James H. Beard Monument

James Beard was a Shreveport merchant and steamboat captain, born in Alabama in 1833, who began the war as captain of the Shreveport Greys and rose to colonel of the Consolidated Crescent Regiment. That unit was formed at Simmesport in November 1863 by merging the Crescent Regiment with two Louisiana battalions. At Mansfield all three of its field officers were killed and 175 men became casualties. Beard died on April 8, 1864, at thirty, and is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Frierson.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mansfield State Historic Site — steps away
  A 1957 museum and three-quarter-mile trail on the ground where Confederate troops broke a Union line on April 8, 1864, in a park begun by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
• Los Adaes State Historic Site — 30 mi
  The Spanish presidio that was the capital of Texas from 1729 to 1770, some 15 miles from French Natchitoches, now an archaeological site where Native pottery is the most abundant find.

More markers nearby

• General Dick Taylor Monument — steps away
• General Alfred Mouton Monument — steps away
• Mansfield Battle Park — steps away
• Battle of Mansfield or Sabine Cross Roads (Area of Second Confederate Charge) — steps away