(2009) Grimes
County, TX
This marker is located on the NW corner of the court house
square in Anderson, Grimes County, TX.
Marker: Civil War military concentration point for troops
and ordnance. Rich farm land. By 1861 densely populated. Favored secession
by 907 to 9 vote. Sent 5 cavalry, 4 infantry companies to Confederate
Army. Arms and ordnance works at Anderson produced cannon, cannon balls,
guns, pistols, swords, sabers, bayonets, and
gunpowder. Military telegraph line from Houston to Marshall crossed the
county. Five men charged with treason against the Confederacy were held in
1864 in Anderson Jail, under the wartime suspension of habeas corpus, in
constant peril of mob violence. People were relieved when these men were
deported to Mexico by the military. Cotton, "Gold of the South", and food
were produced in abundance. Cotton hauled to Mexico by local men was
traded for goods vital to the Confederacy. Yet shortages occurred. For
lack of paper, The Rev. George W. Baines of Anderson (great-grandfather of
President Lyndon B. Johnson) suspended "The Texas Baptist", first state
organ for that church. In 1865 the Piedmont Springs Resort Hotel, 7 miles
to the west, became headquarters and hospital for Walker's division on its
return from Louisiana where it helped prevent a Federal invasion of Texas. |