Bradley, John M. (ca. 1800–1844)

John M. Bradley, soldier, was born about 1800 in North Carolina. In February 1832 he arrived in Texas as a widower with his four children. He was captain of the Tenaha Militia at the battle of Nacogdoches, August 2, 1832, and in the fall he represented the Tenaha District at the Convention of 1832 in San Felipe. In October 1835 Bradley raised a company in San Augustine and Tenaha that he commanded as captain. He participated in the Grass Fight on November 26 and distinguished himself at the siege of Bexar. On May 15, 1836, a company of volunteers under Captain Bradley, the San Augustine Cavalry, joined the Texas army at Fort Bend on the Brazos and participated in expelling the Mexican army from Texas. The company was discharged at Victoria on July 23. During the Regulator-Moderator War, Bradley, a Moderator sympathizer, left his home on Patroon Creek and went to San Augustine in search of Charles Watt Moorman, leader of the Regulators, and attempted to assassinate him. In July 1844 Moorman followed Bradley to a Baptist revival meeting at the Masonic Hall and shot him to death as he left the building. Bradley is buried in the Old Texan Cemetery between San Augustine and Shelbyville in Shelby County.