James Walker Fannin Jr. Distinguished Himself in a Number of Skirmishes During the Texas
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James Walker Fannin Jr. distinguished himself in a number of skirmishes during the Texas Revolution. He commanded the ill-fated group of Georgia volunteers and Texans massacred at Goliad, Texas, on March 27, 1836. In August 1835 Fannin was appointed by the Committee of Public Safety and Correspondence, an assembly of prominent Texans seeking independence from Mexico, to solicit funds and supplies from sympathizers in Georgia, as well as to influence former colleagues at West Point to join him in Texas and lead volunteer and regular armies. As a member of the Texas volunteer army, Captain Fannin fought alongside the Brazos Guards in the first battle of the revolution against Mexico, held at Gonzales on October 2, 1835. On October 28, he led Texas forces in the Battle of Concepcion. On December 7 he was commissioned a colonel in the Texas regular army. Fannin's appeal for aid drew strong attention. In Macon about thirty men stepped forward to assist "our fellow countrymen of Texas," and more than $3,000 was raised to defray the cost of the trip to Texas. On November 18 the Macon volunteers left for Texas, traveling by way of Columbus, where they were joined by another group of volunteers. Fannin welcomed the Georgia Battalion to Texas on December 20, 1835. He was later elected to command a regiment consisting of the Georgia Battalion and the Lafayette Battalion (composed of men from Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Tennessee). By February 12, 1836, Fannin had marched his regiment to Goliad, an old Spanish fort on the southwest bank of the San Antonio River about thirty miles from where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico. On March 14, 1836, Fannin was ordered by Texas president Sam Houston to withdraw to Victoria, but he delayed until the 19th. As Fannin's regiment withdrew, it was surrounded by a Mexican force under General Jose de Urrea. Fannin unsuccessfully engaged the Mexican army at the Battle of Coleto Creek and was forced to surrender his entire command. Wounded, Fannin capitulated on the condition that his men be well treated because they had given up their arms peacefully. The agreement was countermanded by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, and on Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836, more than 330 Georgians, Texans, and others imprisoned at Goliad were marched out into the woods and shot. While some prisoners escaped the massacre, Fannin was kept inside the fort. He was taken to the courtyard, where he was blindfolded, seated, and shot through the head. His body was burned. During the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, Fannin's watch was discovered in the possession of a Mexican officer. The officials who found it assumed the Mexican was responsible for Fannin's murder; he thus met death in a like manner as Fannin.
Diamond, Beryl I. "James Walker Fannin Jr. (1804-1836)." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 06 October 2014. Web. 17 November 2016. Cos was born in Veracruz in 1800. The son of an attorney, at the age of 20 he became an army cadet. He wanted to be a career soldier. And he was, eventually climbing to the rank of General in 1835. He first came on the Texas scene in September of 1835. Sent by Santa Anna to investigate tax evasion in the town of Anahuac, Cos took a force of 300 to Matagorda Bay and set up a headquarters for himself in San Antonio. From there, he would arrest Santa Anna’s critics and crush the rebellion before it blossomed. Or so he thought. As it turned out, Cos’ trips to Texas were never what he’d hoped. Emboldened by the recent win at Gonzales, Texas rebels under Stephen F. Austin and Edward Burleson marched to San Antonio expressing support for the 1824 constitution. Though Cos controlled both San Antonio and the Alamo itself, the rebels had the advantage of knowledge of the territory. The Texians laid siege to San Antonio for more than a month and a few heated fights occurred. For Cos, the siege evaporated his supplies and starved his men and animals. In December, Cos finally surrendered his position to the rebels. He and his men were allowed passage home after signing terms to Edward Burleson agreeing to retire to the interior of the Mexican republic under parole of honor, and never again to invade Texas with arms. But it would not be his last trip to Texas. In fact, he returned to the Alamo in 1836 alongside General Santa Anna and led some of Santa Anna’s forces in the assault. Texans believed he betrayed his word by returning with arms. While that may be, Santa Anna was the true Mexican decision-maker, defending the honor of his nation. Cos would meet with Texas forces one final time — at the Battle of San Jacinto. Just before Texan forces burned Vince’s Bridge, Cos joined Santa Anna on the field with reinforcements of over 500 men. But the extra men would serve little purpose. General Cos was one of the 730 Mexican soldiers taken prisoner in the Battle of San Jacinto. He was released after surrender, eventually returning to Mexico and an obscure military post in Tuxpan. He died in his birthplace of Veracruz, still serving his nation as a soldier and politician.
