Within the main settled portion could be found several distinctive agricultural regions. The principal center of the cotton plantation system was in a cluster of a half-dozen counties that touched the coast in Matagorda and Brazoria counties, and included the best soil in the Gulf Plains. Much cotton was also raised in the Brazos, Colorado, and Trinity river bottoms. Most of the state’s Negro population (182,566 slaves and 355 free Negroes) lived in the vicinity of these heavy cotton producing counties. To the north and east of the plantation centers was an area of agricultural diversity. Cotton was raised as a “cash crop”, while grains and vegetables were grown for local consumption. Northwest and west of the cotton lands was a subsistence agricultural belt that extended to the frontier. Here, strong men fought marauding Indians and contended with periodic drought in an effort to make a meager living for their families. Finally, to the southwest of the plantations was cattle country, where almost four million unmarketable beeves roamed the open ranges from the San Antonio River to the Rio Grande. The agrarian nature of 1860 Texas is well reflected in the fact that less than five percent of the population lived in urban areas. There were fifty-two incorporated towns (settlements of over 1,000), of which only San Antonio and Galveston exceeded the 5,000 mark. Other points of minor population concentration were scattered villages and a score of Federal military forts that were situated along the Rio Grande and near the frontier line.[3] POLITICS, SECESSION, AND WAR In state politics Texas was divided between a loosely organized Democratic Party and the followers of Sam Houston. Houston’s strong anti-sectional views cost him the gubernatorial election in 1857. Two years later, however, the aging hero of San Jacinto capitalized on a general reaction against sectional extremists and was elected governor on a nationalist platform. When Abraham Lincoln won the Republican presidential nomination in 1860, Governor Houston urged his fellow Texans to keep cool heads and to avoid taking drastic steps that might later be regretted.[4] In the national election of November, 1860, the voters of the Lone Star State cast a three to one majority for John C. Breckinridge (Southern Democrat) over John Bell (standard bearer of the conservative Constitutional Union Party.) The names of Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas (Northern Democrat) did not appear on Texas ballots. When it was learned that the Republican candidate had won the presidency, Texans, like other Southerners, went into mourning and many replaced United States flags with state banners. Then, when other states of the South called for secession conventions, Texans demanded that the same action be taken in their state.[5]