Brazos County Confederate Commissioners Court
Bryan, Brazos County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Furnished horses, equipment and clothing for county men in the Civil War. Levied war taxes on property, exempting lands or estates of Confederate soldiers. After surveying to determine needs of the families of Brazos soldiers, appropriated funds to care for them. Gave credits for contributions made by citizens to soldiers' dependents. Issued county warrants for 25 (cents), 50 (cents), $1, $2, $3 and $5 that passed as legal tender. Obtained for resale to the citizens scarce powder, lead, gun caps, medicines, shoes, cotton cards cloth, shoe makers' tools.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
During the Civil War, the Brazos County Commissioners Court became an engine of the Confederate home front, outfitting local men with horses, clothing, and equipment and levying war taxes while exempting soldiers' estates. It surveyed the needs of soldiers' families and appropriated funds for their care, and it issued its own small-denomination county warrants that circulated as legal tender. The court also procured scarce goods—powder, lead, medicine, shoes, cotton cards—for resale to a blockaded citizenry.
Why it matters
This marker captures how ordinary county government improvised money, welfare, and supply to sustain a Southern community through the strains of the Civil War.
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Related events
- · American Civil War
Themes & tags
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