Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers

by Brian Kilmeade

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  NOTES

  PROLOGUE: THE LESSONS OF BATTLE

  1. Thomas Hart Benton, Eulogy to Houston, reprinted in Lester, The Life of Sam Houston (The Only Authentic Memoir of Him Ever Published) (1855), p. 303.

  2. Houston, The Autobiography of Sam Houston (1954), p. 12.

  3. Lester, The Life of Sam Houston (1855), p. 35.

  4. Houston, The Autobiography of Sam Houston (1954), p. 15.

  CHAPTER 1: GENERAL JACKSON’S PROTÉGÉ

  1. Lester, The Life of Sam Houston (1855), p. 22.

  2. William Carroll, quoted in Williams, Sam Houston (1993), p. 71.

  3. William Carroll, quoted in Williams, Sam Houston (1993), p. 260.

  4. James, The Raven (1929), p. 157.

  5. Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, May 14, 1820.

  6. Sam Houston to John H. Houston, January 11, 1830.

  7. Gregory and Strickland, Sam Houston with the Cherokees (1967), p. 44.

  8. De Bruhl, Sword of San Jacinto (1993), p. 130. As with many Houston anecdotes, details vary from biography to biography; other sources differ as to the origin of Houston’s cane.

  9. William Stanbery, quoted in Niles Weekly Register, April 14, 1832.

  10. James, The Raven (1929), p. 162ff.

  11. Ibid., p. 172.

  12. Sam Houston to James Prentiss, August 18, 1832.

  13. As he told Jefferson Davis; see Williams, Sam Houston (1993), p. 113.

  14. See Stenberg, “The Texas Schemes of Jackson and Houston” (1970), p. 945.

  15. Andrew Jackson to Sam Houston, June 21, 1829.

  16. Andrew Jackson to Anthony Butler, February 25, 1832.

  17. Sam Houston to John H. Houston, December 2, 1832.

  CHAPTER 2: GONE TO TEXAS

  1. Mary Brown Austin to Stephen Austin, August 25, 1821.

  2. Bowie, “Early Life in the Southwest—The Bowies” (1852), p. 380.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Dobie, “James Bowie, Big Dealer” (1957), p. 343.

  5. The town known circa 1835 as San Antonio de Béxar was, in the documents of its time, variously referred to as San Antonio de Béxar, San Antonio, Béxar, and Bejar. For the sake of clarity, this book will reference the place as simply San Antonio, except within quotations where the original authors’ words will be retained.

  6. Santa Anna, quoted in Brands, Lone Star Nation (2004), p. 227.

  7. Sam Houston to Andrew Jackson, February 13, 1833.

  CHAPTER 3: “COME AND TAKE IT”

  1. Stephen F. Austin to the Illustrious Ayuntamiento of Béjar, October 2, 1833.

  2. Stephen Austin to Mary Austin Holley, August 31, 1835.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Anthony Butler to Andrew Jackson, December 19, 1835.

  5. Texas Republican, September 26, 1835.

  6. Andrew Ponton to Political Chief, September 29, 1835.

  7. Smithwick, The Evolution of a State (1900), pp. 102, 104–5. Accounts of the story vary, and some students of the battle believe the flag was made after the battle.

  8. Joseph D. Clements to Lieutenant Castañeda, September 30, 1835.

  9. Bennet, “Battle of Gonzales” (1899), p. 316.

  10. David B. Macomb, “Letter from Gonzales,” in Foote, Texas and the Texians (1841), p. 99.

  11. Charles Mason, “Account,” in Johnson, A History of Texas and Texans (1916), p. 270.

  12. Macomb, in Foote, Texas and the Texians (1841), p. 101.

  13. Smithwick, The Evolution of a State (1900), p. 101.

  14. Hardin, Texian Iliad—A Military History of the Texas Revolution, 1835–1836 (1994), p. 12.

  15. Garver, “Benjamin Rush Milam” (1935), p. 186.

  16. Ben Milam to Henry Smith, March 28, 1835.

  17. S——— to ———, October 22, 1835. See Jenkins, The Papers of the Texas Revolution, 1835–1836, vol. 2 (1973), pp. 193–94.

  18. Ira Ingram to S. F. Austin, Austin Papers, vol. 3 (1924), p. 181.

  19. George Collinsworth to Mrs. Margard C. Linn, October 10, 1835.

  20. New York Star, quoted in Nackman, “The Making of the Texas Citizen Soldier” (1975), p. 241.

  21. Smithwick, The Evolution of a State (1900), p. 106.

  22. Moses Austin Bryan, quoted in Barr, Texans in Revolt (1990), p. 6.

  23. Stephen Austin to David G. Burnet, October 5, 1835.

  24. General Martín Perfecto de Cos to Henry Rueg, quoted in Hardin, Texian Iliad (1994), p. 14.

  25. Order No. 1, October 11, 1835.

  26. Sam Houston to Isaac Parker, October 5, 1835.

  CHAPTER 4: CONCEPCIÓN

  1. Houston, The Writings of Sam Houston, vol. 1 (1838), p. 304.

  2. Smithwick, The Evolution of a State (1900), p. 112.

  3. Ibid., p. 138.

  4. Stephen Austin to San Felipe Committee of Safety, October 11, 1835.

  5. Step
hen Austin to Captain Philip Dimmit, October 22, 1835.

  6. James Bowie and James Fannin to Stephen Austin, October 22, 1835.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Smithwick, The Evolution of a State (1900), p. 111.

  9. “San Felipe Circular,” October 18, 1835.

  10. Moses Austin Bryan to James F. Perry, October 26, 1835.

  11. Stephen F. Austin to Council of Texas, October 26, 1836.

  12. “The Most Eligible Situation” quote taken from James Bowie and J. W. Fannin, “Official Account of the Action of the 28thl ult., at the Mission of Conception, near Bejar,” in Foote, Texas and the Texians (1841), p. 122.

  13. Stephen Austin to James Bowie, October 27, 1835.

  14. Ibid.

  15. James Bowie and J. W. Fannin, “Official Account of the Action of the 28thl ult., at the Mission of Conception, near Bejar,” in Foote, Texas and the Texians (1841), p. 122.

  16. E. L. McIlhenny, quoted in Dobie, “James Bowie, Big Dealer” (1957), p. 399n4.

  17. Davis, Three Roads to the Alamo (1998), pp. 440–41.

  18. Bowie and Fannin, “Official Account” (1836), p. 123.

  19. Smithwick, The Evolution of a State (1900), p. 114.

  20. Ibid.

  21. Bowie and Fannin, “Official Account” (1836), p. 123.

  22. Smithwick, The Evolution of a State (1900), p. 115.

  23. Austin, “Siege and Battle of Bexar” (1844).

  24. Crimmins, “American Powder’s Part in Winning Texas Independence” (1948), p. 109.

  25. Stephen Austin to President of the Consultation of Texas, October 28, 1835.

  CHAPTER 5: A SLOW SIEGE AT THE ALAMO

  1. List of stores in Jenkins, The Papers of the Texas Revolution, 1835–1836, vol. 2 (1973), p. 251.

  2. Stephen Austin to James Bowie and James Fannin, November 1, 1835.

  3. William Travis to Stephen Austin, November 16, 1835.

  4. Stephen Austin to William Travis, November 11, 1835.

  5. Stephen Austin to President of Consultation of Texas, November 5, 1835.

  6. Huston, Deaf Smith, Incredible Texas Spy (1973), pp. 1–5; Barr, Texans in Revolt (1990), p. 17.