Peter Hansbrough Bell

The Handbook of Texas follows Peter Hansborough Bell beyond his offices. Born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, he rode in Henry Karnes's cavalry company at San Jacinto, joined Jack Hays's rangers in 1840 and won distinction at Buena Vista. He resigned as governor in 1853 to fill a congressional vacancy and served until 1857, when he married the widow Ella Eaton Dickens and moved to her home in Littleton, North Carolina. Jefferson Davis offered him a Confederate colonelcy, and he refused. In 1930 he and his wife were reinterred in the State Cemetery.

What the plaque says

Peter Hansbrough Bell 1812 - 1898. (right panel) Fought at San Jacinto April 21, 1836. Assistant Inspector General and Inspector General of the Texas Army 1837-1839. Captain of Texas Rangers and Lieutenant Colonel of Mounted Volunteers in the Mexican War 1845-1846. Colonel of a Texas Volunteer Regiment 1848-1849. (left panel) Governor of Texas November 5, 1849 to November 23, 1853. United States Congressman from Texas 1853-1857. He fought bravely to establish the Republic and with tact and skill he helped to steer the ship of state through the troubled waters of its early years. (back panel) Erected by the State of Texas 1936 with funds appropriated by the federal government to commemorate one hundred years of Texas Independence

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Temple Railroad and Heritage Museum — 7.5 mi
  The Santa Fe depot of 1911 in a railroad town that began in 1880 as a construction camp, now a museum with locomotives and cars parked beside the active rail yard.
• Mother Neff State Park — 19 mi
  A Leon River park that grew from six acres Isabella Neff left the state in her 1921 will, where Civilian Conservation Corps Company 817 built a stone tower, a pavilion and roads in the 1930s.

More markers nearby

• Bell County Courthouses — steps away
• William Whitaker Reed — steps away
• Cochran, Blair and Potts Department Store — steps away
• Site of Early Belton House — steps away