Mark Manning served in the American Revolution from the Halifax District of North Carolina, his native state. He later lived in South Carolina and in Conecuh County, Alabama, and came to Texas at 97 to live with sons who had large land grants and helped settle Walker County. Some 20 or 30 veterans of the American Revolution followed the nation's westward movement to Texas, perpetuating their devotion to freedom and liberty there. Manning's sons fought in the Texas Revolution before he came to the new republic, and he is buried in the family cemetery 2 miles northeast.