Granbury Local Customs

Granbury sits within Hood County, named for General John Bell Hood who led "Hood's Texas" the most renowned Confederate Brigade in the Civil War. This photo was respectfully displayed at the Old 1885 Hood County Jail museum.

FYI: John B.Hood was born in Kentucky and was a West Point Graduate.

He adopted the Lone Star State when he served in the army on the Texas frontier. He resigned from the US Army in 1861 to serve in the South.

He commanded the 4th Texas Infantry and rapidly rose to Lt. General.

Hood was known as the Fighting General for his leadership in the Army of Northern Virginia.

At the Battle of Chickamauga he lost a leg, but went on to become commander of the Army of Tennessee.

Mystery surrounds the spelling of the town's namesake, H.B. Granbury. His name originally was spelled Granberry, but as he matured H.B. changed it to Granbury. In fact, his headstone residing at the Old Granbury Jail reads Granberry.

Nautie Granberry Moss, H.B's sister, was interviewed at the time of his reinternment in 1893 at the Granbury cemetery, saying "The name had always been spelled Granberry, but because of some peculiar whim, General Granbury insisted on spelling his name "Granbury" at a later point in his life.

As one historian stated, "General Hiram Brinson Granbury was one of the most popular and colorful leaders in the Confederate Army."

Another legend of a Granbury man who loved to quote Shakespeare. Many believe the John St Helen that lived in Granbury was in fact John Wilkes Booth who assassinated Abraham Lincoln in Washington. He was supposed to have broken a leg after jumping from the theatre onto the stage to escape. History books say that federal troops killed Booth 12 days after the President was killed. However other stories say that Wilkes actually escaped to Texas and assumed the alias name of John St Helen. Some conspiracy theorists conclude that government conspirators helped Booth escape.

John St Helen showed up in Granbury during the early 1870's and walked with a limp. He also quoted Shakespeare as did John Wilkes Booth who was an accomplished Shakespearean actor. St Helen worked as a saloon keeper in Granbury and was also known to get drunk every April 14 which marks the anniversary of Lincoln's assassination. He was said to have taken off when approached by a Federal Marshal in Glen Rose where he lived for 2 or 3 years in a small cabin before moving to Granbury. He left Glen Rose without packing as soon as he heard that a local woman was to marry a US Marshal and several other Marshals would attend the wedding.

St Helen was supposed to have confessed on what he thought was his deathbed. He told a priest and several others that he was in fact Abraham Lincolns assassin. He also told them where they could find the gun that he used to kill the President. The gun was later found wrapped in newspaper detailing Lincoln's death. St Helen didn't actually die at that time and survived. Because of his confession, he left Granbury in a hurry. Later in 1903 in Enid Oklahoma, a man named David George claimed to be John Wilkes Booth and also claimed to have changed his name the first time around to John St Helen. He then committed suicide and the mystery was never really resolved. However TV. series 20/20 and "Unsolved Mysteries" have provided enough corroborating evidence to assume that maybe the legend is true.