Roy Bean C. S. A.
Del Rio, Val Verde County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Born in Kentucky. A trader in Mexico, 1848. Mining in New Mexico when Civil War broke out. As spy and scout, joined Texans in the Command of Gen. John R. Baylor during the 1861-1862 Arizona-New Mexico Campaign. Organized irregular company called "Free Rovers". In a narrow canyon, took part in capture of 800 federals by 250 Confederates. After 1862 was a Confederate freighter, hauling cotton to Matamoros from San antonio and bringing into Texas wartime goods: guns, ammunition, medicines, cloth, shoes, food. In 1882, began following with a tent saloon crews building railroad along the Rio Grande. Cooperating with Texas Rangers, was appointed justice of peace-- "Law West of the Pecos". Tamed rough frontier town of Langtry, where he spent rest of his life. Won fame in unique court decisions, as in trial and fining of a dead man for carrying a concealed wapon. Most widely celebrated show he staged was Fitzsimmons-Maher world championship boxing match, on a Rio Grande sand bar near his saloon in 1896. Court was held in the saloon, where he displayed pictures of "The Jersey Lily"--British actress Lily Langtry, whom he never met. She visited town at his invitation, but only after Judge Bean's death.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Kentucky-born Roy Bean was mining in New Mexico when the Civil War broke out, and he joined Confederate forces under Gen. John R. Baylor as a spy and scout, later hauling cotton and smuggled war goods as a Confederate freighter. Decades afterward he followed railroad crews to the Rio Grande, set up a tent saloon, and had himself made justice of the peace—'Law West of the Pecos'—dispensing famously eccentric verdicts from Langtry. His obsession with British actress Lily Langtry, whom he never met, and his 1896 riverbank prizefight cemented his frontier legend.
Why it matters
Roy Bean has become one of the enduring folk figures of the American West, embodying the improvised, often theatrical justice of a frontier still inventing its own rule of law.
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Related people
- · Roy Bean
- · Lily Langtry
- · John R. Baylor
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Val Verde County
Del Rio, TX
Carved from Crockett, Kinney, and Pecos counties and organized in 1885, Val Verde County took its name from a Civil War battle fought in 1862 near Fort Craig, New Mexico. That fight was part of the Confederacy's ambitious campaign to seize the Southwest, and its memory carried west with the veterans who settled the region. Del Rio, on the Rio Grande, became the county seat.
Jesse Sumpter
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Jesse Sumpter came to the Texas frontier as an infantryman in the years after annexation, serving from 1848 to 1852 and standing among the first troops posted to Fort Duncan on the Rio Grande. He put down roots in the young border town of Eagle Pass, trying his hand at nearly every trade the frontier offered — saloon keeper, mustang hunter, rancher, and lawman. When Maverick County was finally organized in 1871, he pinned on the badge as its very first sheriff.
The Lee Building
Eagle Pass, TX
Built before 1875 as quarters for an ordnance sergeant on the Texas frontier, this stone building takes its name from Robert E. Lee, who visited the area in 1860 as commander of the U.S. 2nd Cavalry, Department of Texas, before his later career as a Confederate general. The Maverick County Historical Society leased it in 1948, and after restoration it was dedicated during the Eagle Pass Centennial in 1949 for use as a museum and meeting hall. It was recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 1968.
General John R. Baylor
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John R. Baylor arrived in the young Republic of Texas in 1839 and quickly became one of its most restless and controversial frontier figures, serving in the legislature and as a Comanche agent before the Civil War. In 1861 he led Confederate cavalry into the far Southwest, seizing federal posts and proclaiming a Confederate Territory of Arizona with himself as governor—part of a bold, ultimately failed bid to extend the Confederacy to the Pacific. His brutal order regarding the Apaches led to his recall, yet he fought on as a private at Galveston and rose again to brigadier general by war's end.