The Hanging Tree

Historians trace the Cart War to ethnic and racial hostility toward Mexican Texans, sharpened by Know-Nothing ethnocentrism and by white anger at Mexican sympathy with enslaved Black people. The carters' speed and low rates were the spark, and an attack near Seguin in 1855 came two years before the worst. Some newspapers objected: the Austin Southern Intelligencer warned that if a 'weak race' could be attacked, German Texans would be next, and that a war between the poor and the rich might follow. Some Karnes County citizens were angry when armed escorts arrived to protect the Tejano carters.

What the plaque says

The Hanging Tree Site for court sessions at various times from 1846 to 1870. Capital sentences called for by the courts were carried out immediately, by means of a rope and a convenient limb. Hangings not called for by regular courts occurred here during the 1857 "cart war"--a series of attacks made by Texas freighters against Mexican drivers along the Indianola - Goliad - San Antonio Road. About 70 men were killed, some of them on this tree, before the war was halted by Texas Rangers. (1964)

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Santa Anna's Surrender Ratified — steps away
• Goliad Tornado of 1902 — steps away
• Regulators of Goliad County — steps away
• Don Rafael Antonio Manchola — steps away