Houston Fire Festival

The Houston firemen’s procession on June 14 was announced on June 5, 1866, with an order of procession and a route announced in the Tri-Weekly Telegraph on June 13.¹

Col. Wm T. Austin and Hon. Peter W. Gray were announced as the marshals. Another notice appeared on June 15, which issue also reported a request to the mayor that all shops be closed on June 14 for the parade and ball. For more on the ball, see June 11, which listed committee members.²

In its June 17, 1866, issue, Flake’s Bulletin included a long article reporting that the procession had become “a matter of public notoriety” that was wrongly being ignored or downplayed by Democratic newspapers. The gist was that the procession was a disloyal act aimed at local military officials: “It is plain … that a premeditated insult to the Federal Government was intended.” The charges against the procession included:

1. No American flag was flown in the procession …
2. … or at the ball.
3. The “Hook and Ladder” float included Confederate symbolism.
4. No national air was played by the band.
5. Cheers to Jefferson Davis and “Dixie” were given as the parade passed by the military headquarters in Houston.³

U.S. military officials were upset that a Major Lathrop had not intervened to stop the parade; reports were that Peter W. Gray had met with Lathrop to secure a promise that he would not. Lathrop claimed he didn’t have enough men to do so anyway, and had been advised by local Unionists to let it happen. Flake argues that these sorts of disloyal displays will only further delay the readmission of Texas representatives to Congress. A subsequent report contains further statements by Lathrop, and claims that he was advised by both Gregory and Kiddoo to stop the parade.⁴

These accusations spurred a retort from the Houston Evening Star, and a rebuttal in turn by Flake, who in turn replies on June 21. The Star says that Lathrop’s official report exonerates the procession, but Flake cannot get access to the official report. The Star again discusses the festival on June 26, and Flake on June 28 says he still doesn’t have the official report: “We are extremely sorry that we cannot get the offical reports of the commission charged with investigating the alleged seditious matters pertaining to the late Houston Fire Festival.”

See also rebuttal to criticisms and letter from Ultimus in Galveston Daily News.

Similar controversy attended a firemen’s parade in New Orleans in March 1866, when musicians were temporarily detained for playing “secession airs.”⁵

On the day of the parade, June 14, 1866, a group of five “rowdy firemen assaulted an inoffensive freedman James Duncan” by beating him and robbing him of his pistol, and then knocking him down with a club when he got down out of his hack and attempted to escape. “A policeman then took Duncan into custody!!!”⁶