DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Peyton Bland of Orange County. Now, there are men who leave a mark on a place, and then there are men who fill the whole doorframe just by walkin' in. Peyton Bland was the second kind.
He came into this world in 1815, born in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana. But Texas called to him early, and he answered. As a young man he migrated here, and by 1835 he had enrolled at Orange to serve in the Texas Revolution.
Let that settle for a second — 1835, Texas Revolution, and Peyton Bland was already in the thick of it. He participated in the Grass Fight, then the Battle of San Antonio. After that stretch of service he was discharged.
But Bland wasn't the type to sit still for long. He reenlisted, and during the Battle of San Jacinto he performed guard duty, among other responsibilities — which is the marker's polite way of saying the man stayed on the job when it mattered. With the revolution behind him, Bland built something quieter.
In 1838 he married Susan — also known as Susannah — Harmon, in Beaumont. The couple moved to Orange County, settled on a farm, and raised thirteen children. Thirteen.
The man was not doing anything small. He built his home on Cow Bayou, north of where this marker stands. There he farmed, ran a local store, and also took part in the thriving Texas cattle industry — driving cattle to market all the way to New Orleans.
Farming, commerce, cattle. Peyton Bland had a hand in it all. And then there's the description a local resident left behind, and I want you to hear it plain, because it's something.
This person, remembering Bland, said: "When he entered the room, he filled the door. He was huge, with pistols on his hips — he scared us kids to death." That is a man who did not go unnoticed. But when the Civil War came, Bland answered again.
In 1862 he enrolled in the Orange County Coast Guard. That company was attached to the Second Regiment, First Brigade of Texas militia. A third time in uniform.
Some men are just built that way. After the war, he served briefly as an Orange County commissioner. And then in 1873, Peyton Bland died of pneumonia.
His family buried him near the San Bernard River in Wharton County — at a site that is now unknown. That last part has a weight to it. A man who filled every doorframe he ever walked through, a man who fought in two wars and raised thirteen children and drove cattle to New Orleans — and the ground that holds him is lost to time.
But the story isn't. That's what this marker is here to make sure of.
What the marker says
Born in 1815 in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, Peyton Bland became a vital figure in Orange County. He migrated to Texas as a young man and at Orange in 1835 enrolled to serve I the Texas Revolution. Bland participated in the Grass Fight and the Battle of San Antonio before being discharged. Later reenlisting, he performed guard duty during the Battle of San Jacinto, among other responsibilities. Bland married Susan (Susannah) Harmon in Beaumont in 1838. The couple moved and settled on an Orange County farm, raising 13 children. Bland built his home on Cow Bayou, north of here, where in addition to farming he ran a local store. Bland also took part in the thriving Texas cattle industry, driving cattle to market in New Orleans. A local resident, later describing Bland, remembered "When he entered the room, he filled the door. He was huge, with pistols on his hips – he scared us kids to death." Bland once again joined the military when he enrolled in the Orange County Coast Guard in 1862, during the Civil War. This company was attached to the Second Regiment, First Brigade of Texas militia. After the war, he served briefly as an Orange County commissioner. In 1873, Bland died of pneumonia, and his family buried him in a now unknown site near the San Bernard River in Wharton County. Today, Peyton Bland is remembered not only as an important contributor to Orange County and Texas, but also as a pioneer who worked in farming, business and cattle in times of peace and as a military man when called on during times of war. (2007)