The Irish Texans
John Brendan Flannery
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The Irish Texans
John Brendan Flannery
~.p ~:~;~;;;~ o~;;~xan Cultures
The Irish Texans
by John Brendan Flannery
Second, revised edition
Copyright © 1995
The University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures
801 South Bowie Street, San Antonio, Texas 78205-3296
Rex H. Ball, Executive Director
Carey Deckard, Director of Production
Design of 1980 edition by John E. Johnson
ITC Production Staff for 1995 edition: Sandra Hodsdon Carr, editor;
James G. Cosgrove, designer; and Thomas Shelton, photographic researcher
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 79-89957
International Standard Book Number 0-86701-071-1
All rights reserved
This publication has been made possible, in part, by a grant from
The Houston Endowment, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
Forevvord 1
San jacinto 7
Why Were They Here? 13
An Irish Conquistador and Others 15
Irish Mexicans 21
The "Non-Irish" Colonies 25
The Irish Empresarios 29
The San Patricio Colony 35
The Refugio Colony 41
Everyday Life in the Colonies 47
Tvvo Would-be Tovvns and
a Texas Frontier Storekeeper 57
Pro-Mexican Irish? 63
The First Skirmishes 69
The Santa Anna Campaign 73
None Paid a Greater Price 77
The Irish of Victoria 89
Disturbances in the Irish Colonies, 1835-1852 95
Texas Irish and the Civil War 97
The Irish of San Antonio 101
The Irish of the Corpus Christi Area 107
The Liberty-Beaumont Areas 117
Irish Railroaders and Houston-Galveston 121
All of God's Children 127
Honorable Mention 133
Not All Wore White Hats 137
In Conclusion 141
About the Author 144
Acknovvledgments 145
Sources 146
Unpublished Manuscripts 148
Family Records 148
Notes 149
Photographic Credits 160
Index 163
Foreword
The history of the Irish in Texas parallels that of the state. Although heavy
concentrations of this Celtic people appeared in certain areas of early Texas
such as Staggers Point, west of the Guadalupe River, and in towns like San
Antonio, Corpus Christi, Refugio, and Houston, they left their imprint on the
whole state.
Their special contributions have sometimes passed unnoticed because of
their very numbers and the fact that they are often classified as Anglo-Saxon or
Anglo-American. Some authors refer to them as English, probably because, in
the 18th and early 19th centuries, all sailings of the Irish for America originated
at English ports. Another possible explanation may be found in the English Act
of Union of 1800 which declared Ireland, Scotland, and Wales to be one nation
with England-a union the Celtic Irish never recognized and continued to resist
until they gained independence in 1921.
While any pure racial strains may have long since ceased to exist, the Irish
can properly claim, with the Highland Scots, Welsh, and inhabitants of Brittany,
that they represent the survival of an ethnic group that once dominated Eu­rope-
the Celts. Their language, customs, traditions, and history are Celtic.
This heritage has, throughout history, reinforced their identity as a people. It
had done so for more than a thousand years before Anglo -Saxon ism originated
in England in the melding of those two Germanic peoples with others already
there. The strength and resilience of Celtic culture explain two other points in
1
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this account that may cause controversy: the claiming as Irish of those of Irish
birth with obviously non-Irish names and of those with Irish names who were
not born in Ireland.
The Irish have always absorbed and molded to the Irish image those who
came to live among them. Such newcomers became identified with Ireland, her
history, and her culture. Ireland had a rich tradition and culture that absorbed
newcomers. Their names became Celticized, and, in the complaint of the Eng­lish
Lord Asquith, "they became more Irish than the Irish themselves." Jews, for
example, were not easily absorbed by most other nations, but in Ireland they
became "Irish," identifying with the Irish and their struggle for political and
national freedom. Even Vikings became "Irish." Today's name Dillon is con­sidered
Irish, but dates back to the Viking raiders of the 7th and 8th centuries
who established a settlement that later became Dublin. Names like Power (de
Poer), Burke (de Burgo), and Fitzgerald date to Anglo-Norman times. The 12th
century Normans were absorbed and Celticised with amazing speed and thor­oughness.
The process of absorption has continued to modern times-much to
the dismay of the conquering English. Many of Ireland's latter-day national he­roes
bear names like Tone, Emmet, Davis, Parnell, and Griffith. Thus, anyone
born in Ireland or immediately involved in any part of the Irish experience is
considered Irish.
That which gave cohesion and identification to the Irish in Ireland was not a
political system. Their political history is, in fact , one of fragmentation and dis­unity.
Even so, they recognized a shared culture, language, social and tribal sys­tem,
legal system, mythology, literature, and even pagan religious roots-all
distinctly Celtic and Irish. Since their commonality was not a national political
system, it bound the Irish throughout the world in a sense of sharing something
unique that transcends nationalism.
The bearer of an Irish name or descent may know nothing of his forebears'
history or of his heritage, but he does know that he is one with a people dis­tinct
and apart from others. That "Irish identity" is preserved wherever the
Irish go, and the awareness of it is handed down to later generations. In Texas
today, among the descendants of the 1830's Irish pioneers, one finds that same
strong identification with the Irish heritage. Thus, anyone who bears an ancient
Celtic surname can call himself "Irish."
One final reminder to the reader who is not familiar with Texas history: Texas
was settled, revolution was carried out, and the frontiers were explored by
handfuls of determined men. Populations were smaller then. Many ethnic
groups and nationalities were represented, and all Texans have reason to be
proud. In 1835 the population of the province was about 30,000-and those
were sharply divided on the issue of independence. Up to and at the time of the
Battle of San Jacinto, the Texas army was counted in the hundreds, and most
were citizen-soldiers.
3
But there were Irish Mexicans by political adoption before this revolution,
and many an Irish settler long after. Small as the early numbers were, this is only
the story of examples of Irish participation in Texas's settlement, indepen­dence,
and development up to the turn of the 20th century. Irish descendants
are now legion, and a book listing "everyone" or bestowing contemporary
honors is not the purpose here.
t
au mont
McMullen and McGloin Colony Christi
Power and Hewetson Colony
The Irish colonies and other areas oj Irish settlement
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5
San Jacinto
As battles go, San jacinto was a small one. There were no massed thousands
on either side, no great artillery duels, and only one mounted charge. The
opposing armies met, and the issue was decided-in 18 minutes-on a few acres
of ground in what was known locally as "the McCormick League." Yet many
historians rank that short, bloody conflict with Arbela, Tours, Saratoga, and
Waterloo as one of the decisive battles that forever changed history. The very
place-names-Buffalo Bayou and San Jacinto River-identify the conflict be­tween
an advancing new American frontier and an established order of Euro­pean
derivation.
Such considerations were far from the thoughts of the soldiers gathered there
on the evening of April 21, 1836. Some, oblivious to the heaps of Mexican dead,
succumbed to postbattle weariness-a mixture of relief and thankfulness for
survival. Others, brandishing the long rifles that had proved so devastating,
were busy herding prisoners. Propped against a tree directing all the hubbub
was the injured general, Sam Houston, his ankle shattered by a rifleball.
For days afterward, hot sunshine alternated with periods of rain, and some
six hundred enemy corpses lay unburied on the battlefield. In spite of the
unbearable stench, the wounded and feverish general remained at the site,
eager to exploit his victory and stem the panicked flight of Texas families. Until
he was moved on May 1, his makeshift headquarters managed both official
business-especially after the capture of Santa Anna-and unofficial activities,
for the plain of St. Hyacinth had immediately become a tourist attraction.
7
The marsh on the McCormick property which prevented the escape of the retreating
Mexican army
8
A few days after the battle, Mrs. Peggy McCormick came galloping into the
field and headed straight for General Houston, who was surrounded by sub­ordinates,
couriers, and scouts. Exhibiting the frontiersman's deference for
women, the men fell silent at her approach and cleared a path. She reined in her
horse a few feet from the general and addressed him with an agitation that gave
emphasis to her Irish brogue, curtly requesting him to remove the "stinking
corpses" from her land.
Sam Houston regarded the distraught woman. The decomposing bodies had
indeed concerned him; he had even discussed the matter with Santa Anna, yet
nothing had been accomplished so far. Irish colonist John J. Linn, who was
among those delivering supplies to the camp, records Houston's polite but
patronizing response:
"Madam, your land will be famed in history as the classic spot upon which
the glorious victory of San Jacinto was gained! Here was born, in the throes of
revolution, and amid the strife of contending legions, the infant of Texan inde­pendence!
Here that latest scourge of mankind, the arrogantly self-styled
'Napoleon of the West' met his fate!"
"To the devil with your glorious history!" answered the impatient Irish­woman,
then, wheeling her horse, she roughly demanded that Houston remove
the corpses and galloped off. 1
Peggy McCormick personified that sudden practicality of Irish womanhood
that has always acted as a moderating influence on the rash and impetuous
idealism of the men. She and her husband, an Irish barrister, had left Ireland in
1822 and had taken up land on the Texas coast near the present city of Houston.
Her husband, Arthur, drowned in the San Jacinto River in 1832, and Peggy
McCormick was left alone to raise two young sons and operate a ranch. She
proved herself a strong-willed woman.
On April 16, 1836, a few days prior to San JaCinto, her son Michael had been
dispatched by General Houston to New Washington to warn the Texas presi­dent,
David G. Burnet, and his cabinet of the approach of the Mexican army. On
the way Michael discovered an advance party of 50 dragoons under Colonel
Juan N. Almonte riding hard for the town. Putting spurs to his horse, he out­distanced
the Mexican detachment and rode into New Washington minutes
ahead of them. There he found Burnet haggling with the ferry operator about
transport. At McCormick's shouted warning, Burnet jumped into the rowboat,
which immediately put out from shore. The young messenger spurred his horse
into the brush as the frustrated Mexicans dashed to the river bank. Several
leveled their guns at the receding rowboat, but Almonte forbade their shooting
because a woman, Mrs. Burnet, was in the boat.2
The McCormicks were not the only Irish, nor the first, to be associated with
Texas and its history. Irish have been a part of Texas from Spanish times to the
present. They came as soldiers and statesmen in Spanish service; they came as
9
The Battle of San Jacinto, by Irish-born Harry Arthur McArdle, completed in I 895. In
order to create an authoritative record of the battle, McArdle interviewed survivors
and located uniforms, equipment, and portraits of participants. Detail below shows
Sam Houston (lower right) waving his hat as he prepares to lead his men on foot.
10
colonials under Mexican law; and no group paid a higher price for Texas
independence than did the Irish colonies west of the Guadalupe River. Their
men fought and fell at the Alamo, Goliad, San Patricio, Agua Dulce Creek,
Coleto Creek, and Refugio. Their homes, land, and livestock were raided and
laid waste by Mexican and Texan armies. What was left was pillaged by maraud­ing
bands of Indians, Mexican brigands, and American freebooters. But the
Irish-Texan story began long before this.
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San Jacinto battlefield; Peggy McCormick's house (lower right) near
McCormick's Lake
11
Survivors of earlier engagements were with General Houston at San Jacinto.
