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 44
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INSCRIPTION ON THE SOUTH FRONT .- B3 they enrolled with Leonidas in the host of the mighty dead. March 6th, 1836, A. D.
INSCRIPTION ON THE EAST FRONT .- Thermopyla had her messenger of defeat, but the Alamo had none. March 6th, 1836, A. D.
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1836, and raised a company for service in the San Jacinto campaign. He died in the county which bears his name, March 4th, 1842.
ROBINSON, JAMES W .- A native of Ohio, and a lawyer by profession. He was a member of the Consultation in 1835, from Nacogdoches. At the rganization of the Provisional Government, he was elected Lieutenant- Governor, and when the Executive Council deposed Governor Smith, he became Governor; but Smith never surrendered the insignia of his office. (That insignia was a brass button on his coat, which happened to be a star, and for want of a seal, was used to make the impression upon public documents dispatched to the United States. That brass button gave birth to the single star, the emblem of the new Republic). Mr. Robinson fought as a private at the battle of San Jacinto. At the organization of a Consti- tutional Government, he was appointed District Judge. He resigned his office rather than to preside at the trial of a personal friend, charged with a capital offence. He was in San Antonio in September, 1842, when so many of the members of the court were taken prisoners by Woll. From his prison in Mexico he addressed a letter tò Santa Anna, who had been restored to power. In that letter he suggested a basis for an agreement between Texas and Mexico. Robinson probably did this to secure his liberty. Santa Anna released him, and sent him with letters to Mr. Hous- ton. The negotiation thus begun, finally resulted in the establishment of an armistice between the two countries. In 1849, Judge Robinson removed with his family to California. Not liking the country, he started back to Texas, and died at San Diego, in 1853.
A number of anecdotes are current among the legal fraternity, of which Robinson was the occasion. It is told that on one occasion, when holding court in Houston, a man had been convicted of a crime for which the pen- alty was thirty-nine lashes. A motion was duly made and entered for a new trial, which the Judge promised to attend to the next morning. In the meantime, he directed the sheriff to whip the culprit and turn him loose. At the opening of the court in the morning, the Judge listened very patiently to the arguments for a new trial. The attorney, seeing an unac- countable merriment in the court-room, inquired the cause; when the Judge, in the blandest possible manner, informed the gentleman that his client had already received his punishment and been discharged. On another occasion, he perpetrated a grim joke at the expense of a still greater criminal. He was holding court in a town on the western frontier. A man had been clearly convicted of a willful murder. The Judge pro- pronounced the death penalty, the sentence to be carried into execution the next day. But he then remarked to the sheriff that the jail was very uncomfortable and he had better execute him that night. The truth was, the criminal had a large number of friends, and the Judge knew full well that he would be rescued during the night.
ROBINSON, JOHN C .- Came with his family to Texas in 1831-landing at the mouth of the Brazos. At New Orleans he had his negroes passed through the custom-house, so that if he found it necessary he could return
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with them to the United States. They were also indentured as Peons, according to the Mexican laws. Mr. Robinson was in the battle of Velasco, in 1832; in 1833, settled on his headright league on the west side of Cum- mings creek, in Fayette county; was a member of the first session of the first Congress. It was made the duty of the members of Congress to administer the oath of office to the newly-appointed Magistrates. On the 26th of November, 1836, he and his brother rode over to the house of Mr. Stevens, on Clear creek, to administer the oath of office to Mr. Stevens. As the two brothers were returning, they were met by a party of Indians and both killed. Later in the day, the same Indians killed the Gotier family, still higher up on the headwaters of Rabb's creek.
ROBINSON, JOEL W .- Son of the above; was in the Velasco fight in 1832, and also in the battle of San Jacinto. It was Mr. Robinson's good fortune to be with the party that captured Santa Anna, and the fallen chief rode into the Texan camp behind Robinson, both on one horse. The prisoner, of whose identity they were then ignorant, complained that his feet were sore, and he was thus permitted to ride. Joel Robinson has frequently represented his county in the State Legislature, and was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1875. He lives on his father's headright league ; the one he first settled and the one upon which he was killed.
