After achieving statehood, Texas seceded in 1861, one of seven states to leave the Union 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 losses for the Union army.
As the war winded down and settlers continued their westward migration, violent frontier struggles between Indian tribes 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 all came together to make America an industrialized nation. In small towns, cowboys and cowgirls sought work in the 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!
This gallery also documents the Mexican Revolution and Galveston’s growth as a center for economic activity and immigration, until the Great Storm of 1900.