The Texas Almanac, 1872, pp 98-110
Citation: The Texas Almanac for 1872, and Emigrant’s Guide to Texas, Book, ca. 1872; (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123777/ : accessed March 05, 2015), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association, Denton, Texas.
SURVIVORS OF THE TEXAS REVOLUTION.
The following brief sketches of some of the present survivors of the Texas revolution have been received from time to time during the past year. We shall be glad to have the list extended from year to year, so that, by reference to our Almanac, our readers may know who among those sketches, it will be seen, give many interesting incidents of the war of the revolution. We give the sketches, as far as possible, in the language of the writers themselves.
By reference to our Almanac of last year, (1871) it will be seen that we then published a list of 101 names of revolutionary veterans who received the pension provided for by the law of the previous session of our Legislature. What has now become of the Pension law?
MR. J. H. SHEPPERD’S ACCOUNT OF SOME OF THE SURVIVORS OF THE TEXAS REVOLUTION.
Editors Texas Almanac: Gentlemen – Having seen, in a late number of the News, that you wish to procure the names of the “veteran soldiers of the war that separated Texas from Mexico,” and were granted “pensions” by the last Legislature, for publication in your next year’s Almanac, I herewith take the liberty of sending you a few of those, with whom I am most intimately acquainted, and now living in Walker and adjoining counties. I would remark, however, at the outset, that I can give you but little information as to the companies, regiments, &c., in which these old soldiers served, or as to the dates, &c., of their discharges.
* (ed note: The names have been alphabetized, so are not in the order they appeared in the Almanac.)
ALLBRIGHT, A. F.
* (p. 109)
* not on current list of SOB participants
Editors Texas Almanac: I was born in Jackson county, Georgia, October 21st, 1812; my father, John Allbright, immigrated to Rapides Parish, La., when I was ten years old, and lived there until January, 1835, when I immigrated to San Augustine county, Texas, and in the fall of 1835, to what is now Newton county, where I now reside; in the summer of 1836 I volunteered and went into the Texas army, in Capt. Ingram’s company, from Jasper county, and was discharged on the Lavaca, and afterwards served a term of three months as a Ranger, on the Sabine river, under Capt. Swarengen. It is near thirty-six years since I came to Texas, and Texas is my home whilst I stay here below, and in Newton county I expect to be buried.
Yours, with respect, A. F. ALLBRIGHT.
CARTRIGHT, Matthew
* (p. 99)
* not on current list of SOB participants
Matthew Cartwright, of Montgomery county, is, I think, a native of Alabama, and removed with his father and family to Texas about the year 1833. Mr. C. was, for a time, the “mess mate” of the writer in the campaign at Bexar, in 1835, in Capt. Joe Bennet’s company. When the call was made for volunteers (from the army under Gen. Austin, then at Mission Espada) to make a “reconnaissance” up the river, and look out a place for the troops to encamp, nearer the enemy, Mr. C. turned out and was one of the eighty-two raw Texans who, under Bowie and Fannin, so severely drubbed Gen. Coss’s 1200 infantry and cavalry, at Mission Concepcion : killing and wounding 120, and inflicting a defeat that damped Mexican courage for the remainder of that campaign. Mr. C.’s next service was in Capt. Wade’s company, in 1836 (for he was compelled to return home before Bexar fell), until that company was incorporated with others; then he joined the cavalry; was in the battle on the evening of the 20th with Lamar, &., &c., and, had his horse killed under him.
The next day Mr. C. was in the decisive conflict, but I believe, with the infantry. Mr. C. is about 60 years old.
COLLARD, Jonathan
* (p. 99)
* not on current list of SOB participants
Mr. Jonathan Collard, of Montgomery county, near Danville, was born in Missouri, came to Texas in 1834. He is the oldest son of Col. Elijah Collard, who was a member of the “Consultation, or Provisional Government” that convened at “San Felipe de Austin,” in 1835. Mr. C. served in both campaigns of 1836 – that prior, and that subsequent to the battle of San Jacinto – and was present in the latter engagement. Mr. C., I believe, participated in other campaigns. He is about 60 years old.
CORRY, Thomas F.
* (p. 102)
* not on current list of SOB participants
Battle of San Jacinto
CRAIN, R. T.
* (p. 106)
* not on current list of SOB participants
Editors Texas Almanac: You stated in your issue of the first of the month, that you wished to hear from men who served in our struggles for Texas Independence. I am one of them, and I know of a few more still living, who belonged to the same company of San Augustine county, Eastern Texas. Our captain was named Wm. Kimbro, and I know of the following men who still live, and were in the San Jacinto battle, namely: Andrew Caddell, Bosque county; Daniel McGarie, Washington county; Ben Thomas, Bexar county, John Harmon, residence unknown; Wm. Burditt, Refugio county; N. W. Burditt, residence unknown; J. A. Burditt, Austin; George Hancock, Austin, and Joel Crain, Bosque county.
I will state concerning myself that I was slightly wounded in the head, by an escopeto ball, at San Felipe, when Santa Anna’s army first arrived at that place. Our company joined Houston at Groce’s Retreat, and was ordered down to San Felipe, to guard the crossing. There were two other companies at that place to keep the Mexicans from crossing, Capt. Mosley Baker commanding the whole guard. We burned the town, crossed over to this side and entrenched. I could give many things that took place in our camp at that place and time, if your space would admit.
Now I will come to the point in view, and of most interest to me, that is, how to get my pension money. I cannot get to Austin easily, and if I could, the officials there don’t know me, and the trip would cost me much more money than I can raise.
