Ranger Cemetery
Port Lavaca, Calhoun County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The oldest known grave here is that of Major H. Oram Watts, the customs collector at Linnville and casualty of a Comanche raid on that nearby settlement, Aug. 8, 1840. The site was called Ranger Cemetery after the burial in 1850 of Margaret Peyton Lytle, wife of James T. Lytle (d. 1854), the "poet" of the Texas Rangers. When an epidemic broke out during the Civil War (1861-65), a nearby house was used as a hospital. At least 10 federal soldiers were among victims buried here. Members of the 5 families who owned the site are also interred in Ranger Cemetery. Last burial was in 1941. (1975) Historic Texas Cemetery medallion -- 2009
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The oldest grave here belongs to Major H. Oram Watts, the Linnville customs collector killed in the great Comanche raid on that coastal settlement in August 1840. The site took its name after the 1850 burial of Margaret Lytle, wife of James T. Lytle, remembered as the "poet" of the Texas Rangers; during a Civil War epidemic a nearby house served as a hospital, and at least ten Federal soldiers who died were buried here. Members of the five families who owned the land also rest in Ranger Cemetery.
Why it matters
From a Comanche raid to a wartime epidemic, Ranger Cemetery gathers the violent, layered history of the Texas coast into one small plot, tying frontier Indian conflict, the Rangers, and the Civil War to a single community's dead.
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Related people
- · Major H. Oram Watts
- · James T. Lytle
- · Margaret Peyton Lytle
Related events
- · Comanche raid on Linnville (1840)
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of the Town of Linnville
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Around 1831 pioneer Victoria merchant John Joseph Linn located a warehouse on this stretch of the Texas coast, and a small port settlement grew up around it. On August 8, 1840, a massive Comanche raiding party swept down to the Gulf and burned Linnville to the ground, part of the famous Great Raid of 1840. The town was never rebuilt, and the State of Texas marked the site in 1936.
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