GOODRICH, JOHN C. (1809-1836). John C. Goodrich, Alamo defender, son of John Goodrich, was born in Virginia in 1809. His middle name is given as Calvin in one source and Camp in another. In 1826 he was recommended as a purser in the United States Navy by Sam Houston, congressman from Tennessee, but he did not serve. In 1834 he immigrated to Texas with his brother, Benjamin Briggs Goodrich, and settled in Grimes County on April 30. On November 28, 1835, Goodrich offered his service to the Texas army, in a letter to Sam Houston, "in any other attitude than a common soldier." He received a commission as cornet in the regular Texas cavalry. Goodrich may have entered Bexar and the Alamo in early February 1836, along with the cavalry force accompanying Lt. Col. William B. Travis, or he may have already been in Bexar as a member of Capt. William Blazeby's infantry company. While Goodrich was besieged in the Alamo, his brother signed the Texas Declaration of Independence, on March 2, 1836. Goodrich died in the battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Daughters of the American Revolution, The Alamo Heroes and Their Revolutionary Ancestors (San Antonio, 1976 Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Muster Rolls of the Texas Revolution (Austin, 1986 John H. Jenkins, ed., The Papers of the Texas Revolution, 1835-1836 (10 vols., Austin: Presidial Press, 1973).
