Polk County, C. S. A.
Livingston, Polk County, Texas
Marker Inscription
During Civil War, 1861-65, an area of piney woods, farms, thickets, with an Alabama-Coushatta Indian reservation. Had only 600 voters in 1860 but sent 900 soldiers into the Confederate Army. Furnished 4 units to Hood's Texas Brigade (Co. B, 1st Regiment; Co. F, 4th Regiment; Co. H and Co. K, 5th Regiment). Also organized Co. K, 14th Texas Infantry, Randal's Brigade; co. E, 20th Texas Infantry, Harrison's Brigade; Co. F, 22nd Texas Infantry, Waul's Brigade, 21 of the Alabama-Coushattas joined Co. A, Indian Cavalry. In 1861, gave through Commissioners Court $1,600 to clothe its soldiers. Throughout the war, old men, women, children and slaves produced food and cotton for support of the war effort. County's numerous ferries and rivers were used in transporting troops and supplies. Such ports as Drew's Landing floated out goods on flatboats. Industries and facilities of importance included Moscow's sawmill, cotton gin, drugstore and school operated throughout the war by the Masonic Lodge. Livingston was headquarters, 1867-68, for the Federal Army of Occupation, 5th Military District, with Co. A, 15th Infantry and Co. B, 6th Cavalry, stationed here.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
During the Civil War, Polk County was a stretch of piney woods, farms, and thickets that included an Alabama-Coushatta reservation. Though it counted only 600 voters in 1860, it sent some 900 soldiers into the Confederate Army, furnishing four companies to Hood's famed Texas Brigade and organizing several other infantry units; twenty-one Alabama-Coushattas enlisted in an Indian cavalry company. On the home front, old men, women, children, and enslaved people raised food and cotton, while the county's ferries and river landings moved troops and supplies until Livingston became headquarters for the federal Army of Occupation in 1867-68.
Why it matters
Polk County shows the total mobilization of a small Southern community for the Confederacy — drawing in even its Native and enslaved populations — and the federal occupation that followed defeat.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
On the eve of the Civil War, Polk County was deep East Texas: piney woods, small farms, thick bottomland and slow rivers. It was a rural place where most people lived off what they grew, and where cotton, much of it worked by enslaved people, linked the county to the markets of the wider South.
The county was also home to an Alabama-Coushatta reservation. The Alabama and Coushatta peoples had moved into East Texas generations earlier, and in the 1850s the State of Texas set aside land for them here. Their presence made Polk County different from most of the state.
When Texas left the Union in 1861, rural counties like this one were pulled into a war that demanded everything they had: their young men, their crops, their rivers and roads, and eventually their acceptance of defeat and federal occupation.
People & events
The figures on this marker speak for themselves. In 1860 Polk County counted only about 600 voters, yet it sent some 900 soldiers into the Confederate Army. Voters then were adult white men only, so the gap suggests that the war drew in very young and older men as well. Four of the county's companies joined Hood's Texas Brigade, one of the best-known Confederate units, which fought in Virginia and saw some of the war's bloodiest battles. Other Polk County companies served in Texas infantry regiments in other brigades.
Twenty-one Alabama-Coushatta men also enlisted, in an Indian cavalry company. Their service is a reminder that Native communities made their own difficult choices during the war, often under pressure and for reasons that the official records don't always capture.
At home, the county's commissioners gave money to clothe its soldiers, and old men, women, children and enslaved people raised the food and cotton the war effort depended on. Enslaved laborers had no choice in that work. Ferries and river landings such as Drew's Landing moved troops and supplies, and flatboats carried goods downriver. In Moscow, a sawmill, cotton gin, drugstore and a Masonic school kept running throughout the war. After the Confederacy's defeat, Livingston became a headquarters for federal troops in 1867 and 1868 under the Fifth Military District, with infantry and cavalry companies stationed in town.
Its place in the American story
Polk County shows what the Civil War meant for a small Southern community. The war was fought far away in places like Virginia, but it reached into every household. When a county sends more soldiers than it had voters, few families were left untouched, and many never saw their sons come home.
The marker also reveals who else carried the war's weight. Enslaved people did much of the labor that fed the Confederacy, even as the war was deciding their freedom. Alabama-Coushatta soldiers served in a conflict between two governments that had each treated Native nations harshly. These are parts of the Civil War story that are easy to overlook.
Finally, the arrival of federal troops in Livingston ties the county to Reconstruction, the nation's attempt to rebuild the South and protect the rights of the newly freed. Military districts like the Fifth, which included Texas, were central to that effort, and their presence in a small town like Livingston shows how far the national struggle over the war's meaning reached.
If you visit
Livingston is a gateway to the Big Thicket and the East Texas piney woods, and the landscape still helps you picture the county described on this marker: tall pines, dense thickets and rivers that once served as highways.
As you read the list of units, try to imagine what they meant at home: neighbors marching off together, companies made up of brothers and cousins, and a county that emptied of young men. Then think of the people who stayed behind and did the work.
The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas still lives on its reservation in Polk County, and the tribe's continuing presence is one of the most striking links between this marker and the present. If you continue your drive through East Texas, look for other Civil War and Reconstruction markers in neighboring towns, and for the county's river landscapes along the Trinity.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Chief John Scott
Livingston, TX
Reputed to have lived from 1805 to 1913, John Scott came to Texas in the 1830s and served most of his long life as a chief of the Alabama Indians in Polk County. He also served in the Confederate army during the Civil War. His story bridges the tribe's presence in Texas from the era of early Anglo settlement into the twentieth century.
Confederate Service of Alabama and Coushatta Indians
Livingston, TX
As the Civil War opened in 1861, an Indian agent trained Alabama and Coushatta men of Polk County as cavalry, and in 1862 nineteen of them, including Chief John Scott, enlisted in the 24th Texas Cavalry. Reassigned as infantry and then briefly to naval duty, the company eventually numbered well over a hundred and spent much of the war building and running flat-bottomed scows to move Confederate supplies down the Trinity River. Wartime governors' correspondence recorded their service.
Polk County
Livingston, TX
Polk County was carved from Liberty County and organized in July 1846, with Livingston as its seat, in the first months after Texas joined the Union. It was named for President James K. Polk, whose administration championed the annexation of Texas. Early settlements clustered at river landings like Drew's Landing and Swartout, and on land granted by the state in 1854 the descendants of the Alabama Indians still make their home.
Livingston
Livingston, TX
Founded in 1846 as the seat of Polk County on a hundred acres donated by Moses L. Choate, Livingston grew into the trade, education, and social hub for the sawmill towns and Trinity River boat landings around it — Sam Houston himself is said to have danced at the nearby Old Andress Inn in the early 1850s. Texas's only Indian reservation, home to the Alabama-Coushatta tribe, lies close by. Long anchored in ranching and timber, the area saw major oil and gas development after 1930.