My name is R. T. Crain, though it was transcribed from the company roll as R. F. or R. J. Crain, which was a mistake, as there was but two Crains in our company, and the other was my cousin, Joel Crain. R. T. CRAIN.
DENNIS, Thomas Mason
* (p. 102)
* not on current list of SOB participants
Editors Texas Almanac: In compliance with your request, I will inform you that Thomas Mason Dennis, of the San Jacinto Veterans, is living in Rockport. He was with me a few days since. If you will address him, I doubt not he will give you much information. Also inquire of him in relation to his friend, Thomas F. Corry, now of Madison, Indiana, and formerly of Cincinnati, Ohio. He, too, was in the battle of San Jacinto.
Capt. Dennis lived in this county about twenty years. He came here from Matagorda county, but was originally from Georgia. J. F. BEASELY.
DEXTER, Peter B.
* (p. 110)
* not on current list of SOB participants
Peter B. Dexter was born in Geneva, Ontario county, New York, on the 13th November, 1799; went to Texas from Tennessee in 1834; in 1835 was Secretary of the convention or consultation which met in San Felipe, of which B. T. Archer was President; was also Secretary of the Provisional Government, established by this convention; was a member of Capt. Baker’s company, but, having quarreled with him about the time of the retreat from Gonzales, Dexter’s name does not appear on B.’s muster roll. A few days after the battle of San Jacinto, Gen. Houston directed D. to gather into one company many non-attached men in and around the camp, and report to Col. Sherman. Dexter’s muster roll showed eighty-three names; these men D. commanded until their final discharge, at the expiration of their term of service, 1836.
On the re-organization of the army, at the commencement of Gen. Lamar’s administration, 1838, D. was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the first legion of cavalry, and was detailed to perform the duties of Commissary-General of Subsistence. In 1839, at the time the yellow fever was raging in New Orleans, was sent there as Commissioner on the part of Texas to organize the commission for running the boundary line between the United States and Texas; in 1849 he went to California and has remained there since.
GALLATIN, Albert
* (p. 105)
* not on current list of SOB participants
Editors Texas Almanac: Having seen in the Galveston News, a request for all the surviving soldiers of the Texas Revolution to send their names to you, I comply as follows:
I was born in Lexington, Kentucky, August 1st, 1809. I came to Texas in the winter of 1832; was in the army in 1835 at San Antonio; was in the Grass Fight and at the taking of San Antonio, under Col. Milam. In 1836 I was in the battle of San Jacinto, and in the regiment commanded by Col. S. Sherman; I was wounded in that battle. ALBERT GALLATIN.
GORHAM, William
* (p. 106)
* not on current list of SOB participants
Mr. William Gorham, of Black Jack Springs, in answer to our request, made to all survivors of the Texas Revolution, informs us that he immigrated to Texas in 1831, and settled in Bastrop, and has been a resident of the State ever since. He served through the campaign of 1835, before San Antonio, and also through the campaign of 1836. He is 72 years of age, and a native of New Haven, Connecticut. He has duly applied for a pension under the late law.
HEARD, William J. E.
* (p. 106)
* not on current list of SOB participants
Editors Texas Almanac: Having seen in your paper of the 14th, an invitation to all the old veterans of Texas to send their names to you for publication in your Almanac, I will send you mine with a few items.
In October, 1830, I started from North Alabama, near Tuscumbia, for Texas. I arrived on the Navidad, near Texanna, in December, and located my headright league about six miles from Texanna, now Jackson county. I lived there two years, and then moved to the Colorado and settled at Egypt, now Wharton county. I lived there until 1866, and then moved to Chappell Hill, where I am now living. I am now in my seventieth year, quite feeble, and my eyes very dim, which you will see from my writing, not being able to see the lines.
I joined the army in 1836, at Gonzales, on the 28th of February. I was elected Captain of Company C, in Col. Burleson’s regiment. I retreated with the army to San Jacinto, fought in that battle, and then followed the enemy until they left the country. I was discharged at Victoria, by Col. Somerville, and my discharge was dated the 30th of May, 1836. The winter before last I had the misfortune to have my house burnt. I have not been able to find my discharge, and suppose it was burnt. I have now a land certificate for services rendered in 1836, commencing the 28th of February and ending the 30th of May, issued by Charles Moran, Secretary of War. I was well acquainted with Gen. Sherman at the battle of San Jacinto, and he knows I was there. I can recollect of but one man of my company now living; that is Joel Robinson, of Fayette. He is one of the men that captured Santa Anna. WM. J. E. HEARD.
IRVINE, J. S.
* (p. 104)
Editors Texas Almanac: At your request I propose giving you a short sketch of my life, as connected with the Texas war of independence.
I was born on the 25th of August, 1819, in Lawrence county, Tennessee, where I lived until I was eleven years old. In 1830 my father left Tennessee for the purpose of finding a home in what was then called the Province of Texas.
On our way from Tennessee to Texas, at Alexandria, Louisiana, my father died with yellow fever, leaving my mother with five children, (all boys,) strangers in a strange land, without a dollar of money in the world; but by picking out cotton for a planter, near Alexandria, we obtained money enough to bring us to Texas.
If my memory is not at fault, it was on the eleventh day of November, 1830, we first placed our feet upon Texas soil. My mother purchased a tract of land in what is now Sabine county, near where the town of Milam is situated, where she resided until 1834. She then moved to Ayish District, now San Augustine county, where we were living when the memorable struggle for independence began.
