{{Short description|American Baptist minister (1811–1895)}} {{Infobox person | name =George Webb Slaughter | image = Indian wars and pioneers of Texas (1890) (14764169392).jpg | image_size = | caption = Illustration of Slaughter's message to Travis, Bowie, and Crockett | birth_name = | birth_date =May 10, 1811 | birth_place =Lawrence County, Mississippi, U.S. | death_date ={{dda|1895|3|19|1811|5|10}} | death_place =Palo Pinto, Texas, U.S. | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | employer = | occupation =Rancher, cattle breeder, cattle drover, clergyman, physician | title =Reverend | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse =Sarah Jane (Mason) Slaughter | children =11, including C.C. Slaughter and William B. Slaughter | parents =William Slaughter<br/>Nancy Moore | relatives = }}
'''George Webb Slaughter''' (1811–1895) was an American Baptist minister, cattle breeder and drover, and rancher in Texas. Born in Mississippi, he drove cattle to Kansas and Louisiana, from his ranch near Palo Pinto, Texas. According to historian J. Marvin Hunter, "he baptized over 3,000 persons and ordained more preachers and organized more churches than any other person in the state of Texas."
==Early life== George Webb Slaughter was born on May 10, 1811, in Lawrence County, Mississippi.<ref name="hazlewood">Claudia Hazlewood, "SLAUGHTER, GEORGE WEBB," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fsl02), accessed August 05, 2014. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.</ref><ref name="libtex">J. Marvin Hunter (ed.), ''The Trail Drivers of Texas'', Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1985, pp. 749-758 [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/books/texasclassics/traildrivers/txu-oclc-12198638-c-0749.html GEORGE WEBB SLAUGHTER, Page #0749] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204213415/http://www.lib.utexas.edu/books/texasclassics/traildrivers/txu-oclc-12198638-c-0749.html |date=2015-02-04 }}</ref><ref name="usgen">[http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txpalopi/oddsnends/1857-1957news/slaughter.htm Rev. George Webb Slaughter Has Distinction First Married In Texas], USGenWeb Project</ref> His father, William Slaughter (1781-1851), was a farmer who had served in the War of 1812; and his mother was Nancy Moore.<ref name="hazlewood"/><ref name="libtex"/> With his parents, he moved Copiah County, Mississippi, in 1821, to Louisiana in 1825, and to Sabine County, Texas, five years later, in 1830.<ref name="hazlewood"/><ref name="libtex"/>
==Career== Slaughter was a courier to Sam Houston.<ref name="hazlewood"/> In this capacity, he delivered a message from Houston to William B. Travis at the Battle of the Alamo in 1836.<ref name="hazlewood"/>
Slaughter joined the United Methodist Church in 1831.<ref name="libtex"/> However, ten years later, he joined the Baptist Church, becoming an ordained Baptist minister in 1844.<ref name="libtex"/> He served as a Baptist minister in Sabine County and other parts of East Texas until 1851.<ref name="hazlewood"/> He then moved with his family and cattle to Freestone County, Texas.<ref name="hazlewood"/> Six years later, in 1857, he established a ranch near Palo Pinto, Texas.<ref name="hazlewood"/> There, he also served as a Baptist minister and practised medicine.<ref name="hazlewood"/> According to historian J. Marvin Hunter, "he baptized over 3,000 persons and ordained more preachers and organized more churches than any other person in the state of Texas."<ref name="libtex"/>
During the American Civil War of 1861-1865, Slaughter provided beef from his ranch to the Tonkawa, a Native American tribe who were aligned with the Confederate States Army.<ref name="hazlewood"/>
After the war, Slaughter focused on cattle breeding and droving.<ref name="hazlewood"/> With his son C.C. Slaughter, he drove cattle from Palo Pinto, Texas to Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1867.<ref name="hazlewood"/> The herd was meant for T. H. Johnson.<ref name="hazlewood"/> He also sold cattle to James Loving (1836-1902) and Charles Rivers in 1867-1868.<ref name="hazlewood"/><ref name="libtex"/> In 1870, he drove 3,000 heads of cattle on the Chisholm Trail all the way to Kansas with his son.<ref name="hazlewood"/> Living in Emporia, Kansas, from 1870 to 1876, he drove cattle every year.<ref name="hazlewood"/>
From 1876 to 1884, Slaughter returned to Texas, where he focused on ranching with another son, Peter Slaughter.<ref name="hazlewood"/>
==Personal life== Slaughter married Sarah Jane Mason on October 12, 1837.<ref name="hazlewood"/><ref name="usgen"/> They were the first couple to get married in the Republic of Texas.<ref name="usgen"/> They had eleven children.<ref name="hazlewood"/><ref name="libtex"/>
==Death== Slaughter died on March 19, 1895, in Palo Pinto, Texas.<ref name="hazlewood"/><ref name="libtex"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Slaughter, George Webb}} Category:1811 births Category:1895 deaths Category:People from Lawrence County, Mississippi Category:People from Palo Pinto County, Texas Category:Ranchers from Texas Category:American cattlemen Category:Baptists from Texas Category:Tonkawa history Category:Baptists from Mississippi Category:19th-century Baptists