Walter P. Acker
Lampasas, Lampasas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Walter Acker joined the Confederate Army in Paulding, Mississippi at age 16. He arrived in Lampasas in 1875 as an attorney with his second wife, Elizabeth. He was elected district attorney in 1878. state representative in 1883, and mayor in 1901. In 1910 Acker moved to Harris County and served three terms in the State Legislature from that district. In 1930 he was honored as the last confederate veteran to serve in the Texas Legislature. He died at the Confederate Home in Austin
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Walter Acker joined the Confederate Army at sixteen in Paulding, Mississippi, then came to Lampasas in 1875 as a young attorney. He built a long public career in Texas — district attorney, state representative, and mayor — before moving to Harris County and serving three more terms in the legislature. In 1930 he was honored as the last Confederate veteran to sit in the Texas Legislature, and he died at the Confederate Home in Austin.
Why it matters
Acker's life bridges the Civil War and the modern era, marking the moment the last veteran of the Confederacy passed out of Texas public office.
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Related people
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Themes & tags
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Lampasas County, C.S.A.
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Organized in 1856 with barely a thousand residents, Lampasas County voted narrowly for secession in 1861 and sent its men into Confederate and Texas state units during the Civil War. Those who stayed behind mustered as Minute Men to guard the home front, then returned to help wives and children tend the cattle and crops. All the while this remained a raw frontier, where the war overlapped with raids as Indians took horses and killed hunters.