San Jacinto Museum of History - Martin Perfecto de Cos San Jacinto Museum of History - Martin Perfecto de Cos. (2016). San Jacinto Museum of History. Retrieved 17 November 2016, from http://www.sanjacinto-museum.org/The_Battle/Commanders/Cos/# Born on February 21, 1794, in Veracruz, Santa Anna enjoyed a middle-class upbringing. After some formal education and a short career as a merchant, he was appointed to the infantry. It was a good fit for him. He fought Mexican rebels under the Spanish for years, receiving several promotions. But in 1821, he switched sides and led the rebels under Agustín de Iturbide. Eventually made governor, he became a national hero fighting the Spanish. Santa Anna was elected president of Mexico in 1833, the first of five presidential stints. But his autocratic centralism caused rebellion at the local level. It was in this context that his army marched north to Texas. General Martín Perfecto de Cos marched to Texas ahead of Santa Anna intent on punishing the rebels. But Cos' loss of Goliad, as well as the initial (and less famous) struggle at the Alamo, proved an embarrassment to Santa Anna. In part, his Alamo siege was a matter of family honor. After regaining honor at the more famous fall of the Alamo in 1836, Santa Anna felt his job in Texas was done. But under counsel, he decided to take one final swipe at the Texas rebels by dividing his army and sweeping the land. The resulting campaign led to the Battle of San Jacinto. It was a disaster for Santa Anna. The Mexican army was completely surprised by the stealthy Texians, roused from an afternoon siesta without the chance to organize. Santa Anna was captured, sent to Washington D.C., and eventually returned home. But his career was far from over. He fought the French in 1838, losing a leg in battle, and led the Mexican army to defeat in the Mexican War. He remained in and out of the Mexican limelight — sometimes in exile — until retiring in 1874 to write his memoirs in Mexico City. He died on June 21, 1876. While eccentric and arrogant (he fancied himself the “Napoleon of the West”), Santa Anna was nothing if not astute. His heavy-handed tactics in the Texas Revolution were a function of his training. And his political shifts showed his mastery of reading the political tea leaves rather than a penchant for disloyalty. San Jacinto Museum of History - Antonio Lopez De Santa Anna
San Jacinto Museum of History - Antonio Lopez De Santa Anna. (2016). San Jacinto Museum of History. Retrieved 17 November 2016, from http://www.sanjacinto-museum.org/The_Battle/Commanders/S Juan Seguín, in full Juan Nepomuceno Seguín (born October 27, 1806, Bexar, New Spain [now San Antonio, Texas]—died August 27, 1890, Nuevo Laredo, Mexico) Tejano (Texan of Hispanic descent) revolutionary and politician who helped establish the independence of Texas. After Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821, Stephen Austin—a friend of Seguín’s father—received Mexican approval to found settlements of English-speaking people in the Mexican territory of Texas. Seguín and his father, convinced that Spanish-Mexican unrest and Mexican governmental interference were contributing to economic upheaval in Texas, sided with Austin in his subsequent quest for autonomy for the region. Seguín became active in local politics, and he was elected alderman in San Antonio in 1829 and became that city’s mayor in 1833. Political tensions escalated between the Mexican government and both the Anglos (European-descended American settlers or European immigrants) and Tejanos in Texas, and both groups objected to Mexican Pres. Antonio López de Santa Anna’s harsh regime. In order to quell the resulting rebellion in Texas, Santa Anna and his troops entered the territory and subsequently laid siege to the Alamo, a mission-fort in San Antonio, in February 1836. Seguín was in the Alamo when the siege began, but he was dispatched with a letter to Sam Houston, the commander in chief of the Anglo settlers’ army, requesting reinforcements. He was thus absent when nearly all those within the Alamo were killed by the Mexican forces on March 6, 1836. The following month, Seguín and his Tejano troops fought alongside the Anglos at the Battle of San Jacinto, which ended in the defeat and capture of Santa Anna and the independence of Texas. In 1837 Seguín became the first Tejano to serve in the Republic of Texas Senate, a position he held until 1840, when he was re-elected mayor of San Antonio. By that time tensions had increased between the Tejanos and the ever-increasing numbers of Anglos who were settling in Texas. Many Anglos distrusted the Tejanos—or simply coveted their land—and sought to remove them from the Texas territory. Seguín was eventually accused of aiding the Mexican government in trying to recapture Texas, and he was forced to flee with his family to Mexico in 1842. Seen as a traitor by the Mexican government for his role in the winning of Texas’s independence, Seguín was given the choice of a lengthy prison term or service in the Mexican army. He chose the latter, and he fought against the United States in the Mexican-American War(1846–48). Seguín returned to Texas after the war and became a rancher; shortly thereafter he was elected a local justice of the peace. He lived in Texas until 1867, when lingering American resentment forced a final move to Mexico, where he remained until his death. The city of Seguín, located just outside of San Antonio, is named in his honour. Juan Seguin | Tejano revolutionary and politician Juan Seguin | Tejano revolutionary and politician. (2016). