Horace Alsbury
Encyclopedia
Horace Arlington Alsbury (1805–1847) was one of Stephen F. Austin
's Old Three Hundred
and was also notable for his participation In the siege of San Antonio de Bexar
in November–December 1835 and on March 1, 1836, he also accompanied the thirty-two Gonzales, Texas
volunteers on their way to the Alamo. Horace Alsbury was also notable as a member of Henry Wax Karnes
's company at the Battle of San Jacinto
. He is also notable because his wife Juana Navarro Alsbury
acted as nurse for Jim Bowie
during the Battle of the Alamo
and was one of the few survivors of the battle.
, in 1805. With his father, Thomas Alsbury and his brothers James and Charles, Alsbury came to Mexican Texas
as part of Stephen F. Austin
's Old Three Hundred
. He procured title to half a league of land on the west bank of the San Bernard River
on August 3, 1824.
In August 1835, likely after being at the legislature of Coahuila and Texas in Monclova, Alsbury published a handbill warning of Antonio López de Santa Anna
's plans to drive Anglo-Americans from Texas. During the Siege of Bexar
from November to December of 1835, he was a member of Captain John York's Company. In 1836 he married Juana Navarro
, the niece of then vice-governor of Texas Juan Martin de Veramendi
.
On the morning of the 23rd, 1836, after learning of the Mexican Army's presence and entrusting his wife and family to the security of the Alamo and protection of James Bowie, Alsbury rode from the Alamo as one of the first messengers sent out by William B. Travis
. Juana Alsbury would remain in the Alamo
during the siege
and final assault
by Mexican forces.
On March 1, 1836 he accompanied the thirty-two Gonzales, Texas volunteers on their way to the Alamo. Two days later on March 3, 1836 he was in Gonzales, Texas
with other Texas volunteers after being unable to contact James Fannin
, who was expected to reinforce the Alamo.
During the Battle of San Jacinto
, Alsbury, who spoke fluent Spanish, served as a spy. The day after the battle, he and five other men captured the fleeing Santa Anna. After the battle he participated in the surveillance of the retreating Mexican troops as they marched from San Jacinto toward La Bahia and then further into Mexico
. He then returned to San Antonio de Bexar in May 1836 to take his wife and her young son away from the war ravaged town to Calavero Ranch on the old Goliad road, in present day Wilson County, Texas
.
After the war, the Congress of the Republic of Texas
recognized him for his service as a major in the infantry and also for serving as an interpreter for the post of San Antonio de Bexar. He received a land grant south of San Antonio near the site of present Von Ormy, Texas
. In 1837 he was elected as the tax assessor for Bexar County, Texas
. In 1838, Horace Alsbury and Joseph Baker, working as Indian agents of the Republic of Texas, led a group of men from San Antonio de Bexar on a peace mission to meet with the Comanche
s on the Pedernales river. They barely escaped alive, only surviving through the intervention of Francisco Antonio Ruiz
, and returned to San Antonio. In 1840 Alsbury served as commander of the Federalist leader Antonio Canales Rosillo
's bodyguard along the Rio Grande during the many running battles between Mexican general Mariano Arista's and Canales, during Canales’ and Samuel W. Jordan’s attempt to establish the Republic of the Rio Grande
. Alsbury barely escaped alive from the conflict and then he returned to Texas.
In September 1842, Alsbury was captured when Mexican
General Adrian Woll
took San Antonio. Alsbury and the other were marched to San Carlos Fortress
in Perote, Veracruz, where he remained until his release on March 24, 1844. Alsbury later accompanied the American army across the Rio Grande in 1846 during the Mexican-American War and he was killed in a battle, somewhere between Camargo, Chihuahua
, and Saltillo, Coahuila, in June 1847.
Stephen F. Austin
Stephen Fuller Austin was born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri. He was known as the Father of Texas, led the second, but first legal and ultimately successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States. The capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County,...
's Old Three Hundred
Old Three Hundred
The Old Three Hundred is a term used to describe the 297 grantees, made up of families and some partnerships of unmarried men, who purchased 307 parcels of land from Stephen Fuller Austin and established a colony near present day Brenham in Washington County, Texas.Moses Austin was the original...
and was also notable for his participation In the siege of San Antonio de Bexar
Bexar
Bexar can refer to:*Bexar County, Texas, a county in the American state of Texas containing the city of San Antonio*Bexar, Alabama, a community in Marion County, Alabama in the United States...
in November–December 1835 and on March 1, 1836, he also accompanied the thirty-two Gonzales, Texas
Gonzales, Texas
Gonzales is a city in Gonzales County, Texas, United States. The population was 7,202 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Gonzales County.-Geography:Gonzales is located at...
volunteers on their way to the Alamo. Horace Alsbury was also notable as a member of Henry Wax Karnes
Henry Wax Karnes
Henry Wax Karnes was notable as a soldier and figure of the Texas Revolution, as well as the commander of General Sam Houston's "Spy Squad" at the Battle of San Jacinto....
