Primus Kelly was an enslaved Black man who came in 1851 to nearby Courtney in Grimes County with his enslaver, John W. S. West, from North Carolina. West was a prominent and wealthy pioneer planter and landowner. At the outbreak of the Civil War, West sent Kelly to take care of his three sons, Robert M., Richard, and John Haywood, who joined Terry's Texas Rangers and served with distinction. Kelly did not remain only an attendant but joined them in battle, using his own musket and cap and ball pistol. Twice he brought the wounded Richard back to Texas and twice took him to the front again. After the war, he bought a small farm near Robert, raised a large family, and prospered. He died in the 1890s. Kelly's courage and loyalty were presented as typical of many enslaved Black people in Texas, hundreds of whom went to war with enslavers, operated farms and ranches while soldiers were away, produced food, livestock, cotton, and clothing for the Confederacy, supported their enslavers' families with outside work, protected homes from Indians, bandits, and deserters, and performed community guard and patrol duty; after the war, most became useful and productive citizens of Texas.