Capt. John Henry LeTellier

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Captain John Henry LeTellier. Now, some men find their calling once. John Henry LeTellier found his twice, and the road between those two lives ran straight through some of the bloodiest ground the nineteenth century ever produced.

Born on January 21, 1842, in Virginia, he got himself educated at Bethany College, and by all appearances was headed for a life of teaching and books. Then 1861 arrived, and like so many young Virginians, he joined the Confederate army. He served in Company K, 24th Virginia Infantry, and what followed was not a short adventure.

The 24th Virginia walked into the Battle of Manassas, then Williamsburg, then Seven Pines. They stood at Gettysburg. And there were others.

The marker doesn't linger on the details, and maybe that's right, because the details of those fields don't need embellishment. LeTellier was wounded, more than once. One wound, received at Plymouth, was serious.

The kind of serious that asks a man a question he has to answer for the rest of his life. When the war ended, he answered it. He resumed teaching.

Just like that. Then he pointed himself toward Texas. He arrived in Sherman, set up the Sherman Private School, and ran it from 1871 all the way to 1913.

That is not a short run. That is a life's work measured out in lessons. The marker calls him a dynamic teacher, an expert in mathematics, and says he taught many persons who later rose to prominence.

No names given. Maybe that's the point. The Captain outlived the battlefields, outlived the wounds, and built something in a schoolroom in Grayson County that the Battles of Manassas and Gettysburg never could have predicted.

He died on July 18, 1913, the same year the school finally closed. Some men's stories end when the fighting stops. John Henry LeTellier's story, it turned out, was just getting started.

What the marker says

(January 21, 1842 - July 18, 1913) Born in Virginia. Educated at Bethany College. In 1861 he joined Confederate army, serving in Co. K, 24th Va. Inf. Fought in Battles of Manassas, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Gettysburg and others. Received several wounds, one serious (at Plymouth). Resumed teaching at end of war. Came to Texas and operated the Sherman Private School, 1871-1913. A dynamic teacher and expert in math, he taught many persons who later rose to prominence.