's company at the Battle of San Jacinto
Battle of San Jacinto
The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Sam Houston, the Texian Army engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican forces in a fight that lasted just eighteen...
. He is also notable because his wife Juana Navarro Alsbury
Juana Navarro Alsbury
Juana Navarro Alsbury was one of the few Texian survivors of the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution in 1836. As Mexican forces entered her hometown, San Antonio de Bexar, on February 23, Alsbury's cousin by marriage, James Bowie, brought her with him to the Alamo Mission so that he...
acted as nurse for Jim Bowie
Jim Bowie
James "Jim" Bowie , a 19th-century American pioneer, slave trader, land speculator, and soldier, played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution, culminating in his death at the Battle of the Alamo...
during the Battle of the Alamo
Battle of the Alamo
The Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar . All but two of the Texian defenders were killed...
and was one of the few survivors of the battle.
Biography
Horace Alsbury was born in Hopkinsville, KentuckyHopkinsville, Kentucky
Hopkinsville is a city in Christian County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 31,577 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Christian County.- History :...
, in 1805. With his father, Thomas Alsbury and his brothers James and Charles, Alsbury came to Mexican Texas
Mexican Texas
Mexican Texas is the name given by Texas history scholars to the period between 1821 and 1836, when Texas was an integral part of Mexico. The period began with Mexico's victory over Spain in its war of independence in 1821. For the first several years of its existence, Mexican Texas operated very...
as part of Stephen F. Austin
Stephen F. Austin
Stephen Fuller Austin was born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri. He was known as the Father of Texas, led the second, but first legal and ultimately successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States. The capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County,...
's Old Three Hundred
Old Three Hundred
The Old Three Hundred is a term used to describe the 297 grantees, made up of families and some partnerships of unmarried men, who purchased 307 parcels of land from Stephen Fuller Austin and established a colony near present day Brenham in Washington County, Texas.Moses Austin was the original...
. He procured title to half a league of land on the west bank of the San Bernard River
San Bernard River
-Origin:San Bernard River flows from its headwaters northwest of San Felipe, Texas to its mouth on the Gulf of Mexico, some to the southeast of the source. Its principal tributary is Caney Creek. Along its course, it passes through portions of Austin, Brazoria, Colorado, Fort Bend, Matagorda...
on August 3, 1824.
In August 1835, likely after being at the legislature of Coahuila and Texas in Monclova, Alsbury published a handbill warning of Antonio López de Santa Anna
Antonio López de Santa Anna
Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón , often known as Santa Anna or López de Santa Anna, known as "the Napoleon of the West," was a Mexican political leader, general, and president who greatly influenced early Mexican and Spanish politics and government...
's plans to drive Anglo-Americans from Texas. During the Siege of Bexar
Siege of Bexar
The Siege of Béxar was an early campaign of the Texas Revolution in which a volunteer Texan army successfully defeated Mexican forces at San Antonio de Béxar . Texians had become disillusioned with the Mexican government as President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's tenure became increasingly...
from November to December of 1835, he was a member of Captain John York's Company. In 1836 he married Juana Navarro
Juana Navarro Alsbury
Juana Navarro Alsbury was one of the few Texian survivors of the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution in 1836. As Mexican forces entered her hometown, San Antonio de Bexar, on February 23, Alsbury's cousin by marriage, James Bowie, brought her with him to the Alamo Mission so that he...
, the niece of then vice-governor of Texas Juan Martin de Veramendi
Juan Martín de Veramendi
Juan Martin de Veramendi was the governor of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas from 1832 until 1833.Veramendi was born on December 17, 1778 in San Fernando de Béxar, known as Bexar, to Fernando Veramendi and Maria Josefa Granados...
.
On the morning of the 23rd, 1836, after learning of the Mexican Army's presence and entrusting his wife and family to the security of the Alamo and protection of James Bowie, Alsbury rode from the Alamo as one of the first messengers sent out by William B. Travis
William B. Travis
William Barret Travis was a 19th-century American lawyer and soldier. At the age of 26, he was a lieutenant colonel in the Texas Army...
. Juana Alsbury would remain in the Alamo
Alamo
The Battle of the Alamo was a battle fought during the Texas Revolution.Alamo may also refer to:-Places:*Alamo Mission in San Antonio, Texas*Alamo, California*Alamo, Georgia*Alamo Township, Michigan*Alamo, Nevada*Alamo, New Mexico...
during the siege
Siege of the Alamo
The siege of the Alamo describes the first twelve days of the Battle of the Alamo. On February 23, Mexican troops under General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna entered San Antonio de Bexar, Texas and surrounded the Alamo Mission...
and final assault
Battle of the Alamo
The Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar . All but two of the Texian defenders were killed...
by Mexican forces.
