A cute pocket park in downtown Brenham preserves the early history of Brenham at a location of the town's cistern and water supply, a marvel of 19th century engineering and infrastructure and a State Archaeological landmark in this small Texas town. A total of 8 signs here detail the early development of Brenham, its growth as a railroad town, its troubled occupation by the Union Army and Freedmen's Bureau troops after the Civil War, and the founding of the city's Hook and Ladder firefighting company.
From the city's website: (
visit link)
"Toubin Park - 208 S. Park Street
Beneath Brenham streets is a State Archaeological Landmark, a large system of historic cisterns. The cisterns were built in the late 1800's to store rainwater for public fire fighting. Private cisterns were also abundant throughout early Washington County, used for bathing, drinking and cooking.
The large system of public cisterns in early Brenham was a rarity. The city was considered very progressive for using the new-fangled contraptions to fight fires. No other Texas cities were known to install public cisterns, or to provide public services so early.
Enjoy the Wild West story of why these cisterns were built. It's a tale of an early railroad, a rough Boom Town, and colorful characters who shaped Washington County's history.
Follow the intriguing details of the 1866 Burning of Brenham and the large gunfight that led to the fire.
Learn how Brenham citizens banded together to protect themselves and their properties from oppressive Union troops during Reconstruction.
See a large private cistern circa 1880 and learn how it was used.
Discover how public cisterns were built and supplied with water by innovative private businesses.
Find out about present-day cisterns and how to harvest rainwater for your landscape, water features, livestock, and even for indoor use."
The waymarked sign of history reads as follows:
"4 EARLY BRENHAM
THE BURNING OF BRENHAM IN 1866
It was Friday night, September 7, and the atmosphere in Brenham was downright hostile. During the past year of living under military rule, residents had been relentlessly harassed by Union soldiers. Violence was routine.
Locals were further appalled by the recent arrests of their beloved uncle Daniel McGary, editor of the Southern Banner newspaper. He had been released four days earlier, but tensions continued to build between citizens and the soldiers living in nearby Camptown.
All that was needed was a spark to trigger the inevitable explosion. On this night that spark was provided. Henry Foster, a black community leader, and organize downtown dance that started at 9:30. It was well attended to raise funds for a new black school.
After only the second dance, fosters gas saw a half dozen blue uniforms appear at the door. Soldiers were also black men and drunk. Foster welcome them, asking them to pay. The soldiers were insulted. “We never pay for anything!”
Two soldiers through foster aside and charged into the room, followed by loud companions. They grabbed ladies and swung them out to the dance floor, trying to force them to drink from whiskey bottles women were terrified.
Foster announced the ball was over, asking everyone to go home. Room quickly emptied. Enraged, the soldiers badly beat Foster and a teenager who was trying to get away. Other slow runners, mostly women, were viciously thrown down in the dirt street.
“We gave broken up the Negro ball and we are going to break up the white ball at Duke’s!” declared Private John Mackey, who seemed to ne leafing the soldiers.
Just a few blocks away, a group of white community leaders were also hosting a dance at Duke and Brothers dancing Academy, a room on the second floor.
As the soldiers entered the second dance, they threw an onlooker down the stairs and into the street, where they beat him senseless. They were loudly laughing, singing and cursing.
The ruckus broke up the dance. W. H. McAllister came halfway down the stairs and try to calm the soldiers, “this is no place to raise a row. There ladies upstairs and we do not wish any difficulty.” He was joined on the stairs by W. R. Wyatt.
The soldiers drew bayonets, knives and revolvers on the unarmed citizens.
McAllister and Wyatt backed off and the soldiers shoved them out the door. Most guest are still upstairs, and the soldiers had possession of the street.
Within minutes, Wyatt and McAllister returned with Tommy Lusk and Oscar Compton. All were holstered six guns. They easily found the group of soldiers, about six men still in the street.
Mackey reach for his revolver, trying to shoot Wyatt. Wyatt was faster, and pistol whipped Mackey on the head. Mackey’s gun went off.
A barrage of gunshots followed, from all ten men, and the dark of the night. Two soldiers were wounded - one seriously. The Brenham men had been faster on the draw.
The shootings drew a crowd. Captain Samuel A. Craig, head of the freedmen’s Bureau office in Brenham, ran up the street with a drawn revolver. The local shooters disappeared into the crowd.
Craig found a doctor to dress the soldiers’ wounds and then took them home to Camptown. There he found Major Smith, commanding officer of the Union troops in Brenham, furious with the news of his wounded men. The two officers immediately rode back into town with about ten trusted soldiers. The rest of the company followed on foot.
After searching Brenham, only two of the local shooters could be found. They were sent to Camptown for confinement. Their escorts had orders to shoot them if they tried to escape. Wyatt saloon was looted and ransacked. In the same block, Compton’s Dry Goods Store was also wrecked, and everything of value was hauled off Camptown.
Soon smoke and sparks belched out of Compton store and it went up in flames. Several young men had been sleeping upstairs in the Southern Banner newspaper office. They ran down the stairs, dodging gunshots in flames, and barely escaped with their lives.
As the last soldiers darted out the door they shouted, “We have set the town afire! All Hell can’t save it now!”
Some soldiers mounted their horses and raced down the street. Others stayed outside the burning buildings laughing, stinging, smoking cigars and drinking from whiskey bottles.
When flames had spread through the entire block, the last soldiers finally rode away. Townsfolk gathered, but they could see the Inferno was far too advanced put out with their buckets of water.
It was about three a.m. The entire block of buildings burned while residents helplessly watched.
The fire of eighteen sixty-six destroyed a draw for dry goods stores, a drugstore, a Sadler shop, two saloons, a bookstore, a soda fountain, law and medical offices, and warehouse full of goods.
And the office of D.L. McGary’s Southern Banner newspaper was totally demolished. The fire was started in Compton store, directly below the Southern Banner office on the second floor. Although it was never proven, it was widely believed that the fire was set to destroy McGary’s printing equipment and to silence him. Otherwise, Major Smith would have been content to just loot and ransacked Compton store. This also explains why soldiers stood guard in the street until the block containing McGary’s presses had thoroughly burned.
Source: Report of the Joint Select Committee to Investigate Facts in Regard to the Burning of Brenham, Austin Texas, September 28, 1866."