William Harris Wharton was born 1802 in Virginia. He identified with the party of the colonists agitating for a more energetic policy toward Mexico. Many believe Wharton served at the battle of Velasco and was one of those who signed the document of final surrender. He was a delegate from Victoria to the Convention of 1832, which asked for separate statehood for Texas and drew up a provisional constitution for a state government. Wharton wrote the petition to Mexico asking for statehood, a document which has become a political classic in Texas. At the Convention of 1833, he held the office of president. By 1835 Wharton and others were openly agitating for complete independence from Mexico, in opposition to the conservative policy of Stephen F. Austin. Wharton was elected a delegate to the Consultation, where the majority of the members were still in favor of a moderate policy; so the group merely stated loyalty to the Republican Constitution of 1824 as the reason for the war. Austin was elected to command the army, and Wharton was chosen judge advocate. He went with the army in the Siege of Béxar, then resigned his commission a few days before he was notified of his appointment as a commissioner to the United States with Austin and Branch T. Archer to secure aid for the Texans. Wharton was captured at sea by a Mexican ship and carried to Matamoros, where he was imprisoned. He succeeded in escaping and making his way back to Texas in time to be elected to the Texas Senate in 1838.
Evans, Robert
Robert Evans, ordnance chief of the Alamo garrison, was born 1800 in Ireland. After the Siege of Béxar he served as master of ordnance of the San Antonio de Béxar garrison. Susanna W. Dickinson stated that during the final moments of the battle of the Alamo Evans attempted to blow up the Texans’ remaining supply of gunpowder with a torch. He was shot down before he could do so. Dickinson also described him as being black-haired, blue-eyed, nearly six feet tall, and always merry.
Ware, William
William Ware was born 1801. Ware raised and commanded a company of volunteers at the Siege of Béxar and was wounded. With Antonio López de Santa Anna’s return to Texas in 1836, Ware reenlisted in the Texas army on March 12, 1836, and was elected captain of the Second Company of Col. Sidney Sherman’s Second Regiment, Texas Volunteers. He took part in the battle of San Jacinto, where James Washington Winters described his effort “like a wild mustang”. Ware died at Waresville (now Utopia) on March 9, 1853.
Dickinson, Almeron
Almeron Dickinson was born in Pennsylvanian who served as an artilleryman in the United States Army. On May 24, 1829, he eloped with Susanna Wilkerson. He participated in the battle of Gonzales on October 2, 1835, which began the Texas Revolution. At the Siege of Béxar he distinguished himself as a lieutenant of artillery; at the battle of the Alamo he was the captain in charge of artillery. On the morning of March 6, 1836, as the troops of Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna stormed the mission, Dickinson ran to his wife, reported that all was lost, and expressed hope that she could save herself and the child. Although he died at the Alamo, his wife and child survived.
Cunningham, Robert W.
Robert W. Cunningham was born 1804-1806 in New York. In 1836 Cunningham wrote to his family to inform them that he had joined the Texas army. He took part in the Siege of Béxar as a sergeant and second gunner in Capt. T. L. F. Parrott’s artillery company. He remained in San Antonio de Béxar after the battle as a private in Capt. W. R. Carey’s artillery company. He died in the battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836.
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