John Drayton Pitts

John Drayton Pitts (August 26, 1798 – February 5, 1861) was an American politician and businessman. He served as Adjutant General of Texas from 1848 to 1849 and founded multiple settlements in Texas.

Biography Pitts was born on August 26, 1798, to captain John Pitts and Jane (née Ingram) Pitts. He was born at sea in the Atlantic Ocean, aboard a ship sailing from England to Charleston, South Carolina. He lived in Charleston prior to the War of 1812, at which he moved to Georgia.

As a young adult, Pitts lived in Stewart County, Georgia. He served as its justice of the peace and as an trustee of local education. He also worked as a civil engineer, as which he oversaw the construction of a bridge crossing the Chattahoochee River. He was a founder of the settlement of Florence. In 1841, he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. In 1842, invited eleven other families to move to the country. He worked as a clerk for the Texas House of Representatives in the late 1840s. He was appointed Adjutant General of Texas by Governor George Tyler Wood, serving from March 4, 1848, to 1849. He was a founder of San Marcos and served on the inaugural jury of its district court. He also founded the settlement of Blanco, with James Hughes Callahan under the Pittsburg Land Company. A slaveowner, he owned fifteen people and was a delegate of the 1861 state convention discussing secession.