The author of a monumental new work concerning the Civil War and its impact on southeast Texas, including Fort Bend County, will discuss her topic at the Tuesday, Nov. 21 quarterly meeting of the Fort Bend County Historical Commission.
The meeting, which begins at 3 p.m., is booked in the main meeting room of the Gus George Law Enforcement Academy, 1521 Eugene Heimann Circle in Richmond. The public is invited and admission is free.
Prominent Wharton County researcher and writer Merle Reue Hudgins completed five-plus years of labor with the April 2017 publication of "War Between the States Changed Texas Forever: A Study of Pre-Civil War, Civil War & Post-Civil War." According to Hudgins, the two-volume, 845-page work details the "who, when, where, why and how the state of Texas decided to become a partner in the Confederate states" and how the war forever changed the state's most Old South region.
Particular focus was placed on the contiguous counties of Brazoria, Colorado, Fort Bend, Matagorda and Wharton, Hudgins said, using data drawn from newspapers, diaries and court records, as well as previously published documentation "to give the reader insight into the time frame" prior to and following the war years of 1861-65.
The two-volume set, which contains more than 100 illustrations, is being sold by the Wharton County Historical Commission for $75. Hudgins has been a commission member since 1969 and Wharton County Commissioners Court declared her the county's official historian in recognition of her service.