The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 28, July 1924 - April, 1925 Page: 302

302 Southwestern Historical Quarterly
THE OFFICE OF ADJUTANT GENERAL IN TEXAS,
1835-1881
CLARENCE P. DENMAN
With the exception of a few brief intermissions, Texas has had
an adjutant general in her service from October, 1835, down to
the present time. However, there remain but few official records
of the adjutant general's department for the period covered by
this paper; for in 1855, the office was destroyed by fire and none
of the records which had been filed up to that time were saved.
Again in 1881, when the old capitol was burned, the great bulk
of the records of the department filed since the earlier fire were
destroyed. The records of the department since 1881 are fairly
complete and well kept.
This lack of official records for the period of this paper pre-
cludes a well balanced or complete account of the transactions in
the department. The sources of information which are available
are very unevenly distributed and leave considerable doubt as to
the nature of the office at times. Furthermore, the position of
the adjutant general was changed several times in conformity with
the general military policy and with the condition of the treasury,
thereby making it impossible to give a general statement of the
functions and duties of the adjutant general for the whole period.
The orders in Stephen F. Austin's Order Book during the Cam-
paign of 1835 show that the duties of the earliest adjutants general
were somewhat the same as for the later periods. And, since the
Texas Army was modelled after the United States Army, and since
the rules and regulations of the United States Army were to apply
to the Texas Army where it had none of its own,1 it may be con-
cluded that the position of the adjutant general of the Texas Army
was similar to that of the adjutant general of the United States
Army. In the "Rules and Regulations for the Government of
the Army of the Republic of Texas," which were issued in 1839
'Ordinance of the Consultation, approved November 26, 1835, Gammel,
Laws of Texas, I, 926; Joint Resolution of Congress, approved November
30, 1836, Ibid., 1112; Houston's veto message of December 17, 1836,
Journal of the House of Representatives, 1st Congress, 1st Session, 291.