James Gibson Swisher was born 1794 in Tennessee. In the War of 1812 he served as a private in Capt. David Mason’s company of Tennessee militia and in Capt. John Donelson’s company of United States Mounted Rangers. Swisher participated in the two battles of New Orleans. He was elected captain of a military company organized in Washington Municipality at the beginning of the Texas Revolution. His Texas military service began on October 8, 1835 and his company participated in the Siege of Béxar in December 1835. Gen. Edward Burleson appointed Swisher one of the three commissioners to negotiate the surrender of Gen. Martín Perfecto de Cos on December 11, 1835. Swisher remained with the revolutionary army until he was elected one of four delegates from Washington Municipality to the Convention of 1836 on February 1, 1836. At the convention he participated in debates and urged payment of land bounties to reward military service as well as careful examination of all bounty claims. He accompanied his family in the Runaway Scrape and assisted in the evacuation of Washington-on-the-Brazos. Swisher later served in Capt. William W. Hill’s company of rangers on the frontier from July to October 1836. He died in Austin in 1862.
The Siege of Béxar Descendants
The Soldiers and their Descendants
Bull, Pleasant Marshall
Pleasant Marshall Bull was born Feb. 18, 1808 in Grainger County Tennessee to John Valentine Bull and Fetna Bean. He came to Texas to acquire land, arriving in 1831 and settling in Brazoria, Austin Colony. He was a veteran of the Battle of Concepcion and the Battle of Bexar and is on the muster roll […]
Moore, Col. John Henry
Colonel Moore was elected Colonel Commandant of the Army of Texas on October 11, 1835 in Gonzales, the same day Stephen F. Austin was elected Commander in Chief and Edward Burleson, Lieutenant Colonel. Moore resigned his office on November 6th in Bexar and Ed Burleson was elected to replace him on November 7th. MOORE, JOHN […]
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