WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1838
207
Texas Navy. See Garrison (ed.), D·ivlomatic Correspondence of the Re- rmblic of Texas, II, 369, and III, 865. The Southwestern Historical Qua,·- terly, XXXIII, 224. 3 The nomination of Cortes, and the confirmation by the Senate on May 2, 1838, establ:shed the Texas consulate at Natchitoches, but it is not clear when he 'began the duties of that office, for on September 20, 1838, Robert A. Irion, Secretary of State, wrote to John F. Cortes, asking whether or not he would accept the position (see Lette1· Book, No. 1, 154, Texas State Library). We know, however, that he did accept the office, for on April 25, 1842, he wrote the Secretary of State, resigning his position, and recom- mending his friend Thomas H. Airey as his successor (Consular Con·e- svondence, 1838-1844, Texas State Library), and Airey was duly nom- inated and confirmed. E. W. Winkler (ed.), Sec1·et Journals of the Senate, 1896-1845, 233; also see, Garrison (ed.), Diplomatic C01·respondence of the Rep11blic of Texas, I, 105. •John L. Hodge's appointment and confirmation a·s consul at Philadelphia established the Texan consulate at that place. Hodge did not accept the appointment, so another man, Cyrus Joy, was chosen in his place. See The Southweste1-,1, Historiccil Quarte1"ly, XXXIII, 226. 0 The appointment of James D. Hamilton, Jr., as consul at Charleston, South Carolina, established the Texan consulate at that port. The ap- pointment, as this document shows, was made on April 25, 1838. James D. Hamilton died of yellow fever in October of the same year, and his brother Lynch Hamilton took over the office. James D. Hamilton was the son of the James Hamilton who served as the Texan Loan Commissioner to France in 1836. Although only twenty-four years old at the time of his death, this young man had been associated with his father in various businesses, and was considered by all who knew him as a very brilliant man. See the father's letter concerning the young man's death, "J. Ham- ilton to Lamar," May 29, 1839, Lama1· Papers, II, 274-276. See also, The Southweste1-n Historical Quarterly, XXXIII, 226. 0 George Dodson's appointment was confirmed May 2, 1838; he accepted the office and served about a year. Upon his resignation of the consulate at Mobile, in November, 1839, Walter Smith was appointed to fill the vacancy. This consulate seems, however, to have played no very prominent part in Texas affairs. See The Southwestern Historical Qua,·terly, XXXIII, 222-223. 7 Edward Oswald LeGrand, son of Abner LeGrand, was born in North Carolina in 1803. While he was a mere child his parents moved to Ala- bama, from which state he immigrated to Texas in 1833 and located in San Augustine. At the outbreak of the Texas revolution he enlisted in the company of Captain George English and participated in the "Storming of Bexar" in 1835. In February, 1836, he and Stephen W. Blount were elected delegates from the San Augustine municipality to the convention at Washington on March 1, 1836. LeGrand reached Washington on the day before the convention convened and was an aggressive advocate fo1· a declaration of Texan independence. He took an active part in the pro- ceedings of the Convention, and was the one to nominate H. S. Kimball secretary of that body. He was subsequently, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and of the Texas Constitution. As soon as the Convention
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