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The Life of Susanna Wilkerson Dickinson: Alamo Survivor and Pioneer

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Explore the remarkable life of Susanna Wilkerson Dickinson, a survivor of the Alamo, her marriages, struggles, and contributions to Texas history.

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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.

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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.

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James "Jim" Bowie (pronounced BOO-ee; April 1796 - March 6, 1836) was a 19th-century American pioneer. He played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution. He died at the Battle of the Alamo. Stories of him as a fighter and frontiersman, both real and fictitious, have made him a legendary figure in Texas history.

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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.

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JONES, ANSON | The Handbook of Texas Online| Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)

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All copyrighted materials included within the Handbook of Texas Online are in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 related to Copyright and "Fair Use" for Non-Profit educational institutions, which permits the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), to utilize copyrighted materials to further scholarship, education, and inform the public.

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Categories: 1798 births | 1858 deaths | Presidents of the Republic of Texas | People from Massachusetts | People from Texas | Texas history | Suicides

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Texas History Page - Anson Jones - The Last President of Texas

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Biography of the Anson Jones who the last President of the Republic of Texas. Anson Jones was instrumental in negotiating the annexation of Texas by the United State of America.

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e served briefly as "Apothecary General of the Texas Army" President appointed Jones his secretary of state in December 1841 Jones was elected president of The Republic of Texas in September 1844 and took office on December 9th. He helped formulate legislation to regulate medical practice and advocated a uniform system of education.

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Back to "Giants of Texas History"
Image: Prints and Photographs Collection, 1979/181-24.
José Antonio Navarro was the most influential Tejano of his generation. He championed Texas independence from Mexico, then fought for the rights of Tejanos as citizens of the Republic of Texas and the United States.

Navarro was born in Bexar (San Antonio) on February 27, 1795. His mother was of aristocratic descent; his father was a self-made man who had made the journey from runaway and servant to successful merchant and alcalde (mayor) of San Antonio. Navarro came of age during a time in which San Antonio was a hotbed of revolution against Spanish rule, and the scene of continuing bloody clashes between the Spanish army and Mexican rebels. Young Navarro supported the Gutiérrez-Magee expedition, an effort by a combined force of Mexican rebels and American adventurers to seize Texas. After a year of fighting, the insurgents were defeated and the Spanish took harsh revenge on San Antonio, executing 327 rebel supporters. Navarro was forced to flee to the United States to avoid the same fate.
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Letter from Stephen F. Austin, 1829. Click on image for larger image and transcript.
Navarro's early life in his own words.
Navarro returned three years later at the age of 21. Like many other Tejanos, Navarro had come to believe that the best hope for Texas lay with Anglo-American colonization, both to combat the continuously raiding Indians and to bring prosperity and stability to the region. He became friends with Stephen F. Austin, the young empresario who arrived in 1821 to settle 300 families in Texas. As he began his political career, winning election first to the state legislature of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas and later to the national congress in Mexico City, Navarro advocated policies that would benefit the colonization effort, and promoted the idea of Texas statehood within the Mexican federation.

In 1836, Navarro made the final break with Mexico. He and his uncle, José Francisco Ruiz, were elected to represent San Antonio at the Convention for Texas Independence. He, Ruiz, and Lorenzo de Zavala became the three Mexican signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Navarro's contemporaries later said that he "trembled at the thought" of the enormity of the step he had taken, but he plunged into a leadership role nonetheless, helping to draft the Constitution of the Republic of Texas.
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Sam Houston's report to the legislature on Navarro's imprisonment. Click on image for larger image and transcript.
Letter from Reuben Potter to President Lamar about Navarro's appointment to the Santa Fe expedition.
In the Republic of Texas era, Navarro served as Bexar's representative in the Texas Congress. From the beginning, he saw that Tejanos were being shut out of the legal process by Anglos, and he tried to protect their land claims and other rights. Throughout his life, Navarro would assume the responsibility for giving voice to the concerns of Tejanos. Politically, he was a supporter of Mirabeau B. Lamar and a critic of Sam Houston.

In 1841, Navarro was chosen as one of President Lamar's commissioners to accompany the Texan Santa Fe expedition. Acting without congressional approval, Lamar envisioned the creation of a trade route that would allow Texas part of the revenue from the Santa Fe trail, plus the opportunity to persuade the New Mexicans to join the Republic of Texas. Over 300 "Santa Fe Pioneers" -- merchants, teamsters, and army troops -- set out from Kenney's Fort on Brushy Creek north of Austin with over $200,000 worth of merchandise.

The expedition was a disaster almost from the start. Traveling in the heat of the summer, they became lost near present-day Wichita Falls, mistaking the Wichita River for the Red River. Their Mexican guides deserted them, Indians began to harass the wagon train, and everyone was suffering from insufficient water and provisions. When the Texans finally arrived in New Mexico, they did not receive the heroes' welcome they had expected. Instead, they were all arrested and marched under arms to Mexico City, with many sufferings and indignities along the way.

While most of the American prisoners were released in 1842 and allowed to return home, Navarro was instead tried and convicted of treason and imprisoned under brutal conditions at Vera Cruz. Expecting to be executed, he finally managed to escape and make his way back to Texas.

Navarro favored annexation of Texas to the United States. He was the only Tejano delegate to the Convention of 1845 which met to vote on the annexation question. At the convention, Navarro helped write the first state constitution and successfully protected Tejano citizenship rights, including preventing a move to deny voting rights to Hispanics. After statehood, he served two terms in the Texas Senate before retiring from politics.

In his later years, Navarro continued to be an outspoken advocate for Tejano rights, condemning Sam Houston for his association with the anti-Catholic Know-Nothing party in the 1850s and urging Hispanics to defend their heritage "inch by inch" by participation in the political system. To his dismay, he lived to see his people lose most of their land holdings and political influence and become a working underclass to the Anglo Americans. Navarro wrote articles and a book in which he set the record straight about the contributions of the Tejanos to Texas independence, pointing out that the citizens of Bexar and elsewhere were fighting for Texas freedom 25 years before the Alamo.

