Virginians have ever been prone to seek distinction and fortune beyond the bounds of their native state. What the New England states have been by way of a nursery from which home-seekers have gone to settle the middle West, that Virginia has been to the states of the South and the Southwest. The best blood of the Old Dominion has gone forth to enrich the citizenship of many a sister-state. It would require several volumes to narrate the history of all those Virginians whose enterprise, bravery, and skill have contributed to the upbuilding and prosperity of their adopted homes. In every war in which the national honor has been at stake, the sons of Virginia have given their services with readiness and loyalty, and have acquitted themselves upon the field of battle with honor to themselves- and credit to their native state. It is not the purpose of this paper, however, to vaunt the deeds of Virginians in the wars in which this country has been engaged. Without attempting a task so pretentious, the writer has confined himself to the effort of recording the names and services of those Virginians who had a part in accomplishing the separation of Texas from Mexico, and who helped to erect a stable government within the bounds of the mighty state whose limits are the Sabine and the Rio Grande. The story is not a long one, for Virginia was too remote from the scene of hostilities for the struggle between the Texans and their oppressors to arouse the same degree of interest and enthusiasm that was felt by the citizens south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi. Then, too, the ardor of the Virginians may have been dampened somewhat by the unfavorable accounts of Texas which appeared in the Virginia newspapers. 141 Be this as it may, however, what Virginians lacked in the way of numbers, they made up for by the high quality of the service rendered the young republic. No braver or more loyal spirit gave his life in behalf of Texas independence than John Sowers Brooks, 142 of Augusta county, Virginia; another Virginian who rendered the cause of Texas distinguished services as a soldier was Colonel William G. Cooke, 143 of Fredericksburg. Among the more conspicuous builders of the new state the names of Branch T. Archer and Peter Hansborough Bell 144 deservedly have a high place. Another Virginian who rendered his adopted home valuable services both as a civilian and as a soldier was Judge Edwin Waller. 145 Both Austin and Houston were natives of Virginia, while among the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence, eleven were either natives or former residents of Virginia.
Rumblings of the storm about to break in Texas reached Virginia in the summer of 1835. In July and August the Richmond papers printed reports of the projected invasion of Texas by the Mexicans and of the determination of the colonists to resist. 146 The Richmond Enquirer of July 17, 1835, copied from the New York Courier the following extract which correctly summed up the situation at this time:
Each succeeding day is rendering Texas of more importance to the United States from the fact that it is rapidly being settled by our own people, and the very probable supposition that in a few years it will constitute a portion of our Union. In settling the boundary line between Texas and the United States, the Rio Grande should be, and in all probability, will be fixed upon as the dividing line, and thus the thousands of American citizens who are now settling what is yet a foreign country, will once more find themselves enjoying the blessings and protection of our liberal laws.
Among those who took part in the storming of San Antonio, in December, 1835, was Nathaniel R. Brister of the “New Orleans Greys,” commanded by Captain Samuel O. Pettus, himself a Virginian. Brister was promoted from the position of sergeant-major to that of adjutant in this company about the middle of February, 1836. 147 According to one account a Captain Blair of Conway county and a Dr. Mitcherson, both from Virginia, were killed in the storming of San Antonio. 148
Virginia had her representatives at the Alamo, the following Virginians being killed there: John J. Baugh, first lieutenant in Captain Thomas H. Breece's company of Texas Volunteers, and later a captain; 149 and a soldier by the name of R. L. Stockton, who arrived at San Antonio about the same time as Crockett. 150 Other Virginians who were members of Captain Pettus' company were Allen O'Kinney (or Kenney) and William L. Hunter; the former is said to have been massacred at Goliad, while the latter is one of the few who effected a thrilling escape after being left there for dead upon the field of slaughter. 151 Other Virginians killed at the time of Fannin's massacre were Henry W. Downman, James Batts, and James Kemp, all of Duval's company. 152
In the Zanesville Volunteer Rifle Company were the following Virginians: James Perry, first sergeant, from Norfolk; Henry Sikes, of the same place; John Fisher, of Shenandoah; John A. Davis, of Surrey county; and John Snelling, of Augusta county. 153 Company E, First Regiment of Texas Infantry, Permanent Volunteers, contained these soldiers from Virginia: David Balfour, of Norfolk; John H. P. Brent, of Fauquier county; James Dunn, of Wheeling; Silas A. Gordon, of Augusta county; John M. Hooper, of Hanover; John T. Morehead, of Rockbridge county; Benjamin Smith, of Frederick; and L. C. Toneray, of Washington. 154 With General Houston at San Jacinto were Oscar Farish, of Fredericksburg, a private in Captain McIntyre's company; 155 Washington Anderson, a member of Company C, First Regiment, Texas Volunteers, who was wounded; James Montgomery, and Crittenden. In addition these Virginians saw service in the Texan cause: John Claiborne, John O. Knox, J. C. Osburn, M. D., R. R. Goodloe, J. W. Massey, Hugh G. Pannell, Lemuel Smith, A. M. Tandey, Peter C. Ragsdale, Nicholas Herron, Dr. A. M. Levy, John P. T. Fitzhugh, T. R. Striff, and Jesse Benton, the last-named hailing, it is believed, from Richmond. 156
