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 38
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We had reached the Agua Dulce, within some twenty miles of San Patricio, and, in high spirits, we made an early start from that place one morning ; Col. Grant, Placido Benevidas and myself being about half a mile ahead to lead the horses, and the rest of the company following. We were passing between two large motts, when suddenly there came out from each of those motts several hundred Mexican dragoons, who quick- ly closed in, surrounding both the horses and our party. Grant, Placido and myself might then have made our escape, as we were well mounted and some distance in ad- vance ; but our first impulse being to relieve our party, we returned without reflecting upon the impossibility of doing any good against so large a number, for there were at least one thousand dragoons, under the immediate commaud of Urrea himself. We then at once understood that Urrea had come in on the main road some distance below, ar to the south of us-that he had been to San Patricio, and had probably slaughtered
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Johnson and his party. Placido wished to return with us, but Grant persuaded him to start forthwith for Goliad, and give Fannin information of Urrea's arrival. We had been absent from San Patricio some ten or twelve days. As Grant and myself approach- ed to join our party, the dragoons opened their line, and we passed in. We at once saw that most of our party had already been killed, and we decided to sell our own lives as dearly as possible. My horse was quickly killed with a lance, but Grant told me to mount Major Morris' horse, as Morris had just been killed. I did so, but without seeing any object to be accomplished by it. Just at that moment the horses took a stampede, and broke the lines of dragoons, and Grant and myself finding ourselves then the only survivors of our party, followed in the wake of the horses, the dragoons shoot_ ing after us, and wounding our horses in several places, but not badly. As we were flying, a dragoon rushed upon me with his lance set, but I knocked it one side and shot him, holding my pistol almost against his breast; and scarcely stopping, I fled with Grant, the Mexicans following, and some of them occasionally coming up with us, and crying out to us to surrender and our lives would be saved. But we knew better, and continued to fly, but the number of those overtaking us became larger and larger, and after we had run six or seven miles, they surrounded us, when, seeing no further chance of escape, we dismounted, determined to make them pay dearly for our lives. As I reached the ground a Mexican lanced me in the arm, but Grant immediately shot him dead, when I seized his lance to defend myself. Just as he shot the Mexican, I saw Grant fall, pierced with several lances, and a moment after I found myself fast in a lasso that had been thrown over me, and by which I was dragged to the ground. I could do no more, and only regretted that I had not shared the fate of all the rest of my party.
After Grant fell, I saw some ten or a dozen officers go up and run their swords through his body. He was well known to them, having lived a long time in Mexico. They had a bitter grudge against him.
GRAY, WILLIAM FAIRFAX .- Was a Clerk of the House of Representatives in 1837, and subsequently District Attorney at Houston, an office which he held when he died in that city in 1841.
GRAY, PETER W .- Son of the above, was appointed District Attorney on the death of his father; was a member of the first Legislature of the State ; and for many years filled the office of District Judge. During the war he represented his district in the Confederate Congress; after the war he resumed the practice of his profession ; was appointed one of the Justices of the Supreme Court in 1874, but after a few months service, was com- pelled, on account of ill-health, to resign. He died in Houston, October 8th, 1874.
GRAYSON, PETER W .- Was an Aid to General Burleson at San Antonio in 1835; in 1836, Attorney-General during the government ad interim; soon afterwards was sent to the United States in the diplomatic service, where he remained two years. At the close of General Houston's first term as President, Grayson became a candidate for the office, with flatter- ing prospects of success. During the canvass, which was very bitter, he died by his own hands, at Bean's station, in Tennessee. In colonial times Grayson had faithfully served Texas, at one time taking twenty-five of his own negroes out to fight the Indians.
GREEN, THOMAS .- Fought as a private at San Jacinto; was surveyor of Fayette county in 1838, and afterwards in the Ranging service. He was in
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the Mexican war with the rank of Captain. He was the Clerk of the Su- preme Court of the State from its organization until the breaking out of the civil war. He entered the Confederate army with the rank of Colonel; won distinction in the Arizona expedition, and also in the battle of Galves- ton. He rose to the rank, first of Brigadier, and then of Major-General; was killed at the battle of Blair's Landing, on Red river, in Louisiana, April 12th, 1864.
