DON CARLOS BARRETT
Of the early life of Don Carlos Barrett--Don is a name, not a
title--little is known. He was born, the eldest son of Jonathan
and Elizabeth Murdock Barrett, at Norwich, Vermont, June 22,
1788. At Natchez, Mississippi, he married Lucy Walton, in 1810,
who also was born in Norwich, in 1793. Of this marriage one
child, Oliver Barrett, was born, August 29, 1811. Some years
later, probably in the early twenties, though this date, too, is
uncertain, he married Mrs. Eliza De Cressey Smith, whom he
had met in New York City, and with her he lived for a time at
Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania.
2 Of this marriage there were four
children, one of whom, Mrs. Emily Wight Tillinghast, was still
living in 1913, at Clearwater, California. In 1820 he was licensed
to practice law in the Court of Quarter Sessions of Luzerne County,
Pennsylvania, and in 1827 was admitted to practice in the Supreme
Court of Western Pennsylvania, sitting at Pittsburgh.
3 It is said
that Robert C. Grier, later Justice of the Supreme Court of the
United States, conducted his bar examination.
Barrett's Texas career began, so far as this sketch is concerned,
on April 13, 1835, when he took the oath of allegiance before
Samuel Wolfenberger, alcalde of the municipality of Mina, and
became a citizen of Coahuila and Texas. He had apparently ar-
rived in Texas but a few weeks before, for among his papers are
a letter of introduction dated New Orleans, February 23, 1835,
which he brought to Colonel Ben Milam, and one from Spencer H.
Jack to Colonel John P. Coles, dated San Felipe, March 28. In
his letter Jack says that Barrett was introduced to him by Thomas
F. McKinney, and that he brought "high recommendations from
some of the first men of the United States."
4
At Mina, Barrett formed a law partnership with E. M. Pease,
later twice governor of Texas. The two men had met in New
Orleans, and came to Texas together.
5 Barrett sprang into im-
mediate prominence. The revolution was rapidly approaching, the
country was in confusion, and the frontier threatened by Indians.
On May 8, the citizens of Mina elected a committee of safety and
correspondence to look after the protection and general welfare of
the community and to keep in touch with political movements in
other districts of Texas. Barrett was president of the committee.
6
At the same time he is spoken of as one of the commissioners "for
operating and improving the navigation of the Colorado River."
7
On July 4, a public meeting at Mina expressed confidence in all
the acts of the committee of safety, voted to continue it "with all
its powers," and appointed Barrett one of a special committee to
correspond with the ayuntamientos of the Department of the
Brazos with a view to quieting the rising excitement and avoiding
a breach with the government. One of the suggestions of the
special committee was that each municipality should send delegates
to San Felipe to form a representative executive committee for the
whole province.
8 A nucleus of such an assembly met at San Felipe
two weeks later, including representatives from Columbia, San
Felipe, and Mina. Barrett was the sole representative from Mina.
9
This joint committee, in the hope of averting the threatened in-
vasion of Texas by Mexican troops, determined to prepare a clear
statement of the local situation, assuring the government, of the
loyalty of the great majority of the colonists, and send it to
General Cos at Matamoras. For this important mission the com-
mittee selected Barrett and Edward Gritten, an Englishman who
had long resided in Mexico, and who was sincerely exerting him-
self to bring about a closer understanding between the colonists
and the government. The mission was abandoned at San Antonio
because at that place Colonel Ugartechea showed the commissioners
a letter from General Cos, saying that he would not listen to any
talk of loyalty from the Texans until they surrendered to the mili-
tary authorities certain colonists whose arrest he had ordered and
whom the Texans had no intention of giving up. Barrett returned
to San Felipe, while Gritten remained at San Antonio and gath-
ered valuable information for the Texans concerning the move-
ments of the Mexicans.
10 A hint of the important influence that
Barrett had gained over the people of Mina can be gathered from
a letter written to him at San Felipe on September 15, by E. M.
Pease: "I hope, in fact it is absolutely necessary, that you should
return as soon as possible, or I fear that the people of this munici-
pality will soon be as much divided and distracted as any in Texas.
There is a disposition among the majority here to do what is right,
but for want of some one of sufficient firmness and talent to 'go
ahead,' Williamson
11 browbeats them into his views."
