DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker in Fort Bend County tells this one, and I'm just the voice it's been waiting for. Now, most folks who crossed into Texas back in those early days came looking for land, or a fresh start, or maybe just a place where nobody knew their name. Paschal Paolo Borden came looking for a fight.
Born in New York in 1806, he stepped foot on Texas soil on December 17, 1829 — as a soldier in the Texas War for Independence. He didn't ease into it. He came in swinging.
And Texas did not disappoint him. In 1835, Borden was part of the campaign to capture Bexar. That was no Sunday stroll — that was men pushing into a fortified city, block by block, house by house, determined to take it.
And they did. But if Bexar tested him, what came next would define him. April 21, 1836.
San Jacinto. The battle that shook the ground under the whole Texas question. Paschal Paolo Borden was there, in the thick of it, on that day that the marker doesn't need to dress up with any extra words.
He survived it all. The campaign. The battle.
The war. He lived on in Fort Bend County until April 28, 1864. A man born in New York, who chose Texas before Texas was even Texas — and then stood on the field at San Jacinto to help make it so.
The State of Texas erected this marker in 1963, because some debts take a while to get around to paying.
What the marker says
Born in New York, 1806; came to Texas, December 17, 1829 as a soldier in the Texas War for Independence. He participated in the campaign to capture Bexar, 1835, and fought in the Battle of San Jacinto April 21, 1836. Died April 28, 1864. Erected by the State of Texas 1963