Brazos Manufacturing Company

A contractor with the state Texas Military Board, incorporated in 1863 by the Texas Incorporation Acts.

A January 20, 1864, letter from Washington [on the Brazos?] to Governor Pendleton Murrah by Thomas F. Lockett reminds Murrah that “you informed me when I was at Austin that you would correspond with the Cotton Bureau and affect an arrangement by which we could ship to Mexico such an amount of cotton as would be necessary, to purchase machinery and cary out our legitimate business.” The Company will guarantee the uses to which any proceeds from the sale of cotton will be put, and plans to “send out 3,000 baggs of cotton” in order to import “machinery that will fill six rooms 160 x 40” as well as necessary tools and accessories. They plan to hire “15 to 20 experienced foreign mechanics to operate the machines.” Lockett says the company wishes to construct the buildings immediately, but they will be useless without machinery and so the company stands to lose money by erecting the works if they cannot send out cotton.1 On April 5, Lockett is on his way to Mexico to sell 2500 bales of cotton, and again writes to Murrah asking for an order protecting his cotton from being impressed: “Unless we are protected by your excellency or Genl. Kirby Smith or both we will suffer the impressment by the Cotton Board of on half of our cotton” as well as the loss of “precious time.”2

The Military Board accepted a contract with the company on April 16, 1864, which authorized the company to export 1500 bales of cotton in order to import machinery. Full text follows.3

Office Military Board
Austin Texas April 16, 1864

  1. The Brazos Manufacturing Company are authorized to export (1500) Fifteen hundred bales of Cotton to be invested in the purchase and importation of Machinery into the State of Texas, in character and value as per statement this day made and filed by them with the Military Board. They will report to the Board, in advance of transporting said Cotton, the brands of the bales, if known, weight and amount transported at one time.
  1. The amount and weight shall be reported to the State Agent at Eagle Pass, Matamoras & Liverpool or wherever the Cotton may be sold.
  1. The State shall have a lien upon the Cotton exported under this contract, but the Company or its Agent shall have the right to sell the Cotton for the purpose of purchasing said machinery wherever they may think it advisable to do so, and likewise to sell a portion to pay expenses necessary. The Agent of the Company shall make a report to the Agent of the State of any and all sales of said cotton.
  1. If said Company fail to purchase said machinery and introduce it into Texas, then one half of said cotton or the proceeds shall belong to the State, after deducting cost of transportation, charges of shipment &c. The loss of the machinery by sea, fire, capture by the enemy or any other unavoidable cause, shall be considered a sufficient reason for not introducing into Texas, the said Machinery.
  1. The State Agent at Eagle Pass shall give to the Agent of the Company a certificate that said Cotton is subject to his control in transporting the same, and the Agent of the State at the place where said Cotton is sold, shall give to said agent of the Company, a certificate stating that said Cotton shall be turned over to the person or persons to whom the same may be sold, or from whom the said machinery is purchased. Any surplus that may remain from the sale of the Cotton, after the purchase of the Machinery and necssary appliances &c. proposed by them to be purchased and introduced into this State, and expenses paid to the Manufactory where the Machinery is to be put in operation, said surplus is to be equally divided between the Company and the State. The Company to receive an equal sum, in lieu of the half turned over to the State, in 7 per cent Bonds of the State to be issued in accordance with the Act of the 10th Legislature.

The Company also requested that the Board authorize details for employees working for the company, which were approved by A. H. Abney, “secretary pro tem,” on April 16, 1864.4

B. F Hammon and S. S. Menger appear to be primary officers or agents of the company, which built its manufactories in Robertson County. In a letter from them requesting permission to export cotton, they note:

We would not presume to attempt to point out the great advantages arizing [sic] from the building up of such Manufactories in the state, and will be permitted simply to remark that its utility will be as apparent to you as it will be useful to the country; we are stimulated in the building of this manufactory with the hope and belief that it will be beneficial to the country and profitable to the company, and we flatter ourselves that the men who are directly connected with this enterprize will be a sufficient guarantee to you & the country that the entire business will be conducted with energy, fairness & despatch.5

Letters in the Board’s letterpress book (2-1/318) at TSLAC suggest that there was some upset in the company in May 1864. Two men named Wheat and Fletcher had broken away from the company and formed their own manufactory, receiving a similar contract from the Board. But then a Mr. Thomas F. Luckett, now president of the B. M. Co., wrote to complain of some of their behavior, presumably arguing that they were jobbing on their own behalf.6 A few days later, the Board wrote to Wheat and Fletcher specifying the terms under which the Board could grant details, and stressing that detailed haulers were to carry at least 40 bales at a time to the border. This suggests part of Luckett’s allegations may have had to do with attempts by Wheat and Fletcher to acquire fradulent exemptions from conscription.7

A subsequent letter from September 25, 1865, by Daniel D. Atchinson to A. J. Hamilton, Records of the Governor Andrew Jackson Hamilton, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, asks the governor to approve the reorganization of the company by himself and Luckett along the terms outlined in the original incorporation act.8

  1. Thomas F. Lockett to Pendleton Murrah, January 20, 1864, Records of the Military Board of Texas, TSLAC, Box 2-10/299.↩

  2. Lockett to Murrah, April 5, 1864, Records of the Military Board of Texas, TSLAC, Box 2-10/299.↩

  3. Contract with the Brazos Manufacturing Company, Records of the Military Board of Texas, TSLAC, Box 2-10/299.↩

  4. Application for Details by the Brazos Manufacturing Company, Records of the Military Board of Texas, TSLAC, Box 2-10/299.↩

  5. Undated letter form B. F. Hammon and S. S. Menger to the Board, Records of the Military Board of Texas, TSLAC, Box 2-10/299.↩

  6. See excerpt from letter to Thomas F. Luckett, May 20, 1864, Records of the Military Board, Box 2-1/318, link; also letter from Pendleton Murrah to Luckett, May 27, 1864, Records of the Military Board, Box 2-1/318, link.↩

  7. See letters from N. B. Pearce to Messrs. Wheat and Fletcher, May 23, 1864, Records of the Military Board, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Box 2-1/318, link.↩

  8. See Daniel D. Atchinson to Secretary of State, Records of Governor Andrew Jackson Hamilton, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, link.↩