GREEN, THOMAS JEFFERSON .- Was a native of North Carolina; educated at West Point; resided successively in Tennessee, Mississippi and Florida. Came to Texas in 1836, arriving while the army was at Groce's. Here, says Foote, he was induced to accept the commission of Brigadier-General, and to return to the United States for volunteers. Foote adds: "Green's uncommon activity enabled him to throw more men, provisions and muni- tions of war into the country in the short space of a month or two, than any other individual whatever had succeeded in contributing." He returned to Texas in charge of some volunteers, on the schooner Ocean Queen, landing at Velasco on the 3d of June. He and his men bore a conspicuous part in the forcible disembarkation of Santa Anna and his suite In 1842, he was in the Somervell campaign, and remained on the Rio Grande when that General returned. In the reorganization which took place for the descent upon Mier, Green was chosen to command the men who went down the river in boats. " At Mier he fought gallantly, and was bitterly opposed to the surrender; and rather than give up his sword to Ampudia, he broke it across his knee. He made his escape from the Castle of Perote, in the spring of 1843, and arrived at Velasco in June, just on the eve of an elec- tion, and was elected to Congress from Brazoria county. After annexation he went to California, where he served one term in the State Senate; and was elected Major-General of the militia. Returning to the Atlantic States, he settled again in his native State, where he died January 12th, 1864.
GREGG, JOHN .- For whom the county was named, was a native of North Carolina. Came to Texas in 1854, and was a member of the Secession Convention in 1861. At the adjournment of the Convention, he entered the Confederate army as a Colonel; was promoted to the rank of Brigadier in 1862 ; and was killed at the battle near Charles City, Virginia, October, 1864.
GRIMES, JESSE .- Was a native of North Carolina ; born in 1778. Removed to Alabama in 1817, and came to Texas in January, 1826, and settled in the county which bears his name. Was in the Convention of 1836; served in both branches of the Congress of the Republic, and of the State Legisla- ture, after annexation. Died at his home, March 16th, 1866.
GROCE, JARED E .- Came with his family and about one hundred negroes to the Brazos river, in the fall of 1821. Under the regulations of Austin's first colonial grant, he was entitled to 80 acres of land for each slave intro-
I
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duced. He brought seed-corn, but such was the scarcity of breadstuffs, that after the corn was planted, he had to watch the field to keep the negroes from scratching it up to eat. When the corn was in roasting ears, the field had to be guarded night and day, to prevent the bears and other wild animals from destroying it. He also brought a few cotton seed, and planted the first in Texas, and at Groce's Retreat he, in 1828, built the first cotton-gin house in the country. As an illustration of the moderate esti- mate placed upon land, we may state that Col. Groce bought the league upon which the town of Courtney now stands, for a bolt of domestic and a riding- pony. The Indians were troublesome, and on several occasions he armed a company of his slaves, and went out on Indian scouts. He died in 1836. A modest monument surmounts his grave at his old home, Groce's Retreat.
GUTIERRES, BERNARDO-Was one of the patriot leaders, under Hidalgo, in Mexico; was sent by the Revolutionary party, in 1811, as an Embassador to the United States. After the death of Hidalgo, Bernardo, as he is usually called, made his home at Nachitoches, Louisiana. At the organization on the Sabine, in 1812, of "The Republican Army of the North " Gutierres be- came the nominal commander, though the real authority was exercised by Magee. After the death of Magee and the taking of San Antonio, in March, 1813, Bernardo began, among his own countrymen, to exercise more au- thority. He organized a governing junta in the city, after the Mexican fashion; and after the same fashion fourteen Spanish officers, who had surrendered as prisoners of war, were put to death After this barbar- ous deed, Bernardo was for a time displaced from command, but was restored again on the arrival of Elisondo, with a fresh Spanish army, in May. He acted with great energy, and marched out and totally de- feated the Spaniards in the battle of the Alazan, June 5th. Soon after this he was succeeded in the command by Toledo, and he, with his fam- ily, retired again to the east side of the Sabine, thus escaping the disas- trous battle of Medina. In 1819, Bernardo was appointed a member of the Supreme Council, organized by Long at Nacogdoches, but he never heartily entered into Long's scheme of conquest. On the establishment of the Republic of Mexico, in 1821, Bernardo became Governor of Tam- aulipas. In company with his young friend, Almonte, he sailed from New Orleans to Matamoras, and entered at once upon the discharge of his duties. It was his good fortune, in 1823, to capture the exiled Emperor, Iturbide, soon after he landed at Soto la Marina. As Congress had already decreed that if Iturbide returned to Mexico, he should be shot, Gutierres without any unnecessary delay proceded to carry out the sentence. At the expiration of his term as Governor, he disappeared from public life. Bean, in his personal narrative, under date at San Carlos, June 25th, 1825, says: " [ found Don Bernardo Gutierres, with about four hundred troops, in com- mand of the place. He was my old friend, and I was very glad to see him, as my horses and mules were giving out, and my money also; but to my misfortune, I found him very poor and unable to help himself." In his old age, Bernardo supported himself by keeping a small saddlery-shop in Guer- rero.
