Waco was hundreds of miles away from the bloodshed of the Civil War — its skirmishes, major battles and even the nearest prisoner-of-war stockade (Camp Ford outside of Tyler).

But this portion of Central Texas still had a role to play in the nation-rending drama that unfolded for four years and which pitted North and South against one another. Now, Historic Waco Foundation is doing its part in this sesquicentennial year of the conflict’s opening salvos to share the story behind the strife.

Launching Sunday with a free open house from 2 to 5 p.m., the Fort House Museum at Fourth Street and Webster Avenue will play host to an exhibit about the hostilities.

The top blade — a Union ceremonial sword made in Chicago — is juxtaposed with a far humbler Confederate weapon, forged in the nearby town of West more than 150 years ago.
Terri Jo Ryan / Waco Tribune-Herald

“Time of Turmoil: Texas and the Civil War” will continue at the home’s second-floor gallery until mid-December, Historic Waco curator Holly Browning said. The display will be up until it is time for the circa-1868 structure to undergo its annual transformation for the Christmas-themed Holiday on the Brazos celebration.

“All across the nation this year, there is an emphasis on the war,” Browning said, “so we will try to ‘bring it home’ to Waco and McLennan County.”

Because Civil War artifacts in Waco aren’t exactly plentiful, Browning said, the organization borrowed items from area institutions to share the story.

Many of the pieces come from The Texas Heritage Museum at Hill County College, or The Pearce Collection at Navarro College. Some are even from the Sam Houston Memorial Museum. Additional funding came from Humanities Texas and the Mary West Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Variety of artifacts

The artifacts are intriguing — from the refined Victoriana of crystal serving bowls to the corrupted and horrifying slave collars and shackles.

A pair of swords — one, a suave ceremonial saber fashioned in Chicago for a Union officer; the other, a crude blade forged by a blacksmith in the McLennan County burgh of West for a Confederate fighter in Hood’s Brigade — are juxtaposed on one showcase, illustrating the manufacturing gap between North and South.

Vintage and reproduction banners from both sides of the battlefield will be presented to show the evolution of the flags that thousands marched under. Copies of uniforms worn by North and South, Browning said, will offer a glimpse into the challenges of outfitting the armies.

Civil War exhibit curator Holly Browning holds a pair of “sniper’s sunglasses.” The lenses are amber glass that are etched around the perimeter, allowing light into the eye but limiting peripheral vision and distraction for the shooter.
Terri Jo Ryan photo

A folk artist’s depiction — “General Lee dashes to the front to lead the Texans’ charge” — is etched into a whale tooth. The scrimshaw will be on display, along with numerous other artifacts borrowed from the Texas Heritage Museum at Hill County College or the Pearce Collection of Navarro College for the Fort House Museum’s show.
Terri Jo Ryan photo

In fact, one of Waco’s leading businessmen of the antebellum era, John Baylis Earle (1833-69) had to smuggle in a cotton gin so he could establish a factory in East Waco to manufacture the textiles used for soldiers’ uniforms during the Civil War, Browning said.

Waco’s Confederate ranks

In 1860, Waco only recorded about 800 citizens. They were white folks, as the 2,000 or so blacks in the area were counted separately as property and not people, Browning said.

Many Waco people joined the Confederacy, Browning said, with more than 15 military units and more than six Confederate generals.

“It’s a matter of ongoing debate just how many generals came out of McLennan County,” she said. There were some who were appointed but never had the opportunity to take command because of illness or the war’s abrupt end, for example.

The Fort House does not have an elevator to access the display. Browning said the Historic Waco Foundation and Baylor University’s Electronic Library are teaming to produce a “virtual” exhibit for those who cannot climb the stairs.

Historic Waco education director Melissa Gonzalez is also working on a small booklet in Spanish about “Time of Turmoil: Texas and the Civil War.”

The show includes a display dedicated to Los Confederados y Los Unionistas, the Hispanic Texans who fought on either side of the great conflict. Special attention will be given to Col. Santos Benavides and the 33rd Texas Cavalry. Benavides, a native of Laredo, rose to be the highest ranking Mexican-American in the Confederacy. His regiment, although ill-equipped and half-starved, is said to have never lost a battle.

The 33rd Texas Cavalry put down various area rebellions and ensured the safe passage of cotton, the crucial cash crop of the Southern cause, to the port of Matamoros, Mexico, after the Yankees captured Brownsville in 1864. The flow of cotton to English textile mills helped sustain the Confederates almost another year.

Besides the loaned artifacts from Hill County College and Navarro College collections, curators have also acquired items for the exhibit from local history buffs Watson Arnold, Sara Lee, Charles North, Claire Masters, Charles Oliver, Shirley Woodlock and Mary Duty, Tennyson Middle School history teacher and co-chairwoman of the nonprofit Waco History Project.

These items include family letters, draft notices, newspaper broadsides and many pieces of Confederate currency.

tjryan@wacotrib.com

757-5746

Editor’s note: Terri Jo Ryan is co-chairwoman of the Waco History Project.