Among them were Irish-born William McGuill, William Redmond, Walter Lam­bert,
Thomas O'Connor, James O'Connor, Charles Malone, Edmund Quirk, Mar­tin
O'Toole, William Cassidy, and Daniel O'Driscoll of the Irish colonies west of
the Guadalupe River and Robert Henry, Edward McMillan, Benjamin Bryant, and
Matthew Dunn of the Scots Irish of Staggers Point near the Brazos River. ;I In aU,
about a hundred Irish-born men participated in the Battle of San Jacinto, making
up about one-seventh of the Texas army.
12
Why Were They Here?
The Irish presence in Texas was part of a long stream of emigration that
started with the English defeat of Irish armies at the Battle of Kinsale, Ireland,
in 1602. It slackened only with the attainment of Irish independence 320 years
later. The Irish were robbed of their ancestral lands, denied education, and
prohibited from holding office or having political representation. They were
persecuted for their religion and forbidden their age-old culture and legal sys­tem.
They were reduced to that state so aptly described by an English Lord
Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice of the late 18th century: "No such person as
an Irish Catholic is presumed to exist under English law." 1
Generation after generation rose in futile, and disunited, opposition to Eng­lish
rule. After each defeat new bands of emigrants headed for France, Spain,
Austria-any nation that was at war with England. Some of these and their des­cendants
came to New Spain and Texas. They were sometimes listed on immi­gration
roles as natives of their adopted countries.
When the English king, William of Orange, defeated the Irish at the Boyne
River in 1690, the government appropriated the lands of the northern Celtic
Irish and parceled them out to Scottish Lowlanders of William's army. These
were principally Presbyterians. Those of the dispossessed Irish who were not
shipped to the Carolinas or West Indies were allowed to stay on their ancestral
lands as menials, providing cheap labor. Thus, by a national policy 300 years
ago, England created in Northern Ireland a situation that pitted "haves"against
13
"have nots" and religion against religion. Some of the fruits are still being
reaped in Northern Ireland today. The Scottish "planters," while they sought to
preserve their economic advantage, identified with the country like all who
had come to Ireland before and came to be known as "Scots Irish."
Initially, as Protestants, the Presbyterian, or Scots, Irish enjoyed certain eco­nomic
rights denied to the Catholic Irish.2 However, during the 18th century,
they suffered equally with Catholics from the rapaciousness of landlords and
from England's mercantilist policies. 3 Also, like the Catholics, they were forced
to pay tithes for the support of the Anglican Church to which they did not
belong.
In 1703 England passed the Test Act. This act required all officeholders in
Ireland to conform to the "established," or Anglican, Church. The Presbyterian
Irish saw in this an extension to them of the discrimination already legislated
against the Catholic Irish.4 England's "choking off" of the developing woolen
trade and the discriminatory English Corn Laws further alienated that segment
of the Irish. As a consequence, more than 250,000 individuals immigrated to
the American colonies between 1717 and the Revolutionary War. 5
In Ireland common cause brought Catholics and Protestants together in a
political movement of the late 18th century known as "The United Irishmen."
The goal was an Irish republic, and the result was the 1798 Uprising. It was
bloodily put down by the English with the aid of Hessian mercenaries. The
brutal reprisals thereafter visited upon a helpless citizenry increased the stream
of emigration.6
In the 19th century, England's unchanged mercantilist policies continued to
feed that stream. The Irish saw no future in a land where, as in the 1840's, their
livestock and grain was being shipped to England, while millions of Irish died
from starvation due to the failure of the potato crop.7 They continued to be
second-class citizens in their own land. Advancement for even the learned and
professional depended upon their support of a governmental system dedicated
to the abolition of the only thing left to them-their identity as a people. Little
wonder that families scrimped and saved to send their bright young people to
places like Texas where opportunity beckoned.
14
An Irish Conquistador
and Others
While the area of the New World now known as Texas was under Spanish
rule, the Irish were here as soldiers, administrators, priests, and settlers. They
remained when Mexico obtained its independence, and some helped shape
Mexican history.
A rigorous dedication to the service of his king and adopted country broke
the health of an 18th century conquistador known to the Indians, because of
his red hair, as "Capitan Colorado." Hugh O'Connor was born in Dublin in 1734
but later, running afoul of the English, fled to Spain. He entered the military
and became an officer in the Volunteer Regiment of Aragon. Service in Cuba
was followed by assignment to New Spain, of which Texas was a part. In Span­ish
his name became Hugo Oconor, and his appointments increased in rank. He
came to Texas in 1767 and served as governor from that year to 1770. 1 In 1768
he participated in the laying of the first stones for the walls of the church at
Mission San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo in San Antonio.2
Beginning in the late 1600's, the Apache Indians had carried on unrelenting
warfare against Spanish settlements. Their attacks increased in frequency and
ferocity during the 18th century as they were driven from their hunting
grounds by the more powerful Comanches. Spanish officials estimated that,
between 1748 and 1772, the Apaches killed more than 4,000 persons and stole
or destroyed property valued at over 12 million pesos.'
15
Mission San Jose, San Antonio, 1860's. Hugo Ocon6r and Fray Gaspar Jose de Solis,
guardian of the college at Zacatecas, laid the first stones for the walls of this church
during ceremonies held on March 19, 1768.
The estimates were probably high, but the trouble was constant. Spanish
garrisons were undermanned, and there was no uniform policy for dealing
with the Indians. Some local commanders fought them, while others tried to
pacify them with gifts and treaties. The missionaries tried to teach them peace­ful
pursuits, Christianize them, and induce them to settle on the land. Com­pared
with the small successes the padres had with some Indian groups, how­ever,
they had practically no influence on the Apaches.
Garrison soldiers were poorly armed and poorly mounted. Morale was low in
some presidios. Enlisted men were often even in debt to their commanders,
who at times made questionable deductions from their pay. An inspection of
Texas settlements and garrisons in 1767 disclosed glaring weaknesses in de­fense.
San Antonio, the most important Spanish settlement in Texas, was
defended by as few as 22 soldiers, and some of these spent their time away from
town guarding five nearby missions. Several times even the horses of the
presidio were stolen by Indians. Time and again, ranchers were driven from
their lands, and, when the Apaches were on the prowl, none dared leave the
security of town or mission except in large groups. Lone horsemen or small
groups were often captured or killed. These were the conditions facing Colonel
Hugo Oconor when, in 1772, he was made comandante inspector, directly
16
,
Presidio La Bahia, Goliad, 1890's. In 1772 Hugo Ocon6r became comandante
inspector over this presidio and all others in the northern provinces of Mexico.
responsible to the viceroy and charged with bringing order and security to the
northern frontier of New Spain, which extended from Texas to California.
Abandoning some of the less-defensible positions, he formed a defense line
with the 22 presidios extending from La Bahia at Goliad in Texas to Santa
Gertrudis de Altar in Sonora near the Gulf of California-a distance of 1,500
miles. These he manned with 2,300 men, assigning regular patrols. This thin
defensive line was to put a stop to the Indian raids into Mexico. Meanwhile, he
mounted an offensive campaign that drove back the Apaches.
OCOnor's reorganization of the frontier garrisons involved establishing stan­dards
of arms, dress, mounts, and proficiency of the soldier. Commanders were
forbidden to buy and sell supplies to the troops. Salaries were set for all ranks,
and a paymaster was made responsible for finances and the procurement of
supplies. The duties and responsibilities of each rank were specified, and a
promotional system based On merit was inaugurated. 4
17
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Within four years this dedicated
Irishman had brought relative peace
and security to the frontier of New
Spain. However, the responsibilities
of his administration and the rigors
of Indian campaigns, which he occa­sionally
would lead personally, left
him broken in health. Oconor was
transferred from his frontier duty and
died at age 45 while serving as gov-ernor
of Yucatan. Signature of Hugo Oconor, July 22, 1768
Oconor was not the only Irishman to undergo a name change to adapt to the
pronunciation of a foreign language. In Spain O'Donoghue became O'Donoju,
and Murphy became Morphy or Morfi.
One of the latter, Juan Agustin Morfi, priest and historian, faithfully recorded
life as he saw it in New Spain. In 1777 he accompanied Coman dante General de
Croix on his tour of the provinces, making notes for his Viaje de Indios. He
visited Texas and later wrote a history of the area. Not much escaped the good
padre's keen eye, and he did not hesitate to record a couple of incidents of some
embarrassment to himself. Father Morfi was apparently an avid fisherman, but
poor weather and official business had kept him from this sport when he first
came to San Antonio. Finally, with a break in the weather, he and two of de
Croix's officers decided to try their luck in the San Antonio River. They were
crossing the plaza ankle-deep in mud when they were startled by a sound from
behind. A bull was loose in the plaza and seemed determined to occupy the
area alone. He charged and, self-preservation taking precedence over sport for
the day, the three men ran for their lives despite the mud. Misfortune seemed to
attend Father Morfi's attempts at fishing-at least in the Texas area. On the
return trip to Mexico, he stopped to fish in the Rio Grande, but, through un­explained
circumstances, fell in! '; He was apparently an indifferent angier, but
there can be no doubt of his superior ability as a chronicler. Modern historians
owe much to him for his objective account of life in those times.
There were other Irish in Texas during Spanish times. The censuses of Nacog­doches,
on the eastern border, record many Irish-born Spanish subjects. The
1792 census indicates that Philip Nolan of Belfast was one of the first. Other
sources show that James Conilt was there in 1786.6 This may be the same man
listed in the 1801 records as James Maconilt. Other 18th century listings of
Irish-born men are: Richard Sims and William Barr in 1793; Francisco Cornegay,
1794; Thomas Blain, 1796; and James McNulty "of Munster" in 1797. Between
the years 1801 and 1806, the census records show seven other Irishmen as
Spanish subjects. One ofthese is listed as John Oconor, "native of the capital of
Connaught." The references to Munster and Connaught, Irish provinces, are
18
unusual. An Irishman generally identifies himself by the county from which he
came rather than the province.
Since Louisiana was under Spanish domination during the latter part of the
18th century, entry of foreign settlers to Texas from the east was easy. Once in
Louisiana, they were only a step from Texas. Most who came to Nacogdoches
entered from the former French colony.
The Irish had long been interested in settlement in Lousiana. In 1787 a Vir­ginian,
Bryan Browin, requested permission to bring 12 wealthy Irish families
to that area. In that year a William Fitzgerald was allowed a 1,000 peso advance
to transport 30 Irish families from New York. An Irishman, retired French army
officer Augustine MacArty (McCarthy), offered to induce two to three thou­sand
Irish Catholics to settle in Louisiana.7 It is impossible to ascertain the num­ber
of Irish that came to Louisiana as a result of these efforts, but there was con­siderable
Irish emigration from the United States. Some of these drifted west
into Texas.
In 1806 plans went forward for the founding in Texas of a town on the Trinity
River west of Nacogdoches. It was to be named Villa de Santlsima Trinidad de
Salcedo. Founders came from Louisiana and Bexar (San Antonio). Some Irish
were already there when, in January of 1807, 16 persons arrived from Bexar.s
Among the Irish at Villa de Santisima Trinidad de Salcedo were: Miguel Quinn,
Juan Magee and family, Enrique Seridan (Sheridan), the family of Juan Lunn,
Hugo Coyle,9 James Fear and family, and John Mulroney.lo In 1809 new settlers
appearing at Salcedo were Patricio Fitzgerald and Timoteo Barrett of Ireland. II
Zebulon Pike, in his Journals, mentions reaching the Trinity River in Texas
(probably at Salcedo), and meeting, among others, a number of Irishmen.
