The Brown County Historical Society has made application to the Texas Historical Commission for a Texas Historical Marker for the grave of George Smith.

George Smith was one of the first Black men to move to Brown County.  He was born into slavery in Virginia, around 1847.  In 1861 he escaped slavery and fled to Washington, D.C., where he lived during the Civil War, helping the U.S. Army to dig protective trenches around the capital city.

After the Civil War, in 1869, Smith enlisted in the U.S. Army and was sent to Texas – as a “Buffalo Soldier” – to fight Apache and Cheyenne native Americans.  When his enlistment expired he returned to Washington, D.C, but in 1876 he re-enlisted in the Army and was once again sent to Texas to fight native Americans.

In 1881 Smith completed his enlistment in the Army, but this time stayed in Texas.  He moved to San Angelo and became an Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME).  In 1885 he was sent to Brownwood to organize a church there.  Smith found that there was no school in Brownwood for Black children.  He worked with local civic leaders and started the school that later came to be known as the R.F. Hardin School.  Smith lived in Brownwood until his death in 1913, and is buried in Greenleaf Cemetery.

The Texas Historical Marker for George Smith will cost $2300, and donations are needed to pay for the marker.  If you can help, make out a check to “Lappe Law Office Trust Account”, mark it for the George Smith Historical Marker, and mail to:  Lappe and Lappe Attorneys at Law, 404 N. Fisk, Brownwood, TX. 76801.  Lappe and Lappe will bundle the donations and make one check to the Texas Historical Society.