In the fall of 1835, a call was made for volunteers. My brother-in-law, James Perkins, and my oldest brother, R. B. Irvine, both now dead, volunteered. The writer of this, then in his seventeenth year, expressed a desire to “go to the war.” His mother consented; he volunteered; joined a company from San Augustine, commanded by Capt. H. W. Augustin, subsequently by Capt. George English, joined the army under the command of Gen. Stephen F. Austin, at Mission Concepcion, near the town of San Antonio, and for the first time in life became a soldier. I returned home during the winter, and remained at my mother’s until March, 1836, about which time the news reached the Red Lands that Santa Anna, with his murderous legions, were on the march for Texas. An urgent call was made for volunteers. My brother James T. P. Irvine and myself, enlisted in a company from Sabine county, commanded by Capt. Benjamin Bryant. In March, 1836, our company started for the seat of war; found and joined the Texas army under the command of Gen. Sam Houston at Groce’s ferry, on the Brazos river; was with the army in its forced march from Groce’s to San Jacinto, where we came up with, saw, and conquered Santa Anna. I was in the division or regiment commanded by the brave, intrepid Col. Sherman.
After the battle of San Jacinto, I was discharged and returned to my mother’s home, where I remained until July, 1836, when the startling news again reached us in Eastern Texas, that the Mexicans, in overwhelming force, were on the march again to invade our peaceful homes, and stain again the soil of our beloved Texas with the blood of her noble sons. A call was made for volunteers; myself and my next younger brother (William D. Irvine) volunteered, joined a company raised in San Augustine county, commanded by Capt. Wm. Scurlock. We joined the Texas army, under the command of Gen. Thos. J. Rusk, on the Coleto, a few miles west of the town of Victoria. No Mexicans came; therefore, we had no fighting to do; served our three months, were discharged and returned to our homes. Thus ended my services as soldier in the armies of Texas, during her struggle for independence.
Permit me here to relate an anecdote, in order to show the spirit that actuated the people, particularly the women of Texas, during the dark and gloomy days of 1836.
Some ladies from San Augustine, visiting at my mother’s house, one of them said to her: “I don’t see, Mrs. Irvine, how you can consent to let your boys go to the army so much; you have five boys and four of them are gone nearly all the time to the army.” The old lady replied: “I have but one thing to regret.” “What is that?” asked the lady. “It is,” replied my mother, “that instead of four boys, I am sorry that I have not forty sons to send to the army to fight for my country.”
J. S. IRVINE.
ISBELL, Wm.
* (p. 109)
writes us, through a friend, as follows.
Editors Texas Almanac: – Was born in the town of Greenville, Green county, Tennessee, on the 15th day of June, 1816; in 1833 I run away from my father and lived in Abingdon, Virginia; I told my father a lie and he whipped me severely for it, as he hated a liar; I have often been in Andrew Johnson’s tailor shop, in Greenville, and had contests with boys for the binding or edging torn from cloth; I frequently chopped wood as a favor for Mrs. Cardy, who was Andy Johnson’s mother-in-law; Mr. Cardy was a club-footed shoemaker in Greenville; I emigrated to Texas in the fall of 1834, and living on Cummings’ Creek. In the spring of 1835 I went on my first campaign with Capt. R. M. Williamson, who was called three-legged Willie; John H. Moore, Liester, Rabb, Eastland, Goheen, Ned Burleson, R. M. Coleman, Col. Neill, and others were in the company; we were absent about sixty days on the upper Brazos, and lived mainly on beef. In October, 1835, I joined Capt. Thomas Alley’s company, at Gonzales, and marched about the 13th of October, 1835, under command of Gen. Stephen F. Austin, who had been elected commander of the “Army of the People,” for San Antonio; I belonged to that division of the army commanded by Col. Frank Johnson and Col. Wm. T. Austin, which stormed San Antonio in December, 1835. After the surrender of Gen. Coss I went to Mill Creek, now Austin county, and planted a crop, and then joined Gen. Sam Houston, on the Colorado, on his retreat from Gonzales; participated in the battle of San Jacinto, on the 21st of April, 1836, as a member of Capt. Mosley Baker’s company, served out my three months’ time and then returned to Mill Creek and worked out my crop of corn. In the winter of 1836 I went to the town of Brazoria and kept bar for Mrs. Jane Long, who had a tavern in Brazoria. I lived in Houston from the winter of 1837 till 1840; wagoned to the west for Major Bennett. In 1841 I made an Indian campaign under Mark B. Lewis and Tom Green; returned by way of San Antonio and there joined Capt. Jack Hays’ company of Rangers and served about six months; since the winter of 1842 I have lived in Washington county and in Burleson county, where I now am staying. I have five children by my first wife, and have three by my present wife, one boy six years old, one two years old and one boy ten months old; I have eight children living, and have buried two boys and one girl. Of course I have never seen my present wife and younger children, as I have been entirely blind for fourteen years.
