45
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1860
TO XAVIER BLANCHARD DE BRAY 1 Executive Department, Austin, May 5th, 1860.
X. De Bray, Esq. 8ir, Your proposition to translate the General Laws into Span- ish at one dollar and twenty-five cents per page is accepted. Proofs to be read, and index to be made by you. Sam Houston. 1 Executive Records, 1859-1861, p. 109, Texas State Library. Xavier Blanchard De Bray was born in Espinel, France, in 1819. He came to Texas in 1848, and located in San Antonio. For several years he published a Spanish newspaper, El Bejareno. He moved to Austin in 1855 and became the Spanish t1·anslator in the General Land Office, a position he held for two years. In partnership with Reverend Charles M. Gillette he founded a college at Austin, which they conducted until 1861. De Bray entered the Confederate Army with the "Tom Green Rifles," and was elected fit·st lieutenant. This organization became part of the Fourth Texas Regiment, and was attached to Hood's Texas Brigade. In Septem- ber, 1861, Jefferson Davis commissioned De Bray major in the 2d Texas Cavalry, at that time organized in Galveston; subsequently, he was com- missioned to command a battalion of cavalry with rank of lieutenant co~ onel, and when this battalion was raised to a regiment he became colon of the 26th Texas Cavalry. In July, 1862, he was appointed to comman the East Division of Texas with headquarters at Houston. While he wa~ located in Houston, under General Magruder, he took part in the opera- tions against the United States fleet in Galveston Bay, and after the defeat of the Federals, he was put in command of Galveston Island and its defenses. In March, 1864, he was ordered to report with his regiment to General Dick Taylor, in Louisiana, but early in 1865, he was ordered back to Texas. He reached Houston in time to protect that city against pillage by marauders. On May 24, 1865, he discharged his brigade, and located in Houston, where he became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1867. He remained in Houston until the latter part of 1875, holding for more than eight years the position of accountant and secretary of the Produce Exchange. In November, 1875, he returned to Austin to take up his old job as translator of Spanish in the General Land Office. He died in Austin, January 6, 1897. See 0. M. Roberts (ed.), in E. A. Evans, Confedcmte 1Wilitary H1'story, XI, 226-227; John S. Ford, "Memoirs" (MS.), University of Texas Library; Frank Brown, "Annals of Travis County and of the City of Austin" (MS.), Chapter VIII, p. 51, University of Texas Library; Galves- ton News, June 18, 1876; Aust-in E-vening News, January 7, 1897.
To J.M. W. HALU Executive Department, Austin, May 5, 1860.
Captain J. lVI. W. Hall, Mustering Officer Sir: Upon receipt of these orders you will proceed with all possible dispatch to the Camps or stations of Lieutenants ·walker
Powered by FlippingBook