DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — Colonel Benjamin Franklin Terry, Harris County, Texas. Now, some men leave a name behind them. Benjamin Franklin Terry left his name on a regiment, on a county, and on a plot of ground where the people who loved him were eventually laid to rest beside him.
Let me tell you how all that came to be. Terry was born February 18, 1821, and by the time the country started pulling itself apart, he was a Fort Bend County planter with a reputation and a restlessness. In 1861 he served as a member of the Secession Convention — he was in the room when Texas made its choice.
And once that choice was made, Terry wanted to be where the fighting was. So he went to Virginia. Hoping, the marker says, to fight for the South in the first battle of the war.
And he didn't just watch from a distance. At First Manassas, he was cited for valuable volunteer service. Cited.
That means somebody noticed. Somebody wrote it down. But Terry had a larger idea forming.
He came back to Texas and raised a cavalry regiment. Now here's the part worth slowing down for — when the time came to commission him colonel, he accepted only after his men elected him. Not before.
After. That's a man who wanted to know he had his people's trust before he led them anywhere. They would come to be known as Terry's Texas Rangers, and they would attain renown.
That word — renown — the marker earns it without explaining it, which is sometimes how you know a thing is real. But Colonel Terry did not live to see what his Rangers became. He was killed at Woodsonville, Kentucky — killed while leading his unit's first charge.
The very first. He never got to see the second. He died December 17, 1861.
Less than a year after the Secession Convention. Less than a year after Virginia. He was forty years old.
His Rangers carried his name until the end of the war. And after the war, Terry County was named in his honor. In this plot in Harris County, alongside the colonel, rest Mrs.
B. F. Terry, their daughter Mrs.
Cornelia Terry Thatcher and her infant, and two Terry children. A family gathered back together in the earth, under the name of a man who rode out front and didn't come home. Some names get carried.
Benjamin Franklin Terry's got carried a long, long way.
What the marker says
(February 18, 1821 - December 17, 1861) Star and Wreath Fort Bend County planter. Member Secession Convention, 1861. Sent to Virginia hoping to fight for South in first battle of war. Cited for valuable volunteer service First Manassas. Raised cavalry regiment that attained renown as Terry's Texas Rangers. Accepted his commission only after his men elected him colonel. Killed at Woodsonville, Kentucky while leading unit's first charge. His loyal Rangers carried his name until end of war. Terry County named in his honor. In this plot also rest: Mrs. B. F. Terry, Mrs. Cornelia Terry Thatcher (daughter) and infant, two Terry children.