Colonel Robert Simonton Gould
Buffalo, Leon County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1826-1904) Born in North Carolina. Educated at University of Alabama. Came to Texas in 1850. Practiced law in Centerville. Served as the first district attorney, then as judge in the Old 13th Judicial District. Represented Leon County as member of Secession Convention, 1861. Afterward, as this county voted 534 to 82 in favor of secession, raised locally troops which as Co. B, became nucleus for 6th Texas Cavalry (or Gould's) Battalion, in the Confederate Army. First as major, then as colonel, Gould led battalion for 4 years in Louisiana and Texas. Saw duty in Red River campaign to prevent invasions of Texas, fighting in the 1864 repulses of Federals at Mansfield and Pleasant Hill. At Jenkins Ferry, Ark., Col. Gould had his horse killed under him. After the war he was reelected judge of the Old 13th District, but was removed in 1867 by military authorities in charge of reconstruction in Texas. Appointed assistant justice of Texas Supreme Court in 1874, he was afterwards elected, and served until Dec. 31, 1882 (being chief justice in 1880-1882). Was named, along with Governor O. M. Roberts, as one of two first professors of law at the University of Texas, holding tenure 1883-1899. Died in Austin.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Robert Simonton Gould came to Texas in 1850, built a law practice in Centerville, and won election as the region's first district attorney and then judge. A delegate to the 1861 Secession Convention, he raised local troops that became the nucleus of the 6th Texas Cavalry and led the battalion for four years, fighting in the 1864 Red River Campaign at Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, and Jenkins Ferry, where his horse was shot from under him. After Reconstruction officials removed him from the bench, he rose to chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court and became one of the first two law professors at the new University of Texas.
Why it matters
Gould's life traces the Confederate South's path from secession and war through Reconstruction to the rebuilding of civic and educational institutions, embodied in one man who helped found Texas legal education.
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Related people
- · Robert Simonton Gould
- · Governor O. M. Roberts
Related events
- · Secession Convention of 1861
- · Red River Campaign
- · Battle of Mansfield
- · Battle of Pleasant Hill
- · Battle of Jenkins Ferry
Themes & tags
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