USA > Texas > A pictorial history of Texas, from the earliest visits of European adventurers, to A.D. 1879. Embracing the periods of missions, colonization, the revolution the republic, and the state; also, a topographical description of the country together with its Indian tribes and their wars, and biographical sketches of hundreds of its leading historical characters. Also, a list of the countries, with historical and topical notes, and descriptions of the public institutions of the state > Part 33
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AUSTIN, JAMES BROWN .- A younger brother of Stephen, came to Texas in 1822. He spent a year in San Antonio learning the Spanish language, after which he became a merchant and a planter in Brazoria county. In partnership with Jolin Austin, he erected the first cotton gin-house in Bra- zoria county. It was subsequently burned, and the place has been since known as the burnt gin place. In 1829 he went to New Orleans to buy goods and died of the yellow fever in that city.
AUSTIN, HENRY .- A cousin of the above; was, according to the state- ment of his sister, Mrs. Holly, in his seventeenth year, the commander of an East-India merchantman. He visited Mexico and obtained an empres- ario contract for introducing colonists on the Rio Grande river. The revo- lutionary state of the country interfered with the settlement of his colony, and he brought his vessel to the Brazos, and was the first to navigate that stream. Ilis boat, the Ariel, was wrecked at Lynchburg. Captain Austin settled at Bolivar, Brazoria county. Ilis sou, Edward T. Austin, is a prac- ticing lawyer in Galveston.
AUSTIN, JOHN .- Was a native of New Haven, Connecticut. Mrs Holly says that when but a youth the spirit of adventure seized him, and he
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enlisted as a common sailor before the mast. For years his parents had no word from him. Being in New Orleans when Long was organizing his expedition against Mexico, he joined him and was chosen captain of a company. Having shared the fate of that unfortunate command, he found himself a prisoner in the city of Mexico. It was fortunate for Austin that he had formerly been acquainted, at Yale college, with Mr. Poinsett, who was then the United States Minister at Mexico. Through Austin's influence with Poinsett Long's men were liberated, and those who chose to go were sent to Norfolk, Va., in the ship of war John Adams. S. F. Austin was then in Mexico; the two bearing the same name soon became acquainted, and John Austin and B. R. Milam determed to accompany the Impresario to his new colony. John Austin became an active and useful citizen. In 1832 he was elected one of the alcaldes of Brazoria. He was the command- er of the Texans in the battle of Velasco, and to him Colonel Ugartechea surrendered the fort. In giving an account of this battle, subsequently, to General Mexia, Austin said. " We are farmers and not soldiers, therefore desire that the military commandants shall not interfere with us at all. Since 1830, we have been pretty much governed militarily, and in such a despotic manner that we were finally driven to arms, to resist (restrain) within their limits the military subalterns of the Government." After de- tailing the arbitrary acts of Bradburn, Austin goes on: " Consequently we were compelled to oppose them. We attacked Fort Velasco on the 26th of June, with 112 farmers, hastily collected, without discipline, and badly armed; and after an obstinate and bloody engagement of eleven hours, it surrendered ou the terms expressed in the enclosed copy of the capitula- tion-every article of which has been strictly complied with on our part; besides furnishing the provisions needed for the troops." Mexia was satis- fied with this representation. As the Texans had already declared for the Constitution of 1824, and for Santa Anna, its champion, the troops affiliated readily with them.
The gallantry and skill displayed by Austin in this battle secured his election to the office of Brigadier-General of the militia over the equally gallant William II. Wharton. In 1833, the Asiatic cholera visited Texas, and Austin fell a victim to its ravages. Ilis aged father, who came to take charge of his son's family, also died of the same disease. HIad John Austin lived, he would no doubt, says Mrs. Holly, have borne a conspicuous part in the Texas revolution.
AUSTIN, WILLIAM T .- Brother of the above; came to Texas in 1830. In 1835 he was Aid-de camp, successively, to S. F. Austin and to Burleson. The latter compliments him very highly, for gallant conduct at the taking of San Antonio. In 1836 he was Aid to Houston. While the army was falling back from Gonzales, Austin was sent to the Brazos for cannon. At Brazoria he met Adjutant-General John A. Wharton, who informed him that the guns and ammunition had already been forwarded to the army from Columbia. They never reached their destination. In excusing him- self for the retreat from the Colorado, General Houston pleaded the want of the cannon for which he had sent. Why they failed to reach him has never been explained ; at any rate the arrival of the Twin Sisters at the Brazos,
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and the victory of San Jacinto, more than atoned for their loss. By the orders of General Wharton, Colonel Austin took command of the port of Velasco, and made such preparation as he was able to resist the expected advance of Urrea. He thus failed to be at San Jacinto. After the revolu- tion, he filled a number of offices in Brazoria county, and was for years the clerk of the county court. In 1863 he was in the Confederate service, as Captain of the Coast Guards at Houston. He died in Galveston, in Febru- ary, 1874.