A Texas patriot to the end, Navarro supported secession from the United States in 1861, and his four sons served in the Confederate army. He died in 1871.

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Back to "Giants of Texas History" Image: Prints and Photographs Collection, 1979/181-24. José Antonio Navarro was the most influential Tejano of his generation. He championed Texas independence from Mexico, then fought for the rights of Tejanos as citizens of the Republic of Texas and the United States.

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While still in his early twenties, Navarro spent several years exile in the United States because of his role in the Gutierrez-Magee Expedition against Spanish rule in Texas. When order was restored, he returned to his native Texas and became friends with Stephen Austin.

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Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar | president of Republic of Texas

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Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar: Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar, second president of the Republic of Texas. After an unsuccessful career as a merchant in Alabama, Lamar took a position as secretary to the governor of Georgia. He later became editor of a distinctly states-rights newspaper, the Columbus (Georgia) Enquirer. Following the

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San Jacinto Museum of History - Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar - Colonel of the Texian Army

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Biography of Mirabeau Lamar - Colonel of the Texian Army and Second President of Texas.

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Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar (1798-1859)

M irabeau Buonaparte Lamar, son of John and Rebecca (Lamar) Lamar, president of the Republic of Texas, was born near Louisville, Georgia, on August 16, 1798. He grew up at Fairfield, his father's plantation near Milledgeville. He attended academies at Milledgeville and Eatonton and was an omnivorous reader. As a boy he became an expert horseman and an accomplished fencer, began writing verse, and painted in oils. In 1819 he had a brief partnership in a general store at Cahawba, Alabama; in 1821 he was joint publisher of the Cahawba Press for a few months. When George M. Troup was elected governor of Georgia in 1823, Lamar returned to Georgia to become Troup's secretary and a member of his household. He married Tabitha Jordan of Twiggs County, Georgia, on January 1, 1826, and soon resigned his secretaryship to nurse his bride, who was ill with tuberculosis. In 1828 he moved his wife and daughter, Rebecca Ann, to the new town of Columbus, Georgia, and established the Columbus Enquirer as an organ for the Troup political faction. Lamar was elected state senator in 1829 and was a candidate for reelection when his wife died on August 20, 1830. He withdrew from the race and traveled until he was sufficiently recovered. During this time he composed two of his best known poems, "At Evening on the Banks of the Chattahoochee" and "Thou Idol of My Soul." He ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1832, helped organize a new party, and was again defeated for Congress in 1834 on a nullification platform. He then sold his interest in the Enquirer and in 1835 followed James W. Fannin, Jr., to Texas to collect historical data. By the time he reached Texas, Lamar's health and spirits began to mend and he decided to settle in the Mexican province. Characteristically, he immediately declared for Texas independence, helped build a fort at Velasco, contributed three poems to the Brazoria Texas Republican, and hurried back to Georgia to settle his affairs.
At the news of the battle of the Alamo and the Goliad Massacre, Lamar rushed back to Velasco and inquired the way to the scene of battle. He joined the revolutionary army at Groce's Point as a private. When the Mexican and Texan forces faced each other at San Jacinto on April 20, 1836, Thomas J. Rusk and Walter Paye Lane were surrounded by the enemy. Lamar's quick action the next day saved their lives and brought him a salute from the Mexican lines. As the battle of San Jacinto was about to start, he was verbally commissioned a colonel and assigned to command the cavalry. Ten days after the battle, having become secretary of war in David G. Burnet's cabinet, he demanded that Antonio López de Santa Anna be executed as a murderer. A month later Lamar was major general and commander in chief of the Texas army, but the unruly Texas troops refused to accept him and he retired to civilian life.

In September 1836, in the first national election, Lamar was elected vice president, an office in which he had leisure to augment his historical collections and study Spanish. He spent most of the year 1837 in Georgia being feted as a hero and publicizing the new republic. Upon his return to Texas, he organized the Philosophical Society of Texas on December 5, 1837, and found that his campaign for the presidency of Texas was already under way, sponsored by opponents of President Sam Houston, who by law could not succeed himself. The other candidates, Peter W. Grayson and James Collinsworth, both committed suicide before election day, thus assuring Lamar's election by an almost unanimous vote. At his inauguration on December 10, 1838, Lamar declared the purposes of his administration to be promoting the wealth, talent, and enterprises of the country and laying the foundations of higher institutions for moral and mental culture. His term began with Texas in a precarious situation, however: only the United States had recognized her independence, she had no commercial treaties, Mexico was threatening reconquest, the Indians were menacing, the treasury was empty, and currency was depreciated. It was characteristic of Lamar to divert the thoughts of his constituents from the harassments of the moment toward laying the foundations of a great empire. Opposed to annexation, he thought Texas should remain a republic and ultimately expand to the Pacific Ocean. For Houston's conciliatory Indian policy, Lamar substituted one of sternness and force. The Cherokees were driven to Arkansas in 1839; in 1840 a campaign against the Comanches quieted the western Indians in the west at a cost of $2.5 million. Lamar sought peace with Mexico first through the good offices of the United States and Great Britain, then by efforts at direct negotiation. When it was clear that Mexico would not recognize Texas, he made a quasiofficial alliance with the rebel government in Yucatán and leased to it the Texas Navy. He proposed a national bank, but instead of establishing the bank Congress authorized additional issues of paper money in the form of redbacks, which were greatly depreciated by the end of his administration. Receipts for his administration were $1,083,661; expenditures were $4,855,213. At Lamar's suggestion, the new capital city of Austin was built on the Indian frontier beside the Colorado River and occupied in October 1839. Another step in his plans for a greater Texas was the Texan Santa Fe expedition, undertaken without congressional approval in the last months of his administration. If it had succeeded, as Lamar had reason to believe it would, this botched venture might have solved many of the problems of Texas; its failure was proof to his enemies that he was "visionary." Lamar's proposal that the Congress establish a system of education endowed by public lands resulted in the act of January 26, 1839, which set aside land for public schools and two universities. Although it was decades before the school system was established, Lamar's advocacy of the program earned for him the nickname "Father of Texas Education." A dictum in one of his messages to Congress, "Cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy," became the motto of the University of Texas.

