1843 – 1929
by Ann Carlton Oppenheimer, Great-Granddaughter
Hood County Genealogical Society Newsletter – August 1995
George Washington Carlton was born on 22 February 1843 in Marion County, Tennessee; about sixty miles west of Chattanooga. In about 1851/52, the Carlton family migrated by ox cart to Newton County, Arkansas.
It was from Newton County that at the age of15, George W. Carlton walked into the Texas wonderland, herding sheep. He was paid $8.00 a month for his labor. He lived in Hood County and the surrounding area. He had an uncle and aunt, James Lowery and Mary Allison, also living in the county. He earned wages by driving freight wagons from Stephenville to Shreveport.
In March 1862 George W. joined Hood’s Texas Brigade, First Texas Regiment at Kickapoo, Texas. The First Texas was known as “The Ragged First.” Hood’s Texas Brigade was the only Texas unit to serve with the Army of Northern Virginia. At the battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg), the First Texas lost over 80% of their soldiers. Historians have declared this battle as the worst day of casualty loss in the entire war. George W. was captured in 1864 in East Tennessee and was paroled in June 1865 in Lexington, Kentucky. During the war he was wounded twice. One of these wounds was received at the Battle of Chickamauga. One mini ball could not be removed and as a result he walked with a slight limp. George W. had six brothers: five brothers were in the Union Army and one brother was in the Confederate Army.
After the war George W. drifted to Jackson County, Alabama, as he had relatives living there; he married Nancy Rogers in 1868. In 1870 George W. and wife, Nancy, and her family consisting of the Rogers, Turners, Willis, and Raglands migrated to Long Valley, near Glen Rose. In 1872, all of these families then migrated to Young County, Texas, and settled on farms near Graham.
They visited Hood County often as George W. had many cousins living in the county. Their surnames were McPherson, Allison, Rash, and Rippetoe. One of George’s sons, Samuel Clyde Carlton, married Maggie Elva Wilson of Paluxy, Hood County in 1901.
George W. Carlton died 10 January 1929 in Graham, Texas. He had been an active member of the Confederate Veteran Association, Young County, Texas Camp. His picture with this organization appears in many historical books. He had a Confederate uniform made and he requested that he be buried in this uniform.