The answer to a recent question I received is YES, after the Civil War Union soldiers occupied Greenville. Camping in the open was an invitation for immediate death.
The entire section of Northeast Texas was an enclave for armed former Confederates, deserters and just plain, common criminals. Any man who served in the Confederate armies east of the Mississippi was war-hardened, starving, and worn-out. When the war was over, they were sent home on foot, or on a horse if they owned it before they went to fight, one weapon with little ammunition and orders to live off the land.
The citizens who lived along the way were starving also, unable to feed the multitude of soldiers passing by. Many stopped in Shreveport to recoup before crossing into Texas. Once in the state, the men seemed to go wild. They resented those persons that supported the enemies, who were called Unionists. They resented recently freed slaves for causing the war. Soon they would fight the United States Army from the 98th parallel, sent west to protect farmers and ranchers looking for better land. A group of ten or twelve soldiers were sent to Greenville as well as to most county seats to protect the surroundings in the area. The small group cautiously moved into a log cabin a block from the courthouse.
Here comes the YES part. The men released from the Confederate army became known as Bushwhackers. Riding at night they seemed to have collected fresh horses and plenty of ammunition. Here are some of their shenanigans. Hearing that a group of former slaves were hiding in a log cabin way out of town, the outlaws surrounded the cabin and killed everyone.
They ambushed any one not on their side.
In Sulphur Springs young men who missed the war, rode up and down the street firing at Union soldiers and their wives who had braved the trip to Texas. Even the District Judge was shot outside of Bonham, his guards abandoned him, but he finally made it back to Greenville.
One prominent Greenville gentleman was offended by a Union soldier, pulled out his gun and pistol-whipped the soldier. At some point he realized the soldier might die, he headed for his horse and galloped out of town. However, as he rode out of town, he told someone where he was going. His wife and children soon joined him shortly. It was a long time before they returned to Greenville.
Women and children did not go outside, not to town, and even to church. The first Christmas celebration was held at the Hunt County Courthouse in December 1871. It is difficult to imagine such confusion, violence, deleterious events people around Northeast Texas suffered until 1869 when the last of the bushwhackers were killed.
To learn more about this time period in Northeast Texas, read The Devil’s Triangle: Ben Bickerstaff, Northeast Texans, and the War of Reconstruction in Texas, by James Smallwood, Kenneth Howell, and Carol Taylor. Available at University of North Texas Press, Denton, Texas. (untpress.unt.edu)