DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Bandera Cemetery — and friend, this one's got layers worth peeling back. Now, you might drive past a cemetery and think, well, that's the end of the story. But out here in Bandera County, the burial ground on the edge of town is more of a beginning.
The Bandera Cemetery has been serving this community since the 1850s — and get this — the oldest burial there dates all the way back to 1851, before the town of Bandera itself was even established. Somebody went into that ground before the town had a name worth putting on a map. The folks resting there tell you something about who built this place.
Community leaders, veterans — and not just from recent memory. Some of those veterans were involved in military conflicts reaching back to the Mexican American War, which ran from 1846 to 1848, and even earlier than that. Members of fraternal organizations are represented there too.
Generation after generation, laid to rest on the same stretch of Texas soil. But here's where the story gets something special. The land itself — the very ground beneath those headstones — traces its ownership back to a man named Hendrick Arnold.
Arnold was a free African American who served as a guide and spy during the Texas Revolution. He didn't serve alone, either. He joined the revolt alongside his father-in-law, a man known as Erastus — and folks called him Deaf — Smith.
Deaf Smith led what the marker calls a celebrated spy company, and Hendrick Arnold was part of it. Now, after several transactions over the years, a section of Arnold's land made its way toward a new purpose. And in 1907, seven women organized the Bandera Cemetery Association, and that section of land was deeded over to them.
Seven women. They saw what needed doing and they did it. Today, the Bandera Cemetery is still active — still serving the community, still receiving the community.
From Hendrick Arnold's land to a spy company's legacy to seven determined women to the generations buried beneath the Hill Country sky — that ground holds more history than most people slow down long enough to notice.
What the marker says
The Bandera Cemetery has served the town of Bandera since the 1850s. The site's oldest burial dates to 1851, before the town's establishment several years later. Many former community leaders of the area are buried in the cemetery. In addition, there are a number of veterans interred here, some involved in military conflicts dating to the Mexican American War (1846-1848) and earlier. Members of fraternal organizations are also among those represented here. Ownership of the land can be traced back to Hendrick Arnold, a free African American who was a guide and spy suring the Texas Revolution. He joined the revolt with his father-in-law, Erastus (Deaf) Smith, who led the celebrated spy company of which Arnold was part. After several transactions over the years, the section of Arnold's land which became the burial ground was deeded to the Bandera Cemetery Association, which seven women organized in 1907. Today, the burial ground continues to serve the community as an active cemetery and remains an important part of Bandera's history. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2006