During August and September, 1835, the most important local
political measure in Texas was the calling of a general convention
and the election of delegates thereto. Each municipality was en-
titled to seven representatives, and the meeting was fixed for Octo-
ber 15. Partly because of uncertainty as to whether the meeting
was to be at San Felipe or at Washington, and partly because the
war had begun on October 2, and many of the delegates had joined
the army, no quorum was obtained until November 3. Barrett
was one of the delegates from Mina, The first question, of funda-
mental importance, that this assembly--it called itself "the Con-
sultation"—had to settle, was whether or not Texas should de-
clare itself independent of Mexico. Barrett believed that a decla-
ration of independence would unite the whole Mexican people
against Texas, whereas a declaration that the Texans were fighting
in defense of the constitution of 1824, which Santa Anna had
overthrown, might draw some of the Liberal party of Mexico to
their support. This view was shared by Stephen F. Austin, Gen-
eral Sam Houston, and the majority of the Consultation, which,
on November 7, adopted a declaration saying that the Texans had
taken up arms to defend the constitution. A careful analysis of
this document shows that Barrett had a good deal to do with shap-
ing both its form and its contents.
12 At the same time a com-
mittee of twelve, composed of one member from each municipality
represented in the Consultation, was drafting a "Plan" or con-
stitution for a provisional government. The report of this com-
mittee was referred on November 9 to a select committee of five,
consisting of Barrett (chairman), Wyatt, Hanks, R. M. William-
son, Daniel Parker and Lorenzo de Zavala; and the next day the
Consultation in committee of the whole decided to adopt "the
report of the committee of five, as the basis whereon to report the
plan of a provisional government for Texas.
13 As amended by the
Consultation this plan provided for the organization of a regular
army and a provisional, or temporary, civil government. The gov-
ernment was to consist of a Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and a
General Council, all elected by the Consultation. The General
Council was composed of one delegate from each municipality in
Texas, and Barrett was elected to represent his district.
14 Henry
Smith, formerly political chief of the Department of the Brazos,
and chairman of the committee whose report on the plan of pro-
visional government had been rejected in favor of the draft pre-
sented by Barrett's committee, was elected governor.
The Consultation adjourned and the provisional government
went into operation on November 14. From the first Barrett as-
sumed a conspicuous place in the General Council. He was chair-
man of the standing committee on State and Judiciary, and, first
and last, was chairman of, or served on, more than a score of other
committees during the session. A large proportion of the eighty-
three laws and resolutions passed by the Council were introduced
by him; and a glance through the journal of that body will reveal
rather strikingly his activity and influence in its deliberations.
He had the confidence of Austin, and letters in the possession of
Mr. Tillinghast show that as late as January 2, 1836, he was on
cordial--indeed, somewhat intimate,--terms with General Houston.
Of Barrett's private life and interest in Texas, at this time, we
know next to nothing. That he had some enemies is clear. E. M.
Pease, writing from Mina on September 15, 1835, referred to
things that had been said and done there against Barrett by cer-
tain "envious and malicious rascals." "Your return amongst us
will set matters right and nothing else will." On December 11,
the General Council elected him judge advocate general of the
army,
15 and this precipitated on the 17th a vicious attack upon
him by Governor Smith, who vetoed his appointment. Among
other things he charged that Barrett had forged an attorney's
license in North Carolina, that he had taken fees on both sides of
a case, that he had passed counterfeit money knowingly, and that
he had embezzled the money provided for his and Gritten's mission
to Cos the preceding July. He declared his willingness to prove
these charges,
16 but the Council said that it had no jurisdiction to
investigate the four just enumerated, while two that did fall within
its province it repelled as untrue.
17 At the same time it denied
the governor's right to veto the appointment. We have no direct
evidence to rebut Governor Smith's charges, but concerning the
first it may be remembered that Barrett was certainly a regularly
licensed attorney in Pennsylvania, and concerning the others, that
he still enjoyed the confidence of Austin, Houston, and his asso-
ciates in the Council. The governor had no patience with the
Council's policy of trying to win the support of the Mexican Lib-
eral party, and probably resented Barrett's influence in maintain-
ing that policy.
On January 11, 1836, Governor Smith, in a message filled with
denunciation, declared the Council dissolved; and the Council re-
plied by deposing the governor. Probably both acted without
authority, but the Council had somewhat the best of the quarrel,
because it called the lieutenant-governor to assume the executive
office and proceeded for a time with its business. Though the
governor's message had mentioned no names it was apparently
understood that some of its vituperation was intended for Barrett.
If this is true, Barrett, so far as the public records show, con-
ducted himself with dignity, and made no reply. The Council
had, as we have seen, expressed confidence in him following the
message on the 17th, and on January 24th, seven members, in the
absence of a quorum, signed a strong testimonial to his ability
and usefulness: "He has been one of the leading members of the
Consultation and General Council and has been industrious and
useful to the country. We do most sincerely recommend him as a
gentleman of high order, talents and learning, a patriot and an
honest politician."
