FISHER, WILLIAM S. (?-1845). William S. Fisher, soldier and secretary of war of Texas, son of James and Margaret (Nimmo) Fisher, moved to Texas from Virginia in 1834 and settled in Green DeWitt's^qv colony at Gonzales. Fisher represented the municipality of Gonzales at the Consultation^qv at San Felipe in 1835. On March 10, 1836, he joined the Texas army and on March 26 reinforced Sam Houston's^qv army with the company that he had raised, Company I, First Regiment of Texas Volunteers, and participated in the battle of San Jacinto.^qv He remained in the army until June 10, 1836, and served again from June 27 to September 27, 1836. Appointed secretary of war of the Republic of Texas,^qv he served from December 21, 1836, to November 13, 1837, but his was a recess appointment and was not confirmed when the Senate met because of the change to the Mirabeau B. Lamar^qv administration. On January 23, 1837, Lamar appointed Fisher lieutenant colonel of a frontier cavalry regiment. On March 19, 1840, he was in command of two companies of regulars at San Antonio at the time of the Council House Fight.^qv Later in 1840 he was attracted to the Republic of the Rio Grande^qv and led 200 men to join the army of that organization at San Patricio. Returning to Texas after a few months of unsuccessful campaigning, he joined the Somervell expedition^qv in 1842 and was elected captain. With Alexander Somervell's^qv abandonment of the enterprise, Fisher was elected leader of those members of the expedition who continued on into Mexico on the Mier expedition.^qv During the attack on Mier, Fisher was wounded. Imprisoned with his men by the Mexican general Pedro de Ampudia,^qv Fisher was marched to Perote Prison.^qv He was released in 1843 and returned to Texas, where he died at his home in Jackson County in 1845.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sam Houston Dixon and Louis Wiltz Kemp, The Heroes of San Jacinto (Houston: Anson Jones, 1932). Sam W. Haynes, Soldiers of Misfortune: The Somervell and Mier Expeditions (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990). Dudley Goodall Wooten, ed., A Comprehensive History of Texas (2 vols., Dallas: Scarff, 1898; rpt., Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1986).

David M. Vigness