General Ben McCulloch, C.S.A.

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about General Ben McCulloch, C.S.A. Now, some men collect a title or two across a lifetime and consider themselves well accomplished. Ben McCulloch collected about six: Distinguished Ranger, frontier surveyor, Indian fighter, lawman, statesman, military commander, and he wasn't done yet when fate caught up with him.

Born in Tennessee in 1811, McCulloch followed David Crockett all the way to Texas to fight in the War for Independence. That is not a small detail. The man heard the call, fell in behind one of the most legendary figures in American memory, and made his way to a fight.

And on April 21, 1836, at the Battle of San Jacinto, Ben McCulloch was there, commanding one of the twin artillery pieces known as the Twin Sisters. After the smoke cleared, he didn't exactly slow down. He served in the Congress of the Republic of Texas.

Then in 1846, when war broke out with Mexico, he led a Ranger company on a scouting mission a hundred miles behind enemy lines, and pulled it off successfully. A hundred miles. Behind enemy lines.

The kind of errand that doesn't come with a guarantee you're coming back. Then came 1849, and word of gold in California. McCulloch headed west with everybody else chasing that dream, except he ended up as sheriff of Sacramento County while the rush was on.

That's a particular brand of Texas irony: the whole country's scrambling for gold, and Ben McCulloch's keeping the peace over it. He came home in 1852 and stepped right into the role of U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Texas.

The man did not appear to know what rest looked like. But here is the moment that deserves a long, slow breath before we say it. February 16, 1861.

Texas is on the edge of leaving the Union, the whole country is coiled like a spring, and Ben McCulloch leads Texas volunteers to San Antonio and surrounds the U.S. arsenal. He demands its surrender. Now.

Think about what that means. Armed men, a federal installation, a nation careening toward war. The marker says the atmosphere was charged, and that is about as restrained a way as you can describe what could have become the first armed conflict of the Civil War.

It ended without a single shot fired. U.S. troops left the state. McCulloch had stared down the barrel of history and walked it back from the edge.

President Jefferson Davis noticed. He offered McCulloch the first General Staff Commission issued in the Civil War. On May 14, 1861, Ben McCulloch was made a Brigadier General, given charge of troops in Arkansas and Indian Territory.

Later that year, he commanded Confederate forces to victory at Wilson Creek, Missouri. But wars have a way of collecting men like Ben McCulloch. He was killed in the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas.

The man who had ridden a hundred miles behind enemy lines, surrounded a federal arsenal without firing a shot, and commanded cannon at San Jacinto, met his end in the hills of Arkansas, in a war that had barely begun. McCulloch County, Texas carries his name. And somewhere out there on a roadside, a marker stands to make sure you don't forget who he was.

What the marker says

(1811-1862) Distinguished Ranger, frontier surveyor, Indian fighter, lawman, statesman and military commander. Born in Tennessee. Followed David Crockett to Texas to fight in War for Independence. Commanded one of the "Twin Sisters" cannon in the Battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. Served in the Congress of the Republic of Texas. In 1846, during war with Mexico, led Ranger company in successful scouting mission 100 miles behind enemy lines. During 1849 California gold rush was sheriff of Sacramento County. Home again in 1852 became U.S. Marshal, Eastern District of Texas. Led Texas volunteers in San Antonio Feb. 16, 1861, when U.S. arsenal was surrounded and its surrender demanded--an encounter in a charged atmosphere that could have become the first armed conflict of the Civil War, although it ended without the firing of a shot, and with U.S. troops leaving the state. President Jefferson Davis offered him first General Staff Commission in the Civil War. Made a Brigadier General on May 14, 1861, he had charge of troops in Arkansas and Indian territory. Was the Confederate Commander in victory at Wilson Creek, Mo., 1861. Was killed in Battle of Pea Ridge, Ark. (1964)