Old Harrison
Waco, McLennan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Named for Confederate General James E. Harrison, kinsman of U.S. president Wm. Henry Harrison and close friend of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Born in South Carolina. Early settler, political leader and landowner in McLennan and Falls counties. Member of the Texas seccession convention. As an adopted son of Chickasaw Indian Tribe, headed special Civil War missions in Indian Territory. As a stockholder in Waco tap railway, gave right-of-way and site for Harrsion Station. Town had post office, school, stores, churches, gins, gristmills.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This marker recalls the vanished community of Old Harrison, named for Confederate General James E. Harrison—kin to President William Henry Harrison and a confidant of Jefferson Davis. A South Carolina–born planter and political leader, Harrison helped push Texas toward secession and, as an adopted son of the Chickasaw, led Confederate missions into Indian Territory during the Civil War. His donation of right-of-way and a station site for the Waco Tap Railway briefly turned this spot into a working town of stores, gins, gristmills, churches, and a school.
Why it matters
It captures how a single well-connected Confederate leader could knit railroads, frontier settlement, and Indian Territory diplomacy into the rise—and eventual fading—of a small Texas town.
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Related people
- · James E. Harrison
- · Jefferson Davis
- · William Henry Harrison
Themes & tags
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