19
Irish Mexicans
Mexico records many Irish names in its political, religious, and intellectual
life. Two such names are Obregon (O'Brien) and Barragan (Berrigan). In the
early 1800's, an Ignacio Obregon is listed as one of many large landowners pro­testing
a Spanish law that threatened the Mexican economy. I Joaquin Obregon
headed the Finance and Commerce Committee of Agustin de Iturbide's cabinet
after 1821. Obregons were later prominent in Mexican politics-one of them a
president of the republic.
General Miguel Barragan served as interim president of Mexico under Santa
Anna. A Captain Marcos Barragan was with Santa Anna's army in Texas in 1836;
escaping from San Jacinto, he brought news of the defeat to General Jose de
Urrea.2 GeneralJuan O'Donoju (O'Donoghue) served as the last viceroy to New
Spain in 1821 and affirmed Mexican independence. His chaplain, Father Miguel
Muldoon, is of special interest to Texas because of his involvement with the
Austin colonists.
Father Muldoon was the son of an Irishman who fled to Spain and there
married a Spanish girl. Muldoon entered the priesthood in Spain, but a love of
adventure caused him to ask for assignment in the New World. On arrival in
Mexico, he asked to be assigned to the frontier. Eventually he was assigned to
Stephen F. Austin's colony and seemed to adapt readily to frontier conditions.
Muldoon, apparently of a friendly nature and jovial disposition, got along well
with the Anglo-American colonists, most of whom were Protestants, although
21
Generaljuan O'Donoju,
the last Spanish viceroy
before Mexican independence
they had professed Catholicism in order to enter Spanish Texas. They looked
forward to his scheduled visits for baptisms and weddings. He enlivened such
festive events by his wit and ready humor and had the ability to compose, on
the spot, poetry to fit the occasion. The toast he gave on January 1, 1832, at a
banquet honoring Stephen F. Austin, is one example and conveys something of
the personal philosophy of the man.
Father Muldoon's Toast:
May plow and harrow, spade and fack
Remain the arms of Anahuac
So that her rich and boundless plains
May yearly yield all sorts of grains.
Mayall religious discord fall
And friendship be the creed of all.
With tolerance your pastor views
All sects of Christians, Turks, and Jews.
We now demand three rousing cheers
Great Austin's health and pioneers. 3
22
Marker honoring
Father Miguel Muldoon,
Fayette County
Father Muldoon rendered invaluable aid to the early colonists in their con­troversies
with Mexican officialdom. In 1832 he and Thomas Jefferson Cham­bers
helped the colonists draft, in Spanish, their protests against the newly
established customshouse at Anahuac. On Trinity Bay east of the present city of
Houston, Anahuac was a required port of entry for colonists and supplies. The
settlers objected to customs regulations and fees.
There was no question of Muldoon'S personal courage. Some colonists had
been imprisoned at Anahuac following their protest, and he accompanied their
angry neighbors, who marched to their aid. To prevent bloodshed, he attempt­ed
conciliation with the Mexican commander and, failing, offered himself as a
hostage for the prisoners. 4 At another time he went alone to an Indian camp and
secured the release of a captive white woman.
In 1834 Stephen F. Austin was in prison in Mexico City suspected of sup­porting
revolution. Father Muldoon visited him there, bringing food and books
and giving what aid and comfort he could.5 Later, without regard for his own
safety, he aided William H. Wharton in escaping from prison at Matamoros,
Mexico. Wharton had been captured at sea by the Mexican navy on his return
to Texas from the United States, where he had been lobbying in support of
annexation. Muldoon apparently had great sympathy for the Texas cause.
23
Today one hears the Texas term "Muldoon Catholic" applied to one whose
Catholicism is only a veneer. It was used in frontier days for those members of
Father Muldoon's flock who, originally Protestant, professed Catholicism only
to secure Mexican lands in Texas. The conditions of frontier life, the distances
to be traveled, and the lack of educational facilities prompted a rather prag­matic
approach on Father Muldoon's part in accepting and certifying as "Catho­lic"
those whose conversions were superficial. It is not a criticism of his per­sonal
faith.
Father Muldoon earned the love and respect of the Texans who knew him.6
Before he left Texas he received from President Sam Houston, in behalf of the
people of Texas, a letter thanking him for the services he had rendered. A town
in Fayette County was named in his memory, and on Highway 77, south of the
town of La Grange, stands a memorial erected to the memory of this "Forgotten
man of Texas history."
24
The "Non-Irish" Colonies
The Irish in Texas are often thought of in terms of the so-called "Irish colo­nists"
of San Patricio and Refugio. They were the most noticeable Texas Irish.
However, there were Irish who had come from the United States to the Austin,
De Leon, Peters, DeWitt, and Robertson colonies, and to the eastern part of the
state near the Louisiana border. Most of them came to the province of Texas
because of the availability of inexpensive land.
The high purchase price ($2.00 per acre) of public lands in the United States
prior to 1820 forced many homesteaders to finance their purchases through
local state banks using the land as security. In 1818 there were mass failures of
those banks in the West and South. Many individuals lost their lands, put signs
on their property saying "GTT" (Gone to Texas), and headed for Mexico. A
league of land (about 4,428 acres) could be had for just homesteading, or pay­ing
a surveyor's fee , or for at most about $100. The unemployment in the nor­thern
cities in the 1819 -1820 depression also caused some migration from those
areas. The price of United States public lands dropped to $l.25 per acre after
1820, but payment was to be in cash, and severe depression again struck in
1837. Farmers moved on once more, seeking cheaper lands.
Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred, the settlers of his first colony, in­cluded
Irish-born members, among them Martin Allen, Arthur and Peggy
McCormick, and Alexander and Humphrey Jackson. Listed also are: Callaghan,
Clark, Cummings, Fitzgerald, Hughes, Kennedy, Kelly, Lynch, Moore, and
25
another McCormick. I Even before Austin had selected the land for his colony,
two Irish families, Garrett and Higgins, were in the area. In December of 1821,
they were said to have built cabins two miles above the mouth of the Little
Brazos River.2
Early education in Austin's colony appeared to be in the hands of the Irish.
M.M. Kenney, in his "Recollections of Early Schools," notes that, in the years
1835 to 1840, the schoolteachers were Irishmen. One of those teachers was so
well-liked by the community, and he in turn so enjoyed his position as a teacher,
that plans were made to open an academy. He sailed from New Orleans for
Ireland to bring his family back to Texas. However, the vessel was lost with all
aboard. Such peril was common at the time. Later in 1842, another teacher,
named Cummins, volunteered for the Texas army to join in fighting off a Mex­ican
attack on San Antonio. He was killed at the Battle of Salado Creek.3
The Mexican colonizer Martin de Leon had invited Irish settlers into his
colony in the area of Victoria. Perhaps the most famous arrival was John]. Linn,
whose college-professor father had to flee Ireland for his part in the 1798 Up­rising.
Linn went to New Orleans in 1822 and established a trading business. An
illicit trade between Americans and Mexicans of the Texas river towns had
sprung up in the late 1820's. Linn, dealing in tobacco, was part of this trade. He
became interested in Texas and settled in de Leon's colony. Other Irish settlers
there included Patrick Mahan and James Quinn.
In 1821 eight Irish families came from northern Ireland to South Carolina;
after some time there, they moved to Alabama. Between 1829 and 1834, they
immigrated to Texas, settling in a wooded section west of the present town of
Benchley in Robertson County. The community became known as Staggers
Point, the name deriving from "striver," indicating a determination to succeed.4
Staggers Point was a "thriving Irish town" by the time of the Texas Revolution.
The Original Irish Settlers of Staggers Point
William Henry, Mary Fullerton Henry Dixon, James M. Dixon, Ann McMillan,
Henry and Sarah Fullerton, Robert and Elizabeth Henry, George H. Fullerton,
John R. and Sarah Payton, Jimmie H. Rice, William Fullerton, Hugh and Elizabeth
Henry, James A. Henry, Bradford and Mary Henry Seale, James and Isabella
Dunn, and Columbus and Elizabeth Henry Seale. S
The settlers lost no time in putting down roots in the land. James Dunn built a
fort to which the colonists repaired when Indians threatened. Devout Pres­byterians,
they erected what became known as the Old Irish Church on Red
Top Prairie.
The community was constantly harassed by Indians. New Year's Day of 1839,
a time of new beginnings and new hope, was a tragic time for the George
26
-.,
Store and public scales, Benchley, c. 1892. Scots-Irish Presbyterians founded the
nearby community of Staggers Point in 1833. After the railroad bypassed their
settlement in 1868, the colony relocated and named the new community after
railroad conductor Henry W Benchley.
Morgan family. Indians plundered the home, killing several members of the
family. Nine days later 70 warriors attacked another settler's home. Meanwhile,
after burying the dead of the Morgan massacre, 48 men had organized under
Benjamin Bryant to hunt down the Indians. In a battle known locally as Bryant's
Defeat, the settlers suffered severe losses.
Confident in their numbers and convinced that their quarry was hidden in
some woods ahead, the settlers advanced across the prairie in an extended line.
Suddenly, with blood-chilling war whoops, a large body of Indians charged
from the cover of the woods. In the din of Indian war cries, Bryant's shouted
commands were unheard by his men. Horses and men went down in a shower
of arrows. Except for a few close enough to fight back-to-back, each man was
cut off from the others, and all fought desperate hand-to-hand combat. Some
escaped, but among the dead were Bryant and ten of the Staggers Point Irish.
The Peters Colony of the 1840's was located in the northern part of the state,
south of the Red River boundary with Oklahoma and in the general area of the
present city of Dallas. It covered the present Texas counties of Montague, Wise,
Cooke, Grayson, Denton, Collin, and parts of Parker, Tarrant, Dallas, and John­son
counties between the Brazos and the Trinity rivers. There were 87 Irish-
27
surnamed colonists among the settlers, although biographical sketches note
that only five were born in Ireland.6
The present city of Dallas was founded by John N. Bryan who, in 1841, came
to the area and built a cabin on the east bank of the Trinity River near what is
now the courthouse square. He laid out a townsite and apparently publicized it
widely, since it appears on early Peters Colony maps and was known in the
United States. It was visited by a Missourian in 1844, who disappointedly wrote:
"We soon reached the place we had heard of so often; but the town, where was
it? Two small log cabins-this was the town of Dallas, and two families of 10 or
12 souls was its population." 7
Irish Surnamed of the Peters Colony
Joseph Boyle, Catherine Brien, John N. Bryan, Stephen W. Callaghan, Harvey
Casey, John Casey, John Casey Jr., John Casey Sr., Thomas Casey, Timothy Casey,
Thomas Cassidy, Thomas Cassidy Sr. , Elisha C. Clary, Elisha T. Clary, Albert G.
