[front] HENDERSON [back] Born in North Carolina March 31 1808 * Arrived in Texas June 3, 1836 at the head of a company of volunteers * Attorney General of the Republic 1836 * Secretary of State 1836-1837 * Minister to England and France 1837-1839 * Special Minister to the United States 1844 * First Governor of the State of Texas 1846-1847 * Major General in command of Texas Forces in the Mexican War 1846-1847 receiving a vote of thanks and sword from the US Congress for gallantry * United States Senator from Texas 1857-1858 * Died in Washington D.C. June 4 1858 Erected by the State of Texas 1936 With funds appropriated by the Federal Government to commemorate one hundred years of Texas Independence