USA > Texas > Bastrop County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.1 > Part 8
USA > Texas > Travis County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.1 > Part 8
USA > Texas > Burleson County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.1 > Part 8
USA > Texas > Lee County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.1 > Part 8
USA > Texas > Williamson County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.1 > Part 8
USA > Texas > Milam County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties. Pt.1 > Part 8
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"Colonel Sherman, with his regiment, hav- ing commenced the action upon our left wing, the whole line, at the center and on the right, advancing in double-quick time, rung the war cry, ' Remember the Alamo!' received the ene- iny's fire, and advanced within point-blank shot before a piece was discharged from onr lines. Our lines advanced without a halt until they were in possession of the woodland and the enemy's breastwork, the right wing of Burle- son's and the left of Millard's taking posses- sion of the breastwork, onr artillery having gallantly charged up within seventy yards of the enemy's cannon, when it was taken by our troops. The conflict lasted about eighteen minutes from the time of close action nntil we were in possession of the enemy's encamp- Irations and clothing; yet, amid every diffi.
58
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
culty, they bore up with cheerfulness and forti- tude and performed their marches with spirit and alaerity. There was no murmuring.
" Previous to and during the action my staff evinced every disposition to be useful, and were actively engaged in their duties. In the conflict I am assured they demeaned themselves in such a manner as proved them worthy members of the army of Sau Jacinto. Colonel T. J. Rusk, Secretary of War, was on the field. For weeks his services had been highly beneficial to the army; in battle he was on the left wing, where Colonel Sher- man's command first encountered and drove the enemy; he bore himself gallantly, and continued his efforts and activity, remaining with the pursuers until resistance ceascd.
" I have the honor of transmitting here- with a list of all the officers and men who were engaged in the action, which I respect- fully request may be published, as an act of justice to the individuals. For the command- ing general to attempt discrimination as to the conduct of those who commanded in' the action, or those who were commanded, would be impossible. Our success in the action is conclusive proof of their daring intrepidity and conrage; every officer and man proved himself worthy of the cause in which he bat- tled, while the triumph received a luster from the humanity which characterized their con- duct after victory, and richly entitles them to the admiration and gratitude of their general. Nor should we withhold the tribute of our grateful thanks from that Being who rules the destinies of nations, and has in the tine of greatest need enabled us to arrest a power- ful invader while devastating our country.
" I have the honor to be, with high con- sideration, your obedient servant,
" SAM HOUSTON,
"Commander-in-Chief."
The condition in which Santa Anna was when captured was in accordance with the actions of all bloodthirsty cowards when en- trapped by those they have wronged. Ile had torn from his body his gaudy. uniform and donned the garb of a common country- man, but he had forgotten to take from his shirt-sleeves a pair of cuff-buttons, which aroused the keen suspicions of James H. Syl vester, a printer, the man who found the sneaking despot hidden in the grass. The capture, as told by a writer who had knowl- edge of the facts, are these: "Some of Burle- son's men were ont hunting for the fugitive, when one of them saw a deer on the prairie looking intently at some object in the tall grass. The man approached the spot and . found lying upon the grass a Mexican in common garb, but, upon discovering a gold button on his sleeve, took him back to his companions, who conducted him to camp, having no idea of his rank. Santa Anna offered his captors a gold watch to let him off. As the company passcd into the camp, the Mexican prisoners exclaimed, ' El Presidente!' Inquiry was made of Gen- eral Almonte, who announced that the one just brought in was no less a personage than Santa Anna himself! He was conducted to Houston's camp, and his own officers allowed to remain with him, and his personal bag- gage restored. Besides Sylvester, who found him and brought him to his companions, the captors were Joel W. Robinson, A. H. Miles and David Cole."
How that little force of 783 Texans. badly equipped. poorly clothed, and half starved, could march out and crush to atoms, as it were, in less than half an hour (eighteen minutes, says Houston in his report), an army of 1,500 men, splendidly accoutered, ably generaled. and comfortably clothed and fed,
14
12.