BAKER, MOSELY-Came from Alabama to Texas in 1834 or 1835. He was one of the first to raise a company for the campaign in 1836, and one of those ordered arrested by Ugartechea, at San Felipe. It was Baker's com- pany that offered effectual resistance to Santa Anna, and prevented liim from crossing the Brazos, at that place. While Baker was in command at that point, the town was burned, Baker said by Houston's order. But Houston always contended that his orders had been misunderstood. Baker's company behaved with distinguished gallantry at San Jacinto, and he was himself slightly wounded. He represented Galveston in the Congress of the Republic in 1838-39; and died of yellow fever, in Houston, November 4th, 1848.
BARRET, D. C .- Was a lawyer by profession. He represented Bastrop in the Consultation in 1835, and was also a member of the Executive Council. He was one of the Commissioners sent by the Council to remon- strate with Cos against the arrest of certain citizens who had been pro- scribed. Barrett was a warm personal friend of Stephen F. Austin.
BASTROP, P. N. TUT-Or, as Saucedo gives his name, Felipe Henrique Neri, Baron De Bastrop, was a native of Prussia, and when very young entered the army as a soldier of fortune, under the great Frederick. Soon afterwards he offered himself to the King of Spain, who sent him on a special mission to Mexico. While Louisiana was under Spanish domination, Bastrop, through the influence of De Galvez, obtained an empresario grant to settle thirty miles square, between the Mississippi and Red rivers. Bastrop ceded four hundred thousand acres of this land, lying on the Washita, to Aaron Burr, where the latter expected to plant a colony, as a nucleus for his expedition to the southwest. When Louisiana was re-sold to France, De Bastrop became a citizen of San Antonio, Texas. When that place was visited by Moses Austin in 1821, Bastrop became deeply in- terested in Austin's colonization scheme. He was then one of the alcaldes of the city. In 1824 he became Land Commissioner, and resided in the new town of San Felipe. In 1824, and again in 1827, he represented Texas in the Legislature of Coahuila and Texas; and died in 1828 or 1829.
BAYLOR, E. B -Was a native of Kentucky, who in early life removed to Alabama. IIe became an active politician, and at one time represented his district in the United States Congress. He came to Texas during the days of the Republic, and was soon afterward appointed District Judge. Ile
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was re-appointed to the same office after annexation, and held the office until he felt that advancing age required him to retire to private life. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1845; and also a leading member and minister in the Baptist church; and his denomination named " Baylor University " in his honor. He died at his home, near Indepen- dence, Washington county, in December, 1872.
BEAN, ELLIS P .- Was a native of Tennessee. When but sixteen years of age, his father, at his own urgent solicitation, supplied him with a flat-boat load of western produce to trade on down the river. At the Muscle shoals the boat was capsized, and Bean escaped with nothing but the clothes he had on. He, however, continued the trip. At Natchez he formed the ac- quaintance of Philip Nolan, then collecting a company for catching mustang horses in Texas. Bean joined this expedition, and was elected second in command. When at the block house or fort, near the present town of Tehuacana, they were overtaken by a party of Spaniards under Musquis, on the 21st of March, 1801. Nolan was killed, and his companions made prisoners. Bean, upon whom the command devolved, was bitterly opposed to a surrender; but Musquis promised that the Americans should be sent to Natchez and released, and the others insisted on surrendering. On reaching Nacogdoches they were chained two and two, and marched to San Antonio, and then to the Rio Grande. According to Mexican custom, these prisoners were frequently moved from one prison to another. Bean resorted to various expedients to make money to supply his necessities. At San Luis Potosi, where he staid for more than a year, he followed shoemaking. At Chihuahua he set up a hatter's shop; and manufactured such superior hats that he soon enjoyed a monopoly of the hat trade. He was very in- genious. While at Acapulco he learned that they needed some one to pre- pare and set the fuse for blasting rocks, and he proclaimed himself an adept at the business, though in fact he knew nothing about it. He succeeded in blasting rocks and escaping his guard. But he was soon recaptured. He had secreted himself in an empty cask on board a vessel, and was betrayed by the Portuguese cook. He was returned to a dark cell, where he had previously been confined, and where he was cordially welcomed back by a white lizard he had previously tamed. He was next taken out to prepare some rude machinery for making powder, which he readily accomplished.
