Bexar County vs Other Texas Counties

Bexar County Population 1777

15 Enslaved Individuals

2,060 Individuals

<1%

As production of cotton increased across the counties so did the population of enslaved people.

Bexar County had a smaller slave population as opposed to other counties in Texas because it could not take advantage of farming cash crops and slave labor was integral to maintaining the operations involved in managing larger farms.

The effect of emancipation on farm size in Bexar County

1860

Farm Size in Acreage

1870

29%

3 to 10

+60%

50 to 100

+40%

100 to 500

6%

3 to 10

19%

50 to 100

26%

100 to 500

Farm Size in Acreage

The mass migration that occurred between 1860 and 1870 greatly reduced slave labor making larger farms unsustainable and less profitable, leading to an increase in smaller more manageable farms.