Houston v1

WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1836

383

(Jf Am,erican B-iography, XVI, 236-237. Texas Almanac, 1857, 1861. Dixon and Kemp, Heroes of San Jacinto, 57. Southwester7i Historical Quarterly, XXXIV, 181-202, 271-292. C. B. Sterrett, Li/e of Thomas Jefferson Rusk (MSS.-a Master's thesis), The University of Texas Library. 4 This was the family of Isaac Millsaps, one of the men from Gonzales who went into the fortress of the Alamo on March 1, and died there March 6, 1836. See the Teleg1'<iph and Texas Register, March 24, 1836; also, the Texas Historical Qucirterly, II, 315. 5 Major Ira R. Lewis, a prominent citizen of Matagorda. He took a con- spicuous part in the Texas Revolution, 1835-1836. He died (1867) at Independence, Texas, in the home of his son-in-law, Moses Austin Bryan. See Thrall, A Pictorial History of Texas, 586. ·

To B. J. WHITE 1 Camp at Beason's Ferry March 23, 1836.

To Captain B. J. White 2 Sir :

If men can be obtained, you are ordered to repair to Coxe's point, or Dimit's landing and remove or secure the sup- plies at those places. You are ·ordered to use and command all the means of the country in securing supplies, and removing the families, and placing them on the east side of the Colorado. You have much discretion left with you, and I hope you will employ it to the best advantage for the preservation of the country. Of the army at this point, and in the neighborhood, Mr. Nob 1 e 3 can tell you. The enemy are about fifteen miles from us. Their force is supposed to be only about a thousand. Reinforcements are arriving daily, and more on the mrch. Sam Houston ( Rubric) I am informed that Colonel Wharton has sailed for Coxe 's point, with some one hundred and fifty or two hundred men. H. 1 Anny Pape1·s, Texas State Library. Yoakum, History of Texas, II, 484. 2 Little is known concerning B. J. White, except that he was an old trader who lived at La Bahia. He owned a small vessel in which he traded along the Gulf Coast and up the Texas rivers. He had had long and varied experience in dealing with Indians-had lived among them and knew their customs. ·white was especially familiar with the country along the Colorado River. See Texas Hist<n-ic.al Quarterly, V, 17-18. Yoakum, His- tory of Texas, II, 225-226. 3 There were two men (cousins) in the Texas Army in 1836--Benjnmin F. Nobles, aide to Captain Philip Dimmit, and Watkins Nobles of Cnptnin James C. Winn's company of the First Regiment of Texas Volunteers. The man mentioned here was Benjamin F. Nobles. Watkins Nobles was killed_ in the massacre at Goliad on March 27, 1836.