In 1811-12, the revolution was in progress, and the viceroy, who was in need of troops, offered Bean his liberty, if he would enlist in the royal army. This he readily consented to do; with the intention, as he said, of going over to the revolutionists on the first opportunity. This soon occurred, and the brave Morelos was but too glad to receive such an acquisition to the Republican ranks. The two became fast friends. Bean immediately set to work to build powder mills, and to prepare furnaces for casting cannon, and shops for preparing all kinds of arms and ammunition. He displayed such coolness in action that he soon rose to the rank of Colonel. He was in command of the troops that beseiged, and finally captured, the city of Acapulco, where he had been so long imprisoned. Bean treated his prisoners with great generosity, and won the admiration both of friends
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and foes. In the fall of 1814, Bean was sent by the Republicans as an agent to promote their cause in the United States. IIe found at Nautla, the " Tiger," one of Lafitte's boats, under the command of Captain Dominic. At Barrataria, Bean first heard of the war between the United States and Great Britain, and he and Lafitte determined to visit General Jackson's headquarters at New Orleans. As the British guarded the coast, the two threaded their way through the swamps and bayous to that city. Bean was well known to Jackson, and was at once placed in charge of a battery. Lafitte, also, was given a command; and both did heroic service in the great battle.
The times were unpropitious for Bean's success in the United States; and he returned to the coast of Mexico in one of Lafitte's ships. The next year he again returned to the United States in company with the diplomatist, Herrera.
In 1818, Bean visited Tennessee, and spent some time at his early home. He went next to Arkansas; but finally came to Texas as a colonist, and settled at Mound Prairie. In 1825, after the overthrow of the Spaniards in Mexico, Bean revisited that country. He was kindly received by his old companions in arms; his commission restored, and he was sent back to Texas as an Indian Agent. In 1832, he built Fort Teran, on the Neches river. An intimate personal friend of General Sam Houston, Bean kept the Indians in East Texas quiet during the exciting campaign of 1836. After the Texas revolution, Bean returned to Mexico. While fighting there in the Republican ranks, he had married an elegant lady, then a refugee in his camp. After the Mexican revolution, this lady recovered her property, and Bean spent the evening of his days very happily at her hacienda, near Jalapa, where he died, October 3d, 1846.
BEAUMONT, JEFFERSON-Was a leading merchant at Natchez, Mississippi. He came to Texas during the Revolutionary period. He was several years Chief Justice of Calhoun county, where he died, in 1863. Jefferson county and the town of Beaumont were named in his honor.
BEE, BERNARD E. SR .- Belonged to a distinguished family of South Car- olina. He came to Texas at an early period. He was in the cabinet of Burnet, ad interim, and also in the cabinets of both Houston and Lamar. From 1830 to 1841, he was Minister to the United States. It was mainly through Bee's influence that General James Hamilton, his brother in-law, was induced to take so deep an interest in the affairs of Texas. He died in South Carolina, in 1853.
BELISLE, MONSEUR DE .- A distinguished Frenchman sent in 1719, with a company of about one thousand persons, to plant a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi river. Like the fleet of Lasalle, this fleet was driven too far to the west, and a landing was made for water, on the bay of San Ber- nardo, (Matagorda). While the sailors were procuring the water, Belisle and four companions went on shore to hunt. According to commonly received tradition, the hunters overstayed their time and the vessels hoisted sail and left them. Bossu, (the marvellous writer who tells the story of
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Belisle), says the party were about to starve, hunting, as the reader will bear in mind, in Western Texas, then abounding in game and fish; but as. the story goes, they were about to starve, when Belisle gave his dog to his companions to eat. The dog seems to have apprehended his impending doom, and wisely fled to the wilderness. Four of the men starved to death; and Belisle was about to share their fate, when his wonderful dog returned with an opossum in his month. After many strange and marvel- ous experiences among the Indians, Belisle finally made his way to the headquarters of St. Denis, at Natchitoches. In 1721, DeBienville, Gov- ernor of Louisiana, sent Belisle a second time to Matagorda bay; this time with men and means to build a fort and hold the country for France. He was not the man for such an undertaking, and finding the Indians hostile, and meeting other discouragements, he soon abandoned the country to the Spaniards, and returned to Louisiana, where he subsequently filled a num- ber of important offices.