3
33 23
19/18
13
29
2 . 2
32
26
2
SANTA ANNA BEFORE GENERAL HOUSTON.
1. Gen. Sam Houston.
10. Col. Jno. A. Wharton.
11. Gen. Sydney Sherman. 12, Joel W. Robison.
21. Col. Ed. Burleson.
22. Washington Anderson.
5. 6.
-Chaddock. Ben McCulloch.
15. Jesse Billingsby.
24. Jno. W. Buntin.
25. M. G. Whitiker.
33.
-Ilohson.
R. S. McManus. Col. Almonte.
16. Tom. J. Green.
Gen. Geo. G. Alford.
26. -Clemens.
34. Moses Austin Bryan.
9. Gen. Ed. Burleson.
Bailey Hardiman,
19. Silas Bostic.
20. -McFadden.
3. Thos. J. Rusk.
4. Mirabeau B. Lamar.
13. Walter P. Lane.
14. I. A. Sylvester.
23. Jas. M. Mill.
Geo. Nall.
31. 32. Dr. S. Perry.
·
27. Jno. Milton Swisher.
2. Gen. Lopez de Santa Anna.
28. "Deaf Smith.
29. Sterling C. Robertson.
30. Surgeon.
17
22 21 20.
59
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
is nothing short of marvelous; and with a loss of but two killed in battle and twenty-nine wounded to the victors, against 630 killed and 208 wounded of the enemy, to say noth- ing of the prisoners; for all, or nearly all, who were not killed or wounded, were cap- tured, hardly a man escaping! But oh! the Texans had the fate of those two brave mar- tyrs, Travis and Fannin, in their minds, and when the battle cry of " Remember the Alamo!" rang ont as they rnslied to battle, every man was a Hercules. Ten thousand men could not have dannted their invincible conrage. They knew that defeat meant death to every one of them, and it were better to die in harness than to be led ont like sheep to the slanghter. They shot and strnek to kill. Deatlı had no terror for those patriots, and woe betide the brutal Santa Anna had he been caught in the action! He was so snre of vie- tory that it is said that he contemplated with pleasure the close of the fight that he might show his power. Every man, Houston and all, of those San Jacinto heroes, would have been immediately shot if they would have been so unfortunate as not to be killed in battle. Knowing this, how those Texans could have refrained from killing this man has always puzzled the friends of liberty. As it was, it was the best. No stain rests upon the escutcheon of the Lone Star State.
After inuch controversy, especially in re- gard to the disposition of the captive Presi- dent of Mexico, a treaty was entered into by I'resident Burnett and most of his cabinet and Santa Anna; but the clanse providing for the release of the latter was bitterly objected to, and at one time the matter bid fair to be the cause of serions troubles and internal con- plications.
During these exciting times a number of captures of vessels on the coast near Copano
were made, especially by Captain Burton, who commanded a company of mounted rangers. Cavalry does not seem to be the best arm of the service in naval warfare, but this bold captain used very ingenions stratagems to in- duce passing vessels to stop at Copano, when his men would step aboard and take posses- sion in the name of the Republic of Texas.
THE INDEPENDENCE CONVENTION.
Not to interrupt the crimson thread of the war history, we have run past a remarkable event, which must now be related.
By anthority of a resolution adopted De- cember 10, 1835, by the provisional govern- ment of Texas, which existed from November, 1835, to March, 1836, delegates, clothed witlı plenary powers, were elected February 1, 1836, to meet in convention at Washington, on the Brazos, Marchi 1. The provisional government was composed of Henry Smith, governor; James W. Robinson, vice governor; and a council. At the period of the meeting of the convention, the council had quarreled with and deposed the governor, and Mr. Robinson was acting governor.