Collins, John H. Collins, Thomas Collins, Cornelius ConelY, William D. Conner,
Joseph W. Connor, John Conway, Hugh Coween, Dan Delaney, George W. Dooley,
James Dooley, William Dooley, William Gallagher, Abraham Hart, Caleb Hart,
Jacob Hart, William J. Hart, Daniel B. Hearn, Martin Hearn, William A. Hearn,
John Higgins, Lewis T. Higgins, Philemon Higgins, William Higgins, Thomas
Keenan, Calvin W. Kennedy, James Kennedy, John Kennedy, Mary Kennedy,
Samuel Kennedy, Arthur Kerrigan, James P. Laughlin, Newton C. Laughlin,
William B. Laughlin, James McBride, Gerard MCCarty, Larkin McCarty, William
McCarty Jr., William McCarty Sr. , Patrick McClary, Joseph B. McDermott, John C.
McElroy, J. McNamara, Thomas Mahan, Perry Malone, John Maloney, Charles
Manihan, Delilah C. Manning, John Manning, Eli Murphy, Henderson Murphy,
Thomas G. Murphy, Ambrose R. Murray, Daniel Murray, Christopher Nolan, John
O'Hara, William O'Neal, Martin O'Neil, Leonida O'Quinn, Stephen O'Quinn,
William O'Quinn, George W. Ragan, William M. Roark, James R. Rylie, Benjamin
Shahan, Daniel Shahan, Elizabeth Shahan, William P. Shahan, Andrew Shannon,
Robert E. Shannon, and James Sullivan.8
28
The Irish Efilpresarios
Four Irishmen founded the two Texas settlements known as the San Patricio
and the Refugio colonies. Although the settlers were mainly Irish, there were
Mexicans and other nationalities in each area. The settlement oOohn McMullen
and James McGloin was known as the San Patricio Colony; that oOames Power
and James Hewetson, the Refugio Colony.
A "grant" to an empresario (one who contracted to settle colonists) was not
an outright donation of land. It defined the area to which the empresario could
bring the families he had contracted to settle. Each settler could choose his land
from within the defined area-assuming it was not already legally occupied. It
was then surveyed, and, if the settler met the Mexican requirements, he was
confirmed in his possession and issued a title by a Mexican official named for
that purpose. Each empresario had a definite time limit within which to com­plete
his contract. Upon completion he received extensive lands for himself.
Contracts, each for six years, were issued to Power and Hewetson on June 11 ,
1828, and to McMullen and McGloin on August 16, 1828.
James Power, born near Ballygarrett, County Wexford, Ireland, was ten years
old at the time of the 1798 Uprising in Ireland. Following the Battle of Vinegar
Hill fought near his home, he probably witnessed some of the carnage that en­sued
when the English yeomanry was turned loose on the countryside. In the
years that followed, the details of that magnificent stand made by the men and
women of County Wexford were often recounted around evening firesides.
29
What effect all this may have had on his later life is not known, but Power's
enthusiastic espousal of the Texas cause was probably the reaction of one who
had experienced tyranny.
At age 21 Power immigrated to Philadelphia and went from there to New
Orleans, where he operated a merchandising business. Some years later he
settled in Saltillo, Mexico, and became a Mexican citizen. He met Don Felipe
Roque de la Portilla, who had been in charge of the attempt to organize a settle­ment
on the San Marcos River in Texas, and probably got many ideas on coloni­zation
from him. But Power was eloquent himself-he wanted to marry Don
Felipe's daughter, Dolores, so he induced the de la Portillas to move to Texas
with him, and there, when he was 33, he married her. The whole family settled
together on the banks of Nueces Bay near the mouth of the Nueces River. 1
Power had teamed up with another Irishman, James Hewetson, in the colo­nization
venture. An agent employed by them to recruit Irish settlers for their
colony had been unsuccessful, and, with the empresario contract about to
expire in one year, Power sailed for Ireland from Aransas Pass in April 1833.2
Power was successful in recruiting, but when many of the colonists were
stricken by cholera in New Orleans, there was much grumbling about having
been induced to come to the New World. Dissatisfaction increased when the
two schooners he hired to convey them from New Orleans to Copano Bay ran
aground at Aransas Pass and tools and supplies were lost. There were reports
that the owners of the vessels had them heavily insured and had bribed the
captains to wreck them. Some had suspicions that Power had a hand in this, but
the testimony of Rosalie Hart Priour should settle that. "Colonel Power," she
said, "ordered the captain of the schooner, in my presence, at the point of his
pistol, to change his course and avoid running his vessel aground .. . . " The
captain obeyed and anchored for the night, but ". . . in the night . . . ran our
schooner ashore."3 In spite of the troubles, the Irish settlers finally made their
way to the colony.
James Power took an active part in the Texas Revolution. Although elected to
the General Consultation of November 1835, he was unable to attend because
he was involved in the Texan attack on the Mexican garrison at Lipantitlan on
the Nueces River. He later served on the General Council, withdrawing Decem·
ber 29 to attend to his personal affairs.
He was elected delegate from Refugio to the Convention of March 1, 1836,
and, through his influence, Sam Houston was elected second delegate. Thus,
on March 2 he was one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
As a delegate to the Annexation Convention of July 4, 1845, James Power sup­ported
the annexation resolution, and when, on December 29, Texas became
the 28th state, his signature was on the first State Constitution.
Power's last years were spent in costly litigation defending his title to his
lands. In 1852 he became seriously ill and died on August 15 at his home on
30
Dr. James Hewetson, empresario
Ruins of the Power residence, Copano, 1911. This shellcrete structure was designed
for James Power but was not completed until shortly after his death. His wife and
a daughter lived there until it was destroyed by the hurricane of 1886.
31
Copano Bay. He was survived by his second wife, Tomasa de la Portilla Power,
and seven children. His body was buried there at Live Oak POint, but his
remains were not allowed to rest in peace. In 1873 his casket was dug up by
grave robbers. The remains were removed by his family to Mount Calvary
Cemetery in Refugio , where they rest today under an appropriate monument.
James Hewetson, Power's partner in the colonization project, was born in
County Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1796. Sometime before 1818 he immigrated to
Philadelphia. As a medical doctor, he had received what for the day was a
better-than-average education. He was one of the group that, in 1821, accom­panied
Stephen F. Austin to Texas. The latter, as an empresario, had come here
to claim the land assigned to his father by the Spanish. The group stopped in
San Antonio and there learned the news of Mexico's independence from Spain.
The 25-year-old Hewetson went on to Monclova, Mexico, eventually settling in
Saltillo, where there were a number of Irish. He started a business in that city
and met James Power there. Although he joined Power in the colonization
plans, Hewetson opposed Texas independence and lived the rest of his life in
Mexico, leaving to his partner the management of the colony. In 1833 he mar­ried
Josefa Guajardo, a wealthy landowner.
James Hewetson witnessed, in his adopted country, the struggle between
Federalism and Centralism, the loss of Texas, a war with the United States and
U.S. troops as occupiers, and the many military and political power struggles
that convulsed Mexico. He died on September 12, 1870, and was buried beside
his wife in the Campo Santo de la Parroquia de Santiago del Saltillo.i
John McMullen was born in Ireland in 1785 and came with his family to
Baltimore, Maryland. He later moved to Savannah, Georgia, where he married
Esther Cummings in 1810. In 1825 he moved to Matamoros, Mexico, where he
operated a merchandising business. Like others, he tried colonization. He and
his partner and son-in-law, James McGloin, recruited the settlers for their San
Patricio Colony from among Irish-born immigrants in New York and Philadel­phia.
They both went there for that purpose, and each accompanied one of the
two vessels that brought the first colonists to Texas in 1829.
Six years later McMullen was elected one of the representatives from San
Patricio to the Consultation of November 1835 and on December 11 was ap­pointed
to the General Council. He became deeply involved in the revolution­ary
government. On January 1, 1836, he was unanimously elected temporary
president of the council. On returning to San Patricio, he saw the devastation
caused by the invasion of the Mexican army and journeyed to the United States
to procure supplies for the colonists. His election as a delegate to the Conven­tion
of March 1, 1836, was questioned, and he lost his seat.
He was living in San Antonio by early 1837. In March of that year, a petition
was forwarded from the Catholics of San Antonio, San Patricio, Refugio, and
Victoria to Bishop Blanc of New Orleans asking for English-speaking priests for
32
.,~~4~~-~~~ -<"'f-..' ~ ,-./
' I)" ~
~ "'" \ !,"' -
James Power's tombstone, Mount Calvary Cemetery, Refugio
James McGloin's residence, Round Lake, near San Patricio
33
Texas. John McMullen signed the petition for San Antonio.5 He was active in
public life there and served as alderman in the years 1840 through 1844. In
1844 he sold most of his San Patricio property to McGloin.
John McMullen came to a tragic end. On January 21, 1853, he was brutally
murdered, in what may have been a robbery attempt, in the two-story house he
had built on the Market Street site where the old library building housing the
Hertzberg Collection now stands. Strange tales are told of the "McMullen
ghost." One story has it that James McGloin, in San Patricio, was talking to some
friends when his father-in-law, John McMullen, appeared. All present saw him.
He did not utter a sound but, with hands to his throat, seemed to be appealing
to McGloin. After a few moments, the apparition disappeared. McGloin, con­vinced
that something was wrong, saddled his horse and headed for San
Antonio, a hard two-day ride. When he arrived the sheriff told him that his
father-in-law had been murdered two days before. A current story holds that
the ghost of John McMullen "walks" the building now on the site of his old
home. The empresario has reputedly been seen on the staircases of the modern
building-and it is said that he will continue to appear until the identity of his
murderer is brought to light.
Texans would never have heard of James McGloin were it not for a missed
embarkation. McGloin, born in County Sligo, Ireland, in 1799, had planned to
emigrate to Australia but, at Liverpool, had missed the boat. That vessel was lost
at sea, and, for some time, his family considered him dead. McGloin, however,
had changed his mind about Australia and took ship for the New World, where
he went to work for John McMullen in Mexico. Eventually, he became the older
man's partner in the merchandising business at Matamoros and married Eliza­beth
Cummings, the daughter of McMullen's wife by her first marriage. They
had six children. His wife died sometime prior to 1853, and he married Mary
Murphy of County Kerry, Ireland.
For more than 25 years, McGloin devoted himself to the development and
welfare of the San Patricio Colony. When, as a result of the Irish Potato Famine
of 1846-1848, new waves of immigrants found their way to Texas, McGloin
helped them get a start as settlers. He died June 19, 1856, and is buried in the
old San Patricio Cemetery.6
34
The San Patricio Colony
The sailing ships of the early 1800's were designed primarily for cargo. Pas­sengers
were incidental and limited to the wealthy traveler for whom there
might be a spare cabin. The days of mass emigration did not start until much
later. Ships such as those hired by the Irish empresarios to convey the colonists
from Ireland to New Orleans and from New York to Copano Bay had none of the
conveniences or accommodations of later passenger service. The colonists oc­cupied
the area used for freight-the large unpartitioned hold.
Passengers brought their own bedding, and each family was assigned space
for sleeping and cooking. The only privacy was that afforded by a sheet or cur­tain
slung between sleeping areas. Since the vessel might be becalmed, fresh
water was strictly rationed. Washing had to be done in seawater, which left an
irritating cake of salt on skin and clothing. Consequently, there was little per­sonal
bathing on such a trip, which, in the case of a transatlantic voyage, might
be a month or more. Sanitation facilities consisted of slop jars that were emp­tied
over the side.
