FRONTIERADO: THE JAYBIRD-WOODPECKER WAR IN TEXAS (1888-1889)

The Frontierado Holiday is fast approaching and will be marked Friday August 2nd this year. Frontierado is about the myth of the old west, not the grinding reality. Balladeer’s Blog has covered a lot of Range Wars of the old west, and a few Mormon Wars, but this time I’ll present some politically oriented gunplay. 

JAYBIRD VS WOODPECKER WAR (1888-1889) – First off, let’s make sure to distinguish between JayHAWKS and JayBIRDS. Jayhawks were the anti-slavery forces in Bleeding Kansas during the 1850s. Jaybirds were in 1880s Texas and were the racist white Democrat forces trying to expel the mixed black and white Woodpeckers who had gained power from Republicans during Reconstruction after the Civil War.   

NOTE: An old song about Woodpeckers and Jaybirds had provided the names of the two factions. Democrats seized upon the name Jaybirds, which left Republicans with the name Woodpeckers.

Fort Bend County in Texas was the site of the Jaybird-Woodpecker War. As election day approached, tensions grew so high that exchanges of gunfire as well as violent beatings had broken out.

Some of the violence could have been the result of more personal feuds between Jaybird and Woodpecker members, so most accounts stick to just the handful of incidents that were definitively linked to the political struggle.

On August 2nd, 1888 one of the Jaybird leaders named J.M. Shamblin was killed by Woodpecker forces. In very early September, another Jaybird leader – Henry Frost – was left seriously wounded after another violent exchange.

The Democrat Jaybirds hastily gathered in Richmond, TX – the County Seat – on September 6th. They dispatched Jaybird mobs to use violent intimidation against black and white Woodpeckers to force them out of Fort Bend County before election day in November.

With two zealous factions committing assorted violent acts against each other, Texas Rangers were stationed in Richmond, TX and stayed past the November 6th election day to try to maintain some order. Once again, the Woodpeckers prevailed at the ballot box but tensions did not subside.

Threats and unarmed clashes between Jaybirds and Woodpeckers continued for several months. On June 21st, 1889 Woodpecker Tax Assessor Kyle Terry killed Jaybird L.E. “Ned” Gibson and was himself later killed by Jaybird Volney Gibson, Ned’s brother.   

Additional retaliatory murders were committed by both sides throughout July and early August. On August 16th, 1889 the Battle of Richmond (Texas) broke out.

Woodpecker Sheriff Tom Garvey was killed, resulting in a prolonged exchange of gunfire between J.W. Parker and W.T. Wade on the Woodpecker side and Volney and Guilf Gibson on the Jaybird side. Soon the city filled with reinforcements for both sides and even more gunfire erupted for twenty more minutes, concentrated around the Courthouse, the National Hotel and the McFarlane residence. Seven were left dead.

Ultimately the Woodpeckers were forced out of Richmond. The next day, August 17th, Governor Lawrence Sul Ross sent the Houston Light Guard and the Brenham Light Guards to establish martial law in the city. 

Governor Ross then arrived in Richmond to spend several days mediating. Sadly, the Democrat Jaybirds got everything they wanted. All the Woodpeckers had to resign from county positions and were replaced with Jaybirds or candidates acceptable to the money and power men of the Jaybirds.

An official Democrat Jaybird Organization of Fort Bend County was established in October of 1889 and it took until 1953 for political and courtroom battles to finally overturn all the ugly changes that the Jaybird organization put in place.

TO MAKE UP FOR THIS UGLY, DOWNBEAT ENDING I’LL POST A MORE UPBEAT FRONTIERADO ITEM TOMORROW, FRIDAY.