The HEDGCOXE WAR from the Handbook of Texas Online. The "Hedgcoxe War" of 1852, also known as the Peters colony rebellion, was an armed uprising of colonists protesting what they viewed as an attempt by the land company to invalidate their land claims. From its inception the colony had been embroiled in controversy regarding the terms of agreement between the land company and the settlers. On February 10, 1852, the state legislature, in an attempt to satisfy both the colonists and the land company, passed a compromise law. According to its terms all lawsuits between the land company and the state were to be withdrawn, the colonists were to be given new guidelines and extended time for filing their claims, and the state was to give the land company 1,088,000 acres of land. But the colonists, concerned over the possible sale of some claims and angered over the legislature's generosity towards the land company, continued their protest and demanded that the law be repealed.

In May 1852 the agent of the land company, Henry Oliver Hedgcoxe, published an explanatory proclamation that stated the colonists had until August 4, 1852, to establish their claims with him. The proclamation, which was viewed by the company's opponents as arrogant and autocratic, contributed to the misinterpretation of the compromise law. The colonists were further aroused when the attorney general, Ebenezer Allen,qv issued an opinion upholding the law. At a mass meeting of colonists in Dallas on July 15, 1852, Hedgcoxe was accused of fraud and corruption by an investigating committee. On July 16, 1852, John J. Goodqv led about 100 armed men from the mass meeting to Hedgcoxe's office in Collin County. Hedgcoxe's files were seized and removed to the Dallas County Courthouse. No violence was done, but Hedgcoxe was ordered to leave the colony. He fled to Austin the next day. Alarmed by the colonists' actions, the land company adopted a conciliatory tone towards the settlers. On February 7, 1853, an amendment to the compromise law, satisfactory to both sides, was passed. Except for relatively minor adjustments made in the courts and the legislature over the next ten years, the colonists' title difficulties were ended.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Seymour V. Connor, The Peters Colony of Texas: A History and Biographical Sketches of the Early Settlers (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1959). Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin (William S. Peters, Peters Colony). Victoria S. Murphy

Another version of the Hedgecoxe War found at multiple sites

By 1850, about eight out of every ten Dallas County residents were Peters' Colonists. Each settler was entitled to 640 acres of land under an 1841 agreement between the Republic of Texas & Peters Colony in which the company received land grants for attracting certain quotas of settlers to its North Texas colony. As colonists arrived & made their claims, however, there were rarely any Peters Colony agents available to make clear the property boundaries. As a result, one dispute after another arose.

In 1852, the Texas State Legislature enacted the so-called "Compromise Law", which fulfilled the government's obligation to Peters Colony but enraged settlers because it granted company owners 1.08 million acres of land in choice locations. Peters Colony was given until July of that year to establish its claims.

At this point, long-simmering frustrations flared up, resulting in an incident known as the "Hedgecoxe War" or "Peters Colony Rebellion". Henry Oliver Hedgecoxe, a Bristisher who had been representing the company in the area since 1845 gained the residents' enmity because of his officious manner.

John H. Reagan, on the threshold of a distinguished career as a Texas politician, was one of the leaders of the many protest meetings that ensued. Those attending a May 15, 1852 meeting vowed to "aid & assist" any colonist oppressed by the company in its claim, & to exert "by all means in our power to obtain in his rights as a colonist-peacefully if we can-forcibly if we must."

On July 12th & 13th, 1852, a committee of citizens representing Dallas County led by B. Warren Stone, J. M. Crockett, James H. Smith, Alexander Harwood, Samuel B. Pryor & A. Bledsoe forced their way into Hedgecoxe's office in Collin County & conducted an "investigation" of the records. Committee members reported back to a mass meeting in Dallas on July 15th that fraud & corruption were evident & that Hedgecoxe himself had evil intentions. Reagan spoke for hours, deploring the situation, but urging those present "to abstain from a resort to violence".

Such words, however, inspired action not patience, & after the meeting, a group of armed men followed John J. Good to Hedgecoxe's office, seizing files containing the colonists' claims & other books & documents belonging to the company. Hedgecoxe fled to Austin. Good & his volunteers returned to Dallas to join a wild celebration over the deed. They deposited the confiscated papers in the courthouse & joined in merrymaking which saw one company official burned in effigy while another, William Myres, was actually ridden about on a rail. The two men were given one month to leave the country.

Despite the consternation of many colonists who now feared they could never gain proper title to their land, the records were never returned to Peters Colony officials. Presumably, the records burned in a courthouse fire. Peters Colony owners apologized to the colonists for the unfortunate practices that had upset them, & problems concerning titles to the lands were largely settled during the following year with only minor adjustments.