376
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1836
Library, show this man's signature as written by himself. It is clearly ''Almeron Dickerson," and at the Alamo from January, 1836, to March 6, 1836, he enjoyed the rank of captain of artillery. He is usually called Lieutenant Dickerson, and it is probable that few persons outside the Alamo knew of his raise in rank, but the Army PaJ)crs, Texas State Library, shows his commission as captain of artillery. 3 Robert Eden Handy was born in Pennsylvania. He arrived in Texas in 1834, and located at San Augustine. He later removed to Brazoria, where, in 1837, he formed a partnership with William Lusk. These two men, l:.olders of vast acreage of real estate, were the founders of the town of Richmond, Texas. Handy £ought in the Texas Revolution throughout the campaigns of 1835-1836. For a short time he served on Houston's staff, and was sent out by the Commander-in-Chief, along with Henry Karnes and Deaf Smith, to investigate conditions at the Alamo. Thus, these three men were the first to meet Mrs. Dickerson and to hear from her the story of the ma~sacre at the Alamo. Handy participated in the Battle of San Jacinto. He was ever the staunch friend of Mirabeau B. Lamar, and when he died, October 1, 1838, Lamar "mourned the loss of his best friend." See Lamar P<£JJers, II, 310-357 (JJassim), also, V, 233-238. Yoakum, His- tory of Texas, II, 106. Thrall, A Pictorial History of Texcts, 550. Dixon and Kemp, Heroes of San Jacinto, 50. · 1 Captain John Chenoweth came to Texas in November, 1835, and joined the Texas Army then encamped before Bexar. He furnished his own outfit, and paid his own way from Louisiana to Texas. It was not long before his true worth was recognized; he was promoted to the rank of captain and ordered to raise troops sufficient to establish a military post at Copano. In 1836 he joined Houston's army and remained with him until the Battle of San Jacinto, and continued in the Texas Army until the fall of 1836, when a death in his family, which he had left in Louisi- ana, preventing their removing to Texas. For this reason Captain Cheno- weth himself was out of the Republic for several months. In December, 1836, however, under an order from General Thomas J. Green, he and John Turner ranged all the coast country, the Brazos Valley, also that o:t the Trinity, for horses and other supplies for Green's brigade. In this business Chenoweth spent large sums of his own money, for which claims, or script on the Government was given him in payment. But there was no law that made provision for the liquidation of this script, so through four succeeding Congresses Chenoweth petitioned Congress for relief. Then, too, he had received a hcadright certificate for only one-third league c,f land, whereas, being a married man, he was entitled to a league and a labor. There is no record that he ever received compensation for the excellent services he rendered Texas. Lama1· PaJ)ers, I, 410-414. Memorials and Petitions, Texas State Library. Harriet Smither (ed)., Journals of the Fom·th Congress of Texas, II, 169-170. GCharles E. Hawkins at a very early age joined the United States Navy, in which he rose to the rank of lieutenant, but when the Mexican Revo- lution for independence from Spain broke out, he resigned his commission, entered the service of Mexico, and became a terror to the Spanish ship- r,ing in the West Indies. After the signing of the Treaty of Cordova (1821), he resigned his commission in the Mexican navy to become the l•aptain of a steamboat on the Chattahoochie River. When t~~ Texas Rev- olution commenced in 1835, he went to New Orleans and Jomed General
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