BULLOCK, JAMES WHITIS (1788-1859). James Whitis Bullock, early settler and soldier, was born in North Carolina in 1788. He enlisted in the army in 1809 at Charleston, South Carolina, and served five years under captains Mabson, Levall, and Woodruff. He fought under Gen. Andrew Jackson in Indian campaigns and in the battle of New Orleans (January 8, 1815). He was discharged at Natchez, Mississippi, as a sergeant. He was married about 1817 to Nancy Horton, sister of Alexander Horton. They had eleven children. In January 1824 the Bullock family moved from Washington Parish, Louisiana, to the Ayish Bayou district, in what became San Augustine County, Texas. They settled on the island in the Attoyac River. Colonel Bullock commanded the forces that besieged Nacogdoches on August 1, 1832, and sent a commission to José de las Piedras commanding him to declare for the Constitution of 1824. Piedras's refusal led to the battle of Nacogdoches on August 2. On March 14, 1836, Bullock commanded a company of thirty-five men in the battle of Refugio. About 1852 he moved from San Augustine County to Collin County; his wife died there in 1854, after which he married Syntha Brumet. Bullock died on August 12, 1859, and was buried in Millwood, Texas.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: George L. Crocket, Two Centuries in East Texas (Dallas: Southwest, 1932; facsimile reprod., 1962). Mary Smith Fay, War of 1812 Veterans in Texas (New Orleans: Polyanthos, 1979). Alexander Horton, A. Horton–Patriot of the Republic of Texas, ed. Sam Malone (San Augustine, Texas: Malone, 1984). Nacogdoches Archives, Steen Library, Stephen F. Austin State University; Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin; Texas State Archives, Austin. Gifford E. White, Character Certificates in the General Land Office of Texas (1985).
