Stockton P. Donley
Clarendon, Donley County, Texas
Marker Inscription
County named for Texas Confederate Stockton P. Donley 1821 - 1871 Came to Texas from Kentucky 1846. Dist. Attorney 1853. Enlisted private 7th Tex. Infantry 1861, made Lieutenant. Captured with regiment after bitter fight at Seige Fort Donelson Tenn. 1862. Prisoner war 9 months Camp Douglas Ill. When exchanged health so broken assigned post duty. Elected to State Supreme Court 1866. Because of Confederate service was removed 1867 by U.S. military order. A memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy Erected by the State of Texas 1963
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Stockton P. Donley came to Texas from Kentucky in 1846 and built a legal career before the Civil War. He enlisted as a private in 1861, was captured with his regiment after the hard fight at Fort Donelson, and endured months as a prisoner at Camp Douglas; his broken health afterward kept him from the front. Elected to the Texas Supreme Court in 1866, he was removed the next year by federal military authority for his Confederate service, and the county later erected here bears his name.
Why it matters
His removal from the bench captures the political upheaval of Reconstruction, when former Confederates were stripped of office under federal military rule across the defeated South.
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Related people
- · Stockton P. Donley
Related events
- · Battle of Fort Donelson
Themes & tags
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