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 17 November 2016, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Juan-Seguin Known for his famous "Bowie knife" and a sometimes reckless adventurer, Jim Bowie is now immortalized as one of the true folk heroes in early Texas. Bowie was born in Kentucky in 1796. While still very young, he moved with his family, first to Missouri, then in 1802 to Louisiana, where he spent most of his youth. It was there that he first acquired a reputation for his bold and fearless disposition. In 1827, Bowie participated in a bloody brawl near Natchez, Mississippi, where several men were killed and Bowie was wounded. After recovering the following year, he moved to Texas. Before the revolution in Texas, Bowie took part in many adventures. He spent considerable time cultivating friendships with Indians in his search for elusive silver and gold reported to be hidden in the interior of Texas. By some accounts, he is said to have found the fabled San Saba mines, also known as the Bowie mines, near the geographic center of present day Texas. In the Texas Revolution, Bowie was a leading participant at the Battle of Concepcion and in the Grass Fight near San Antonio. He was in command of a volunteer force in San Antonio when William Travis arrived with regular army troops. The two men shared authority during much of the Siege of the Alamo, which caused some personal friction. But pneumonia disabled Bowie, and he was confined to his cot at the time of his death on March 6, 1836 at the Battle of the Alamo. Sam Houston was born in Virginia on March 2, 1793. He spent much of his youth, however, in the mountains of Tennessee. There, young Houston became acquainted with the Cherokee Indians, and he spent much time with them, an activity which he much preferred over studies or working on the farm. With the outbreak of the second war with England, Houston enlisted as a private soldier, and was made sergeant of a company. He excelled in the military and quickly won the admiration of his men and his superiors. After receiving three near-mortal wounds at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, he rose to the rank of first lieutenant before resigning in 1818 to study law. After a short time, he was admitted to the bar and practiced in Lebonon, Tennessee before running for public office. He sought and won public office and was elected to the US Congress in 1823 and again in 1825. In 1827, Houston was elected Governor of Tennessee by a large majority. While governor and after a brief marriage that ended unfavorably, Houston quietly resigned from Tennessee politics and returned to live with his longtime friends, the Cherokees. There, he remained until 1832 when he moved to Texas along with a few friends. In Texas, Houston was elected delegate from Nacogdoches to the Convention of 1833 which met at San Felipe. From that time, Houston emerged as a prominent player in the affairs of Texas. In 1835 he was appointed general of the military district east of the Trinity. He became a member of the Consultation of 1835, and of the Convention which met at Washington on the Brazos in 1836 to declare independence from Mexico. It was there that Houston was elected commander-in-chief of the armies of Texas. Houston immediately took control of the Texas forces after the fall of the Alamo and Goliad, and conducted the retreat of the army to the site of the Battle of San Jacinto, where on April 21, 1836, his force defeated Santa Anna and secured Texas long sought independence. In the fall of that year, Houston was elected the first President of the Republic of Texas. After serving his term as President, he served in the Congress of the Republic in 1839-40. Then in 1841, Houston was again voted by a large margin to the head of the Texas government. After statehood in 1845, Houston was elected Senator from Texas to the Congress of the United States. Still later, in 1859, Houston was elected to serve as Governor of the State of Texas. As Governor in 1861, Houston was strongly opposed to the secession of Texas from the Union. Because he was much in the minority on this issue, Houston was removed