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George Whitfield Terrell (c. 1803 – 1846) was an attorney general, judge, and diplomat in the Republic of Texas.[1]
He was born in Kentucky in about 1803. His father was James Terrell. His family moved to Tennessee when he was a child. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1827.
Terrell became Attorney General (equivalent to a district attorney) for the Thirteenth District of Tennessee in 1829 and served until 1836. Some sources state that he was appointed to this position by then Governor Sam Houston.[1][2] Another states that he was elected by the Tennessee legislature.[3]
He moved to Mississippi in 1837 where he experienced financial problems, shortly afterward moving to the Texas republic for a fresh start. In 1840 he was appointed as a district attorney by then President Mirabeau Lamar, Sam Houston's rival, but declined to accept his offer to become Secretary of State. Upon his re-election to the Texas Presidency in late 1841, Houston appointed him Attorney General.[4]
From 1840 to 1842 Terrell was District Judge for the Fifth District, which office also served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas.[2]
In 1843 Terrell, along with Edward H. Tarrant, negotiated the Treaty of Bird's Fort with nine tribes of Native Americans.[5]
Terrell also served as a diplomat, representing Texas interests to the nations of France, Great Britain, and Spain.[1]
He was an opponent of annexation by the United States.[1]
Terrell knew Andrew Jackson and in 1842 gave the former U.S. President the gift of a pipe carved from a stone from the Alamo. This pipe is now in the collection of the Hermitage Museum.[6]
He died in 1846 in Austin, Texas and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery.[2]
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