Chapter Four--The Czech Settlers

This is the final segment of the study. If one wishes to understand the settlement practices of the Czech immigrants who came to Texas in the 1800's, one must learn the settlement patterns of the German immigrants who came to Texas in the 1800's because the first Czechs sought out and settled near the Germans. In turn, if one wishes to understand the settlement patterns of the Germans, one needs to study the settlement patterns of the Anglo-Americans who, generally, settled in Texas, prior to the mass migration of Germans and Czechs. This short study will attempt to present an overview of the settlement patterns in Texas in the 1800's.

 Part Three addressed the Anti-German/Anti-Foreigner climate of Texas during the Civil War. In this part, I hope to briefly cover the net effect of the Civil War on the "landed gentry," the mostly Anglo- American plantation owners of East Texas and others in the lived through out the settled part of the State. This should then put out on the table, so to speak, most of the significant factors and factions which come together to determine where the bulk of the Czech immigrants settled after the Civil War.

 In the book Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans, T. R. Fehrenbach thoroughly addresses the position and plights of the landed gentry of East Texas prior to, during, and immediately after the Civil War. I want to summarize as much. Remember that there were really two groups of Anglo settlers in the Eastern part of Texas. The slave holders who were really the minority and those who did not hold slaves. It is the contention of Fehrenbach that it was not the political muscle of the slaveholders which caused Texas first to secede and then later to through itself fully in to the Confederate cause but rather the fear of what would happen if the slaves were freed by the non-slaveholding population. Of course this is simplifying the factors for the issue of states right really was of pertinence too. According to Fehrenbach, the slaveholders knew the slaves as individuals and people and, except for the decline in their economic circumstances which freeing the slaves would bring, they did not fear the freeing of the slaves. However, those Anglos who only knew the slaves as a mass did fear for their safety should the slaves be freed. (Fehrenbach). Isn't this interesting?

Anyway, when Texas did join in the Civil War, the State did so fully. Both the slave holding and the non-slave holding gentry poured their men, their money, and later their assets into the cause. If one reads of these people, one will find that wealthy families put together military units with their personal funds and then sent them off to battle under the leadership of their men. They were fully committed. As the war progressed an the Union blockade of the Texas ports became serious, it was the long established landed gentry who suffered the most. they were also the ones accustomed to higher standards of living and were further removed from the production of the food which they consumed. They also poured what funds, food, and aid they could to the wives and families of the soldiers who were off fighting. The contributions by the mutual aid societies most likely keep woman and children alive who might of otherwise died of starvation or diseases associated with inadequate food and shelter. By the end of the war, the landed gentry of East Texas was, as a whole bankrupt.

Now remember, the last battle of the Civil War was in Texas and Colonel John S. (Rip) Ford and his men won. It was also through Texas that the last militant band of Confederate soldiers marched as they went to establish a new Confederacy in Mexico. During this crossing, these men of commitment and character halted long enough to stop the looting of the State Treasury and to stop looting and restore order in many communities such as San Antonio. It is my belief that no matter how one feels about the Confederate South, one has to admire the determination and character of these men.

 In his book Civil War in the Texas and New Mexico Territory  Steve Cottrell, writes in detail of the last few days while the last soldiers of the Confederacy made their way across the state. In poignant part:

 "At last General [J. O. (Jo)] Shelby's forces reached Eagle Pass. It was there at this dusty Texas border town, that the Missouri and Arkansas cavalry troopers performed a simple yet profound acting signaling the end of the Confederate Cause. On July 4, 1865, the tattered, bullet-ridden battle flag of Shelby's command was lowered into a watery grave in the Rio Grande. In a solemn ceremony at a wide and fairly deep portion of the river known as Rio Bravo Del Norte, five colonels held their beloved banner up for their men to view one last time. The hardened soldiers of the South broke down and wept like children as their hearts broke with grief. All they had fought for and bled for; the cause for which they had sacrificed everything...was dead. The colonels weighted the beloved cloth symbol and waded far out into the river and then gently lowered the banner into the water. It was the last battle flag to fly over an armed, defiant Confederate force. Undefeated in spirit, Shelby's troopers then crossed over in to old Mexico flying only a guidon in place of their never-surrendered Southern banner. The Civil War in Texas, and in the rest of the reunited States was over. (Cottrell 117)."

