Site of Home of Captain George T. Todd
Jefferson, Marion County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1839-1913) Born in Virginia. Came to Texas 1843. During Civil War, served in famous Hood's Texas Brigade. At Chickamauga, took command after Gen. Hood was shot. In 1864-1865, fought west of the Mississippi with Lane's Partisan Rangers. After war, was in the Texas Legislature and on University of Texas Board of Regents. As district attorney, prosecuted Cincinnati jewelry salesman Abe Rothchild for the 1877 roadside murder of "Diamond Bessie" Moore. Covering 7 years, this famous trial put in conflict some of the nation's best lawyers and set numerous legal precedents.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Captain George T. Todd came to the Republic of Texas as a boy and grew into one of Marion County's most consequential men. He fought with the celebrated Hood's Texas Brigade in the Civil War, famously taking command at Chickamauga after General Hood was wounded, then rode with Lane's Partisan Rangers in the war's final year. In peacetime he served in the legislature and as a UT regent, but he is best remembered as the district attorney who spent seven years prosecuting the sensational 'Diamond Bessie' murder case.
Why it matters
Todd's life links the battlefield valor of Texas's most storied Confederate brigade to one of the Gilded Age's most famous murder trials, a courtroom drama that helped shape Texas legal precedent.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · George T. Todd
- · John Bell Hood
- · Abe Rothchild
- · Bessie 'Diamond Bessie' Moore
Related events
- · Battle of Chickamauga
- · Diamond Bessie murder trial
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
George T. Todd House
Jefferson, TX
Captain George T. Todd, a Confederate veteran who became a district attorney, state legislator, and senior East Texas attorney, built this late Victorian home in Jefferson in 1893 for his large family. Distinguished by a corner tower with a mansard roof, the house remains in the hands of his descendants.
Confederate Civil War Meat Packing Plant
Jefferson, TX
Beginning in 1861, J. B. Dunn's meat plant near Jefferson dressed, packed, and shipped beef, pork, and mutton to the Confederate army, salting the meat in 42-gallon barrels and moving it along the Cypress Bayou shipping route. So much food and cotton flowed out of Texas that the state earned the name "breadbasket of the Confederacy," though the army sometimes complained of spoiled, bloody meat in the barrels.
Atkins House
Jefferson, TX
This late Greek Revival house was probably built in 1860 by T. O. Alley, son of Jefferson co-founder Daniel N. Alley. Later owners included steamboat captain James M. Tucker, who served in the 16th Texas Dismounted Cavalry of the Confederate Army, and W. T. Atkins, an official of the Jefferson Iron Company who held the home the longest, from 1892 to 1923. Its succession of owners mirrors the rise and fall of a busy riverport town.
Claiborne House
Jefferson, TX
Volney H. Claiborne, a Virginian who had served in the Civil War, married Lucy Perry in 1864 and in 1875 built this one-and-a-half-story house in the late Greek Revival style, then already uncommon in Texas. Its design closely echoed the nearby home of Lucy's father, William Perry, and the couple raised eight children within its walls before Volney's death in 1897 left the property to their descendants.