Wharton, William H (1802–1839)

US Texas Revolution leader. He was president of the convention in 1833 that wrote a preliminary Texas constitution. He was named judge-advocate of the separatist army in 1835, but resigned and went east to promote Texas's revolution (1835–36). The Mexican general, Antonio López de Santa Anna, was captured in his absence and the revolution against Mexican control of the state nearly completed. He tried to negotiate Texas's inclusion into the USA (1836–37) but did not live to see annexation completed.

Wharton was born in Albemarle County, Virginia. He married into the wealthy Groce family of Texas, and he and his wife turned their plantation on ‘Eagle Island’ into a meeting ground for those who moulded the future state. He lost the leadership of the colonization forces to Stephen Austin in 1832.