Washington Anderson

Washington Anderson
January 31, 1817 - Pittsylvania County, Virginia
April 28, 1894 - Round Rock, Texas

Soldier of San Jacinto. The grandson of a Revolutionary War officer, Washington moved to Texas in 1835, arriving at Port Lavaca in February with his father and brother. The next month, he was granted a league of land in present-day Travis County and set about clearing his new property. On February 23, 1836, he enlisted in the Texas militia as part of Jesse Billingsley's Company of Mina Volunteers to fight on behalf of Texas emancipation from Mexico. He fought at the Battle of San Jacinto and was one of the wounded, having been shot in the ankle, an injury that would give him a severe limp for the rest of his life. He was able to complete his four month stint, however, and afterward filed for the land awarded those who had served in the army. He was given a land grant in what is now Williamson County, part of which is presently occupied by the town of Round Rock. In late February 1839, he was one of the militia men who fought in the Battle of Brushy Creek against marauding Comanches that had been threatening the area. He moved to Round Rock in 1843 with his wife Mary, and in 1848 was appointed one of the commissioners to select the seat for the new county. At the beginnings of the Civil War in 1861, he again enlisted in the Texas Militia, this time as a member of the 27th Brigade; however, being too old for active duty, he was given an office job as Williamson County assessor. An active member of the Texas Veterans Association and a founder of Greenwood Institute, the first college in the county, Washington died at his home in Round Rock in 1894, at the age of seventy-seven.

Section 1
Oakwood Cemetery
Austin