DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker for Andrew Jackson Sowell in Guadalupe County — let me tell you what it says, the way it deserves to be told. Now, there are names history nearly swallowed whole, and Andrew Jackson Sowell is one of them. Born in Tennessee in 1815, he came to Texas about 1829 — a young man arriving in a land that was still figuring out what it wanted to be.
He served in the Army of Texas. And here is where the story gets its weight. Andrew Jackson Sowell was a courier from the Alamo.
He left that fortress — just before it fell — carrying word, riding hard to hurry reinforcements and supplies to the men inside those walls. He rode out. The walls came down.
That's the kind of moment a man carries with him the rest of his life. Sowell lived on. He died about 1882 — that word "about" doing a quiet kind of work, the way it does when the records get thin and the years get long.
His wife, Lucinda Turner Sowell, born 1827, died 1883, outlasted him only a little. Their names sit together on that marker the way they sat together in life. The State of Texas erected this marker in 1956 — recognizing a man who rode away from history's most famous last stand so that the story of Texas might have a fighting chance to continue.
He made it out. He did his job. Sometimes that's the whole of the story, and it's more than enough.
What the marker says
Star and Wreath Born in Tennessee 1815; came to Texas about 1829; served in the Army of Texas; a courier from the Alamo, he left the fortress just before it fell to hurry reinforcements and supplies; died about 1882. His wife Lucinda Turner Sowell, born 1827 - died 1883. Erected by the State of Texas 1956