Samuel Hamilton Walker (1817-1847)

    Samuel H. Walker, Texas Ranger and Mexican War veteran, son of Nathan and Elizabeth (Thomas) Walker, was born at Toaping Castle, Prince George County, Maryland, on February 24, 1817, the fifth of seven children. He attended the common country school and afterward worked as a carpenter's apprentice. In May 1836 Walker enlisted in the Washington City Volunteers for the Creek Indian campaign in Alabama. He was stationed in Florida and apparently saw no combat. After his enlistment ended in 1837, Walker remained in Florida as a scout until 1841. He may also have been a railroad superintendent. He traveled to Galveston in January 1842, where he served in Capt. Jesse Billingsley's company during the Adrián Woll invasion. He then enlisted in the Somervell expedition and took part in the actions around Laredo and Guerrero. He also joined William S. Fisher's Mier expedition. Walker escaped at Salado, was recaptured, and survived the Black Bean Episode. In 1844 Walker joined John C. Hays's company of Texas Rangers and participated in the battle of Walker's Creek near the junction of Walker's Creek and West Sister Creek northwest of present-day Sisterdale in Kendall County. During the engagement the rangers, using new Colt revolvers, successfully defeated about eighty Comanches. 

    When Gen. Zachary Taylor requested volunteers to act as scouts and spies for his regular army, Walker enlisted as a private and was mustered into federal service in September 1845. In April 1846 he formed his own company for duty under Taylor. On April 28 Walker was ambushed with his company en route to join Taylor at Port Isabel. He reached Taylor's camp on April 29; his reports caused Taylor to move his encampment. Walker performed exemplary duty as a scout and courier on numerous other occasions. His company was the only Texas unit at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. He was presented a horse by the grateful citizens of New Orleans in the spring of 1846 for his numerous exploits with Taylor's army. Walker served as captain of the inactive Company C of the United States Mounted Rifles until the outbreak of the Mexican War. 

    When the First Regiment, Texas Mounted Riflemen, was organized in June 1846, Walker was elected lieutenant colonel. He fought in the battle of Monterrey in September and on October 2, 1846, mustered out of federal service, activated his commission as captain of the mounted rifles, and proceeded to Washington, D.C., to begin recruiting for his company. During his recruitment excursion Walker visited Samuel Colt. Colt credited Walker with proposed improvements, including a stationary trigger and guard, to the existing revolver. The new six-shooter was named the Walker Colt. After arriving with his new company at Vera Cruz, Mexico, Walker was detailed on May 27, 1847, to the First Pennsylvania Volunteers, stationed at Castle San Carlos de Perote to counter Mexican guerrilla activities between Perote and Jalapa. On October 5, 1847, Walker left Perote with Gen. Joseph P. Lane to escort a supply train to Mexico City. En route, Lane was informed of a sizable enemy force at Huamantla and ordered an attack. With Walker's mounted rifles in the lead, the assault force reached Huamantla on October 9. During the spirited contest that followed, Walker was either shot in the back or killed by a man on foot carrying a lance. Following his death his unit took revenge on the community of Huamantla. Walker was buried at Hacienda Tamaris. In 1848 his remains were moved to San Antonio. On April 21, 1856, as part of a battle of San Jacinto celebration, he was reburied in the Odd Fellows' Cemetery in San Antonio. Source

Odd Fellows Cemetery
San Antonio

COORDINATES

29° 25.277, -098° 28.182

Duncan Campbell Ogden (1813-1859)

    D. C. Ogden, soldier, legislator, and merchant, was born on September 13, 1813, the son of David A. and Rebecca Cornell (Edwards) Ogden, at Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence County, New York, a community founded by his father. His father was a law partner of Alexander Hamilton. Young Ogden joined an uncle in a New Orleans business venture and then immigrated to Texas; he landed at Galveston in the summer of 1838. Almost immediately upon his arrival he was commissioned second lieutenant in a regiment being raised to repel an anticipated Mexican invasion, and in 1839 he was promoted to captain in the Army of the Republic of Texas. He commanded Company G of Col. Edward Burleson's First Regiment, Infantry in the battle of the Nueces in 1839. On August 21, 1840, he was transferred to the command of Company C of the First Regiment, then commanded by Col. William G. Cookeqv. In this capacity he participated in the opening of the Military Road from the Red River to Austin. Ogden was transferred from Company C on March 1, 1841. In partnership with his old comrade, Maj. George T. Howard, he opened the mercantile establishment of Howard and Ogden in San Antonio. In 1841 this firm loaned Juan N. Seguín $3,000 to purchase merchandise to smuggle into Mexico, and Ogden accompanied Seguín to the Rio Grande to establish the cartel by which the goods would be traded. In reaction to the invasion of Raphael Vásquez in the spring of 1842 Ogden was elected captain of the San Antonio militia company that served under Col. John C. Hays. After entering the captured city under a flag of truce to parley with Vásquez, Ogden rode to Austin with Hays's plea to the War Department for reinforcements and then returned to San Antonio in time to lead a cavalry charge against the rear guard of Vásquez's retreating column.

