Except for Coronado's 1540/41 expedition, the region encompassing what is now Stonewall county was largely unmapped and uninhabited until the late 17th century, when the Plains tribes, primarily the Comanche - forever changed by the adoption of the horse into their culture - moved southward onto and through the rolling plains of Texas, and it became part of the Comancheria. For the next nearly 200 years, no matter what the citizens and governments of provincial Texas, colonial Texas, the Republic of Texas, the United States, or the Confederate States may have believed, it was in reality these "Lords of the Plains", who ruled this part of Texas.

Coronado's report made intriguing mention of copper mines in the Double Mountain area, and suggested the possibility of even more precious minerals. In 1786, Domingo Cabello, governor of the province of Texas, commissioned Pedro Vial to explore the region. Another exploratory expedition was undertaken by Jose Mares in 1788. After statehood, Randolph B. Marcy led an exploratory and surveying expedition in 1849. The Double Mountains, one of the county's most recognizable natural features, are mentioned in his log as "...two low bald mountains in sight which are good land marks".

Unlike the other southern states, Texas had never gone through a territorial phase, prior to annexation. Land ownership in the western rolling plains area of Texas dates to the 1850's, although significant Anglo settlement did not actually commence for another 20 years. In 1845, that area of Texas which is roughly west of the 98th meridian, and north of the 30th parallel, was still a vast, uncharted area, demarcated on maps only by notations of Comanche and herds of wild Mustangs. Climate, geography, and hostile Indians had been incentive enough to keep the colonials coming north from Mexico, and west from the US, well south and east of the Comancheria. Securing even marginal safety of the sporadic settlements on or near that line of settlement (and along the border, after 1836) required the most rigorous and diligent efforts of the legendary Texas Rangers.

Annexation brought only a deterioration in relations with the Indians. Between 1845 and 1860 the diplomatic policy of the federal government, (which was far more experienced at dealing with the "Five Civilized Tribes", who were quite different from the Comanche) toward the Plains Tribes was one of relative appeasement. The federal policy-makers deemed negotiation preferable to combat, though there was no shortage of the latter. This passive stance did not sit well with most Texans, who were somewhat understandably biased by a generation of frequent and appalling depredations on their settlements.

As Secretary of War in the mid-1850's, Jefferson Davis, who understood the unique nature of the problem in Texas better than most, made one of the more realistic and valiant attempts to deal with the problems on the Texas frontier. Davis managed to convince the state of Texas to set aside land for the tribes willing to stay on reservations, and sent the formidable 2nd U.S. Cavalry to protect the Texas frontier, including future Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee, John Bell Hood, Lawrence S. (Sul) Ross, and Albert Sidney Johnston. (Davis would later be accused of using the Texas frontier as a "proving ground" for CSA officers-to-be, but there was no shortage of future federal officers on the frontier, too). Their determined efforts managed at best to hold the line of settlement, not advance it. Depredations continued, and the failure of the United States to protect the frontier settlements, as well as those along the Mexican border, is mentioned in Texas' 1861 Ordinance of Secession.

During the War Between the States, salt was mined from the Salt Fork of the Brazos at the "Double Mountain Salt Works" in neighboring Kent county, the northern-most industry in Confederate Texas. The historical marker commemorating this endeavor mentions the dangers involved in an extended stay beyond the line of settlement, and how rigorously the Salt Works had to be defended. The CSA could ill-afford to expend any man-power guarding frontier settlements, and recommended that all people living on or beyond the line of settlement "fort up" for the duration of the War. Sage advice, for during the War years, in spite of treaties and negotiations with both the CSA and the USA, the Indians, Comanche in particular, took full advantage of the relatively defenseless Texas frontier.

During the Civil War, the Indians, unrestrained by the United States Army, held carnival across the plains - north to south and east to west - looting, pillaging, and marauding over a wide area...Colonization receded; homes and fields were abandoned in north central Texas and settlers were withdrawn for over a hundred miles.
(Mildred P. Mayhall, _Indian Wars of Texas_)

"The frontier was scourged as never before in its history. In some places the line of settlements was driven back a hundred miles."
(Rupert N. Richardson, _The Frontier of Northwest Texas 1846 to 1876_)

Whatever else the War changed, it altered the fundamental conflict between the Southern Plains tribes, and Anglo settlement not at all, and its aftermath only served to exacerbate the situation. The devastation and upheaval in other areas of the south, and a desire to escape the most oppressive aspects of living in an occupied country by emigrating to a less populous area, brought more settlers than ever toward the Texas frontier. In response to this increased threat to land they had held for over 200 years, the Indian depredations became increasingly flagrant and deadly.

When the U.S. Army returned to Texas in 1865 for "reconstruction", they came to occupy the state, not defend it. During the latter half of the 1860's the raids continued unabated, and were met with public outcry, but minimal military response. By the early 1870's, it was most apparent that the policy coupling appeasement and voluntary relocation to the reservations in Oklahoma Territory was never going to subdue the Plains Tribes. Instead of attempting any sort of equitable settlement with them, something which many leaders of both sides thought impossible, the U.S. Army brought in Capt. Ranald S. Mackenzie, and the final, epic, Indian War of Texas commenced.

The Plains tribes were highly dependent on the buffalo for food, clothing, et al. Believing that it was the only way to once, and forever, resolve the "Indian problem"; with not only the support, but encouragement of the regional military authorities in the forms of the infamous Generals William T. Sherman and Philip Sheridan; over the objections of several members of the state legislature; and in abrogation of the 1867 Treaty of Medicine Lodge, a tacit policy of support for the eradication of the buffalo evolved.

