Texas in the Civil War: Stories of Sacrifice, Valor and Hope

The United States was rife with conflict and controversy in the years leading to the Civil War. Perhaps nowhere was the struggle more complex than in Texas. Some Texans supported the Union, but were concerned about political attacks on Southern institutions. Texas had been part of the United States just 15 years when secessionists prevailed in a statewide election. Texas formally seceded on March 2, 1861 to become the seventh state in the new Confederacy. Gov. Sam Houston was against secession, and struggled with loyalties to both his nation and his adopted state. His firm belief in the Union cost him his office when he refused to take an oath of allegiance to the new government.