The Jaybird-Woodpecker War RoadyGoat

The historic courthouse in the center of Richmond was the scene of one of Texas's most violent political conflicts. After the Civil War, a biracial coalition known as the 'Woodpeckers' held political power in Fort Bend County. These were former Republicans, kept in office by Black voters, who by the late eighteen-eighties had come to control the county's own Democratic Party and its offices. That control was deeply resented by the all-white 'regular Democrats,' a rival faction who called themselves the 'Jaybirds.' It was less a fight between two parties than a struggle inside the Democratic Party itself over Black voting rights. For years, tensions simmered, erupting in assassinations and intimidation. It all came to a head on August 16, 1889. A gunfight broke out right in front of the courthouse, turning downtown Richmond into a battlefield. When the shooting stopped, the county sheriff was dead and several others were killed or wounded. The Texas Rangers and state militia had to be called in to restore order. In the end, the Jaybirds won, ousting the Woodpeckers and establishing a whites-only political system that dominated the county for the next 70 years.

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The Log Fort That Named a County RoadyGoat

As you cross the Brazos here, you're passing the spot that gave Fort Bend County its name. In early 1822, a small group of settlers tied to Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred camped near the present city and built a log fort at a prominent bend in the river. The little settlement became known as Fort Bend, or simply the Fort Settlement, and the name eventually spread to the whole county. During the Texas Revolution, residents abandoned the place in the Runaway Scrape of 1836, joining the panicked eastward flight ahead of Santa Anna's army. Once the danger passed, Robert Eden Handy and William Lusk laid out the town of Richmond the following year, and it became the county seat in December 1837. The original cabin and stockade are long gone, so there's nothing to see of the fort itself, but the river bend it guarded is still right here. Unlike most counties named for politicians or soldiers, Fort Bend was named for an actual structure standing at an actual landform, the curve of the Brazos in front of you. (Source: Handbook of Texas.)

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A Texas Valhalla RoadyGoat

Richmond is a special place for anyone who loves Texas history, because it's where some of the Republic's most iconic figures ended up. Think of it as a Texas hall of fame in a town of a few thousand. The most prominent is Mirabeau B. Lamar, second President of the Republic of Texas, who lived on a plantation inside what are now the city limits and lies in the historic Morton Cemetery. Buried in Morton too is Jane Long, the tough-as-nails pioneer they call the Mother of Texas. And then there's Erastus 'Deaf' Smith, Sam Houston's most trusted scout during the Revolution. Smith died right here in Richmond on the thirtieth of November, 1837, in the home of Randall Jones. Where exactly they laid him nobody can say anymore — the grave was lost. What survives is a modest marker in the Episcopal churchyard that reads simply, 'Deaf Smith, the Texas Spy.' That these foundational figures lived, died and were laid down here tells you how much this small town on the Brazos once mattered.

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Smith, Erastus ("Deaf")

1821

(April 17, 1787 - November 30, 1837) Most famous scout in Texas War for Independence. Obeyed Gen. Sam Houston's strategic order, then raised San Jacinto Battle Cry: "Fight for your lives! Vince's Bridge has been cut down." A native of New York, Smith settled in 1821 in San Antonio. Trading in land and goods, he traveled Texas province, making him invaluable guide for Army during the War for Independence. He married Guadalupe Ruiz Duran. They had three daughters. Dying here in home of Randall Jones (a friend), he was buried in Calvary Churchyard, Houston at 6th. Grave is now unidentified.

