Col. Lewis Miles Hobbs Washington

Washington was born in Wilkes County, Georgia. In 1838 he delivered the eulogy for Charles Edward Hawkins, commander of the Texas Navy's Independence, and before April 1840 he and Edwin Ward Moore bought the vessel Merchant for the navy. In 1839 he married Rebecca Landis Davidson, a widow with five children, and they had four more. While the family lived at Nashville on the Brazos, he spent most of his time in Austin writing articles for several newspapers. He went to Central America as a correspondent for the New Orleans Picayune and joined William Walker's filibusters in Nicaragua.

What the plaque says

Col. Lewis Miles Hobbs Washington (Dec. 2, 1813 - Feb. 1857) Georgia native Lewis Washington came to Texas about 1835 and joined the Revolutionary forces at San Antonio. A member of Col. Fannin's staff, he served with the Georgia Battalion at Refugio and Goliad. He was appointed to an office in Sam Houston's presidential administration during the days of the Republic. Washington was killed in Nicaragua while in Central America as a news reporter. His body was not receovered, but his wife, Rebecca, is buried here. Recorded - 1983

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• George Washington Carver Museum — 0.5 mi
  East Austin's museum of Black history and culture, grown from a segregated branch library moved across town in 1933, with a permanent exhibit on Juneteenth at its core.
• LBJ Presidential Library — 0.6 mi
  A ten-story travertine archive on the University of Texas campus holding 45 million pages from a presidency of civil rights laws, the War on Poverty and Vietnam.
• Texas State Cemetery — 0.7 mi
  A hill east of the Capitol that began with one general's grave in 1851 and now holds Stephen F. Austin, governors, Barbara Jordan and more than 2,000 Confederate veterans and widows.
• French Legation State Historic Site — 0.8 mi
  A raised pine house built in 1840 and 1841 for France's envoy to the Republic of Texas, who left Austin in a rage over a neighbor's pigs before it was finished.

More markers nearby

• Abner Hugh Cook — steps away
• Andrew Jackson Hamilton — steps away
• Swante Palm — steps away
• Gen. George W. Terrell — steps away