    That fall, after a show of resistance to a second column of raiders under Mexican general Adrián Woll, Ogden was sent to treat with the enemy and was taken captive on September 11, 1842. He and a number of other San Antonio citizens were marched to Perote Prison, from which, with Thomas Jefferson Green and John Twohig, Ogden was one of sixteen Texans to escape on July 2, 1843, through a carefully excavated tunnel. The horse and guide for which he had arranged were not at the designated rendezvous point, however, and he began the walk north with fellow escapees Tom Hancock and John Forester. "We directed our course from the prison immediately to the mountains overlooking the town of Perote," Forester later wrote. "We then started to the town of Jalapa, traveling by night and lying up during the day. We were frequently in hearing distance of the Mexicans, but managed to keep from being seen by them." Hancock, who had been a member of the Texan Santa Fe expedition, was soon retaken while attempting to purchase food. Ogden and Forester became separated while crossing a deep canyon during the night, and although Forester was assisted in making his escape through Vera Cruz by members of the English colony in Jalapa, Ogden was recaptured by Mexican Indians some days later and returned to captivity at Jalapa. Only eight of the sixteen Texans avoided recapture.

    Presumably through the efforts of members of his family in New Orleans, the Mexican council in that city secured orders for Ogden's release on February 22, 1844, but an illness prevented his planned departure from prison on March 3. According to the Trueheart diary, Ogden left Perote on March 7; other accounts claim that he was still there on March 23, and Green lists him among the thirty-six prisoners who were not released until April 24, 1844, at the intercession of United States minister Waddy Thompson. Upon Ogden's return to Texas he was elected to represent Bexar County in the House of Representatives of the Ninth Congress of the Republic of Texas. In 1846, after annexation to the United States, Ogden was reelected to the House of Representatives of the First Legislature. Also in 1846 he was appointed the state adjutant general. On May 30, 1845, he married Elizabeth Cox, a daughter of San Jacinto veteran James Cox, in Washington County; they had three children. After his return from Mexico, Ogden devoted his full energies to his mercantile firm until his death, on March 10, 1859, of a "pleuritic infection." His Perote Prison diary, which was never copied, was destroyed in the fire that burned the state Capitol in 1881. Mrs. Ogden later married Ogden's partner, George Howard, and became a founder of the Battle of Flowers, a part of Fiesta San Antonio. Source

Section G
City Cemetery #1
San Antonio

COORDINATES

29° 25.212, -098° 28.034

John Richardson (?-1840)

    Richardson arrived in Texas in 1834 and shortly afterward involved himself in the Texas Revolution. He served in Captain Silas M. Parker's Ranging Company from October 23, 1835 to January 25, 1836, then re-enlisted in the army from March 1 through May 30, 1836. During that time he was a member of Captain James Gillaspie's Company and fought in the Battle of San Jacinto. He died in Harris County on May 25, 1840 and was buried in the City Cemetery in Houston.

Note: This is a cenotaph. Founders Memorial Park, originally founded in 1836 as Houston's first city cemetery, was rapidly filled due to a yellow fever epidemic and closed to further burials around 1840. The cemetery became neglected over a period of time, often vandalized and was heavily damaged by the 1900 hurricane. In 1936, despite a massive clean up effort, a century of neglect had taken its toll. The vast majority of grave markers were either destroyed or missing and poor record keeping prevented locating individual graves. Several cenotaphs were placed in random areas throughout the park in honor of the more high-profile citizens buried there, but a great number of graves go unmarked to this day.


Founders Memorial Park
Houston

COORDINATES

29° 45.431, -095° 22.757

Wayne Gaffney "Nubbin" McLeland (1924-2004)

    Wayne McLeland was an American professional baseball player, a right-handed pitcher whose 11-year (1942; 1946-1955) career included ten games played in Major League Baseball for the 1951-1952 Detroit Tigers. Born in Stockport, Iowa, August 29, 1924, and nicknamed "Nubbin", he stood 6 feet tall and weighed 180 pounds. He was a veteran of the United States Army, serving during World War II. Originally signed by the St. Louis Cardinals after his 1940 graduation from Stockport High School, McLeland was named the 1950 "pitcher of the year" in the Double-A Texas League, as he won 21 of 29 decisions and compiled an earned run average of 2.49 in 267 innings pitched for the unaffiliated Dallas Eagles franchise. He was acquired by the Tigers after that season and spent most of the 1951 and 1952 campaigns at the Triple-A level of minor league baseball, with three brief trials with the Tigers. In his only starting role in MLB, against the Chicago White Sox on September 9, 1951, he allowed four earned runs in 4 innings and took the loss in a 4-3 defeat. During his brief ten-game Major League tenure, McLeland allowed 24 hits, 13 runs (all earned), and ten bases on balls in 13 total innings of work; he failed to record a strikeout. He settled in Houston, Texas, after his baseball career ended and spent 35 years working for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. He died on May 9, 2004 in Houston and buried in an unmarked grave.

Note: Wayne McLeland's grave is unmarked. It is located between the graves of Herman P. Wilson and A. DeWitt Chaddick.

Section 11
Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery
Houston

COORDINATES

29° 43.118, -095° 18.208