In the Richmond Whig of April 15, 1836, is found this letter from him:
Near Nacogdoches 22d Feb. 1836 Dear Sir:—
. . . Official information has just reached us that Santa Anna has crossed the Rio Grande and is marching against us with a large army for the purpose of exterminating us. I will place myself in the Infantry as a private soldier, and if he pass our bayonets, I will be deceived. Nearly all our troops are riflemen; no body of infantry to lodge on to form squares or rush on with and crush the enemy. We will die hard, for it will be truly victory or death with us. Our volunteers have consumed our provisions and a great many have left us—just what I expected. General Cos and his troops we are informed have broken their parole and are returning against us. The country on the Rio Grande is given up to a brutal soldiery. . . . If we cannot defend the country in any other way, we can do it effectually by adopting the Russian mode of defence against Napoleon in 1812.
A Virginian who rendered the new republic of Texas substantial aid was Thomas Jefferson Chambers who agreed to loan $10,000 of the funds necessary for the purpose of recruiting a force in the United States, and to recruit the force himself. This he did in a highly successful manner, sending a large force of men and quantities of war materials to Texas. 157
Horatio Chriesman, the chief surveyor of Austin's colony during its entire existence, was a native of Virginia, though going to Texas from Missouri in 1822. 158 Among those under sentence of death at Tampico December 14, 1835, was a Virginian, William H. Mackay, aged twenty. 159 According to the Virginia Herald, September 24, 1836, about thirty young men from Petersburg went to Norfolk with the intention of embarking for Texas. No doubt the companies which went from other southern states to Texas contained Virginians, though mention of this fact does not occur in the records.
Mason, of Virgnia, on July 4, 1836, reported in the House from the committee on foreign affairs in favor of recognizing the independence of Texas as soon as satisfactory information was received that Texas had in successful operation a civil government. 160
Rumors of a renewed invasion of Texas by the Mexicans appeared from time to time in the Virginia newspapers. 161
Of those who never lost faith in Texas and in her future was Branch T. Archer, already alluded to. On Tuesday evening, April 12, he addressed a crowded assemblage in Richmond, at the capitol, on the affairs of Texas. 162 Dr. Archer resembled Stephen F. Austin in his enthusiasm for the Texan cause, and upon a second visit to Richmond the following year declared Mexico was in greater danger from Texas, than Texas was from Mexico. 163
In conclusion, it may be interesting to compare, on the Texan question, the attitude of two of the leading Virginia papers which have been cited above. The Richmond Enquirer while suggesting impracticable schemes for the incorporation of Texas with the United States was opposed to the purchase of Texas by our government. 164 On the other hand, the Richmond Whig was convinced that Texas must be purchased by the United States government and carved into two or more slave-holding states. 165 To this paper a war for absolute independence was quite premature and impolitic. 166 There was little doubt in the mind of the editor of the Whig that our government would gladly catch at the slightest pretext for a quarrel with Mexico, if for no other reason than to divert the people from a scrutiny of domestic affairs. 167 One of the few articles friendly to Mexico which has been observed during this time is to be found in the columns of the Whig of July 22, 1836. The editor seeks to justify Mexico in defending the integrity of her territory and contends that the existing treaty with Mexico was binding upon citizens of the United States. In this same issue is a letter from Isaac T. Preston written to the New Orleans Courier of July 2 in which the writer deplores the fact that the treaty between the United States and Mexico had been violated.
Touching a proper boundary line, the Enquirer was an ardent expansionist. Quoting the New Orleans Bee of March 19, 1836, it says: “Let the independence of Texas be recognized by the United States. Let its bounds be extended to the Rio Grande and to California and the Pacific Ocean and we shall have easy access to Asia.” 168
The Texas question is tersely dealt with in the following statement: “It is impossible for Texas to remain long under the dominion of Mexico.” The character of the “Texonians,” it continued, “is essentially different from that of the Mexicans, they know too much of the principles of republicanism, are too much attached to the free institutions they have been taught from childhood.” 169
Animated by the spirit of a love of liberty and of hatred of oppression such as characterized their forefathers, Virginians went to Texas and wielded their swords and pens in behalf of the cause of Texas independence.
