Andrew Zumwalt

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll give it to you straight. Now, Texas has got markers for generals, for governors, for men who filled whole pages of history just by Tuesday. But every so often you come across a name that the marker keeps real simple, and somehow that's the one that stops you cold.

Andrew Zumwalt. Born September 1, 1817. Died November 1, 1886.

And right there between those two dates, the marker gives you three words that carry more weight than most men's entire obituaries: San Jacinto veteran. Think on that a moment. San Jacinto.

The battle that settled the question of what Texas was going to be. Andrew Zumwalt was there. He stood on that ground when it mattered most, and he came out the other side.

He went on to live the rest of his days, and when November 1, 1886 finally came, Texas had already been a place worth fighting for long enough that most folks had started taking it for granted. That's the thing about the men who made the moment. The moment gets remembered.

The men, sometimes, you have to go lookin' for. Well. Now you've found him.

What the marker says

A San Jacinto veteran, born September 1, 1817; died November 1, 1886.