On occasion, the ship voyaged idyllically under clear skies with a fair wind
and billowing sails through a silver-flecked sea. At such times the passengers
could escape the crowded conditions of the hold to bask on deck in the invig­orating
breeze and clear sunshine. However, when storms threatened, all pas­sengers
had to go below; lights belowdecks were forbidden; the hatches were
battened down; and sailors swarmed up the shrouds to reef sail far above the
pitching deck.
35
Those in the hold, generally landlubbers all, huddled terrified in the dark­ness.
Not knowing what was happening topside, their anxiety would be height­ened
with every pitch and roll of the vessel. At such times the seasickness of
those not yet used to ocean travel added to the distress. The howling of the
wind, answered by the protesting creaks of wave-battered timbers, must have
sounded like an Irish banshee's caoine (dirge) announcing a grave in the deep.
Arriving at their destination was a joyous occasion, even though many who
embarked in the bloom of health were by then physically weakened by the
rigors of the trip. This lowered physical resistance may help explain the high
mortality rate from disease of the Irish immigrants of the 1830's.
In October 1829 startling news reached the Mexican officials at La Bahia
(Goliad). A band of Irish settlers from New York, recruited by McMullen and
McGloin, had landed from the Albion at Matagorda and from the New Packet at
Copano Bay. They were, according to the breathless messenger, in bad shape.
No means of transportation had met them to conduct them and their supplies
and implements to the interior. A vicious "norther," Texas's icy winter wind,
was blowing, whipping the waters of the bay into whitecaps, and the colonists
were huddled on the beach around small bonfires of driftwood.
Prospects looked bleak to those marrow-chilled immigrants on that wind­lashed
shore of a strange land. Father Henry Doyle, who had accompanied them
from New York, did his best to raise their spirits as he moved from group to
group with words of encouragement.
At Goliad Father Miguel Muro, Alcalde Jose Aldrete, and Customs Officer
Bonifacio Galan organized aid for the bewildered newcomers. Temporary hous­ing
was found for them at the abandoned Refugio Mission, and nearby Mexican
ranchers provided warm food and clothing. 1
A second group arrived on the Albion in December 1829, and a third in
March 1830. All but a few who stayed at Copano were housed at Refugio.
Toward the end of 1830, all the Irish families went westward to the Nueces
River, where their lands were to be assigned to them. About 12 men remained
in the vicinity of Refugio to harvest the crops which the immigrants had
planted there.
On leaving Refugio Mission, the colonists had congregated near the Santa
Margarita Crossing on the Nueces River, awaiting official confirmation of title
to the lands they had selected. Mexican officialdom moved slowly, but, finally,
the government appointed Jose Antonio Saucedo to allot the lands and issue
titles. William O'Docharty, one of the colonists, was named surveyor.
On the American frontier, a town often simply grew up around a trading post,
trail juncture, or small settlement. On the Spanish and, later, Mexican frontier, a
town was often planned for a particular site on vacant lands, usually near a
presidio, and town lots were sold to settlers of the area. They could elect an
ayuntamiento, or town council.
36
Among the families that arrived at the future Bee County area in October 1829
were those of Jeremiah O'Toole, James Brown, Patrick Hayes, James O'Connor,
Patrick O'Boyle, William Quinn, and widow Mary Hart. These are noted as the
original settlers of present-day Bee County. 2 Other settlers were the John Corri­gan
family near Aransas Creek; Pat Fadden, John Sweeney, David Kerr, Pat Carroll,
and Charles Carter families on Poesta Creek; Pat Quinn, Timothy and Luke Hart,
S.D. Callaghan, David Craven, and L. Carlisle on Papa!ote Creek; and H.T. Clare,
Henry Ryan, and Eliza Clare near what is now Clareville.3
Four leagues square, beginning on the east bank of the Nueces River, were
surveyed as the townsite of San Patricio de Hibernia (St. Patrick of Ireland).
Streets, 20 varas, or 55 feet, wide, divided blocks that were 120 varas, or 330
feet, on each side. The central block or square was known as Constitutional
Square. All streets ran north, south, east, and west from the borders of this
square. The block fronting Constitutional Square on the east was reserved for a
church and priests' dwelling; that on the west, for municipal buildings; and a
block each for a market, jail, school, and burial ground.4
Thus, on October 24, 1831 , San Patricio de Hibernia came into being. Among
those who were confirmed in their grants at this time were James, Edward,
John, and Patrick McGloin; John McMullen; John McSheany; John Heffernan;
and George O'Docharty. 5
In 1833 the schooner Messenger brought more colonists for the San Patricio
Colony, but the captain refused to enter Aransas Pass because of bad weather
and returned to New Orleans. Of those aboard, indications are that only the
families of Thomas Pugh and Mark Killely came to Texas overland from New
Orleans.6 On May 16, 1834, the Messenger made port at Copano Bay with addi­tional
colonists. Aboard was Pat Carroll, whose wife had died of cholera and
been buried at sea. Two other colonists had lost their husbands from the same
cause-Mrs. Ann Burke and Mrs. Mary Carrol1.7 Within an hour after landing,
and sheltered on the sun-baked beach at Copano by a sheet raised on posts, Mrs.
Burke gave birth to a son, Patrick Burke, who later lived at Beeville. The infant
was wet-nursed by an Indian woman from one of the local tribes. 8
The Burkes, Carrolls, James Heffernans, and Simon Dwyer families traveled
by oxcart to the confluence of Aransas and Poesta creeks. Here they found a
small settlement of earlier arrivals, County Mayo and County Tipperary people.
The settlement comprised the nephews and nieces of the Reverend John T.
Molloy (who had succeeded Father Doyle) and the families of George O'Doch­arty
and John Ryan. 9
Among the San Patricio colonists, there was much dissatisfaction with the
Mexican government. To them it seemed that the unhurried pace of Mexican
37
Margaret Heffernan Borland,
daughter of John Heffernan,
was a child among the first group
of McMullen-McGloin colonists that
arrived in Texas in 1829. Thrice
widowed, she became a rancher in
Victoria County. In 1873 she led a
drive of her own cattle up the
trail to Kansas, but died of
"Trail Fever" shortly after she
reached her destination.
administrative procedure added to the delays occasioned by the political tur­moil
within Mexico during the early 1830's. Many of the settlers (some of
whom had occupied and cultivated their lands since 1829) were not confirmed
in their titles until 1835. A number of settlers, in disgust, joined the Power­Hewetson
Colony where there was no delay in the issuance of titles. Among
these were Robert and James Carlisle; Bridget QUirk; Mary, Felix, Pat, and
Timothy Hart; Daniel O'Boyle; Martin, Michael, and John O'Toole; and Patrick
and William Quinn. 10
The historic town of San Patricio is today almost abandoned. Shrubbery over­grows
the site that, in 1836, housed a population of 500. At one time the
thriving community was the county seat. Then, one catastrophe after another
brought about its decline. In 1886 the railroad bypassed San Patricio and came
to nearby Sinton. In 1889 the courthouse burned down, and many early records
were lost. The county seat was then moved to Sinton. In 1893 the San Patricio
St. Joseph's School and Convent were torn down to build the first Catholic
Church in Sinton. The final blow to the struggling community was the damage
of the hurricane of 1919, which devastated the area, destroying historic houses
and the old St. Patrick's Church, the second built on the site, that had served
the community since 1859.
38
,
.:.--.. or-
•
St. Joseph 's Convent and School (1876-1884), San Patricio
James McKeown's residence, San Patricio, 1979. Built in the late 1860's for Patrick
Garaghty, the house is typical of the first frame dwellings built by the Irish settlers.
There are no remaining examples of the earlier picket houses.
39
The Refugio Colony
The year was 1833. Four years before, the English Parliament had passed the
Catholic Emancipation Act, which, after some 135 years, raised most of the dis­abilities
that had been legislated against the Catholic Irish. However, the new
legal provisions found little reflection in the practicalities of daily life. Irish
tenants were still at the mercy oflandlords, English mercantilist policy still bled
Ireland economically, and the Catholic and Presbyterian Irish were still re­quired
by the tithing laws to give financial support to a church to which they
did not belong.!
In the town of Ballygarrett in County Wexford, a ray of hope as bright as
Texas sunshine appeared in the person of James Power. The Mexican empre­sario
had returned to his homeland after an absence of 24 years to recruit
settlers for Texas.
Notices and handbills in surrounding villages and counties had announced
the purpose of his visit. Interested Irish crowded into the O'Brien cottage,
home of Power's sister, Elizabeth, wife of Thomas O'Brien. Wide-eyed, they
listened to Power's description of grassy plains and rich farmlands , of thou­sands
of acres to be had almost for the asking, and of a way of life free from the
restrictions of their present condition. Many must have shaken their heads in
disbelief, but many did believe his report.
More than 250 families elected to accompany the empresario to Texas.2 Little
did they know that, like Moses of old, some would glimpse the promised land
but never enter. Their bones would lie in Louisiana, in Copano Bay, and in the
41
bet"' II, ,. -S'P= ~'';-~ ~ ~: ... ;-:-.. t~··;>:· ::' .. ·,-,,·:· .
ia l!t:1.it. ph,!:?' .- }~"t;d;:;;"':
~M M ',, __ ,,, ~ .... 'M .... M • 'M' ._. ~ M' .M • , .... ~
'-"- -' , .. ... '~_"" M ." .... ~ •. , ,.; "_ • •• ~. ,.. ''' _'~ ;M
Markel' commemorating the Irish colonists, Rufugio, 1995. Surrounding the base
are pavers inscribed with names of colonists, descendants of colonial settlers, and
later residents of the area.
sands of St. Joseph and Mustang islands. One account states that of the 108
persons who left on the first ship for the New World, only eight reached the
Texas colony,;
In December of 1833, the emigrants traveled from their homes in Ireland to
Liverpool, England, where they were to board ship for Texas, Each family had
provided itself with farming implements, seed, and enough provisions for one
year, They paid Power about $30 per adult for transportation to Copano, Texas,
After an abortive start, the first group finally left on January 8 , 1834, on the
ship Prudence and disembarked at New Orleans to await the others. The Pru­dence
brought a second group, which disembarked at the Louisiana port on
April 21, 1834. Each crossing took about four weeks,
Meanwhile, with several hundred more colonists, Power had left Liverpool
on a larger ship, The Heroine , on March 12, 1834. Bad weather drove The
Heroine off course, and it arrived in New Orleans two and a half months after
leaving liverpooL" Bad news awaited Power at New Orleans. An epidemic of
cholera was sweeping the United States at the time, and the colonists waiting at
the Gulf port had been stricken. Some had already died, and others were con­fined
to the hospital.
42
Eager to leave the pest-ridden city, those of the immigrants who were
apparently healthy boarded two schooners, Sea Lion and Wildcat, for the last
leg of the trip. A furious gale was blowing as the vessels approached Aransas
Pass. Both ships got over the bar at the pass entrance, but the Wildcat was
thrown (or steered) into the shallows, and the Sea Lion ended up stuck in a
mudbank. Although no lives were lost at this time, many of the supplies and
implements were.
After the vessels grounded and before the passengers could be taken off,
cholera, contracted in New Orleans, broke out again. The Mexican authorities
would not allow the colonists to land until the epidemic had abated. The disease
took a heavy toll. One colonist reports that, while aboard the ships, about 250
died and were buried in the waters of the bay. Some were taken by small boat
and buried on St. Joseph's Island. Great must have been the despair and deso­lation
of the survivors seeing their loved ones dying without the religious rites
that were such a comforting part of their lives and then consigning the bodies
to a watery grave so far from their homeland.
