas. (1968)