Thomas H. Breece joined a company of New Orleans Grays in New Orleans and marched with his comrades to San Augustine and Nacogdoches, where the battalion was officially organized. Breece was elected captain. His lieutenants were John J. Baugh and George Washington Main. According to a circular printed in Nacogdoches during the time of their visit, the men of Breece’s company were “mostly athletic mechanics, who have abandoned their homes and lucrative employments for the disinterested purpose of sustaining the righteous cause of freedom. Their very appearance must convince every Texian that they will either ‘do or die'”. Breece and his fifty-four-man company served at the Siege of Bexar, December 5–10, 1835, where they took part in the capture of the Veramendi Palace. Sam Houston ordered him, December 21, 1835, from Washington-on-the-Brazos, to proceed “to whatever point you may deem best for the interest of the service & there recruit as many men as you possibly can”. Breece was then to report to Copano or Matagorda by March 1, 1836.
Northcross, James
James Northcross was born 1804 in Virginia. He served in Capt. Robert M. Coleman’s company during the Grass Fight, took part in the Siege of Béxar, and later served in the Alamo garrison as a member of Capt. William R. Carey’s artillery company. He died in the battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836.
McFarland, Thomas Stuart
Thomas Stuart McFarland was born 1810 in Indiana. He and his father fought at Nacogdoches against Col. José de las Piedras where he was an aide to James W. Bullock, commander of the Texas forces. From October 3 to November 14, 1835, he also served in the company of Capt. John English but did not participate in the Siege of Béxar. He served in the company of Capt. William Scurlock from July 4, 1836, until October 4, 1836. He was chosen lieutenant colonel of the militia there in San Augustine in an election held on February 25, 1837. He died in May 1880. Two Texas Centennial historical markers honor McFarland.
He is quoted in the 1872 Texas Almanac:
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.
Edwards, Haden H.
Haden H. Edwards was born 1812 in Virginia. At the outbreak of the Texas Revolution he was elected captain of a company of volunteers that served at the Siege of Béxar in December 1835. After the revolution he fought in several Indian campaigns and attained the rank of brigadier general. In January 1844 President Sam Houston sent Edwards on a trading mission among the Indians of the Clear Fork of the Brazos River. At the start of the Mexican War Edwards enlisted as a private in Capt. William F. Sparks’s Company E of Col. George T. Wood’s Second Regiment, Texas Mounted Rifles, but left the service with a disability discharge on August 31, 1846.
Dennison, Stephen
Stephen Dennison in 1812. He traveled to Texas by way of New Orleans as a member of Capt. Thomas H. Breece’s company of New Orleans Greys. He took part in the Siege of Béxar and later served in the Alamo garrison as a member of Capt. William Blazeby’s infantry company. Dennison died in the battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836.
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