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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
HALL, WARREN D. C .- Commenced the practice of law in Natchitoches, Louisiana, in 1812, and the same year became a captain in Magee's expedi- tion. After the battle of Rosillo, and the murder of the Spanish prisoners by Delgado, Hall, with a number of other Americans, returned to the United States, thus escaping the disastrous battle of Medina. In 1817, he accompanied the expedition to Soto la Marina, but fortunately returned to the Texas coast with Aury, thus avoiding the fate of those who remained with Mina or returned by land with Perry. He became for a time a citizen of Brazoria County, and was, in 1835, one of the Committee of Safety at Columbia. While Rusk was absent in the army, in April, 1836, Hall was Acting Secretary of War, with Burnet, at Galveston. The last years of his life were spent at the place known as the Three Trees, on Galveston Island, where he died in 1868.
HALL, C. K .- A native of Connecticut; became a merchant at Victoria in 1838. When that place was burned by the Indians, in 1840, he removed first to Houston and then to Bastrop; became largely interested in mail stage-lines ; in 1868, was Collector of Customs at Galveston. He died in Austin in January, 1873.
HAMILTON, JAMES-A native of South Carolina, which State he represented in Congress, and of which he was Governor. It was he who signed the Nullification Act, which came near plunging the country into civil war dur- ing the administration of President Jackson. For many years Hamilton was the commercial and diplomatic agent of Texas in Europe. While en- gaged in this service, it is said he became involved in pecuniary embarrass- ments which consumed his private fortune. In 1857, he started for Texas in hopes of obtaining relief, but was lost in the wreck of the steamship Op- pelousas. In 1820, General Jackson proffered him the mission to Mexico, which he declined. He also declined a seat in the United States Senate, ten- dered to him on the death of Mr. Calhoun, and the command of the Army of Texas, tendered to him by the Congress of the Republic.
HAMILTON, MORGAN C .- A native of Alabama; came to Texas in 1830, and for six years was a clerk in the War Department, and at one time Act- ing Secretary of War, and also of the Treasury. In 1867, he was appointed Comptroller of the State Treasury; in 1868, he was a member of the Re- construction Convention, and, in 1870, elected to the United States Senate, a position held until 1877. He resides in Austin.
HAMILTON, ANDREW J .- Brother of the above, and also a native of Ala- bama; came to Texas in 1846; was Attorney-General in 1849; after which he was a member of the State Legislature; in 1859, elected to Congress, where he opposed secession. During the progress of the war he left Texas, and in the summer of 1865 was appointed Provisional Governor by An- drew Johnson. He was a member of the second Reconstruction Conven- tion, and mainly instrumental in getting the very liberal electoral bill en- grafted in the Constitution of 1868. In 1860 he was the conservative candi-
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date for Governor, and his friends thought him elected, but after a canvass of the votes by General Reynolds, his opponent, General Davis, was de- clared elected. Governor Hamilton died in Austin, in April, 1875.
HANCOCK, JOHN-A native of Alabama; came to Texas in 1847; in 1851 he was a District Judge; in the Legislature in 1860, and in the Constitu- tional Convention in 1866. He was elected to Congress in 1870; re-elected in 1872, and again in 1874. Lives in the city of Austin.
HANDY, R. E .- One of Houston's aids in the San Jacinto campaign; died in Richmond in 1838. " When Handy died," said Lamar, " I lost my best friend."
HANSFORD, JOHN M .- A Representative in the Texas Congress from Shelby county, in 1838, and Speaker of the House. Died in 1843.
HARDIMAN, BAILY-Secretary of the Treasury during the government ad interim. Died in October, 1836.
HAWKINS, CHARLES-Was in early life a lieutenant in the United States navy; next in the Mexican navy ; was with Mexia in his expedition to Tam- pico, and then a commodore in the Texas navy. Died of small pox in New Orleans in 1837.
