Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 7, Number 2, May 1997 Page: 75
[68] p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Consider the Lily:
The Ungilded History of Colorado County, Texas
by Bill Stein
Part 6
Shortly after the creation of the Confederate States of America, the new nation
took up the effort, begun by South Carolina, to expel the United States garrison from Fort
Sumter in the harbor at Charleston. On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces attacked the fort.
Within a few months, U. S. President Abraham Lincoln would order all Confederate ports
blockaded, and the Confederate government would declare that a state of war existed
between the two countries. As was usual in Colorado County in those days, the march to
war was greeted with some enthusiasm. Even before the war, there had been a militia unit,
called the Colorado Guards, in Columbus. In March 1859, the unit's captain, William J.
Herbert, had gone to Austin and secured armaments for his men. Thereafter, though they
began taking target practice, they remained mostly a ceremonial unit. On April 21, 1859,
for instance, they marched through Columbus to commemorate the anniversary of the
Battle of San Jacinto. On the Fourth of July, they leaped into even more social prominence.
On that day, the Colorado Guards were the focus of a barbecue held in the grove of majestic
old live oaks north of Columbus that would soon become known simply as "the grove" and
would regularly host such events. Before the barbecue, a number of Columbus women who
had purchased a flag for the unit presented it to them, amidst the requisite speeches, at the
courthouse, and the Guards responded with a demonstration of their military prowess. The
barbecue featured more speeches, and a special recitation of the United States Declaration
of Independence by local schoolteacher Philip Riley. To conclude the festivities, that
evening, the Guards sponsored a ball at the courthouse. The patriotic fervor of the evening
would soon ring hollow.'
The peaceful existence of the Colorado Guards continued long enough for them
to parade again through Columbus, and to conduct another ball, this one on November 18,
1859. By then, they had found a battle to fight. Two days before the ball, they met and
appointed seven of their members to gather the necessary arms, ammunition, and horses
so that the company could go to Brownsville and participate in the fight against Juan
1 Colorado Citizen, March 5, 1859, March 26, 1859, April 2, 1859, April 16, 1859, May 28, 1859,
June 4, 1859, July 2, 1859, July 9, 1859. Though the law which created the Texas state militia was passed on
April 21, 1846, no company is known to have existed in Colorado County prior to 1859. The 1846 law declared
that every able-bodied man between the ages of 18 and 45 were liable to serve, and required companies to hold
at least two musters between March and November each year (see Hans Peter Nielsen Gammel, ed., The Laws
of Texas 1822-1897, (Austin: The Gammel Book Company, 1898), vol. 2, pp. 1400-1423).75
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Nesbitt Memorial Library. Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 7, Number 2, May 1997, periodical, May 1997; Columbus, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth151400/m1/3/?q=nesbitt%20memorial%20library%20journal: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Nesbitt Memorial Library.