Although General Lee surrendered early in April, 1865, the break-up of the Confederacy did not occur in Texas until the end of May. Disorganization of all authority followed, and in the general confusion Confederate and state property was appropriated by disbanded soldiers and even the state treasury at Austin was looted. The loss of property, however, was small and the disorder little when viewed against the background of bitter disappointment and uncertainty of the future which the people of the state felt on account of the downfall of the Confederacy.

The arrival at Galveston on June 19, 1865, of General Gordon Granger initiated the first provisional government - a mongrel of civil and military rule, but predominantly military. A. J. Hamilton, who had been appointed on June 17 provisional governor of Texas by President Johnson arrived at Galveston on July 21, and proceeded soon to Austin to take office. After some delay a registration of those citizens of the state who would take the oath of amnesty was made and an election of delegates to a constitutional convention was ordered. The convention met in Austin on February 7, 1866, and was in session eight weeks. In the election that followed the conservative ticket, or that endorsing President Johnson's policy for the restoration of the state governments, headed by J. W. Throckmorton, was successful, and the amendments to the constitution were adopted. The newly elected government took possession on August 13, 1866, and on August 20 President Johnson declared by proclamation that the insurrection in Texas was at an end. The restoration of civil government to a normal state and the amelioration of general conditions were terminated, however, by the reversal by Congress of President Johnson's policy. Under the provisions of the so-called Reconstruction Acts, passed in March and July of 1867, Texas became a part of the Fifth Military District, and went again under a provisional form of government which lasted from August 8, 1867, to January, 1870. Again, also, the process of emergence from the provisional form of government was gone through with, and another constitution was adopted and another election of state officials was held. E. J. Davis was the new governor elected, and his administration, which is popularly known as the period of radical rule, lasted three full years. It was undermined by the election of a democratic legislature - the famous Thirteenth - in November, 1872, and fell and was swept away by the election in December, 1873, and the inauguration on January 15, 1874, of Richard Coke as governor. During the years of the Civil War and the Reconstruction, and especially during the decade 1860-1870, the absolute growth in population and material wealth was the smallest of any decade in the history of the state. Population increased from 604,215 in 1860 to 818,579 in 1870. This was a percentage increase of 35.5 as compared with 184.2 during the decade 1850-1860. The United States Census of 1860 placed the number of slaves at 182,566 or 30.2 per cent of the total population. This vast mass of propertyless, ignorant blacks was added to the citizenship of the state as a result of the war, and by 1870 the negro element of the population numbered 253,475, or 30.9 per cent of the total population. Nothing was done up to 1870 to improve the economic or intellectual status of this class, and nothing could be done for either whites or negroes because of the misgovem-ment at Washington and the prostrate financial condition of the state.

The amount of illiteracy and the conditions as to education pointed to the greatest task of the state, - namely, the education of its citizens. Thirty-three per cent of the population ten years of age and over could not read, and there were only 548 schools in 1870, with 23,076 pupils, 706 teachers, and a total income of $14,800.1

The population of the state was almost wholly employed in agriculture, and this added to the difficulties of the problem of education. Out of the total of the population ten years and over engaged in all occupations 166,753, or 70 per cent, were engaged in agriculture.1 The population of the state was thinly spread . out, the average density being 3.1 persons to the square mile.

1 Ninth Census of the United States. 1S70. Vol. Population, p. 450.

Agriculture showed a marked decline during the decade 1860-1870. Evidences of this decline were the decrease in the value of the farms from $88,101,320 to $60,149,950, or 45.4 per cent, the decrease in the value of farming implements from $6,259,452 to $3,396,793, or 56.6 per cent, and a change in the acreage of land in farms from 25,343,028 in 1860 to 18,396,523 in 1870, or 27.4 per cent. The per cent which farm acreage was of the total area of the state declined from 15.1 in 1860 to 11.0 in 1870. The per cent of land in farms which was improved increased, however, from 10.4 to 16.1. The production of cotton was 431,463 bales in 1859 and 350,628 in 1869. The price of cotton fluctuated violently during the period. In 1865 the price was 43.2 cents per pound and in 1870 it was 17 cents.2

Manufacturing, railroad construction, and banking increased during the period. The railroad mileage grew from 307 in 1860 to 711 in 1870, or 131 per cent. Manufacturing establishments numbered 983 in 1860 with a value of products of $6,577,-202, and in 1870 they numbered 2.399 with products valued at $11,517,302.3 As to banking, there was only one chartered bank in Texas in 1860. It was located in Galveston and had a capital of about $100,000.4 Four national banks were established in 1866, and this number remained unchanged until 1870. Two of the national banks were located in Galveston, one was in Houston and one was in San Antonio. Their capital and surplus amounted to $575,000; their deposits to $617,000, and their loans to $532,000.5 The Constitution of 1869 abandoned the policy of prohibiting state banks which had been followed lNttith Census of the United States. 1870. Vol. Industry and Wealth, p. 450.

2 The average prices in cents per pound of upland cotton were in other years as follows: 31.6 in 1866, 24.9 in 1867, 29 in 1868, and 24 in 1869.

3 The census included under the term manufacturing establishment purely local or neighborhood shops.

4 Eighth Census of the United States. 1860. Vol. Mortality and Miscellaneous Statistics, p. 29.

5 Report of the Comptroller of the Currency, 1888, pt. 1, p. 318.

Since 1846, and a number of such banks were organized.1 For the state as a whole the supply of credit facilities during this period was in the hands of merchants and private lenders, and this condition of affairs continued until the middle of the eighties or until national banks came to be more widely established.

Although the Reconstruction as a political condition ended at the close of 1873, and though the financial policy came under the control of new hands at the beginning of that year, the finances, industry and commerce of the state were slow in recovering from the effects of the war and radical rule, and it was 1880 before a normal condition was again reached. The period treated in this study, however, extends from the close of the war through August 31, 1874.

1 The state banks were required by law to report annually to the secretary of state, but the law was not obeyed. The taxation of the capital and deposits of such banks under the internal revenue laws of the United States made it necessary for the banks to report to the commissioner of internal revenue, but the number of reporting institutions was not given by the commissioner until 1876. The number of state banks and savings banks reported in 1876 was 101, with a combined capital of $3,302,388, and deposits of $4,713,759; Report of the Secretary of the Treasury (U. S.), 1876, p. 186.