On March 1, 1836 he accompanied the thirty-two Gonzales, Texas volunteers on their way to the Alamo. Two days later on March 3, 1836 he was in Gonzales, Texas
Gonzales, Texas
Gonzales is a city in Gonzales County, Texas, United States. The population was 7,202 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Gonzales County.-Geography:Gonzales is located at...
with other Texas volunteers after being unable to contact James Fannin
James Fannin
James Walker Fannin, Jr. was a 19th-century U.S. military figure on the Texas Army and leader during the Texas Revolution of 1835–36...
, who was expected to reinforce the Alamo.
During the Battle of San Jacinto
Battle of San Jacinto
The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Sam Houston, the Texian Army engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican forces in a fight that lasted just eighteen...
, Alsbury, who spoke fluent Spanish, served as a spy. The day after the battle, he and five other men captured the fleeing Santa Anna. After the battle he participated in the surveillance of the retreating Mexican troops as they marched from San Jacinto toward La Bahia and then further into Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. He then returned to San Antonio de Bexar in May 1836 to take his wife and her young son away from the war ravaged town to Calavero Ranch on the old Goliad road, in present day Wilson County, Texas
Wilson County, Texas
Wilson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 32,408. Its county seat is Floresville. The county is named after James Charles Wilson....
.
After the war, the Congress of the Republic of Texas
Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas was an independent nation in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846.Formed as a break-away republic from Mexico by the Texas Revolution, the state claimed borders that encompassed an area that included all of the present U.S...
recognized him for his service as a major in the infantry and also for serving as an interpreter for the post of San Antonio de Bexar. He received a land grant south of San Antonio near the site of present Von Ormy, Texas
Von Ormy, Texas
Von Ormy is a city located in southwest Bexar County, Texas, United States. It has been known as Von Ormy since the late 1880s. Prior to 1880, the community was known as Mann's Crossing, Garza's Crossing, Medina Crossing, and Paso de las Garzas. The former settlements of Kirk, Texas and Bexar,...
. In 1837 he was elected as the tax assessor for Bexar County, Texas
Bexar County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,392,931 people, 488,942 households, and 345,681 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,117 people per square mile . There were 521,359 housing units at an average density of 418 per square mile...
. In 1838, Horace Alsbury and Joseph Baker, working as Indian agents of the Republic of Texas, led a group of men from San Antonio de Bexar on a peace mission to meet with the Comanche
Comanche
The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...
s on the Pedernales river. They barely escaped alive, only surviving through the intervention of Francisco Antonio Ruiz
Francisco Antonio Ruiz
Francisco Antonio Ruiz was the alcalde of San Antonio during the Texas Revolution and was responsible for identifying the bodies of those killed at the Battle of the Alamo....
, and returned to San Antonio. In 1840 Alsbury served as commander of the Federalist leader Antonio Canales Rosillo
Antonio Canales Rosillo
Antonio Canales Rosillo was a 19th century politician, surveyor, and military officer.- Career:...
's bodyguard along the Rio Grande during the many running battles between Mexican general Mariano Arista's and Canales, during Canales’ and Samuel W. Jordan’s attempt to establish the Republic of the Rio Grande
Republic of the Rio Grande
The Republic of the Rio Grande was an independent nation that insurgents against the Central Mexican Government sought to establish in northern Mexico. The rebellion lasted from January 17 to November 6, 1840 and the Republic of the Rio Grande was never officially recognized.- Background :After a...
. Alsbury barely escaped alive from the conflict and then he returned to Texas.
In September 1842, Alsbury was captured when Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
General Adrian Woll
Adrián Woll
Adrián Woll was a French soldier of fortune and mercenary who served as a general in the army of Mexico during the Texas Revolution and the Mexican-American War.-Biography:...
took San Antonio. Alsbury and the other were marched to San Carlos Fortress
San Carlos Fortress
The San Carlos Fortress is a fort in the city of Perote, in the Mexican state of Veracruz. It is also known as the Fort of San Carlos, Perote Castle, the Castle of San Carlos, Perote Prison, San Carlos de Perote Fortress, and San Carlos de Perote Castle.The fortress was built from 1770 to 1776 by...
in Perote, Veracruz, where he remained until his release on March 24, 1844. Alsbury later accompanied the American army across the Rio Grande in 1846 during the Mexican-American War and he was killed in a battle, somewhere between Camargo, Chihuahua
Camargo, Chihuahua
Santa Rosalía de Camargo, originally called Santa Rosalia, and now known as "Camargo City", is a city in the eastern part of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It serves as municipal seat of Camargo municipality. It is a colonial town steeped in history. The Mission Santa Rosalía has a beautiful park...
, and Saltillo, Coahuila, in June 1847.
Sources
- Republic of Texas Claims, Texas State Archives, Austin Texas
- The Women and Children of the Alamo, Crystal Sasse Ragsdale 1995
- Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Spring, 1995), p. 153
- Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, The Alamo, San Antonio, Texas.