DUANE
Duane's take
Here's the story as the official marker tells it — and this one's got some weight to it, friends. Out on the grounds of the State Cemetery of Texas, you're standing on what the marker calls a burial ground for the honored dead of Texas. That's not just a phrase.
That's a promise kept across more than a century. The cemetery was founded in 1851. That's when General Edward Burleson — hero of the Texas Revolution — was interred on this tract.
One man, one burial, and just like that, this ground became something consecrated to Texas history. Three years later, in 1854, the State purchased the land. And here's a thread worth following: that land had once belonged to Andrew Jackson Hamilton, the man who would later serve as provisional governor of Texas from 1865 to 1866.
The ground itself had a story before the cemetery ever took hold. For a while, the cemetery sat quiet — seldom used, the marker says — until the 1860s, when some officers of the Confederate Army of Texas were buried here. After that, the place began to fill with the full sweep of Texas life and Texas loss.
Stephen F. Austin rests here. The Father of Texas himself.
Nine governors of Texas, as of 1968, are buried on these grounds. Representatives of every period of state history, every department of state government. The marker doesn't exaggerate.
It doesn't need to. Now, the statuary alone could hold your attention for a good long while. At Albert Sidney Johnston's grave stands a marble figure carved by Elisabet Ney.
And Pompeo Coppini — he contributed bronzes of both Austin and Joanna Troutman. Art and memory, standing guard in stone and bronze. Then there's Louis W.
Kemp. The marker calls him a State Official, born 1881, died 1956, and it gives him credit the way a place like this demands: through his untiring efforts, the remains of over a hundred prominent persons were reinterred here after 1930. A hundred people brought home to Texas soil who might otherwise have been forgotten somewhere far from it.
Small white marble headstones mark the graves of about 1,583 soldiers, and another 515 graves belong to members of their families. By 1968, the total count of graves on these grounds had reached 2,389. Since 1951, those eligible for burial here include designated state officials, Confederate veterans, and certain others.
That word — eligible — carries its own kind of gravity. This isn't a place you wander into. You earn your rest here.
One man buried in 1851 started it. One purchase of land in 1854 made it permanent. And one century later, it had become exactly what the marker says it is: the honored ground of Texas, where the story of a whole state lies down to sleep.
What the marker says
Burial Ground for the Honored Dead of Texas, this Cemetery contains the remains of Stephen F. Austin, the "Father of Texas"; nine governors of Texas (as of 1968); and representatives of every period of State history and every department of State government. Statuary at the graves includes a marble figure of Albert Sidney Johnston by Elisabet Ney and bronzes of Austin and Joanna Troutman by Pompeo Coppini. The Cemetery was founded in 1851 when Gen. Edward Burleson, hero of the Texas Revolution, was interred on this tract. In 1854, the State purchased the land, which had once belonged to Andrew Jackson Hamilton, provisional governor of Texas from 1865 to 1866. The Cemetery was seldom used, however, until the 1860's, when some officers of the Confederate Army of Texas were buried here. Today small, white marble headstones mark the graves of about 1,583 soldiers and 515 graves of members of their families. Through the untiring efforts of Louis W. Kemp, a State Official (1881-1956), the remains of over 100 prominent persons were reinterred here after 1930. Since 1951 those eligible for burial here include designated State Officials, Confederate Veterans, and certain others. In 1968 there were 2,389 graves. (1968) Historic Texas Cemetery medallion attached to post.