Ellis Benson

The plaque follows Benson's army years through 1839; the Handbook adds the regular's postings and the veteran's later honors. In December 1836 he was a private in Company A of the First Regiment of regular infantry on Galveston Island, detached for a time to garrison Anahuac. In 1842 he rode with William Ryon's company on the Somervell expedition. On April 21, 1860, he was a vice president of the convention that met on the San Jacinto battlefield to nominate Sam Houston for president. A state commission approved his veteran's pension in July 1881.

What the plaque says

Ellis Benson Ellis Benson (1813-1896), a veteran of the Texas revolution and participant in the battle of San Jacinto, was born in Vermont. Before immigrating to Texas, he fought in the Black Hawk War (1832) in Illinois. By 1835, Benson was in New Orleans, where Captain Amasa Turner recruited his services for the Texas Army. Arriving in Texas in January 1836, Benson served under Capt. Turner in Company B, First Regiment of regular infantry. The unit received orders to march to San Antonio, but after the fall of the Alamo, was reassigned to join the main army under General Sam Houston at Beason's Ferry (near present day Columbus) on the Colorado River. The army marched towards Harrisburg and fought in the battle of San Jacinto, the final military event of the revolution. During the fight, Benson handled one of the "Twin Sisters," cannons donated by the city of Cincinnati which were vital in securing victory in the battle. Following the war, Benson continued to serve in the military. Under Capt. Reuben Ross, he aided in patrolling south Texas during Mexico's struggles with civil war and was wounded during the Battle of Alcantra in 1839. Afterwards, Benson settled in Houston and worked as a carpenter. In 1848, he married Elizabeth Ritchie (1819-1894), a native of Germany; the couple had one daughter. Benson was elected as county constable in 1858 and was twice elected as county coroner. He also served two years in Company K, 20th Texas Infantry, Confederate States Army, during the civil war, working on railroad equipment. Today he is remembered as a patriot and leader, contributing and serving during times of war and peace. (2008)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sam Houston Park and the Heritage Society — 1.1 mi
  Ten historic buildings gathered in a downtown park below the skyscrapers, among them the 1870 house of the Reverend Jack Yates, built five years after emancipation.
• Rothko Chapel — 2.0 mi
  An octagonal chapel open to all faiths, built by the de Menils around fourteen dark canvases by Mark Rothko, with Barnett Newman's Broken Obelisk standing in the pool outside.
• The Menil Collection — 2.0 mi
  John and Dominique de Menil's free museum in Montrose: a grey-sided Renzo Piano building among bungalows, holding antiquities, Surrealism and art of Oceania under natural light.
• Buffalo Soldiers National Museum — 2.1 mi
  A museum in Houston's 1925 Light Guard Armory that tells the service of Black soldiers from the Revolutionary War onward, built from one veteran's thirty years of collecting.

More markers nearby

• Gustav August Forsgard — steps away
• Eugene Thomas Heiner — steps away
• Edwin Fairfax Gray — steps away
• James Robert Cade — steps away