from office in March of 1861, ending his illustrious career in public service. Houston retired to the privacy of his home at Huntsville, Texas, where died in July of 1863. He is buried in Huntsville's Oakwood Cemetery. Born in South Carolina on 9 August 1809, William Barret Travis will always be remembered as the Texas commander at the Battle of the Alamo. He spent his childhood in Saluda Co., SC, which was also the home of James Butler Bonham, another Alamo defender. Travis studied law and became a practicing attorney for a brief time before marrying Rosanna Cato at the age of nineteen. Within a year, when Travis was barely twenty years old, they had a son, Charles Edward Travis. Remaining in the area, Travis began publication of a newspaper, became a Mason, and joined the militia. The marriage soon failed, however. Travis abandoned his wife, son, and an unborn daughter, and headed for Texas. After arriving in Texas in early 1831, Travis obtained land from Stephen F. Austin. He set up to practice law first in the town of Anahuac, and afterwards at San Felipe. When friction developed between Texas and Mexico, Travis was one of the first to join the Texas forces. When Mexican General Martin Perfecto de Cos demanded the surrender of the Texan's cannon that resulted in the Battle of Gonzales, Travis was one of hundreds to come to the its defense. He arrived too late, however, to take part in the action. On orders from Provisional Governor Henry Smith in January of 1836, Travis entered the Alamo with about 30 men. Within a few days, he found himself in command, when then commander James C. Neill took leave to care for his family. Travis commanded the Texas defenders during the Siege and Battle of the Alamo. His Appeal from the Alamo for reinforcements has become an American symbol of unyielding courage and heroism. Although a few reinforcements arrived before the Alamo fell, Travis and over 180 defenders gave their lives for Texas independence on 6 March 1836. Remarkably, Travis was only twenty-six years of age at the time of his death. Davy Crockett was perhaps best known in Tennessee as a noted hunter and for his unique style of backwoods oratory. In Texas, however, he will always be remembered as a heroic participant in the Battle of the Alamo. Crockett was born 17 August 1786 in what is now northeastern Tennessee. It was not until he was eighteen before he learned to read and write. About that time, he married and started a family of several children. Perhaps by default, he first became involved in politics as magistrate of his local community. By 1821, he was elected to the State Legislature, and was reelected to that position in 1823. From 1827 through 1833, Crockett served in the Congress of the United States. However, in his run for a fourth term in Congress, he was defeated by a narrow margin. Disgusted by that time with politics, Crockett bid farewell to Tennessee and headed for Texas in the fall of 1835. There he was well received and seemed to enjoy his new environment, for on 9 January 1836 he wrote a daughter back in Tennessee: "I would rather be in my present situation than to be elected to a seat in Congress for life." Less than one month later, however, Crockett and a few of his fellow Tennesseans were among the 189 defenders that sacrificed their lives at The Battle of the Alamo in the interest on Texas independence. It is sometimes said that life in the early days of Texas was an adventure for men and dogs, but hell on women and horses. Susana Dickinson, no doubt, would agree. She will always be remembered as the sole adult Anglo survivor that witnessed the massacre at the Battle of the Alamo. Susana was born in middle Tennessee about 1814 as Susana (often written Susanna) Wilkerson. At the age of only fifteen years, she married Almaron Dickinson in Hardeman County, Tennessee. Within two years, the young couple arrived in Texas and settled near Gonzales in the colony of empresario Green DeWitt. The couple's only child, Angelina, was born there in late 1834. After the Battle of Gonzales marked the beginning of the Texas Revolution in the fall of 1835, Almaron joined a group of volunteers to help secure San Antonio for the Texans. Susana stayed behind with Angelina. After her home was looted a few weeks later, however, she decided to join her husband in San Antonio. When Santa Anna's army approached the town in February of 1836, the family moved into the Alamo. Following the fall of the Alamo, Susana, accompanied by her infant daughter Angelina, was interview by Santa Anna and subsequently released with a message to Sam Houston. After heading eastward from San Antonio, they were found by Deaf Smith and Henry Karnes, scouts for the Texas army. They were taken to meet Houston in Gonzales. Illiterate and still only twenty-two years old when Texas independence was won, Susana requested but was denied a $500 government donation. Susana entered a stable marriage with Joseph Hannig in 1857.The couple soon moved to Austin, where Hannig ran a successful cabinet shop and furniture store. Susana died on October 7, 1883, and is buried in Austin. Erastus "Deaf" Smith (1787-1837)
