Jefferson Album - Texas' Civil War Town

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... I guess I should mention, my family actually owns some land out in Marion County, very close to Jefferson, so I've been through there many times. Love the place! A tour out on the nearby Caddo Lake is also recommended for anyone stopping by - one of my favorite places out in East Texas.

True, there is more to the region than Jefferson and the countryside has other interesting places to visit! Caddo Lake is noted as in addition to being the only natural lake within the entire state of Texas, having the largest "forest" of cypress trees in the nation.

...Haven't visited Jefferson for years, but I remember how much fun it was--genuinely worth a tour. Loved the town museum, which has the original furnishings from Lady Bird Johnson's father's store.

Breakfast at the Excelsior House was wonderful, as I remember. We also visited Lady Bird's family home, The Brick House, just up the road in Karnack. I understand it fell into disrepair for awhile, but maybe it's been renovated...

Indeed, it must have been because currently it looks very nice indeed! (Or at least it did a few years ago when these photos were taken.) Karnack is today a tiny settlement east of Jefferson and near the Texas-Louisiana border along Caddo Lake. Lady Bird's grandfather was a Confederate colonel and this home is also another Antebellum structure, which is evidently still a private residence.

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Great thread! I love Jefferson. Where can I get a copy of the guide book?

On my most recent visits I haven't noticed any for sale in any of the many shops around town catering to the tourist trade - it may be out-of-print. I suggest you inquire at the Jefferson Historical Society and Museum located in the former Federal Building on Austin Street since I believe it was they who published it.
 
There seem to be at least two versions of the tale, one sensationalistic, the other more sedate. The one I heard first and likely what you're referring to involves a meeting of the town fathers with Gould who was planning the route of his railroad into East Texas; the leading contenders for the route were the two largest towns in the region, Jefferson and Marshall. Gould supposedly told them he expected FREE land on which to build his repair shops and roundhouses since this was intended to be a rail hub, not just right-of-way for a single track and depot.

That may well be what happened! I am no scholar, but there are other issues that (and there is apparently some evidence) may shine some light.

All of this went down at a time when informed Americans recognized that the coming of the railroads was not necessarily a Godsend in and of itself, but a mixed blessing. They could bring economic development, but also things less desirable. An economic and political powerhouse with which there could be no real competition was a big part of it, not to mention the undesirables a railroad might bring (Read: Whiskey-soaked fortune seekers).

A railroad also meant whistle-stops and potentially depots in either direction from an established mercantile city like Jefferson, that could erode it's established position as a regional trade center. This looks like a parochial concern today, but not to the people living and larding their tables there at that time.

Jefferson's existing advantage with its water access to the Mississippi River, the Gulf of Mexico and the world - literally, surely put the city's fathers and mothers in a very strong and confident position dealing with Jay Gould.

I don't know they could have predicted or grasped the development of something like nitroglycerin that would ultimately destroy the waterways humans had depended upon for generations (which is indeed exactly what happened).

Jefferson's story is IMO a great one in terms of how we think of history. Hindsight is the gift that keeps on giving to those of us who come after, but no one living is ever gifted a crystal ball like this.

Thanks very much for another great thread and all of the excellent pictures!
 
...All of this went down at a time when informed Americans recognized that the coming of the railroads was not necessarily a Godsend in and of itself, but a mixed blessing. They could bring economic development, but also things less desirable. An economic and political powerhouse with which there could be no real competition was a big part of it, not to mention the undesirables a railroad might bring (Read: Whiskey-soaked fortune seekers).

A railroad also meant whistle-stops and potentially depots in either direction from an established mercantile city like Jefferson, that could erode it's established position as a regional trade center. This looks like a parochial concern today, but not to the people living and larding their tables there at that time...

Ironically today there's NOTHING left of the once-thriving rail workshops and other features built at Marshall apart from a still-operating Amtrack depot; that once-bustling city has fallen into a torpor from which it's likely never to recover and its population has slipped to only 20 - 25,000 or so. Jefferson's a much more desirable place to live or even just to visit!
 
