Colonel John S. Sutton

John Schuyler Sutton was born in New York and came to Texas in 1836, the Handbook of Texas says. As captain of one of the companies on the Texan Santa Fe expedition of 1841, he was captured and held in Perote Prison until June 1842, then joined Somervell's expedition and came home with it, avoiding the Mier disaster. He kept the arms of the San Antonio Arsenal from 1843 to 1845, fought at Monterrey in Ben McCulloch's company. At Valverde he refused to let surgeons amputate his shattered leg, and he was buried on the battlefield.

What the plaque says

At outbreak Civil War, this veteran soldier, Ranger, Indian fighter joined 7th Regiment Texas Mounted Volunteers. Elected lt. colonel, led five companies Arizona-New Mexico campaign designed to make Confederacy an ocean to ocean nation. Mortally wounded in Battle of Val Verde while leading rifle assault against enemy cannons, he refused immediate aid and motioned on his battalion which captured the battery. A memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy. (1962)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Caverns of Sonora — 10 mi
  A show cave on a Sutton County ranch, opened in 1960 by cavers who wanted to stop the damage, and dense with helictites that grow sideways in every direction.

More markers nearby

• Site of Sonora Town Well — steps away
• Sutton County — 3.4 mi
• Wentworth — 3.6 mi
• First Baptist Church of Eldorado — 20 mi