Lori Duran
From Orphaned Beginnings To Wartime Leadership, Pendleton Murrah’s Journey Traces Texas’s Descent Into Civil War–Era Lawlessness… Ending In Exile, Mystery, And A Legacy Still Lost To History, As Author Lori Duran Learns
By the end of the Civil War, Texas stood fractured: impoverished, unstable, and haunted by violence that even reached the governor’s mansion in a shocking era marked by desperation and collapse.
At the center of this turmoil was Pendleton Murrah, Texas’s final Confederate governor, a man shaped by hardship long before the war ever began. Orphaned as an infant and raised through the care of a charitable organization that secured his education, Murrah overcame early adversity and, despite battling tuberculosis, made his way to Texas, where he established himself as both a lawyer and a politician. In November 1863, he was elected governor, just as the Confederacy itself began to unravel.
What followed was a rapid descent into chaos. As the war drew to a close, Texas descended into lawlessness: armed conflict spilled into public institutions, including a violent raid on the state treasury by former soldiers. In the aftermath, Murrah and other Confederate leaders fled into exile in Mexico. He would die there; his final resting place lost to history. In this evocative historical account in a new book released on July 14, author Lori Duran revisits a volatile chapter of Texas’s early statehood, one defined by collapse, survival, and the lingering mysteries left in the war’s wake.
BOOKS EXCERPT:
Civil War Chaos in Texas: The Tumultuous Tenure of Governor Pendleton Murrah
The Night Texas Lost Its Treasure
On the moonlit night of Sunday, June 11, 1865, just days after the final Confederate entry in the state’s fiscal ledgers, Murrah fled to Mexico, and bandits broke into the Texas treasury. The ensuing robbery remains one of Texas’s greatest mysteries, and the unsolved crime remains a stain on Murrah’s legacy. On that night, approximately fifty men were seen riding toward the Capitol. A short time later, sounds of tremendous battering came from the massive iron doors of the treasury vault. Bells of the nearby church rang out. Volunteers knew that the alarm signal indicated trouble, and twenty of them started for the Capitol grounds. The limestone treasury building stood close to the Texas Capitol, just east of it. When the volunteers arrived, they found that some robbers were guarding the building, while others were breaking into safes with pickaxes.
Ex-Confederate Captain George Freeman, from Hamilton, Texas, commanded the volunteer semi-military group. A month earlier, they had banded together to protect the Capitol and public property. In Freeman’s post-robbery report to U.S. General Gordon Granger, he noted that he had been tipped off by someone who heard the sound of axes striking on metal inside the treasury. By the time the volunteers forced their way inside, the bandits had grabbed $17,000 worth of gold and silver specie. That was more than half the precious metals Texas held at the time.
Gunfire In The Treasury
A gun battle erupted between volunteers and robbers, and Freeman was wounded. The robbers bailed out of the north door, clutching their hats, shirts, and trousers tied off with specie. They jumped on their horses and shot their way out of town. They departed in such haste that they dropped $25,000 worth of United States bond coupons onto the floor. More than $2 million worth of bond coupons, other valuable securities belonging to the state’s school fund, and worthless Confederate paper currency were left in the vaults. The bandits were believed to have fled west with the loot. They dropped a few coins near Mount Bonnell in their frantic scramble to get away.
Circumstantial evidence indicates the robbery was likely led by Captain John Rapp, who had recently arrived in Austin. In 1861, Rapp joined the Confederate Army as part of the 5th Regiment of Texas Mounted Volunteers. His service ended in May 1865, just before the Treasury robbery. The Confederate government in Texas was falling apart, and if Rapp and his company had been underpaid, they may have felt a strong sense of entitlement, enough at least to break into the treasury and help themselves to its valuable resources. A volunteer reported that a raider had called out to Rapp during the melee. A neighborhood resident recognized Rapp among the bandits. Rapp and the infamous Austin gunfighter, Ben Thompson, had been part of the same company recruited to protect Texas settlements from hostile Native Americans. Rapp was their captain, and Thompson was their lieutenant. One of the bandits, identified as Elex Campbell, was killed in the shootout. Campbell had also been a member of the Rapp-Thompson company. He reportedly reeked of whiskey and died before the volunteers were able to pry the names of the other culprits out of him.