Jefferson in Maps
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In the 1870's and 1880's it was common for communities to commission "aerial views" like this 1872-dated example of Jefferson, pictured as though seen from a balloon. This seems to pretty faithfully show the buildings of the time, unlike some that showed a great deal more development and construction than was actually the case in an attempt to lure prospective residents and investors. South is at left with Urquart and Alley's street layout well-depicted. Especially note in the detail below how this pre-dates the clearing of the Great Raft by the width of Big Cypress Bayou; the Turn Basin is obviously much larger, possibly with an assist from the dredge pictured at left.

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This map below from an unknown source was already of poor quality before I scanned it, but it depicts pretty well the importance of the route of Caddo Lake, Big Cypress Bayou, and the primitive road leading from Jefferson to other early settlements. Several of the communities shown have disappeared, like Granny's Neck and Tarrant; others have undergone a name change, such as Sulphur Springs replacing Bright Star and Black Jack Grove becoming Cumby. The east-west Jefferson Road conforms generally to U. S. 67/I-30 between Greenville and Mt. Pleasant. Note that the Big Cypress Bayou/Caddo Lake watershed covers a large area resembling the chain of lakes I've seen it described. (The full names of Shreveport and Nachitoches in Louisiana have been cut off.) Present I-30 turns to the northeast at Mt. Pleasant towards the twin cities of Texarkana which post-date what this map represents; at Greenville it turns to the southwest running on to Dallas.

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I've been to Jefferson three times. It's a very unique town.

I appreciate the fact that except for the disappearance of some buildings altogether and the replacement of others by newer ones Jefferson - or at least the downtown and residential part of it represented here - maintains the same character it did in 1872, and probably earlier during the war as well. I've been to it many times beginning in the 1970's and it hasn't really changed much at all - some businesses come and go but surviving structures remain pretty much the same.
 
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Scarlett O'Hardy's Gone With the Wind Museum
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Although not exactly in the same historical vein as other sites featured here, I recently paid my first visit to another Jefferson institution, Scarlett O'Hardy's Gone With the Wind Museum, which has been a feature since 1998. Inside is a treasure trove of artifacts, memorabilia, and ephemera related to the classic novel and film depicting the Old South of memory and legend. For more complete information about the museum and visiting, please see: http://civilwartalk.com/threads/sca...d-museum-jefferson-texas.121573/#post-1276579

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I remember this house as a single story dwelling, painted white with green shutters. They were forbidden to change the colors, or add on to, or take away from, the house and grounds at all. I was really disappointed as I wanted to live in Jefferson and get out of Dallas.
I remember the house to Bro, I thought it was really neat. I wanted to leave Big D also but I don,t think for the same reasons. Remember that fine as wine fox at the Dairy Queen LOL
 
Oakwood Cemetery
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Above, one of four entrances to Jefferson's vast Oakwood Cemetery, final resting place for most of the town's notable and notorious - and some were both! Dating from 1846, the oldest marked grave is of cholera victim Rev. Benjamin Foscue who died Jan. 1, 1850.

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The cemetery occupies an elevated hilltop somewhat above the level of the town which lies along the bayou. It's much larger and more well-kept than the current size of Jefferson would indicate, reminding that in its heyday the population was ten times that of its current level.

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Probably the best-known and most visited grave here is that of murder victim "Diamond Bessie" Moore, subject of the play Diamond Bessie Murder Trial performed annually during Jefferson's Pilgrimage. Bessie was not a resident of Jefferson but boarded locally with her lover Abe Rothschild, a low-level member of the famous banking family of that name. She was noted for the apparent diamond necklace she habitually wore and which was missing when her body was discovered on Feb. 5, 1877 in the woods across the bayou from town. Rothschild was found missing but later extradited back to Jefferson where he was tried not once but twice and eventually acquitted on appeal in the second trial held in 1880, subject of the play. Although poor Bessie was a penniless stranger, local citizens combined to provide her with this plot and marker.

