Texas Confederate Colonel Henry P. Brewster (1816-1884)

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and it's a story worth tellin' right. Brewster County. Wide, wild, farther west than most folks ever wander.

And the man it's named for? He lived a life just as outsized as that landscape. Henry P.

Brewster came into this world in South Carolina in 1816. But Texas called to him, and by 1836 he had answered. That's the kind of man we're talking about: one who didn't wait around to see how things turned out.

He studied the law, and Texas put him to work. From 1847 to 1849, Henry P. Brewster served as Attorney General of the State of Texas.

That's the top law job in the republic turned state, and he held it. Then the nation cracked down the middle. When the South seceded, Brewster didn't sit idle.

He was instrumental (that's the marker's own word, instrumental) in recruiting post office personnel, gathering property, arms, and munitions of war from Texas for the Confederacy. That is a man moving fast with purpose in the middle of a storm. His service didn't stop there.

He was appointed Adjutant and Inspector General under General Albert S. Johnston. Then assigned to special duty under General John B.

Hood. Two of the Confederacy's most prominent commanders, and Brewster was working close to both of them. Now.

I've saved the strangest part for last, because that's how a story like this deserves to end. When Henry P. Brewster died in 1884, he had one final request.

He wanted to be buried sixty fathoms deep in the Gulf of Mexico. Not in a churchyard. Not under a marble stone.

Sixty fathoms down, in the dark water of the Gulf. And they honored it. Sixty fathoms is three hundred and sixty feet of ocean between Henry P.

Brewster and the rest of the world. A South Carolinian who came to Texas in 1836, served as its Attorney General, served the Confederacy with everything he had, and then chose the deep Gulf as his resting place. Brewster County carries his name.

The marker calls him a Texas Confederate Colonel and remembers him as part of a memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy. But I'll tell you what stays with me: it's that last request. Most men want to be remembered by what stands above the ground.

Henry P. Brewster chose what lies beneath the water. Make of that what you will.

What the marker says

County named for Texas Confederate Colonel Henry P. Brewster, 1816-1884. South Carolinian; came to Texas, 1836. Attorney General, State of Texas, 1847-49. When South seceded he was instrumental in recruiting post office personnel, gathering property, arms, munitions of war from Texas for the Confederacy. Appointed Adjutant and Inspector General under General Albert S. Johnston. Assigned special duty under General John B. Hood. Buried 60 fathoms deep in the Gulf of Mexico at his request. A memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy Erected by the State of Texas 1963