Sharp, John

John Sharp was one of the signers of a petition calling for a general convention of the people of Texas to “quiet the present excitement” against Mexican rule. He served at the Siege of Béxar, and on November 28, 1835, he and seven other citizens of Brazoria County petitioned the provisional government of Texas to fortify the east end of Galveston Island, the mouth of the Brazos River, and the entrance to Matagorda Bay against Mexican naval forces. To pay for these installations and their garrisons, the committee suggested the opening of customhouses at those ports of entry. On March 24, 1836, Sharp was elected first lieutenant of Capt. Robert J. Calder’s Company K of Col. Edward Burleson’s First Regiment, Texas Volunteers, and he immediately returned to Brazoria, apparently as a recruiting officer. There on March 27 he wrote his assurances to his fellow citizens that Sam Houston’s army would not retreat from the Colorado River but would march west, pushing the Mexican army before it. “Let but the men of Texas turn out, with arms in their hands, resolved to be free or die,” he wrote, “and their families will be as safe here as on the other side of the Sabine.” Sharp returned to the army in time to serve at the battle of San Jacinto. In 1837 Sharp was aboard the schooner Julius Caesar when it was captured by a Mexican naval squadron, and he was imprisoned for a time with William H. Wharton at Matamoros. He died in Velasco on August 17, 1840.

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