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Lamar, Mirabeau Buonaparte

1835

President of the Republic of Texas A native of Georgia, Mirabeau B. Lamar came to Texas in 1835 and immediately became involved in the movement for independence from Mexico. Upon the fall of the Alamo and news of the Goliad Massacre, he joined the Texas Army, in the rank of private, as Houston's troops moved eastward toward San Jacinto. In a swiftly moving chain of events, he was made colonel on the eve of the Battle of San Jacinto, and there commanded the cavalry with distinction. Ten days later he was Secretary of War in the ad interim government, and a month later was appointed commander-in-chief of the army. Lamar was elected vice-president in the first national election in 1836. Anti-Sam Houston leaders sponsored him for president in 1837. He won the election and took office in 1838 for a 3-year term. His administration was known for its opposition to annexation, a forceful Indian policy, and the recognition of Texas by Great Britain and France. Lamar is credited with laying the foundation for the first system of public education in Texas. He died in 1859 at his plantation near Richmond, and is buried here in the Morton Cemetery.

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Jaybird-Woodpecker War - Richmond

1889

In 1889, a political feud between white supremacist Democrats (Jaybirds) and Republican officeholders (Woodpeckers) in Fort Bend County erupted in a shootout on the Richmond courthouse steps.

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Barnett, Thomas

1823

Thomas Barnett, pioneer settler and public official, was born on January 18, 1798, in Logan County, Kentucky. Before 1821 he moved to Livingston County, Kentucky, where he was sheriff for two years. In 1823 he moved to Texas as one of Stephen F. Austin 's Old Three Hundred and on July 10, 1824, received title to a league of land on the east bank of the Brazos River in what is now southeastern Fort Bend County. The 1826 census of Austin's colony noted that Barnett owned two slaves. About 1825 he married Mrs. Nancy Spencer ( see GRAY, NANCY ). They had six children. On February 10, 1828, Barnett was elected comisario of the district of Victoria in the ayuntamiento of San Felipe de Austin. In 1829 he was elected alcalde ; he represented Austin Municipality at the Consultation and on November 18, 1835, was elected a supernumerary member of the General Council . He was one of the three delegates from Austin Municipality to the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos, where he signed the Texas Declaration of Independence . On December 20, 1836, President Sam Houston appointed him chief justice of Austin County. Barnett represented Fort Bend County in the House of the Third and Fourth congresses of the republic, 1838–40. He died at his home in Fort Bend County on September 20, 1843, and was buried in the family cemetery, eight miles from Richmond.

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Burton, Walter Moses

1869

Walter Moses Burton, Black state senator, was born on August 9, 1840, and brought to Texas as a slave from North Carolina about 1858 at around the age of eighteen. He belonged to a planter, Thomas Burke Burton, who owned a plantation and several large farms in Fort Bend County ( see SLAVERY ). While a slave, Walter Burton was taught how to read and write by his master, a skill that served him well in later years. Thomas Burton sold Walter several large plots of land for $1,900 dollars. This land made the freedman one of the wealthiest and most influential Blacks in Fort Bend County. He became involved in politics as early as 1869, when he was elected sheriff and tax collector of Fort Bend County. He was the first Black sheriff elected to office in Texas and the first Black elected sheriff in the country. Along with these duties, he also served as the president of the Fort Bend County Union League ( see UNION LEAGUE ). In 1873 Burton campaigned for and won a seat in the Texas Senate, where he served for seven years-from 1874 to 1875 and from 1876 to 1882. In the Senate he championed the education of Blacks. Among the many bills that he helped push through was one that called for the establishment of Prairie View Normal School (now Prairie View A&M University). In the Republican party Burton served as a member of the State Executive Committee at the state convention of 1873, as a vice president of the 1878 and 1880 conventions, and as a member of the Committee on Platform and Resolutions at the 1892 convention. His first term in the Senate was shortened by a contested election, as well as the calling of the Constitutional Convention of 1875 . In January 1874 he was granted a certificate of election from the Thirteenth Senatorial District, but a White Democrat contested the election on the grounds that Burton's name was listed three different ways on the ballot and that, consequently, each name received votes in various counties of the district. The Senate committee on election at first recommended the seating of the Democratic candidate but later reconsidered its decision and based the outcome of the election on the intent of the voters who cast ballots for the different Burtons. The Senate confirmed Burton's election on February 20, 1874. By that time, half of the first session of the Fourteenth Legislature was over, and the second session was abbreviated because of the call for a constitutional convention. Burton ran for and was reelected to the Senate in 1876. He left the Senate in January 1883 and upon the request of a White colleague was given an ebony and gold cane for his service in that chamber. He was the last Black state senator elected in Texas until Barbara Jordan 's electoral win in 1966. Walter Moses Burton married Abby "Hattie" Jones on September 26, 1868, in Fort Bend County. In 1869 the couple had one son, Horace, who died in 1895. He remained active in state and local politics until his death on June 4, 1913. He was buried in the Morton Cemetery , where Mirabeau B. Lamar , Jane Long , and Clem Bassett were interred, in Richmond, Texas ( see JAYBIRD-WOODPECKER WAR ). In 1996 the Fort Bend Independent School District named an elementary school in his honor. The school is located in Fresno, Texas, and their mascot is known as the Burton Sheriff.

