Site of The Johnston-Huston Duel
Edna, Jackson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On this spot General Albert Sidney Johnston and General Felix Huston fought a duel February 5, 1837. General Johnston was seriously wounded. While commanding the Confederate army at the battle of Shiloh April 6, 1862, he was killed. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On this ground in February 1837, two generals of the young Republic of Texas' army, Albert Sidney Johnston and Felix Huston, settled a bitter dispute over command in the era's brutal fashion — a pistol duel that left Johnston seriously wounded. Johnston survived to become one of the Confederacy's most senior generals, only to be killed leading the attack at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862.
Why it matters
It links the hot-blooded honor culture of the Texas Republic to the national tragedy of the Civil War through one man's arc from frontier duelist to fallen commander.
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Related people
- · Albert Sidney Johnston
- · Felix Huston
Related events
- · Battle of Shiloh
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
George F. Horton Home
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George F. Horton built this house in 1876 in Old Texana, a once-promising Jackson County town, and when its fortunes faded he simply dismantled the home and moved it to nearby Edna in 1882. A Confederate veteran who became a businessman and postmaster, Horton belonged to the generation rebuilding civilian lives across Texas after the Civil War. The house was recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 1965.
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When the Civil War came, this small Texas county of just 2,612 people sent more than a hundred men to Confederate service — among them a Mexican War amputee who marched on a crutch and a Texas Revolution veteran killed at Shiloh. Their names filled companies of the 1st and 2nd Texas and Whitfield's Legion, while others rode with Terry's Texas Rangers or served as Confederate marines. From this thinly settled corner of Texas, local men reached some of the war's bloodiest fields.
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