Captain Henry C. Lyon

Duane's take

This one comes straight off the official marker, and it's a story worth telling carefully. Captain Henry C. Lyon.

Born in Tennessee, April 15, 1815. Two armies. One disputed grave.

Let me lay it out for you. Lyon served in the army of the Republic of Texas. Think about what that means for a moment.

Not the United States Army. The Republic. Texas was its own nation, and Henry Lyon was there, soldiering for it.

Then the decades turned, and when the Confederate States of America put an army together, Lyon commanded a company in that one too. Two flags, two wars, one man who kept showing up when the shooting started. He died March 31, 1889.

The State of Texas erected this marker in 1936, which tells you something about how the state felt about him. But here is where the story gets a wrinkle, and I'd be doing you wrong to leave it out. There is a supplemental stone at this site, placed by the Fisher County Historical Society, and it says, for the public record, that Captain H.

C. Lyon's body is not buried in Roby Cemetery. His body lies in Woods Chapel, where he was buried, March 31, 1889.

The same day he died, he was laid to rest somewhere other than where this marker stands. So the honor is here. The captain is somewhere else.

That's the kind of thing Texas doesn't let you forget.

What the marker says

Served in army of the Republic of Texas * Commanded a company in the army of the Confederate States of America * Born in Tennessee, April 15, 1815 * * Died March 31, 1889 Erected by the State of Texas 1936 [supplemental stone inscription: For Public Record Capt. H. C. Lyon's body is not buried in Roby Cemetery. His body lies in Woods Chapel where he was buried March 31, 1889. Fisher Co. Historical Soc.]