Houston v1

34-0

WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1836

have sent to Captain Demit to raise one hundred more men and march to Bexar forthwith, if it be invested; and if not to repair to headquarters with his company. Captain Patton will do like- wise. I would myself have marched to Bexar but the Matamoras rage is up so high that I must see Colonel Ward's men 8 • You have no idea of the difficulties I have encountered. Patton has told you of the men that make the trouble. Better materials never were in ranks. The government and all its officers have been misrepresented to the army. I pray you send me copies of Austin's 0 letters, or rather ex- tracts. If the Council is in session I do wish they would say something about the Confederacy. Please send me frequent expresses and advise me of your pleasure. Sam Houston 1 A1·my Pa.pers (the original), Texas State Library. Letters of the Gen- eml Convention (1936), Ibid. Executive Letter Book No. 9, Ibid. Yoakum, History of Texas, II, 458-459. Brown, History of Texas, I, 527-528. This copy is made from The Arm.y Papers. It differs slightly from the other copies, cited above, in phrasing. Yoakum and Brown both made an effort to smoothe out Houston's diction, therefore rearranged some of the phrases. The words are all practically the same. 2 William H. Patton (1808-June 12, 1842) was born in Tennessee, but immigrated to Texas, March, 1832, and settled in Brazoria County. He was a sergeant in Captain John Austin's company at the battle of Velasco in 1832. He joined the Texas army on January 14, 1836, and on March 13 of that year was elected captain of his company. Due to the fact that Patton was serying as aide-de-camp to General Houston with the rank of major, his company was commanded during the Battle of San Jacinto by First Lieutenant David Murphree; nevertheless, it is recorded that Patton served in the army as aide to Houston and as captain from March 13, 1836, to March 18, 1837, at $40 per month (Compt1·oller's Military Se1·vicc Records, Texas State Library). He was also one of the commissioners selected by Houston to conduct Santa Anna to Washington. In 1837, Hous- ton appointed him Quartermaster General of the Texas Army, his nomina- tion being confirmed on the 22d of May of that same year. After 1837 he retired from the army and settled in Bexar County, where he set up an office and followed the profession for which he had been educated-that of surveyor. Bexar County elected him a member of the House to the Second Congress (September 25, 1837-May 25, 1838). During all this time he was regarded as one of the most energetic of the Texas Indian fighters, and on October 28, 1838, while on an Indian expedition on Leon Creek, near San Antonio, he was severely wounded. He was killed at his home, June 12, 1842, by a band of robber!!. See the Telegraph and Texas Regis- te,· July 6 1842. Yoakum, History of Texas, II, 204. E. W. Winkler (ed.), ' , gr. The Secret Joiwnals of the Senate of the Rep?Lblic of Texas, 28, 43, 49, "· Dixon and Kemp, Heroes of San Jae.into, 46-47.