WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1836
373
will proceed immediately to the mouth of the Rio Brasos ( or such point as the stores of the army may be), and make a requi- sition upon Colonel .John A. Wharton 3 for seven pieces of artillery, say six and nine pounders- and an abundant supply of grape and cannister shot; and forward the same to headquarters on the Colorado river, near Burnham's.· 1 - Major Austin will obey this order with all possible dispatch, and report to the commander-in- chief. Sam Houston (Rubric) 1 Arniy Papers, Texas State Library. Yoakum, Histo,·y of Texas, II, 108. 2 William Tennant Austin (----February, 1874), a younger brother of John Austin, was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He came to Texas in 1830, and settled at Brazoria, where his brother lived. Immediately he became a useful and prominent citizen of Austin's Colony, and engaged in farming and the mercantile business. When the Texas Revolution com- menced he was made Austin's aide-de-camp, and when Austin was sent to the United States as a commissioner, William Austin became the aide-de- camp of General Edward Burleson. When the army was organized in 1836, he became Houston's aide and was with him on his retreat from Gonzales down the Colorado. At Burnham's ferry, on the Colorado, Hous- ton dispatched William T. Austin to the Brazos to meet artillery that had been ordered there. At Brazoria, the Adjutant General, John A. Wharton, met him, informed him that the artillery and other supplies had already been sent on to Houston's army, and ordered him to the port of Velasco to put that port in readiness to resist an expected attack upon it by General Urrea. This was the reason that William T. Austin failed to participate in the Battle of San Jacinto. After the Texas Revolution he was for many years the clerk of the district court at Brazoria. '\Vhen the Civil Wai· broke out he joined the Confederacy and was appointed Captain of the Coast Guards at Houston. At the close of the war he moved from Brazoria to Galveston, which place remained his home until his death. See Baker, Texas Sc.rap Book, 287. Thrall, A Pictorial History vf Texas, 497-498. Yoakum, History of Texas, 108-110. Lamar Papers, IV, Part 1, 109. 3 John Austin Wharton. See Houston to John A. Wharton, April 14, 1835. 4 Burnham's or Burnham's Ferry was a crossing on the Colorado River, at, or near the site of the present town of Independence. The ferry was owned and operated by Jesse Burnham.
TO JAMES COLLINSWORTH 1
Camp at Navadad, March 15, 1836. To James Collingsworth, Chairman of the Military Committee: Sir,- Since I had the honor to address you from Gonzales, the lady of Lieutenant Dickinson, 2 ,,vho fell at the Alamo, h1s arrived, and confirms the fall of that place, and the circumstances,
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