Old Gray Mare Band

The song came first. A 142nd Infantry band that sailed for France in July 1918 found that playing The Old Gray Mare lifted morale best. When the 36th Division was reorganized in 1921, the adjutant general told R. Wright Armstrong to raise a regimental band, and he signed up Brownwood business and professional men and Daniel Baker College students in seventeen days. Three Fort Worth newspapermen supplied the nickname. Sara, a gift gray mare, led the band for five years with Ruby Lathem riding.

What the plaque says

Old Gray Mare Band The 142nd Infantry Band of the 36th division of the U. S. Army began during the first World War. Band leader R. Wright Armstrong reformed the group in Brownwood in Nov. 1921. They played at such notable events as American Legion Conventions in New Orleans and San Francisco and the 1923 inauguration of Gov. Pat Neff, who proclaimed them the official band of Texas. The band marched behind an actual mare and rider into hotels, state capitol buildings and democratic party national conventions in Houston (1928) and Chicago (1932). Wearing distinctive red silk shirts, yellow bandanas, patent leather boots and sombreros, the Old Gray Mare Band spread the spirit of Texas across the state and nation. 175 Years of Texas Independence * 1836 - 2011

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lake Brownwood State Park — 10 mi
  A CCC park on a reservoir that filled in a single flood before its dam was done, with stone cabins, a hilltop dance pavilion and a grand staircase climbed by dancers arriving by boat.

More markers nearby

• Brooke Smith — steps away
• Dr. Mollie W. Armstrong — 0.3 mi
• The Rev. Noah Turner Byars — 0.3 mi
• The Rev. Dr. John David Robnett — 0.3 mi