Colonel Isham Chisum was one of the leading early citizens of Kaufman County. He represented the county in the Texas Secession Convention from January to March 1861. Later in 1861, he fought in the Confederate cavalry of Col. Tom Green in the New Mexico campaign. As colonel of 2nd Partisan Rangers in Walker's Division, he fought at Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, in the Red River Campaign to prevent a Federal invasion of Texas in 1864. He was a cousin of Jesse Chisholm, who pioneered the famous Chisholm Cattle Trail, and of cattle baron John Simpson Chisum. Chisum married Charlotte Martin, and they have many descendants in Texas.