Historic Walker County

local system, and Houston became the county
superintendent of black schools. 66
As local educators strove to improve the
opportunities available in Walker County, the
area’s business and political leaders worked with
the Texas legislature to memorialize the region’s
greatest hero, Sam Houston. In 1909, legislators
allocated ten thousand dollars to hire Pompeo
Coppini to construct a granite statue of Houston
to replace the small grave marker that Margaret
Houston had erected at the time of her
husband’s death. Two years later the monument
was complete and a dedication ceremony was
held. While there were numerous issues with
the sculpture—including the misspelling of the
word governor on the back of the statue—the
service on April 21, 1911, was a success.
William Jennings Bryan, the great Democratic
politician and three-time presidential candidate,
gave the keynote speech to a crowd of over
seven thousand people. Bryan reminded the
audience that General Houston was a crucial
“part of the nation’s history” and had been one
of the “the very foundation stones upon which
this great and growing state was built.” 67
T H E G R E A T W A R
When the Great War broke out in 1914, Walker
County residents had little interest in joining the
European conflict. Instead, they were busy
supporting a local hero, Tom Ball, as he waged a
prohibitionist campaign to win the Democratic
nomination for governor. Although Ball had the
support of President Woodrow Wilson and
Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, he lost
the contest to James “Farmer Jim” Ferguson, who
won the governor’s race in November 1914.
Following Ball’s defeat, however, a series of
events focused local attention on Germany and
the threat it posed to American interests.
German U-boats were sinking American ships
off the European coast, and the German
government had encouraged Mexico to declare
war on the United States in the infamous
Zimmerman Telegram. Taken together, these
threats led the U.S. Congress to declare war on
Germany on April 6, 1917, and Walker County
residents quickly got behind the war effort. By
June, the Dallas Morning News reported that
Huntsville banks had subscribed to “more than
double the amount [of war bonds] allotted” to
the area, and men were joining the military
ranks by the hundreds. 68 Young soldiers from
many of the surrounding communities gave
their lives in the “war to make the world safe for
democracy.” Huntsville residents William F.
Benge, Benjamin E. High, George Gillaspie, and
Charley V. Thompson were among the local men
killed in action, as were Samuel I. Crawford,
Jennings B. Crow, and Clarence L. Perry of New
Waverly, Douglas H. Cansler of Pine Prairie, and
James S. Patterson of Jordyville.
❖
Above: World War I soldiers on the
steps of Old Main, c. 1917.
COURTESY OF THE WALKER COUNTY
HISTORICAL COMMISSION.
Below: John W. Thomason, Jr.
(1893-1944).
COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON STATE
UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES.
C h a p t e r V ✦ 3 1