Gaines Memorial Bridge
Milam, Sabine County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Named by the highway departments of Louisiana and Texas in honor of 2 brothers: JAMES GAINES, who owned and operated a ferry here 1819 to 1844 and was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and GENERAL PENDLETON GAINES, an officer in the U. S. Army, prominent in Louisiana history, and who was stationed near here in 1836 to observe the campaign in Texas. Texas Highway Department 1936
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This bridge carries the name of two Gaines brothers whose lives spanned the Sabine River borderland between Louisiana and Texas. James Gaines ran a ferry at this crossing from 1819 to 1844 and signed the Texas Declaration of Independence, while General Pendleton Gaines commanded U.S. troops posted nearby in 1836 to watch the fighting unfold across the river in Texas. The two states' highway departments jointly honored them here in 1936.
Why it matters
The Sabine crossing was a gateway between the United States and a Texas struggling toward independence, and the men remembered here embodied both the settlement and the diplomacy of that frontier.
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Related people
- · James Gaines
- · Pendleton Gaines
Related events
- · Texas Declaration of Independence
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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