Colonel Jack Wharton (CSA)

Jack Wharton, also known as Whorton, lawyer and Confederate officer, was born in Towsonton, Washington County, Maryland, on December 1, 1832. Wharton was raised in Baltimore, Maryland. He studied law at St. James College and was admitted to the State Bar and practiced law in Maryland until 1857. At this time, he moved to Kansas. The violent and unsettled nature of that area, however, compelled Wharton to leave for California in 1858. After spending some time in California, he returned to Baltimore briefly. Prior to 1860 Wharton moved to Texas, where he established a large stockraising ranch in Van Zandt County. After the outbreak of the Civil War, Wharton joined the Sixth Texas Cavalry Regiment, then forming at Dallas, Texas, as a captain of Company E in September 1861. Wharton served with his unit in several engagements in Indian Territory, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. He received promotion to lieutenant colonel on August 14, 1863, and was promoted to colonel prior to the end of the war. He commanded the 6th Texas Cavalry Regiment and was the acting commander of the Texas Cavalry Brigade at the end of the war.

Following the war, Wharton returned to Van Zandt County, where he resumed ranching. In 1867 he was employed by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in the laying of a rail line between Shreveport, Louisiana, and Marshall, Texas. In 1868 he moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he held various posts with the state government, including United States marshal of the Southern District of Louisiana. Wharton died in New Orleans on April 7, 1882, and is buried in Maryland.