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January 12, 2024
Today in Texas History
By Bandera Spirits of Texas
The Bandera Prophet
On this day in 1861, Unionist editor John W. Barrett published the Marshall Harrison Flag for the last time. Barret moved to Texas from Indiana in 1838. He bought the Star State Patriot in 1848 and in 1856 renamed it the Harrison Flag. The Flag supported Sam Houston, the American (Know-Nothing) party, and the Constitutional Union party of 1860.
Robert W. Loughery, owner and editor of the Marshall Texas Republican and an ardent secessionist, classed Barrett and the Flag as oppositionist and submissionist during the secession crisis. In editorial after editorial during November and December 1860, Barrett opposed secession; he declared on Dec. 15, 1860, that breaking up the United States would be "the most momentous political decision that has ever demanded the attention of mankind."
The same winter, ill and confined to his room, he suspended publication of the Flag with the issue of Jan. 12, 1861. Five days later, Loughery called off their long political feud and wrote of Barrett: "He has been sick nine months with little chance of improvement . . . . He has a large family depending on him, with children to educate. He needs every dollar coming to him. Those owing him should not be insensible to his condition."
Barrett died of tuberculosis on May 12, 1862.
Robert W. Loughery, owner and editor of the Marshall Texas Republican and an ardent secessionist, classed Barrett and the Flag as oppositionist and submissionist during the secession crisis. In editorial after editorial during November and December 1860, Barrett opposed secession; he declared on Dec. 15, 1860, that breaking up the United States would be "the most momentous political decision that has ever demanded the attention of mankind."
The same winter, ill and confined to his room, he suspended publication of the Flag with the issue of Jan. 12, 1861. Five days later, Loughery called off their long political feud and wrote of Barrett: "He has been sick nine months with little chance of improvement . . . . He has a large family depending on him, with children to educate. He needs every dollar coming to him. Those owing him should not be insensible to his condition."
Barrett died of tuberculosis on May 12, 1862.