page_title: History of Marshall, Texas
section_title: 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: History of Marshall, Texas / 19th century
caption_attribution_description: Old Negro (former slave) with horn with which slaves were called. Near Marshall, Texas. Russell Lee 1903-1986 photographer. CREATED/PUBLISHED April, 1939
context_page_description: The History of Marshall, Texas follows the city; from its founding as an administrative center of the Republic of Texas, through its rise to be one of the largest cities in the early State of Texas, to its emergence as a major Confederate city, to its establishment as a major railroad hub of the United States in the late 19th century, through its national influence on the American Civil Rights Movement, through its steady economic decline in the late 20th century, and to the reemergence of growth in the 1990s and early 21st century.
context_section_description: Marshall's history began when the area that is now Marshall received its first known settlers in 1839. While activities among Caddos, and other Southeastern Native American peoples certainly took place in the area that is now Marshall, no known settlement existed at Marshall, as was the case of the original location of neighboring Elysian Fields.
  In 1841 a new seat was sought for Harrison County, and a local settler named Peter Whetstone, offered some of his land in central Harrison County to build the new city on. He offered to build a church and a school on and the subsequently divide the remaining land into 190 lots. County commissioners were initially concerned that the water in the area would not be good—the reason from moving the county seat from sites on the Sabine River like Pulaski was that they had poor water, were prone to disease, and flooding. Whetstone is alleged to have convinced the commissioners that the water was good by pulling a jug of whiskey out from a hollow in an oak tree in what is now downtown Marshall. He passed around the jug, and convinced the commissioners to build on the site; either by convincing them that the whiskey (and water) were good, getting them drunk, or both. However it is important to note that some historians view this account as embellished or untrue.
  Whetstone's friend Isaac Van Zandt, laid out the city and named it in honor of John Marshall. The city was formally incorporated in 1841 by the Republic of Texas. The city quickly became a major city in the state, because of its position as a gateway to Texas on several major stage coach lines. The city's growing importance was strengthened when Marshall was linked by a telegraph line to New Orleans, becoming the first city in Texas to have a telegraph service. Several academies sprang up, many of them supported by Whetstone, who, ironically, was illiterate.
  By 1860 the city was the fifth largest city in Texas, the "first metropolis of East Texas with a population of about 2,000", according to Randoph B. Campbell author of Gone to Texas, and the seat of the richest county. The county had more slaves than any other in the state, making it a hotbed of anti-Union sentiment. In the 1850s there were so many skilled slaves in Marshall, that white mechanics organized to protest that work was being taken away from "free" workers. When Gov. Sam Houston refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, Marshall's Edward Clark was sworn in as governor. Marshall would also produce Texas' third Confederate governor, Pendleton Murrah. Marshall became a major Confederate city, becoming the capital of Missouri's Confederate government-in-exile, producing gunpowder and other supplies for the Confederate Army, and hosting three conferences of Trans-Mississippi and Indian Territory leaders.
  Marshall became the seat of civil authority and headquarters of the Trans-Mississippi Postal Department after the fall of Vicksburg. The city would remain influential in the Confederacy throughout the war, as a power center west of the Mississippi, which hosted Confederate governors during the Marshall Conferences in 1862, 1863, and 1865. The city may have been the intended target of a failed Union advance that was rebuffed at Mansfield, Louisiana. Towards the end of the Civil War Richmond had $9 million in Treasury notes and $3 million in postage stamps shipped to Marshall, possibly meaning that Marshall was the intended destination of a government preparing to flee from advancing armies. With high desertion among the Confederate army in the final days of the war, the Confederate powder mill at Marshall was abandoned to looters.
  Marshall was occupied by Union forces on June 17, 1865, two days before the force, made famous by Juneteenth, arrived at Galveston. During Reconstruction the city was home to an office of the Freedmen's Bureau and was the base for Union troops. In 1873 The Methodist Episcopal Church founded Wiley College to educate free men. African-Americans came to the city seeking opportunities and protection until 1878, when the Citizens Par
caption: Many African-Americans came to Marshall during Reconstruction; but the establishment of the White Citizens Party after the Union troops departed kept many former slaves locked into poverty. A former slave displays a horn formerly used to call slaves on the outskirts of Marshall in 1939.
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