Mark Butler Travis was not a son, but a grandson of Edgefield, and deserves a place in the history of the county, as he was with the Palmetto Regiment, a member of it, in the war with Mexico. His life was one of chivalrous heroism and devotion to his country. He was born in the neighborhood of Old Town, Alabama, on May 18, 1827. He was very apt in the acquisition of knowledge. Having read medicine he left home to attend a course of lectures in a distant State, being at the time only seventeen years of age. While on the way to college he met up with the famous Palmetto Regiment on the way to join General Scott in Mexico. He at once determined to enlist in the Regiment and go with them to Mexico. This he did, and shared with the members of that Regiment the glories of Contreras and Cherubusco. At Cherubusco he received a wound in the head, which prevented his being with te Regiment when they entered the capital city. He recovered from his wound, rejoined his comrades, and served through the remainder of the war. After his return home he was made colonel and then general of militia. He was also elected Clerk of the Court for four successive terms. When the war of Secession came on he was one of the first to respond to the call to arms. He enlisted in the Conecuh Guards; was made second lieutenant and went with the company to Virginia.
At the battle of Bull Run, or First Manassas, the gallant Colonel Jones of the Fourth Alabama Regiment was killed. To this regiment the Conecuh Guards belonged. At the time of Colonel Jones' death the situation was such that the whole regiment seemed threatened with destruction. Becoming cognizant of the fact, a panic seemed inevitable, and the men began to turn their feet and faces towards the rear. Seeing the situation, Lieutenant Travis tried to stop the flight of the regiment, and stood with brandished sword before the retreating columns and begged them not to run. While thus exerting himself he was suddenly confronted by a burly Teuton, whose glaring eyes, open mouth, and dilated nostrils showed that he was a victim of stupendous fright, and when he saw the efforts of Travis to check the flight, he exclaimed: "O, mine friendt, my life is too schweet!" The Lieutenant, finding his efforts to stay the flight vain, concluded that discretion was the better part of valor, and sought a more secure position. He had on a very heavy pair of boots, so that he could not make very good time, but as he ran somewhat hastily past Dr. Taliaferro, the doctor called out to him: "Lieutenant, you had better look out, or Barnum will have those boots in his museum before night."
Lieutenant Travis was honorably discharged from service on account of failing health and disability to perform the duties of a soldier before the close of the war, and died at his home of pneumonia in 1864. There were combined in his character many elements of true nobility.
REF: Caldwell - History of Edgefield County pg. 152