As the national election of 1841 approached, Lamar's popularity was at its lowest ebb, and Texas was at the verge of bankruptcy. The blame cannot be assessed against the president exclusively, however, for most of his policies were implemented by acts of Congress, and economic and political conditions in the United States and abroad blocked measures that might have temporarily stabilized the Texas currency. Forces that neither Lamar nor his enemies fully understood or controlled brought failure to his grandest projects. Smarting under criticism, he retired to his home near Richmond at the end of 1841 and busied himself with his plantation and with the collection of historical materials. After his daughter's death in 1843, he was plunged into melancholia and sought relief in travel. He wrote the poem "On the Death of My Daughter," which was later published in the Southern Literary Messenger. At Mobile in 1844 he fell in with a literary coterie that encouraged his interest in poetry. He received callers at the City Hall in New York and was given a courtesy seat in the United States Senate at Washington. Though he had formerly opposed annexation, he had been convinced that Texas statehood was necessary to protect slavery and prevent the state from becoming an English satellite; he therefore lobbied for annexation while in Washington. With the outbreak of the Mexican War, he joined Zachary Taylor's army at Matamoros as a lieutenant colonel and subsequently fought in the battle of Monterrey. Later he was captain of Texas Mounted Volunteers on the Rio Grande. He organized a municipal government at Laredo and in 1847 represented Nueces and San Patricio counties in the Second Texas Legislature. After 1848 Lamar traveled much and began writing biographical sketches for a proposed history of Texas. He denounced the Compromise of 1850, which convinced him that the interests of the South could be protected only by secession. In February 1851 in New Orleans he married Henrietta Maffitt. Their daughter, Loretto Evalina, was born at Macon, Georgia, in 1852. In 1857 Lamar was appointed United States minister to Nicaragua and Costa Rica, a post he held for twenty months. His Verse Memorials appeared in September 1857. Two months after returning from his diplomatic mission, he died of a heart attack at his Richmond plantation on December 19, 1859. He was buried in the Masonic Cemetery at Richmond.

Lamar had great personal charm, impulsive generosity, and oratorical gifts. His powerful imagination caused him to project a program greater than he or Texas could actualize in three years. His friends were almost fanatically devoted to him; though his enemies declared him a better poet than politician, they never seriously questioned the purity of his motives or his integrity. Lamar County and the town of Lamar in Aransas County were named for him. In 1836 the Texas Centennial Commission placed statues of him in the Hall of State in Dallas and in the cemetery at Richmond. The commission also marked the site of his home near Richmond and the place of his residence as president in Austin, and built a miniature replica of his home on the square at Paris. At his death the Telegraph and Texas Register eulogized him as a "worthy man."

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Asa Kyrus Christian, Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar (Austin: Von Boeckmann-Jones, 1922). Herbert P. Gambrell, Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar: Troubadour and Crusader (Dallas: Southwest Press, 1934). Philip Graham, The Life and Poems of Mirabeau B. Lamar (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1938). Charles Adams Gulick, Jr., Harriet Smither, et al., eds., The Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar (6 vols., Austin: Texas State Library, 1920-27; rpt., Austin: Pemberton Press, 1968). Sister M. Baptista Roach, "The Last "Crusade" of Mirabeau B. Lamar," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 45 (October 1941). Stanley E. Siegel, The Poet President of Texas: The Life of Mirabeau B. Lamar, President of the Republic of Texas (Austin: Jenkins, 1977).

Herbert Gambrell

Recommended citation: "LAMAR, MIRABEAU BUONAPARTE."
The Handbook of Texas Online http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/LL/fla15.html [ Accessed ].

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Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar (1798-1859) M irabeau Buonaparte Lamar, son of John and Rebecca (Lamar) Lamar, president of the Republic of Texas, was born near Louisville, Georgia, on August 16, 1798. He grew up at Fairfield, his father's plantation near Milledgeville. He attended academies at Milledgeville and Eatonton and was an omnivorous reader.

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Kids learn about the biography of Sam Houston including his early life, the War of 1812, governor of Tennessee, general in the Texas Revolution, the Battle of San Jacinto, and fun facts. Educational article for students, schools, and teachers.

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Houston was born into a military family in Virginia in 1793. His father, an army major who had served in the Revolutionary War, died when Sam was fourteen. His mother took their family to eastern Tennessee, where Houston spent much of his later childhood in the company of Cherokee Indians, coming to know their language and customs well.

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veterans of the battle of san jacinto and baggage train

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HOUSTON, SAM | The Handbook of Texas Online| Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)

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While convalescing, he was promoted to second lieutenant and traveled extensively-to Washington, New Orleans, New York, and points between. While stationed in Nashville, he was detailed in late 1817 as sub-Indian agent to the Cherokees. In that capacity, he assisted Oolooteka and his clan in their removal to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River, as stipulated by the Treaty of 1816.

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Antonio López de Santa Anna, (born February 21, 1794, Jalapa, Mexico-died June 21, 1876, Mexico City), Mexican army officer and statesman who was the storm centre of Mexico's politics during such events as the Texas Revolution (1835-36) and the Mexican-American War (1846-48).

