CONFEDERATE BIOGRAPHY:  WILLIAM H. GASTON, Smith County, TX

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Submitted by Mary Love Berryman - marylove@tyler.net
14 April 2002 
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TEXANS WHO WORE THE GRAY by Sid S. Johnson 

W. H. GASTON.

William H. Gaston, of DaHas, was born in Wilcox county, Ala., in 1840.  
He was the son of Col. Robert K. Gaston, of the well known South 
Carolina family, who removed to Pal­estine, Texas, in 1849, and to Tyler 
in 1860, where he died in 1881 in his seventieth year.  He was a 
representative in the Texas legislature from Anderson county before 
the war and later represented Smith county in that body.  The sub­ject 
of this sketch was reared and educated in Texas and was engaged in 
farming when the state seceded in 1861. He and his brother, Robert H. 
Gaston, who was killed in the battle of Antietam, enlisted at Palestine 
in May as privates in Co. H, First Texas Infantry, and on reaching 
Virginia he was elected captain of his company.  Subsequently his 
regiment as part of the renowned "Hood's Texas Brigade," helped to make 
history. He took part in all the battles of his regiment while it was 
with the Army of Northern Virginia, beginning at West Point, Va., and 
including the engagements at Gaines' Mill--where the Texans achieved 
sudden fame by their reck­less charge up the heights held by the enemy--
Malvern Hill, second Manassas, Sharpsburg and Fredericksburg.  In 1863 
he was transferred to the Trans-Mississippi department and assigned to 
duty as aide-de-camp to Col. A. T. Rainey, in command at Galveston.  
On account of his executive ability the government soon commissioned 
him purchasing agent, with headquarters in that city, and he remained 
the war came to an end. Both as a field and bureau officer he evinced 
notable ability.  In 1868 Captain Gaston removed to Dallas where he 
has since resided, and for nearly forty years he has been accounted 
one of the leading financiers of Texas. He is president of the Gaston 
National Bank of Dallas.  He was married to Miss Furlow, of Anderson 
county, Texas, and has three sons: Edwin, William H., and Robert K. 
Gaston, the last named being the adjutant of the Third Texas In­fantry, 
U. S. Volunteers, during the Spanish-American war. The three sons are 
active, successful business men. Captain Gaston has two daughters: 
Laura, wife of Hon. E. P. Finley, of San Antonio; and Miss Annie Ione 
Gaston.  The family home in Dallas, built after the old Southern 
style, is a center of gracious hospitality.