WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1836
359
P. S. I have this moment learned that Captain Byrd'ss com- pany, from the Brazos, consisting of one hundred men, will join me tomorrow. 1 Exec.utive Letter Book No. 3, Texas State Library. Yoakum, History of Texas, II, 473-475. Morphis, History of Texas, 223-227. ~A great variation is found in the spelling of the name of Collinsworth in Texas histories. James Collinsworth usually omitted the "g" from his name, but there are a few documents to be found in which the man him- self spelled his name "Collingsworth." The Supreme Court of Texas accepts the spelling of this name without the "g." James Collinsworth (1860-July 21, 1838), lawyer, politician, first Chief Justice of Texas, was born and educated in Tennessee, and began his law practice at Columbia, Tennessee, in 1826. In 1830 he was appointed United States District Attorney, and held that office until 1834, when he resigned to go to Texas. Arriving in Texas, he located in the municipality of Brazoria, where he set up a law office. He was one of the first to sign the petition in favor of calling a Consultation. He was a delegate to the Convention which met at ·washington, March 1, 1836, and became a signer of the Declaration of Independence of Texas, and the Constitution of the Republic of Texas. It was Collinsworth who introduced the resolution that appointed Sam Houston commander-in-chief of the Texas Army for the second time. When the Convention adjourned, Collinsworth joined the army, and on April 6, was appointed aide to General Houston with the rank of major. In this position he participated in the Battle of San Jacinto, ~fter which he served for a short time in Burnet's Cabinet as Secretary of State. On May 20, 1836, President Burnet appointed him and Peter W. Grayson commissioners to ·washington to seek recognition of the independence of Texas. On October 26, 1836, Houston appointed him Attorney General of the Republic, but he declined the office. On November 30, 1836, he was seated as Senator from the Brazoria District to succeed William H. Wharton. Not long after this the Texas Senate confirmed his appointment as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. In July, 1838, Collinsworth became a candidate for the presidency of the Republic, but during the campaign he committed suicide by jumping off a boat into the Galveston Bay. His body was recovered on the day following his death, and he was buried, July 24, 1838, in the city cemetery. He was the first individual person in Texas to receive a military funeral. In 1876, a county created from the Young Land District, was named for Collinsworth, honoring him as a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and as the first Chief Justice of the Republic. See Secret Jom·nals of the Senate, Revublic of Texas (E. W. Winkler, ed.), 10, 16--17, 114. Z. T. Fulmore, The Histol"iJ and Geography of Texas as Told in County Names, 195-196. Ycakum, Histo,-y of Texas, II, 176, 250. Dixon and Kemp, Heroes of San Jaei,ito, 45-46. 3 Probably a copy of Houston's letter to Fannin, March 11, 1836, giving report of the fall of the Alamo. •Juan N. Seguin, the son of Erasmo Seguin, was a native Texan, born and reared at San Antonio. The Seguins were always friendly to the American-Texans. While Juan N. Seguin was political chief of the Depart- ment of Bexar, he joined the Texan cause in the revolution, and with nine soldiers of his company which he raised for service in the Texan cause,
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