BELL, JOSIANI H .- A native of Kentucky, came to Texas among the very first of Austin's colonists. After remaining for a short time in the neigh- borhood of Washington, he descended the river, and settled in Brazoria county, at Bell's Landing, (now Columbia). When Austin went to Mexico in 1822, he left his colony in charge of Mr. Bell, who was appointed an alcalde by Governor Trespalacios the same year. He died in '1838. Mrs. Bell died in 1856.
BELL, P. HANSBOROUGH .- Was a native of Virginia ; landed at Velasco, in March, 1836, and walked up to Groce's, where the army was then encamped. He fought as a private at San Jacinto. In 1839 he was Inspector- General; 1845, Captain of Rangers; during the Mexican war he became a Colonel of Volunteers. He was Governor of Texas from 1850 to 1853, after which he represented the Western district two terms in the United States Congress. At the expiration of his second term, he married and settled in North Carolina, where he still lives.
BENNETT, JOSEPH H .- Was a Lieutenant-Colonel at the battle of San Jacinto. In 1842 he raised a battallion for the expedition under Somervell; but when they reached the Rio Grande river, by permission of the com- mander, Bennett and about two hundred of his men returned to their homes in Montgomery county. He died in Navarro county in 1849.
BILLINGSLEY, JESSE .- Commanded company C. in Burleson's regiment and was slightly wounded at the battle of San Jacinto. He had previously distinguished himself as an Indian fighter. He was a member of the first Congress at Columbia, and while a member of that body wore a buckskin suit he had captured from an Indian. During the session he slept upon his blanket. In 1838 and following years, he commanded a ranging company upon the frontier. In his autobiography, he says that " he supported eighty men on the frontier with the wild game of the forest, and clothed them with the skins of the wild animals slaughtered, and we were only charge- able to the Government for one sack of coffee and one sack of salt." After
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annexation, Captain Billingsley represented Bastrop county in the Legisla- ture. Ile still lives.
BOGART, SAMUEL A .- Was an officer in the battle of New Orleans; came to Texas about the time of annexation; was in the Mexican war; filled a number of offices, and died near M'Kinney, in 1861.
BORDEN, GAIL, JR .- Was a native of New York; came from Cincinnati to Texas in 1828; filled a number of civil offices, and was a member of the Convention at San Felipe in 1833. In 1835 he commenced the publication of the Texas Telegraph, the first permanent newspaper in Texas. The printers were working off a form of the paper at Harrisburg when Santa Anna's army appeared at the place, and threw the type and press into the bayou. Its publication was renewed early in the summer of 1836, at Columbia, but was, with the Government, transferred to the new town of Houston ; and soon afterwards the paper was sold to Messrs. Moore and Cruger.
Mr. Borden was the agent of the Galveston City Company, and the first Collector of the Port of Galveston. After annexation Mr. Borden dis- tinguished himself as an inventor. He secured a valuable patent for pre- serving meat in a form which he called " meat biscuit." He also secured a patent for a process of condensing milk; and Borden's " condensed milk", has become an important article of commerce. He died at Bordensville, in Colorado county, in January 1874.
BORDEN, JOHN P .- A brother of the above; was a Lieutenant in Mosely Baker's company at San Jacinto; and first Commissioner of the General Land Office. He lives at Bordensville.
BORDEN, THOMAS H .- Another and older brother of the above. He was a partner of Gail's in the publication of the Telegraph, and also in the sur- vey and sale of the city lots in Galveston. He died in Galveston, in 1877.
BOWIE, JAMES-Was a native of Georgia, but in 1802 he removed with his family to Chatahoula parish, Louisiana. Here Rezin P. Bowie manufac- tured the celebrated (?) knife which bears his name, and presented one to his brother James, to be used in hunting. The length of the original knife was nine and a quarter inches; its width was one and a half inches, with a single edge and a straight blade. James Bowie had a quarrel on hand, and had been once waylaid and shot. He was expecting another attack, and his brother gave him the knife to be used in case of necessity. Without any formal challenge, the two parties met on a sand bank or bar in the Mis- sissippi river, on the 10th of September, 1827. At the first fire James Bowie was shot down, and Norris Wright, his antagonist, was advancing upon him, when Bowie drew the knife and killed him. One or two others were killed in the melee. Rezin Bowie long afterwards said that neither he nor his brother James had ever fought a duel. This statement was made to vindicate the character generally ascribed to the Bowies. Except in the figut on the sand bar, neither of them ever used the bowie, except in hunt- ing, for which it was made. During the period of Lafitte's occupancy of
HOUSTON AND SANTA ANNA.