142. See The Quarterly, IX, 157-209, for an account of this gallant though ill-fated young officer.
143. Ibid., IX, 210-219.
144. See Coyner's article on “Peter Hansborough Bell' in The Quarterly, III, 49-53. Governor Bell, at the age of twenty-six, left his native state to engage in the war of Texas independence, and rendered valiant service on the field of San Jacinto as a member of the cavalry corps.
145. See Peareson, “Reminiscences of Judge Edwin Waller,” in The Quarterly, IV, 39-53. See Thrall, 540, 570, for accounts of James Gaines and Frank W. Johnson, who filled important civil and military positions.
146. Richmond Enquirer, July 17, 1835; August 4, 1835.
147. Muster Rolls, General Land Office of Texas, pages 25, 37. Colonel William G. Cooke was also at one time captain of the same company.
148. Arkansas Gazette, April 12, 1836.
149. Muster Rolls, page 37. See The Quarterly, IX, 237.
150. The Quarterly, IX, 4, 117, and XIV, 321-322. The Virginia Herald of May 4, 1836, contains a list of the names of those who fell at the capture of San Antonio.
151. See Duval, Early Times in Texas, 59.
152. Kentucky Gazette, July 7, 1836. The Virginia Herald of June 1, 1836, copies from the New Orleans Bee, March 25, 1836, an account of Fannin's massacre written by a Mexican general. In the Herald of June 18, 1836, is a detailed account of the massacre of Goliad by Z. S. Brooks, one of those who escaped. The same issue contains a list of the “Red Rovers” who were put to death on this occasion. In the same journal for August 6, 1836, is what purports to be an account of an eye-witness of the death of Fannin, written by Joseph H. Sphon, of New Orleans, who escaped.
153. Muster Rolls, page 230. Perry and Davis were shoemakers; Fisher, a chair-maker; and Snelling, a paper-maker.
154. Muster Rolls, pages 237, 239. A Virginian by the name of R. S. Neighbors is said to have joined the Texan army in 1837.
155. Virginia Herald, June 15, 1836. In the issue of June 1 of this paper is an account of the battle of San Jacinto, copied from the Mobile (Ala.) Advertiser, May 13, 1836.
156. Lexington Intelligencer, September 13, 1836; Richmond Enquirer, November 6, 1836; and Muster Rolls, page 115. Herron, Levy, and Striff are said to have been members of the “New Orleans Greys.”
157. See Barker, “The Texas Revolutionary Army,” in The Quarterly, IX, 235, 240. In this connection, it may be noted that two Virginians, William F. Gray and James McCulloch, subscribed $10,000 each of the first loan of $200,000 raised by Texas commissioners to the United States; of the second loan, William F. Ritchie subscribed $8500, Howard F. Thornton $1000, and Jeremiah Morton, $3000. Barker, “The Finances of the Texas Revolution,” in Political Science Quarterly, XIX, 630.
158. The Quarterly, VI, 236. Brown, History of Texas, I, 116, note, wrongly gives the date 1823.
159. New Orleans Bee, December 25, 1835.
160. Reports of Committees, 24 Cong., 1 sess., III, No. 854.
161. See Virginia Herald, July 9, 16, 20, 1836; August 17, 1836.
162. Richmond Whig, April 15, 1836.
163. Richmond Enquirer, August 29, 1837. Cf. the suggestion made by Justice Catron of Tennessee as to the possibility of American volunteers invading Mexico from Texas. Smith, The Annexation of Texas, 53.
164. See Richmond Enquirer, October 27, 30, 1835; December 19, 1835.
165. Richmond Whig, April 15, 1836.
166. Ibid., April 29, 1836.
167. Ibid., May 20, 1836. Wharton, writing to Austin, alluded to the imprudent attitude of the Whig touching the annexation of Texas by using language calculated to irritate the North. Wharton to Austin, December 11, 1836. Garrison, Diplomatic Correspondence of the Republic of Texas, I, 152.
168. See Wharton to Rusk, February 16, 1837. “Genl Jackson say that Texas must claim the Californias on the Pacific in order to paralyze the opposition of the North and East to annexation.” Garrison, Diplomatic Correspondence of the Republic of Texas, I, 193.
169. Richmond Enquirer, August 7, 1837, quoting the New Orleans True American of July 17.
How to cite:
Winston, James E., "VIRGINIA AND THE INDEPENDENCE OF TEXAS ", Volume 016, Number 3, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 277 - 283. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v016/n3/article_3.html
[Accessed Sun Nov 23 13:26:30 CST 2008]