ROMAN, RICHARD .- A native of Kentucky; a soldier in the Black-Hawk war in 1832, and a Captain in the battle of San Jacinto ; in 1839, represented Victoria county in Congress of the Republic; in 1849, emigrated to Califor- nia and served two terms as Treasurer of the State. He was subsequently appointed Appraiser of Merchandise in San Francisco. He died in that city in 1876. He was blind during the last years of his life.
Ross, -. A native of Virginia; was a Captain in the expedition of Magee in 1812, and Goliad in 1813. After the death of Magee, when Kem- per was elected commander, Ross was selected as Major. After the cruel murder of the Spanish officers at San Antonio, he abandoned the enterprise and returned to his native State. After the triumph of the Republican cause in Mexico, he visited that country in hopes of receiving some remu- neration for his services. While traveling toward the city of Mexico, he was murdered by robbers.
Ross, REUBEN .- An Aid to Felix Huston in 1837; was with Jordan in the Army of the Republic of the Rio Grande, in 1839; returned to Texas and was killed in a personal rencontre at Gonzales, at a Christmas party, in 1839.
ROYALL, R. R .- One of the first settlers at Matagorda; represented that precinct in the Convention of 1833; was chairman of the Central Committee which, at San Felipe, exercised a general supervision of public affairs before the meeting of the Consultation in 1835. He was also a member of that Consultation. He died in Matagorda, in 1840.
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RUNNELS, HIRAM G .- Ex-Governor of Mississippi; came to Texas in 1840, and opened a plantation on the Brazos river; was a member of the Annexation Convention in 1845; died in 1857.
RUNNELS, HARDIN R .- Came from Mississippi to Texas in 1841, and opened a cotton plantation on Red river; represented Bowie county eight years in the Legislature; was Speaker of the House in 1853-55; in 1855 was elected Governor; died at his home in Bowie county in 1873.
RUSK, THOMAS JEFFERSON .- The soldier, jurist, and statesman, was of Irish descent, and born in Pendleton district, South Carolina, December 5th, 1803. While yet a boy, bright and precocious, young Rusk attracted the favorable notice of the celebrated John C. Calhoun. Mr. Calhoun greatly assisted him in securing an education, and also in acquiring his pro- fession. Soon after procuring his license as a lawyer, young Rusk removed to the State of Georgia, where he soon obtained a lucrative practice. In an unfortunate mining speculation, he lost nearly all his earnings. Dishon- est agents seized the funds and fled to the West. Rusk followed some of them to Texas, but failed to recover his lost money. This was in 1834. He was so delighted with the country that he determined to make Texas his future home, and located at Nacogdoches, He at once took an active part in public affairs, and the same year, as secretary of a vigilance committee, wrote an earnest protest againt the further introduction of Indians from the United States. In 1835 the Executive Council elected him Commissary of the Army. He was in the Convention of 1836, and his name is signed to the Declaration of Texan Independence. At the organization of the gov- ernment ad interim, he entered Burnet's Cabinet as Secretary of War. By the direction of the President, he joined the army on the Brazos river, and was the confidential friend and adviser of Houston. Arriving at Harris- burg, he made a most patriotic address to the men, assuring them that they would soon have an opportunity to avenge the butcherics of San Antonio and Goliad. He performed a most gallant part in the ever-memorable battle of the 21st of April. It was to him that Colonel Almonte surrender- ed. After all resistance had ceased, Rusk exerted himself to arrest the killing of the fugitives. When General Houston resigned, to go to New Orleans for surgical aid, Rusk was appointed Commander-in-Chief; and followed the retreating army of Filisola as far west as Goliad, where he had the remains of the men massacred with Fannin carefully collected and hon- orably interred.