KELLY, Connell O’Donnell
* (p. 110)
* not on current list of SOB participants
Connell O’Donnell Kelly came to Texas in October, 1835, in the Mobile Grays, under Capt. Burk, and went to San Antonio to conquer Gen. Coss; we got there one or two days after it was taken, when I volunteered with Grant to take Matamoros; went to San Patricio, where, being surrounded by Mexicans, I made my excape, went to Velasco, and from there to San Felipe de Austin, where I joined Mosley Baker’s company; went to Gonzales, where volunteers were called for to go to the assistance of Travis, and volunteered as one to go; went to Leon, where we saw about one thousand Mexican camp fires; when they, the Mexicans, opened fire on us, and our party being too small, retreated to the Cibolo, under Capt. W. Smith, where we remained but a short time, and returned to Gonzales, where Gen. Sam Houston had just arrived from Washington, Texas, when our captain informed him that the Alamo had fallen. Captain Dickinson’s wife and child (Burgardo, an old Mexican, came in with her as a guide) confirmed our statement. We were then appointed the spy company; when Gen. Sam Houston ordered a retreat, and told us to sink the flat, and that when we retreated, to set fire to the town; we did so, and brought the news to Sam Houston, then at Peach Creek, whereupon he retreated to the Colorado, when I was sent to Harrisburg with prisoners; was appointed Commissary there; then at San Jacinto joined Captain McIntyre’s company. I was born in New Port, county Mayo, Ireland, in the year 1808. CONNELL O’DONNELL KELLY.
LEWIS, John Taylor
* (p. 103)
* not on current list of SOB participants (his father is listed)
John Taylor Lewis, second son of Col. S. S. Lewis, was born on the 14th of February, 1808, in Scott county, Indiana; moved with his father to Carroll parish, Louisiana, in 1826; came to Texas in November, 1831, having married the spring before. In 1835 he went to San Antonio and participated in the battle or storming of Bexar. He is a farmer by occupation. He raised a family of nine children, and his three eldest sons served through the four years of the Confederate war.
I have tried to obtain a sketch of the lives of the following persons, but so far have failed; Judge B. F. Jones of Newton; Jefferson West of Bleakwood; A. F. Allbright, Wm. McMahon, and Ira Stephenson, of Burkeville.
McALLISTER, Joseph
* (p. 108)
* not on current list of SOB participants
Mr. Richard Roman: Your communication of October 5th is just received or it would have been answered sooner; and in answer will say, I was born in Philadelphia in 1815, and immigrated to Texas, as a settler, in 1835; turned out as a soldier in March, 1836, from Harrisburg, Texas, and joined the army at San Felipe; was in the battle of San Jacinto, under Capt. Wm. S. Fisher, 21st April, 1836; was discharged from the army, at Velasco, June 6th, 1836; left Texas April 16, 1849, from Harrisburg, in company with Louis B. Harris, of Harrisburg, Texas, and I now reside at Stoney Point, Sonoma county, California. JOSEPH McALLISTER.
McFARLAND, Thomas S.
* (p. 102)
I was the oldest son of Gen. William McFarland, and was born at Lexington, Scott county, Indiana, on the 13th of June, 1810. My mother died 1816. My father moved to Louisiana in 1817, and after trying several localities, settled at Monroe, Ouachita parish, Louisiana.
From Louisiana I accompanied my father to Texas, and arrived in San Augustine county, (then Ayish District,) on the 4th of May, 1830. When the trouble arose in Texas, in 1832, which ended in the expulsion of the Mexican troops, I joined the forces of Eastern Texas, which rendezvoused at Neal Martin’s, eight miles east of Nacogdoches. After the organization, the commandant, Col. James W. Bullock, selected me as an aid. I was in the battle of Nacogdoches, on the 2d day of August, which lasted eight hours. I wrote and signed the articles of capitulation, when Col. José de los Piedras surrendered. In 1833 I obtained the site, and laid out the town of San Augustine. In the fall of 1835 I belonged to the army under Gen. S. F. Austin, before San Antonio. In 1836 I served in the army under Gen. Rusk, three months. In 1837 I was elected Lieut. Colonel of Militia in San Augustine. In January, 1838, I was married to Miss Elizabeth Eubank, of Virginia, and moved to this (San Augustine) county, then a part of Jasper county. In 1841 I was elected to the Senate, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation of S. H. Everett, and served one session. I have served three times as Chief Justice of the county. My profession was surveying, though I have tried several kinds of business, but mostly merchandising and farming. In 1868 I was bankrupt. I have raised ten children; the two oldest sons served four years in the Confederate army. Respectfully submitted for correction. T. S. McFARLAND.
McMAHON, William
* (p. 105)
* not on current list of SOB participants
Editors Texas Almanac: I was born in Nelson county, Kentucky, August 14th, 1798, and in November, 1808, my father, Friend McMahon, immigrated to what was then called West Florida, but now West Feliciana parish, La., and was under the Spanish Government. He remained there three years, when we went to what is now Clark county, Arkansas, thirty-five miles from Hot Springs, when there was not more than twelve families west of Hot Springs. In 1816 we moved to Hempstead county, Arkansas, and in 1828 I moved to what is now Claiborne parish, La., and in January, 1836, I came to Texas and settled in Jasper, but now Newton county, where I now live.
In the fall of 1836 I joined Capt. Swarengen’s company of Rangers, and served three months on the Sabine river. It is near thirty-five years since I came to Texas, and all I have is in Texas, and I feel it is the country for me whilst I sojourn here a few more days and I shall be done with the world, and then I hope to get to a better country, where the King Emanuel reigns. It is fifty-five years since I enlisted in His service, and I find that his promises never fail, and with the Psalmist I can say: “Even down to old age all my people shall prove my Sovereign’s eternal, unchangeable word.”
WM. McMAHON.
