DUANE
Duane's take
Here's the story as the official marker tells it — my job is just to make sure you hear it right. Now, some men leave a mark on Texas history by doing what everybody else did. James Washington Winters left his mark by doing exactly what everybody else wouldn't.
He was a San Jacinto veteran — so right there, you know this man had already stared down something big before most folks had finished figuring out which direction was west. After San Jacinto, he went on the Somervell Expedition. The man was no stranger to hard country or hard times.
But here's where the story turns and asks you to pay attention. James Washington Winters was loyal to former general Sam Houston. And on July 4th, 1861 — Independence Day, of all days — at Oakville, Texas, Winters did not sign the Oath of Allegiance to the Confederate States.
While others put pen to paper, he did not. You sit with that a moment. That is a quiet act, but in 1861 in Texas, quiet acts had loud consequences.
Now, the marker doesn't spell out every consequence, but it does tell us where Winters ended up: eight years in Tuxpan, Mexico. Eight years. A man who'd fought at San Jacinto, who'd ridden on the Somervell Expedition, spending eight years across the border in Tuxpan.
The years between that July Fourth and that Mexican town — well, the road there wasn't short. What the marker does give us is the shape of a full life. He served as Captain of the 29th Brigade of the Texas State Militia, as Provost Marshal, and as a scout operating between the Nueces and the Rio Grande rivers — country that does not forgive the careless.
And he had people. His wife Piercy Tullos. Eight children — James, Josephus, Adeline, Susan, John, Marion, William B., and Sallie.
Later, his second wife was Elizabeth Wier. James Washington Winters: San Jacinto veteran, expedition rider, scout between two great rivers, a man who stood still on the Fourth of July when the world wanted him to move — and then lived eight years in Mexico to prove he meant it. Texas is full of stubborn men.
Every now and then, one of them is right.
What the marker says
San Jacinto veteran, went on Somervell Expedition. Loyal to former general Sam Houston, did not sign Oath of Allegiance to the Confederate States at Oakville, July 4, 1861. Capt. 29th Brig. T.S.M., Provost Marshall, scout between Nueces and Rio Grande rivers. 8 yrs. in Tuxpan Mexico. Wife, Piercy Tullos. Children; James, Josephus, Adeline, Susan, John, Marion, William B. and Sallie. His 2nd wife was Elizabeth Wier. (1968)