Major Isaac Watts Burton

Horse Marines is the name that stuck. On May 29, 1836, Burton was ordered to patrol from the Guadalupe to Mission Bay, and on June 2 he learned of a strange vessel in Copano Bay. According to the Handbook of Texas, his rangers seized the captain and four sailors who came out in a boat, then boarded the schooner Watchman, loaded with provisions for the Mexican army. The Comanche and Fanny Butler fell the same way on June 17. A Kentucky colonel, Edward Wilson, wrote that a troop on horses taking ships would be called Horse Marines.

What the plaque says

Major Isaac Watts Burton Veteran of San Jacinto Commander of the "Horse Marines" in June, 1836 A Senator in the Congress of the Republic 1836-1839 Born in Georgia in 1805 Died in January, 1843 Erected by the State of Texas 1936

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Caddo Mounds State Historic Site — 26 mi
  Three earthen mounds of an ancestral Caddo village and ceremonial center on the old El Camino Real, settled about A.D. 800 and still sacred to Caddo people, with a grass house and visitor center.

More markers nearby

• Armisted Thompson Mason Monroe — steps away
• Colonel David Alexander Nunn — steps away
• Judge Elijah Gossett — steps away
• Isaac Adair Daniel — steps away