The Hedgcoxe War

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it: the story of the Hedgcoxe War, right here in Denton County. Now, most wars have cannons. Armies.

Flags. This one had a land office on a creek, a stack of files, and a whole lot of angry Texans; and honestly, that was enough. It starts, as so many Texas troubles do, with a promise that didn't quite pan out.

The Texas Emigration and Land Company organized what was called the Peters Colony in north Texas, operating under an 1841 Republic of Texas law. That law allowed the company to keep one-half of a settler's land grant. Half.

You work the land, you prove up your claim, and the company walks away with half of it. You can imagine that didn't sit well. After protests, that right was repealed; so far so good.

But then came February of 1852, and here's where the fire really gets lit: the company was compensated for giving up that right. Compensated with one million, eighty-eight thousand acres of vacant land, right there within the colony. One million, eighty-eight thousand acres.

Settlers who'd been scratching out a living on that ground were furious. So were speculators holding land certificates. A grant that size, they feared, would drag land values right into the dirt.

And standing in the middle of all this, running the company's land office on a nearby creek called Office Creek, was the company's agent, English-born Henry O. Hedgcoxe. He was, the marker is kind enough to note, unpopular.

On July 12th and 13th of 1852, a group of men from Dallas broke into that office and went through the land records. What they found, they brought back to a meeting in Dallas on July 15th; and the word they delivered was that the company was defrauding the colonists. Now, John J.

Good, born 1827, and one day he'd be mayor of Dallas, he heard that report, and he did not send a strongly worded letter. He led a band of armed men straight to Hedgcoxe's office. Hedgcoxe, to his credit, got out.

But most of his files were seized, and the office burned. And then, and this is the part that'll catch you off guard, tensions quickly cooled. Just like that.

The law was amended so settlers could obtain their grants directly from the state rather than through the company agent. That was the thing people had really wanted all along. As for the company?

It kept its one million, eighty-eight thousand acres. And Hedgcoxe, the man who'd fled the raid with armed Texans at his heels, came back. Came back to help survey the very tract that had started the whole affair.

Some men just can't stay away from a good land dispute.

What the marker says

Distribution of land in the Peters Colony of north Texas triggered a dispute known as the Hedgcoxe War. The Texas Emigration & Land Co. organized the colony under an 1841 Republic of Texas law which allowed it to keep one-half of a settler's grant. After protests, this right was repealed, but in Feb. 1852 the company was compensated with 1,088,000 acres of vacant land within the colony. This action angered settlers and speculators with land certificates, who feared that the large grant would lower land values. At that time, the company's unpopular agent, English-born Henry O. Hedgcoxe, operated a land office on nearby Office Creek. On July 12 and 13, 1852, a group of Dallas men broke in and examined the land records. They reported to a meeting in Dallas on July 15 that the company was defrauding the colonists. John J. Good (1827-82), later mayor of Dallas, then led a band of armed men to Hedgcoxe's office. Hedgcoxe escaped, but most of his files were seized and the office burned. After the raid, tensions quickly cooled. The law was amended so that settlers obtained their grants from the state rather than from the company agent. The company kept its land grant, however, and Hedgcoxe returned to help survey the tract. (1975)