Brenham is in Washington
County, in Southeast Texas. The city is about halfway between Austin and
Houston. The 2010 population was around 16,000.
Known these days for the “little
creamery” that produces Blue Bell Ice Cream, Brenham during the Reconstruction
period following the American war of 1861-65 was one of the few Southern towns
burned by occupying Federal soldiers. Why that burning occurred depends on
which source you decide to believe.
In Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans, Texas historian T.R.
Fehrenbach says: “At Brenham, Negro troops burned down the town. No soldier or officer
was ever brought to trial or admonished for this act.”
Wikipedia has no mention at
all of the event. Maybe the Wiki people don’t want anybody to know Yankee
soldiers burned down a town because of pique or prejudice.
Neither the city’s home page
nor the Chamber of Commerce web site mentions the arson by Yankees at all. I
figure your town being burned by occupying Federal soldiers is a pretty good
example of what happens when citizens protest government harassment and
unconstitutional measures, and residents ought to show that pride by mentioning
it as often as possible.
Some sites do mention the
arson by Yankees, but which kind of Yankee and why the Northerners applied
match and torch to a helpless small town is a matter of disagreement.
The Handbook of Texas online
says: “Despite the 1867 yellow fever
epidemic, the burning of commercial buildings by federal occupation troops
during Reconstruction, and destructive fires in 1873 and 1877, Brenham's economy
expanded to include banking (1866), silk and cigar manufacturing (1880s), and
other light industry.”
That’s it? An “And, by the
way, federal occupation troops burned down commercial buildings.” I expect more
from the go-to book on Texas.
Several sites link
establishment of Brenham’s fire department to the burning by Yankee soldiers,
and another few focus on discovery several years ago of large cisterns beneath
city streets, the cisterns apparently constructed after the 1866 burning.
Yet another site says the
fires began after Yankee soldiers were asked to leave a charity dance raising
funds for construction of a Negro school. That seems a little more far-fetched.
The story said soldiers complained to their commanding officer, who then
ordered his men to burn the place down.
Reconstruction was a time of
tribulation for Texas and its people, no matter their political party and
color. Seeds planted during Yankee occupation led to a weed-filled garden for
more than 100 years and still affect Texas politics today.
So Brenham has now a park talking about the cisterns and the fire- have you seen it? Read it?
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