SWEITZER, ALONZO B. (?-1841). Alonzo B. Sweitzer, early settler, soldier, and public official, moved to Texas in 1833. He served as captain in the Army of the Republic of Texasqv from May 18 to December 17, 1836. On December 18, 1836, President Sam Houstonqv appointed him lieutenant colonel of permanent volunteers. On August 24, 1837, Sweitzer was appointed special agent to treat with the Comanche Indians. He was elected representative from Gonzales County to the House of Representatives of the Third Congress, an office he held from November 5, 1838, to January 24, 1839. That same year Sweitzer was involved in an argument with Benjamin McCulloch.qv Sweitzer sent a challenge to McCulloch by Reuben Ross.qv When McCulloch refused to accept it on the grounds that Sweitzer was not a gentleman, Ross took offense and offered to take the place of Sweitzer. McCulloch accepted and was wounded in a subsequent rifle duel. Later Sweitzer had another quarrel with Robert S. Neighbors,qv who killed him in Gonzales in 1841.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jack W. Gunn, "Ben McCulloch: A Big Captain," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 58 (July 1954). Louis Wiltz Kemp, ed., "The Joseph H. D. Rodgers Letters," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 55 (July, October 1951). Texas House of Representatives, Biographical Directory of the Texan Conventions and Congresses, 1832-1845 (Austin: Book Exchange, 1941).
Stephen L. Hardin
