Albert Clinton Horton

By the eve of the Civil War Horton held more than 150 enslaved people, which made him one of the wealthiest men in Texas. His plantation on Caney Creek and his large house near Matagorda ran on their labor, and the war cost him most of that fortune. He rode away from Coleto Creek on March 19, 1836, as Fannin's army was surrounded, and the Handbook says it haunted him. His 1846 election as lieutenant governor turned on late South Texas returns that overturned Nicholas Darnell's early lead. He acted as governor from May to November.

What the plaque says

Albert Clinton Horton (1798-1865) Georgia native Albert Clinton Horton came to Texas in 1834 from Alabama, where he had served in the state legislature. He established a plantation along Caney Creek in present Wharton County. In 1835, he returned to Alabama to recruit volunteers for the Texas army, and he served as colonel of a cavalry unit during the Texas Revolution. Upon the establishment of the Republic of Texas in 1836, Horton was elected to congress. He was chairman of the commission appointed by president M.B. Lamar to select a site for a permanent capitol for the Republic of Texas in 1839. When Texas became a state in December 1845, Horton was elected its first Lt. Governor. He served as acting governor for over a year while Governor Henderson was leading Texas forces in the Mexican War. When Baylor University was founded in 1845, Horton was a charter trustee. By the 1850s, he had homes in both Wharton and Matagorda. He and his partner, Abner Clements, gave land for Christ Episcopal Church in Matagorda, the first Episcopal church in Texas. He and his wife, Eliza Holliday, had six children. Horton died in Matagorda in 1865, various sources listing the date of death as September 1, or October 7. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Levi Jordan Plantation State Historic Site — 28 mi
  A sugar and cotton plantation on the San Bernard River whose enslaved builders and their descendants left one of the best-preserved African American archeological sites in Texas.

More markers nearby

• Richard Royster Royall — steps away
• Ira Ingram — steps away
• Seth Ingram — steps away
• Dr. Albert Moses Levy — steps away