Committee on Public Safety

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Committee on Public Safety, out of Bexar County. Now, most folks think the Civil War started at Fort Sumter. But this marker — this right here — plants a flag of its own.

Let me walk you through it. January of 1861. Texas is in the grip of a Secession Convention, and that convention does something deliberate: it creates a Committee on Public Safety.

Fifteen men. Just fifteen. Their job was to prevent public disorder and — here's where it gets interesting — to enforce the Convention's mandates in the face of open hostility from Governor Sam Houston himself.

The sitting governor of Texas was against them, and they moved forward anyway. That tells you something about the temperature of the room. Now fast-forward to February 18th, 1861.

San Antonio. The marker calls what happened next something that might well have been the first battle of the Civil War — and it doesn't use those words lightly. Minute men, operating under the committee's orders, surrounded the Federal headquarters for the State.

They surrounded it. And they effected the surrender of the force inside. No cannons traded across a harbor.

No dramatic charge. A ring of men, orders in hand, and a Federal garrison that stood down. What came out of that surrender is worth pausing on.

Over three million dollars' worth of ammunition, guns, army vehicles, military goods, and money — seized. In 1861, that was a staggering haul. And the marker notes something else, something the committee deserved credit for: the captured force was sent north without bloodshed on Texas soil.

Prompt action, the marker says, postponed hostilities. Whatever you make of the cause, these fifteen men threaded a needle. That San Antonio action didn't stop there.

It opened the door to something larger — the occupation of a chain of frontier forts, won in that same move, and put to use defending Confederate Texas. The committee organized three military districts, placing troops on the frontiers, along the coast, and down on the Mexican border. And that last one mattered in a way unique to Texas.

The marker makes the point plainly: Texas was the only Confederate state wrestling with the problem of defending a border against a neutral nation. Every other Confederate state had Confederate neighbors or Union lines. Texas had Mexico.

And it wasn't just the state-level committee doing the work. Across Texas, county-level Committees on Public Safety sprang up — used for at least two years — protecting settlements against Indian raids and working to obtain supplies for the war effort. Fifteen men.

January 1861. A convention in crisis, a hostile governor, a Federal garrison surrounded by dawn, three million dollars in military goods, and a war postponed — at least for a day — without a single drop of blood on Texas ground. Some stories start with a cannon shot heard 'round the world.

This one started with fifteen names on a list and a ring of minute men in San Antonio.

What the marker says

Texas and the Civil War Committee on Public Safety Created by Texas Secession Convention, Jan. 1861. A committee of 15 men to prevent public disorder and--in the face of open hostility from Governor Sam Houston--enforce Secession Convention mandates. On Feb. 18, 1861, in what might well have been first battle of the Civil War, minute men under committee orders surrounded the Federal headquarters for the State, in San Antonio, and effected surrender of the alien force. Over $3,000,000 worth of ammunition, guns, army vehicles, military goods and money were seized. Prompt action here postponed hostilities. The captured foe was sent north without bloodshed on Texas soil. This move was followed by occupation of a chain of frontier forts won in the San Antonio action and useful in defense of Confederate Texas. The committee set up 3 military districts, placing troops on frontiers, coast and Mexican border. Texas was the only Confederate state with the problem of defenses on the border of a neutral nation. Numbers of Texas counties also used for at least 2 years Committees on Public Safety, for protection against Indians and to obtain supplies. The seccession Convention and Committee on Public Safety did much to prepare Texas for War. (1965)