Peter Jefferson Duncan
San Jacinto, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Participated in the cpature of San Antonio in 1835 and served in the army in 1836. Born in New York in 1799; died in Harris County, Texas in 1870.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Peter Jefferson Duncan, born in New York in 1799, took part in the capture of San Antonio in 1835 and served in the army during the 1836 campaign for Texas independence. He lived out his life in Harris County, where he died in 1870. His marker commemorates one of the volunteers who fought to establish the Republic of Texas.
Why it matters
Duncan represents the many settlers from across the United States who joined the Texas Revolution, tying the young republic's founding to a wider American migration.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Peter Jefferson Duncan was born in New York in 1799, when the United States was still a young country clustered near the Atlantic coast. During his lifetime, Americans spread across the continent. By the 1820s and 1830s, many had crossed into Mexican Texas, drawn by land grants and the promise of a fresh start.
In 1835, disputes between those settlers and the Mexican government turned into war. The Texas Revolution began that fall with fighting at Gonzales. It moved quickly to San Antonio de Béxar, the most important town in the region, where Mexican troops were posted. Over the next several months the rebellion became a full war for independence.
Duncan lived until 1870, long enough to see the Republic of Texas, annexation to the United States, the Civil War, and the start of Reconstruction. That was an extraordinary run of history for one lifetime.
People & events
The marker says Duncan took part in the capture of San Antonio in 1835. That was the Siege of Béxar. Texan volunteers surrounded Mexican forces in San Antonio through the late fall. In early December they attacked, fighting house to house through the town. After several days the Mexican commander, General Martín Perfecto de Cos, surrendered, and his troops were allowed to leave Texas. It was one of the Texans' biggest early victories.
The marker then says Duncan served in the army in 1836, the year of the Alamo, Goliad, and San Jacinto. It doesn't say which campaigns or battles he was part of, so it's best not to guess. What it does make clear is that he answered the call more than once, first as a volunteer at San Antonio and then in the army during the decisive year.
Duncan came a long way from New York to fight for Texas, and he stayed. He died in Harris County in 1870, near where the Revolution had been won.
Its place in the American story
Duncan's New York birth is a useful reminder that the Texas Revolution didn't only draw people from the South. Volunteers came from many parts of the United States and beyond. Some were long-time settlers, and some had arrived only recently. Together they made the independence movement part of a larger story of American migration.
The capture of San Antonio also had lasting consequences. Holding the town put the Texans in control of the old mission-fortress called the Alamo. A few months later, that led to the siege and battle that became one of the best-known episodes in American history.
From Texas independence to annexation to the U.S.-Mexican War, the events Duncan was part of changed the map of North America. Remembering ordinary volunteers like him keeps the human scale of that change in view.
If you visit
This marker is in the San Jacinto area of Harris County, east of Houston. That's the same country where Texas independence was won in April 1836, and the San Jacinto Battleground, with its towering monument, is nearby.
Pair a stop here with a visit to the battleground to see the Revolution's full arc. It's good to remember that Duncan's part started months earlier and far to the west, in the street fighting at San Antonio. For families, it's a nice chance to trace one man's journey on a map, from New York to San Antonio and finally to the Houston area.
The area around the ship channel is a mix of industry and history, which is its own reminder of how much Texas changed during and after Duncan's lifetime. Allow time to linger, since the history here is best taken in slowly.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Peter Jefferson Duncan
Related events
- · Texas Revolution
- · Capture of San Antonio
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Persons Known to Have Been Buried in de Zavala Cemetery
San Jacinto, TX
This burial ground near the San Jacinto battlefield holds the remains of Lorenzo de Zavala (1789–1836), the statesman who served as the first vice president of the Republic of Texas, along with generations of his family. It also received figures caught up in the 1836 revolution, including the Mexican general Manuel Fernández Castrillón, who fell at San Jacinto, and other men who died that pivotal year. The recorded roll of names spans from the republic's founding into the early twentieth century.
Lorenzo de Zavala
Houston, TX
Lorenzo de Zavala was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and the first vice president of the Republic of Texas. His plank-covered log house near Harrisburg, built in 1829, sheltered the wounded as a hospital after the decisive 1836 Battle of San Jacinto, and it was there that de Zavala died that November.
Within A Few Minutes, Battle of San Jacinto Site
Houston, TX
This marker captures the stunning arithmetic of the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. By General Sam Houston's own report, the fighting left 630 of Santa Anna's soldiers dead, 208 wounded, and 730 captured, along with money, arms, and equipment—while the Texans lost just 9 killed and 30 wounded. Rarely has so brief an engagement proven so lopsided or so consequential.
Site of Battle of San Jacinto, 1836
Houston, TX
On the afternoon of April 21, 1836, near this spot, Gen. Sam Houston's small Texian army formed up to fall upon the much larger Mexican force of Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna. The surprise attack that followed lasted only about eighteen minutes but shattered Santa Anna's army and led to his capture the next day. The victory secured the independence of the Republic of Texas.