DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passing it along. Now, there are graves all across Texas, and then there are graves that carry the weight of an entire nation's history. Out here in Robertson County, in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, you'll find one of the second kind.
Walter Washington Williams. Born November 14, 1842, in Ittawamba County, Mississippi. He is reputed to have been the last surviving soldier of the Civil War — that long, bloody conflict that ran from 1861 to 1865.
Let that settle for a moment. During the war, Williams served as a forage master for Hood's Texas Brigade. Celebrated outfit.
And when that war was finally, mercifully done, Williams moved to Texas and farmed near here. Quietly. Just a man and his land.
He married twice, raised a large family, and by the time he died his descendants numbered over two hundred people. Two hundred. That's a legacy you can count.
For most of his long life, Walter Williams was simply a neighbor. A farmer. He lived very quietly, the marker tells us, until extreme old age brought him a fame he hadn't sought.
One by one, the other old soldiers slipped away. The veterans of that terrible war grew fewer and fewer, and Walter Williams kept on living. And then the nation lost all other men who had fought in the Civil War — every last one of them — and there was Williams.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave him the honorary rank of General. The country needed somewhere to put its remembrance, and Walter Washington Williams was standing right there.
When General Williams died in Houston, at the home of a daughter, on December 19, 1959, President Eisenhower proclaimed a period of national mourning. The whole country paused. And then he came home.
Here. To Mount Pleasant Cemetery, which the marker describes as one of the oldest public burial grounds in Robertson County — ground situated within the boundaries of a colony planted north of El Camino Real by Sterling C. Robertson, a pioneer out of Tennessee.
That Robertson Colony was founded in the 1820s, a major civilizing influence in East Texas, and the families buried around General Williams migrated here and braved the dangers of the frontier for years before he ever arrived. So he rests among pioneers. A man reputed to be the last living soldier of the Civil War, lying in soil that was already old with Texas history when he got here.
That's the kind of ending that doesn't need any help from me.
What the marker says
Reputed to have been last surviving soldier of the Civil War (1861-1865). Born in Ittawamba County, Miss., Williams (Nov. 14, 1842 - Dec. 19, 1959) during the war was a forage master for the celebrated Hood's Texas Brigade. Soon after the war he moved to Texas and farmed near here. He was twice married and had a large family, with the descendants numbering over 200 when he died. He had lived very quietly until in extreme old age he gained fame as one of a very few remaining veterans. After the nation lost all other men who had fought in the Civil War, he was given honorary rank of General by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. When Gen. Williams died in Houston at home of a daughter, President Eisenhower proclaimed a period of national mourning. Williams rests here in Mount Pleasant Cemetery among families who migrated to Texas and braved the dangers of the frontier for years before he came. This is one of the oldest public burial grounds in Robertson County, situated within boundaries of colony planted north of El Camo Real by the pioneer Sterling C. Robertson, from Tennessee. The Robertson colony was founded in the 1820s and was a major civilizing influence in East Texas.