General Hiram Bronson Granbury and Statue in Granbury Texas. (original) (raw)

General Hiram Bronson Granbury statue

While the descendents of the General spell the family name Granberry and it appears as Granberry on his tombstone, the town and his statue on the courthouse lawn are spelled Granbury as are most historical references to the man.

General Hiram Bronson Granbury statue inscription

The son of a Mississippi Baptist minister, Hiram moved near Waco in the 1850s where he became a lawyer and served as chief justice of McLennan County. During the Civil War Granberry recruited troops to serve in the Waco Guards, a unit in General Gregg's brigade.

As a Major, Granberry was captured by Union troops in February of 1862. After an officers' exchange that same year, he was promoted to Colonel upon his return to duty. Granberry saw action in Louisiana and Mississippi was wounded at Chickamauga and saw further action at Missionary Ridge. He eventually commanded his own brigade and became Brigadier General in early 1864. He served in Cleburne's division of Gen. Johnston's Army of Tennessee and led his troops in General John B. Hood's invasion of Tennessee. It was at the battle of Franklin in late1864 that Granberry was killed in action. First buried near where he fell, his body was reinterred near Columbia, Tennessee and in 1893, twenty-eight years after the end of the war, his remains were brought to the Texas city named in his honor.

Granbury is the county seat of Hood County -named after Granberry's commanding officer. Hood County sits in a cluster of Texas counties named after Confederate generals Cleburne, Gregg, and Johnson.

The statue on the courthouse lawn was imported from Italy while the base was furnished by Waxahachie monumentalist James Youngblood. It was erected in 1913.