Williamson County During the Civil War

At the beginning of the Civil War, Williamson County, Texas was a bustling and growing community.  Just thirteen years old at the start of the conflict, Williamson County had grown from a population of 1,379 white citizens and 155 enslaved persons in 1850 to 3,639 whites and 891 enslaved persons in 1860. 

The Williamson County economy was divided along the Balcones Escarpment geologic fault line that runs north and south through the county.  To the east, in the rich blackland prairie, settlers established farms growing corn, wheat and other crops.  Cotton had not yet become the staple that it would in later years. The largest farms were owned by some of the county’s earliest settlers and preeminent figures like John Berry, and Samuel Easley.

To the west of the fault, the hilly, rocky land was more suitable for ranching.  Wild longhorns still roamed the area and instead of farming, settlers engaged in cattle raising.  The 1860 census counted 53,000 cattle on 356 farms and ranches.

Georgetown, named in 1848 as the county seat was a growing commercial center, but smaller settlements dotted the landscape to the east.  Rice’s Crossing, Macedonia, Circleville, Shiloh and Brushy (now Round Rock) all hold cemeteries where civil war veterans are buried. 

Williamson County and Secession

While the counties in the eastern part of the state supported secession, the counties in central Texas that were less dependent on free labor were opposed to leaving the Union.  When the secession convention was convened in late January and early February 1861, Thomas Proctor Hughes, an anti-secessionist, and a delegate from Williamson County, was one of the few to make a vocal argument against leaving the Union and was one of only eight who voted to remain.  The convention voted to secede however, drafted an ordinance of secession, and called for a state-wide election to be held in late February 1861.  When the vote was held on February 23, 1861, Williamson County voted 480 to 349 to remain in the United States along with Burnet, Travis, and Bastrop counties.    The state-wide vote was 46,153 to 14747 however and the state secession was ratified.