KING, WILLIAM PHILIP (1820-1836). William Philip King, Alamo defender, son of John Gladden and Parmelia (Parchman) King, was born on October 8, 1820, and in 1836 lived with his family ten to fifteen miles north of Gonzales, Texas. When his father was about to ride to the Alamo with the relief force from Gonzales, King took his place so that his father could care for the rest of his family. He died in the battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836, at the age of fifteen. He was the youngest defender of the Alamo.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Daughters of the American Revolution, The Alamo Heroes and Their Revolutionary Ancestors (San Antonio, 1976). Bill Groneman, Alamo Defenders (Austin: Eakin Press, 1990). Walter Lord, A Time to Stand (New York: Harper, 1961; 2d ed., Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1978). Phil Rosenthal and Bill Groneman, Roll Call at the Alamo (Fort Collins, Colorado: Old Army, 1985).
