WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1831-1836
20
o I
[Addressed]: Mr. James Prentiss, Broker, N. York- Mr. Wilson. 1 From the collection of Mr. W. A. Philpott, Jr., Dallas, Texas. 2see The Writings of Sa11i Houston, I, 198, Footnote No. 2, and the following pages for information concerning James Prentiss.
To ROBERT W1LsoN 1 Headquarters, San Felipe, December 28, 1835
To Robert Wilson-~ Sir:- You are hereby notified that you have been appointed a Captain of the First Regiment of Cavalry in the Regular army of Texas by the General Council. You are requested forthwith to report your acceptance or non-acceptance of said appointment. Should you accept you will report yourself by letter to head- quarters, and in person to the officer in command at the recruit- ing rendezvous. By Order Sam Houston, Commander-in-Chief W. B. Travis, Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding._ 1 History of Texas, With Biographical Histories of the Citi.es of Houston and Galveston, Lewis Publishing Company, 1895. 2 Robert Wilson was born in Talbot County, Maryland, December, 1793, son of James and Elizabeth (Hardcastle) Wilson. His parents were of Quaker stock who had come from England to settle in Penn's colony. Robert Wilson was reared in his native state and received a common school educa-' tion. He was also taught the joiner's (carpenter) trade at Baltimore. In 1819 he married Margaret Prendergast of Baltimore. The young couple went west, settling first at St. Louis, Missouri, where Robert worked at the carpenter's trade; then to Natchez, Mississippi, where he became a con- tractor and builder. In 1828 he decided to go to Texas, arriving in the fall of that year. He settled at Anahuac, bought a schooner and loaded it with machinery for saw mill, grist mill, tools for a shop, and various other articles for industrial enterprise. Previously he had acquired an interest in the ownership of a league of land granted to John H. Harris, lying along the bayou, some five or six miles south of the present city of Houston. On this league he located his mills; and added, from time to time, several other vessels to this enterprise. These vessels plied along Galveston Bay, up and down the Brazos and Trinity rivers, and along the Gulf ports as far south as Tampico, Mexico, carrying the products of his mills which found ready sale in those localities. In response to the needs of the colonists for their expanding trade, he built, during th0se years, two custom houses for the Mexican authorities: one at Anahuac, the other at Velasco. He was a member of John Austin's company which rescued P. C. Jack and W. B. Travis, at Anahuac, in 1832, from imprisonment under Bradburn. He participated in the taking of San Antonio, in December, 1835 (See Muster
Powered by FlippingBook