Erastus Smith was hearing impaired. Despite this handicap, however, Smith became one of Sam Houston's most reliable and most trusted scouts. He was a man of few words, but was well known for his coolness in the presence of danger. Born April 19, 1787 in Dutchess County, New York, Smith moved with his parents to Mississippi Territory at the age of eleven. He first came to Texas in 1817 but stayed only a short time. He returned permanently in 1821, however, to help restore his health. Smith adapted well to his new home. He soon learned the nature and customs of the Mexican settlers, and easily made friends among both his American and his Mexican neighbors. He attempted to remain neutral as tensions grew between Texas and Mexico, but was soon persuaded on the side of the Texans. Already known as a superior scout, he was quickly recruited by the Texans. He was in the scouting party at the Battle of Concepcion and discovered the mule train that led to the Grass Fight. After the fall of the Alamo, Smith was sent by Sam Houston to gather particulars, and he returned with survivor Susannah Dickerson and her baby to the Houston camp. At the Battle of San Jacinto, Smith among other duties, destroyed Vince's bridge, thus blocking any escape routes from the site of the battle. For a short time after the revolution, Smith commanded a company of rangers to protect Texas' frontier settlements from Mexican and Indian raids. Deaf Smith retired briefly with his family to Richmond, Texas, before he died on November 30, 1837. Benjamin Rush "Ben" Milam (1788-1835)
Ben Milam was killed when the Texas Revolution was just getting underway. But his leadership prior to his death helped inspire his fellow Texans to retake San Antonio in 1835 at the Siege of Bexar, and ultimately to win Texas independence. Milam was born October 20, 1788 in Frankfort, Kentucky, where he lived until joining the American forces in the War of 1812. After the war, he and a friend floated a large shipment of flour down the Mississippi to New Orleans. Finding a weak market for flour, they joined others and chartered a schooner to South America in search of a better market. The captain and most of the crew died of yellow fever, but Milam and his friends managed to survive. By 1818, Milam was trading with Comanche Indians on the upper Colorado River in Texas. There, he met David G. Burnet, who after an accident was being nursed back to health by the Indians. The two men became close friends. The following year, Milam returned to New Orleans and joined an expedition to aid Mexican patriots seeking independence from Spain. There, he met and formed a close friendship with James Long, husband of Jane Long. Soon afterward, however, Long was "accidentally" killed in Mexico under suspect circumstances. For planning to avenge Long's death, Milam was imprisoned for a short time in 1822, but later released. For several years, Milam assisted empresario Arthur Wavell in developing Wavell's grant on the Red River, but the venture failed. Milam joined Texan volunteers in the Goliad Campaign of 1835. Soon afterwards, Stephen Austin placed him in charge of a company of scouts to determine the best routes over which to retake San Antonio in the Siege of Bexar. Subsequently, Milam and Frank W. Johnson each lead a group of volunteers in house-to-house combat during the retaking of the town. On December 7, 1835, Milam was killed by a rifle shot while moving from one position to another. Three days later, the Mexican forces surrendered and vacated San Antonio. Lorenzo de Zavala (1789-1836)
A colonizer and statesman, Manuel Lorenzo Justiniano de Zavala was one of the most talented and capable of the many native Mexicans involved in Texas' struggle for independence from Mexico. He was born in the village of Tecoh in what is now the state of Yucatan, Mexico, on October 3, 1789. While still in his teens, de Zavala became an ardent advocate of democratic reforms. As a result of his political activism, he was imprisoned in 1814 for three years. When released, he re-entered politics and by 1820 represented Yucatan in the Spanish Cortes in Madrid. However, he returned in 1821 when Mexico gained independence from Spain. In the newly established Republic of Mexico, de Zavala served in the Mexican Constituent Congress and then the Mexican Senate from 1822 until 1826. He was then elected governor of the state of Mexico, just west of Mexico City. After serving in addition as minister of the treasury under Mexican President Guerrero, de Zavala was granted an empresario contract to introduce five hundred families into