In the fall of 1836, at the organization of the Constitutional government, Rusk was appointed Secretary of War; but he soon resigned to attend to his private business, which had been very much neglected during the stir- ring revolutionary times. The people would not permit him long to remain in private life, and in 1837 he was sent to the Texas Congress. A band of Kickapoos having become very troublesome, le collected a company of his neighbors and severely chastised them. Rusk was always ready to draw his sword to repel invasion, or to protect the frontier from the savages. In 1839 he commanded a regiment in the war with the Cherokees. He was
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the same year appointed Chief Justice of the Republic, but soon resigned the office and resumed the practice of law at Nacogdoches. His partners were J. Pinckney Henderson, and Kenneth L. Anderson. In 1843 he was elected Major-General of the Militia. In 1845 his fellow-citizens sent him to the Annexation Convention, and he was elected President of that body. At the first session of the Legislature of the State of Texas, General Rusk was elected to the United States Senate; a position he continued to hold until his untimely death by his own hands in 1857. We make some selec- tions from a sketch of his life, which appeared in the Texas Almanac for 1858:
" General Rusk as Chief Justice of the Republic .- According to that only record of the judicial decisions of the Supreme Court of Texas extant, Dallam's Digest, at the fall term, 1840, of the Supreme Court of Texas, Thomas J. Rusk was acting as Chief Justice of that Court, assisted by Wm. J. Jones, John T. Mills, A. B. Shelby, and John Hemphill. These gentle- men were all District Judges at the time; and the Supreme Court, like that of the United States, was then composed of the Circuit Judges sitting in banco. The only opinions of Chief Justice Rusk, which Dallam has handed down to posterity, are five short and sententious judgments, covering about five pages of that excellent book. They do not display great learning, to be sure; but then it is to be recollected that during the first two terms of the Supreme Court of the United States, all the Judges did not write half so much. The Chief Justice proved himself adequate to the times; if, in his sententious opinions, he quoted no authorities, he displayed more wis- dom than some of his fellows, who quoted from schools and systems which had never been introduced into Texas."
" The first Legislature of Texas conferred upon him the office of United States Senator, in March, 1846, and in that position he has ever since con- tinued to serve his country with his fidelity, until the day of his death. In that august body of which he was a member, he held a proud and influen- tial position. For several terms he was at the head of the Post Office Com- mittee, and on the election of Mr. Buchanan to the Presidency, the voice of the whole nation seemed to unite upon the name of Rusk, as the most proper and acceptable in connection with the Postmaster-Generalship of the new Cabinet. It was understood that this appointment was offered to him by the President elect, and that Mr. Rusk peremptorily declined it. Early in the last session of Congress, Mr. Rusk was chosen to the high and responsi- ble position of President pro tem. of the Senate, in which he continued until the close of the session, administering the duties of the chair with all that dignity, impartiality and ability, so necessary to their acceptable dis- charge, and winning the unanimous commendation of the members. No one, in fact, was more popular among his fellow-Senators, and none more trusted, honored or beloved. Seldom rising in his place to deliver a set speech, he was nevertheless watchful of the interests of his constituents, and the honor and welfare of the Union, and when he did address the Senate his words had their designed effect. The weight of his influence was more generally felt in the committee of which he was a member, and in his pri- vate intercourse with his colleagues, where his sound practical sense, yet
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modest and unassuming manners, carried the force of conviction with the charm of integrity.
" Had Thomas J. Rusk lived, he could have reached any official position in this Union to which he would have aspired. Always retiring in his posi- tion, it was with difficulty that his own best friends, who knew and appre- ciated his true worth, could induce him to accept the honors they were ever ready to confer upon him. Social and domestic in his habits-warm in friendship and devoted in his attachments-he preferred the quiet joys of a private life at home to the noisy plaudits of the multitude abroad; yet while he sought not the latter at any time, he often yielded the former at the call of his constituents, and for the benefit of his country. But the death, last year, of the life-long partner of his bosom, who had shared with him the sorrows of exile and the dangers of revolution, as well as the pleasures of honorable distinction and pecuniary prosperity, seemed to un- nerve him for the conflict of a public career, and cause him to shrink from the world into the sacred retreat of home. It was to him like the rupture of his strong heart-sinews, and the tearing asunder of the chords of life. Other causes may have contributed to his fatal despondency, but this was undoubtedly the heaviest weight of sorrow that dragged him down to death. Only noble and sensitive natures are capable of such depth and, intensity of woe. Let us throw the white veil of charity over the scene of his final struggle. Let us wash away that purple stain with the fast-flow- ing tears of sympathy. With reverence let us consign that noble form to the mausoleum of the past, and with gratitude inscribe upou the tablet of our memory the record of his manly virtues and his patriotic deeds."
