John A. Wharton

Wharton, a son of William H. Wharton, grew up on a Brazoria County plantation and studied under a Boston teacher, Mr. Deans. From 1846 to 1850 he attended South Carolina College, and in 1848 he married Eliza Penelope Johnson, daughter of the governor of South Carolina. He read law with William Preston, Jack Harris and Elisha M. Pease and practiced at Brazoria with Clint Terry. In 1860 he held taxable property worth $167,004, including 135 enslaved people. On April 6, 1865, he was killed in Houston by fellow officer George W. Baylor in a personal quarrel.

What the plaque says

John A. Wharton Came to Texas from Tennessee. Prominent orator, jurist, and prosecutor. Delegate Texas Secession Convention 1861. Joined Confederate Army as Captain Company "B" Terry's Texas Rangers. After Terry was killed Wharton elected Colonel and led this famous regiment Battle Shiloh and Kentucky Campaign 1862. Twice wounded and made Brigadier General for bravery in action. Promoted Major General 1863 after brilliant fighting Chickamauga Campaign. Gallantly led cavalry corps Red River Campaign to prevent invasion of Texas 1864. Erected by the State of Texas 1963

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas State Cemetery — steps away
  A hill east of the Capitol that began with one general's grave in 1851 and now holds Stephen F. Austin, governors, Barbara Jordan and more than 2,000 Confederate veterans and widows.
• French Legation State Historic Site — 0.4 mi
  A raised pine house built in 1840 and 1841 for France's envoy to the Republic of Texas, who left Austin in a rage over a neighbor's pigs before it was finished.
• George Washington Carver Museum — 0.4 mi
  East Austin's museum of Black history and culture, grown from a segregated branch library moved across town in 1933, with a permanent exhibit on Juneteenth at its core.
• Texas State Capitol — 1.1 mi
  Austin's fourth statehouse, a Renaissance Revival capitol of 1888 that stands 311 feet to its Goddess of Liberty and was restored after the 1983 fire.

More markers nearby

• Capt. Jesse Billingsley — steps away
• John Ireland — steps away
• Gen. Alexander Watkins Terrell — steps away
• William P. Hardeman — steps away