Vanishing Without A Trace
After the robbery, rumors swirled that all of Rapp’s gang were currently Austin residents. Yet no arrests were made and no formal charges filed, possibly because most state officials had evacuated and the government was completely disorganized at the time. Besides Campbell, none of the other bandits were ever apprehended.
Both Rapp and Thompson had stayed in Austin after their military tour of duty, and following the robbery, they were not seen in the saloons they usually frequented. Rapp disappeared. Thompson, whose friends had busted out of jail just before the robbery, made his way to Mexico to serve under Maximilian. He didn’t return to Texas until 1868. Rapp and Thompson were opportunistic men not known for shying away from violence. Thompson was frequently on the wrong side of the law during his entire adult life. Despite his checkered past, he became the city marshal of Austin in 1881.
While none of the volunteers who responded to the robbery were killed, they unfortunately lost track of the culprits and never recovered the loot. The volunteers were outnumbered two-to-one and did not pursue the thieves until daybreak. Freeman’s report of the robbery wasn’t widely circulated, which led to speculation that placed blame on General J.O. Shelby’s men when they arrived and camped along the Colorado River. Shelby vehemently denied his men were involved in the heist. The volunteer group led by Freeman was organized a month before the robbery after Austin stores were sacked by mobs on the streets, reportedly “ravishing private property”. Until federal troops reached Austin that summer, Freeman’s men continued to guard what remained of the state’s public assets.
Murrah’s Flight To Mexico
It is remarkably coincidental that Murrah left town with Shelby on or around the same date as the robbery. Some theorized that the bandits may have waited for the Confederate exodus before they acted. Murrah had been zealous about following the law and striving to protect Texas while he could. Austin had only 3,000 – 4,000 residents then, and it was likely easy enough to find out that the civil government and law enforcement agencies were dissolving. There would have been no better opportunity to rob the treasury than before the Union forces arrived. The culprits didn’t waste their chance. It’s also an interesting example of the chaotic time when 20 ex-soldiers voluntarily organized to protect city and state resources a month before their state was surrendered by the Trans-Mississippi military command.
After the treasury robbery, Freeman’s volunteers were hired at the request of the understandably nervous Texas comptroller and treasurer to act as guards until fully relieved by the authorities of the federal government. Most Confederate Texas officials had vacated their offices except Lieutenant Governor Fletcher Stockdale, Comptroller Willis Robards, and Treasurer Cyrus Randolph. Freeman’s report about the robbery was given to Granger, who was staying in Galveston, on June 26, 1865, just fifteen days after it happened. In his report, Freeman mentioned his volunteers had been watching public property, including the executive mansion with its furniture, and other state property. Besides that, he was eager to be relieved. The comptroller and treasurer took charge of the government buildings in Austin, including the mansion, the treasury building, the general land office, its records and archives, and other public buildings and records that were turned over to federal occupation forces upon their arrival in Austin.
Following Murrah’s departure, Lieutenant Governor Stockdale was left in charge from June 11 until July 25, 1865. He may have declined to exile himself because he had just lost his wife, Elizabeth Pryor Bankhead Lytle, on April 27, 1865. On that same day, Murrah had penned a letter to his countrymen exhorting them to fight on. He wrote, “They lie who say our cause is hopeless,” and “we cannot be conquered if we remain united.” Elizabeth Stockdale’s death was soon followed by the demise of more members of Stockdale’s extended family. Even with his own personal tragedies, Stockdale stayed behind and governed during this chaotic period.
The Arrival Of Reconstruction
Some Union occupation troops arrived in advance of Texas’s first Reconstruction governor, A.J. Hamilton, who arrived on July 25, 1865, which was just eleven days before Murrah died in Mexico. Stockdale rode to the outskirts of Austin, where he met Hamilton to escort him to the Capitol and give him the keys and the archives. Hamilton, the passionate Unionist, who in 1862 fled a Texas lynching party, was now the first Reconstruction governor. He was nicknamed “Colossal Jack” because of his stature and speaking ability. Hamilton had been a prominent lawyer and politician in Austin since 1850, and he was a vocal pro-Union voice since before the Civil War.