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Galveston, the three Bowies-Rezin P., James and John-engaged in buy- ing the African negroes taken from Spanish slavers by Lafitte's men, and carrying them through the swamps to Louisiana for sale. They are said to have made sixty-five thousand dollars by this contraband trade. The price of a negro in Galveston was one dollar a pound. On one occasion James Bowie started with about ninety negroes to Alexandria, when the whole number escaped and fled to the west. He followed them as far as the Col- orado, but could never recover them. Perhaps they were carried off by the Indians. (A suggestion-We occasionally see Mexicans, who look very much as though they were slightly tinged with negro blood. May they not be the descendants of this runaway party?)
James Bowie was connected with Long's expedition in 1809, after which he remained most of the time in Mexican territory. On the 5th of October, 1830, he became a naturalized citizen at Saltillo, and soon after married the daughter of Vice-Governor Veramendi, of San Antonio.
Fight on the San Saba .- On the 2d of November, 1831, James and Rezin Bowie, and seven other Americans and two negro servants, started from San Antonio to hunt for the San Saba silver mines. Before reaching the old San Saba mission, they were intercepted by 164 Tehuacana and Caddo Indians. When the Americans found themselves confronted by such a party, they threw up temporary breastworks, which the Indians vigorously and repeatedly assaulted. Failing to disloge the Bowies, the Indians set fire to the rich grass, hoping to burn them out. This expedient also failed. The fight had now lasted from sunrise to sundown. Never did men display greater courage and heroism than was displayed by the Bowies and their companions in this fight. Only one of their number had been killed, and three wounded. The Indians lost nearly half their number.
In August, 1832, James Bowie was at Nacogdoches, and, after the surren- der of Piedras, he took charge of the prisoners and conveyed them to San Felipe, whence they were sent to Tampico. In 1838 he was with the army of Austin, and was second in command at the battle of Concepcion. In rank, Bowie was superior to Fannin, who was then only a captain, while Bowie was a colonel. But Austin had sent out the reconnoitering party under Fannin. It was perhaps this, together with the general dissatisfac- tion at the tardy movements of the army, which induced Bowie to resign his commission, which he did on the 2d of November. After the taking of San Antonia, Bowie was for a time connected with the army at Goliad. Houston, on the 17th of December, sent him an order to organize for a des- cent on Matamoras. But Bowie had left Goliad, and this order never reached him. Houston was opposed to an attempt to take Matamoras, and it was conjectured that the order to Bowie was intended to embarrass John- son and Grant, who were also preparing to march to the Rio Grande. IIe soon returned to Goliad, where he met Houston January 16th, 1836. Houston sent him back to San Antonio, with orders to Colonel Neil to dismantle the fort and withdraw to the cast side of the Guadalupe river. Had this order been executed, the sacrifice of the Alamo would have been averted. But Bowie found Travis in command at San Antonio, acting under orders of Lieutenant-Governor Robinson, or Governor Smith. Bowie was then in
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feeble health, and when Santa Anna arrived, he, with the other Texans, entered the Alamo with Travis. During the seige, when Travis demanded that all who were willing to die with him defending the place should rally under a flag by his side, every man but one promptly took the place, and Bowie, who was sick in bed, had his cot carried to the designated spot. When the Alamo fell, he was found in bed, and killed by the Mexicans.
BRADBURN, JUAN DAVIS .- Was a native of the State of Virginia. He joined Mina's expedition in 1816, and accompanied that unfortunate General to Soto la Marina. By concealing himself in the mountains near Acapul- co, he escaped the sad fate of his chief. Joining the rising chief, Guer- rero, he rapidly rose to distinction in the Republican ranks. In 1830 he was sent to Texas, and appointed to command the small garrison at Anahuac. Here Bradburn exercised a most despotic sway. When negro slaves took refuge in his camp, he immediately enlisted them in the army, and would not permit inasters to reclaim them. He abolished the municipality of Liberty, and created one at Anahuac. He closed all the ports of Austin's colony, and compelled the colonists to transact all their business at Ana- huac. Finally, he, in a most arbitrary manner, arrested a number of citi-
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