Corsicana 1860 - 1872
Historical Marker
Navarro County Texas

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Corsicana 1860-1872

A center of patriotism especially committed to the southern cause. After the Nov. 1860 Presidential Election, citizens lowered the stars and stripes and ran up the Texas flag on the court house. Early in 1861 influential men beat drums on the square to recruit soldiers for the Confederacy. Some 450 Navarro County men enlisted. These included two officers who made outstanding records, Cols Roger Q. Mills and Clinton M. Winkler. In the courthouse, county commissioners appropriated funds for arms and ammunition and for support of soldiers' families. In 1864 civilians: including old men, women, and children helped stock a confederate quarter master depot which was located in a store building on this corner. After the confederate surrender in 1865, Federal troops under Lt. A. R. Chaffee camped on this corner to enforce peace terms. One civilian resisting the troops was John Wesley Hardin, then only 16, and not yet a celebrated gunman. Bet he notched his pistol in a fight with soldiers 10 miles south of town.

The Texas Democratic Convention met in Corsicana in 1872, after Federal troops withdrew, and made plans whereby military despotism was replaced by civilian control of State Government by bona fide Texans. (1974)

Location: 418 N. 13th Street, Corsicana

The text of the historical markers have been posted here with the permission of the Texas Historical Commission

Dedication Program

6:00 P.M., Sunday, August 25, 1974

Invocation ... W. P. Murchison

Master of Ceremonies ... George Eliot

Guest Speaker ... Forest Green, State Representative

Dedication of Marker ... Nelson Ross, Chairman Historical Survey Committee

Unveiling of Marker ... John R. Corley

Marker Erected 1974 by Corley Funeral Home, Corsicana, Texas

Historical Research by: Mrs. Wyvonne Putman