PHELPS, William
* (p. 108)
* not on current list of SOB participants
* enrolled 1836
Editors Texas Almanac: – Having seen in your paper that you wished all soldiers who were entitled to pension, to send you their names for the Texas Almanac, I send you three names, my own and two others:
I enrolled by name on the muster rolls of company F, in Cincinnati, October, 1836. Our company landed at Velasco about the last of December, of the same year, and on or about the 8th of January, 1837, was sworn into the revolutionary army of Texas for during the war. I served out my enlistment and was honorably discharged by Barnard E. Bee, Secretary of War, at Houston, on the 9th day of April, 1838, as the records at Austin will show.
FREDERICK MARTIN and RICHARD ROLLES enlisted in the same company on the same day and for the same term of service. The date of their discharges I do not know. Company F belonged to the first regiment of permanent volunteers, commanded by Col. Teal.
The two above mentioned and myself are all that I know of who are now living that belonged to company F. WILLIAM PHELPS.
Bremond, Robertson County, Texas, Nov. 13th, 1870.
PUTMAN, Mitchell
* (p. 101)
* not on current list of SOB participants
* enlisted after fall of Alamo
Mitchell Putman was born in the State of South Carolina, in February, 1793; emigrated to Austin’s colony and settled on the Colorado river in Texas in the winter of 1834 and 1835. The disturbances with the Government of Mexico, soon after his arrival, caused him to answer the call of the Provisional Government of Texas, and repair to Gonzales, where he enlisted in the army under Gen. Sam Houston a few days after the fall of the Alamo. The army retreated from Gonzales before Santa Anna, Commander-in-Chief of all the Mexican forces. The subject of this notice separated from his wife and children at Donahoo’s, on the Brazos river, where the retreating Texan army and the families of those in the army and mass of the population west of Brazos, camped together. The non-combatants retreated further east; the Texan army diverged to Buffalo Bayou and fought the battle of San Jacinto on the 20th and 21st days of April, 1836. In that battle, Mitchell Putman, a private in Capt. W. J. E. Heard’s company, Burleson’s regiment, was wounded in the right arm, near the body, by an escopet ball, which caused a partial paralysis of the arm. Mitchell Putman moved to Gonzales county in 1838, and though now past seventy-seven years of age, is able to undergo much fatigue and hardship. He is one of the survivors of the Texas revolution now entitled to a pension for services and wound, under the Act of 13th August, 1870.
He has, perhaps, experienced more mental and physical privations than any man now living in Texas. In October, 1838, whilst residing one mile below where Clinton is not situated, in the bend near the Guadalupe river, then part of Gonzales county, a party of Comanche Indians captured four of his children, a few hundred yards from his house, and took them with them on their return to their wilderness homes. One of these children was brought into San Antonio and sold by them in 1840, where an agreement was made that the Comanche chiefs and warriors should meet the whites at a subsequent time, in San Antonio, and make a treaty. The Indians, painted and armed, met the whites at the time and place appointed, and were in consultation in a house in San Antonio, when for some cause the Indians terminated the council abruptly, and may of them were killed. A few escaped, and afterwards exchanged another one of Mitchell Putman’s stolen children; a third died about this time, and the fourth child, a daughter about five years old when captured in 1838, was never heard of by the father or family till sometime in July, 1865.
Judge John Chinault, who had many years before been an Indian agent, on the west border of Missouri, purchased a girl from the Indians and adopted her into his family, her name, parentage, and past history being unknown to her. During the late war, Judge Chinault fled from Missouri, on account of his political opinions, and sought a refuge for his family in the town of Gonzales, where, by chance, Mitchell Putman learned something of the unknown member of Judge Chinault’s family, and remembering some mark on the body of his child, lost twenty-six years before, an examination was made and proved satisfactory to the father, and to the daughter, now past thirty years of age; and the child, equally well pleased to learn something of her own kindred, though she parted with her adopted parents and family with sad feelings, chose to return to her aged father’s protection.
Mitchell Putman has always been an esteemed citizen, and can, in the course of nature, live but a few years to enjoy the bounty of the late Legislature of Texas.
ROBINSON, George Washington
* (p. 98)
* not on current list of SOB participants
* “did not remain until the place was taken”
George Washington Robinson was born, I believe, in Missouri; came to Arkansas with his father and family when a child; and from the latter State to Texas while still in his youth, about 1832 or 1833.
Mr. Robinson was out, for some time, in Bexar, in the fall of 1835; but did not remain until the place was taken by the Texans. Mr. R.’s next campaign was in the spring of 1836. He was a member of Capt. William Ware’s (now dead) company; was among the first to join the little band, under Houston, at Gonzales; stuck out the tiresome retreat, and fought at San Jacinto until he fell, severely wounded near the enemy’s breast works.
Mr. Robinson was, perhaps, out in other campaigns. He is now about 57 or 58 years old, and still robust as when the writer first knew him. Mr. R. is a resident of Madison county.
ROBINSON, Zoroaster
* (p. 103)
* not on current list of SOB participants
* claims he was at SOB
* ???