When the colonists were allowed to land, they had to spend another period in
quarantine at Copano. Power, in his letter and plea of May 23, 1834, for help to
Ramon Musquiz at San AntoniO, noted that "they are enduring a great deal of
hardship because the captains abandoned two endangered ships, losing most
of the household goods, farming implements, tools, looms, and forges . .. . " He
also noted that he had" .. . left some 70 people in the hospitals of New Orleans
who are to come as soon as they improve ... . " 5 It is estimated that one-third of
all those who left Ireland had perished and that the adult Celtic manpower was
reduced by one-half.6
Musquiz, the political chief of San Antonio, and Power's father-in-law, Don
Felipe, came to the colonists' aid. They made arrangements for the transport of
the survivors to Refugio and provided them with housing and supplies.
The Mexican government appointed Jose Vidaurri y Borrego on June 19,
1834, as commissioner to oversee the surveys and to grant titles to the colonists.
In July of 1834, he set up the ayuntamiento (town council) of Refugio. The
first alcalde (mayor) was John Dunn. Council members were Joshua Davis;
James Brown; and James, John, and Martin Power. A local company of militia
was formed with James Power as lieutenant coloneP
James Bray was named surveyor to layout the town of Refugio. He was assist­ed
by Michael Fox, John Kelly, and Timothy Hart. The sale of town lots was held
on August 4; that day lots were purchased by James Brown, Nicholas Fagan,
Robert Patrick Hearne, Edward McDonough, John Malone, John Dunn, Samuel
Blair, Joshua Davis, and James Bray.s
Titles to land within the colony were also distributed in August 1834, and
among the first grantees were Isabella (Elizabeth) O'Brien, William Burke, and
John Sinnott. At this time Joshua Davis, as a native of Ireland but a long-time
43
" ~
-:f.._
')
- ~~. 'r-. ' , ?
-¥.~+.w~~I-;;-;-;t;;.;'""""";"n · ' - . ,
i " ';:-
~~~Hij;~w;;;:;edf-rl7i~~;h-+--.--r--f--l-~,- '. \
fA \ l:"r ~;bz:;z:-f.
rn ; ~- '~
~ , 11------1-----1-
r-1 ---.
Plan drawing of Refugio by colonist Walter Lambert. The original plat of the town,
with streets emanating from the principal square (lower !eft), followed the plan
specified by the laws of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Texas.
resident of Texas, was confirmed in his title to land previously purchased on
the San Antonio River. Within the five-month period, August through Decem­ber,
almost 220 leagues of land had been deeded to 201 grantees. 9
The Refugio Colony, like that at San Patricio, was not all Irish. The empre­sarios
of both colonies were obliged to guarantee rights and property to the
Mexican families already residing within the area. The Power-Hewetson con­tract
also called for the settlement of 100 Mexican families in addition to the
Irish. Also, a number of land seekers, who were neither Irish nor Mexican,
came through Refugio. Power urged them to remain within the colony and
procured a contract amendment authorizing the issuance of land titles to those
individuals who were not originally eligible.
The composition of the original Irish in the Refugio Colony differed from that
of those in the San Patricio Colony. Many of the Power Colony Irish came
directly from the southeastern corner of Ireland for the purpose of colonization
in Texas. Those who came to the San Patricio Colony were more representative
of Ireland as a whole. Most of them had originally come to Philadelphia and
44
Our Lady of Refuge Church, Refugio. This church (1868-I9()()) was built with stone
from the Spanish mission which once stood on the same site. The interior view
shows statues of Irish saints Patrick and Bridget above each end afthe main altar.
.. •
. ..
45
Residence of Mary Frances Power Woodworth, granddaughter of james Power, in
Refugio, c. 1910. Later owners named it "Ballygarrett" after the village in County
Wexford, Ireland, where Power recruited colonists.
New York and were recruited there by McMullen and McGloin. They differed
not only in their accents but, among themselves, in outlook and tradition as
well. Some say the San Patricio colonists were better mixers, more convivial,
and more contentious than their fellow countrymen at Refugio. The latter were
considered aloof, reserved, and even clannish.
Today in Refugio County, lands of the old Mexican grants are still in the hands
of descendants of the original Power-Hewetson colonists. In some cases the
ranches are smaller because they were divided among children or parts were
sold off. Other holdings are larger because they grew through purchase or
through land warrants-lands given by the Republic of Texas for service in the
Texas Revolution.
Families have intermarried so that the many branches of today's McGuills,
Fagans, Lamberts, Powers, O'Connors, O'Briens, Foxes, etc., are all related. As
one Refugian put it-"Down here, you dassent say a bad word about any of us,
'cuz chances are you're talking to a relative."
46
Everyday Life in the Colonies
The colonists, in traveling to their lands, generally hauled their goods by
oxcart. Where small groups of individual settlers were isolated, they often
established "settlements." This did not mean villages on the European order,
only that the homes were relatively close. Examples are the Poesta and Papalote
Creek settlements of the San Patricio Colony and the Fagan settlement of the
Refugio Colony. For the Irish, coming from a land of year-round moderate tern·
perature, the extremes of Texas weather were particularly harsh and some­times
unexpected. One pioneer tells of traveling cross-country to his grant in
lovely weather, going into camp under a beautiful starlit sky, and being wak­ened
in the night by a furious, bone-chilling norther blowing across the plains. I
On arrival at their destination, the first concern was "making a crop," gen­erally
corn. The settlers also experimented with cabbage and other crops that
had been familiar to them in Ireland. Initially, for mutual protection against
Indians, crop plantings were on a communal basis. They worked together in the
clearing of small plots, then planted and harvested together, dividing the pro­ceeds.
2 In later times, for protection against marauding bandits, they went back
to this system.
Sugar and coffee were obtained from Mexican traders by bartering. Food did
not have much variety, but it was substantial and nutritious. Staples were
bacon, jerked beef, coffee- and corn cakes, when the corn could be milled.
Hand mills were at first used for grinding corn. Before grinding, the corn was
thrown on hot embers to drive out the weevils, then husked in lye ." Flour was
47
purchased through coastal import traders such as Power, who set up ware­houses
at places such as Copano.
Game was plentiful in Texas, and the meals included venison, wild turkey,
and sqUirrel. Soon small vegetable gardens and fruit trees added to the fare.
Water was supplied by wells or from nearby creeks. If the stream dried up, a
shallow hole was dug in the streambed where there were a number of rocks,
and spring water was usually found. 4 One pioneer noted that" . . . we drank
water from creeks, barrels, ponds, and cow tracks," and they had few of the
many diseases that afflict modern man.s
In rural Ireland, from which most of these settlers came, houses were built of
collected fieldstone. The roofs were thatched with wheat straw bound down
with willow saplings. The housing construction skills acquired in the home­land
were of no value in early Texas, where rock had to be quarried and other
materials were not available.
The first houses were made of upright poles standing side by side, the spaces
between chinked with grass or moss. White sand from a creek bed was a
common floor. Roofs were made of split boards or thatched with palmetto;
chimneys were built with sticks and moss plastered on the inside with clay to
make them fireproof. Later, cabin-style houses were built of logs with floors of
smoothed boards.
A pioneer, Mrs. Annie Fagan Teal, tells of her father cutting the logs for the
house with a whipsaw and flooring it with boards taken from a wrecked and
abandoned Spanish ship.6 Those who did not have such a handy source of
planks could purchase boards from the commercial houses on the coast. Inland,
where rocks could be dug from the hillsides, stone houses were built. When
first dug out, the rocks were moist and easily cut. They were then left in the sun
to dry and harden before being used in the walls. When the Indians were still a
threat, the settlers often constructed a small brush pen or corral at the rear of
the house, with no entrance except that provided by the rear door of the
dwelling. When Indians were known to be in the neighborhood, the milk cows,
oxen, and saddle horses were driven through the house into this pen. 7
Herds of mustangs, descendants of strayed or lost Spanish horses, roamed the
plains. These the settlers attempted to tame. They would first capture one,
place a stuffed dummy of a man on his back, then set him loose. The horse
would attempt to rejoin the herd, but the others, spooked by the "rider," would
try to outrun him. "This would start every mustang for miles around to run­ning,"
recounted one pioneer. The thunder of thousands of hoofs "sounded like
the roar of a cyclone." After the herd had run itself down, the settlers would
guide it between wide entrance arms of brush into a corral. The adult mustang
was, tired or not, still difficult to tame. H
They had better success with the foals they caught and put to suckle with a
cow. As the foals grew older, they were trained and used as the famous "Texas
48
cow ponies." Transportation was primarily by horseback, and, before buggies
or wagons could be built, drag sleds were used. These were flat beds built of
tree limbs and moved on runners made of smoothed 10gs.9 They were
particularly useful in mud or over prairie grass.
Could the formidable Texas mosquito, coupled with ranch isolation, have
been responsible for the loss in Texas of much of the Irish oral tradition?
Ireland enjoys a long twilight-a half-dark, half-light days-end period-without
mosquitoes! Because of the proximity of neighbors, this was the time for visit­ing.
Neighbors would, as they had for centuries, gather around the firesides;
news would be exchanged and stories told; and Irish and European history, old
Irish legends, and even the mythology of ancient Greece and Rome would be
recounted-with surprising accuracy. The children would sit listening in silent
wonder and absorb the rudiments of a classical education together with a
reaffirmation of pride in the "Irish identity."
In the storytellers' skilled recounting of the ancient legends, young imagina­tions
would people the flickering shadows of the fire-lit room with a proces­sion
of legendary heroes. Cuchullen would appear, single-handedly defending
his king and province against Queen Maeve's invading army. Young listeners
would share his anguish as duty requires him to fight and slay his dearest
friend. When the mighty warrior is mortally wounded, they join in his final act
of defiance as he binds himself to an upright stone so that, in death, he may face
his enemies on his feet. At another time the deep shadows would give way to
the splendor of the beautiful palaces and sunlit land of Tir na nOg (The Land of
Youth) far over the western sea. To this land of the ever-young, Ossian, son of
the great Finn Macool, was transported by his faerie bride. He left it to visit his
native land, but, when he involved himself in the concerns of the men of Ire­land,
he became an aging mortal and could never return to the enchanted land.
In early Texas there were no regular fireside gatherings. There were no close
neighbors, outside of towns. The workday was from sunup to sundown, and the
fast-gathering darkness marked bedtime. With windows and doors open to take
advantage of the cool of evening, lights were discouraged because of the clouds
of mosquitoes and other insects they attracted. Screens did not come into gen­eral
use until the beginning of the 20th century, and the only defense against
the winged bloodsuckers was the rather ineffective and nearly as annoying
smudge pot. 10
The children of the family had the chores usual to those living on a farm or
ranch. The girls learned to cook, launder, sew, embroider, and look after the
house; and the boys helped in farming, caring for the livestock, and hunting
and trapping wild animals. While still in their teens, most children had to
assume adult responsibilities.