The convention assembled at the date above mentioned. The official journal opens thns: "Convention of all the People of Texas, through their Delegates Elect. " George C. Childress of the municipality (county) of Mi- lam, moved that James Collingsworth, of Brazoria, be called to the chair, which motion prevailed; and Willis A. Farris was appointed secretary pro tem.
After the roll of members was completed, the convention proceeded to the election of president, when Richard Ellis of Red river (then Pecan Point) was elected unanimously. H. S. Kimble was chosen permanent secre- tary.
60
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
On the afternoon of the first day George C. Childress offered the following resolution: That the president appoint a committee of five to draft a declaration of independence, which was adopted, after an offered snbsti- tute liad been rejected. The president ap- pointed on this committee, George C. Child- ress, of Milam, James Gaines of Sabine, Edward Conrad, of Refugio, Collin Mc Kin- ney, of Red river, and Bailey Hardeman, of Matagorda.
On the second day, March 2, a committee of one from each municipality was appointed to draft a constitution for the (contemplated) Republic of Texas, comprising Martin Palmer (chairman), Robert Potter, Charles B. Stew- art, Edwin Waller, Jesse Grimes, Robert M. Coleman, John Fisher, John W. Bunton, James Gaines, Lorenzo de Zavala, Stephen H. Everitt, Bailey Hardeman, Elijah Stapp, William C. Crawford, Claiborne West, James Power, Jose Antonio Navarro, Collin Mc- Kinney, William Menefee, William Motley and Michael B. Menard.
On the same day, March 2, Mr. Childress, chairman of the committee, reported the draft of a declaration of independence; Mr. Collings- worth was called to the chair, while Mr. Houston introduced the following resolution : That the declaration of independence reported by the committee be adopted, and that the same be engrossed and signed by the delegates of this convention. The question being put, the resolution was unanimously adopted.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
When a government lias ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose interests it was instituted: and, so far from being a guarantee for their inestimable and inalienable
rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression; when the federal republican constitution of their couu- try, which they have sworn to support, 110 longer has a substantial existence, and the whole nature of their government has been forcibly changed, withont their consent, from a restricted federative republic composed of sovereign States to a consolidated central military despotisin, in which every interest is disregarded but that of the army and the priesthood, both the eternal enemy of civil liberty, the ever ready minions of power and the nsnal instruments of tyrants; when, long after the spirit of the constitution has departed, moderation is so far lost by those in power that even the semblance of freedom is re- moved, and the forms themselves of the consti- tution discontinned; and, so far from the petitions and remonstrances' being disre- garded, the agents who bear thein are thrown into dungeons, and mercenaries sent forth to enforce a new government upon the point of the bayonet; when, in consequence of such acts of malfeasance and abduction on the part of the government, anarchy prevails and civil society is dissolved into its original elements. in such a crisis the first law of nature, the right of self-preservation, the inherent and inalienable right of the people to appeal to the first principles and take their political affairs into their own hands, in extreme cases, en- joins it as a right toward themselves and a sacred obligation to their prosperity, to abol- ish such government and create another in its stead, calculated to rescne them from im- pending dangers, and to secure their welfare and happiness.
Nations, as well as individuals, are amen- able for their acts to the public opinion of mankind. A statement of a part of our griev- ances is therefore submitted to an impartial world in justification of the hazardous but unavoidable step now taken, of severing onr political connection with the Mexican people and assuming an independent attitude among the nations of the earthi.
The Mexican government, by its coloniza- tion laws, having invited and induced the
61
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
Anglo-American population of Texas to colonize its wilderness, under the pledged faith of a written constitution, they should continue to enjoy that constitutional liberty and republican goverment, to which they had been habitnated in the land of their birth, the United States of America. In this ex- pectation they have been cruelly disap- pointed, inasmuch as the Mexican nation has acquiesced in the late changes made in the government by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who, having overturned the con- stitution of his country, now offers us the cruel alternative either to abandon our hoines, acquired by so many privations, or subinit to the mnost intolerable of all tyranny, the com- bincd despotisin of the sword and the priest- hood.
