George F. Horton Home
Edna, Jackson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built 1876 in Old Texana by Confederate veteran, businessman, postmaster, George F. Horton. Dismantled and moved to Edna in 1882. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1965.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
George F. Horton built this house in 1876 in Old Texana, a once-promising Jackson County town, and when its fortunes faded he simply dismantled the home and moved it to nearby Edna in 1882. A Confederate veteran who became a businessman and postmaster, Horton belonged to the generation rebuilding civilian lives across Texas after the Civil War. The house was recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 1965.
Why it matters
The relocated home illustrates both the postwar rebuilding by Confederate veterans and the way whole Texas towns rose and fell as commerce shifted in the late 19th century.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · George F. Horton
Related events
- · American Civil War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Jackson County, C. S. A.
Edna, TX
Jackson County voted for secession in 1861 by 147 to 77 and then threw its resources into the Confederate war effort. Its beef and cotton fed the South, while local beds and mines yielded salt, hides, tallow, and lead, and families at home molded bullets and wove clothing for the fighting men. Couriers skirted the blockaded coast toward Brownsville, and a Confederate gunboat chased from Lavaca Bay sank in the Navidad.
Confederates of Jackson County
Edna, TX
When the Civil War came, this small Texas county of just 2,612 people sent more than a hundred men to Confederate service — among them a Mexican War amputee who marched on a crutch and a Texas Revolution veteran killed at Shiloh. Their names filled companies of the 1st and 2nd Texas and Whitfield's Legion, while others rode with Terry's Texas Rangers or served as Confederate marines. From this thinly settled corner of Texas, local men reached some of the war's bloodiest fields.
Site of The Johnston-Huston Duel
Edna, TX
On this ground in February 1837, two generals of the young Republic of Texas' army, Albert Sidney Johnston and Felix Huston, settled a bitter dispute over command in the era's brutal fashion — a pistol duel that left Johnston seriously wounded. Johnston survived to become one of the Confederacy's most senior generals, only to be killed leading the attack at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862.
Victoria
Victoria, TX
Martín de León founded Victoria in 1824 as the seat of his colony, a Mexican outpost meant to buffer settlement against Comanche country. Its residents rallied to the Texas War for Independence in 1836 and later to the Confederate cause during the Civil War. Through it all Victoria grew into a hub of trade, cattle, oil, and industry on the coastal plain.