Texas. Within a short time, however, he transferred his contract to the Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company. After again serving several positions in Mexican politics, he was appointed as Mexican minister to France by President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. While in Paris, however, it became clear that Santa Anna had no intention of observing the Mexican Constitution of 1824. As a result, de Zavala moved his family to Texas, where he actively supported Mexican Federalism in opposition to Santa Anna. In Texas, de Zavala settled his family on Buffalo Bayou across from what would become the site of the Battle of San Jacinto. He represented Harrisburg Municipality at both the Consultation of 1835 and the Convention of 1836, where he signed the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico. At the Convention of 1836, de Zavala was elected vice-president of the ad interim government of the Republic of Texas. After Santa Anna's capture at the Battle of San Jacinto, de Zavala and Secretary of Treasury Bailey Hardeman were commissioned to accompany Santa Anna to Mexico to negotiate a permanent treaty, but outraged soldiers of the Texas army circumvented this plan and detained Santa Anna for several months.De Zavala resigned as vice-president in October. The following month, on 15 November 1836, he died and was buried in the family cemetery on property which is now part of San Jacinto State Park. De Zavala County was formed in 1858 and named in his honor. In 1931, the state of Texas erected a monument at his gravesite. David G. Burnet (1788-1870)
Best remembered as the president of the ad interim government of the Republic of Texas, David Burnet first entered Texas about 1815. Except for a few brief periods outside the region, Texas remained his home until his death in 1870. Born April 14, 1788 in New Jersey, Burnet was raised by an older brother after the early death of his parents. In 1806, he became the first American volunteer to join Francisco de Miranda in an unsuccessful expedition to free Venezuela from Spain. Later, after a failed attempt to establish a trading post in Natchitoches, Louisiana, Burnet rode westward into Texas. After an accident in which Burnet fell from his horse on the upper Colorado River, he was taken by Comanche Indians, treated kindly, and nursed back to health over a two year period. Burnet's political career began with his election to the Convention of 1833. His leadership there and in subsequent events resulted in his being elected President of the ad interim government of Texas at the Convention of 1836. His conservatism and sensitivity to criticism, however, limited his effectiveness in leading the infant Republic in its most trying hour. He did manage to maintain reasonable order, however, until a permanent government could be elected. Burnet later served as Vice-president of the Republic under Mirabeau Lamar, and again briefly as President after Lamar resigned at the end of his term. With statehood in 1846, Burnet served as the state's first Secretary of State. After the Civil War, he was elected in 1866 to represent Texas in the U. S. Senate, but due to Reconstruction, was not allowed to serve. After retiring to his farm near the San Jacinto battlefield, Burnet died on December 7, 1870. He is now buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Galveston. Thomas J. Rusk (1803-1857)
Thomas Jefferson Rusk was lured to Texas from Georgia in 1832. He was chasing business partners who had absconded with his money and fled westward. When he arrived in Nacogdoches, he decided to stay. Born December 5, 1803 in South Carolina, Rusk studied law and was admitted to the bar through the influence of John C. Calhoun. He moved to Clarksville, Georgia in 1825 where he practiced law. He married two years later. In Texas, Rusk settled in the Nacogdoches area where in 1835 he organized a company of volunteers to aid in Texas' cause for independence. He was elected as a representative from Nacogdoches to the Convention of 1836, and thus became a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. The convention elected him secretary of war, and he soon afterward participated in the Battle of San Jacinto. After independence was won, Rusk was elected to the Second Congress of the Republic, and later led several campaigns against Indians in east Texas. He became president of the Convention of 1845, and was a strong advocate for the annexation of Texas into the Union. The following year, he and Sam Houston were elected the first Senators to represent Texas in Washington, DC. In the U. S. Senate, Rusk served several terms as head of the committee on Postal Affairs. For a period in 1855, he served as president pro tem of the U. S. Senate. Following his wife's death in 1856, Rusk became despondent, and took his own life on July 29, 1857. He