Absolutely. Texans had the same fears as other Southerners of slave insurrections, long before the Harpers Ferry Raid. There never were any mass murders of white people by slaves in Texas, but the incitement of some Abolitionists, particularly John Brown, helped to fuel the fears because the threat had become reality. The fires in North Texas, in the summer and fall of 1860 might have been coincidental or might have been started by a few nutjobs, but I never saw any evidence of a conspriacy.

The other news regarding Robert E. Lee's troops along the south Texas border were just as timely. Texas had been under attack by Commanches, Kiowas and Mexican bandits even before it became a Rebublic in 1836. The annexation in 1846 was a deal with the U.S. government to help defend the frontier and it as a sham failure. That, along with the economic and social politics we are all familiar with, weighed heavily in the elections in Texas. And the Secession Movement of 1861.