Reconstruction to the 20th Century

1865

June 19 – Gen. Gordon Granger arrives at Galveston to announce that slavery has been abolished, an event commemorated today by the festival known as Juneteenth.

1865

Sept. – The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands (the Freedmen's Bureau) begins operating in Texas, charged with helping former slaves make the transition to freedom.

1866

March 15 – The Constitutional Convention approves an ordinance to nullify the actions of the Secession Convention.

1866

Aug. 20 – President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation of peace between the United States and Texas.

1866

Cattle drives, which had been occasional in the 1830s, sporadic during the 1840s and 1850s, and almost nonexistent during the Civil War, begin in earnest, mostly to markets and railheads in Midwest. They are at their peak for only about 20 years, until the proliferation of railroads makes them unnecessary.

1867-1870

Congressional (or Military) Reconstruction replaces Presidential Reconstruction.

1868

Large-scale irrigation begins in Texas when canals are built in the vicinity of Del Rio.

1869

Nov. 30 – Texas voters approve a new state constitution.

1870

March 30 – President Grant signs the act readmitting Texas to Congressional representation.

1870

Edmund J. Davis becomes the first Republican governor of Texas.

1871

May – Seven men in a wagon train are massacred at Salt Creek, about 20 miles west of Jacksboro, by Kiowas and Comanches led by chiefs Satanta, Big Tree, Satank and Eagle Heart.

1872

Oct. – Construction begins on the Texas & Pacific Railway; the 125-mile stretch between Longview and Dallas opens for service on July 1, 1873.

1873

Black "Buffalo Soldiers" are first posted to Texas, eventually serving at virtually every frontier fort in West Texas from the Rio Grande to the Panhandle, as well as in other states.

1873

The Houston and Texas Central Railway reaches the Red River, connecting there with the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad and creating the first all-rail route from Texas to St. Louis and the East.

1874

Jan. 17 – The inauguration of Democrat Richard Coke as governor marks the end of Reconstruction in Texas.

1874

Sept. 28 – Col. Ranald Mackenzie leads the 4th U.S. Cavalry in the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon, south of present-day Amarillo, an encounter that ends with the confinement of southern Plains Indians in reservations in Indian Territory. This makes possible the wholesale settlement of the western part of the state.

1876

Feb. 15 – The present state constitution is adopted.

1876

Oct. 4 – The Agricultural and Mechanical College, later Texas A&M University, opens at College Station, becoming the first public institution of higher learning in the state.

1876

Charles Goodnight establishes the JA Ranch in Palo Duro Canyon, the first cattle ranch located in the Panhandle.

1877

Sept. – The El Paso Salt War is the culmination of a long dispute caused by Anglos' attempts to take over salt-mining rights at the foot of Guadalupe Peak, a traditionally Mexican-American salt source.

1881

Dec. 16 – The Texas & Pacific Railway reaches Sierra Blanca in West Texas, about 90 miles east of El Paso.

1883

Sept. 15 – Classes begin at The University of Texas.

1884

Fence-cutting wars prompt the Texas Legislature to pass a law making fence-cutting a felony.

1886

Aug. 19-21 – A hurricane destroys or damages every house in the port of Indianola, finishing the job started by another storm 11 years earlier. Indianola is never rebuilt.

1888

May 16 – The present state capitol is dedicated.

1891

The Railroad Commission, proposed by Gov. James Hogg, is established by the Texas legislature to regulate freight rates and to establish rules for railroad operations.

1894

June 9 – Oil is discovered at Corsicana by workers drilling for water; a commercial field opens in 1896, becoming the first small step in Texas' rise as a major oil producer.

1898

May 16 – Teddy Roosevelt arrives in San Antonio to recruit and train "Rough Riders" for the First Volunteer Cavalry to fight in the Spanish-American War in Cuba.

1898-1899

Texas experiences its coldest winter on record statewide.

1900

Sept. 8 – The "Great Hurricane," the greatest natural disaster in human terms ever to strike North America, destroys much of Galveston and kills 6,000 people there.