One of the youngest soldiers of the Texas Revolution was 13-year-old Thomas
John O'Brien.1I Henry Scott, 10 years old, was part of an Indian-hunting party
49
Cistern built to store rainwater on the prairie, O'Brien homestead near the Fagan
Settlement, Refugio County
Gathering after Sunday Mass, Gussettville, c. 1910. Parishioners from the
surrounding ranches often visited in the shade near the Nueces River before
returning home.
50
when captured by Lipans. 12 James Hart, 11 years old, was captured by Indians
while rounding up livestock. 13 One of the wagon drovers hauling supplies from
Corpus Christi to Fort Merrill was 16-year-old Patrick Burke.14 The father and
uncles of Merle Kelly of Refugio were driving wagons at 13 and "out on their
own" at 15. IS
A father in those days was as concerned as any today in his daughter's choice
of a husband. Nicholas Fagan was no exception. He had some misgivings about
the 19-year-old Irish lad who called on his daughter Mary. The hardworking
Fagan had planted crops, raised cattle on his land, and had built a spacious two­story
house for his family. By comparison, his daughter's suitor, who "batched"
with another young man, spent much of his time hunting when not serving
with the Texas army.
In his mUSings on the situation, Fagan was aware that the youngster had
acquired a Mexican grant of 4,400 acres and that, for service with the Texas
army, he had added to that acreage. But what was he going to do with all that
land? Oh, he could work when he had a mind to! A Mexican craftsman had
taught him how to make saddletrees, and, with the proceeds from these, he had
purchased his first horse. One thing at least was in his favor: he did not come to
pay formal court to Mary Fagan without first outfitting himself in new apparel.
That had meant more saddletrees! "Still," mused Nicholas Fagan, "I'm afraid he
won't amount to much."16
Reluctantly he consented to Mary's marriage to Thomas O'Connor, and part
of her dowry included some cattle from the Fagan herds. Those cattle formed
the nucleus of the vast herds that made Thomas O'Connor one of the largest
cattle ranchers in the state as well as one of its biggest landowners.
Wresting a living from the land under trying circumstances did not leave
much time for social life. However, when the colonists did come together,
whether for a wedding or a wake, such occasions were savored as a time of
joyous reunion of families and friends. A wedding was a time to celebrate, and,
following the ceremonies honoring the bride and groom, the young folks
danced into the night, and the elders swapped Texas tales or exchanged news
of the old country. After Texas joined the Union, the Fourth of July was a day­long
celebration in some of the small settlements. Families came in from the
surrounding ranches to celebrate Independence Day. One such celebration at
Refugio was described by old-timer E.R. "Scrub" Kelly as " ... a tournament in
the morning .. . a big free barbecue at noon . .. the afternoon devoted to horse
racing, and a big dance at night."
The tournament was a competition in which horsemen vied with each other
in spearing rings from eight posts spaced at 40-foot intervals. Each rider carried
a six- to eight-foot pike sharpened at the end and, with this under his arm, rode
full tilt for the rings. "He was scored on the number of rings speared and the
elapsed time on the course." 17
51
john E. Moody, nephew of john] Linn,
wearing tournament costume,
Victoria, early 1870's
Tournament knight, Refugio, c. 1905
52
The Texas of pioneer days was not as shrub-covered as today's acres of mes­quite
would indicate. Old-timers tell of seas of waving prairie grass in areas now
covered by mesquite and pin oak. Occasional prairie fires would sweep across
the plains, destroying the tall grass and also the slow-growing mesquite shoots.
The roads and wagon trails that came with intercommunity trading became
barriers that limited the spread of grass fires. Birds and cattle did the rest. Mexi­can
wagon drovers who fed their mules on mesquite beans also accounted for
the proliferation of the mesquite tree. 18
The pioneers who had extensive lands turned to ranching and stock raising.
This is still the occupation of the families living some distance from the coast.
The Foxes, Fagans, O'Briens, and O'Connors are just a few of the families that
still engage in stock raising. Toward the end of the last century, those who held
lands closer to the coast turned from stock raising to farming. The rich loam of
that area made it ideal for crops.
In early Texas those who lived on isolated ranches were often spared the
ravages of cholera, smallpox, and yellow fever that devastated the more pop­ulous
areas. However, that very isolation made them vulnerable to another
scourge-marauding whites and raiding Indians. Ofthe Indians, the Comanches
were the worst. Theirs was one of the few Indian tribes that moved at night.
Isolated Texas settlers dreaded the bright moonlit nights of spring, summer, and
autumn that became known as "the Comanche moon." On such nights, when
all nature seemed to peacefully sleep beneath the glow of a golden moon, the
silence was apt to be shattered by the cries of attacking Comanches.
Wild animals occasionally caused concern, as indicated by the following
incident recounted by Mrs. Hallie Fagan Snider: "The John Fagans made their
home at what is known as 'The Placeto. ' One day while Mr. Fagan was working
cattle and Mrs. Fagan was alone, she parked their small son Peter in a box and
set him out in the yard under a tree. Soon after returning to the house, Mrs.
Fagan looked out a window to see how the baby was doing and saw a wolf
trotting around the baby's box. She rushed out and chased the wolf away."
The small ranch graveyards bear mute testimony to the harsh life. Infant
mortality was high, and few family plots are without infants' graves.
Since most of the Irish settlers were Catholic, provision was always made for
a chapel in which Mass could be celebrated when a visiting priest came by.
When Nicholas Fagan built his ranch house, he reserved the upper story as a
chapel-complete with altar, confessional, and priest's room.19 His own Cathol­icism
and that of the vaqueros prompted Dennis O'Connor, grandson of Nicho­las
Fagan, to erect a chapel on his ranch. The religious practices of the Old
Country were often retained and handed down to the descendants. Present-day
residents of the Irish colonies tell of the practice of the nightly family rosary
continued into their lifetimes and of the "Black Fast." The Black Fast as ob­served
in Ireland was a far more rigorous abstention from food during Lent than
53
St. Anthony's Chapel (1900-1942), O'Connor Ranch on the San Antonio River,
Refugio County, 1933. After it was destroyed by a hurricane, the O'Connor family
built St. Dennis Chapel, a masonry structure patterned after Mission Espada.
that specified by the Church. Those who engaged in manual labor were exempt
from fasting. However, many of the early settlers did not avail themselves of this
exemption. Joseph Fagan, a blacksmith, was one who observed the fast. His
family records that, on at least one occasion during the Black Fast, he was so
weak from fasting that he tottered as he walked.20 The consecration of the
family to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is today, as it has been for generations, a
strong devotion in Ireland. Shrines similar to those used in Ireland are still seen
in the South Texas homes of Irish descendants.
Those who settled near the coast or at points that were trail crossings or
wagon trail terminals did so because of employment opportunities or trading
possibilities. Since little money was in circulation, work was exchanged for
clothing, farm animals, or farm produce. These were traded for other needed
54
Oscar C. Fagan in front of Peter H. Fagan's ranch house, Refugio County, c. 1898.
Located near the site of the original Fagan homestead, the house was built in 1868
by Irish-born Michael O'Keefe, a carpenter in Victoria.
~ : RK I I~)(,A'II' " ·,1.'4\"1> r ....... J 1: • •. , ..... ~. "
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:~i3 ' (J) ;?(p~ l/'i!f"J
~~t<AA- : - '~V'---} I dS , ~4 /~-/"'71 \ flA-' --.../ :
~~ 1uN I~ CD . '.f.;t /f / 'Jf-:r
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:~', '()C .L; /-V /,.;;1-
The Book of Brands in the Refugio County Courthouse contains cattle brands and
ear markings registered by Irish colonists.
55
items. Some gristmills were eventually set up , but most flour was imported
from New Orleans, as were "bacon hams," blankets and dry goods, coffee,
sugar, building lumber and hardware, whiskey, tobacco, and wagon frames.
Continuing the trade begun in Spanish times, mules and horses purchased from
Mexican traders were auctioned off in Louisiana and trade goods purchased
with the proceeds. 21 Even though, for the time, the annual license fee for
"vending goods, wares, and merchandise" was high-$100-profits were also
high. Some coastal traders made small fortunes .
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An 1857 bill of lading listing goods shipped from New Orleans to Refugio County via
Powder Horn (Indianola)
56
Two Would-be Towns and
a Texas Frontier Storekeeper
In early Texas the ranchers, with their extensive herds, and the import-export
traders, with their bulging warehouses, were few compared to the number of
laborers, professional men, and small merchants who provided the developing
economy with the services and small capital investments that gave it stability
and strength.
In some instances the site of a lonely frontier trading post marked the
beginning of a later-flourishing town like Corpus Christi. In others, the trader
provided the necessary goods and services; his store became a business ter­minal
and social center-the only link between a wild, untamed frontier and
civilization. Then, as other centers developed and the land filled up, the small
community died aborning, leaving only a place-name. Such was the fate of Blan­conia,
Gussettville, Indianola, and others.
The town of Gussettville was founded in the 1850's when a North Carolina
veteran of the Mexican War, Norwick Gussett, established a trading post near
the Nueces River and southeast of the present town of George West. The site
was a coach stop on the San Antonio-Corpus Christi route. Gussett eventually
opened a general store there "carrying everything from coffins to groceries."
Gussettville was in the San Patricio land grant area and served the surrounding
ranchers-many of whom were Irish born. Its most prosperous period was the
1860's. The town was abandoned when the railroad bypassed it, and today all
that remains is the wooden St. Joseph's Catholic Church located in a cemetery
57
St. Joseph's Church, Gussettville, c. 1910
that bears mute testimony to the Irish who peopled the area. Tombstones,
bearing dates of death from 1835, record settlers from the Irish counties of
Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo, and Fermanagh, as well as from "Ireland" generally.
On many tombstones the word "Leitrim" is spelled phonetically as the Irish
would pronounce it-"Lathrem."
BIanconia was similar to Gussettville and suffered a similar fate.' Irish-born
William McGuill had fought at San Jacinto and afterwards retired to his land
grant on Blanco Creek. When he died he left his property to his nephew,
Thomas, and other heirs in Ireland. Thomas came to Texas in 1853 to claim the
land and later bought out the other heirs. In order to bring his wife and family
to Texas, he became a peddler. He bought goods at Old St. Mary's near Copano,
transported the wares by packhorse, and sold them at isolated ranches. At the
58
Thomas and Mary McGuill
same time, he took orders for future delivery. In 1857 he brought his wife, Mary
O'Reilly McGuill, and their two children to a log cabin on Dog Branch Creek.
Their third child, Martin, was born here in 1858. Of their 10 children, two died
as infants and are buried at Dog Branch. Arrangements were made with the
mission at Refugio, some 15 miles away, for a priest to visit once a month to
conduct religious services at the McGuill home.
Meanwhile, Thomas McGuill was building a more spacious house and a store
on his land on Blanco Creek. He set aside an acre of ground on which he built a
log church in 1875. He furnished it himself and donated the church and site to
the Catholic Diocese. In 1890 he built a larger church to replace the first build­ing.
The log church and the later one were on the east side of the Blanco and
were both known as our Lady of the Rosary. The second building served until
59
1926, when it was torn down and replaced, on the west side of the Blanco, with
the present St. Catherine's Church. The statue of Our Lady of the Rosary and
the Stations of the Cross from the old church are in St. Catherine's.
With the outbreak of the Civil War, Thomas became a tailor for the Confed­eracy,
leaving the running of the store to his wife and family. Times were hard.
