Washington County, C.S.A.
Brenham, Washington County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Washington County was the most populous in the state during the Civil War. It served as a center for production, warehousing, transportation and communications, and had a large quartermaster depot. Local wartime factories made spinning jennies, lumber, pots, kettles, wagons and army ambulances. Government cotton was held in Brenham, one of four state depots. From here, wagons and carts hauled it to Mexico in exchange for vital military and civilian supplies. Brenham, terminus of rail connections to Houston, was alive with troops, stagecoaches and freighters. Here, the early morning train was met by a pony express operation that carried the Houston Telegraph to Austin so that town's Gazette might publish the latest war news in the state capitol. A Confederate paper shortage forced the Brenham Banner to suspend publication. In nearby Washington-on-the-Brazos, however, Eva Lancaster never missed an issue, printing The Texas Ranger while her husband and two sons spent four years fighting for the South. Cavalry, infantry and artillery units from Washington County fought on all fronts during the war. Waul's Legion organized and trained in the county, and Brenham served as the headquarters for the reserve corps of Texas. Additionally, Gen. Jerome Roberston of Independence led the celebrated Hood's Texas Brigade for seventeen months. (1965)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
During the Civil War, Washington County was the most populous in Texas and a vital Confederate hub, with a quartermaster depot, factories turning out wagons, kettles, and army ambulances, and one of the state's four government cotton depots in Brenham. Wagons hauled that cotton to Mexico for scarce supplies while troops, stagecoaches, and a pony express carrying war news filled the county seat. Local units fought on every front, and Gen. Jerome Robertson led the famed Hood's Texas Brigade.
Why it matters
The county illustrates how the Confederate home front sustained the war through manufacturing, cotton diplomacy, and communications, not just soldiers.
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Related people
- · Jerome Robertson
- · Eva Lancaster
Related events
- · Civil War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Thomas Affleck
Brenham, TX
Scottish-born Thomas Affleck emigrated in 1832 and became one of America's best-known agriculturalists, championing scientific farming through his widely read "Affleck's Southern Rural Almanac," published yearly from 1845 to 1861. In the late 1850s he established Glenblythe, a large, highly organized Washington County plantation that even ran a wagon factory turning out wagons and ambulances for the Confederacy. After the Civil War he worked to rebuild Texas's economy, traveling to Britain to encourage investment and emigration before his death in 1868.
Glenblythe Plantation, Home of Thomas Affleck
Brenham, TX
Scottish-born Thomas Affleck (1812–1868) was among the 19th century's most influential writers on agriculture, and from 1858 he ran a 3,500-acre plantation near here with celebrated nurseries and experimental fields. An early champion of conservation farming, he surrounded his Glenblythe mansion with gardens, greenhouses, mills, and workshops, and during the Civil War his workshops built wagons and ambulances and fed a Confederate legion training nearby. After the war he worked to rebuild Texas farming and even traveled to Europe to recruit new settlers.
Washington County Courthouse
Brenham, TX
Completed in 1940 with Public Works Administration funds, this is the fourth courthouse to serve Washington County since the county's formation in 1835. Built during County Judge Sam Low's tenure, the massive white limestone building is a striking example of the art moderne style, down to its light fixtures and cast-aluminum eagles at the entries. It remains the symbolic seat of county government.
Texas Confederate County Commissioners Court
Brenham, TX
During the Civil War, Texas county commissioners courts—a chief justice and four commissioners—became engines of the Confederate war effort, arming and clothing troops, aiding war factories, and distributing scarce medicine, salt, and cloth to soldiers' families. They organized patrols and home guards and raised money through bonds, scrip, and a special war tax. Prosperous Washington County financed hospitals, contracted army uniforms, printed its own scrip, and ran a camp of instruction and a soldiers' home in Brenham.