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I i .in itu- <;.il\vsi<>n I', x i Ihiiiv .Vfws, Sunday, November 15, 1896.]

RECONSTRUCTION IN TEXAS.

BY JOHN C. WAI.KI.R.

[The following paper was read before the Texas Historical Society of Galveston at its annual meeting, Tuesday evening, November 10, 1896, and is the first of a x rit-s ..! papers in preparation. Mr. Walker has taken a deep interest in the subject and has devoted a great amount of time in study and research. A great deal of the matter he brings up has never been more than touched upon by his- torical writers.]

(icnt/emen of the Texas Historical Society of (ialveston :

In response to your resolution requesting a contribution from me on " Reconstruction in Texas," I offer now, as an introduction, a sketch relating to the few months which immediately succeeded the close of the Civil War and which preceded the real beginning of "reconstruction," and will present others upon the subject named by you, hereafter, as even an outline would require more space than can be devoted to a single paper.

Such recitals, perhaps, should belong to a later day than this, when the time shall have passed for charges to be made against a writer of a desire to keep alive sectional feeling. Trusting, however, to re- cord some of the most memorable events of that period impartially, I offer this, the first of a series of papers, compiled from such au- thorities as have been accessible to me, (aided by my personal recol- lections,) being fully aware of their incompleteness and imperfections. Respectfully submitted,

JOHN C. WALKER.

THE BREAK-UP.

If chaos ever reigned in any land it did in Texas from May to August, 1865, following the news of Lee's surrender, which fell like a thunderbolt upon the army and the people. A large proportion of the troops of the Trans- Mississippi Department had wintered in Texas after the campaign of 1864, which began victoriously at Mans-