It has sacrificed our welfare to the State of Coahuila, by which onr interests have been continually depressed, through a jealous and partial course of legislation, carried on at a far distant seat of government, by a hostile majority, in an unknown tongue; and this, too, notwithstanding we have petitioned in humblest terms for the establishment of a separate State government, and have, in ac- cordance with the provisions of the national constitution, presented to the general congress a republican constitution, which was withont a just cause contemptuously rejected.
It incarcerated in a dungeon, for a long time, one of our citizens for no other cause but a zealous endeavor to procure the accept- ance of our constitution and the establish- ment of a State government.
It has failed and refused to secure on a firm basis the right of trial by jury, the palla- dium of civil liberty and the only safe guar- antee for the life, liberty and property of the citizen.
It has failed to establish any public system of education, although possessed of alinost boundless resources (the public domains), and although it is an axiom in political science that unless a people are cdncated and enlight- ened, it is idle to expect the continuance of civil liberty or the capacity for self-govern- ment.
It has suffered the military commandants stationed among us to exercise arbitrary acts of oppression and tyranny, thus trampling upon the most sacred rights of the citizen and rendering the military superior to the civil power.
It has dissolved, by force of arms, the State Congress of Coahuila and Texas, and obliged our representatives to fly for their lives from the seat of goverment, thus depriving us uf the fundamental political right of represent- ation.
It has demanded the surrender of a number of our citizens, and ordered military detach- ments to seize and carry them into the interior for trial, in contempt of the civil anthoritics and in defiance of the law and the constitu- tion.
It has made piratical attacks on our com- meree by commissioning forcign desperadoes and authorizing them to seize their vessels, and convey the property of our citizens to far distant parts for confiscation.
It denies us the right of worshiping the Almighty according to the dictates of our own conscience, by the support of a national reli- gion calculated to promote the temporal inter- ests of its human functionaries rather thau the glory of the true and living God.
It has demanded us to deliver up our arms, which are essential to our defense, the right- ful property of frcemen, and formidable only to tyrannical governments.
It has invaded our country both by sca and by land, with the intent to lay waste our territory and drive us from our homes, and has now a large and mercenary army advanc- ing to carry on against us a war of extermin- ation. -
It has through its emissaries incited the merciless savage, with the tomahawk and scalping knife, to massacre the inabitants of our defenseless frontiers.
It has been, during the whole time of our connection with it, the contemptible sport and victim of successive military revolutions, and has continually exhibited every character- istic of a weak, corrupt and tyrannical govern- inent.
4
62
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
These and other grievances were patiently borne by the people of Texas until they reached that point at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue. We then took up arms in defense of the national constitution. We appealed to our Mexican brethren for assist- ance; onr appeal has been made in vain; though months have elapsed no sympathetic response has yet been made from the interior. We are therefore forced to the melancholy conclusion that the Mexican people have acquiesced in the destruction of their liberty, and the substitution therefor of a military government; that they are unfit to be free and incapable of self-government.
The necessity of self-preservation, there- fore, now decrees our eternal political separ- ation.
We, therefore, the delegates, with plenary powers, of the people of Texas, in solemn con- vention assembled, appealing to a candid world for the necessities of onr condition, do hereby resolve and declare that our political connec- tion with the Mexican nation has forever ended, and tliat the people of Texas do now constitute a free, sovereign and independent republic, and are fully invested with all the rights and attributes which properly belong to independent nations; and, conscious of the rectitude of our intentions, we fearlessly and confidently commit the issue to the Supreme Arbiter of the destinies of nations.
In witness whereof, we have herennto sub- scribed our names.
RICHARD ELLIS,
President and Delegate from Red River.
H. S. KIMBLE, Secretary.
Following is a table of the names, age, place of birth and former residence of the signers of the above Declaration of Inde- pendence:
Name.
Age.
Born in. Emigrated from.
Richard Ellis.
54
Virginia. Alabama.
