DUANE
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Duane's take
The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of a man this county carries in its name. William R. Scurry.
Born 1821, died 1864. And between those two years, he left quite a mark on the ground beneath a lot of different skies. First, as a member of the Secession Convention.
Then as a soldier. Then as a commander. And then, at a river crossing in Arkansas, as a man who met his end the way the marker puts it, bravely.
Let's take it from the beginning. As a Lieutenant Colonel in the 4th Texas Cavalry Regiment, Scurry commanded forces at Val Verde and Glorieta Canyon, both part of the Arizona-New Mexico Campaign of 1861 and 1862. Those were not small engagements, not quiet corners of a quiet war.
The marker says he ably commanded, and the army agreed, because after that campaign he came back wearing a new rank: Brigadier General. Then came 1863, and Galveston. The city had fallen into Union hands, and Scurry led the immediate land attack to take it back.
The recapture of Galveston. That is the kind of sentence that sounds simple until you think about what it means to be the man on the ground making it happen. And still he wasn't done.
The Red River Campaign came next, the fight to prevent an invasion of Texas itself. Scurry led his brigade through the Battle of Mansfield, through Pleasant Hill in Louisiana, and then on into Arkansas, to Jenkins Ferry. That's where the marker says he bravely met death.
Not a quiet passing. Not a long retirement. Jenkins Ferry, Arkansas, in the middle of a campaign he believed in to the end.
Scurry County, Texas, is named for him. And this marker, erected by the State of Texas in 1963, stands as a memorial to him and to all the Texans who served the Confederacy. Whatever you carry with you into that history, the man himself, William R.
Scurry, covered a lot of ground before Jenkins Ferry claimed him.
What the marker says
Member Secession Convention. As Lt. Colonel 4th Texas Cavalry Regiment, ably commanded forces at Val Verde and Glorieta Canyon battles in Arizona-New Mexico Campaign 1861-62. Promoted Brigadier General. Commanded immediate land attack recapture of Galveston 1863. In Red River Campaign to prevent Texas invasion, led brigade Battles of Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, La. and Jenkins Ferry, Ark. where he bravely met death. A memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy. Erected by the State of Texas 1963