Editing DeWitt County, Texas (section)

===County established and growth===

In 1825, empresario [[Green DeWitt]]<ref name="DeWitt, Green">{{Handbook of Texas | name=DeWitt, Green | id=fde55|author=Lukes, Edward D |  retrieved=May 10, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref> received a grant from the [[Coahuila y Tejas]] legislature to settle 400 families.<ref name="El Nacimiento de la Colonia DeWitt 1825-1828">{{Cite web | title=El Nacimiento de la Colonia DeWitt 1825-1828 | publisher=Texas A&M University | url=http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/birthcon.htm | access-date=May 10, 2010 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100614213414/http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/birthcon.htm | archive-date=June 14, 2010 }} Texas A&M University</ref><ref>{{cite web| title=Empresario Contracts in the Colonization of Texas 1825-1834| publisher=Texas A & M UNiversity| url=http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/empresarios.htm| access-date=May 10, 2010| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615055417/http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/empresarios.htm| archive-date=June 15, 2010}} Wallace L. McKeehan,</ref>  Between 1826 and 1831<ref name="DeWitt's Colony">{{Handbook of Texas | name=DeWitt's Colony | id=ued02|author=Roell, Craig H |  retrieved=May 10, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref> settlers arrived from [[Tennessee]], [[Kentucky]], [[Missouri]], and other Southern states.

A temporary county government was set up in 1846, with the county seat being Daniel Boone Friar's store at the junction of the La Bahía Road and the Gonzales-Victoria road.<ref name="The History of Dewitt County, Texas">{{cite book | last =Dewitt County | first =Historical Commission| title =The History of Dewitt County, Texas | publisher =Curtis Media | year =1991 | isbn =  978-0-88107-175-7}}</ref> On November 28, 1850, [[Clinton, DeWitt County, Texas|Clinton]] became the county seat until Cuero became county seat in 1876.

Dewitt County voted in favor of [[Texas in the American Civil War|secession]] from the Union, and sent several military units<ref name="Texas Frontier Regiment of Mounted Volunteers">{{Cite web | title=Texas Frontier Regiment of Mounted Volunteers | publisher=Texas State Archives      | url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txdewitt/Muster.htm | access-date=May 10, 2010}}Texas State Archives</ref> to serve. During Reconstruction, the county was occupied by the Fourth Corps, based at Victoria.

From April 1866 until December 1868, a sub-assistant commissioner of the [[Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands|Freedmen's Bureau]]<ref name="The Freedmen's Bureau and Reconstruction">{{cite book | last1 =Miller | first1 =Randall|last2=Cimbala | first2=Paul | title =The Freedmen's Bureau and Reconstruction | publisher =Fordham University Press | year =1999 | isbn =  978-0-8232-1935-3}}</ref><ref name="Freedman's Bureau">{{Handbook of Texas | name=Freedman's Bureau | id=ncf01| |author=Harper Jr., Cecil | retrieved=May 10, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref> served at Clinton. The community of Hopkinsville was established in 1872 by Henry Hopkins,<ref name="Hopkinsville Community">{{Cite web|title=Hopkinsville Community |publisher=Texas Historical Markers |url=http://www.9key.com/markers/marker_detail.asp?atlas_number=5123002560 |access-date=May 10, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314204910/http://www.9key.com/markers/marker_detail.asp?atlas_number=5123002560 |archive-date=March 14, 2012 }}</ref> freedman former slave of Judge Henry Clay Pleasants,<ref name="Henry Clay Pleasants">{{Handbook of Texas | name=Henry Clay Pleasants | id=fpl3| |author=Roell, Craig H | retrieved=May 10, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref> the judge credited for ending the Sutton-Taylor Feud. Residents began a school that was active until 1956, and established the Antioch Baptist Church.

