General James Smith

After San Jacinto, General Rusk named Smith inspector general on May 4, 1836, and that September Sam Houston ordered him to raise companies and build forts west of Nacogdoches. His plantation sheltered settlers during the conflicts with Native peoples of 1837 and 1838. In July 1839 he commanded a battalion at the Battle of the Neches, where the Cherokee leader Chief Bowl was killed. In 1840 he became a brigadier general. In 1873 Guy Bryan credited a brass coat button of Smith's, bearing a five-pointed star, as the source of the Lone Star emblem.

What the plaque says

General James Smith Park named for General James Smith (Sept. 10, 1792-Dec. 25, 1855) On this hill, as he wished for burial in sight of courthouse is grave of General James Smith, co-founder of Henderson. A south Carolina native, he fought for the U.S. in War of 1812. Moved to Texas 1835. Returned to U.S. to raise troops for Texas War of Independence. Later he fought in Republic's Indian Wars; regulator-moderator uprising in 1840s in East Texas; and in Mexican War. He was first Judge, East Texas District; a legislator; honored in naming of nearby Smith County. His wife, Hannah Parker Smith, is buried beside him in this park. They had ten children. (1962)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• New London Museum and Cenotaph — 11 mi
  A volunteer-run museum beside the pink granite cenotaph for the March 1937 school gas explosion, holding a model of the school, a blackboard from that day and an odorizer device.
• East Texas Oil Museum — 17 mi
  A Kilgore College museum that rebuilds the 1930s oil boom in a full-scale Boomtown with a general store, drugstore and newspaper office, plus dioramas, films and antiques given by East Texans.
• Tex Ritter Museum and Texas Country Music Hall of Fame — 27 mi
  Carthage's country music museum, with Tex Ritter's boots, guitars and saddles in a room styled like a movie theater, and exhibits on other Texas stars, Jim Reeves among them.

More markers nearby

• Merritt Building — 0.7 mi
• First Baptist Church of Henderson — 0.8 mi
• The 1860 Henderson Fire — 0.8 mi
• Henderson — 0.8 mi