DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Matthew Nolan, right here in Nueces County. Now, if you want a life that spans two wars, two stints as sheriff, and one morning that ended it all in broad daylight — pull up a chair, because the story of Matthew Nolan earns every mile of it. It starts with loss.
After the death of their parents, three Nolan children arrived in Corpus Christi in 1845. Mary was sixteen. Matt was eleven.
Tom was just nine years old. Three kids, a new city, and no one to lean on but each other. What they did next is the kind of thing that makes you stop and listen.
Mary became a nurse in the United States Army. And that gave her brothers a way in. Matt served as a bugler.
Tom, only nine, became a drummer boy. And together — all three of them, siblings — they were attached to the 2nd Dragoons through every major engagement of the Mexican-American War. From Palo Alto all the way to Mexico City.
Not one of them sat it out. The Nolans marched the whole road. After the war, they came back to Corpus Christi.
Mary married a soldier and moved on to Galveston. The boys stayed. And Matt, well, Matt wasn't done moving yet.
In 1850 he joined the Texas Rangers under a man you may have heard of — a man they called Rip Ford. That association with the Rangers kept on, and in 1858 Matt Nolan became Sheriff of Nueces County. Ranger and lawman both.
You could say he had a talent for being wherever the trouble was. But then came August 1860, and there's no dressing it up. Tom — Matt's brother, his deputy, the little nine-year-old drummer boy all grown up into a lawman himself — died of a gunshot wound he suffered while making an arrest.
The two who'd survived a war together couldn't outrun what found them at home. A year later, September 14, 1861, Matt mustered into the 2nd Regiment Texas Mounted Cavalry at Fort Brown in Brownsville — commanded once again by Rip Ford. In May of 1862 he returned to Corpus Christi long enough to marry Margaret McMahan.
Then he headed east to Galveston and participated in the capture of the Federal vessel Morning Light. Following the Union capture of Fort Semmes, which had guarded Aransas Pass, Nolan commanded one of two companies stationed outside of Corpus Christi. The war kept finding him, and he kept showing up for it.
By 1864, Matt Nolan held the rank of major in the Confederate Army, and he entered a second stint as Nueces County Sheriff. Two wars, two terms as sheriff, one man. You'd think the record alone might earn him a quieter ending.
It did not. On December 22, 1864, while Major Matthew Nolan was escorting a man named John C. McDonald, brothers Frank and Charles Gravis murdered Nolan and McDonald in broad daylight.
No ambush in the dark, no fog of battle. Broad daylight. The marker here at Old Bayview Cemetery calls it plainly — Matthew Nolan played a conspicuous role in Texas during turbulent years.
And they laid him to rest here, next to his beloved brother. The drummer boy and the bugler, side by side at the end, same as they'd been from the start.
What the marker says
After the death of their parents, Mary Nolan arrived in Corpus Christi in 1845 at the age of sixteen along with her two brothers, Matt, eleven, and Tom, nine. Mary became a nurse in the United States Army, allowing Matt to serve as a bugler and Tom as a drummer boy. The siblings were attached to the 2nd Dragoons throughout the Mexican-American War in all major engagements from Palo Alto to Mexico City. After the war, the three returned to Corpus Christi where Mary, shortly after, married a soldier and moved to Galveston. In 1850, Matt joined the Texas Rangers under "Rip" Ford. While still connected with the Rangers, Matt became Sheriff of Nueces County in 1858. Tragedy struck in August 1860, when Tom, Matt's deputy, died of a gunshot wound he suffered while making an arrest. On September 14, 1861, at Fort Brown in Brownsville, Matt mustered into the 2nd Regiment Texas Mounted Cavalry commanded by "Rip" Ford. Nolan returned to Corpus Christi in May of 1862, to marry Margaret McMahan. Soon after, Nolan headed east for Galveston and participated in the capture of the Federal vessel Morning Light. Following the Union capture of Fort Semmes which guarded Aransas Pass, Nolan commanded one of two companies stationed outside of Corpus Christi. In 1864, now a major in the Confederate Army, Nolan entered a second stint as Nueces County Sheriff. While he was escorting John C. McDonald, brothers Frank and Charles Gravis murdered Nolan and McDonald in broad daylight on December 22, 1864. Matthew Nolan played a conspicuous role in Texas during turbulent years and is buried here at Old Bayview Cemetery next to his beloved brother. (2018)