Zoroaster Robinson, one of the participants in the Texas Revolution, was born in the year 1808, in the city of Milledgeville, Georgia. His parents were Henry and Susan Robinson. He was raised to man’s estate in the State of his nativity, and married there, in 1829, Martha Winn. In the winter of 1834 and 1835, he immigrated to Texas, and with his family settled in what is now Grimes county, near the present location of the town of Anderson. In the fall of 1835, in company with John S. Black, he went to San Antonio, and participated with General Burleson in the siege and capture of that place. At the call of the gallant Milam for volunteers to storm the Alamo, he was the seventh man that stepped out in response to this call. His comrade, John S. Black, was the fifth. He was near Milam when he fell, shot down while passing one of the streets in the city. After the capture of San Antonio and the Alamo, he returned to his family and remained at home till the 2d day of March, 1836, when he volunteered in the company of Capt. Joe Bennett, and started next day, from the town of Washington, to relieve, if possible, Travis, who was then besieged by Santa Anna’s army, in the Alamo. On reaching the Colorado, they were met by the news of the fall of the Alamo. On the Colorado he joined the army of Gen. Sam Houston, who was then retreating before Santa Anna. He continued with Houston’s army to Harrisburg, where he was left sick with the measles. During his sickness the battle of San Jacinto was fought, and from this was prevented from participating in that glorious achievement. After the battle, and so soon as he was able to travel, he, with others, went in search of their families, whom they had left at the town of Washington for safety when they joined the army. On arriving at that place they found that their families had fled, terror-stricken, eastward. Judge Robinson found his wife in the Trinity bottom, surrounded by the overflowed waters of that stream, whither she had arrived on foot, carrying her infant child in her arms. Such are some of the scenes of trial and terror that the fathers and mothers of the Texas Revolution witnessed and endured.
After the battle of San Jacinto, Judge Robinson again volunteered, joining a company raised by J. G. W. Pearson, and went west and was attached to a division of Georgia troops that arrived in Texas after the battle of San Jacinto. From this time to September, these troops were stationary on the frontier, scouting from Nueces to the Rio Grande, watching the movements of the Mexicans. Felix Huston, during this service, was the Judge’s Colonel. After the conclusion of this service, the Judge returned to his home in Grimes, where he remained until about the year 1840, when he removed north of the San Antonio road into the territory of Robertson county, since erected into Leon county, where he has ever since resided and yet resides. He assisted in the organization of Leon county, was elected the second Chief Justice of the same, and was again elected, having served the people of his county seven consecutive years in this capacity. During his residence in Leon he has been engaged in farming, hotel keeping, and worked as a bricklayer, besides his public and official labors. He has been married twice, and is now living with his second wife; had thirteen children by his first wife, nine of whom are now alive; one by his second wife; has now nine grand children and three widowed daughters at his house, on his hands, to labor for and support in his old age, yet he is cheerful and buoyant; holding the plow and handling the trowel with a dexterity that would do no discredit to much younger hands. He is poor; he has seen the land which he helped to redeem from the thraldom of Mexican oppression and slavery, grow to an empire, and out of the millions of wealth around him, all he can control is what his daily labor will command. Eighteen years since, when the writer of this first knew him, he was well to do; his hospitality was characteristic of the old Texan patriot and pioneer; none went away from his door and board empty.
Judge Robinson, though over age, served the Confederacy gallantly; was a member of Capt. D. C. Carrington’s company, Col. Baylor’s regiment. But a few days since, as I saw him busily plying his trowel, his white locks streaming out to the wind, I thought but a few more years at farthest and his head must be laid beneath the sod, and that soon, very soon, the race of Texas pioneers and patriots will exist only in history and the memory of a grateful people. W. D. W.
ROMAN, Richard
* (p. 107)
* not on current list of SOB participants
* did not serve in SOB
Richard Roman was born near Lexington, Ky., in 1810; immigrated to Illinois in 1831, and was an officer in the Black Hawk war in 1832. He was elected captain of United States volunteers for during the war. In December, 1835, he came to Texas, landing at Velasco. At the fall of the Alamo, moved, and met our retreating army on the Colorado, and was attached to the 1st Regiment, commanded by Col. Burleson, but for the battle of San Jacinto, was placed in the battalion under the command of Col. Millard; was afterwards on the Guadalupe, and appointed Aid-de-Camp to Gen. Rusk, then commanding the army. Subsequently, in the organization of the Civil Government, under the Constitution, he was elected to Congress from Victoria county, and frequently thereafter, and was Senator from that District when the legislation was consummated for annexation to the United States; had also been a General Commissioner for the Detection of Fraudulent Land Certificates, and was elected by joint ballot of Congress, in 1841 or 1842; when the war between the United States and Mexico began, joined McCulloch’s spy company, and was soon appointed, by President Polk, at the instance of Senator Rusk, Major and Commissary of Subsistence, continuing on that line under General Taylor; was in the battles of Monterey and Buena Vista; went to California in the spring of 1849, was elected, and served first and second term as Treasurer of that State, was appointed by Mr. Buchanan Appraiser General of Merchandise for the Pacific Coast.
He has been for nearly nine years badly afflicted with palsy, so as to walk with great difficulty, and, yet, still worse, is totally deaf in both ears, as insensible to sound as a stick or a stone. He resides in San Francisco, with the family of his kind relative, Judge W. T. Wallace, expecting soon to depart hence and take on life eternal.
Maj. Roman accompanies the above letter with the following, received by him in answer to his efforts to obtain information he could of all old Texans, in reply to our request. We feel under obligations to him for his kindness:
SCATES, Wm. B.
* (p. 110)
Wm. B. Scates was born in Halifax county, Virginia, Nov. 27th, 1802. His father immigrated to Christian county, Kentucky, where he followed farming. The son left his father in 1820, and, went to New Orleans and engaged as a clerk for several years and afterwards went to work at house-carpentering, and finally came to Texas in 1831, landing in February of that year, and at Anahuac on the 2d of March, 1831. Here he found a Mexican organization, with its soldiers, officers and their families, under the command of Col. Bradburn. There were but few Americans, as Dr. Labadie, old Col. Morgan, Wm. Hardin, Theodore Dossett, old Dr. Dunlap, (or Doby as he was often called,) Wm. B. Travis, P.C. Jack, young Monroe Edwards, (afterwords the notorious counterfeiter,) and Robert Williamson, known as “Three Legged Willie.” The whole number of Americans was fifty-one.
