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Legendary Texan born in Virginia
On this day in 1817, Bigfoot Wallace was born in Lexington, Virginia. He
arrived in Texas during the Texas Revolution, fought Gen. Adrián Woll's
invading Mexican army near San Antonio in 1842, and then volunteered for
the Somervell and Mier expeditions. Some of his most graphic memories were
of his experiences in Perote Prison. As soon as he was released, he joined
the Texas Rangers under Jack Hays and fought with the rangers in the
Mexican War. In the 1850s Captain Wallace commanded a ranger company of
his own, fighting border bandits as well as Indians. He spent his later
years in Frio County, near a hamlet named Bigfoot. There he was known as a
mellow and convivial soul who liked to sit in a roomy rawhide-bottomed
chair in the shade of his shanty and tell over the stories of his career.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- WALLACE, WILLIAM ALEXANDER ANDERSON [BIGFOOT]
- MEXICAN INVASIONS OF 1842
- MIER EXPEDITION
- SOMERVELL EXPEDITION
- PEROTE PRISON
- HAYS, JOHN COFFEE
- TEXAS RANGERS
- MEXICAN WAR
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Historian and TSHA director born in Panola County (1888)
- U.S. Supreme Court dooms white primary (1944)
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