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Adjacent to Oakwood Cemetery and separated from it by only a low wall is Mount Sinai Jewish Cemetery, dating from 1862 and another reminder of Jefferson's former size and importance as a mercantile center.

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Occupying a space between the two cemeteries are two rows of U. S. Government headstones commemorating soldiers who were buried here during the turbulent Reconstruction years when Jefferson was an occupied town. There are twenty-five headstones, most bearing dates of 1868, 1869 or 1870, like that of the only officer, 1st Lt. Edward P. Colby below. Markers of enlisted men show most to have belonged to the Reconstruction garrison consisting of the 11th Infantry and 6th Cavalry, with one each from the 4th Cavalry and 24th Infantry.

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The Stockade Case and Trial
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Things haven't always been so rosy in Jefferson, especially during Reconstruction; here's a link to a related thread about Jefferson's most notorious murder (after that of aforementioned Diamond Bessie Moore) which occurred the night of October 4, 1868, on the site pictured above and that resulted in another significant trial known as The Stockade Case:

http://civilwartalk.com/threads/murder-in-jefferson-texas-oct-4-1868.121598/#post-1277713
 

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James N.

A little update on McGarity's Saloon. That structure is under new ownership. The weekend of this year's Civil War Symposium,I stayed at the Jefferson Hotel. The new owners of McGarity's Saloon were just starting to get it ready for whatever kind of business they plan to operate there. Stay tuned I guess. It'll be interesting to go back next year and see what they have done with it.
 
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This past weekend was the annual Jefferson Pilgrimage and Civil War Reenactment which I attended as a spectator, staying downtown in the ca. 1860 Jefferson Hotel, a former cotton warehouse, the balcony from which I took these views of town shortly after sunrise. Above the central feature is the competing ca. 1857 Excelsior House and behind it the old Federal Court House and U. S. Post Office Building; the small building at right, now a restaurant, was once a livery stable! In the view below, the large white Catholic Church in the background is an exact modern replica of the one that burned a decade or so ago and has been faithfully restored.

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Jefferson Playhouse/Nesmith House/Ruth Lester Memorial
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The Jefferson Playhouse is actually two buildings that have been joined together; for the past seventy years it has been the venue for the annual performance of the play The Diamond Bessie Murder Trial which depicts the final 1880 trial and subsequent acquittal of Abraham "Abe" Rothschild for the murder of the title character two years earlier.

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The oldest half of the current playhouse was built ca. 1860 by Robert Nesmith, a contractor of stagecoach lines. Post-Civil War in 1869 it was acquired by the Catholic Church to be used as a convent, school, and hospital, but the Catholic population of Jefferson was never so large as to ensure its success in these ventures. It was then sold in 1875 to the local Jewish congregation for use as the home of their rabbi, but when Jefferson fell on hard times after the clearing of the Great Raft on the Red River and the water level in Big Cypress Bayou fell below navigability, the congregation also largely departed. As the historical marker below describes, the venerable house was rescued by the local Garden Club in 1955 and had been fully restored by 1970.

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The second and largest portion of today's Playhouse at right was added by the Jewish congregation as an auditorium to house the Synagogue and now serves as the theater for the Diamond Bessie play. The back of the original Nesmith house is at left and a small connecting passage is between the two structures. A separate hospital once stood in the area from which the picture was taken but has disappeared to time.

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What's the scoop on the old McGarity's Saloon building across the street from the Jefferson Hotel?
 
What's the scoop on the old McGarity's Saloon building across the street from the Jefferson Hotel?

I told about all I know of its history on the previous page, but now it looks even better than ever, and is once again in the business of dispensing "vinous liquors" downstairs while upstairs is apparently used as a meeting room for the Jefferson Junior Historians group that had originally saved and preserved it. A brick patio with tables and chairs has been added to the space directly in front of the doors and looks quite nice!
 
