Leander H. McNelly

Leander McNelly farmed in Washington County and married Carey Cheek in 1865, years before his Ranger fame. As a State Police captain under Governor Davis, he was wounded in 1871 after arresting four white men for killing a freedman. His Special Force of 1874, about forty men, built a name for torture and extralegal killing. In 1875 it crossed the Rio Grande to recover stolen cattle, struck the wrong ranch in the Las Cuevas War and killed at least five people. McNelly was removed and died of tuberculosis in 1877, at thirty-three.

What the plaque says

Leander H. McNelly Born in Virginia; was valiant Confederate soldier. In 1870, appointed one of four State Police captains by Gov. E. J. Davis. Then with Texas Rangers, McNelly was assigned a special force, "The Washington County Volunteer MiIitia," to mediate the Sutton-Taylor feud. Company then assigned to Rio Grande border to control international cattle thieves in "Las Cuevas War." His men always proudly called themselves, "Little McNellys." (1963)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lake Somerville State Park and Trailway — 9.4 mi
  Two park units on an 11,000-acre lake between Austin and College Station, joined by a thirteen-mile trailway for hikers, cyclists and riders with primitive camps along the way.
• Round Top and Festival Hill — 12 mi
  A German village on the old La Bahía Road, named for a house tower, with an 1867 stone church, a Fourth of July kept since 1851 and a concert hall a pianist built without blueprints.
• Independence and Old Baylor Park — 15 mi
  A crossroads north of Brenham that was the richest town in Texas when it won Baylor University in 1845, refused the railroad, and lost the college to Waco and Belton in 1886.
• Texas Wendish Heritage Museum — 25 mi
  A museum at Serbin of the Wends, a Slavic people from Lusatia whose congregation of nearly 600 crossed on the Ben Nevis in 1854, losing seventy-three to cholera on the way.

More markers nearby

• Union Hill — 2.3 mi
• Burton Community — 2.5 mi
• Burton State Bank — 2.5 mi
• Gideon Lincecum — 3.1 mi