Mr. Scates gives us an interesting account of all the troubles the Americans had with Bradburn, in which he participated; but which account we must postpone to another issue of this work. He afterwards took an active part in nearly all the battles and skirmishes during the war that followed with Mexico, lost all his property like many others, was wounded and suffered many hardships and privations, for which he has never received any compensation, not even a pension, while he says he knows of many who went to Austin last winter and obtained a pension, though they had never rendered any service to the country. Mr. Scates now resides at Osage, Colorado county, Texas, in an impoverished condition, with a family of daughters – not a son to assist him in his old age.
SCOTT, George W.
* (p. 108)
* not on current list of SOB participants
* did not serve in SOB
His father immigrated to Texas in 1824, when he, G. W., was quite a boy, and settled upon Galveston Bay, from thence to San Felipe, where they remained, and in 1832, when Santa Anna made his first raid into Texas, he was engaged in disarming the Mexicans and driving them out of the country; in 1835 his father raised the first company for the revolution and he, G. W. Scott, was 1st Lieutenant of said company; his father gave him permission to raise a company, which he did at the mouth of the Brazos, whereof T. F. McKinney was made Captain and he 1st Lieutenant, and on the 29th of August they captured the Corao, a Mexican vessel, commanded by Capt. Thos. M. Thompson; in the capture they killed and wounded about thirty men and took the rest of the crew, amounting to about 60 men, prisoners; on the next day, the 30th of said month, S. F. Austin arrived from Mexico and addressed the citizens and soldiers, in which he declared war and took command of the troops; G. W. Scott was appointed to take command of the Corao and carry her to New Orleans; he delivered her to Commodore Jones, who was in command of the United States fleet at the mouth of the Mississippi River, who put under his charge twenty-five men, with orders to deliver the Corao to the Marshall of the State of Louisiana, in the city of New Orleans, where he was placed under bond to appear in the United States Court as a witness, during which time he was busily engaged in recruiting for Fannin’s army. On the 5th day of March, 1836, he arrived in Galveston, on the 7th he was made Captain of a company and left for the army, then at Gonzales, and joined the command on or about the 12th of said month, when, on the next day, Gen. Houston ordered a retreat and retreated before the enemy to San Jacinto, while he, G. W. Scott, was retained by the Secretary of War, T. J. Rusk, as bearer of dispatches, and did not arrive on the battlefield until late in the evening after the battle was over, having been cut off by a part of the enemy; he remained in camps as Captain of the company until they were discharged. He is now living upon a league of land in Lavaca county that he located in 1831, for services rendered prior to the revolution. His postoffice is Hackberry, Texas. B. F. REYNOLDS.
SHEPPERD, J. H.
* (p. 100)
* not on current list of SOB participants
* claims he was at SOB
The writer, J. H. Shepperd, is a native of North Carolina. He came to Texas in 1831; first stopped in Austin’s Colony, twenty miles above San Felipe de Austin, at Col. Jared Groce’s settlement. In 1832 he made his first campaign as Lieutenant in Capt. Abner Kuykendall’s 2d company, when the Colonists rose to relieve Travis, Jack, and companions from the clutches of the tyrant Bradburn, at Anahuac. His next campaign was at Bexar, in 1835; he was in all battles and skirmishes around there; the “Powder House Fight,” Grass Fight, Concepcion, &c., and remained till the place surrendered. He was 1st Lieutenant in Joe Bennet’s company, and when the latter disbanded, joined Coleman’s company, in the same grade. He was not in the battle of San Jacinto for the reason that Sam Houston (the day the army crossed the Brazos at Groce’s) sent him with an express to the Coshattie Indians, on Trinity river, near where Swartwout now is. Gen. Houston had heard this tribe of Indians would come to his aid with 100 warriors. The writer told him they would not take part in the contest on the side of Texas, and the result of his mission confirmed his assertion. For, after endeavoring for several days to get their Chiefs to hold a council, he had to return to his home, at Montgomery, and was thus deprived of the honor of participating in the glorious victory of San Jacinto.
He served in the campaign after the latter battle; was out the year of the “Cherokee war,” and also in 1842, at Bexar, but did not go to the Rio Grande. He is nearly 58 years old, and in extremely bad health. He would remark that, in the campaign after the battle of San Jacinto, he was stationed at Southerland’s, on the Navidad, as bearer of expresses from Headquarters, at Victoria, to the seat of Government, at Columbia, and bore the dispatch from Sam Houston (then in Eastern Texas) countermanding the taking of Santa Anna to the army, as per vote and determination of the army.
Very respectfully, &c., J. H. SHEPPERD.
P. S. – The writer was 1st Lieutenant in Capt. Wade’s company in 1836.
Gen. Houston gave the writer a Lieutenant’s commission in the regular army which, owing to the difficulty of getting recruits, he tacitly resigned. J. H. S.
WADE, Col. John M.
