The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 72, July 1968 - April, 1969 Page: 472
498 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
the Republic by preventing the sailing of Santa Anna to Washington
in accordance with arrangements made by the civil government. Dur-
ing this period (again according to Dyer's son) Dyer befriended Santa
Anna in prison and in return later received a saddle, saddle blanket,
and letter of thanks from him." A few weeks after taking the Mexican
president prisoner, Green, with the assistance of Felix Huston, again
defied the civil government by refusing to accept Mirabeau B. Lamar
as general of the army.' Dyer's son tries to dissociate his father from
these disorders by distinguishing between Dyer's handpicked men
and "Green's wharf rats," but the correspondence between the general
and major during this period shows them in close association. Through-
out the summer both worked to accumulate enough men-or at least
enough names-on their muster rolls to justify their commissions. This
failing, Green decided to switch from the military to the civil govern-
ment in the late summer. Elected to the legislature from Bexar, he
left the remnants of his brigade under the watchful eye of Dyer, in-
structing Dyer to keep him informed of events in the army. This task
Dyer performed faithfully, writing the following letters describing the
problems and personalities in the Texas army during the autumn of
1836.
Leon Dyer had an eventful life behind him before he met Thomas
Jefferson Green and came to Texas as a revolutionary soldier. Born
in Alzey, Germany, on October 9, 1807, he migrated with his family
to Baltimore at an early age and was naturalized as a United States
citizen in 1833. In Baltimore he worked in his father's packing house,
one of the first in the United States, and educated himself while the
family accumulated a sizable fortune." The Bank of Maryland failed
in 1834, bringing great hardship to the citizens of Baltimore and
charges of wrongdoing on the part of the directors. During this crisis
Leon Dyer became extremely popular with the masses and for a time
'Joseph Osterman Dyer, The Early History of Galveston (Galveston, 1916), 21-25.
4See William C. Binkley, "The Activities of the Texan Revolutionary Army after San
Jacinto," The Journal of Southern History, VI (August, 1940), 331-346; Charles A. Gulick
(ed.), The Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar (6 vols.; Austin, 1920-1927), I, 525-
527; Thomas J. Green, Journal of the Texian Expedition against Mier (New York, 1845),
484-487.
'The letters are in the Thomas Jefferson Green Papers (Southern Historical Collection,
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill).
"Somewhat contradictory biographical sketches of Dyer appear in Isaac Landman (ed.),
The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia (1o vols.; New York, 1941), III, 617; and The Jewish
Encyclopedia (12 vols.; New York, 1964), V, 23. Dyer's certificate of naturalization is in
the Leon Dyer Papers.372
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 72, July 1968 - April, 1969, periodical, 1969; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117146/m1/426/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.