372
WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1836
he wished "to raise the flag of Independence above all the church spires of Laredo." On November 11, 1836, Congress passed an Act granting to Smith any house and lot in San Antonio that he might choose. He selected the one owned by Ramon Musquiz, situated on the northeast corner of what is now Main Plaza. Deaf Smith and his wife had three children- all daughters. He died at the home of Randall Jones, near Richmond, Texas, November 30, 1837. The Forty-first Legislature appropriated money for a monument for his grave, and this monument was unveiled at Rich- mond on January 25, 1931. Two of Deaf Smith's descendants through his daughter Concepcion, who married Nathaniel Fisk, were living in San Antonio in 1932. See the Tclegra7>h cmd Texas Registe1·, December 9, 1836; the Sta.te Times, November 18, 1854; the San Antonio Ex7>ress, Jan- uary 27, 1931; the Arkansas Ga.zctte, February 14, 1837; The Sonthwest- c,-,i Historical Quarterly, XVII, 52; Yoakum, History of Texas, I, 258, II, 18-210 {pa.ssim.); Dixon and Kemp, Heroes of Sein Jac-inton, 319-321; Thrall, A Pict01·ial History of Texas, 620-621. 0 Henry Wax Karnes. See Houston's Army Orders, April 11, 1836. 7 Yoakum, History of Texas, II, 84, tells that Dr. James Grant was wounded and captured in a skirmish with the Mexicans under Urrea, at Agua Dulce, March 2, 1836, and that while his companions were slaugh- tered, he was held a prisoner in order that the enemy might have the benefit of his surgical skill in the treatment of their wounds. As his source for this story, Yoakum cites Urrea's D-iario Milita,·. Yoakum then _goes on to say that while Grant was in San Patricio curing his own wound, and ministering to the wounded enemy, he was promised a pass- port as soon as those under his care were convalescent. The Mexican .captain who had been left in command of the town sent out and had captured a wild mustang, and about three weeks after Grant's capture he was tied to this wild horse-his feet to the horse's hind feet, his 11ands to its tail-which was set free, the Mexicans crying, "Now you have your passport-go!" Houston's letter shows that this tale was circu- lated at the time of Grant's death; but the unfortunate doctor did not meet his end in that way. R. R. Brown was by his side and saw him killed at Agua Dulce during the skirmish. See Brown, History of Texas, I, 547; also Johnson-Barker, Texas and Texans, I, 423. 8 Captain John Byrd (also spelled Bird) was an early settler of Texas, coming as early as 1827, or 1828. He settled on the Brazos-the Little River section-near old Fort Nashville and not far from the present town of Hearne. He joined the Texas Army and served in the early days of the Texas Revolution; his greatest service, however, was as an Indian tighter, and he was finally killed, May 31, 1839, in a fight with Indians on Little River. See Yoakum, II, 262-263. J. W. Wilbarger, Indian Depre- dations in Tcxa.s, 267-271.
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To WILLIAM T. AusTIN 1
Army Orders
Camp on Lavaca, March 15, 1836. Major William T. Austin 2 is hereby _appointed volunteer aide- de-camp to the commander-in-chief of the army of Texas; and
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