DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker for Captain William M. Logan is the story I'm about to tell you, and it's a good one to hear out here on a Texas road. Now, some men arrive in a place and leave barely a footprint.
William M. Logan was not that kind of man. Born in North Carolina on September 17, 1802, he made his way to Liberty, Texas, in 1832 — back when Liberty was still a rough and tumble outpost on the edge of a world that hadn't quite decided what it was going to be yet.
And then came San Jacinto. When the call went out for men willing to put everything on the line, Logan didn't wait to see which way the wind was blowing. He organized and commanded the 3rd Company of the 2nd Regiment, Texas Volunteers, at the Battle of San Jacinto.
That's not a man who showed up — that's a man who led others into the fight. After San Jacinto, Liberty County needed law, and the people there knew exactly who to trust with it. William M.
Logan became the first sheriff of Liberty County. First. That means he was writing the rules as he went, building the office from nothing, in a place that was still finding its footing.
He didn't get a long run at it, though. On November 22, 1839, Logan died in Houston. He'd come a long way from North Carolina, and he'd packed a whole lot of Texas into those years.
The State of Texas erected this marker in 1943 — because some men, it turns out, the land remembers.
What the marker says
Born in North Carolina September 17, 1802. Moved to Liberty 1832. Died in Houston, Nov. 22, 1839. Organized and commanded 3rd Co., 2nd Regiment Texas Volunteers, Battle of San Jacinto. First sheriff of Liberty County. Erected by the State of Texas 1943