HAWKINS, JOSEPH H .- A schoolmate of Stephen F. Austin at Transylva- nia, and also a partner of Austin in his Colonial Scheme. In a contract drawn up in New Orleans, November 14, 1821, Austin acknowledges the receipt of $4,000 from Hawkins, for which he covenanted to give Hawkins one-half part of the money, effects, property and profits arising from the sale of lands, lots or from any other source growing out of the grant of lands; and all lands, lots, and other property, so derived, were to be from time to time divided between the parties in equal moities. (See Life and Events, pages 132-3.) Hawkins died in New Orleans in 1823. He left three children. One fell with Fannin; Thomas died in Texas in 1847 ; a daughter, Mrs. Victor, lives in Kentucky.
HAYS, JOHN C .- Was a famous Texas ranger. He was a captain in the Somervell campaign 1842; he was the colonel of the first regiment of Tex_ ans mustered into service in the Mexican War. When the term of service of the regiment expired, Hays was appointed a major of infantry in the reg- ular army of the United States. In 1840 he was Indian Agent in New Mexico, and soon afterwards conducted a caravan across the continent to California, where he has since resided. In 1852 he was surveyor general of that State.
HEARD, WILLIAM J. E .- Came in 1830, with quite a colony, from North Alabama to Texas, and settled first in Jackson county and afterwards in Wharton. He commanded Company F, in Burleson's regiment, in the battle of San Jacinto. His company was immediately in front of the Mex-
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ican battery. When within one hundred yards of the guns, at the flash of the cannon, his men all fell down, but rising instantly, he shouted to them that they must capture the cannons before the gunners had time to reload; and it was done. Sixteen dead Mexicans were lying near the captured pieces. Beside his sword, Captain H., carried his trusty rifle, which he fired sixteen times during the battle. In 1840 Captain Heard accompanied Colonel John H. Moore in a campaign against the Indians on the upper Colorado. Subse- quently, he filled the office of Chief Justice of Wharton county. After the close of the civil war, he removed from his model plantation in Wharton county to Chappell Hill, where he died in August, 1874.
HEMPHILL, JOHN-A native of South Carolina; graduated at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1826, and studied law ; came to Texas at an early period, and was appointed Chief Justice of the Republic in 1840; in 1842, was Adjutant to General Somervell; in 1845, in Annexation Convention ; in 1846, re-appointed Chief Justice, an office he held until 1859, when he was elected to the United States Senate; resigned when the State seceded, and was sent as one of the delegates of Texas to the Convention at Montgomery, Alabama. He did not return to Texas, and was defeated in his election to the Confederate Senate. Died in Richmond, Virginia, in January, 1862. His remains were brought to Austin for final interment.
HENDERSON, J. PINCKNEY-A native of North Carolina; after receiving license to practice law, removed to Mississippi. In 1836, he raised a com- pany of volunteers and brought them to Texas, landing at Velasco June 13th. At the inauguration of President Houston, in November, he became Attorney-General, and at a subsequent period, Secretary of State. In 1837, was Minister to England and France; returned to Texas in 1840, and re- sumed the practice of his profession. His partners were K. L. Anderson and T. J. Rusk. In 1844, he was sent as special Minister to the United States, and in 1845 he was elected Governor by the authority of the Legis- ture. He commanded the Texans in the Mexican war, with the rank of Major-General of Volunteers. For his gallantry at Monterey, the United States Congress voted him a sword. In 1857, he was elected to the United States Senate to fill the unexpired term of Senator Rusk, but his health was then declining and he died before taking his seat.
HERRERA, SIMON DE .- A native of the Canary Islands. In early life trav- eled extensively, especially in the United States. Married an English lady at Cadiz. He was one of those selected by De Galves and sent out from Spain to reform the administration in the new world; he was appointed Governor of Nueva Leon. Pike, who in 1807 enjoyed liis hospitality, says: " If ever a chief was adored by his people, it was Herrera. When I saw him, he had been absent from his capital about one year; during which time, the citizens of rank in Monterey had not suffered a marriage or baptism to take place in any of their families; waiting until their common father could be there to consent, and give joy to the occasion by his presence." Ilerrera was sent both as commander and diplomatist to the Sabine, in
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1806, to repel the threatened invasion by the Americans under General Wilkinson. He was imperatively ordered to drive back the Americans, and all parties expected war. But Herrera and Wilkinson entered into negotiations, and the treaty of the "Neutral Ground " was formed. His colleague, Cordero, disapproved the arrangement, and both officers sent reports to their superior officers. "Until an answer was returned," said Herrera to General Pike, " I experienced the most unhappy period of my life; conscious that I had served my country faithfully, at the same time that I had violated every principle of military duty." To his relief, the commandant, the viceroy and the king of Spain approved his course. The discovery and the defeat of the scheme of Aaron Burr for revolutionizing Northern Mexico, was the object attained by the diplomacy of Herrera. This, in the estimation of the Spaniards, more than atoned for the disobe- dience to orders. Herrera was one of the unfortunate victims of the massacre of Delgado, at San Antonio, April 5th, 1813.
