Cary Allen Gates
Robert Lee, Coke County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(October 14, 1836-July 27, 1927) Born near town of Paint Lick, Kentucky. Came to Collin County, Texas, 1858. Joined Confederate army at McKinney, October, 1861, as private in army of Tennessee. Served in five divisions. Was in battle of Chickamauga; hurt at Murfreesboro, Tennessee; shot through wrist at Spanish Fort, Alabama. Served till end of war. Married twice, he and first wife Mary Jane Sadler had ten children. Moved to Coke county, 1906. Spent rest of life here. Recorded -- 1968
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Cary Allen Gates was born in Kentucky in 1836, came to Collin County, Texas, in 1858, and enlisted in the Confederate army at McKinney in 1861. He saw hard service — the Battle of Chickamauga, an injury at Murfreesboro, and a wound through the wrist at Spanish Fort, Alabama — before returning to civilian life, raising a large family, and settling in Coke County in 1906, where he lived until 1927. His long life bridged the frontier settlement of Texas and the early twentieth century.
Why it matters
Individual soldier markers like this one put a single human face on the vast scale of the Civil War, tracing one man from battlefield to a long postwar life on the land.
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