C. B. Stewart.
30
South Carolina. Louisiana.
Tennessee.
Tennessee.
Edwin Waller.
35
Virginia.
Missouri.
Thomas Barnett.
46
Massachusetts. Louisiana.
J. S. D. Byrom. 38
Georgia.
Florida.
Fras. Ruis. 54
Texas.
J. Anto. Navarro. 41
Texas.
J. B. Badgett.
29
North Carolina. Arkansas.
W. D. Lacy.
28
Kentucky.
Tennessee.
William Menefee.
40
Tennessee.
Alabama.
John Fisher.
36
Virginia.
Virginia.
M. Coldwell.
38
Kentucky.
Missouri.
W. Motley.
24
Virginia.
Kentucky.
L. de Zavala.
47
Yucatan.
Mexico.
George W. Smyth.
33
North Carolina. Alabama.
S. II. Everitt.
29
New York.
New York.
E. Stapp.
53
Virginia.
Missouri.
Clae. West.
36
Tennessee.
Louisiana.
W. B. Scates.
30
Virginia.
Kentucky.
M. B. Menard.
31
Canada.
Illinois.
A. B. Hardin.
38
Georgia.
Tennessee.
J. W. Bunton.
28
Tennessee.
Tennessee.
Thomas G. Gazeley.
35
New York.
Louisiana.
R. M. Coleman.
37
Kentucky.
Kentucky.
S. C. Robertson.
George C. Childress.
32
Tennessee.
Tennessee.
B. Hardiman.
41
Tennessee.
Tennessee.
R. Potter.
Thomas J. Rusk.
29
S. Carolina.
Georgia.
Charles S. Taylor.
28 England.
New York.
Jolin S. Roberts.
40
Virginia.
Louisiana.
R. Hamilton.
53 Scotland.
N. Carolina.
C. Mckinney.
70 New Jersey.
Kentucky.
A. H. Lattimer.
27 Tennessee.
Tennessee.
James Power.
48 Ireland.
Louisiana.
Sam Houston.
43 Virginia.
Tennessee.
David Thomas.
35
Tennessee.
Tennessee. ..
E. Conrad.
26
Pennsylvania.
Penn.
Martin Parmer.
58
Virginia.
Missouri.
E. O. Legrand.
33
N. Carolina.
Ala banıa.
S. W. Blount.
28 Georgia.
Georgia. Louisiana.
W. Clark, Jr.
37 N. Carolina.
Georgia.
S. O. Pennington.
27 Kentucky.
Arkansas.
W. C. Crawford.
31 N. Carolina.
Alabama.
John Turner.
34 N. Carolina.
Tennessee.
B. B. Goodrich.
37
Virginia.
Alabama.
G. W. Barnett.
43 S. Carolina.
Mississippi.
J. G. Swisher.
41
Tennessee.
Tennessee.
Jesse Grimes.
48
N. Carolina.
Alabama. Penn.
S. Rhoads Fisher.
41 Pennsylvania.
Samuel A. Maverick. 29 S. Carolina.
John White Bower.
27 Georgia.
Arkansas.
James B. Woods.
Andrew Briscoe.
John W. Moore.
37 Kentucky.
Kentucky.
. .
James Gaines.
60
Virginia.
S. Carolina.
James Collingsworth. 30
Asa Brigham.
50 North Carolina. Tennessee.
36 N. Carolina. N. Carolina.
63
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
Besides the above, the following were del- egates who failed to reach the convention in time to sign the Declaration of Independence: John J. Linn, from Victoria, born in Ireland in 1802, and came to Texas in 1830; James Kerr, from Jackson, born in Kentucky in 1790, and came to Texas in 1825; and Juan Antonio Padilla, a Mexican from Victoria. Also a few of those whose names are given in the table were not present at the signing.
On March 16 the convention adopted the executive ordinance by which was constituted the government ad interim of the Republic of Texas.
