Captain Leiper Willoughby

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Captain Leiper Willoughby, right there in Lavaca County. Now settle in, because this one reaches all the way back to the early days of Texas. Leiper Willoughby came to Texas in 1831.

Eighteen thirty-one. That's before the Republic, before the revolution, before any of it. He arrived and he stayed, and when the moment came, he was ready.

He rode with Captain William H. Patton's Company at the Battle of San Jacinto. You know that name, San Jacinto.

Whatever was in the air that day, Willoughby was there breathing it. But the story doesn't stop there. Texas being Texas, there was always another fight waiting just around the next bend.

In 1842, Willoughby answered the call again, serving in the Vasquez Campaign and fighting against the Indians that same year. Same year. The man did not believe in resting on what he'd already done.

He came to this land when it was raw and uncertain, he stood at one of its most defining moments, and he kept standing when the trouble came back around. Leiper Willoughby died in 1874. The State of Texas erected this marker in 1956, making sure his name was not forgotten out here on the road.

And now you know it too.

What the marker says

Star and Wreath Came to Texas in 1831. Member Captain William H. Patton's Company at the Battle of San Jacinto. Served in the Vasquez Campaign and against the Indians in 1842. Died in 1874. Erected by the State of Texas 1956.