WmTINGS OF SAM HousToN, 1838
186
also in Univei·sity of Texas Record, V, No. 2, August, 1903. A. K. Christian, Mira.beau, B. Lamar (1922), also in The Sonthwestern H.istoi·ical Q1utrte,·l.y, XXII, 260-271, XXIII, 153-170, and XXIV, 1-80, 87-139, 195-234, 317-324. Dixon and Kemp, Heroes of San Jacinto, 299-303. Dic.t-ionary of Amel"ican Biogmphy, X, 553-554. H. P. Gambrell, Mirabecttt BnonaJJarte Lamai·, (1934). 2 See Richardson, Messages and Pa]Jers of the Presidents, III, 373-395, for Martin Van Buren's first annual message. 3 Valentine Bennet (1780-1843}, soldier, Texas pioneer, was born in Mas,achusetts, and was a Puritan by birth and education. It is said that he had memorized the entire Bible and that he used it to justify and explain every event of life, and to console himself and others in times of stress. Notwithstanding his puritanical heritage, he had the keenest sense of humor, a characteristic that saved him much unhappiness in a life filled with trials and hardships. As a youth of eighteen he had participated in expeditions against the Indians in western New York, and he had fought in the War of 1812, a private in the First Massachusetts regiment. He mar- ried Mary Kibbe in 1818, and for a short time lived near Buffalo, New York; but Mrs. Bennet's father had speculated in Louisiana lands, so in 1811, he induced the young couple to move to that territory with him. The Bennets lived in Louisiana for five years, during which time a son and a daughter were born to 'them. Mrs. Bennet died in Louisiana. After her death, Valentine Bennet took his two small children and made a home for them in a Scotch Presbyterian family of Cincinnati. He himself bought a small steamboat, which he operated on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers until it was wrecked in an accident. In the latter months of 1825, he went to Texas to forget his sorrow and misfortunes in adventure; there, in November, 1825, he settled at Velasco, and on June 26, 1832, took a leading part in the battle of Velasco, in which battle he was severely wounded in the face and hip. He mov~d to Gonzales in 1834, and in 1835 was one of the eighteen men who defied Ugartechea's order at that village. When the Gonzales militia was organized he was elected lieutenant. He participated in the battle of Concepcion, and was at the Storming of Bexar, December 5-10, 1835. At Bexar he was raised to the rank of Assistant Quartermaster (See The Q11a1·terly, Texas State Historical Association, XI, pp. 6, 7, 11, of "General Austin's Order Book.") and was given honorable mention by General Edward Burleson for efficiency in keeping the army well supplied during that siege. As Quartermaster of the Texas Army Bennet was kept busy supplying beef for Houston's increasing forces as he retreated from Gonzales to the battle grounds of San Jacinto. After the victory at San Jacinto, Bennet remained in the Texas Army. In 1838 he received a three month's furlough, and while on vacation, went to Cincinnati to see his children. He brought his son, Miles S. Bennet, back to Texas with him, and immediately set about building a comfortable home at Gonzales, where, December, 1838, he brought h:s daughter Sarah to live. Until 1841, Valen- tine Bennet enjoyed a comparatively quiet and peaceful home life at Gon- zales with his two children; but in 1841, he was recommissioned a major in the quartermaster's department of the Texas Army, and was sent on the Santa Fe Expedition. Along with the other participants in this ill-fated venture, he was made a prisoner and was carried to Mexico-first to San
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