John M. Wade
Montgomery, Montgomery County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1815-1879) Born in New York City, John Marshall Wade left his home as a youth. On the advice of Sam Houston, he came to Texas in 1835 from the Western Creek Nation in present-day Oklahoma. He joined the Texas army during the War for Independence. At the Battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836, he was among the men detailed to fire the "Twin Sisters," a pair of cannons given to the Texas forces by citizens of Cincinnati, Ohio. After the war, he served briefly as assistant secretary to the Senate of the Republic of Texas. A printer by profession, Wade became a typesetter for Gail Borden's newspaper, the "Telegraph and Texas Register." In 1838 he moved to the community of Montgomery and was appointed deputy surveyor for Montgomery county. He participated in the Somervell Expedition against Mexico in 1842. In 1845 he founded a weekly paper, the "Montgomery Patriot," which he later transferred to Huntsville. Returning to Montgomery in 1854, he again became deputy surveyor. He served in the Confederate army during the Civil War (1861-65). From his marriage to Ruth Boston and his later marriage to Virginia Tinsley, Wade had five children. He spent his last years at the home of a daughter in Austin, where he died and was buried in 1879.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born in New York City in 1815, John Marshall Wade came to Texas in 1835 on Sam Houston's advice and joined the Texas army, helping fire the famed "Twin Sisters" cannons at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. A printer by trade, he set type for Gail Borden's Telegraph and Texas Register, served the Republic's Senate, surveyed Montgomery County, joined the 1842 Somervell Expedition, and founded the Montgomery Patriot newspaper in 1845. He later served in the Confederate army and died in Austin in 1879.
Why it matters
Wade's life threads through nearly every chapter of frontier Texas — revolution, republic, the press, and the Civil War — embodying the citizen-soldier-settler generation that built the state.
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Related people
- · John Marshall Wade
- · Sam Houston
- · Gail Borden
Related events
- · Battle of San Jacinto
- · Somervell Expedition
Themes & tags
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