Bailey Anderson
Elysian Field, Harrison County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1754-1840) A veteran of the American Revolution, Bailey Anderson was born in Stafford County, VA. About 1760, he moved with his parents John and Sarah (Carney) Anderson to the Newberry District of South Carolina. At 21, he was in the Revolutionary army and during the next 11 years saw service in Georgia, Virginia, and the Carolinas, fighting Indians and the British, scouting and patrolling. His father and two of his brothers were killed in the conflict. About 1795, Bailey Anderson moved to Kentucky. There he served in the State Legislature, 1800-1802. In 1810 he moved to Indiana, to try life on another frontier. He migrated to East Texas about 1818. Although it was in dispute, Americans then considered this a part of the Louisiana Purchase. In 1820, when Spanish soldiers came from Mexico to evict the East Texas filibusters, Anderson and his family went to Arkansas Territory, but returned about 1821 as permanent settlers. The land surrounding this marker was in a grant from the Republic of Texas to Bailey Anderson, Jr., a soldier in the Texas War for Independence. Nearby, in the family cemetery, is the grave of Bailey Anderson, a veteran of the American Revolution.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Bailey Anderson (1754–1840) fought as a young soldier through eleven years of the Revolutionary War across Georgia, Virginia, and the Carolinas, losing his father and two brothers to the conflict. A restless frontiersman, he pushed westward across a lifetime — from Virginia and South Carolina to Kentucky, where he sat in the state legislature, then Indiana, and finally East Texas around 1818, weathering Spanish attempts to expel American settlers. He is buried in the nearby family cemetery on land granted to his son, a soldier of the Texas Revolution.
Why it matters
Anderson's life traces the American frontier's steady march westward, linking the Revolution that founded the nation to the settlement of Texas two generations later in a single family's story.
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Related people
- · Bailey Anderson
- · John Anderson
- · Sarah Carney Anderson
- · Bailey Anderson, Jr.
Themes & tags
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