Brown, William S.

William S. Brown, Texas Navy officer, a resident of Velasco, joined the revolutionary army in 1835 and took part in the Siege of Béxar. After Martín Perfecto de Cos capitulated, Brown proceeded to Goliad, where he was said to have designed a revolutionary flag displaying a bloody arm, stripes of red and white, and the motto “Independence.” The flag may have been hoisted at Velasco in January 1836. Brown was made captain of the schooner Liberty in January 1836; he was a brother of Jeremiah Brown, captain of the Invincible. On March 3, 1836, William Brown captured the Mexican trading vessel Pelicano near Sisal and got its cargo safely to Matagorda Bay. Because of a quarrel with Charles E. Hawkins, commodore of the Texas Navy, Brown was superseded in command of the Liberty on March 12, 1836. In July he was given another navy commission and was put in charge of the Comanche and the Fanny Butler, two captured Mexican vessels. Later he was commissioned captain of the privateer Benjamin R. Milam, but he died in New Orleans before the ship was ready for service. A eulogy appeared in the Telegraph and Texas Register for August 18, 1838.

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