DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's the story as the official marker in Jackson County tells it. In 1860, Jackson County had a population of twenty-six hundred and twelve souls. From that number, more than a hundred men went off to fight in the Civil War.
Now, a hundred soldiers out of twenty-six hundred people, that's not a small thing. That's a county pouring itself out. But the marker doesn't just give you the number.
It gives you the names, and it gives you the details, and some of those details stop you cold. Take M. K.
Simons. Simons was already a Mexican War amputee when the Civil War came calling. He went anyway, on a crutch, serving as brigade quartermaster of the 2nd Texas Infantry, C.
S. A. Let that sit with you a moment.
A man on a crutch, a man who had already given a piece of himself to one war, showing up for another. Then there's Captain C. L.
Owen. Owen was a veteran of the Texas Revolution and the Mexican War both. Two conflicts before the Civil War, and he was still in the field.
He was killed at Shiloh in 1862. The companies drawn chiefly from Jackson County men were Company D of the 1st Texas Cavalry, Company K of the 2nd Texas Infantry, and Company M of the 27th Texas Cavalry, known as Whitfield's Legion. And that wasn't everybody.
Jackson men served in other units too, including Confederate marines and Terry's Texas Rangers, and the marker says plainly they saw much of war's greatest action. A county of twenty-six hundred people, and they were in the thick of it.
What the marker says
From 1860 population of 2612 came more than 100 Civil War soldiers, one an infantryman on a crutch: M. K. Simons, a Mexican war amputee, brigade quartermaster, 2nd Texas infantry, C. S. A. Officers included Capt. C. L. Owen, veteran of the Texas Revolution and Mexican war; killed at Shiloh in 1862. Composed chiefly of Jackson County men were Co. D, 1st Texas Cavalry; Co. K, 2nd Texas Infantry; and Co. M, 27th Texas Cavalry (Whitfield's Legion). Jackson men were also in other units, including Confederate marines and Terry's Texas Rangers, and saw much of war's greatest action.