The son of a minor colonial official, Santa Anna served in the Spanish army and rose to the rank of captain. He fought on both sides of nearly every issue of the day. In 1821 he supported Agustín de Iturbide and the war for Mexican independence, but in 1823 he helped overthrow Iturbide. In 1828 he backed Vicente Guerrero for president, only to help depose him later.

Santa Anna gained much prestige in 1829 when he fought against Spain's attempt to reconquer Mexico, and he became known as the Hero of Tampico. This surge of glory helped him gain the presidency in 1833 as a Federalist and opponent of the Roman Catholic Church; in actuality, however, he established a centralized state. He remained in power until 1836, when he marched into Texas to quell a rebellion by primarily U.S. settlers there. During the course of this punitive expedition, Texas declared its independence from Mexico (March 2). After his army had defeated Texan forces at the Alamo and Goliad, Santa Anna then moved eastward to the San Jacinto River, where he was defeated on April 21 in the Battle of San Jacinto and was captured by Gen. Sam Houston. After signing a public treaty ending the war and a secret treaty in which he promised to do everything he could to ensure that the Mexican government adhered to the public treaty, Santa Anna was sent to Washington, D.C., for an interview with U.S. Pres. Andrew Jackson, who returned him to Mexico, where, in the meantime, he had been deposed from power during his absence.

In 1838, when the French navy seized Veracruz and demanded an indemnity for injuries to French citizens in Mexico, Santa Anna led forces to Veracruz, only to shoot at the ships as they departed. He lost a leg in the skirmish. He gained enough prestige from this event to act as dictator from March to July 1839, while the president was away. Two years later he led a revolt and seized power, which he held until he was driven into exile in 1845.

When war with the United States broke out, Santa Anna contacted U.S. Pres. James K. Polk, who arranged for a ship to take him to Mexico for the purpose of working for peace. Santa Anna took charge of the Mexican forces upon his return; but instead of acting for peace, he led his men against the United States until he was routed by U.S. forces under Gen. Winfield Scott. Santa Anna again retired, moving to Jamaica in 1847 and to New Granada in 1853. Ten years later he sought U.S. support in an attempt to oust the emperor Maximilian, whom the French had placed on the Mexican throne; at the same time, he offered his services to Maximilian. Both proposals were refused. Two years before he died, poor and blind, Santa Anna was allowed to return to his country.

Santa Anna possessed a magnetic personality and real qualities of leadership, but his lack of principles, his pride, and his love of military glory and extravagance, coupled with a disregard for and incompetence in civil affairs, led Mexico into a series of disasters and himself into ill repute and tragedy.

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Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna | Significance, Texas Revolution, & Facts

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Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Mexican army officer and statesman who was the storm center of Mexico's politics during such events as the Texas Revolution (1835-36) and the Mexican-American War (1846-48). Learn more about Santa Anna's life and accomplishments in this article.

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Antonio López de Santa Anna Facts for Kids

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Learn Antonio López de Santa Anna facts for kids

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San Jacinto Museum of History - Antonio Lopez De Santa Anna

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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.

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Santa Anna's Role in the Texas Revolution

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On September 29, 1835, a detachment of the Mexican army arrived in Gonzales, Texas, a Mexican state, to confiscate a cannon . The cannon was well hidden, but eighteen armed men stood in plain sight. They taunted the Mexicans to "come and take it." The two sides talked and dickered, but no action was taken.

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CHILDRESS, GEORGE CAMPBELL | The Handbook of Texas Online| Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)

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All copyrighted materials included within the Handbook of Texas Online are in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 related to Copyright and "Fair Use" for Non-Profit educational institutions, which permits the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), to utilize copyrighted materials to further scholarship, education, and inform the public.

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A Hero of the Texas Revolution

Deaf Smith is famous for the important role he played in the Texas Revolution.

Erastus "Deaf" Smith was born April 19, 1787 in Dutchess County, New York and lost most of his hearing due to a childhood illness. Smith first moved to Texas in 1821 where he married a Hispanic-Texan (Tejana) named Guadalupe Ruiz Duran. Because he was knowledgeable about both the Hispanic and Anglo cultures and the Texas territory, he became a revered scout, spy, and guide. Smith was known as a man of few words and for being extremely loyal.

When Texans arranged an army then advanced into San Antonio de Bexar, Smith wanted to stay neutral. However, he chose the side of the Texans when Mexican troops sieged Bexar and would not let Smith and his son-in-law enter to return home.

Here are some of Smith's notable accomplishments:

Smith was part of the scouting party at the Battle of Concepcion and was the one who found the supply train that started the Grass Fight in October of 1835.

In December of 1835, Smith guided Texan army troops to the Battle of Bexar.

On February 15, 1836, Smith carried the letter from the Alamo from William Barrett Travis.

General Sam Houston dispatched Smith back to San Antonio and trusted him to confirm the fall of the Alamo.

Smith destroyed Vince's bridge at the Battle of San Jacinto to block escape routes.

After the revolution, Smith went on to command Texas Rangers to protect Texas from Indian and Mexican raids.

Erastus "Deaf" Smith is so famous that Deaf Smith County, Texas is named after him and his character has been portrayed in several movies and television shows ( The Alamo (2004), Two for Texas (1998), Houston: The Legend of Texas (1986), The Adventures of Jim Bowie (1958), The First Texan (1956), Man of Conquest (1939)).
Please note that when you choose to purchase through the external links on this website (in many but not all cases) we will receive a referral commission. However, this commission does not influence the information we provide in this site. We always give honest opinions and reviews to share our findings, beliefs, and/or experiences. You can view our full disclosure on this page.
In November of 1837, Smith died. Smith was laid to rest in the Episcopal Churchyard and his grave marker reads, "Deaf Smith, the Texas Spy." Smith was a true American hero and I'm glad that he's recognized as such.

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A Hero of the Texas Revolution Deaf Smith is famous for the important role he played in the Texas Revolution. Erastus Deaf Smith Erastus Deaf Smith was born April 19, 1787 in Dutchess County, New York and lost most of his hearing due to a childhood illness.

