DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the man ridin' shotgun on the story. Captain L. D.
Bradley. Born 1831, died 1886. He came to Texas from Alabama in 1855, and if the land had any idea what it was getting, it would've stood a little straighter when he crossed the line.
When the Civil War came, Bradley took command of Company B, 2nd Battalion, Waul's Texas Legion. Now that right there is a name that sounds like it means business, and before long, it would prove it. The date you want to remember is May 22, 1863.
The place is Vicksburg — that great contest on the Mississippi River, a siege that had both sides grinding against each other day after bloody day. On that particular morning, Federal forces punched a penetration into the Confederate fort defending the river. A hole in the line.
The kind of moment where hesitation costs everything. Bradley didn't hesitate. He volunteered.
Gathered twenty of his own men, joined up with eighteen others — thirty-nine souls total — and walked straight toward the breach. Under fire. They sealed it off.
The marker calls it one of the most daring defensive actions in the entire Siege of Vicksburg, and that is not a small thing to say about a fight that had no shortage of desperate moments. He wasn't done. Bradley went on to command a regiment in the defense of the Texas coast, and then rode into the 1864 Red River Campaign — the push to prevent a Federal invasion of Texas itself.
The man spent a war with his boots pointed toward the danger. He left Alabama in 1855 looking for Texas. Turns out Texas found itself a captain worth keeping.
What the marker says
(1831 - 1886) Came to Texas from Alabama in 1855. In Civil War commanded Co. B, 2nd Battalion, Waul's Texas Legion. On May 22, 1863, was a leader of one of most daring defensive actions in the Siege of Vicksburg. Volunteered, along with 20 of his own men and 18 others, to seal off a Federal penetration into the Confederate fort defending the Mississippi River; acted under fire. Later commanded a regiment in defense of Texas coast and in 1864 Red River Campaign to prevent Federal invasion of Texas.