Texas Confederate Colonel Henry P. Brewster (1816-1884)
Alpine, Brewster County, Texas
Marker Inscription
County named for Texas Confederate Colonel Henry P. Brewster, 1816-1884. South Carolinian; came to Texas, 1836. Attorney General, State of Texas, 1847-49. When South seceded he was instrumental in recruiting post office personnel, gathering property, arms, munitions of war from Texas for the Confederacy. Appointed Adjutant and Inspector General under General Albert S. Johnston. Assigned special duty under General John B. Hood. Buried 60 fathoms deep in the Gulf of Mexico at his request. A memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy Erected by the State of Texas 1963
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Brewster County honors Henry P. Brewster, a South Carolinian who came to Texas in 1836 and served as state attorney general before throwing himself into the Confederate cause. When the South seceded he helped gather arms and matériel from Texas and served as adjutant and inspector general under General Albert Sidney Johnston, later on special duty with General John Bell Hood. At his own request he was buried at sea in the Gulf of Mexico; the state raised this memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy in 1963.
Why it matters
The naming of a vast West Texas county and a 1963 state memorial for a Confederate officer reflect how Texas long wove Lost Cause remembrance into its public landscape.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Henry P. Brewster
- · Albert Sidney Johnston
- · John Bell Hood
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Texas Confederate General Lawrence "Sul" Ross
Alpine, TX
Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross rose from private in 1861 to brigadier general by 1863, leading a largely Texan cavalry brigade through hard fighting in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. Tradition holds he had five horses shot from under him across 135 engagements. The State of Texas erected this memorial in 1963, and a college bears his name.
Jeff Davis County
Fort Davis, TX
Carved from Presidio County and organized in 1887, this West Texas county was named in honor of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States. The town of Fort Davis, which had served as Presidio County's seat, became the new county's seat. The marker records the administrative birth of a mountainous, sparsely settled corner of the Trans-Pecos.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis
Fort Davis, TX
This marker traces Jefferson Davis's ties to Texas: a Mexican War officer in 1847, then U.S. Secretary of War in 1855, when he strengthened frontier forts to open West Texas and famously experimented with imported camels for desert patrols and hauling. After the Civil War and his imprisonment, the former Confederate president returned to visit the state and its veterans. Jeff Davis County was named for him in 1887.
Old Fort Davis C. S. A.
Fort Davis, TX
For a brief, dramatic span in 1861–62, this frontier outpost on the San Antonio–El Paso military road served as a Confederate supply point, held by Texas Mounted Rifles after the U.S. Army withdrew. Troops passed through en route to the ill-fated campaign to seize New Mexico and Arizona — and the Pacific gold routes — while Apache warriors ambushed a patrol under Lt. Mays in the Big Bend that August.