Johnson County
Cleburne, Johnson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Named for Middleton T. Johnson (1810-1866), native of South Carolina, for 7 terms an Alabama legislator, a leading Texan after 1840. Served in 9th Texas Legislature; in Texas Rangers, Mexican War, Civil War. County created and organized 1854, from land earlier in counties of Ellis, Hill and Navarro. First county seat, Wardville, 1854-1856. Second was Buchanan, 1856-1867. Camp Henderson, at famous springs 3.5 miles southeast of Buchanan, a recruiting place in county during Civil War, in 1867 was made county seat and renamed in honor of a Confederate General Patrick Cleburne.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Johnson County was created in 1854 and named for Middleton T. Johnson, a South Carolina native and former Alabama legislator who became a leading figure in early Texas, serving in the Texas Rangers and fighting in the Mexican War and the Civil War. The county seat moved twice before settling at Camp Henderson, a Confederate recruiting camp beside noted springs, which in 1867 was renamed Cleburne to honor the Confederate general Patrick Cleburne. The frequent moves reflect the unsettled, fast-changing character of the North Texas frontier.
Why it matters
The county's founding and shifting seat capture how new Texas counties were carved out and named in the mid-19th century, honoring soldiers and statesmen who spanned the Republic, the Mexican War and the Confederacy.
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Related people
- · Middleton T. Johnson
- · Patrick Cleburne
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of the Old City Spring
Cleburne, TX
This reliable spring drew explorers, soldiers of the Confederate Camp Henderson, and early settlers who traveled many miles to wash, haul water, and visit. Enterprising boys "toted" buckets to town merchants at a nickel apiece, and though the brick-lined pool was often dipped dry, the spring always refilled it. It supplied Cleburne until the town's first city well finally tapped the same source.
Site of Old Picnic Grounds
Cleburne, TX
With its wood and water, this shaded ground served the community around Camp Henderson for public gatherings after 1854. When the settlement became the county seat in 1867, men at a Fourth of July picnic here chose the town's name — Cleburne — in honor of the Civil War commander whom many local veterans had served under.
Oliver Perry Arnold (1826-1905)
Cleburne, TX
Oliver Perry Arnold's life traces the arc of frontier Texas: a South Carolina native who came west in 1847, chased the California gold rush for six years, then settled in Johnson County to raise livestock and a family of twelve. He took up arms in 1861 with a Confederate regiment and later kept the peace as county sheriff through the tumultuous 1870s, capping his career by founding the county's park and fair association.
Early Cattle Trade
Rio Vista, TX
Texas had been famed for beef since Republic days, and during the Civil War its herds fed much of the Confederacy—civilians and soldiers alike—along a web of trails running to Vicksburg, Natchez, Mobile, Little Rock, and beyond. Drovers swam cattle across rivers as wide as the Mississippi, and the hazards ran to mistaken arrests: one officer and his son died in prison on such a drive. Johnson County supplier Meredith Hart, a veteran of 1836, kept sending beef even after being cheated with counterfeit money.