Campbell Taylor
Bastrop, Bastrop County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Star and Wreath A Mina volunteer who fought for Texas Independence at San Jacinto, 1836. Erected by the State of Texas, 1962
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This marker honors Campbell Taylor, one of the Mina (present-day Bastrop) volunteers who took up arms in the Texas Revolution and fought at the decisive Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. That eighteen-minute rout of Santa Anna's army secured Texas independence. The State of Texas erected the marker in 1962 to remember him among the citizen-soldiers of the young republic.
Why it matters
Ordinary frontier volunteers like Taylor won the independence that made the Republic of Texas — and ultimately Texas statehood — possible.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In 1836 Texas was not yet a state or even a settled nation but a rebellion in progress. Anglo colonists and Tejanos had grown increasingly at odds with the centralized government of Mexico under Antonio López de Santa Anna, and that winter and spring the disagreement became open war for independence.
The town of Mina — known today as Bastrop — sat on the Colorado River in the thick of frontier Texas, the kind of small settlement whose men were expected to grab a rifle when the call came. Communities like it supplied the Texian army not with professional soldiers but with farmers, tradesmen, and neighbors.
The revolution's early months held little to cheer. The fall of the Alamo and the killings at Goliad had stunned the Texian cause and sent settlers fleeing eastward. It was against that grim backdrop that volunteers gathered under Sam Houston, retreating and regrouping until the moment came to turn and fight.
People & events
This marker honors Campbell Taylor, remembered simply and powerfully as a Mina volunteer who fought for Texas independence at San Jacinto in 1836. Behind that short phrase stands a familiar frontier story: a man from a small river town who left his ordinary life to take up arms for a cause whose outcome was far from certain.
The battle he fought in has become legend for its speed. On April 21, 1836, Houston's army caught Santa Anna's forces off guard near the San Jacinto River, and the decisive fighting was famously over in well under an hour. Volunteers like Taylor were the ranks that made that charge — not commanders whose names fill textbooks, but the citizen-soldiers who actually won the field.
The marker itself, crowned with a star and wreath and erected by the State of Texas in 1962, is a memorial rather than a biography. It fixes in place the essential fact worth remembering: that this particular man was there, among the volunteers, when Texas independence was decided.
Its place in the American story
San Jacinto is one of those short, sharp events with consequences far out of proportion to its length. The victory secured the independence of the Republic of Texas, which stood as its own nation for nearly a decade before joining the United States — a chain of events that reshaped the map of North America.
It's a story often told through its great names, but independence was not won by generals alone. It was won by volunteers from towns like Mina who supplied the manpower and the resolve. Honoring one of them by name insists that the big story was made of ordinary lives.
The timing of the marker matters too. Erecting it in 1962 — more than a century and a quarter after the battle — shows a state deliberately reaching back to keep faith with its founding generation, making sure the citizen-soldiers who built the republic were not forgotten.
If you visit
In Bastrop you're standing in what was once Mina, the community this volunteer called home. The marker is a memorial, so approach it as you would a name on a monument: not a place where something happened, but a place where someone is deliberately remembered.
Look for the star and wreath, the emblem the State of Texas used to mark those who served in the revolution. It's a small design carrying a large claim — that this individual's service deserves to be named and kept.
Bastrop makes a rewarding stop on any road trip through Texas's founding landscape. As you move through the town, let the marker reframe what you're seeing: these quiet streets sit on ground that sent its neighbors off to a war that made a republic, and one of those neighbors is remembered here by name.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Campbell Taylor
Related events
- · Battle of San Jacinto
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
John Holland Jenkins
Bastrop, TX
This marker honors John Holland Jenkins, who as a young soldier fought in the San Jacinto campaign of the Texas War for Independence. The State of Texas erected the memorial in 1962 to commemorate his service. Jenkins later became known for his written recollections of frontier Texas life.
William Dunbar
Bastrop, TX
William Dunbar, born in Tennessee in 1819, was a member of the ill-fated Mier Expedition of 1842–43, when Texans crossed the Rio Grande in a raid against Mexico and were captured and imprisoned. He survived that ordeal and lived until 1855, his grave in Bastrop marking a participant in one of the Republic of Texas's most dramatic military misadventures.
Jesse Halderman
Bastrop, TX
This state marker honors Jesse Halderman, who took up arms in the Volunteer Army of Texas in 1835 and fought at San Jacinto in 1836 — the decisive eighteen-minute battle that won Texas its independence from Mexico. The State of Texas set the 'Star and Wreath' stone in 1962 to mark his service and resting place.
Robert Love Reding
Bastrop, TX
Robert Love Reding, born in Tennessee in 1810, joined the Army of Texas and took part in the capture of Goliad on October 9, 1835, one of the opening actions of the Texas Revolution. He was also a signer of the Goliad Declaration of Independence, an early call for Texas separation from Mexico. He died in 1849, and this marker in Bastrop County honors his part in the fight for Texas independence.