WRITINGS OF S01 HOUSTON, 1335
295
·which Houston refers in this letter. Briefly told the story is that John A. Wharton gave a toast at a public dinner that William T. Austin interpreted as an insult to his brother's, John Austin, memory. John Austin and sixteen other members of William T. Austin's family-including his wife-had died c>f cholera during the late months of 1833, and the dinner at which the toast was given was shortly afterwards. Upon hearing of Wharton's toast, Austin challenged him to a duel, although William T. Austin was a very poor shot, and John A. Wharton was reputed to be the best in Texas. Nevertheless, Wharton was wounded, while Austin went unharmed. The hatred that existed between the two men soon died out, for John A. Whar- ton humbly apologized for the unwo1·thy toast, and the motherless children of William T. Austin found a mother's care in the· home of Mrs. William H. Wharton. Mrs. Wood writes that she herself was married from that hos- pitable home. ·1 See E. C. Barker (ed.), Austin Papers, III, 25. 5 See Austin to James F. Perry, August 25, 1834, E. C. Barker (ed.), Austin Papers, II, 1075-1085. 6 lbid., Austin to the Ayuntamiento of Bexar, October 2, 1833, pp. 1007- 1008. 7 John Austin Wharton (April, 1806-December 17, 1838), son of William Wharton and Judith (Harris) Wharton, was born at Nashville, Tennessee. In 1816 he lost both parents, whereupon he and an older brother, and a younger sister were taken into the home of their uncle, Jesse Wharton, and were reared as his own children. Jesse Wharton lived at Nashville, was a man of parts, a lawyer of considerable wealth and ability who played politics both because he loved the game, and from a sense of patriotic duty. He served several times in the United States Congress as a Representative· from Tennessee, and was prominent in all local issues at Nashville. John A. Wharton was given the best educational advantages that Nashville afforde:l, and as soon as he was qualified for it he began the study of law. He was admitted to the Nashville bar before he was twenty-one years old, but find- ing the legal profession in Tennessee crowded with lawyers of eminence and experience, he moved to New Orleans in 1830 and set up an office for the practice of his profession. He remained in New Orleans for three years, but in 1833 went to Texas to join his brother, William H. Wharton, who had married the only daughter of Jared Groce, and was living near Brazoria. In 1835, John A. Wharton was sent by the Brazoria municipality as a dele- gate to the Consultation, and, for a short time, served -as a member of the General Council of the Provisional Government. On December 8, 1835, Houston appointed him "Texas agent," and sent him to New Orleans to buy supplies for the Texas army (A1-my PaJ)ers, "Austin, Archer, and Wharton, to Houston, December 7, 1835," in Texas State Library; also in Yoakum, History of Texas, II, 36). After his return from New Orleans he joined the Texas army and served on Houston's staff as Adjutant General; at the Battle of San Jacinto, he made himself conspicuous for bravery and forethought. In April, 1837, aboard the Jul-ius Caesar, on his way from the United States, William H. Wharton was captured by the l"1exicans of Velasco, and was imprisoned at Matamoras. John A. Wharton immediately raised a company of thirty Mexicans, and went to Matamoras to try to . free his brother, but he, too, was captured and thrown into prison. It was not long, however, before these brothers had made their escape and were
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