Samuel Paschall
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Born in Tennessee in 1815. Private in Captain Amasa Turner's company at the Battle of San Jacinto. Served in the Army of Texas from February 13, 1836 to June 30, 1837. Died June 6, 1874. Wife, Bridget O'Reilly. Erected by the State of Texas 1957
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Samuel Paschall, born in Tennessee in 1815, served as a private in Captain Amasa Turner's company at the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive clash that won Texas its independence. He remained in the Army of Texas from early 1836 into 1837 during the young republic's most fragile years. He lived until 1874, and the state raised this marker to his memory in 1957.
Why it matters
Markers to individual San Jacinto soldiers preserve the names of the ordinary men whose service secured the independence of the Republic of Texas.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In early 1836, Texas was at war. The colonists of Mexican Texas, many of them recent arrivals from the United States, had risen against the government of Antonio López de Santa Anna. In March, delegates declared independence, and the bloody losses at the Alamo and Goliad followed that spring.
Sam Houston's army spent weeks retreating eastward in what Texans remember as the Runaway Scrape, while civilians fled ahead of the advancing Mexican forces. Then, on April 21, 1836, near the San Jacinto River, Houston's men attacked Santa Anna's camp. The battle was over in a matter of minutes, Santa Anna was captured the next day, and Texas independence was effectively secured.
Winning a battle did not end the danger, though. The new Republic of Texas had little money and an uncertain future, and Mexico had not recognized its independence. For more than a year afterward, the Republic kept an army in the field in case the war resumed.
People & events
Samuel Paschall was born in Tennessee in 1815, which made him about twenty when he joined the Army of Texas in February 1836. Many of the men who fought for Texas shared that background: young, from the American South, and willing to stake their futures on a rebellion far from home.
He served as a private in the company of Captain Amasa Turner, and he was in the ranks at San Jacinto. A private's experience of that afternoon was not about strategy. It was a hurried advance across open ground toward an enemy camp, then a brief, chaotic, and decisive fight. Paschall was one of the ordinary soldiers who made Houston's plan work.
His service did not end with the victory. The marker records that he stayed in the army until June 30, 1837, well over a year in total, through the uneasy period when the Republic was still guarding against a Mexican counterattack. He later married Bridget O'Reilly and lived until June 6, 1874, long enough to see Texas pass from republic to state, through the Civil War, and into Reconstruction. In 1957 the State of Texas placed this marker to keep his name in the public record.
Its place in the American story
San Jacinto ranks among the most consequential battles fought in North America. It made Texas an independent republic, and less than a decade later Texas joined the United States. The questions raised by annexation helped lead to the U.S.–Mexican War, which ended with Mexico ceding a vast stretch of the West.
History books usually tell that story through a few famous names. Markers like this one tell it another way. Texas has placed many memorials to individual San Jacinto veterans, and each one is a reminder that independence was won by hundreds of private soldiers whose names rarely appear anywhere else.
Paschall's life also follows a common American pattern of the era: a young man from Tennessee who moved west, fought, stayed, married, and built a life on the frontier. Multiply that story many times over and you have much of how the United States grew in the nineteenth century.
If you visit
This is a memorial marker, so it calls for a quiet, unhurried stop. Read the short inscription slowly. In a few lines it covers a whole life: birth in Tennessee, a battle that changed a continent, more than a year of service afterward, a marriage, and a death nearly forty years later.
Notice the date it was placed. The state put up markers for many San Jacinto veterans in the mid-twentieth century, and the inscription itself records that this one dates from 1957. Spotting others like it across Texas can become a small treasure hunt of its own.
For a fuller picture, pair this stop with the San Jacinto Battleground east of Houston, where the battle was fought. Standing there after visiting Paschall's marker helps connect one private soldier to the larger event he was part of.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Samuel Paschall
- · Amasa Turner
Related events
- · Battle of San Jacinto
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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