Bound in Béxar County: Slavery in San Antonio

Bugbee, L. G. (1898). Slavery in Early Texas. I. Political Science Quarterly, 13(3), 389–412. https://doi-org.blume.stmarytx.edu/10.2307/2140047

This article provides a concise history of slavery in Texas beginning in 1821. At the time, in Mexican Texas, slavery was tolerated and protected, being that it was not outlawed in Mexico until 1829 by Vincente Guerrero. The author, Lester G. Bugbee, notes that while the first colony to settle in Texas had no mention of slavery, it was always the intention of Moses Austin to bring colonists from the Southern states - colonists who inevitably bring with them stronger ties to the dark institution (p.390).

Bugbee further observes the citizens of Béxar were willing to tolerate slavery for their own interests. "The Spanish leaders in Bexar were but little behind in endorsing the sentiments of the empresario. There has been, it appears, a general misapprehension as to the relations existing at that time between the Spanish and American elements in Texas. Instead of being hostile to the interests of the colony, the citizens of Bexar were willing to go almost as far as the American settlers in asking the government to grant toleration to slavery" (p. 403). In the broader context of information to be shared throughout this guide one can infer that although very few people ever held slaves in Béxar County, the possible loss of land and power added a complicated variable to the way they were managing their own local politics. 

De Hoyos, Karina, "The Life of a Former Slave in Bexar County" (2020). Methods of Historical Research: Spring 2020. 10.
https://digitalcommons.tamusa.edu/hist4301_spring2020/10

This open-access article article was written to examine the life of an enslaved person through their personal narrative which was collected by the WPA Federal Writers' Project "The Slave Narrative Collection". This collection, held by the Library of Congress, covers more than 2,300 personal narratives of slavery and 500 photographs. De Hoyos focuses on the freedom seeker Albert Todd, who was born in Kentucky in 1855 and owned by the enslaver, Captain Hudson.

She highlights how being a slave meant society stripped your individuality and provided an example of how some slaves dedicated their lives to their owners in sharing a story about how Albert spent his whole life fulfilling his duty of watching Hudson's daughter, Nannie, and how he recalled how "he "allus loved her."" (p.2) While personal narratives offer valuable insight can be they should be approached with some skepticism. Memory is imperfect and many do not always recall details accurately, sometimes romanticizing or exaggerating their experience. The relationship Albert felt he had with Nannie is a good example of this and it shows how even though he was forced to watch her he chose to look back on the experience with some positivity. Another example of this is when he talks about the neighbors slaves having it worst because they could have their ears cut to be found more easily if they ran away. (p. 3)

Following the death of his slaveowner he moved to Texas and Nannie was then tied to a man named William R. Trainer, whom she married in 1864 in Béxar county thus tying him to the area and showing that even at the start of the Civil War, slaves were being held captive in San Antonio. 

James David Nichols. (2013). The Line of Liberty: Runaway Slaves and Fugitive Peons in the Texas-Mexico Borderlands. Western Historical Quarterly, 44(4), 413–433. https://doi.org/10.2307/westhistquar.44.4.0412

This article speaks about the impact of runaway slaves and peons (Spanish American day laborers) on the cities and citizens of the Mexico/Texas border. Nichols writes that the citizens of San Antonio sought a resolution to the tension and issues arising from the number of freedom seekers running away and the peons living locally. " Feeling a certain bonhomie with the new regime, they wrote to Colonel Langberg, who had recently visited the city and immensely charmed its upper class with some tunes on a violin, requesting an extradition treaty. The citizens complained to Langberg about the problem of runaways from West Texas and Bexar County. They agreed to cover any debts that slaves may have incurred in Mexico if Langberg would simply collect all the African Americans he could gather from the frontier and hand them over to a specially appointed posse who would wait for him on the Texas side of the Rio Grande/Bravo. They even offered to round up all of the peons who had taken up residency in San Antonio in exchange." (p. 429) From this excerpt, one can argue that by 1855 the citizens had a very friendly relationship with the new Texas government and that their ideas on slavery had changed drastically over the previous 20-25 years. 

Kosub, D. (2015, February 26). The Plantation Comes to Bexar County | Lost Texas Roads. Losttexasroads.com. https://losttexasroads.com/history/events/the-plantation-comes-to-bexar-county/

This piece shares the story of how plantations spread from the Southern states to Texas. This spread began to happen in 1848 and into the 1850s when plantations, some so large they would hold over 600 slaves, begin appearing in the Cibolo Valley. By this time, the U.S allowed enslaved people into Texas but they could not come from other countries, only from within the U.S. This decision made the captives brought to Texas very valuable. The article goes on to share that the local government in Béxar County was called upon by the colonists to help them control their most prized possession. They even created slave patrols and passed slave ordinances to help control the lives of all people of color. 

One of the many hard jobs Black Texans were doing in Cibolo was working on the ranches rounding up cattle. This job "regularly placed a slave on horseback in open country...created a 'new' type of relationship between the slave and his owner...hints at the origin of the African cowboy"(paragraph 23).

Knight, L. P. (1997). (dissertation). Becoming a city and becoming American San Antonio Texas, 1848-1861. Texas A&M University, College Station.

This Dissertation, done by Dr. Lawrence Phillip Knight in 1997, examines the development of San Antonio into a city. In Chapter 4, Knight tells a story about a local election in which the Know-Nothing Party was defeated and how the issue of slavery impacted the election. According to the Herald, most German citizens of San Antonio were opposed to the ideas of slavery. While some claimed otherwise - and even suggested starting another German-language newspaper- the Herald dismissed the idea. The paper argued that German residents did not disagree with the abolitionist stance of the Zeitung, they simply disliked the trouble the paper caused by revealing the true sentiments of the community. The German citizens opposed slavery, but did not want to pay the price that public opposition to slavery would cost. The Know-Nothing Party felt this significantly impacted the election results.

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Go to the tab Borrow from Other Libraries to request interlibrary loans (ILL), find out how to get a TexShare card, or see a list of San Antonio area libraries. I encourage you to get a San Antonio Public Library card and a BiblioTech card if you live in Bexar County.  You can get cards if you live in the StMU dorms even if your family lives in another town. 

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