HERRERA, JOSE MANUEL .- A priest who early joined the Republican party in Mexico. He was, in 1816, the diplomatic agent in the United States. He resided mostly in New Orleans, and in company with Commo- dore Aury, took possession of Galveston and established Republican headquarters on the island. In 1823, he was in the cabinet of Iturbide, and warmly espoused the colonization scheme of Austin, who was then in the city of Mexico. When Iturbide was deposed, Herrera fled from the capital and was twenty years in exile. In 1844, he reappeared upon the theater of Mexican politics, and was for a short time entrusted with the chief execu- tive power. To defeat the prospect of annexation to the United States, he consented to the acknowledgement of her independence, on condition that Texas should remain an independent Republic. But this proposition came too late; preliminary steps had already been taken for the accomplishment of this object, and in spite of the remonstrances of Mexico, Texas became one of the States of the Union.
HEWISTON, DR. JAMES .- One of Austin's companions to Texas in 1821. Decree No. 13, September 10th, 1827, constituted him a Coahuil-Texan, (a citizen of Coahuila and Texas). The same year, in conjunction with James Power, he obtained an empresario contract for settling a colony on the coast west of Goliad. For many years he carried on an extensive mercan- tile and manufacturing business at Saltillo, where he died in 1870.
HIGHSMITH, SAMUEL .- A native of Kentucky, but came from Missouri to Texas in 1826, and settled on the frontier, where he rendered efficient service as Captain of a company of rangers. In 1849 he commanded the escort that guarded the commissioners sent to open the road from San Antonio to El Paso. The hardships of the trip brought on a fever, from which he died soon after his return to San Antonio.
HIML, B. F .- A clerk in the eighth Congress and also in the first Legisla- ture; for a time he filled the office of Adjutant-General. Was killed in Victoria, in 1866.
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Richardson, N.Y.
THOMAS J. RUSK.
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HOCKLEY, GEORGE W .- Was Inspector General at the battle of San Jacinto ; Secretary of War under Houston in 1843, and was sent by Houston to Mexico to negotiate a peace. He died in Houston, in 1854.
HORTON, ALBERT C .- Came in an early day from Alabama to Texas, and opened a large plantation on Caney, in Wharton county. In the spring of 1836, he collected a small cavalry company and marched to Goliad to assist Fannin, taking some oxen to be used in the transportation of cannon. He arrived at Goliad on the 16th of March, and on the next day crossed the river and had a skirmish with the cavalry of Urrea. Shackleford, who saw the fight, says, " Horton behaved with great gallantry, and made a furious charge upon the enemy; but, encountering a heavy force of infantry, he retreated in good order." On the 19th, the morning of the retreat from Goliad, Horton was sent in advance to examine the crossing of the Coleta. While at the stream awaiting the arrival of Fannin, that officer had been completely surrounded by the army of Urrea. Horton was anxious to attempt to rejoin Fannin, but his men thought it impracticable to do so, as they were too few to attempt so hazardous a feat. Horton, then, says Shackleford, resolved to go to Victoria and procure reinforcements; but Dimitt, the commander there, had already retired towards the Colorado river. Dr. Shackleford adds: " Horton should not be censured; he had done all in his power to relieve his companions, and an attempt to reach the battle-ground would almost inevitably have resulted in the death or cap- tivity of the whole party." During the Republic, Horton represented his county in Congress ; and at the first election after annexation, was elected Lieutenant-Governor. Soon after his inauguration, Governor Henderson left the State to command the Texans in the Mexican war, and Horton became Governor. He died at his plantation in 1865, soon after the surren- der of the Confederate armies and the emancipation of the slaves.
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