United States Senator Morgan C. Hamilton
Coupland, Williamson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1809-93) An outstanding patriot who acted as Secretary of War and Marine in Republic of Texas and later served the state in many roles, Morgan Hamilton in 1837 obtained a 1009-acre land grant in this area. While his brother A.J. Hamilton was governor (1865-66), he retrieved for Texas some bonds sent to Europe during the Civil War. In 1870-77 he served as a United States Senator from Texas. His nephew Theodore Van Buren Coupland (1836-90) settled here and in 1887 founded town of Coupland on land that formerly belonged to Senator Hamilton. (1975)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Morgan C. Hamilton acquired a large land grant in this area in 1837 and went on to a remarkable public career, serving the Republic of Texas as Secretary of War and Marine and later representing the state as a United States Senator from 1870 to 1877. During Reconstruction he even recovered Texas bonds that had been shipped to Europe during the Civil War. His nephew later founded the town of Coupland on land that had once been the senator's.
Why it matters
Hamilton's career links the independent Republic of Texas, the Civil War, and Reconstruction-era national politics, embodying the state's turbulent 19th-century transformation.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Morgan C. Hamilton
- · A. J. Hamilton
- · Theodore Van Buren Coupland
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
David Crawford Edmiston
Webberville, TX
David Crawford Edmiston came to Texas as a boy in 1835 and spent his life on its contested frontier—riding with the Texas Rangers in frontier defense, again during the Mexican War, and serving in the Confederate army during the Civil War. He and his wife Rhoda raised eleven children on their Webberville farm, whose surviving buildings still mark the land the family worked.
Lund
Elgin, TX
First called Pleasant Hill, this Travis County community was settled by Swedish immigrants in the late 1880s and later renamed Lund after a city in southern Sweden. Under the Rev. J.A. Stamline, its Swedish Evangelical Bethlehem Lutheran Church was founded in 1897, anchoring a settlement of farms, cotton gins, a general store, a blacksmith, a post office, and a school. A tornado destroyed the church in 1980, and a new one was dedicated the following year.
Battle of Brushy Creek
Taylor, TX
In the winter of 1839, the young Republic of Texas was still contesting its frontier with the Comanche, whose horseback raiders ranged across the Blackland Prairie. After a retaliatory raid on area homesteads killed settlers and carried off captives, a hastily gathered militia pursued the raiders to Brushy Creek, where the fighting cost the lives of Jacob Burleson and several companions. It proved the last major clash between settlers and Native people in Williamson County.
James O. Rice
Coupland, TX
South Carolina–born James O. Rice reached Texas by 1835 and fought in its war for independence, then guarded the young Republic's frontier as a Texas Ranger. In an 1839 clash on the North San Gabriel River, his volunteers defeated Mexican forces under Manuel Flores and seized documents exposing the Cordova Rebellion, and he went on to join the Somervell, Mier, and Snively expeditions and serve in the Mexican War. Rewarded with land bounties, he became one of Williamson County's largest landowners, ran a store and post office at Rice's Crossing, and helped choose the county seat.