Ellis P. Bean

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passing it along — this is the story of Ellis P. Bean, as recorded in Cherokee County, Texas. Now, some men live one life.

Ellis P. Bean lived about four or five, and none of them were quiet. He was born Peter Ellis Bean on June 8, 1783, in Tennessee.

And by the time he was done, he'd been a prisoner, a deserter, a colonel, a soldier under Andrew Jackson, an Indian agent, a man with at least two wives — and a mystery at the end. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. It started in 1800.

Young Ellis Bean came to Texas with Philip Nolan's mustang hunters. That alone is a sentence worth sitting with. Then, in 1801, Spanish troops captured him, and he was taken all the way down to Mexico as a prisoner.

That was not a short detour. That was years of his life. Finally, in 1810, he was freed — but the freedom came with a condition.

He had to serve the Royalist Army. Now, the Royalists maybe thought they had their man. They did not have their man.

Bean deserted — quickly, the marker says, which tells you something about his state of mind — and joined the rebels under Morelos. Fifteen years after all that began, Bean resurfaced in the United States, carrying the rank of Mexican colonel and a mission: seek aid for the rebel cause. Along the way, he joined Andrew Jackson's army at the Battle of New Orleans.

Andrew Jackson. The Battle of New Orleans. Ellis Bean managed to land himself in the middle of that, too.

But he returned to Mexico within the year. Then came 1816, and things got complicated in a different direction. He barely escaped the Royalists — and I want you to notice how the marker phrases this — he escaped by leaving his wife behind to flee to the United States.

She was left to deal with the Royalists while he ran. The marker does not editorialize on that. Neither will I.

In 1818, Bean married a Tennessean. In 1823, he and his new wife moved to Texas, where he served Mexico as an Indian agent. He had, by this point, switched sides more than once, crossed the same borders repeatedly, and collected experiences that most men wouldn't believe if you told them over a long supper.

After Texas independence, Bean settled down — or as close to settled as a man like that could manage — making his home near the site where that marker now stands in Cherokee County. And then, in 1843, he disappeared. Went back to Mexico.

Three years later, on October 3, 1846, Ellis P. Bean died — in the home of his first wife. The one he'd left behind in 1816.

The marker doesn't say what passed between them. It doesn't need to. Some stories, you just let the facts stand there and do the work.

Ellis P. Bean. Born in Tennessee, 1783.

Died in Mexico, 1846. And just about everything in between.

What the marker says

(Peter Ellis Bean) (June 8, 1783-October 3, 1846) Born in Tennessee, Ellis P. Bean came to Texas with Philip Nolan's mustang hunters in 1800. He was captured by Spanish troops in 1801, and taken to Mexico as a prisoner. In 1810 he was freed in exchange for service to the Royalist Army, but he quickly deserted to the rebels under Morelos. Fifteen years later, Bean returned to the U. S. as a Mexican colonel to seek aid for the rebel cause. He joined Andrew Jackson's army at the Battle of New Orleans, but returned to Mexico within the year. In 1816 he barely escaped the Royalists by leaving his wife to flee to the U. S. He married a Tennessean in 1818. They moved to Texas in 1823, where Bean served Mexico as an Indian agent. After Texas independence, Bean made his home near this site. He disappeared in 1843 to return to Mexico, dying in the home of his first wife in 1846. (1999)