DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to give it its due. Born on Christmas Day, 1817, in South Carolina — Wilson Van Dyke came into this world on a date people tend to remember. He'd go on to give them plenty more reasons to remember him.
By 1842, Van Dyke was in Texas, and Texas had a fight on its hands. The Somervell Expedition was organized that year with one purpose: expel the Mexican Army from Texas. Van Dyke signed on.
Under the command of Colonel W. S. Fisher, the expedition crossed the Rio Grande.
And that is where the story takes a hard turn. Van Dyke was captured. Now, if you know anything about what came next, you know the words "Black Bean Episode" carry a weight that's difficult to overstate.
Some men drew white beans. Some men drew black. Wilson Van Dyke drew — well, he survived it.
The marker calls him a survivor of the Black Bean Episode, and that single word, survivor, does a lot of work. He was then imprisoned near Mexico City. Not for a month.
Not for a season. He sat in that imprisonment until September of 1844. When he finally came home, Texas was a different place, and the years kept moving.
He participated in muster activities during the Civil War. He built a life. And on August 3rd, 1881, Wilson Van Dyke died at his home in Bell County — the same county where this marker stands today, quietly carrying the weight of a life that started on Christmas morning and survived things most men did not.
What the marker says
(Dec. 25, 1817-Aug. 3, 1881) A native of South Carolina, Wilson Van Dyke served as a member of the Somervell Expedition, which was organized in 1842 to expel the Mexican Army from Texas. Under command of Col. W.S. Fisher, he crossed the Rio Grande and was captured. A survivor of the "Black Bean Episode", Van Dyke was imprisoned near Mexico City until Sept. 1844. He later participated in muster activities during the Civil War and died at his home in Bell County. Recorded - 1984