Austin was a small city, with its west side bordered by West Avenue. North Avenue (now Fifteenth Street) and Magnolia Street (Nineteenth Street) provided the northern borders. The eastern edge was East Avenue, with an extension that includes the City Cemetery. The southern border was Water Street and the Colorado River. Only a few homes were located north of North Avenue, and a small number of houses were built on the hills across the Colorado River. Austin was the seat of Government, and its inhabitants experienced firsthand another dramatic turnover of Texas government just four years after their state seceded following a show of force by the US Army command in San Antonio.
The Last Confederate Holdouts
Sometime after his brief stint as acting governor, Stockdale stopped making payments on his house in Austin, which was used as a hospital for Union soldiers during the occupation. The house had become damaged by the wear of treating the sick and wounded, and it was left in a state of disrepair. Stockdale’s role in the Texas government had ended, and he returned to Indianola, Texas. His former residence in Austin still stands and is now known as the Neill-Cochran House Museum.
After giving up his house in Austin, Stockdale kept a busy life. In 1869, he visited Robert E. Lee, then president of Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, Virginia. While there, Stockdale began courting Lee’s daughter Agnes, and a heartfelt romance blossomed between them. Sadly, Agnes Lee died in 1873, likely from typhoid fever, before the romance turned into marriage. Stockdale later married another Elizabeth, Elizabeth Schleicher, in 1877, and they named one of their children Agnes to honor his lost love. Stockdale had long been involved in politics and maintained an untarnished reputation despite his exile to Mexico. Following Reconstruction, he participated in the Texas Constitutional Convention of 1875, which drafted the articles of government. After that, he resumed his legal practice. In 1890, Stockdale died in Cuero, Texas. His body was returned to his childhood hometown of Russellville, Kentucky, for interment. In addition to politics and law, Stockdale had been active in railroad organization and promoted the Cuero Land and Immigration Company. He was president of the San Antonio and Mexican Gulf Railroad and promoted the use of a refrigerator car for shipping Texas beef by rail.
Less than a week after Murrah and other Confederates left for Mexico, Granger was given command of all U.S. troops in Texas. Federal ships docked at Galveston on June 16th and 19th, 1865. On June 19th, Granger issued General Order No. 3, which informed the people of Texas of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves and voided Confederate legislation. This was nearly two years since the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation was announced by Lincoln. June 19th would become the day to celebrate Emancipation and is commonly known as “Juneteenth.” Before Granger’s announcement was broadcast statewide, many Texas slaves were still under the control of their owners, and they had not heard of emancipation. Until a large Union presence occupied the Lone Star State, the institution of slavery functioned in remote places where people were still enslaved.
Federal Occupation Reshapes Texas Society
The Emancipation Proclamation also had the effect of announcing that the war was essentially about slavery, which made it unsuitable for enlightened European leaders to intercede in the war on the Confederates’ behalf. They objected to slavery and were unwilling to risk backing a break-off nation that was based on the forced labor of slaves who were to be freed by order of the U.S. president. Europe’s lack of support for the rebels further sealed the Southerners’ fate.
Upon the Union’s arrival and occupation, notification was sent to various parts of the State, making it clear that the days of the Confederacy had officially ended. Lawlessness throughout Texas diminished when federal troops were stationed there. While Granger proclaimed the end of slavery in Galveston, in New Braunfels, residents raised the Union flag. In Austin, the sheriff read the notice in front of Hancock’s store. Hancock’s corner flagpole once again flew the stars and stripes until it was replaced in 1870 with a telegraph pole.
While Granger was presenting the news of emancipation for the enslaved, Murrah was succumbing to his illness. By the time the exiles reached Monterrey, his strength was gone, and he was completely bedridden. On August 4, 1865, Pendleton Murrah died at the Hotel San Fernando in Monterrey, Mexico. It is still a hotel today, known as Hotel Colonial. Over the years, the hotel has been known under other names, including Hotel Hidalgo and Hotel Baron. It has also been partially rebuilt after a fire, but it still occupies the same spot on Plaza Hidalgo in downtown Monterrey. At the time of Murrah’s brief stay, it was owned by Franklin L. Paschal of Monterrey and formerly San Antonio.
