LAMBERT, WALTER (1809-1865). Walter Lambert, early settler in Texas and participant in the battle of San Jacinto,^qv a nephew and protégé of Col. James Power,^qv was born in Ireland, probably Wexford County, in 1809. He lived as a member of the Power family after he moved to Texas to join his uncle's colony in 1834. In the Texas Revolution,^qv Lambert accompanied Ira Westover^qv to Goliad to assist in its capture on October 9, 1835 (see GOLIAD CAMPAIGN OF 1835). As a member of Philip Dimmitt's^qv garrison from October 10, 1835, to January 10, 1836, he was one of the men who signed the memorial protesting the removal of Captain Dimmitt. Lambert was in the Lipantitlán expedition^qv and was a signer of the Goliad Declaration of Independence.^qv Although he had been elected third lieutenant of artillery by the General Council^qv and later by the Convention of 1836,^qv he participated in the battle of San Jacinto as a private in Capt. Robert J. Calder's^qv company. He remained in the army after San Jacinto and was with Thomas J. Rusk's^qv army when it followed Vicente Filisola's^qv retreat. When Maj. Isaac W. Burton^qv and his rangers were detailed to scour the coast in search of the enemy, Lambert went with them as guide, and he was in the "Horse Marines"^qv incident at El Cópano. Lambert also at times served with the Texas Rangers^qv and was in many border and Indian fights.

In 1838 he went to Live Oak Point at Aransas City to assist Power in the mercantile business. In Refugio County, he was a member of the board of land commissioners, 1839; sheriff, 1845-46; treasurer, 1847 and 1856-58; probate judge, 1848; chief justice, 1849-52; road overseer of Copano precinct, 1853-55; and member of the commissioners' court, 1862-64. He was one of the original settlers of the town of Copano, where he had a large store and was wharf agent and postmaster for many years.

In 1852 he was one of the band of citizens who fought the Karankawa Indians at the battle of Hynes Bay^qv and drove them permanently from Refugio County. During the Civil War,^qv although in bad health, he was indefatigable in taking care of soldiers' families. On April 20, 1857, he married Tomasita Power, daughter of James Power. Lambert died at Copano on December 31, 1865, and was buried in the village cemetery.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sam Houston Dixon and Louis Wiltz Kemp, The Heroes of San Jacinto (Houston: Anson Jones, 1932).

Hobart Huson