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Viewers of the "Texas Rising" miniseries event that aired on the History Channel last summer were introduced to Deaf (usually pronounced Deef) Smith, an early Texas pioneer who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. As is often the case, Hollywood's version of the events and people of the Texas Revolution was skewed in favor of storytelling. In Smith's case, however, there was little need for embellishment.

Born April 19, 1787 to Chilaib and Mary Smith, Erastus lived in Duchess County, New York until about age eleven when the family migrated to Port Gibson, Mississippi. An illness during his childhood resulted in the partial loss of his hearing, which earned him the nickname Deaf. Deaf first traveled to Texas in 1817, but did not settle permanently in Texas until 1821.

As was common for single immigrant males, Erastus married a Tejana, Guadalupe Ruiz Duran. The two married in 1822. Guadalupe was a widow with three children from her first marriage. She and Erastus had four children of their own, three of whom survived to adulthood; one child died in 1833 during the cholera epidemic that spread throughout much of Mexico. Although Deaf worked as a surveyor for Green DeWitt's colony, the Smith family resided primarily in San Antonio de Bexar near Mission San José.

Deaf Smith was well respected by both the Tejano and Anglo communities in Texas. At the onset of the Texas Revolution he was resolved to remain neutral. This resolve was tested during the Siege of Bexar when, while attempting to return to his home, Mexican dragoons sought to take him captive. One even struck Smith with a saber, knocking off his hat and wounding him. Affronted by this treatment, Smith joined the Texas army and participated in the remainder of the siege of Bexar and the subsequent battle. He was wounded during the battle in the same attack that killed Texas commander Benjamin Milam.

After removing his family to the eastern part of the state, Smith remained primarily in San Antonio until February 15, 1836, when he left the city as a courier for Alamo commander, William B. Travis. Smith was in Gonzales in March 1836, with other men assembling to march on San Antonio and the besieged Alamo, when Sam Houston dispatched Deaf to travel to San Antonio to find out if the old mission still stood. It was Deaf who encountered Susanna Dickinson, Angelina Dickinson and Joe and led them to Houston so they could deliver the news of the fall of the Alamo.

Throughout much of his service in the Texas army, Deaf served as a scout, a job that he was well suited for due to his familiarity with the terrain and his command of the Spanish language. On April 18th, just days before the Battle of San Jacinto, Smith and Henry Karnes intercepted a Mexican courier with dispatches for Santa Anna. According to an account of the campaign given by James Washington Winters, these dispatches contained valuable information on the route of the Mexican army.

Smith is arguably best known for his role in destroying Vince's Bridge prior to the start of the April 21st battle. This bridge, situated across Vince's Bayou, was of strategic importance as its destruction greatly hindered the Mexican army's ability to retreat from the field of battle, as well as to supply reinforcements. Following the battle, Smith was dispatched by Houston with orders from Santa Anna to General Vicente Filisola, wherein Santa Anna ordered the Mexican army to evacuate Texas. During this time, Smith happened upon James Wells, uncle of Dilue Rose Harri s, and accompanied him to a camp made by the Rose family on their return trip during the Runaway Scrape. In her reminiscences, Dilue described Deaf Smith saying "He was dark and looked like a Mexican. He was dressed in buckskin and said that he would be ashamed to be seen in a white shirt."

Following the revolution Smith and his family lived in Columbia, Texas before ultimately settling in present day Fort Bend county. Smith commanded a company of Texas Rangers during this time. He died on November 30, 1837 and was buried in Richmond, Texas outside of Houston. Although his name is not as well known as that of James Bowie or David Crockett, there is no denying the impact Erastus "Deaf" Smith had on Texas history. His services as a scout and spy during the revolution were invaluable to the success of the Texas army, a point reiterated by Sam Houston, who upon hearing of Smith's death proclaimed, "A man, more brave, and honest, never lived. His soul is with God, but his fame and his family, must command the care of His Country."

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People of the Texas Revolution: Deaf Smith - The Alamo - Medium

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Viewers of the "Texas Rising" miniseries event that aired on the History Channel last summer were introduced to Deaf (usually pronounced Deef) Smith, an early Texas pioneer who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. As is often the case, Hollywood's version of the events and people of the Texas Revolution was skewed in favor of storytelling.

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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.

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James Walker Fannin, Jr. was a 19th-century U.S. military figure in the Texas Army and leader during the Texas Revolution of 1835-36.

Born January 1, 1804, Fannin was the illegitimate son of a Georgia plantation owner, Dr. Isham Fannin. He was adopted by his maternal grandfather, James W. Walker, and reared on a plantation near Marion, Georgia. In 1819 he entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York. He resigned in November 1821 and returned to Georgia where he became a merchant and married Minerva Fort, with whom he had two daughters.

In 1834 Fannin and his family moved to Velasco, Texas, where he became a planter and managing partner in a slave-trading syndicate. When the Texas Revolution erupted in 1835, Fannin joined the Texas volunteer army. Because of his West Point experience, he was given the rank of captain and later colonel.

With Jim Bowie, Fannin fought at the Battle of Concepción and participated in the siege of San Antonio. In March 1836, Fannin and his men were stationed at the Presidio La Bahia (which he called Fort Defiance) in Goliad, Texas when they were ordered by Texas General Sam Houston to retreat from Goliad to Victoria.

On March 18, 1836, Fannin led more than 300 soldiers along with nine cannon and all their supplies and baggage out of Goliad. After they had traveled about nine miles Fannin ordered the column to halt to rest the animals. At about 3:00 p.m., the Mexican cavalry appeared and the Texians immediately formed a defensive square with their wagons and placed their cannons in each corner.