18
The unfortunate quarrel between the governor and the Council
really destroyed the usefulness of both. The journal of the Coun-
cil rarely shows the presence of a quorum after January 17. On
February 15, Barrett asked to be excused from further attendance,
and presented a certificate from a physician which declared that
his "future health and even life" would be endangered "by longer
confinement to public business at present." He was threatened,
said the statement, "with confirmed dropsy of the legs, etc., the
consequence of long, laborious employment in writing and other
corresponding duties in the General Council."
19
Early in April Barrett was in New Orleans, whence he went to
Blue Sulphur Springs, Greenbrier County, Virginia. From that
place a friend wrote on July 28, that he was still too ill to return
to Texas.
20 In May, 1837, he was again in New Orleans, on his
way to Texas, and obtained there a letter from General Mirabeau
B. Lamar introducing him to Richard Ellis at Houston. Lamar
spoke of him as "a gentleman of high literary and legal acquire-
ments, whose name and labors are associated in all the important
movements of the early period of our revolution." By August 26
he was at Galveston.
21 Among his papers there is an itemized
statement for salary as judge advocate general--the appointment
which Governor Smith had vetoed,--rations, servants, etc., for
$880 for the five months from February 22 to July 22, 1836,
though during most of that time he was, as we have seen, in the
United States. It was evidently his intention to present this bill
to the government, but whether or not he did so is uncertain. He
died at the home of Colonel Hall, near Brazoria, May 19, 1838.
22
While in the United States, he had probably visited his family at
Erie,
23 Pennsylvania, since his son George was with him when he
died. E. M. Pease wrote that his estate was inventoried after his
death at about $140,000, of which land valued at $56,000 was in
litigation. Fifty-four thousand dollars was in the form of notes,
and there were five slaves and a comfortable home at Quintana.
Yoakum and Brown have given publicity in their histories to
Governor Smith's charges against Barrett, while the record of his
faithful and valuable services during the early period of the revo-
lution has for the most part been buried in the journals of the
Consultation and of the General Council.
FOOTNOTES:
Mary Ligon Christensen, then of Wichita Falls, Texas, and was intended
to appear in a biographical volume edited by Mrs. S. J. Wright for the
Texas Federation of Women's Clubs. This volume has not yet appeared,
and since the sketch adds somewhat to our knowledge of a man who
played no mean part in the legislative history of the Texas revolution,
it is here presented in The Quarterly. Besides the Journals of the
Consultation and of the General Council of the Provisional Government,
I have been permitted to use some interesting manuscripts in the pos-
session of Mr. B. D. Tillinghast of McDonald, Pennsylvania, transcripts
of which are now through his courtesy to be found in the State Library.
Documents here cited, unless otherwise stated, are in this collection. Mr.
Tillinghast and Mrs. Christensen are great-grandchildren of Barrett by
different marriages.
pear to be based on documentary sources.
that he has these licenses in his possession. I have not seen copies.
in the State Library.
July 17, 1835. MS., Texas State Library.
Quarterly, XIII, 145-153.
Causes for Taking up Arms Against Mexico," in The Quarterly, XV,
173-185.
secret session on December 20. They do not appear in the Journal.
Yoakum had access to Smith's original message, which is not, now avail-
able. Brown, History of Texas, I, 449-450, quotes part of the message,
but omits the charges against Barrett.
James W. Robinson, acting governor, John McMullin, president pro tem.
of the General Council, J. D. Clements, Wyatt Hanks, G. W. Patillo,
Alex. Thomson, and Thomas Barnett.
26, 1837.
about the heart. I should not have been surprised if he had died at
any time in the last two years, although he sometimes flattered himself
with the hope of recovery. ... I became acquainted with Colonel B.
at New Orleans in January, 1835. I came to this country with him
and continued with him as a partner in the practice of law, until his bad
health induced him to visit the United States in the spring of 1836,
while absent we corresponded occasionally and since his return, to Texas
our former intimacy has been renewed."
14, 1836, and addressed to Barrett at Cincinnati. From the tone of the
letter it seems likely that R. was Barrett's father-in-law. He says that
Barrett's old homestead, "now in the hands of R. T. Reed," is worth a
fortune, twenty or thirty thousand dollars.
How to cite:
Eugene C. Barker, "Don Carlos Barrett", Volume 20, Number 2, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v020/n2/contrib_DIVL2199.html
[Accessed Tue Nov 24 1:58:56 CST 2009]
