James Pinckney Henderson

Henderson was a soldier and politician who served as the first Governor of Texas. He was born in North Carolina in 1808 and studied law there as well as serving as a major in the North Carolina militia. He went to Texas in 1836 and was commissioned a Major General in the Texas Army by David Burnet and went back to North Carolina to recruit volunteers for the Texas Army. In 1837, Henderson was appointed as the Texas minister to France and England where he worked to secure recognition of Texas and loans for the new republic. He returned to Texas and established a law practice in San Augustine. After annexation, he was elected as the first Governor of the new State of Texas. He only served one term and spent part of it as a major general of Texas volunteers in the Mexican War, leading the army in the capture of Monterrey. In 1857, the Texas legislature selected Henderson to replace Thomas Rusk as a US Senator, where he only served for a few months before he died in 1858. Henderson County was named in his honor.