 And for the landed gentry of East Texas, times would get worse before they became better. T. R. Fehrenbach writes:

"The planter class was demoralized. Its entire capital, moral and financial, had been shot away. The Southern way of life had received a stunning defeat, not quickly, not cleanly, but through the degrading conflict with attrition. All money, deposits, and bank stocks of this class were gone, as well as their prime source of wealth, their Negro slaves. The loss of illusions was profound. The economy of Texas lay in ruins. Fully one-fourth of the productive white male population was dead, disabled. or dispersed. Almost every form of real wealth, except for the land itself, was dissipated or destroyed. The world was not to see such wholesale ruin again until the wars of the next century Fehrenbach 394)."

And then the new Union government was put in place and the demoralization continued throughout the Reconstruction Period. I won't go into all that but let us just note that after 1865, the land in East Texas was devalued. Those of the planter class who were able to keep their large tracks of land could only work parts of it without their slave laborers. Former slaves frequently became share croppers on the acreage which the land holders could not work. Those who were never slave holders were also destitute. Investors came in and bought thousands and thousands of acres for far less than they were actually worth. An example of who was buying land can be found in the book Galveston: The History of the Island, by Gary Cartwright:

"[Harris] Kempner was a great believer in the ownership of land too-- Jews in Poland weren't allowed to own real estate. He purchased thousands of acres, much of it plantation land that had been greatly devalued after the emancipation of the slaves (Cartwright 128)."

 Some of this devaluated land was bought by the Germans and Czechs. However, many Germans and Czechs must have remembered how quickly their neighbors had turned on them. The rifts created by the Anti- German/Anti-Foreigner actions during the Civil War would make it difficult for European settlers to meld back into the society of East Texas. I think that what one finds is that new European immigrants did settle in areas of East Texas but mostly were there were already populations of Germans or Germans and Czechs. Mostly though, what we see in settlement patterns of the Czechs, from the time of the Civil War on, is that most initially settled in Austin or Colorado County. Then the movement was into Fayette and Lavaca surrounding counties. This movement was of such a scope that many of the original immigrant settlers moved out of the cradle counties.

Also, one should also remember that the Czechs were a farming people and that they looked for and found the fertile soil of the black land prairies and away from the "farmed-out" land of East Texas. These factors are cause for movement on their own. We also need to take into account that Texas still had a dangerous frontier until the 1880's and then there was still the Nieces Strip. This frontier was a limiting factor sad to how far south and west the Czech immigrants could settle. And, as always, I think every ethnic group first seeks out others of the same group when they enter a new environment. I do not believe there was a single cause for where the Czech settled; however, I think the anti-German/anti-Foreigner sentiment and action during the Civil War does need to be considered as one of the factors.

So there you have it. My short study on the settlement pattern of settlement in Texas by the Germans and the Czechs after the Civil War. What I hoped do with this study is to remind my fellow Texas Czechs that while it is very significant and worthy to learn and keep the customs and ways of our culture, it is also important to study and learn about the world to which the Czechs came. For even today we are all greatly influenced by the society and its norms in which we live. I also find it personally significant to be aware of the Anti- German/Anti-Foreigner sentiment during the Civil War. In that I see again the reason which all races and ethnicities should be regarded as equal citizens and protected. In a society which tolerates and even urges evils against one segment of a population, one never knows when the race or ethnic group one belongs to may become the next target.

In closing, I still believe that the rich farmland of the black-land prairies was the main ingredient for the success of the Texas Czech settlers.

Bibliography:

Cartwright, Gary.  Galveston: A History of the Island. Texas: TCU Press, 1991.

 Cottrell, Steve.  Civil War in Texas New Mexico Territory. Louisiana: Pelican Publishing Co, Inc., 1998.

Fehrenbach, T. R. Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans. New York: Collier Books, 1986.

Susan Rektorik Henley