DUANE
Duane's take
The marker tells it this way, and I'm just passing it along. Now, if Texas history has a hall where the boldest names are carved deepest into the stone, Benjamin Rush Milam's is near the top. The marker calls him the Preeminent Hero of Texas — a man of rare initiative and courage, a modest and willing personality, a devoted friend.
Those aren't just words chiseled for ceremony. That's a life they're trying to account for. Milam was born in Frankford, Kentucky, in 1788.
He came up in an era when the frontier wasn't a metaphor — it was a literal edge of the known world, and some men just kept walking toward it. He served as a soldier in the War of 1812. After that, he didn't slow down.
By 1818 he was out trading with the Texas Comanche Indians. Two years later, 1820, he was riding as a Colonel in the long Trespalacios expedition. Long.
That's the word the marker uses, and you get the sense it earned the description. Then came his years as a Texas colonizer — 1826 all the way through 1835. Nearly a decade of planting roots in this wild country.
And somewhere in there, 1831, he became the first navigator of the upper Red River. First. Whatever that river looked like in 1831, no recorded soul had run it before Benjamin Rush Milam did.
By the autumn of 1835, Texas was stirring toward something that couldn't be stopped. On October ninth of that year, Milam assisted in the capture of Goliad. That was just the opening note.
He had bigger plans. He planned the attack on San Antonio — mapped it out, shaped it, put his name and his life behind it. And on December seventh, 1835, while he was commanding the Texas forces in that fight, Benjamin Rush Milam was killed.
Here's the thing the marker makes sure you know: the forces he was commanding — they captured the town. The man didn't live to see it, but the plan he made, the men he led, they finished what he started. This marker was elected by the State of Texas in 1936, with funds appropriated by the Federal Government, to commemorate one hundred years of Texas independence.
A century on, they wanted it remembered. A devoted friend. A colonizer.
A navigator. A soldier. And a man who gave his life commanding the attack on San Antonio — on December seventh, 1835 — while his cause was still very much in the balance.
Benjamin Rush Milam didn't live to see San Antonio fall. But San Antonio fell.
What the marker says
(Front) Benjamin Rush Milam (Right) Preeminent Hero of Texas a man of rare initiative and courage. Of a modest and willing personality a devoted friend. Born in Frankford Kentucky in 1788 a soldier in the War of 1812. (Back) Trader with the Texas Comanche Indians in 1818 was a Colonel in the long Trespalacios expedition in 1820. Texas Colonizer 1826 to 1835. First navigator of the upper Red River in 1831. (Left) Assisted in the capture of Goliad October ninth 1835. Planned the attack on San Antonio and was killed on December seventh 1835 while commanding the Texas Forces which later captured the town . (back) Elected by the State of Texas 1936 with funds appropriated by the Federal Government to commemorate one hundred years of Texas Independence.