Port Lavaca, Calhoun County
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