* (p. 99)
* not on current list of SOB participants
* did not serve at SOB
The well known and accomplished Colonel John M. Wade, of Montgomery, came to Texas in 1835, and resided there (where he now does) until the call was made for volunteers, to meet the invaders under Santa Anna. The Colonel immediately got up a small company in the neighborhood, joined Houston at Gonzales, and, although a great part of his men disbanded, or were incorporated with other commands, he continued with the army during the retreat; joined the artillery, and, with Ben. McCulloch and kindred spirits worked one of the “Twin Sisters” at San Jacinto – it was their gun that carried away the water bucket of the Mexican Long-nine and did other damage. Col W. came home for a few weeks, after the battle, but again got up a company, around Montgomery, and joined the Texan army, then under Rusk, at Victoria. After the Mexican army had made its disgraceful “exit” from our soil Col. W. returned home, ever ready to respond to the call of his adopted country. He turned out again in 1842, but, fortunately, did not cross the Rio Grande with the doomed invaders under Fisher, Green, &c. He learned the printer’s trade in the city of New York, and once edited a paper in Huntsville, Walker county, Texas. Col. Wade’s mother was a blood cousin to the renowned Irish orator, Henry Grattan, and of the same name. Although about 60 years old, Col. W. (like Mr. Richard Williams,) is quite a young old man; looks almost as youthful as when the writer first grasped his hand, nearly thirty-five years ago.
[Col. Wade having furnished us a brief sketch of himself we now add it to the above.]
Editors Texas Almanac: Your kind invitation to the veterans of Texas, induces me to send my name, age, etc., together with a brief sketch of my services, which you can put in such shape as you please for your Almanac.
I came to Texas in 1835 from the Western Creek Nation, being advised so to do by Gen. Houston. I came when he made his second trip to Texas, on the 11th of October, 1835. I joined troops going from Nacogdoches to Bexar, (Rusk’s company,) was taken sick and remained in San Felipe, and the present site of Montgomery, until the meeting of the Convention at Washington, when I joined Capt. Ware’s company; heard of the fall of the Alamo and hastened to the Colorado; was under Sherman at the upper encampment until the retreat; Gen. Sherman will remember me. At Groce’s I was detailed, by Gen. Houston, with Dick Scurry, Ben McCulloch, Tom Green, T. O. Harris and others, to man the Twin Sisters, which the lamented J. N. Moreland was appointed to command; staid with the Twin Sisters till after the battle of San Jacinto; rejoined Ware’s company, and was discharged on the 11th of June, 1836.
Gen. Rusk hearing the Mexicans were rallying on the Rio Grande, called for men. I was elected captain of a company on the 4th of July, 1836; reported to Rusk at Victoria; was assigned to duty with my company in the regiment of Col. Ed. Morehouse; served three months, the term of enrollment, and discharged my company. I then went to Columbia and worked as a compositor on the Telegraph; came round to Houston with Cruger & Moore, after their purchase of the Bordens, and was foreman for them until the opening of the Land Office in 1838. I then returned to Montgomery and was appointed to the office of Deputy Surveyor; elected County Surveyor when that office became elective by the people, and was elected Colonel of Militia at its first organization. I started the Montgomery Patriot in 1845, moved it to Huntsville, and with the assistance of George Robinson, published it one year and sold out. I returned again to Montgomery in 1854, and have been Surveyor until displaced by Gov. Davis.
Matthew Cartright, R. Martin and myself, are the only survivors of the battle of San Jacinto, in this county.
I am a native of the city of New York, and 56 years old; have set type beside Greeley and Kendall when a mere boy. J. M. WADE.
WILLIAMS, Richard
* (p. 99)
* not on current list of SOB participants
* claims he served in SOB
Richard Williams, of Montgomery county, near Danville, is, I think, a native of Georgia. He came to Texas about 1834; was in the whole of the Bexar campaign the next year (1835) in Capt. John M. Bradley’s company, and was severely wounded by a canister shot, which struck a pistol at his side, (and thus his life was saved) in the Grass Fight, just in sight of San Antonio, near the “old grave yard,” a little west of the city. Mr. Williams remained till the city was taken, and his next term of service was in the campaign subsequent to the battle of San Jacinto; his was out again in 1842, and, but for a severe attack of sickness, might have gone on to the Rio Grande, and into Mexican territory, and shared the fate of the Mier prisoners. Mr. W., although about 60 years old, looks as young as twenty-five years ago; his wound, however, at times, still reminds him of having, more than once, faced the minions of the Despot of Mexico.
WINNE, Walter
* (p. 107)
* not on current list of SOB participants
* not at SOB
I was born in Charlestown, Mass., September 8th, 1813, and entered Texas in May or June, 1835, with Major Sterling Robertson, who had charge of a company of immigrants, and was taking them to Veisca, (Falls of the Brazos). Then we all took the oath to support the constitution of 1824, under Santa Anna, then President of Mexico. I was in Washington on the 2d of March, 1836; left there and joined Gen. Sam Houston on the Brazos, where I first met with Major Richard Roman. I was in Capt. Wood’s company of volunteers, First Regiment, under General Burleson, at the battle of San Jacinto, and now reside in this far Western State. WALTER WINNE.
YOUNG, William
* (p. 98)
* not on current list of SOB participants
* did not serve at SOB — didn’t arrive in Texas until 1836
I will begin with Col. Wm. Young, of Madison county. If I mistake not Col. Y. is a native of Tennessee; came to Texas early, I think in 1836, joined the retreating army of Gen. Houston; participated in the battle of San Jacinto, and was one of the very few wounded, severely, in that decisive conflict. Col. Y. was out in the campaign known as Neil’s, against the border Indians; and also, for a time, in the “Cherokee war” – the year the Chief, “Bolls,” was killed, and his tribe driven from Texas. Colonel Young, although verging on “three score and ten,” is still hale and hearty.
Bill Winston Benevage says
What great history. My ancestors are the Robinsons and the Collards.