After a fierce battle, known as the Battle of Coleto Creek the Mexicans lost about 100 to 200 killed and wounded; Texian losses were seven to nine killed and 60 wounded. But, facing a Mexican Army three times as large, Fannin and his troops surrendered the next day. Fannin negotiated a surrender that would allow the troops in his command to be paroled. However, on March 27, all of the prisoners were marched to Goliad, where on Santa Anna's order, the entire command was massacred.

A few weeks later, when Houston finally engaged Mexican forces at the Battle of San Jacinto, cries of "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!" spurred his men into battle. Victory and Texas independence followed, a legacy of Fannin's sacrifice.

By Kathy Weiser-Alexander, updated March 2020.
Also See: Battle of Coleto Creek Remember the Alamo Texas - The Lone Star State The Texas Revolution

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James Walker Fannin - Fighting in the Texas Revolution

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James Walker Fannin, Jr. was a 19th-century U.S. military figure in the Texas Army and leader during the Texas Revolution of 1835-36. Born January 1, 1804, Fannin was the illegitimate son of a Georgia plantation owner, Dr. Isham Fannin. He was adopted by his maternal grandfather, James W.

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Fannin came to Texas with his wife and two daughters in 1834, and settled at Valesco. Soon after his arrival, he became active in the cause for independence from Mexico. He was a participant in the Battle of Gonzales on October 2, 1835.

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Susanna Wilkerson was born in Tennessee around 1814. On May 24, 1829, Susanna married Almaron Dickinson in Bolivar, Tennessee. The couple migrated to Texas in 1830, arriving in Gonzales on February 20, 1831. The couple's only child, Angelina Elizabeth Dickinson, was born in Gonzales on December 14, 1834.

Almaron was one of the "Old Gonzales Eighteen," the small group of Gonzales citizens who began the face-off with the Mexican army over possession of a small cannon that resulted in the Battle of Gonzales. Following the battle Almaron departed Gonzales for San Antonio de Bexar with the Texian Volunteer Army leaving Susanna and Angelina behind.

In early November 1835, a group of volunteer Texas militia members passed through Gonzales breaking into houses and stealing property. The Dickinson house was one of the houses vandalized and Susanna's safety was threatened. This prompted Almaron to move his family to San Antonio sometime in December 1835 following the Battle of Bexar. While in San Antonio the family resided in the home of Ramón Músquiz and Susanna took on boarders, including David Crockett, and did laundry for the Texas volunteers. On February 23, 1836, when General Santa Anna and the Mexican army arrived in San Antonio, Susanna and Angelina joined several other women taking refuge in the Alamo with the Texian troops.

Following the March 6th battle in which Almaron and the rest of the Texian defenders were killed, Susanna was sent by Santa Anna with a note to General Sam Houston, whom she met with in Gonzales around March 12th. Susanna's whereabouts for the rest of the revolution are unknown, but she most likely fled east as part of the Runaway Scrape. In October 1836 she petitioned the Texas Government for a $500 pension. Her request was denied. This left the twenty-two year old widow virtually penniless and without any support or family except her young daughter.

Susanna married several more times over the years. Her second husband was John Williams, whom she married on November 27, 1837. Williams was abusive towards both his wife and stepdaughter and on March 24, 1838 Susanna petitioned for and was granted one of the first divorces in the Republic of Texas. Susanna was married for the third time on December 20, 1838 to Francis P. Herring in Houston. Herring passed away in 1843, and in 1847 Susanna married again. Her fourth spouse was Peter Bellows, whom she left in 1854 after he charged her with adultery and prostitution, claiming in divorce papers that he filed in 1857 that Susanna had been a resident of a "house of ill fame." There is no evidence of Susanna having engaged in adultery or prostitution, but it is believed that she might have resided in the Mansion House Hotel owned by Pamelia Mann, which was a known brothel, prior to marrying Bellows.

Susanna's fifth and final marriage was by all accounts a happy one. She married Joseph William Hannig, a German immigrant, in 1857. The couple moved to Austin where Hannig became a prosperous furniture and cabinet maker. The couple's Austin home, which Hannig built in 1869, was turned into a museum in 2010. Susanna passed away on October 7, 1883 after being ill for several months.

Susanna is best remembered for her role as messenger following the Battle of the Alamo and the eyewitness accounts of the battle that she provided over the years. A lesser known fact is that on a number of occasions Susanna testified on behalf of the families of Alamo defenders so they could claim the land granted by the Republic of Texas for military service at the Alamo. Susanna gave her last known account of the battle shortly before her death in 1883 around the time the Alamo Church was sold to the State of Texas. This account was published in the memoirs of Mary Maverick, another remarkable Texas woman.

SOURCES:

Handbook of Texas Online, Margaret Swett Henson, "Dickinson, Susanna Wilkerson," accessed October 06, 2016, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fdi06.

November 4, 1835 Letters from Lancelot Smithers to Stephen F. Austin in Papers of the Texas Revolution, Vol. 2 edited by John Jenkins, Austin: Presidial Press, 1973, pp. 318-319.

Todd Hansen, editor. The Alamo Reader: A Study of History. (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2003).

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Stories of Texas Women: Susanna Dickinson - The Alamo - Medium

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Susanna Wilkerson was born in Tennessee around 1814. On May 24, 1829, Susanna married Almaron Dickinson in Bolivar, Tennessee. The couple migrated to Texas in 1830, arriving in Gonzales on February 20, 1831. The couple's only child, Angelina Elizabeth Dickinson, was born in Gonzales on December 14, 1834.

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The Life of Susanna Wilkerson Dickinson: Alamo Survivor and Pioneer

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Explore the remarkable life of Susanna Wilkerson Dickinson, a survivor of the Alamo, her marriages, struggles, and contributions to Texas history.

