Peter W. Gray
Pampa, Gray County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Front) Star and Wreath County Named for Texas Confederate 1819-1876 Virginia-born, came to Texas 1838. Aided 1839 removal Texas Shawness. Officer in Milam Guards, Texas Republic. Political, cultural leader in Houston, Republic, State, and Confederacy: he was district attorney, judge, Justice Texas Supreme Court, Legislator in Texas and C.S.A. Delegate to Texas Secession Convention that raised troops to seize U.S. forts, provided for Texas frontier defense, and ratified C.S.A. Constitution. (Back) Gray in 1864 became Treasury Agent for the "amputated" C.S.A. Sector West of the Mississippi River. There, in effect, he was Treasury Secretary for a land in chaos. Smuggled currency was scarce. Often it was hijacked. No western press could be found to print notes. Couriers and Pony Express were Gray's "wireless" to the Confederate capital. Ammunition, arms, medicines, factory goods vital to the war effort had to be imported for Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, as well as for Texas. Blockade-runners exported cotton via Havana to Europe. Cattle and cotton went to market in Mexico, as Gray served the gallant Confederacy. A Memorial to Texans Who Served the Confederacy. Erected by the State of Texas 1963
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Virginia-born Peter W. Gray came to Texas in 1838 and became a leading figure of the Republic and state, serving as district attorney, judge, Texas Supreme Court justice, and legislator. A delegate to the Secession Convention, he later served the Confederacy, and in 1864 became Treasury Agent for the Trans-Mississippi region, in effect running Confederate finances for a war-torn territory dependent on smuggled currency, blockade-runners, and couriers. Gray County was named in his honor, and the state erected this memorial to him in 1963.
Why it matters
Gray's career illustrates how a single frontier lawyer could help build the institutions of Texas government and then improvise a wartime economy for the isolated Confederate West.
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Related people
- ¡ Peter W. Gray
Related events
- ¡ Texas Secession Convention
Themes & tags
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