Littleton Rattan
Cooper, Delta County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A native of Illinois and a veteran of the 132 Black Hawk War, Littelton Ratta (b. 1809) came to Texas with family members in 1839. He established a farm at this site in Delta County and also served as a Texas Ranger in three area militia companies in the Republic of Texas era. Later, during the Mexican War, he served under legendary Ranger Jack Hays. Rattan was killed on December 18, 1847 in battle with Native Americans, but the details of his death, including the location of the battle and his gravesite, remain unknown. He is remembered for his contributions to the safety of pioneers in Delta County and throughout the state. (2005)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
An Illinois native and veteran of the Black Hawk War, Littleton Rattan came to Texas in 1839 and built a farm in what became Delta County. In the Republic era he rode as a Texas Ranger with three area militia companies, and during the Mexican War he served under the legendary Ranger Jack Hays. He was killed in battle with Native Americans on December 18, 1847, though the site of the fight and his grave remain unknown.
Why it matters
Frontier rangers like Rattan embodied the violent, uncertain edge of the young Republic of Texas, where settlement, militia service, and conflict with Native peoples were inseparable.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Littleton Rattan
- · Jack Hays
Related events
- · Black Hawk War
- · Mexican-American War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Nelta Cemetery
Sulphur Bluff, TX
In December 1842 a wagon train from Warrick County, Indiana, led by two Hargrave brothers, reached the Sulphur River country, and settlement soon followed. The earliest burial came in 1843, and over decades several nearby graveyards—McFall, Hargrave, and the church plot at Pleasant Hill—merged into what became Nelta Cemetery when the community took the name of its 1882 post office. Trustees expanded the grounds through land purchases into the 1920s.
Antioch Cemetery and Old Antioch Church of Christ
Biardstown, TX
Founded in the first years of Texas statehood between 1846 and 1848, this was the first Church of Christ in Lamar County, organized by Elder Thomas Barrett with the pioneer family of Rebecca Stone Biard, who had come from Alabama to start the Biardstown community. William W. Biard donated his 20-foot log cabin—outfitted with split-log seats and a stick-and-dirt chimney—for the first sanctuary, and at his mother's death in 1848 he gave the land for the cemetery, where her grave was the first. Both the log church and its successor doubled as community schools, and though the congregation disbanded around 1920, burials continue to this day.
Giles Cemetery
Pecan Gap, TX
Established in 1877, Giles Cemetery is among the older burial grounds of Delta County, in the blackland-prairie country of Northeast Texas. Its founding in the decades after the Civil War reflects the wave of farming families who settled this fertile region during Reconstruction. The state recognized it as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2016.
Ringo Ferry and Ringo Cemetery
Bogata, TX
When the Ringo family arrived from Missouri in 1840 with nine children, they set up a ferry across the Sulphur River that quickly became a lifeline for travel, trade, and news between the Red River country and central Texas. Their son expanded the family's holdings on both banks, and the crossing carried travelers until a bridge replaced it in 1900. Long after the ferry was gone, locals still called the spot Ringo's Crossing, and a small family cemetery marked the family's roots nearby.