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Ferguson, Charles M.

1888

Charles M. Ferguson, political leader, county official, and civil servant, was born in Houston, Texas, about 1860 of mixed racial ancestry; he was probably born a slave. He graduated from Fisk University at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1880. He then moved to Fort Bend County and with his brother, Henry Clay Ferguson , began a career of government service. Ferguson was living in Richmond and owned a 1,500-acre plantation on Jones Creek when he won election to the position of clerk of the district court in Fort Bend County in 1882, 1884, and 1886. He did not complete the final year of his last term. On September 6, 1888, White members of a political association known as the Jaybirds ordered Ferguson and several other black political leaders to leave the county. Facing threats upon his life and detested by many White residents for his efforts aimed at organizing African Americans, Ferguson moved temporarily to Nashville. He and James D. Davis, another exiled black political leader, filed a civil rights suit against the Jaybirds in a federal court at Galveston in 1889. In an out-of-court settlement Ferguson received a $13,000 payment for his damages. His involvement in the political and racial controversies of Fort Bend County were a part of the infamous Jaybird-Woodpecker War . Ferguson returned to Texas permanently in 1889 and represented the state on the executive committee of the Bureau of Relief, which met in Washington, D.C., in 1889. He had served as a delegate to the national Republican party convention in 1888 and did so again in 1892, 1896, 1900, and 1904. Ferguson frequently opposed Norris Wright Cuney in intraparty battles and successfully fought Robert Lloyd Smith 's appointment to the United States Treasury Department. Although Ferguson occasionally cooperated with the People's party during the 1890s, he always retained his Republican affiliation and was rewarded with appointments to federal government positions. He reportedly refused an appointment to a South American consulate, but by 1892 he began a period of service as clerk of the Federal District Court in Paris, Texas. President William McKinley named him deputy collector of customs in San Antonio in 1900; Ferguson remained at that position for the rest of his life. San Antonio newspapers described him as "uniformly courteous" and "respected by the Whites as well as the negroes" in the performance of his duties. On his deathbed he answered correspondence pertaining to his job until an hour before his passing. He was a Methodist and a leader of the Grand Order of the Odd Fellows. He was married and the father of two children. He died in San Antonio on July 21, 1906, after a short illness resulting from complications relating to Bright's Disease. He was buried in Houston in Olivewood Cemetery.

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Richmond, Texas

Music in Richmond

Songs About Richmond

Artists From Richmond

Rivers & Roads in Song near Richmond

History of Richmond

The Jaybird-Woodpecker War RoadyGoat

The Log Fort That Named a County RoadyGoat

A Texas Valhalla RoadyGoat

Smith, Erastus ("Deaf")

Lamar, Mirabeau Buonaparte

Jaybird-Woodpecker War - Richmond

Barnett, Thomas

Burton, Walter Moses

Ferguson, Charles M.

Things to Do in Richmond

Everything Near Richmond