is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Nacogdoches. José de Urrea, military officer, was born in 1797 in the presidio of Tucson, Sonora (now Arizona). He was a military cadet in the presidial company of San Rafael Buenavista in 1809 and a lieutenant in 1816, participating in battles in Jalisco and Michoacán. In 1821 he supported the Plan of Iguala of Agustín de Iturbide. He participated in the anti- Iturbide Plan of Casa Mata and the siege of San Juan de Uluá. Affiliated with the Plan of Montaño, Urrea was separated from army service, but in 1829 he reentered and fought in Tampico with Antonio López de Santa Anna against Isidro Barradas. He intervened in the Plan of Jalapa against the government of Vicente Ramón Guerrero and when Anastasio Bustamante came to power (1829–30), Urrea was named to the secretariat of the command in Durango. He was made a lieutenant colonel in 1831. In July 1832, along with Santa Anna, he declared for Gómez Pedraza, and in 1834 he assumed the command of the permanent regiment of Cuautla, near Cuernavaca, after having received the rank of colonel from Francisco Ellorriaga, whom he had supported. As acting general in July 1835, he was sent to fight the Comanches in Durango, where he was commandant general and then governor in September and October. When the Mexican state of Texas revolted against Santa Anna’s Centralist government, Urrea was sent there to help put down the rebellion. He defeated small groups of Texas forces at the Battle of San Patricio, Battle of Refugio, and Battle of Coleto. The Battle of Coleto led to the “Goliad Massacre”, which included the execution of Texans who had surrendered. The execution, however, was not Urrea’s choice, but an order by Santa Anna. Urrea wanted to continue the war against the Texans after the Battle of San Jacinto because Mexico still had over 2,500 troops in Texas against 900 for the Texans. General Urrea had no choice but to comply with Santa Anna’s orders, and by the middle of June all Mexican forces had withdrawn from Texas. Urrea turned against Santa Anna and fought against him at the Battle of Mazatlan in 1838. The attempted uprising resulted in Urrea being sent to prison. Upon his release he revived his military career.
Francita Alavez, the "Angel of Goliad," accompanied Capt. Telesforo Alavez to Texas in March 1836. Her first name is variously given as Francita, Francisca, Panchita, or Pancheta, and her surname as Alavez, Alvárez, or Alevesco. Her real surname and place of birth are not known. Some writers claim that she was with Gen. José de Urrea's army at San Patricio, but this is highly unlikely since Captain Alavez came by ship from Matamoros to Copano Bay. Because Francita was with Captain Alavez in Texas, it was long assumed that she was his wife. However, research carried out in 1935 by Marjorie Rogers revealed that the army officer's legitimate wife was María Augustina de Pozo, who was abandoned by Alavez in 1834. Francita was at Copano Bay when Maj. William P. Miller's Natchez volunteers were held prisoner there by General Urrea's troops. She noticed that the men were tightly bound with cords that restricted the circulation of blood in their arms. Taking pity on the men, she persuaded the Mexican soldiers to loosen their bonds and to give them food. From Copano Bay she went with Alavez to Goliad and was there at the time of the Goliad Massacre. She is credited with persuading the officer in charge of the fortress not to execute Miller's men, who had been brought from Copano to Goliad. In addition, it is believed that Francita entered the fort the evening before the massacre and brought out several men and hid them, thereby saving their lives. Francita and Captain Alavez proceeded to Victoria, where she continued to aid the Texans held prisoner at Goliad by sending them messages and provisions. When the Mexicans retreated from Texas after Santa Anna's defeat at San Jacinto, Francita followed Captain Alavez to Matamoros, where she aided the Texans held prisoner there. From that town she was taken by Alavez to Mexico City and there abandoned. She returned to Matamoros penniless, but was befriended by Texans who had heard of her humanitarian acts on behalf of Texans captured by the Mexican army. Dr. Joseph Barnard and Dr. Jack Shackelford, two of the Goliad prisoners spared by the Mexicans, later testified to Francita's saintly behavior, thus causing her deeds to be more widely known. She came to be called the Angel of Goliad and gained recognition as a heroine of the Texas Revolution. Hendrick Arnold, guide and spy during the Texas Revolution, emigrated from Mississippi with his parents, Daniel Arnold, apparently a white man, and Rachel Arnold, who was apparently black, in the winter of 1826. The family settled in Stephen F. Austin's colony on the Brazos River. Hendrick is referred to as a Negro, although his