DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, most folks who fought in the American Revolution were, shall we say, done with their traveling by the time they hit old age. Not Mark Manning.
Manning was born in 1750, served in the American Revolution out of the Halifax District of North Carolina — his home state — and then kept right on living. Lived through the whole founding of a nation. Lived through the westward push of a young country finding its legs.
Spent time in South Carolina. Spent time in Conecuh County, Alabama. And then, at the age of ninety-seven — ninety-seven — he packed up and came to Texas.
To Texas. A republic that had barely caught its breath. Now, he didn't come alone into the unknown.
His sons had come ahead of him, holding large land grants, helping to settle Walker County, and — here's the part that ought to stop you cold — those sons had already fought in the Texas Revolution before their father even arrived. The old soldier's boys carried on the family tradition before he ever set foot on Texas soil. And Mark Manning wasn't the only one.
The marker tells us that some twenty or thirty veterans of the American Revolution followed the nation's westward movement all the way to Texas, bringing with them, as the marker puts it, their devotion to freedom and liberty. Think about that company of old soldiers, scattered across a new republic, each one a living thread back to 1776. Manning lived until 1850.
He is buried in the family cemetery, two miles northeast of this marker. A man who served at the birth of one nation and lived to see the making of another.
What the marker says
(1750-1850) Served in American Revolution from Halifax District of North Carolina, his native state. Later lived in South Carolina and in Conecuh County, Ala., coming to Texas at 97 to live with sons who had large land grants and helped to settle Walker County. Some 20 or 30 veterans of the American Revolution followed the nation's westward movement to Texas, perpetuating here their devotion to freedom and liberty. Manning's sons fought in the Texas Revolution before he came to the new republic. Manning is buried in family cemetery (2 mi. NE). (1972)