HistoricSiteMarkers
Early Republic

Major William Cooke

Austin, Travis County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Born in Virginia, March 28, 1808 - Died in Guadalupe County, Texas December 21, 1847 Erected by the State of Texas 1936

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

This state marker honors Major William Cooke, born in Virginia in 1808 and buried in Guadalupe County, Texas, in 1847. His military title and his years place him among the officers of the Republic of Texas era, when Anglo-American settlers were fighting to establish and defend the new nation. Texas raised the marker to his memory in 1936, its centennial year.

Why it matters

Markers like this preserve the memory of the soldier-settlers who served the short-lived Republic of Texas during its founding decade.

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Related people

  • Β· William Cooke

Themes & tags

Military & WartimeWestward ExpansionFrontier HistoryMonument

Nearby & related markers

Dr. Thomas Jefferson Gazley

Austin, TX

Thomas Jefferson Gazley left New York for Texas and threw himself into its fight for independence, serving as a physician in the Texas army in 1835–36 and signing the 1836 Declaration of Independence. He also helped shape the young Republic as a convention delegate, congressman, and Masonic leader. The State of Texas honored him with this marker in 1936, the centennial of independence.

William Tom

Austin, TX

Born in Tennessee in 1792, William Tom served under Andrew Jackson in the Creek War of 1813 before joining the Army of Texas in the 1835 struggle for independence. His long life spanned the early American republic and the settling of Texas, and he died in Guadalupe County in 1871. The state placed his grave marker in 1936 alongside that of his wife, Kissiah.

Daniel Shipman

Austin, TX

Daniel Shipman took part in the earliest sparks of the Texas Revolution, joining the 1832 disturbance at Anahuac and the storming and capture of Bexar in December 1835. Born in North Carolina, he was among the settlers who turned frontier grievances into open rebellion against Mexican rule. His grave records a life bound up with the birth of the Texas Republic.