Statehood and Beyond Gallery

Rare Documents

Maps

Artworks

163

Artifacts

After achieving statehood, Texas seceded from the Union in 1861, one of seven states to do so before the first battle of the Civil War. Two major battles were fought in Texas: The Battle of Sabine Pass and the Siege of Galveston – both were losses for the Union army.

As the war subsided and settlers continued their westward migration, violent frontier struggles between Indigenous Nations and the U.S. Cavalry ensued and tens of thousands of wild cattle roamed from the Rio Grande to San Antonio. Eastern cities like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia underwent huge population booms as factories, rail connections, and steamships filled with immigrants transformed America into an industrialized nation. In small towns, cowboys and cowgirls sought work on cattle drives, while outlaws – robbers, cattle rustlers, and murderers —- challenged the lawmen of west. Texas’ cowboys fed the nation by walking those cows north, traveling from water hole to water hole until they reached the nearest railroad!

The gallery also documents the Mexican Revolution and Galveston’s growth as a center for economic activity and immigration, until the Great Storm of 1900.

Play

Saddle Adorned with Silver Conchos Stelzig Saddle Company/Edward Bohlin n.d.

Saddle made by Edward H. Bohlin. He was said to be the "saddle maker to the stars" having made saddles for Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and Tom Mix. Almost without exception all his saddles were beautiful parade or event-style saddles. This saddle was made for Doug Marshall, a member of the Cullen family and owner of the Las Palomas Ranch. This saddle has as much in the way of silver embellishments as can possibly be placed on this elaborately tooled great saddle.

Colt Single Action Army Revolver, belonged to Emmett Dalton of “the Dalton Gang”

Mother of pearl grips feature an engraving of “Emmett Dalton.” This firearm once belonged to Emmett Dalton, a member of the famous outlaw gang, the Dalton’s, who simultaneously held up two banks, the Condon and Company and the First National Bank, in Coffeyville, Kansas on October 5, 1892. All the members of the gang were killed except for Emmett, who survived with a load of buckshot. He had a total of 23 wounds. He was sentenced to life in a Kansas State Prison at Lancing. He was pardoned after 15 years as a model prisoner. This gun was reportedly presented by Dalton to the deputy U.S. Marshall, Fred Sutton.