Lawson Daniel Gratz

Sources do not agree on when Lawson Gratz was born or married. The Handbook of Texas lists 1834, 1836 and 1839 for his birth. Born into slavery in Kentucky, he joined the Union army in 1864 and served as a sergeant in the 114th U.S. Colored Troops, sent to the Rio Grande after Appomattox. He then served in the Tenth Cavalry, the Buffalo Soldiers, until a discharge at Fort Richardson in 1872. He married in Shackelford County in 1877, raised fourteen children, and died near Annetta in 1909. He was buried at Willow Springs Cemetery.

What the plaque says

Lawson Daniel Gratz Born on September 15, 1839 in Mason County, Kentucky on the plantation of Benjamin Gratz, Lawson Gratz worked as a farmer for his owner prior to the Civil War. Lawson was directed by his owner to enlist in the Federal army on July 24, 1864 at Lexington, Kentucky. Enlistment papers show that Lawson had received some education as his papers displayed his own signature. After enlistment, he proceeded to Camp Nelson where Black soldiers were stationed and was soon promoted to first sergeant of Company C in the 114th U.S. Colored Infantry. Gratz served with the 114th at the Siege of Petersburg and Richmond and was present at the Appomattox Courthouse when Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered. Gratz was discharged in May 1865 but reenlisted in August 1867 in the 10th U.S. Calvary, known as the Buffalo Soldiers. While assigned to maintain order in Indian Territory, Gratz was injured by exploding gunpowder and lost the sight in his right eye. Despite the injury, Gratz refused a discharge and completed his enlistment. Following his five-year enlistment, Gratz moved to Texas and headed to Fort Griffin where he worked as a civilian teamster hauling buffalo hides to markets in Weatherford and Dallas. Gratz married sixteen-year-old Rosa Dedman, the daughter of a former slave and co-worker of Gratz, on September 27, 1877 at Fort Griffin in Albany, Shackelford County. The marriage lasted 32 years and produced 14 children. The Gratz family moved in 1892 from Shackelford County to Annetta in Parker County and purchased a small farm. Gratz died on June 18, 1909 and shall be remembered for his strong leadership and devotion to duty. 175 Years of Texas Independence * 1836 - 2011

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Chandor Gardens — 7.9 mi
  A portrait painter's English-and-Chinese garden rooms, blasted and planted from a bare 3.5-acre hillside in Weatherford beginning in 1936, abandoned after 1978 and reopened by the city in 2002.
• National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame — 18 mi
  A hall of fame begun in Hereford in 1975 to honor rodeo women, widened in 1977 to Western heritage, and housed in Fort Worth's Cultural District since 2002.
• Kimbell Art Museum — 18 mi
  Louis Kahn's cycloid-vaulted museum of 1972, built from Kay Kimbell's bequest and joined in 2013 by Renzo Piano's pavilion for the exhibitions the Kahn galleries could not hold.
• Fort Worth Stockyards — 19 mi
  The brick-street cattle market where Armour and Swift built packing plants in 1902, now a National Register district with a Coliseum, a museum and a longhorn drive twice a day.

More markers nearby

• Annetta Cemetery — 2.5 mi
• Isaac Parker — 3.2 mi
• Bankhead Highway in Aledo — 4.8 mi
• Texas Pythian Home — 4.9 mi