John Hemphill
Canadian, Hemphill County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1803 - 1862) Star and Wreath. On the eve of secession, U.S. Senator Hemphill set forth to Senate January 1861 Texas' right to secede and again became a sovereign nation. Elected delegate provisional Confederate Congress at Montgomery, Alabama which drafted the new nation's constitution, mobilized manpower, set up financial structure, elected political leaders. Died in Richmond, Virginia, Confederate capital. A memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy erected by the State of Texas 1963.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
John Hemphill, born in 1803, sat as a United States senator from Texas on the eve of the Civil War and argued forcefully for his state's right to leave the Union. He was elected a delegate to the provisional Confederate Congress at Montgomery, which framed the new government's constitution and machinery, and he died in the Confederate capital of Richmond in 1862. This marker was raised by the State of Texas in 1963 to honor Texans who served the Confederacy.
Why it matters
Hemphill's path from the U.S. Senate to the Confederacy personifies the secession crisis, and the 1963 memorial reflects how mid-twentieth-century Texas chose to remember it.
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Related people
- · John Hemphill
Related events
- · Secession of Texas
- · Provisional Confederate Congress
Themes & tags
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