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Juan Seguín | Tejano revolutionary and politician

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Juan Seguín: Juan Seguín, 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

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The Mexican government hardly welcomed Seguin with open arms. Upon his arrival in Nuevo Laredo in 1842, the authorities arrested him and offered him a choice between serving in the army or extended imprisonment. He chose to join the army, and fought in the Mexican-American war against the United States.

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veterans of the battle of san jacinto and baggage train

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SEGUIN, JUAN NEPOMUCENO | The Handbook of Texas Online| Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)

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All copyrighted materials included within the Handbook of Texas Online are in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 related to Copyright and "Fair Use" for Non-Profit educational institutions, which permits the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), to utilize copyrighted materials to further scholarship, education, and inform the public.

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Kids.Net.Au - Encyclopedia > Stephen F. Austin

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Kids.Net.Au - Encyclopedia > Stephen F. Austin

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In the early 19th century, David "Davy" Crockett emerged from the wilds of Tennessee to become one of the United States' first living folk heroes. Though best known for his 1836 death at the Alamo, he was also a writer, hunter and U.S. Congressman whose reputation as an adventurer made him a legend in his own time. Explore 10 surprising facts about the man often called the "King of the Wild Frontier."

Crockett was born in a state that no longer exists.

Crockett was born on August 17, 1786, in what is now eastern Tennessee. At the time, however, many of the region's residents considered themselves citizens of the so-called state of Franklin, a breakaway territory that had declared its independence from North Carolina two years earlier. Supporters of the movement-including Crockett's father, John-pushed for Franklin to enter the union as the 14th U.S. state, but the fledgling territory fell just shy of the required vote total in Congress. Following a stint as an independent republic, Franklin was eventually reclaimed by North Carolina in 1789. By 1796, its lands had become part of the newly formed state of Tennessee.

He ran away from home as a boy.

Crockett's brief formal education began at age 13, when his father arranged for him to attend a local school. "I went four days," the frontiersman later wrote in his autobiography, "and had just began to learn my letters a little, when I had an unfortunate falling out with one of the scholars-a boy much larger and older than myself." The strong-willed Crockett eventually ambushed the bully after class and gave him a severe beating. He then began skipping school to avoid punishment, but it wasn't long before his father learned of his absence. When the elder Crockett confronted him and tried to give him a whipping, young Davy fled into the woods and struck out on his own. He left Tennessee with a group of cattle drovers and eventually spent two-and-a-half years traveling and working as a teamster, farmhand and hat maker's apprentice. Crockett later wrote that when he finally returned home in 1802, he had "been gone so long, and had grown so much, that the family did not at first know me."

He was a veteran of the Creek War and the War of 1812.

In 1813, a 27-year-old Crockett was among the thousands of Tennesseans who joined the state militia to fight against the "Red Sticks," a faction of Creek Indians who had attacked American settlers at Fort Mims, Alabama. Crockett spent most of the Creek War working as a scout and wild game hunter, but he was also present when future president Andrew Jackson-then the commander of Tennessee's militia-led his volunteers in the slaughter of some 200 Red Sticks at the Creek village of Tallushatchee. Crockett later served as a sergeant during Jackson's War of 1812 campaign in Spanish Florida, but saw little action before his enlistment ended in 1815.

Crockett often made his living as a bear hunter.

Crockett tried his hand at everything from farming to manufacturing wood barrels and gunpowder, but he found his greatest success as a professional hunter. He spent much of his life stalking black bears in the woods of Tennessee and selling their pelts, meat and oil for profit. He even claimed to have bagged 105 of the animals in a seven-month period during the winter of 1825-26. Crockett's fondness for hunting dangerous game-and the tales he spun about it-later played a major part in making him a frontier hero. According to one oft-repeated yarn, he once killed a bear in pitch-black darkness by stabbing it in the heart with a butcher knife

He had a troubled career in Congress.

In 1826, having already served in the Tennessee legislature, Crockett was elected to the first of three non-consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. While he quickly gained fame for his folksy persona and advocacy for the poor, his sharp tongue also won him his share of political enemies. In 1830, meanwhile, he alienated many of his constituents with his fierce opposition to President Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act. Crockett's feud with Jackson would eventually play a key role in his final election defeat in 1835, but by then he had grown bored in Washington and was often absent from his duties. In fact, during six years in Congress, he failed to get a single bill passed.

An 1831 play helped make Crockett a legendary figure.

Crockett's reputation as a coonskin cap-wearing folk hero owes a lot to "The Lion of the West," a wildly popular play that first appeared in 1831. While the production avoided referencing Crockett by name, audiences quickly identified him as the inspiration for its hero, a swashbuckling frontiersman named Nimrod Wildfire. The play helped propel Crockett to national celebrity, and before long, tales of his larger-than-life exploits had appeared in countless newspaper articles, almanacs and unauthorized biographies. Crockett would later clear up a few of the myths-and cash in on his popularity-by publishing an 1834 autobiography titled "A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee."

He helped foil an assassination attempt on Andrew Jackson.

Despite their political differences, Crockett famously came to Andrew Jackson's aid during an assassination attempt. On January 30, 1835, the two men were part of a crowd of lawmakers leaving the U.S. Capitol after a state funeral. As Jackson passed near the East Portico, a crazed gunman named Richard Lawrence emerged from a throng of spectators and shot at him with two pistols-both of which miraculously misfired. "Old Hickory" supposedly responded by whacking Lawrence with his cane. Crockett, meanwhile, was one of several bystanders who disarmed the would-be assassin and wrestled him to the ground.

Crockett only spent three months in Texas before his death.

Shortly after losing his final bid for Congress in 1835, Crockett withdrew from politics and drifted west, famously telling his former constituents "you may all go to hell and I will go to Texas." With a few followers in tow, he left Tennessee that November and arrived in Texas the following January. His motivations for joining the Texas Revolution were complicated-he may have had an eye toward future political office-but only a few days after his arrival, he swore an oath to the Republic and agreed to take up arms against Mexico. By early February, the 49-year-old had found his way to San Antonio de Bexar and taken up a post at the former Franciscan mission known as the Alamo. Santa Anna and his Mexican forces laid siege to the Alamo just days later, and on March 6, 1836, they breached its outer walls. In the ensuing battle, Crockett and some 200 other defenders were all killed.