Buffalo hunters swarmed onto the plains. Crude, ramshackle communities sprang up around the frontier forts, attracting transient "settlers" of questionable repute, and the entrepreneurs eager to pander to their needs, contributing in no small part to the contemporary stereotype of the "wild west". One such community was Rath City, about 10 miles south of what is now Aspermont, established by veteran entrpreneur Charles Rath of Kansas, who was already capitalizing on the buffalo hide trade in that state.

In a very few short years, the American bison was hunted to the brink of extinction. At the southern end of the plains, while the hunters decimated the buffalo, Capt. Mackenzie and his troops regularly engaged the tribes in combat. Mackenzie's expedition located a path through the staked plains, once used by Coronado, and notable for the relative frequency and dependability of watering holes, which enabled them to follow their quarry up onto the staked plains (llano estacado), well past the point where previous expeditions had turned back.

In a rare show of unity, the plains tribes, led by Quanah Parker of the Quahadi Comanche band, forged an alliance to drive back the buffalo hunters and the U.S. Army. Their unity ended, and the fate of their people was decided, after an unsuccessful attack on an encampment of buffalo hunters at Adobe Walls, June 27, 1874. Three months later, September 28, 1874, Mackenzie located the Quahadi in Palo Duro canyon, and carried out the order to rid the southern frontier of the Comanche threat.

"The shrieking animals were shot down in a thunderous roar of firing, more shooting than had been done in Palo Duro. For years afterward , thousands of horse bones lay whitening here, a stark monument on the Plains."
(Fehrenbach, _Lone Star_)

The Army struck at dawn, surprising the Comanche in their teepees. The braves were able to mount a resistance and hold the Army back long enough for the women and children to get away, then followed them. They were able to take nothing with them. Mackenzie ordered that everything that they had left behind be burned. Sgt. Charlton had captured the Comanche's remuda (horse herd), and taken it to Tule Canyon. The Army could not manage the horses, but realized that they could not afford for them to return to Comanche hands, so over 1000 of what may have been some of the finest horses ever bred, combinations of stolen pedigreed stock and Spanish Mustangs, were brutally destroyed that day.

It was the loss of their horses, more than anything else, that put an end to the Comanche's reign as the "Lords of the Plains". The starving and dismounted Quahadi held out for another eight months, surviving on sheer will, and Mackenzie continued his dogged pursuit, but the war was over that September morning - bringing to a sad end what had arguably been the most tragic decade in Texas history, and removing the last impediment to Anglo settlement and civilization of the Texas plains.

Two years after that decisive battle, on August 21, 1876, Stonewall was one of the many counties that the 19th Texas Legislature carved from the dearly won rolling plains and llano estacado (former Bexar and Young land Districts). It was named for Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. For twelve years, the county was attached to Young, and then Jones county for judicial and administrative purposes. In November of 1888 the citizens petitioned the Jones County Commissioner's Court to be allowed to set up their own government, and the first county election was held the folloing month. The first county seat was Rayner (1888-1890). After quite a battle, and a veritable tug-of-war over records and furnishings, it was moved to Aspermont in 1890, where it remains. (Unfortunately, the lovely, late Victorian courthouse in Aspermont had to be replaced in 1983).

The first recorded deed transaction for land within the eventual county boundary was on 01April1856, when the General Land Office issued sixteen Certificates of Land script to the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos, & Colorado Railroad (BBB&C). This entitled the BBB&C to a section (640 acres) of land along the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos. After changing hands several times, this section came back into possession of the BBB&C, and was sold to S.M. Swenson on 02March1879, the foundation of the Swenson ranch, which still exists.

Several other RR companies were issued script within the eventual county boundaries. The first recorded transfer of land to an individual was 250 acres to Martindale Daniel in 1870. In 1881 nine individuals were deeded a section of land each, among them, A.H. Rhomberg, and wife Mattie. The "Latinization" of Mr. Rhomberg's name (to Aspermont) would eventually become the name of the largest town, and present county seat. Transfer or sale of smaller tracts of land did not become common until the mid-1890's. Most of the early land transactions were homestead preemptions, whereby the land would be deeded over to an individual who lived on it for three years, or "school land" purchases, which sold for $1.00 per acre. The first large group of settlers came to Stonewall county in 1885, probably brought by county surveyor C.P. Benson.

By 1890, the county population was 1,024. Enough settlement had occurred in the late 1880's to necessitate an end to the open range, a ranching tradition eschewing fences that dated back to the early years of Spanish Texas. The Swenson ranch put up the first fence (four-wire) in the county in 1888. There is no record of "fence-cutting" being a problem in Stonewall county, but it was common in other areas of Texas, where the cattlemen and trail-drivers had a strong interest in preserving the open range tradition.

Stonewall county grew quickly, doubling its population between census years, until 1920, when apparently WWI, and a mid-decade dip in the prices of cotton, wheat, cattle, and other commodities may have contributed to the loss of approximately 20% of the 1910 population. If these decennial census figures are any indication, Stonewall county did not experience the degree of emigration during the tragic "Dust Bowl" years that some of its neighboring counties, and much of the Great Plains "farm belt" did. Income from oil and gas exploration and recovery may have had a buffering during the years of drought and economic depression. The county population peaked at 5,668 in 1930, and was scarcely 200 fewer in 1940. The population is less than half of that now, but the bulk of that loss has occurred in the years after WWII, which have been characterized by the dwindling of the small farmer/rancher as a major economic entity in the U.S.

(For more information on county and regional history, the Southern Plains Tribes, ranching, dryland farming, etc., see "Links" on the Kent County Main Page.)

(Sources include, _Lone Star: A History of Texas and Texans_, 1968, T.R. Fehrenbach; _Stonewall County: Between the Forks of the Brazos_, 1979, Stonewall County Historical Commission; and _The 1994/95 Texas Almanac_ comp. by The Dallas Morning News)