We add a few paragraphs from the eulogy pronounced on Rusk, in the Hall of the House of Representatives of Texas, November 7th, 1857, by Chief Justice Hemphill :
" His deep interest in railroad improvements, and his efforts and services in giving an impulse to the great line which is to span the continent, and link the Atlantic and Pacific together as with bands of iron, were most important, but are too familiar to have been forgotten, or even obscured in the recollection. -
"He was rarely absent from his post in the Senate. With untiring assiduity he examined thoroughly the questions before that body, and his opinion when formed, especially on subjects before committees to which he was attached, had a force almost irresistible.
" No man ever served in public life more entirely free from even the sus- picion of corrupt, mercenary, or improper motives. With integrity, purity and singleness of purpose, he devoted his great talents to his country, unswerved by selfish designs, or the impulses of an ill-regulated ambition. He was endowed with moral courage in an eminent degree. As an illus- tration, on the boundary question, he expressed his determination to vote for a proposition which he thought Texas might with honor accept, though, from information on which he relied, he felt conscious that by so voting he would forfeit his seat in the Senate. This anticipation, happily for the country, proved to be groundless. Texas did accept the proposition. But his resolution showed that even against a justly indignant public sentiment
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-but exasperated in his opinion to such a degree as to be deaf to the sug- gestions of prudence-he had a spirit which could boldly stand up for what he deemed the true honor and interests of the State, though at the risk, nay, the certainty of the sacrifice of himself.
"He was generous, magnanimous, brave and humane. He was largely endowed with that fine electric quality which seems the gift of nature-the result, perhaps, of a rare combination of the higher qualities of the intel- lect and of the heart, which inspires confidence, and exerts, in a mystical way, a control over surrounding persons; which exacts obedience from a soldier more from attachment and a high ard implicit trust, than from the force of discipline; which, in the hour of danger, draws all to him as the pilot who must weather the storm; which arbitrates and settles the diffi- culties of others, makes friends everywhere without effort, and in legisla- tive assemblies, gives an influence which no mere talent, intellect, energy or efforts to please can ever possess.
" General Rusk had all the essentials of genuine eloquence. He mastered the strong points of the subject-had clear conceptions, sound practical common-sense views. These were expressed with clearness, force, sim- plicity, directness, and with a bold and impassioned earnestness if required by the occasion, and these, aided by his lofty presence, full voice, and beam- ing and expressive countenance, seldom failed to propel the minds of his hearers before him, and produce conviction, the object of all eloquence.
" Without discussing particularly his character as a lawyer and as a judge, we may say that he combined the important elements necessary to constitute a great lawyer. He had a thorough knowledge of the principles of the law-a vast fund of common sense, a familiar acquaintance with the springs of human action-a spirit of investigation carried to any extent required to enable him to master the great points in the facts and law of the cause.
" In his private relations, he was hospitable and kind, beloved of all his neighbors. He lived in patriarchal simplicity. All were welcome at his house; the humblest visited him, and were equally welcome and at home with the richest and greatest of the land. In the words of a friend, benev- olence and kindness were more conspicuous in him than in any man he ever knew. He was deeply affectionate and tender in his family circle; no word of unkindness to any member of his family was ever heard to flow from his lips. His wife, the partner of his bosom in youth and in age, in mis- fortune and in prosperity, was cherished by him with an indescribable fervor and depth of tenderness, love and affection; and her death in the previous year was a blow to his heart from which he never recovered. But it avails not to enumerate his virtues, public or private, or his services, or the hopes of his country untimely blighted. He is gone ! so far as a great man who lives in the imperishable records of his country's history . can die. He has left us a bright heritage of liberties won by his valor, and sustained and invigorated by the wisdom of his counsels, and he has left a glorious example of exalted abilities and noble virtures all devoted to the service of his country.
