Turner, Amasa

Amasa Turner was born 1800 in Massachusetts. Turner joined the Texan forces defending Gonzales in September 1835 and accompanied them to San Antonio, where he fought as a lieutenant with Capt. Robert M. Coleman’s Bastrop Company in the Siege of Béxar. Turner was appointed recruiting officer for the revolutionary army and raised ninety-nine volunteers in New Orleans in January 1836. Upon arrival at Velasco some of these men were organized into a company of regular infantry under Turner’s command. This force joined Sam Houston’s army on its retreat from Gonzales and fought at the battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. After the battle Turner was assigned to the Texas garrison at Galveston Island and soon rose to command of the First Regular Infantry Regiment. In May 1837 he was promoted to colonel and assumed command of the Galveston post, where he remained until he retired from the army on August 5, 1837. During the Civil War he served as provost marshal of Lavaca County; his son, a member of the Eighth Texas Cavalry, was killed in the war. He died 1877 in Gonzales.

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