Murrah’s Mexican death certificate, signed by Paschal, listed inflammation of the liver as the cause of death. Additionally, he was known to have had tuberculosis for some time. Murrah’s funeral was attended by former Governor Ed Clark, as well as other prominent people who had likewise exiled themselves to Mexico. Murrah was buried the next day at Antiguo Panteon Municipal de Monterrey, the old municipal cemetery in Monterrey.
The Governor No One Brought Back
Murrah was a childless orphan with no one to bring him home. His final resting place remains in Mexico. The Texas State Cemetery website shows that 14 of the past 48 State governors are buried there, including Francis Lubbock, who succeeded Murrah by just one term. The Texas State Cemetery has a dedicated cenotaph for Murrah. According to an interview, documented and preserved by the Harrison County Historical Museum, a few people have tried to find Murrah’s Mexican grave to bring his remains back to Texas. His grave was identified and suitably marked in 1886, but by 1928, it could not be located despite diligent searching.
The mystery was deepened by an undated article written by Ben Z. Grant and kept in the Harrison County Historical Museum, which stated that Antiguo Panteon Municipal de Monterrey was demolished. His remains might have been moved by then or lost in the new development. Murrah’s exact burial location is unknown, which is a melancholy final note for a state governor.
You can obtain the book on Amazon here, Barnes & Noble here, and at Target here.
Highlights From Chaos At The State Capitol: The Rise And Fall Of Texas’s Last Confederate Governor
- The Dramatic Rise of Texas’s Final Confederate Governor
Pendleton Murrah rose from orphaned beginnings and chronic illness to become Texas’s last Confederate governor during the Civil War’s most volatile years. - Texas Descends Into Wartime Lawlessness
As the Confederacy collapsed, Texas spiraled into instability, violence, and political chaos that reached the highest levels of state government. - The Infamous 1865 Texas Treasury Heist
One of the book’s most gripping moments recounts the midnight robbery of the Texas treasury just days after Murrah fled to Mexico. - Bandits Storm the Capitol Grounds
Armed raiders battered through the treasury vault doors with pickaxes while alarm bells rang through Austin in the dead of night. - A Gun Battle Erupts Inside the Treasury
Volunteers led by ex-Confederate Captain George Freeman exchanged gunfire with robbers in a violent showdown inside the Capitol complex. - Millions in Bonds Left Behind Amid the Chaos
While thieves escaped with gold and silver specie, valuable state securities and Confederate currency littered the treasury floor. - The Mystery of Captain John Rapp
Circumstantial evidence pointed toward Confederate veteran Captain John Rapp as the possible mastermind behind the robbery. - Connections to Legendary Texas Gunfighter Ben Thompson
The story links the heist to notorious Austin gunfighter Ben Thompson, adding Wild West intrigue to the Civil War-era narrative. - No Arrests, No Recovery, No Resolution
Despite widespread suspicion and eyewitness accounts, no one was formally charged and the stolen treasure was never recovered. - Murrah’s Flight Into Exile
As Union forces approached, Murrah and other Confederate officials fled Texas for Mexico in one of the state’s most dramatic political exits. - The Arrival of Reconstruction in Texas
The book chronicles the arrival of Union General Gordon Granger and the transition to Reconstruction governance under A.J. Hamilton. - The Historical Backdrop of Juneteenth
The narrative revisits General Order No. 3 in Galveston on June 19, 1865, marking the enforcement of emancipation in Texas. - A City on the Brink of Collapse
Austin emerges as a tense frontier capital where mobs looted businesses and volunteer militias guarded public buildings. - The Forgotten Fate of Pendleton Murrah
Murrah died in Monterrey, Mexico, weakened by illness and exile only weeks after leaving Texas. - The Lost Grave of a Texas Governor
Despite multiple efforts over decades, Murrah’s burial site has vanished, deepening the mystery surrounding his legacy. - A Rare Glimpse Into Civil War Texas
Author Lori Duran reconstructs a little-known chapter of Texas history filled with political upheaval, violence, and unanswered questions. - The Human Cost of Confederate Collapse
Beyond politics, the book explores grief, displacement, illness, and the emotional toll of a fractured state at war’s end. - A Cinematic Blend of History and Mystery
Treasury robberies, political intrigue, outlaw figures, and lost graves combine to create one of the most compelling untold stories in Texas history.