He may have been one of the last men standing at the Battle of the Alamo.

The circumstances of Crockett's demise at the Alamo have long been a matter of historical debate. Early reports had him falling in the battle, and several witnesses claimed he was found surrounded by a heap of enemy corpses. In 1975, however, an alternate account was uncovered in the diary of a Mexican officer named Jose Enrique de la Peña. According to Peña's version, Crockett and a handful of other Alamo defenders survived the battle and were captured by the Mexicans, but were almost immediately executed on the orders of Santa Anna. While the subject remains controversial, many scholars now believe that the Peña diary may offer the most reliable account of Crockett's death.

Walt Disney helped revive his fame.

Crockett's death at the Alamo secured his place as an antebellum American hero, but it was Walt Disney who brought his legend into the 20th century. In 1954, Disney released the first of five Davy Crockett television serials starring actor Fess Parker. The series and a subsequent film were both hugely successful, triggering a renewed fascination with Crockett and a massive demand for frontier-themed children's toys. According to the Smithsonian, at the height of Crockett-mania, coonskin caps were selling at a rate of 5,000 per day.

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10 Things You May Not Know About Davy Crockett

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In the early 19th century, David "Davy" Crockett emerged from the wilds of Tennessee to become one of the United States' first living folk heroes. Though best known for his 1836 death at the Alamo, he was also a writer, hunter and U.S. Congressman whose reputation as an adventurer made him a legend in his own time.

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David (Davy) Crockett (born August 17, 1786 - died March 6, 1836) was an American frontiersman, bear hunter, sharpshooter, soldier, legislator, and folk hero. Davy was born in a cabin near Limestone, Tennessee (in eastern Tennessee) and had little formal schooling; he was the fifth of nine children born to John and Rebecca Hawkins Crockett. In 1806, when he was 20 years old, Crockett married Mary Polly Finley; they had two sons, John Wesley and William Finley. As a young man, Crockett was skilled at trapping bear and raccoon. He was later famous for wearing a coon-skin hat atop his lanky, 6-foot-tall frame.

Crockett joined the US army in 1813 and served under Andrew Jackson, fighting the Creek Indians in the southeastern US from 1813 to 1814. Andrew Jackson later became President of the USA. Crockett's wife died in 1815, and he married Elizabeth Patton, a widow who had two young children.

Colonel Crockett went on to serve in the Tennessee legislature from 1821 to 1822 and from 1823 to 1824, and represented Tennessee in the U.S. Congress from 1827 to 1831 and from 1833 to 1835. In 1834, Crockett wrote his very popular autobiography, "A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, of the State of Tennessee."

When his political career ended in 1836 (after he lost his last election for Congress), Crockett took his family to Texas. Texas had recently declared its independence from Mexico.

The Alamo

Crockett and almost 200 other Texan volunteers (including James Bowie) died on March 6, 1836, after unsuccessfully defending the Alamo (a mission in San Antonio, Texas) for 13 days against an army of thousands of Mexican soldiers led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The phrase, "Remember the Alamo!" soon became the battlecry that was used by Sam Houston when he defeated Gen. Santa Anna a few weeks later at San Jacinto (on April 21, 1836), winning independence for Texas. Texas then became a Republic (led by Sam Houston), and Texas became a US state on December 29, 1845.

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folk hero america american alamo texas trapper

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Advertisement. EnchantedLearning.com is a user-supported site. As a bonus, site members have access to a banner-ad-free version of the site, with print-friendly pages. Click here to learn more. (Already a member? Click here.) David (Davy) Crockett (born August 17, 1786 - died March 6, 1836) was an American frontiersman, bear hunter, sharpshooter, soldier, legislator, and folk hero.

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Stephen F. Austin led the colonization of Texas. Born in 1793 in Virginia, his family moved to the lead mining region in present-day Missouri when he was five. Well educated, Austin's family sent him to Yale University to study when he was ten years old. He graduated from Transylvania University in Kentucky in 1810. When he returned from Kentucky, he took over the family mining business.

Becoming the "Father of Texas"

From 1813-1819, Austin served on the legislature of the Missouri Territory. In 1820, after the mining business failed, he sought new opportunity in Arkansas Territory. Later that year, he moved to Louisiana to study law. In 1821, Austin's father died near San Antonio, Texas. Austin traveled to San Antonio in the hopes of reauthorizing a land grant in Texas that had been given to his father. Austin then explored areas of the Gulf Coast of Texas in between San Antonio and the Brazos River in the hopes of finding a suitable place for starting a colony. Austin advertised the opportunity for settlement and land in Texas in New Orleans. In December of 1821, the first colonists came from Louisiana to Texas. By 1832, the area had 11,000 colonists. Despite the colony's explosive growth, Austin was not making much money, and the Mexican authorities that gave him the land had become less cooperative as America continued in its efforts to buy Texas from them. In 1834, Austin was arrested by Mexican authorities for insurrection. In the meantime, the Texans demanded tariff reform, removal of immigration restrictions, and a new state government. The Mexican government refused, and Texas proclaimed its independence. The war that followed resulted in Texas becoming an independent republic in 1836. Austin served as secretary of state and is known as "The Father of Texas."

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Stephen F. Austin Biography for Kids - Republic of Texas

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Stephen F. Austin led the colonization of Texas. Born in 1793 in Virginia, his family moved to the lead mining region in present-day Missouri when he was five. Well educated, Austin's family sent him to Yale University to study when he was ten years old. He graduated from Transylvania University in Kentucky in 1810.