The reason for moving the county seat from a site on the Sabine River like Pulaski was that it had poor water and was prone to disease and flooding.
Whetstone supposedly convinced the commissioners that the water was good by pulling a jug of whiskey out from a hollow in an oak tree in what is now downtown Marshall.
He supposedly killed over twenty people, and was described in his obituary as a "noted freebooter who for many years has been an object of terror and hatred on the eastern frontier of Texas".
Whetstone's grave is unmarked, although he is traditionally believed to be buried at a site off what is now Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Ironically, Whetstone, who was illiterate, is often attributed with establishing Marshall as an educational center by helping to finance early schools and academies.