City named for Confederate General General H.B. Granbury (1831-1864) and Granbury's Texas Brigade

Granbury was killed at Franklin, Tennessee, on November 30, 1864, in the assault Hood ordered, and Patrick Cleburne fell there too. A colonel led what remained of the brigade at Nashville, and it surrendered at Greensboro in April 1865. The Texas declaration of causes of 1861 names the defense of slavery as the reason to secede, so that was the cause these men served. The new county seat on the Brazos took Granbury's name in 1866, a year after the surrender.

What the plaque says

City named for Confederate General General H.B. Granbury (1831-1864) and Granbury's Texas Brigade A Mississippian. Came to Texas early 1850s. Lawyer in Waco, recruited Waco Guards, Confederate Army, 1861. Elected Major 7th Texas Infantry. Beat back Federals some miles, Fort Donelson, Tenn., Feb. 1862. Captured there, exchanged Aug. Colonel in Vicksburg campaign to prevent split of Confederacy along Mississippi River. Took 306 men into battle, lost 158. Chickamauga, Sept. 1863 severely wounded. Had brigade command Missionary Ridge. Promoted Brigadier General 1864. Led Granbury's Texas Brigade into Tennessee with Hood. Was one of 6 Confederate Generals killed at Franklin, Tenn. Buried in Granbury Cemetery. (Back of Gen. H.B. Granbury) Granbury's Texas Brigade Formed in Autumn 1863 from remnant of Deshler's Brigade. Texas units included 6th, 7th, 10th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 24th, 25th Infantry, with 3rd, 5th Confederate Regiments of Memphis. Nov. 1863 battles of Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Granbury's men repulsed Sherman's attacks repeatedly. C.S.A. Congress thanked unit for valor at Ringgold Gap at Kennesaw Mountain, this and fellow Brigade counted 700 enemy casualties at their front after one charge. In bayonet combat, yells in the dark from Granbury's men were sufficient to rout Federals. Before troops of equal number in open field the unit was unconquerable. Fought intrenched army, Franklin, Tenn. Battle. Flags flying, drums rolling, but with no cover Granbury's men ran forth on the double. Courage inspired by the leader named it forever: Granbury's Brigade. Erected by the State of Texas 1964

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Granbury Courthouse Square — steps away
  A National Register square of limestone storefronts around W. C. Dodson's Second Empire courthouse, whose clock tower citizens saved after a 1968 tornado.
• Acton State Historic Site — 6.0 mi
  The smallest state historic site in Texas, a grave plot holding Elizabeth Crockett, widow of David Crockett, under a 1913 statue of a pioneer woman shading her eyes toward the west.
• Dinosaur Valley State Park — 14 mi
  Theropod and sauropod trackways of about 113 million years ago in the bed of the Paluxy River, a National Natural Landmark where R. T. Bird found the first distinct sauropod tracks in 1937.
• Cleburne State Park — 19 mi
  A 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps park on the old Chisholm Trail crossing country, with a spring-fed lake, a hand-carved three-tiered spillway and a CCC bridge in Johnson County.

More markers nearby

• Nellie Gray Robertson — steps away
• County Named for Famous Confederate General John Bell Hood — steps away
• Hood County News — 1.0 mi
• First Christian Church of Granbury — 1.5 mi