Felix L. Lindsey

Lindsey's marker stands in a part of Riverside Cemetery with a history of its own. Riverside, the oldest cemetery in Wichita Falls, sits on a bluff above the Wichita River, and its first burial was on December 18, 1879. In 1906 the city sold a half-acre on the northwest corner to the Riverside Colored Burial Association. Hundreds of people were buried there, though few markers remain. Lindsey, who served in the Tenth Cavalry, is remembered with a state marker in that African American section, near his grave marker.

What the plaque says

Felix L. Lindsey Felix L Lindsey was born in Gallatin county, Kentucky on October 10, 1847. His mother was mulatto and his father was full-blood Creek Indian. He was sent to live with a white family named Meeks when he was seven years old and was provided a small amount of education so that he could help with the family's business. During the Civil War, Lindsey was tasked by the family with carrying food to Union soldiers camped nearby and he developed a fondness for the uniform. In 1882, Lindsey joined the U.S. Army and was assigned to the 10th cavalry regiment of "Buffalo Soldiers" at Fort Davis, Texas. In 1885, his unit was sent to Arizona to pursue Apache tribe leader Geronimo. In later accounts to interviewers, Lindsey recalled pursuing Apaches along narrow canyon trails, witnessing soldiers being shot from their horses and a brief encounter with Geronimo as he was negotiating his surrender. Felix Lindsey suffered three wounds in the Apache campaign, including a leg wound that ended his military career at Fort Sill, Oklahoma in 1893. Soon after, Lindsey moved to Wichita Falls where he married Mary Tillman and raised their family of nine children. Lindsey lived and worked in the African-American community, operating a drapery cleaning service and house cleaning service. Physically limited by his military service wounds, Lindsey employed family members in his business ventures and earned respect among his clients. Felix L. Lindsey died in Wichita Falls on September 14, 1939 at the age of 92. The life of Felix Lindsey is a testament to the passion and perseverance of African Americans after the Civil War to prosper and earn respect during a turbulent time in Texas and our nation. (2012)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Kell House Museum — 0.7 mi
  The 1909 Classic Revival house of Frank Kell, the miller and railroad builder who helped make Wichita Falls a city, shown by guided tour with its family furniture still in place.
• World's Littlest Skyscraper — 1.1 mi
  A four-story brick tower in downtown Wichita Falls, 40 feet tall and 10 feet wide, the leftover of a 1919 oil-boom office deal in which, the story goes, investors misread inches as feet.
• Lake Arrowhead State Park — 12 mi
  A prairie park on the north shore of the Wichita Falls water-supply lake, which drowned the town of Halsell in 1965-66, with mesquite campsites, a lighted pier and more than 200 bird species.
• Clay County 1890 Jail Museum — 19 mi
  Henrietta's 1890 stone jail a block from the domed courthouse, now the county museum, with its original cells, a gallows that was never used and the sheriff's family quarters.

More markers nearby

• Kell, Frank — steps away
• Kemp, Joseph Alexander — steps away
• Dr. Samuel Hiatt Burnside, Mary Margaret Grice Burnside — steps away
• Wichita General Hospital — 0.5 mi