Since the end of the Civil War no state has seceded from the United States, although there has been talk of doing so in Texas, California and Alaska from time to time. But while no state has done so, there is a county that declared its independence and declared war on the United States at the same time.

Van Zandt County is located in the state of Texas, east of Dallas. It was formed out of Henderson County in 1848. In 1861, after Texas left the Union, 350 citizens of the county met in protest, eventually trying to secede from Texas to rejoin the United States. An intervention of Texas Confederate forces put an end to that “nonsense” before it got off the ground.

By the time the Civil War was over, the good citizens of Van Zandt had had enough of the Confederacy, Texas and the United States and decided it was high time to go it alone. So a convention was called in 1867, delegates were elected, and those delegates voted to secede from Texas and the United States. They even wrote their own Declaration of Independence, modeled after the American Declaration, of course.

Things went along as usual for a short time, at least until the American military got wind of Van Zandt’s actions. This was during Reconstruction, after all, and U.S. military forces were stationed in Texas to enforce the laws of the United States. Those forces, under the command of General Philip Sheridan, were called up to quell the new rebellion. Sheridan sent in a cavalry unit to retake Van Zandt. At receiving word of this, the new Van Zandt government promptly declared war on the United States. The stage was set for the Second American Civil War.

Van Zandt had one advantage. At this time, the “nation” was thickly wooded, making it very difficult for cavalry to maneuver effectively. The Van Zandt forces laid in ambush, waited for the invading American cavalry, and managed to drive them off. At that easy victory, there was nothing else to do but to celebrate, and celebrate they did. In fact, they celebrated so much that they became falling-down drunk. And falling-down drunk is a terrible state to be in when a counter-attack begins.

Sheridan’s troops had regrouped and returned to Van Zandt, where they found their inebriated opponent no match. The Van Zandt men were taken into custody and placed in leg irons and put into a rough prison of wooden posts that had been hastily built. Two of the prisoners were ex-Confederate soldiers, W. A. Allen and Hardy Allen. W. A. had a knife hidden on his person that the guards hadn’t bothered to check for, so he used it to wear down his anklets and escape.

The rest of the men became model prisoners, causing no trouble and doing as they were told. Due to their cooperation, it was decided that the number of guards posted would be reduced to one.

Pretty soon the rainy season began. The rain fell and fell, making the ground soft and soggy. With that, the Van Zandt men decided that the time to regain their freedom had come. They managed to loosen several of the log pickets by throwing their bodies against them, since were loosened in the ground due to all the rain. This they did until the logs gave way and they managed to escape. The men went to farms in the area, where sympathetic farmers struck the leg irons off the men’s ankles, after which they returned home.

After the escape, things just sort of died down. Arrest warrants were issued but were left unserved, and none of the men ever went to trial. No peace treaty was ever signed, either, nor has Van Zandt ever formally rescinded its Declaration of Independence. To this day, there is a sign on the highway leading into Canton that reads “You are entering the free State of Van Zandt.”