History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties. Page: 124
[7], iv-vii, [2], 10-826, [2] p., [56] leaves of plates : ill., ports. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this book.
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194
1~~4 HISTORY OF TEXAS.
On that bloody field Burleson added new
honors to his fame as a brave soldier and
tried officer. His regiment stormed the
breastwork and captured the artillery, and
contributed its honorable share to the victory.
The morning of the day on which the battle
was fought, General Houston ordered Burleson
to detail 100 men from his regiment to
build a bridge across the bayou in case a retreat
should be necessary. Burleson replied
that he could make the detail, but he had no
idea the bridge could be built; that they had
no axes or tools of any description whatever,
or teams to haul the timber. Houston asked
him whether he intended to disobey orders.
Burleson replied that he was not disposed to
disobey orders, but that his men would much
rather fight than work. 'Then,' said Houston,
'if you are so anxious to tight you shall
have your fill before night," and immediately
made out his plan of battle.
"After the battle of San Jacinto General
Burleson returned to his home and was
elected to the senate of the first congress
of the republic. In the Cherokee war he
moved against the Indians at the head of
500 men, defeated them in a hard-fought
battle, killing many (among them their bead
chief, Bowles) and drove the remainder beyond
the limits of the republic. In the great
Indian raid of 1840 General Burleson was
second in command of the forces that met
the Indians on Plum creek, which defeated
them with great slaughter and recaptured a
vast amount of plunder. He was in a number
of hotly contested fights with the Indians,
in one of which, the battle of Brnshy, he
lost his brother, Jacob Burleson, who had
engaged the enemy before the general arrived.
"On one occasion a party of forty ive or
fifty Indians came into the settlements below
the town of Bastrop and stole a lot of horseswhile the people were at church. A man
who had remained at home discovered them,
ran to church and gave the alarm. Burleson,
with only ten men, started in immediate pursuit
and followed the trail that evening to
Piny creek near town. Next morning he
was reinforced by eight men, the pursuit was
continued and the enemy overtaken near the
Yegua, a small sluggish stream now in Lee
county. When within about 200 yards of
them, Burleson called out to the Indians to
halt; they immediately did so, and, forming
themselves in regular order, like disciplined
troops, commenced firing by squads or platoons.
When within sixty yards the battle
was opened by the Texans by the discharge
of Burleson's double-barreled shot-gun. The
conflict was of short duration. Six Indians
were killed, and the remainder fled into a
deep ravine enveloped in thickets and made
their escape.
i" In 1841 General Burleson was elected
vice president of the Republic, by a considerable
majority over General Memucan Hunt.
At Monterey he was appointed by Governor
Henderson, then in personal command of the
Texas division, one of his aides-de-camp, and
in that capacity bore a distinguished and honored
part in the fierce conflicts before that city.
"He died September 26, 1851, at the
capital of the State, while a member of the
senate then in session, and his death produced
a profound sensation throughout the country,
where his name had become as familiar as a
household word. Eloquent eulogies were
pronounced in both houses of the legislature
at his death."
An ambitious young village in Johnson
county, this State, a few miles north of Alvarado
and on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas
Railroad, is named in honor of the hero of
the foregoing memoir.'/
MISTORY O TE.M
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History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties. (Book)
Book containing a brief overview of the state of Texas and more specific focus on six specific counties, with extensive biographical sketches about persons related to the history of those places. An alphabetical index of persons who are included follows the table of contents at the front of the book.
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Lewis Publishing Company. History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties., book, 1893; Chicago, Illinois. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29785/m1/129/: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.