DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about John Litton. Now, some stories don't need a lot of words to carry a lot of weight, and this is one of them. John Litton was born in South Carolina in 1812, and somewhere along the way — the way so many did in those restless, reaching years — he made it to Texas.
He came far enough and fought hard enough to stand among the soldiers of the San Jacinto Army. That's no small thing to put on a man's record. San Jacinto.
You say that name out loud in Texas and the air changes just a little. John Litton was there. He was part of that.
And then he went on living, the way soldiers do when the fighting's done, until the fourth of July, 1856 — Independence Day, as it happens, though the marker doesn't editorialize on that. It just states it plain, and plain is plenty. The State of Texas saw fit to erect this marker in 1936, making sure John Litton's name didn't fade out quiet.
A man born in South Carolina, who soldiered at San Jacinto, and rests now in Texas ground. That's the story, and it holds.
What the marker says
A soldier of the San Jacinto Army. Born in South Carolina, 1812. Died July 4, 1856 Erected by the State of Texas 1936