In January 1861, the United States was divided. Six states had seceded from the Union because they refused to give up slavery.
Texas was up next to decide. It held a convention for delegates to vote.
And they voted to leave.
Madeline Maxwell, a retired UT Austin professor, is passionate about all things conflict/resolution. She wondered how different parts of Texas felt about slavery, so she asked ATXplained if Travis County was in favor of secession.
The state wasn't unified on the issue, according to Walter Buenger, a retired UT Austin history professor and Texas historian.
Most white people in the South were against abolishing slavery because they relied heavily on cotton — and enslaved people to pick it — to make money. Unlike in East Texas, where cotton production boomed, Central Texas was a remote region in 1860. It lacked the technology to transport cotton, which was bulky and couldn't fit on ox wagons.
“You need to think about secession on the county, local level as well as the state level,” Buenger said. “If you do that, the absence of a heavy influence of slavery and slave owners explains the path of Austin, Travis County and Williamson County.”
Put simply: The economy here didn't depend on slavery.
Election Day
Buenger said the delegates selected to vote on secession in 1861 were handpicked by residents — so-called "leading men" to have a seat in the convention.
“It was from ... a base that was most committed to defend slavery,” he said. “It was not representative of the entire voting population.”
Harrison Eppright, a tour guide from the Austin Visitor Center, said delegates marched angrily into the old Texas Capitol building ahead of the vote. They were fired up, ready to fight about secession.
“There [were] a lot of arguments going on,” Eppright said. “They knew war was in the air and they wanted to participate and create a war.”
North Texan James Throckmorton, who served in the state Legislature, was one of the few vocal opponents during the convention. According to Buenger, he stood in front of the delegates and shouted against secession with a famous line: "When the rabble hiss, well may patriots tremble."
A majority of the delegates hissed back in response, Buenger said, yelling that the Union was “a weapon with which to strike down the interests and prosperity of the people of Texas.”
Travis County was one of only eight Texas counties that voted not to secede; 166 others voted for secession.
A few weeks later, Texas joined the Confederacy.
The aftermath
Maxwell wanted to know how those who voted against secession moved on after the vote.
“Sometimes when people disagree, they fight,” she said. “Sometimes ... they pick up their marbles and go home, they move away or burn people’s houses down.”
Gov. Sam Houston was strongly against seceding. He had fought hard to get Texas into the United States in 1845, so he felt like his life’s work was imploding.
“He talked about how leaving the Union would violate the compact that Texas made with the union, that the Texas government should not feed the fires of insurrection [from the South],” Eppright said.
Houston was publicly disliked for opposing secession, according to Eppright. He was kicked out of office when the war started because he refused to swear allegiance to the Confederacy. He went back to his estate and died during the war.
Andrew Jackson Hamilton represented Travis County in the Texas House of Representatives and also served in Congress. He fled to New Orleans after getting all kinds of threats for speaking against secession, Eppright said.
But after the war, he became governor of Texas.
Throckmorton, however, changed his mind about secession. He helped lead the Confederate Army and he, too, would later become governor.
The courage of their convictions
So, yes, Travis County did vote to stay in the Union. And it was outnumbered.
Maxwell said the county's decision to stand against the majority wasn’t in vain.
“Sometimes you speak up even when you know you’ve lost because you want to get the words in the air … even though you know it could get you killed,” she said. “It’s an amazing thing.”
