DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Felix L. Lindsey, out of Wichita County, Texas. October 10, 1847.
Gallatin County, Kentucky. That's where this story begins — with a boy born to a mulatto mother and a full-blood Creek Indian father, in a world that hadn't yet decided what to make of him. When Felix was seven years old, he was sent to live with a white family named Meeks.
They gave him a small amount of education — just enough, it seems, to help with the family's business. Not the grandest start. But listen, because this is a man who had a way of finding the thing worth holding onto in whatever situation life handed him.
The Civil War came rolling through, and the Meeks family tasked young Felix with carrying food to Union soldiers camped nearby. You can imagine it — the boy, back and forth, watching those soldiers, studying them. He developed a fondness for the uniform.
Filed that away somewhere deep. That fondness sat in him for years. Decades, even.
Then, in 1882, Felix L. Lindsey joined the United States Army. He was assigned to the 10th Cavalry Regiment — the Buffalo Soldiers — at Fort Davis, Texas.
Three years later, in 1885, his unit was sent to Arizona. The mission: pursue Apache tribe leader Geronimo. Now, in later accounts to interviewers, Lindsey recalled what that campaign actually looked like from the inside.
Narrow canyon trails. Soldiers being shot from their horses. And then — a brief encounter with Geronimo himself, as he was negotiating his surrender.
Felix Lindsey was there for that. Stood close enough to that moment that it stayed with him the rest of his life. But the Apache campaign left its mark on him in another way, too.
Felix suffered three wounds. One of them was a leg wound that ended his military career — at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1893. Soon after, he moved to Wichita Falls.
Married Mary Tillman. Raised a family of nine children. And then he got to work — because that is what Felix Lindsey did.
Physically limited by the wounds from his service, he built not one but two businesses: a drapery cleaning service and a house cleaning service. When his body couldn't do all that needed doing, he employed family members. He lived and worked in the African-American community, and he earned the respect of his clients — genuinely earned it.
Felix L. Lindsey died in Wichita Falls on September 14, 1939, at the age of ninety-two. The marker calls his life a testament — to the passion and perseverance of African Americans after the Civil War to prosper and earn respect during a turbulent time in Texas and in this nation.
And after everything Felix carried — the canyon trails, the wounds, the decades of building something from what he had left — that word, testament, feels exactly right.
What the marker says
Felix L Lindsey was born in Gallatin county, Kentucky on October 10, 1847. His mother was mulatto and his father was full-blood Creek Indian. He was sent to live with a white family named Meeks when he was seven years old and was provided a small amount of education so that he could help with the family's business. During the Civil War, Lindsey was tasked by the family with carrying food to Union soldiers camped nearby and he developed a fondness for the uniform. In 1882, Lindsey joined the U.S. Army and was assigned to the 10th cavalry regiment of "Buffalo Soldiers" at Fort Davis, Texas. In 1885, his unit was sent to Arizona to pursue Apache tribe leader Geronimo. In later accounts to interviewers, Lindsey recalled pursuing Apaches along narrow canyon trails, witnessing soldiers being shot from their horses and a brief encounter with Geronimo as he was negotiating his surrender. Felix Lindsey suffered three wounds in the Apache campaign, including a leg wound that ended his military career at Fort Sill, Oklahoma in 1893. Soon after, Lindsey moved to Wichita Falls where he married Mary Tillman and raised their family of nine children. Lindsey lived and worked in the African-American community, operating a drapery cleaning service and house cleaning service. Physically limited by his military service wounds, Lindsey employed family members in his business ventures and earned respect among his clients. Felix L. Lindsey died in Wichita Falls on September 14, 1939 at the age of 92. The life of Felix Lindsey is a testament to the passion and perseverance of African Americans after the Civil War to prosper and earn respect during a turbulent time in Texas and our nation.