Field Notes of a Survey Made for the Brazos Manufacturing Company... [manuscript title]

Brazos, Tx: May 12, 1864. Very good.. [1]p. of manuscript text on a folio sheet of blue lined paper, with small manuscript map at top left. Old folds, a few tiny holes along horizontal fold touching a few letters. Manuscript field notes and a small map detailing a late-Confederate attempt to start a flour and textile factory to manufacture Confederate uniforms and other products for the army in Texas. Most of the text defines the parameters of the proposed site of land, which the surveyor, J.S. Grant estimates to total 1,067 acres. Major points of interest mentioned in the survey include the Manchaca Grant, Wheelock Road, and the Franklin Trail, among others. Each of these points is featured on the small manuscript map which details the location of the land survey, which is located near a site identified here as "Lockett." This almost certainly refers to Thomas F. Lockett, a cotton merchant who was involved, and might have owned the Brazos Manufacturing Company. The Texas Historical Commission states on their historical marker that the Brazos Manufacturing Company was started in 1863, though records indicate it did not begin operations until well into 1864. Records at Rice University indicate that the BMC agreed to a contract with the Texas Military Board on April 16, 1864, which would have certainly provided impetus for the present field notes to a land survey less than a month later.

The text of the historical marker in Hearne, Robertson County, Texas for the Brazos Manufacturing Company reads as follows: "Established in 1863 on a Brazos River tributary. Intended to make flour and cloth of cotton and wool. Chartered by 9th Texas Legislature in all-out effort to supply the goods necessary to Confederate victory in the Civil War. Up to now Texas had not had factories because she could more economically trade agricultural products for manufactured goods. Wartime imports, however, were limited to small shipments run in through Federal coastal blockades. To finance its purchases of machinery, materials and labor, Brazos Manufacturing Company received cotton from Texas planters, especially in this area. Subscription of a bale of cotton gave a planter the right to export one bale for his own benefit. Since neither factory nor farm had any other way to pay running expenses than by cotton sales, much cotton was donated to the corporation. This corporation met the fate of many chartered by Texas during the Civil War: paper mills, bridge and ferry companies, iron works, railroads, foundries, cotton cards plants and others. Although Brazos Manufacturing Company did help to clothe army and civilians, its production was small and was achieved too late in the war.