Porter Springs Community and Cemetery

A Gould's Battalion member's 1891 sketch in the Houston County Courier gives the muster the plaque only mentions. The battalion was mustered in May 1862 at Porter Springs as five companies. The captains were Tullis of Trinity County, Viser of Madison, James McLean of Houston, W. D. Wood of Leon and J. T. Heflin of Houston, and R. S. Gould of Leon County was elected major. About 525 men served. The sketch follows them through Mansfield, Pleasant Hill and Jenkins' Ferry in the Trans-Mississippi Department.

What the plaque says

Porter Springs Community and Cemetery Several Republic of Texas land grants were acquired in this area during the 1830s. Elisha Clapp's burial in a nearby cemetery (1 mile SE) in 1856 and other census records indicate area settlement in the 1850s. The community was originally called Porter's Spring for early settler James M. Porter and naturally occurring area springs. In 1862 Gould's Confederate Battalion was organized here. A school opened in 1870 and in 1875 a post office was established. The town's name was changed to Porter Springs in 1895. Porter Springs, which contained a brick factory, cotton gin, several churches, doctors, and a school system until 1965, established a community center in 1978. Today its residents, many of whom are descendants of early area settlers, primarily engage in farm and ranch activities. This cemetery, originally known as White Cemetery, was established as a family graveyard on land acquired by William H. White in 1838. The first recorded burial was that of White's son, James D., in 1863. White's heirs deeded 2.41 acres here to the local Methodist and Baptist churches in 1899 and it became known as Porter Springs Cemetery. The cemetery is maintained by an association established in 1941. It has been enlarged over the years and continues to serve the community. (1994)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Boggy State Park — 22 mi
  A 1,847-acre park in Leon County named for a settlers' palisade of 1840, with a 15-acre lake, short trails and the story of Tennessee farmers, the Keechi and a Ranger captain.
• Mission Tejas State Park — 29 mi
  A 661-acre pine-forest park on the old El Camino Real near Weches, with a 1930s replica of the 1690 mission, the Rice Family Log Home and trails past remnants of the Spanish road.

More markers nearby

• Captain Elisha Clapp — 2.7 mi
• Collin Aldrich — 4.0 mi
• William Calvert Hallmark — 5.9 mi
• Site of the Town of Alabama — 6.0 mi