New Texas (Novo Texas)

New Texas, known in Portuguese as Novo Texas, was a Confederate colony established in São Paulo state, Brazil, by former citizens of the Confederacy after the American Civil War ended in 1865. Situated on the headwaters of the São Lourenço River, just south of São Paulo, the settlement was organized and led by Francis (Frank) McMullan, a native of Walker County, Georgia. The colony carried 154 passengers, all but two of them Texans, when they departed Galveston Harbor on January 25, 1867. Despite high ambitions, the enterprise lasted less than a year under organized leadership, yet its colonists left permanent marks on Brazilian agriculture, religion, and urban geography.

Key facts

  • Country: Brazil
  • Located in: São Paulo
  • Coordinates: -23.7200, -46.6490

Origins and Organization

The wave of Confederate emigration to Brazil drew people primarily from Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, and South Carolina — households that had relied heavily on agriculture and were unwilling to accept the post-war order at home. Brazil’s Emperor Dom Pedro II actively courted these settlers, placing advertisements in U.S. newspapers to recruit them, a move that ran directly counter to the position of defeated generals such as Robert E. Lee, who urged Southerners to stay and rebuild the South.

Francis McMullan was well suited, on paper, to lead such a venture. He had attended McKenzie College in Clarksville, Texas, from 1858 to 1860, and before the Civil War had served as an officer under the filibuster William Walker during Walker’s unsuccessful 1857–58 campaign to capture Nicaragua. He understood frontier colonization, its dangers included. His co-organizer was Colonel William Bowen, and in late 1865 the two traveled to Brazil to scout potential land. They settled on fifty square leagues on the headwaters of the São Lourenço River, south of São Paulo, as the colony site.

Securing passage proved immediately contentious. The colonists faced harassment from port authorities in both New Orleans and Galveston before they could board their vessel. Once at sea, passengers discovered that the ship’s captain had colluded in delays and illegal fines, which triggered a mutiny during the crossing.

The Voyage and Early Disasters

The colonists finally sailed from Galveston Harbor on January 25, 1867, aboard the English brig Derby, with 154 passengers. On February 9, 1867, a tropical storm wrecked the Derby on the coast of Cuba before the group had set foot on Brazilian soil. McMullan then led the survivors north to New York, where they boarded the steamer North America on April 22 for the voyage to Rio de Janeiro. The detour added months to a journey that was already fraught.

After reaching Brazil and establishing the colony on the São Lourenço River, the settlement went by two names. Officially it was New Texas; informally, McMullan called it Lizzieville, after his late wife. The personal gesture gave the place a brief identity, but events soon overtook it.

Collapse and Its Causes

Frank McMullan died of tuberculosis at Iguape, Brazil, on September 29, 1867, less than eight months after the colonists had departed Texas. His death removed the one figure capable of holding the group together and set off a power struggle among the remaining settlers. Food and supplies promised by the Brazilian government arrived late, and the agricultural markets the colonists had counted on never materialized. With leadership gone and economic foundations absent, the colony disintegrated rapidly.

The descent was swift enough that the name Lizzieville barely survived McMullan himself. What remained was scattered across southern São Paulo state, with some colonists eventually clustering near what would become Santa Bárbara d’Oeste.

Lasting Contributions

For all its brevity, New Texas left concrete traces in Brazilian life. Colonist Thomas McKnight is credited with introducing the moldboard plow to Brazil, a technology that contributed to the modernization of Brazilian agriculture. Members of the colony also established a Baptist church and made significant contributions to Brazil’s educational system.

The most formally documented religious legacy came on September 10, 1871, when Pastors Richard Ratcliff and Robert Porter Thomas, together with eight other Baptist Freemasons, organized what is recognized as the first Baptist church on Brazilian soil, in Santa Bárbara d’Oeste, São Paulo. The congregation had just ten founding members.

The geographic legacy is equally concrete. Descendants of New Texas colonists and other Confederados contributed to the founding of the city of Americana, São Paulo, which grew out of a settlement near Santa Bárbara d’Oeste that was originally called ‘Estação’ (the station) after a nearby railroad stop.

The Confederado Descendants and the Festa Confederada

The emigration of which New Texas was part is considered one of the largest political departures of United States citizens in the country’s history. Estimates place the number of Confederados who left for Brazil between 1865 and 1875 at between 2,000 and 4,000 people.

Their descendants kept a distinct cultural identity across generations, most visibly through the annual Festa Confederada (Confederate Festival) held at the end of April in Santa Bárbara d’Oeste. The festival was established in 1981 and draws thousands of attendees each year to mark the Confederate heritage of the region.

In 2022, the Santa Bárbara d’Oeste city council passed a municipal law banning the use of racist symbols at public festivals, specifically naming the Confederate flag and citing the Festa Confederada in its justification. The law placed the annual event at the center of a broader debate about how the descendants of New Texas and other Confederate colonies choose to commemorate that history.

Did you know

  • The brig Derby, carrying 154 Texas colonists to Brazil, was wrecked off Cuba’s coast by a tropical storm on February 9, 1867, before the colonists had ever set foot on Brazilian soil. (tshaonline.org)
  • The colony was also called Lizzieville, named by McMullan after his late wife. The personal name barely outlasted McMullan himself; he died of tuberculosis on September 29, 1867, less than eight months after leaving Texas. (historynet.com)
  • Dom Pedro II placed advertisements in U.S. newspapers to recruit Confederate settlers, directly contradicting the advice of defeated generals including Robert E. Lee, who urged Southerners to stay and rebuild the South. (history.com)
  • On September 10, 1871, survivors of the Confederate colonies formally organized what is considered the first Baptist church on Brazilian soil, in Santa Bárbara d’Oeste, with just ten founding members. (abbevilleinstitute.org)
  • The Confederados who emigrated to Brazil are considered participants in one of the largest political departures of United States citizens in the country’s history, with between 2,000 and 4,000 people estimated to have left between 1865 and 1875. (abbevilleinstitute.org)
  • Descendants of New Texas colonists and other Confederados helped found the city of Americana, São Paulo, which grew out of a settlement near Santa Bárbara d’Oeste originally called ‘Estação’ (the station) after its railroad stop. (snopes.com)

Data sources

Data updated: 2026-10-30