The notorious [[Sutton–Taylor feud]]<ref name="The Sutton-Taylor Feud of DeWitt County">{{cite web | title=The Sutton-Taylor Feud of DeWitt County| author=Weiser, Kathy | publisher=Legends of America |url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/tx-suttontaylor.html | access-date=May 10, 2010}} Legends of America</ref><ref name="The Sutton-Taylor Feud: The Deadliest Blood Feud in Texas ">{{cite book | last =Parsons | first =Chuck | title =The Sutton-Taylor Feud: The Deadliest Blood Feud in Texas | publisher =University of North Texas Press | year =2009 | isbn =  978-1-57441-257-4}}</ref> began as a Reconstruction-era county law enforcement issue between the Taylor family and lawman William E. Sutton. It eventually involved both the Taylor and Sutton families, the [[Texas State Police]], the [[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Rangers]], and [[John Wesley Hardin]]. The feud, which lasted a decade and cost 35 lives, has been called the longest and bloodiest in Texas history.

April 1, 1866, marked the first cattle drive on the [[Chisholm Trail]],<ref name="The Beginning of the Chisholm Trail">{{cite web |title=The Beginning of the Chisholm Trail |publisher=Chisholm Trail Heritage Center |url=http://www.onthechisholmtrail.com/trail-info/ |access-date=May 10, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100413103436/http://www.onthechisholmtrail.com/trail-info |archive-date=April 13, 2010 }} Chisholm Trail Heritage Center</ref>  which originated at Cardwell's Flat, near the present Cuero. The coming of the railroads eliminated the need for the Chisholm Trail. Dewitt's first rail line, the Gulf, Western Texas and Pacific,<ref name="Gulf, Western Texas and Pacific Railway">{{Handbook of Texas | name=Gulf, Western Texas and Pacific Railway | id=eqg28| |author=Roell, Craig H | retrieved=May 10, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref> extended to San Antonio. The [[San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway]],<ref name="San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway">{{cite web| title=San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway| url=http://saap.tnorr.com/| access-date=May 10, 2010| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060912172901/http://saap.tnorr.com/| archive-date=September 12, 2006}}</ref> was the second line in the county. In 1907 the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway<ref name="Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway">{{Handbook of Texas | name=Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway | id=eqg06| |author=Werner, George C | retrieved=May 10, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref> came through Dewitt. In 1925, the three lines came under the control of the Southern Pacific lines and operated as the [[Texas and New Orleans Railroad]].<ref name="Texas and New Orleans Railroad">{{Handbook of Texas | name=Texas and New Orleans Railroad | id=eqt06| |author=Williams, Howard C | retrieved=May 10, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref> Passenger service continued until November 1950.

The United States Army Air Corps opened Cuero Field,<ref name="Cuero Field">{{Handbook of Texas | name=Cuero Field| id=qcc43| |author=Roell, Craig H | retrieved=May 10, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref> serving 290 cadets, at Cuero Municipal Airport as a pilot flight school in 1941. The school was deactivated in 1944.

Cuero and its large turkey-growing industry bills itself as the "Turkey Capital of the World". The turkey industry in Cuero began large-scale operations in 1908. Much like ranchers had cattle drives, Cuero poultry growers drove their turkeys down Main Street to the local packing plant.<ref name="Turkeyfest">{{cite web|title=Turkeyfest |publisher=Cuero Turkeyfest Association, Inc. |url=http://www.turkeyfest.org/history.shtml |access-date=May 10, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100204031207/http://www.turkeyfest.org/history.shtml |archive-date=February 4, 2010 }} Cuero Turkeyfest Association, Inc.</ref>  Each year, the crowds grew to watch the sight and sound of upwards of 20,000 turkeys going through town.<ref name="Turkey Trot Parade">{{cite web | title=Turkey Trot Parade | publisher=Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC. | url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasAnimals/Cuero-Texas-Turkey-Trot.htm | access-date=May 10, 2010}} Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC.</ref> The first annual Cuero Turkey Trot<ref name="Turkey Trot at Cuero, Texas">{{Handbook of Texas | name=Turkey Trot at Cuero, Texas| id=lkt05| |author=Kleiner, Diana J | retrieved=May 10, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref> celebration began in 1912, complete with the "Turkey Trot" dance music of the era. By the 1970s,<ref name="On the Road with Charles Kuralt">{{cite book | last =Kuralt | first =Charles | title =On the Road with Charles Kuralt| publisher =Fawcett |page=347 | year =1995 | isbn =  978-0-449-00740-2}}</ref> the event had become a 3-day typical Texas celebration with parades, live entertainment, food booths, and street dances.