Colonel John S. Sutton

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker on Colonel John S. Sutton tells it, and I'll do my best to honor every word. Now, Sutton County didn't come out of nowhere, and neither did the man.

Colonel John S. Sutton, veteran soldier, Texas Ranger, Indian fighter, had already lived several lifetimes worth of hard country before the Civil War ever knocked on his door. But when it did knock, he answered.

At the outbreak of the war, Sutton joined the 7th Regiment Texas Mounted Volunteers. The men thought well enough of him to elect him lieutenant colonel, and that tells you something right there. You don't get elected by men who are about to ride into danger unless they believe you'll ride harder than anybody else.

The mission they were handed was no small thing. Five companies, under Sutton's lead, pushed out on the Arizona–New Mexico campaign; a Confederate plan designed, in the boldest possible terms, to stretch the Confederacy from one ocean to the other. Ocean to ocean.

Let that settle in for a moment. That was the ambition riding with those men through that southwestern dust. Then came Val Verde.

In the Battle of Val Verde, Sutton led a rifle assault (on foot, in the open) directly against enemy cannons. Now, most men who catch a mortal wound in that situation, the story ends there. Not Sutton.

Mortally wounded, he refused immediate aid. He refused it. And instead, he motioned his battalion forward.

They went. And they captured the battery. He gave the last of what he had so his men could finish the thing he started.

This marker stands as a memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy, and to one in particular who, when the moment came down to the wire, waved his men on and kept nothing for himself.

What the marker says

At outbreak Civil War, this veteran soldier, Ranger, Indian fighter joined 7th Regiment Texas Mounted Volunteers. Elected lt. colonel, led five companies Arizona-New Mexico campaign designed to make Confederacy an ocean to ocean nation. Mortally wounded in Battle of Val Verde while leading rifle assault against enemy cannons, he refused immediate aid and motioned on his battalion which captured the battery. A memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy.