The Gray and The Blue

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about The Gray and The Blue, out in Cottle County. Around 1885, men who had spent the better part of their younger years trying to kill each other came drifting into the western part of Texas. They came from opposite sides of a war that had torn the country in half, and now here they were, neighbors.

The Gray and the Blue, settling the same hard ground together. And hard ground it was. They grazed cattle where drought had already parched the grass down to nothing.

They dug their homes into the earth itself (dugouts) and called it living. The marker says daily existence felt like a siege, and the men who said that were men who knew what a siege actually felt like. That's not poetry.

That's memory. On occasion, they'd make it into town, and on the Courthouse Square they'd verbally refight the whole war. Every battle, every grievance, every point of pride aired out right there in public.

But then they'd go home and build Cottle County side by side. That's the thing about this story. The argument and the cooperation weren't contradictions.

They were just Tuesday. Now, the numbers tell you something about who settled here. Eighty-five percent of Cottle County's early pioneers had worn the Gray.

One out of three had served in Texas units specifically. The rest had come down from Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia; the full roll call of the Confederacy. Most of the great early cattle brands in the county were owned by Confederate veterans.

But not all of them. One of those early brands in Cottle was run by a strong pro-Unionist. The marker doesn't give us that man's name, just that detail.

And that detail lands like a quiet statement sitting at the end of a loud argument. And then there's William Frederick Liedtke. By 1890, there were 8,722 Union veterans living in Texas, and Liedtke was one example right here in Cottle County.

Born in 1836, he had migrated to the United States from Prussia back in 1856. He served as a county official and then as state auditor of Nebraska before settling in Paducah. Here in Cottle County he became a legal advisor, an abstractor, and a Justice of the Peace.

A man who had crossed an ocean, crossed a country, worn the Blue, and then quietly got to work. He lived until 1914. The marker closes with a line worth sitting with.

Gray or Blue in the 1860s; by 1890 the uniform tended to be cowman's regalia. An American looking to the future rather than at the past. Out here on the dry grass of Cottle County, that's what they built.

Not forgetting. Not pretending. Just moving forward, together, one stubborn day at a time.

What the marker says

Into the western part of Texas, about 1885 came Civil War veterans of the Gray and the Blue, to tame the wilderness. They grazed cattle where drought parched the grass. Lived in dugouts. Found daily existence a siege that reminded them of war hardships. On occasional trips into town, verbally refought the war on the Courthouse Square, but lived peacefully together to build a great county. In Cottle County, 85 per cent of the early pioneers had worn the Gray. One out of 3 had been in Texas units. Others, were from Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and Virginia. Of the great early brands, most were owned by Confederate veterans, but one in Cottle was run by a strong pro-Unionist. 8,722 Union veterans lived in Texas in 1890. One example in Cottle County at this time was Union veteran, William Frederick Liedtke (1836-1914), who had migrated to the U.S. from Prussia, in 1856. He served as a county official and then as state auditor of Nebraska before settling in Paducah. He was legal advisor, abstractor and Justice of the Peace here. Gray or Blue in the 1860s, the 1890 uniform tended to be cowman's regalia on an American looking to the future rather than at the past. (1964)