brother Holly was regarded as white; both were apparently considered free, although there is no evidence that they were ever formally freed by their father. In July or August of 1827 Hendrick and an Arnold slave named Dolly had a daughter, Harriet. Hendrick held Harriet as a slave. By the fall of 1835 Arnold had settled in San Antonio and married a woman named Martina (María), a stepdaughter of Erastus (Deaf) Smithqv. Arnold had a second daughter, Juanita, who may have been Martina's child. While Arnold and Smith were hunting buffalo in the Little River country north of the site of present Austin, Mexican forces under Gen. Martín Perfecto de Cos occupied San Antonio. On their trip home Arnold and Smith came upon Stephen F. Austin's encampment at Salado Creek. Arnold, and soon thereafter Smith, who considered remaining neutral because of his Mexican wife, offered their services as guides to the Texans. In October Arnold took part in the battle of Concepción. When Edward Burleson, who had replaced Austin as commander, called a council of officers on December 3, 1835, the council decided to postpone an attack on San Antonio, explaining that Arnold was absent and that the officers of one of the divisions refused to march without him. Arnold's whereabouts during his absence are now unknown. When he returned, Benjamin R. Milam called for an attack, which was subsequently called the siege of Bexar. Arnold served as the guide for Milam's division. Francis W. Johnson, leader of the other division, wrote the official report of the battle for himself and Milam, who was killed during the siege. Johnson acknowledged the bravery of all the Texan forces and cited Arnold specifically for his "important service." On January 3, 1836, Arnold arrived in San Felipe de Austin with his family and that of Erastus Smith. On January 4 he successfully petitioned the General Council of the provisional government of Texas for relief for their families and noted Smith's service for Texas and his wounds suffered in battle. Arnold continued to support the revolution and served in Smith's spy company in the battle of San Jacinto. After the revolution Arnold was compensated for his service with land a few miles northwest of the site of present Bandera, a relatively unexplored area. Arnold secured adjacent land for his grandmother Catherine Arnold, his father Daniel, and his brother Holly. Holly appears to have been the only family member to settle on the land. Hendrick Arnold lived on the Medina River and operated a gristmill in San Antonio. A portion of the mill was still standing in 1990 near Mission San Juan. George Campbell Childress, lawyer, statesman, and author of the Texas Declaration of Independence, son of John Campbell and Elizabeth (Robertson) Childress, was born on January 8, 1804, at Nashville, Tennessee. In 1826 he graduated from Davidson Academy (later the University of Nashville). He was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1828 and married Margaret Vance on June 12 of that year. Their son was born in March 1835, and Margaret Childress died a few months later. Childress practiced law and for a brief period (September 1834-November 1835) edited the Nashville Banner and Nashville Advertiser. In December 1834 he made his first trip to Texas, where his uncle, Sterling C. Robertson, was organizing Robertson's colony.qqv After spending some time raising money and volunteers in Tennessee for the Texas army, Childress left permanently for Texas. He arrived at the Red River on December 13, 1835, and reached Robertson's colony on January 9, 1836. The following February he and his uncle were elected to represent Milam Municipality at the Convention of 1836. Childress called the convention to order and subsequently introduced a resolution authorizing a committee of five members to draft a declaration of independence. Upon adoption of the resolution, he was named chairman of the committee and is almost universally acknowledged as the primary author of the document. On March 19 President David G. Burnet sent Robert Hamilton and Childress, whose family was on friendly terms with President Andrew Jackson, to Washington as diplomatic agents for the Republic of Texas. They were instructed to negotiate for recognition of the republic. In late May 1836 their mission was terminated when they were replaced by James Collinsworth and Peter W. Grayson.qqv On December 12, 1836, Childress married Rebecca Stuart Read Jennings; they had two daughters. Childress returned to Texas three times—in 1837, 1839, and 1841—to open law offices, first in Houston, then Galveston. Each time he was unsuccessful in establishing a practice that would support his family. On October 6, 1841, while living in Galveston, he slashed his abdomen with a Bowie knife and died soon thereafter. On August 21, 1876, Childress County was formed and named in his honor.