WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1842
67
To THE CAPTAIN OF "The Mustang" 1
Galveston, Texas, 11th June, 1842. The Captain of the Mustang will please to pass the bearer, Serjeant Thompson, on the Boat to Houston and back to Galves- ton, on public service. Also to bring from Cedar Point Captain Woods company. This will be a public charge to be paid out of the $20,000 appro- priation for defence of the frontier. Sam Houston [Rubric]
1 An11y Pa.pers, Texas State Library.
To MAJOR ROBERT MILLS 1 Executive Department, Galveston, Texas, June 13, 1842.· To Maj. Mills, Quartermaster, etc. Sir,- You are hereby authorized and required to take charge of the Navy Yard in the City of Galveston, and the public prop- erty of the same. You will also take an inventory and transmit it to the Secretary of War and Marine, as early as practicable. Sam Houston. 1 Execut-ive Recorcl Book, No. 40, p. 97, Texas State Library. Robert Mills (March 9, 1809-April 13, 1888), was born in Todd County, Ken- tucky. He was educated in the country schools of his neighborhood, and at Cumberland College. He came to Texas in 1830 to join an older brother, Andrew G. Mills, in a mercantile business at Brazoria. Both brothers fought at Velasco, June 26, 1832. Andrew G. Mills died in 1835. Robert and a younger brother, David G1·anville Mills, carried on the busi- ness. Both brothers joined the Texan army at the outbreak of the Texas revolution. David G. participated in the Battle of San Jacinto (See Dixon and Kemp, Heroes of San Ja.cinto, 281). In 1853, the Mills brothers moved their business to Galveston, and soon expanded their trade to New Orleans and New York. They were very prosperous during the 1850's and early 1860's, and developed large plantations as well as extending their mercantile and banking interests. In 1865 they -emancipated more than 800 slaves. The Civil War broke them completely, and by 1873, there was nothing left of their fortune of more than $5,000,000. They turned over to their creditors every dollar's worth of their holdings, not even saving their homesteads. As a very young man Robert Mills married Elizabeth McNcal, but she died young leaving no children. Robert Mills died April 15, 1888. See The Qucwtm·ly, Texas State Historical Association, IV, 37-41; Dictio,wl'y of A 0 111ericcm Biogra71hy, XIII, 13-14; William C. Binkley (ed.), Offil'ial Con·e- sponclcnce of the Texan Revolution, etc., I, 130, II, 9,11.
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