Great Hanging Memorial

On the morning of October 1, 1862, Texas state troops arrested more than 150 men in and around Gainesville. Cooke County had voted against secession, and by 1860 fewer than 10 percent of its household heads owned slaves, the Handbook of Texas says. A "citizen's court" of twelve jurors, seven of them slaveholders, convicted on a majority vote. Forty suspected Unionists were hanged in October and two more were shot trying to escape; men were also killed in Grayson, Wise and Denton counties. Nathaniel Clark was hanged after the court had acquitted him.

Texas newspapers mostly praised the killings, and postwar prosecution was weak: only one man, in Denton, was convicted, the Handbook says. A 1999 effort to raise $200,000 for a memorial failed, and in 2012 the Cooke County Heritage Society canceled a 150th-anniversary event after the mayor objected. Leon and Jean Russell have placed white crosses under the hanging tree each year since 2008.

The memorial stands at Georgia Davis Bass Memorial Park, 729 E. Main Street. The city council approved it in December 2013, private donations paid for it, and it was dedicated in 2014. It is two etched granite slabs: one gives an account of the events, and the other lists the names of 42 victims, which is two more than the Handbook's count of forty hanged.