Willis H. Landrum, soldier and legislator, was born in Tennessee in 1805. He moved to Texas in 1834 and settled in what is now Sabine County. He was captain of a company that participated in the Siege of Bexar in 1835. He also commanded a company of volunteers in the Third Regiment of the Third Brigade in the campaign for the expulsion of the Cherokee Indians in 1839. Landrum represented Shelby and Sabine counties in the Senate of the First Congress of the Republic of Texas. In 1838 he was appointed a member of the board of land commissioners of Shelby County, but in 1841 he returned to the Sixth Congress as a representative of Sabine County. His will was filed for probate in Hopkins County on March 22, 1865.

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Benjamin F. Highsmith, Alamo courier and Texas Ranger, son of Ahijah M. and Deborah (Turner) Highsmith, was born in St. Charles District, Missouri Territory, on September 11, 1817. His father had been a scout and ranger during the War of 1812. Highsmith’s family traveled to Texas by wagon train and crossed the Sabine River by raft on December 24, 1823. They settled on the Colorado River near the site of present La Grange, Fayette County.

In 1830 Highsmith made his first trip to San Antonio de Béxar in a group of men that included William B. Travis, James Bowie, Benjamin McCulloch, Samuel Highsmith, George C. Kimbell, and Winslow Turner. At age fifteen he joined the company of Aylett C. Buckner and fought in the battle of Velasco on June 26, 1832. During that year Highsmith also settled in Bastrop, where he lived for the next fifty years. He took part in all of the major actions at the outset of the Texas Revolution: the fight for the Gonzales “Come and Take It” cannon, the battle of Concepción, the Grass Fight, and the Siege of Bexar.

He remained in Bexar after the siege until February 18, 1836, when he was sent by Travis with an appeal for aid to Col. James W. Fannin, Jr., at Goliad. Upon his return to Bexar, Highsmith found the town already occupied by the Mexican army. He was spotted by the Mexican cavalry at Powder House Hill and pursued by them for some six miles. He rode to Gonzales and later served Gen. Sam Houston as a courier. He and David B. Kent, son of Alamo defender Andrew Kent, carried a message to Fannin from Houston ordering Fannin to abandon Goliad and join him at the Guadalupe River. Highsmith fought in the battle of San Jacinto as a member of Capt. William Ware’s company.

After the revolution, Highsmith had a long career with the Texas Rangers. He served in the Mexican War, fought in the battles of Monterrey and Palo Alto, and was wounded at Buena Vista. Highsmith died in Uvalde County on November 20, 1905.

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