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More Jefferson Antebellum Homes
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Figures House, ca. 1848-49
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This lovely small home is very rarely open for visitation, and I was informed this year was perhaps only the second time in the past half-century! Previously identified as having been built ca. 1850, newly received information now places it from one to two years earlier, making it one of Jefferson's oldest surviving homes. It was built by one Bartholomew Figures of French descent making it likely the name should be pronounced Fig-URES, with stress on the second syllable. His son Richard A. Figures was a member of the 19th Texas Infantry that fought at the Battle of Mansfield as part of John G. Walker's famous "Greyhound" Division. A later owner of the home was Col. William B. Ward, commander of the 14th Texas Cavalry. The home was acquired by its present owner in 1970 and retains the appearance and decor of that time; happily there has been no subsequent renovation so it appears much as it has throughout its existence.

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Schluter House, 1856
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The magnificent Schluter House is one of the grandest in Jefferson and was purposely located on the highest elevation in town as protection from the possibility of flood. It was built by F. A. Schluter, one of Jefferson's early residents, between 1850 and 1856. One of the family's sons, Walter P. Schluter, was a member of the Jefferson Guards militia company in 1861 though apparently there are no records indicating further Confederate service.

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For many years the Schluter House sat vacant, no doubt owing to the cost of restoring such a huge and old structure; happily that has now been accomplished and although the newly-restored private residence has yet to be opened for tours during Pilgrimage or Candlelight seasons, the grounds were open for examination.

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Sedbury House, 1853
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The 1853 Sedbury Home has also fairly recently been completely renovated as a private residence. Originally built for a family named Morgan, it quickly passed through several owners, including J. A. Carpenter, editor of a paper called the Confederate News. A post-war owner was William Jones Sedbury who had been a corporal in Co. G., the Dead-Shot Rangers of the 3rd Texas Cavalry which served both east and west of the Mississippi River as part of the cavalry brigade of Col. Lawrence Sullivan "Sull" Ross. The home's next-door neighbor below also has all the appearances of being another antebellum structure.

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Freeman Plantation House, 1850
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The Freeman Plantation House is located about four miles west of Jefferson along the old road to Daingerfield and other points west. Built about 1850 in the style known as Louisiana raised-cottage it also shows the influence of the Greek Revival architecture so popular in the Antebellum period. The name comes from the placement of the main portion of the house elevated above a ground-floor area usually used for storage. In this particular case, the builder, Williamson M. Freeman, located his business office in this space.

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A post-war owner was Dr. Robert Edward Rowell who had been regimental surgeon of the 18th Texas Infantry, also a unit of Walker's Greyhound Division. During the war Dr. Rowell purchased the plantation and continued to live there for the remainder of the nineteenth century practicing medicine and serving as Marion County Treasurer.

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By the 1930's the home had fallen into a sad state of disrepair but was anyway included on a Depression-era National Survey of Historic Homes conducted by the Federal Government. Now fully restored it is open only occasionally as during the past Pilgrimage and is stuffed with priceless belongings of several previous owners, notably the Freeman Family.

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The piano above is the centerpiece of the formal parlor; the main floor boasts fourteen foot ceilings, while the ground floor office and kitchen area has only seven foot ceilings. The bed and wardrobe shown below in the master bedroom were products of the famous New Orleans firm of Mallard and typify the importance of Jefferson as a river port enabling such magnificent pieces such as these to be imported by the areas leading citizens and planters like the Freemans.

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In 1937 during the Depression and subsequent East Texas oil boom the house was purchased by oilman L. S. Flannery who added iron security gates an barred windows on the ground floor to "protect" and provide security for the illegal gambling that was a regular feature of his tenure as owner of the house. Originally the home had been the center of a massive cotton plantation that sprawled behind the house and included slave quarters to the southeast; however, all traces of them and any other dependencies or outbuildings seem to have disappeared by now and the former open fields have returned to woods. The few buildings like those below are modern interpretations of what might have been here earlier. The large cast-iron pot or basin in the foreground was originally used in the process of boiling down the sugar cane which grew here to make syrup.

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