The constitution of the Republic of Texas was adopted at a late hour on the night of the 17th, but was neither engrossed nor en- rolled for the signature of the members prior to the adjournment next day. The secretary was instructed to enroll it for presentation. He took it to Nashville, Tennessee, where it was published in one of the papers, from which it was republished in a Cineinnati paper, and from the latter copied into the Texas Telegraph of August, that year, 1836, this being its first publication in Texas. No enrolled copy having been preserved, this printed copy was recognized and adopted as authentic, and became the "Constitution."
-
During the sitting of the convention Gen- eral Sam Houston took leave of the body in order to take command of the army, then con- centrating at Gonzalez.
At eight o'eloek on the evening of the 18th of March, the convention assembled for the last time. and elected David G. Burnett Pres- ident ad interim of the Republic, and Lorenzo de Zavala, a patriot Mexican exile, vice-Pres- ident. They also elected the members of the eabinet, namely : Sanmel P. Carson, Secretary of State; Bailey Hardeman, Secretary of the Treasury; Thomas J. Rusk, Secretary of
War; Robert Potter, Secretary of the Navy; and David Thomas, Attorney-General.
At eleven o'clock the convention adjourned sine die.
THE FLAG OF THE LONE STAR.
It was once generally believed in Georgia, that the Lone Star flag was the workmanship of a Miss Troutman, of Crawford county, that State, who afterward married a Mr. Pope of Alabama; and that she presented the same to a Georgia battalion commanded by Lieuten- ant-Colonel Ward. It was of plain white silk, bearing an azure star of five points on either side. On one side was the inseription Liberty or Death, and on the other side the appropri- ate Latin motto, Ubi Libertas Habitat, ibi Nostra Patria est.
This flag was unfurled at Velaseo January 8, 1836, and proudly floated on the breeze from the same liberty pole with the first flag of independence, which had just been brought from Goliad by the valiant Captain William Brown, who subsequently did sueh daring service in the Texas navy. On the meeting of the first Congress, the flag of the Lone Star was adopted as the national flag of the young republie.
1
Bnt another authority denies the Georgian belief, and insists that the first Lone Starflag ever unfurled in Texas was presented by Mrs. Sarahı R. Dawson to a company of volunteers raised in Harrisburg, Texas, in 1835, and commanded by Captain Andrew Robinson. The flag was a tri-color of red, white and blue, the star being white, five-pointed and set in a gronnd of red.
FOREIGN RELATIONS.
The people of the United States now felt more free to assist, both morally and materi- ally, the young and struggling Republic of
64
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
Texas. This increased sympathy immediately began to find expression in public utterances, and naturally the Texans, by way of sympa- thetic response, began to talk up annexation to our Union. In view of this general synt- pathy, President Burnett, May 30, 1836, ap- pointed James Collingsworth and Peter W. Grayson as commissioners to proceed to Washingtou and ask the friendly aid of our Government in procuring from Mexico the recognition of independence, and to endeavor to obtain a like recognition from the United States Government itself, and also to state that annexation to this Government would be ac- ceptable. The commissioners accordingly presented these matters at Washington, but as Congress had just adjourned, no action was taken. President Jackson sent Henry M. Morfit to Texas to inform himself and report as to the military, politieal and civil condition of the people there. He accordingly made his report, stating that Texas had a popula- tion of 58,500 souls, and expressing surprise that that country had carried on a successful war so long, against so great odds, at so little expense. He estimated that the probable total amount of her outstanding debts did not exceed $1,250,000.
Gorostiza, the Mexican minister at Wash- ington, representing a displeased government, maintained that the United States had vio- lated neutrality during the preceding struggle, naming the instance of United States soldiers figliting on Texas gronnd, etc .; but this was explained by the United States officers on the gronnd that they were only fighting hostile Indians, who had invaded our territory, ex- cepting that General Gaines at one time oc- enpied Nacogdoches, and at another took Fort Parker, on the head-waters of the Navasota.
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