Stonewall County
Aspermont, Stonewall County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Explored 1541 on behalf of Spain by Francisco de Coronado. Visited by Texans early as the 1840s. Mapped by U.S. Army expedition of Capt. Randolph March, 1849. Yielded salt for use of early settlers and hunters. Was site of buffalo hunters' capital, Rath City, 1876-1879. County created in 1876; organized 1888. Named in honor of Confederate General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (1824-1863), whose courage and fighting skill inspired Texas soldiers in the Civil War. First county seat, Rayner, replaced 1898 by Aspermont, named for high location. (1965)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The rolling country of Stonewall County holds a deep frontier history: Spanish explorer Francisco de Coronado passed through in 1541, and U.S. Army mapmakers followed in 1849. Its salt springs supplied settlers, and from 1876 to 1879 the rough buffalo-hunters' town of Rath City reigned as a hide-trade capital. The county, created in 1876 and organized in 1888, honors Confederate general Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, and its seat shifted from Rayner to higher-set Aspermont in 1898.
Why it matters
The county's layered past — from Spanish entrada to buffalo boomtown to organized government — traces the whole arc of how the Texas plains passed from Indigenous ground to Anglo settlement.
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Related people
- · Francisco de Coronado
- · Thomas J. Jackson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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