Isaac Hamilton's unbelievable ordeal of survival is embedded within a day-by-day timeline of the military and political events that occurred during the Texas Revolution.
Isaac Hamilton
Surviving Amidst the Texas RevolutionBy Dennis RiedeselAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2012 Dennis Riedesel
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4772-6946-6Contents
PREFACE....................................1PROLOGUE...................................71823.......................................71824.......................................71825.......................................81826.......................................81829.......................................81831.......................................91832.......................................91833.......................................91834.......................................91835.......................................10ACT I Getting To Texas.....................211836.......................................25ACT II Fort Defiance.......................36ACT III Escape.............................56Epilogue:..................................811836.......................................811837.......................................811838.......................................821839.......................................821840.......................................831841.......................................851846.......................................851847.......................................871849.......................................871852.......................................891854.......................................901857.......................................911858.......................................921859.......................................921860.......................................9318??.......................................931876.......................................93Author's Notes.............................95Bibliography...............................99
Chapter One
ACT I Getting To Texas
Does anyone know where I would be able to find Plácido Benavides?
Saturday, November 28
• Isaac Hamilton and the Alabama Red Rovers:
* Prelude to Battle of the Coleto
• The formation of the Company.
• Late November and early December
It was late in the fall of 1835 that Doctor Jack Shackelford, the physician in our town of Courtland, Alabama returned from a visit to Washington DC. I don't know why he went to Washington. Maybe it was to visit his old senator friends from the time he was a senator from Shelby County. Or maybe he visited the President of the United states, Andrew Jackson, who was his general from the battle of New Orleans during the war of 1812 (Hamilton L., p. 11), (Roell).
But I always thought it was odd that after Dr. Shackelford returned to Courtland, he started talking about going to Texas. He had several newspaper articles that talked about Alabamians going to the aid of the Texans (Elliott). We talked about the fight that was brewing, but we also knew that any Texas settler would receive a league and a labor of land. We did not know how much land that was but we soon found out that was 4605 acres (Long). Many of us were not the first born sons in our family, so this information was of interest to us since we were not in line to receive the lands that belonged to our fathers.
On a Saturday afternoon, Dr. Shackelford spoke to the townspeople in the town square of Courtland about going to Texas. One of the old men cried out that he was too old to fight but he could contribute money! He slapped a $100.00 grant on a table and said, "Here's $100.00 to go to Texas!" and soon thereafter eleven other men each put down $100.00 (Gentry, pp. 37-38).
The ladies of the town found some old sailcloth that they dyed using the red clay from the Tennessee River, cut-up, and sewed into hinting frocks and broad-fall pants. (Courtland, Alabama). They found some red and white checkered material for shirts, made blue vests, and blue forage caps—which we promptly discarded for nice warm coon skin caps. Because of these red hunting frocks and pants, we named our company the Alabama Red Rovers. A bit of cloth was also dyed red and became our battle flag (Noles), (Note 2).
Sunday, November 29 through Friday, December 4
• Texan Military Action:
* Siege of Bexar
• Texian insurgent forces decide to abandon the siege of Béxar and go into winter camp in Goliad
• Ben Milam returns from a scouting mission and calls for volunteers to begin an assault on Mexican forces ensconced in the Alamo.
Saturday, December 5
• Texan Military Action:
* Siege of Bexar
• In San Antonio de Béxar, Ben Milam and the Texan volunteers began the assault on General Cos and his forces in and around the Alamo.
Sunday, December 6
• Texan Military Action:
* Prelude to Battle of the Coleto
• James w. Fannin is commissioned a Colonel in the regular Texas Army (Hartmann).
Monday, December 7 through wednesday, December 9
• Texan Military Action:
* Siege of Bexar
• In san Antonio de Béxar, Ben Milam and the Texan forces assault General Cos and his forces in and around the Alamo.
Thursday, December 10
• Mexican Military Action:
* Siege of Bexar
• General Cos surrenders about 1,000 Mexican troops who are paroled to Mexico with a promise not to fight against the Texans (Peña, p. 11).
Friday, December 11
• Mexican Military Action:
* Siege of Bexar
• General Cos begins to withdraw his forces towards the Río Bravo del Norte [Rio Grande River] (Peña, p. 11).
Saturday, December 12
• Isaac Hamilton and the Alabama Red Rovers:
* Prelude to Battle of the Coleto
• Red Rovers leave Courtland, Alabama.
After we donned our red uniforms and secured our equipment, we proceeded to go to the railroad for the trip to Tuscumbia which is near Muscle shoals on the Tennessee River. You may ask, "Rail cars in 1835?" Courtland got a steam engine from England in 1834 and built one of the first railroads in the United states. Built to carry the goods and supplies from our plantations and farms to the Tennessee River, the railroad ran from Decatur to Courtland and then down to Tuscumbia. Then, below Muscle shoals, our goods were loaded on riverboats and sent down the Tennessee River, to the Ohio River, onto the Mississippi River, and down to New Orleans for shipment (Courtland, Alabama).
Muscle shoals was a rough water portion of the Tennessee River. It was the north-eastern most part of the river that the steamboats could operate. The keel boat operators really had to use their muscles to navigate through these shoals where the steamboats could not go.
We had a lot of trouble keeping the steam engine running, so the rail cars were pulled by draft animals. But, as far as we know, we were the first military troop movement to move by train in the United states (Courtland, Alabama).
Sunday, December 13—Last Quarter Moon
• Isaac Hamilton and the Alabama Red Rovers:
* Prelude to Battle of the Coleto
• Red Rovers board the William Penn.
We boarded a side wheeled paddle boat named the William Penn and steamed down the Tennessee River to the Ohio River. At Paducah, Kentucky, we transferred over to the Kentuckian for the trip down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River and then on to New Orleans (shackelford Account), (Dayton).
Saturday, December 19—New Moon
Sunday, December 20
• Governmental Action:
* Prelude to Battle of the Coleto
• Members of Captain Philip Dimmitt's company...
