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WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1860
475
!Forbes Britton (1812-February 14, 1861) was born in Virginia, and after his elementary education in his home state received his coJlege train- ing from Kenyon ColJege. In 1830 he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy from Virginia, and graduated from West Point in July, 1834. He was first assigned to duty at Fort Gibson, In- dian Territory (now Oklahoma). There he married Rebecca, the daughter of Joshua Millard, of Washington, D.C. This wedding, March 13, 1836, was a double one, for his friend and class mate, Lieutenant Arnold Harris, was married to Susan W. Armstrong, daughter of Robert W. Armstrong, at the same time. Both young women were guests at the time of their marriage, in the home of William A. Armstrong, Choctaw Agent. Forbes Britton saw varied service in the United States army, among the Indians, in the Florida wars, in the Mexican war, and especiaJly he played an important role in the removal of the Indians of the East to the reserva- tions of the West. In 1850, he resigned his commission (captain) in the United States army, and removed his family to Texas. He bought extensive farm lands near the town, but also established a mercantile business at Corpus Christi, and was considered one of the largest merchants of that town from 1859 to 1861. In 1858 he was elected senator to the State Legislature from the Nueces district, and it was while serving in that capacity that he died of pneumonia, at Austin. While in the Texas Senate he was the author of th.e Texas militia Jaw. He left a wife and three children, two daughters and a son. AJI bis children were grown and the daughters were married at the time of his death. Ann Elizabeth, the younger daughter, was married to E. J. Davis, who was later to become Governor of Texas. Her nephew, Frank Britton, son of her twin brother, was Adjutant General of Texas during the Davis administration. See George W. Collum, Biographical Register of the Offi- cers and Graduates of the United States Military Academy, 1802-1890, I, No. 782; Francis B. Heitman, H1·sto1·ical Register and Directory of the United States Milita111 Academy, 1789- 1903, I, 246; Daily Picayune, .March 6, 1861 (this is a eulogy written by G. W. Kendall); Dallas Herald, Feb- ruary 20, 1861; State Ga.zette, February 16, 1861; Southern lntellige11t:'1r, February 20, 1861; Frank Brown, "Annals of Travis County and of the City of Austin" (MS.), Chapter XXI, p. 33; Grant Foreman, Advancing of the Front1"e1·, 65-66. To JOHN B. FLOYD 1 Executive Department, Feby. 13th 1860. To Hon. J. B. Floyd, Secretary of War, Washington, D.C. The Commissioners sent by me to the Rio Grande have reported. The Territory of Texas has been invaded. 2 The banditti recruit their forces and gain supplies in the face of the authorities of Matamoros and they are unable to restrain them. The Steamer Ranchero was fired on from the Mexican side of the river on the 3rd Inst. 2 The Texans thereupon crossed the river with sixty men, and after an engagement with some 200 banditti, repulsed them with a loss of 25 or 30 of the enemy.
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