Editing Victoria County, Texas (section)

===After the Revolution through the Civil War===

In 1850, Coletoville was established by German immigrant Carl Steiner.<ref>{{cite web|title=Coletoville, Texas|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasGulfCoastTowns/Coletoville-Texas.htm|work=Texas Escapes|publisher=Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC|access-date=November 30, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520204835/http://texasescapes.com/TexasGulfCoastTowns/Coletoville-Texas.htm|archive-date=May 20, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> The next year, Victoria County's first toll bridge was erected across the river, built by Richard Owens and Sylvester Sutton.<ref>{{cite book|last=Blackburn|first=Edward A|title=Wanted: Historic County Jails of Texas |year=2005|publisher=TAMU Press|isbn=978-1-58544-308-6|page=339}}</ref>

As of 1860, 1,413 slaves were in the county.<ref name="Victoria County, Texas"/> In 1861m county residents voted 318–88 in favor of [[Texas in the American Civil War|secession]] from the Union. Victoria County sent 300 men to fight for the [[Confederate States Army]].<ref name="Victoria County, Texas"/> [[John B. Magruder|Confederate General John B. Magruder]] destroyed the railroad from Port Lavaca to Victoria in 1863 to keep it out of Union hands. He also sank trees and boats into the Guadalupe River.<ref name="Victoria County, Texas"/>

From 1867-1869, the county was occupied by federal troops.  [[Mob mentality|Mob ]] violence by those same troops resulted in the axing death and corpse mutilation of local official Benjamin F. Hill, who at the time was incarcerated for an alleged self-defense killing of a discharged Union soldier.<ref>{{cite web|last=Roell|first=Craig H|title=Benjamin F Hill|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fhi17|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=November 30, 2010|author2=Harsdoff-Lee, Linda|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710042633/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fhi17|archive-date=July 10, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Gulf, Western Texas and Pacific Railway connect Victoria with [[Cuero, Texas|Cuero]] and the coast in 1873.<ref name="Victoria County, Texas"/> The New York, Texas and Mexican Railway provided the first cross-country route to Rosenberg Junction in [[Fort Bend County, Texas|Fort Bend County]] in 1882.<ref name="Victoria County, Texas"/>

That next year, the Texas Continental Meat Company was erected in the county and was the largest meat packing plant in Texas.<ref name="Victoria County, Texas"/> Bray's Ferry was established in 1886 at the San Antonio River by G. B. Amery and John Bray.<ref name="Victoria County, Texas"/> Twenty years later, the Guadalupe River Navigation Company was established.<ref name="Victoria County, Texas"/>

By 1930, when oil was discovered at the McFaddin Oil Field, Victoria County held more cattle than any other county in Texas.<ref name="Victoria County, Texas"/> [[Foster Air Force Base]] was established as Victoria Army Air Field as a training air field in 1941.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Victoria, Texas-Air Forces|magazine=Life|date=June 1942|pages=56–59 61}}</ref>
The Victoria Barge Canal was completed in 1967, connecting Victoria County with the [[Intracoastal Waterway]].<ref name="Victoria County, Texas"/>