DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Pleasant C. Sams — born 1845, died 1921 — came to Texas from Arkansas sometime in the 1850s, and from that point forward, the man seemed to attract legend the way a fence post attracts lightning.
When the Civil War broke out, Pleasant was sixteen years old. Sixteen. And rather than ride off to the front, he was left in charge of the family mills — his father's instruction clear and direct: give the entire flour output to the widows of Confederates.
That's not a small errand for a boy of sixteen. That's a weight most men would've buckled under. But Pleasant Sams was, apparently, not most men.
Then comes 1862, and this is where the story takes a turn that sounds like something somebody made up — except the marker says it plain as day. Pleasant went through enemy lines into Missouri. His purpose?
To get his bride. Now, going through enemy lines is dangerous enough on its own terms. But he was captured.
By a Federal soldier who, as the marker puts it, also admired the bride. I want you to sit with that for just a moment. The captor and the captured apparently had more in common than either one expected.
The outcome? Pleasant — and the marker uses quotation marks around this word, and I think those quotation marks are doing a lot of work — he escaped. The wedding trip back to Texas was a horseback ride.
No carriage, no fanfare, just two people and the open country between Missouri and Texas. By 1864, Pleasant was serving in a Confederate frontier regiment, where he remained through 1865. After the war, he built something lasting.
He became a pioneer cattleman, a business and financial leader. He founded the Benjamin Commercial Company and served as its president. He was also president and director of the First National Bank in Benjamin.
The man started life guardin' a flour mill for Confederate widows and ended it as a banker and founder. But if you ask me, the part worth remembering — the part that marker reaches for with those quiet little quotation marks — is that somewhere in Missouri in 1862, a Federal soldier looked at a bride, looked at his prisoner, and made a decision. And Pleasant C.
Sams rode home to Texas.
What the marker says
(1845 - 1921) In 1850's came to Texas from Arkansas. At 16, on outbreak of Civil War, was left in charge of family mills, instructed by his father to give entire flour output to widows of Confederates. In 1862, captured in Missouri, as he went through enemy lines to get his bride; "escaped" from Federal who also admired bride. Wedding trip was horseback ride to Texas. He served 1864-65 in Confederate frontier regiment. Pioneer cattlemen; business and financial leader. Founder and president, Benjamin Commercial Company. President and director, First National Bank, Benjamin. (1965)