Texas Confederate Colonel Henry P. Brewster (1816-1884)

Brewster was recruited in New Orleans in 1836 and landed at Velasco on April 2. Detached as Sam Houston's private secretary, he fought at San Jacinto in Andrew Briscoe's company, then went with Houston to New Orleans for treatment of his wound. That October he became acting secretary of war and navy under David G. Burnet. In the Civil War he rose to Albert Sidney Johnston's chief of staff and was with him when he was killed at Shiloh. From 1881 he was the state's commissioner of insurance, statistics and history.

What the plaque says

Texas Confederate Colonel Henry P. Brewster (1816-1884) County named for Texas Confederate Colonel Henry P. Brewster, 1816-1884. South Carolinian; came to Texas, 1836. Attorney General, State of Texas, 1847-49. When South seceded he was instrumental in recruiting post office personnel, gathering property, arms, munitions of war from Texas for the Confederacy. Appointed Adjutant and Inspector General under General Albert S. Johnston. Assigned special duty under General John B. Hood. Buried 60 fathoms deep in the Gulf of Mexico at his request. A memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy Erected by the State of Texas 1963

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Museum of the Big Bend — 0.8 mi
  The museum of the Big Bend region and northern Mexico on the Sul Ross State University campus in Alpine, back since 2007 in its native-stone building of 1937.
• Marfa Lights Viewing Area — 14 mi
  The roadside viewing area on US 90 nine miles east of Marfa, where people gather after dark to watch the horizon toward the Chinati Mountains for the Marfa lights.
• Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Gardens — 16 mi
  The Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute's grounds south of Fort Davis, with an 18-acre botanical garden, a cactus museum and trails into the desert foothills.
• Fort Davis National Historic Site — 22 mi
  A frontier post of 1854 to 1891 on the San Antonio-El Paso Road, garrisoned after the Civil War by Black regiments, with its buildings restored to their 1880 look.

More markers nearby

• Texas Confederate General Lawrence "Sul" Ross — 0.7 mi
• Burgess' Water Hole — 1.0 mi
• Brewster County — 7.8 mi
• Ancient Rocks Boundary — 7.8 mi