Star of the Republic Museum Notes, Volume 8, Number 3, Spring 1984 Page: INSIDE FRONT COVER
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impact on ranching in Texas. In the early years, fencing had
been mostly Bois d' arc (osage orange) hedges as wood and
rocks were scarce. The processing and selling of this seed was
actually a thriving industry with the hedges being advertised as
"horse high, bull strong and pig tight." Yet nothing could
compete with barbed wire. Of the dozens of barbed wire
types patented after the Civil War, Joseph Glidden's 1874 wire
became the standard, and within a decade 120 million pounds
a year were being sold. Yet fencing created a conflict with a
tradition of open range. Cattlemen often fenced in public
land, fenced out the other nearby ranchers from waterholes,
and fenced across roads and trails. In response fence-cutting
became rampant, causing feuds and deaths. Reflecting the
controversy surrounding the introduction of barbed wire and
its impact, the exhibit includes a petition to the Texas State
Legislature to define a legal fence. In 1884 Texas declared
fence-cutting a felony, but also required a gate for every
one-third mile of fencing. In a more positive sense, fencing
provided an incentive to improve land and breeding stock, thus
forever changing the landscape of the American West.
From a military perspective, the Showers-Brown
Texana Collection encompasses a variety of documents and
artifacts highlighting the role Texas played in its own Revolu-
tion, the Mexican-American War, and the Civil War. The
collection contains a handbill printed in Brazoria in 1836
which attempts to reassure the people that they could return
to their homes. After the fall of the Alamo, the threat of an
advancing Mexican army helped cause the "Runaway Scrape";
r 04y~
%,people all over Texas fled their homes and sought refuge on
Galveston Island and in Louisiana. In their panic the refugees
were ill-prepared for the hardships of disease, hunger, rain,
and lack of transportation which they would encounter.
Consequently, many lives were lost in the flight which
continued until news came of the victory at San Jacinto.
The Mexican-American War was called by Ulysses S.
Grant "one of the most unjust [wars] ever waged." It was
also the first war to be quickly illustrated for mass distribution
as lithographs in Harper's Weekly and other publications. The
major battles of the war - Molino del Rey, Buena Vista, and
Chapultepec - are illustrated by colored prints within the
exhibit.
One of the more interesting documents from the Civil
War period is a Harper's Weekly print of Camp Ford near
Tyler, Texas. The largest prison in the state, Camp Ford
enclosed a ten acre field and held about 5,000 Union prisoners.
It was a stockade, fenced with long poles set close together;
prisoners provided their own dugouts or wooden houses called
"shebangs." They had a hand-printed newspaper called the
"Old Flag." The exhibit includes several Harper's prints,
documents, and artifacts from the Civil War period, as well as a
Confederate sword and an 1851 Starr revolver widely used by
both Confederate and Union troops.
Another very interesting aspect of Texas history is the
tremendous variety of documents which were used as legal
tender, ranging from the worthless treasury notes of a bankrupt
government to stock certificates in promising towns made rich"Camp Ford, Texas," Harper's Weekly, 1865
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Star of the Republic Museum (Washington, Tex.). Star of the Republic Museum Notes, Volume 8, Number 3, Spring 1984, periodical, Spring 1984; Washington, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1623781/m1/2/: accessed May 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.