" The manner of his death is the only shade on the grand and brilliant
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picture of his long, glorious and useful life. He had been weak and sick for some time. The death of his wife had been to him a crushing affliction. His grief, acting through the disordered state of his physical system, pro- duced such an increasing degree of gloom and melancholy, as finally to weaken the control of reason, and in a moment of temporary insanity to produce the melancholy catastrophe which has filled the country with lamentation and woe. Let the tears of sympathy flow for this sudden col- lapse of one of the finest of mental organizations, striking as it did from life and from his country forever, one of her most illustrious and venerated patriots and statesmen.
"Death cometh to all as surely as the sun runneth his daily course, but it cannot obliterate the services which this great man has rendered to his country. It cannot diminish the brightness of his memory, shining as a star in the political heavens, and exerting for ages in the future its benign agency over the political destinies of the people. But, fellow-citizens, I will not attempt to detain you longer by this feeble tribute to the memory of the deceased. We may not look on his like again. His place may be filled, but who can fill the void in the hearts of his countrymen? We may, however, attempt to imitate his example, to emulate his virtues, to love our country with devoted, uncalculating affection, to give it our hearts and souls, and if necessary, 'the first and the last drop of blood that runs in our veins,' to sustain the honor and rights of our beloved State against all opposition and to every extremity, and to fervently hope with him that this- mighty, this growing Republic, may be perpetuated over a people enjoying all the blessings of liberty, and all the beneficent glories of a union of patriotic fraternal feeling, and of constitutional and equal rights.
RUSSELL, WILLIAM J .- A native of North Carolina; came to Texas in 1826 ; in 1832, gathered with the indignant citizens to demand of Bradburn, at Anahuac, the release of Jack, Travis, and others, whom he had arbitra- rily arrested. Russell was sent with John Austin to Brazoria for a cannon. Ugartechea, at Velasco, refused to let the cannon pass that place. Austin determined to attack the fort. Russell participated in the fight as captain of the vessel on which the cannon had been placed for transportation to Anahuac. In 1838, he represented Brazoria county in the Senate. After annexation, Captain R. removed to Fayette county, which he represented in the Legislature in 1849 ; he was also for several years Chief Justice of that county. He is President of the Texas Veteran Association, and resides in Austin.
SANTA ANNA, ANTONIO LOPEZ DE .- The connection which this distin- guished Mexican General and statesman had with Texas affairs renders it proper that a brief summary of his life should be given. He was born at Jalapa in 1798, and early in life became distinguished as a leader among the Republican patriots who were seeking to throw off the Spanish yoke. In 1822, he assisted in expelling the Royalists from Vera Cruz, and the next year pronounced against Iturbide, who had proclaimed himself Emperor. In 1828, he took the field against Pedraza and secured the elevation of Guer-
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rera to the Presidency, during whose administration Santa Anna had the portfolio of War. In 1830, he was an active partisan of Bustemente, who was elected President; and, three years later, Santa Anna was himself ele- vated to the Presidential chair. He now deserted the party with which he had always acted, and formed an alliance with the Church, or Reactionary party. On the 3d of October, 1835, he issued his celebrated order dissolv- ing the Legislature, and virtually establishing a military despotism. We need not recount his experiences in Texas! Suffice it to say, that he at- tempted to justify the Alamo slaughter on the ground of the stubborn re- sistance of the garrison; but even this poor excuse cannot be offered for the slaughter of Fannin and his men, who were put to death in cold blood after they had surrendered as prisoners of war. That was a butchery-barbar- ous and wholly unjustifiable on any principles of civilized warfare.
The most perplexing question that agitated the government of Texas ad interim was the disposition of the captive President of Mexico, after his capture at San Jacinto. Not a few of the leading men-among them Lamar, Potter, Sherman, W. H. Jack, Mosely Baker, and many of the officers of the army-thought he ought to be tried by drum-head court martial ; while Bur- net, Houston, Rusk and others contended, as he had been recognized as a prisoner of war, and had ordered Filisola to retreat, since his capture-an order that General was but too willing to obey, Santa Anna ought to be . sent home, as had been agreed upon in the treaty with President Burnet. As we have elsewhere said, it was thought the schooner Passaic entered the Brazos with a plan for rescuing Santa Anna and his suite, who were prison- ers at Orazaba. When this failed, it was reported that the discouraged pris- oner attempted to take his own life by poison.
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