The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 7, July 1903 - April, 1904 Page: 166

166 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.

MILES SQUIER BENNET.'
ADELE B. LOOSCAN
HISTORIAN, DAUGHTERS OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS.
Colonel Miles Squier Bennet died at his home on the Guadalupe
river, north of Cuero, at 5 o'clock on the evening of May 3. With
the passing of this venerable representative of the old school, Texas
mourns one of those who shared her early trials in the days when
enemies beset her on every hand, one who contributed- to her wel-
fare as a citizen, as a soldier, as a noble Christian gentleman.
His father was Major Valentine Bennet, and his mother lIary
Kibbe. They lived near Buffalo, New York, where, on December
14, 1818, Miles Squier was born; soon afterward the family emi-
grated to Louisiana, his mother died and his father took him to
Cincinnati, where he remained until 1838, when, with his father,
who had, in the meanwhile, become a colonist in Texas, he went to
the Lone Star State.
As a member of De Witt's colony, his father was one of those
brave men who in 1835 made Gonzales famous for her defiant atti-
tude toward Mexican aggression. His name is recorded as one of
the "Old Eighteen Defenders of Gonzales." He also took part in
the battle of Concepcion, and was complimented by his commander
for efficient services at the siege of Bexar in the same year. In the
Texas army he held the rank of assistant quartermaster general.
At the time of the arrival of Miles S. Bennet in Texas, which was
on June 3, 1838, that being the date of his landing at Galveston,
his father was a commissioned officer stationed at San Antonio by
order of General Barnard E. Bee; and in this service he also
enlisted. Under Captain Hays, he engaged in surveying lands on
the Frio river, where he several times narrowly escaped capture
at the hands of the Indians; he engaged in many scouting parties
against them in the general defense of the settlers, and when the
Mexican General Vasquez invaded Texas, he served in the com-
mands of Generals Henry and Ben McCulloch in their march
"Reprinted from the Sa Antonio Sunday Light for May 31, 1903.