Merchandise was almost unobtainable because of the Federal blockade of Texas
ports. Some goods were obtained through the courage and ingenuity of a wom­an
named Sally Scull. She owned some land near that of the McGuills and, with
a band of Mexican drovers, smuggled cotton into Mexico, bringing back ammu­nition
for the Confederacy and supplies for her neighbors.2 Sally Scull dressed
like a man, wore two pistols, was a dead shot with either pistol or rifle, liked a
Mexican fandango , and was an astute poker player. She was also described as a
"merciless killer when aroused" and "possessor of a vocabulary that would put
a trooper to shame."3
With Thomas away, life in the prairie store was lonely for Mrs. McGuill. The
days would be busy enough operating a store and keeping track of a number of
small, active children. However, at night, with the children asleep and the
mournful howl of the coyote the only sound, the silent menace of the darkened
prairie caused anxious moments. On Thomas's return after the war, conditions
improved for the store, and, with the help of his son Martin, he could now
concentrate on farming and stock raising. He made Martin a partner in the store
in the early 1870's.
In June of 1874, an incident occurred that resulted in Thomas McGuill
becoming a banker of sorts for the community. Refugio County rancher Thad
Swift had sold a load of wool and deposited the proceeds for safekeeping in
Refugio, but someone thought that he had taken the money home with him.
Thieves broke into the Swift home, dragged the man and his wife into the yard,
where they murdered them, and ransacked the house for the money. Other
settlers in the area did not want to keep sums of money at their isolated ranches
and resolved, after the Swift murders, to let it be known that money was not
kept on their premises. Thomas McGuill bought a safe, and the other settlers,
trusting him as a friend and businessman, deposited their money with him at
the store.
In the 1880's the McGuills moved their store to the west bank of the Blanco
and added a cotton gin, gristmill, and blacksmith shop. The first telephone line,
put through from Beeville in 1889, ended at the McGuill store. Martin was a
partner in the company and was made manager. He later bought out his asso­ciates
and, when the lines were extended to Refugio, sold the company to
Southwestern Bell. He also served as postmaster for the little community now
called Blanconia.
Life in Blanconia was a busy one for Martin McGuill as postmaster, banker,
cotton ginner, meat and corn grinder, blacksmith, telephone manager, and
60
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storekeeper. The daily routine was lightened by the shopping trips of the
settlers and the exchange of news and gossip. Occasionally, an unusual event
would add to the local news. One morning Martin opened the sugar barrel to fill
a customer's order, but the barrel was empty. At the bottom was a neatly drilled
hole, through which he could see the ground some three feet below the store
flooring. Sugar had been strewn about on the outside, and the trail ended
where it had apparently been loaded into a buggy. The thief obviously worked
at night with an exact knowledge of where to drill. How he had done so was a
topic of much discussion.
Changes were coming to the frontier communities, and sometimes these
were incomprehensible to the older folks . Old-time Blanconia resident "Buck"
Emmert tells of his grandfather who, though familiar with the steam engine,
was unable to understand the mysteries of the internal-combustion automobile.
He would never ride in one without first checking the "boiler" (radiator) and
was baffled no end by the ability of the machine to move without first "building
up a head of steam."
Until 1950 three generations of McGuills were local merchants. In that year
the third McGuill store building was torn down. Blanconia, halfway between
Refugio and Beeville, had served its purpose. The railroad had come to other
towns and bypassed the little trading center. The area is still known as Blan­conia,
but all that remains of the McGuill settlement is St. Catherine's Church
and, across the creek, the cemetery. The half-acre graveyard is surrounded by a
fence to protect it from the cattle that graze nearby and the deer that browse on
surrounding shrubbery. Thomas McGuill had donated this land, and he was the
first to be buried there; his grave and that of his wife are surrounded by graves
of the many later McGuills and in-Iaws.4
62
Pro-Mexican Irish?
Questions have been raised about the Irish colonists' support of the Texas
cause in the revolt against Mexico. Some Irish, like some of their Anglo-Saxon
neighbors, supported Mexico, but the Irish colonists in general wholeheartedly
supported the revolutionary cause. In fact, they had demanded independence
at a time when it was unpopular among other Texans.
Texans were far from unanimous in the first and second phases of their revolt.
The first phase did not claim independence but, rather, was the assertion of
rights under the Mexican Constitution of 1824. Leaders were at first split be­tween
a War Party, believing in armed assertion, and a Peace Party, believing in
conciliation. 1 In the second phase, including a declaration and war for inde­pendence,
there were yet many who, content with the prosperity they enjoyed
under Mexico, did not support armed resistance.
For purposes of political administration, the Mexican province of Texas was
divided into the three departments of Nacogdoches, Brazos, and Bexar. The
Irish colonies were part of Bexar. The DeWitt, Austin, and other colonies far­ther
east were in the other two departments. Texas itself was part of the com­bined
state of Coahuila y Tejas.
In the 1830's Santa Anna came to power in Mexico as a supporter of Federal­ism-
Mexican "states rights." Once in power, however, he switched to Central­ism
and ordered the disarming of the states and the disbanding of militia units.
The Mexican states rose in revolt, and Governor Agustin Viesca of Coahuila y
63
Tejas called on all Texans for armed aid to resist Centralism. The militias of San
Antonio and Victoria responded. He received no aid from the colonies east of
the Guadalupe River nor from the Irish colonies. 2 Santa Anna brutally sup­pressed
the armed opposition in the southern Mexican states. In the state of
Zacatecas, 2,000 citizens opposing Centralism were killed. Texans knew what
was coming. In June of 1835, Texas citizens meeting at San Felipe in the Austin
colony, in a courageous action, issued a strong declaration defending the
federal and state constitutions. Conservative groups there opposed the strong
language of the declaration. A group at Gonzales, at a meeting on July 7, went so
far as to pledge loyalty to the nation, citing as evidence their refusal to supply
Governor Viesca with militiamen.3
Santa Anna was not impressed by pledges of loyalty. He dispatched General
Martin Perfecto de Cos to disarm Texas. During this period a Declaration of
Independence was drawn up at Goliad and signed by 91 citizen-soldiers, includ­ing
42 from the Irish colonies. When presented to the provisional Texas govern­ment
at San Felipe, it was repudiated and suppressed. Texas independence was
not declared until March 2, 1836, two and a half months later at Washington-on­the-
Brazos.
An armed confrontation in January 1836 attests to the sharp division among
Texans on "constitutional rights under Mexico" and "independence for Texas."
It was the Texas Irish-some of whom were later accused of supporting Mexi­co-
who were among those supporting independence.
Some Texans had banded together and successfully attacked San Antonio,
held by Cos. Following the capture of San Antonio, a group of men under
ColonelJames Grant started for Matamoros to link up with Mexican Federalists.
Hoping to obtain supplies at Goliad, they marched by way of Presidio La Bahia,
which was occupied by Captain Phillip Dimmitt and his garrison. Seeing the
Goliad Flag of Independence flying from the walls of the presidio, Grant or­dered
it taken down, stating they were Federalists and would stand by the Mexi­can
Constitution of 1824. Dimmitt disagreed, arguing that Grant and his men
were acting against Texan interests. At first he refused to furnish them with
supplies. Times were indeed confused. The men on each side were drawn up in
battle-ready lines, but the matter was finally settled without bloodshed.4
There were many Texans, including Irish, who at first hesitated to take up
arms against Mexico. If nothing else, their economic interests prompted hesi­tancy.
Later reminiscences of old settlers hark back to those days prior to the
revolution as ones of "peace and plenty." 5
Additional considerations influenced the Irish-particularly those of San Pat­ricio.
Their descendants say today that many felt a loyalty to a government that
had given them land and freedom and economic opportunity. They had come
first to the northeastern United States in the 1820's and 1830's and found them·
selves the targets of a violent anti-Irish "nativism." Their coming to Texas was
64
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Detail of duty report from Captain Phillip Dimmitt's garrison, Goliad, December 21,
1835. Among those present were Morgan O'Brien, james Burke,john Dunn,
Timothy Hart, Michael O'Donnell, and other Irish colonists.
65
largely because of the denial of economic opportunity and social acceptance in
the United States. In Mexico, they found a hospitable Mexican community and
economic freedom.
Coming to the Mexican province of Texas in 1829, they had had six years to
get acquainted with Mexicans who showed them how to use the resources of
this strange land to meet everyday needs. They had shown them the proper
methods of cultivation for the climate and had introduced them to new feed
crops, cattle, and vegetables.6 Their close social and commercial contact with
the Mexican settlers was bound to promote understanding of Hispanic values.
They traded with the Mexicans south of the Nueces River, so the latter built a
road in the early 1830's from Matamoros to San Patricio to facilitate that trade.
Its completion was the occasion for a four-day fiesta in honor of the San Patricio
Irish.7 The town of Banquete is on the site of and named for this celebration.
Their brother Celts of Refugio, having come directly from Ireland, were hap­pily
spared the "northern experience" of the United States, but, arriving as late
as 1834, they had little time in which to develop a rapport with the natives of
their new country.
The San Patricio Irish would have shown themselves insensitive and ungrate­ful
to their Mexican neighbors had they not hesitated to take up arms on the
side of the revolution. However, with the outbreak of hostilities, they discov­ered
that the solid values of their neighbors were not reflected in the tyrannical
government of Santa Anna. They then threw themselves wholeheartedly be­hind
the Texan cause and into the conflicts at the Alamo, Goliad, San Patricio,
and San Jacinto.
Many later-arriving Americans would not permit them to forget that they had
initially wavered in their support of the Texas revolt . Their ranches were raided
time and again, and some of them were driven from the area. Later, during the
Mexican-American War, the formation by the Mexican army of a "San Patricio
Battalion" -although having no connection with the settlement on the Nueces-­revived
animosity toward them.
There were Irishmen in Mexican service, however. Captain Ira Westover's
report of the taking of Lipantitlan in November 1835 indicates a total of 14 Irish­men
from San Patricio in the Mexican command. Five were in the fort when it
was taken. He added that some were there by compulsion and some by choice.s
John J. Linn's account states that the men of San Patricio were pressed into
service by Captain Nicholas Rodriguez, Mexican commander at Lipantitlan.9
Whatever the situation, there was apparently no doubt of the San Patricians '
position 10 days later because, on November 14, Captain Phillip Dimmitt at
Goliad wrote Stephen F. Austin, then in command of the Texas Army, advising
him that all the citizens at San Patricio had joined the Texas cause. IO
As further evidence of their participation, there is the letter written on Feb­ruary
22, 1836, by James McGloin at San Patricio to Colonel James W. Fannin,
66
then commanding at Goliad, outlining the situation in the Irish settlement.
McGloin pointed out that, as regulars and volunteers, there were 100 San Patri­cians
in the field, leaving only 16 men to protect the families then being threat­ened
by hostile Indians.lI McGloin himself refused to surrender a cannon to
Mexican forces . Captain Rodriguez finally obtained it, but only after threaten­ing
to lash McGloin to it.
The much-quoted diary of Dr. Joseph Henry Barnard, one of those spared by
the Mexicans at the Goliad Massacre, notes that the San Patricio families re­mained
at that place and sought the protection of the Mexican army. The doctor
was apparently ignorant of the fact that many of his fellow prisoners at Goliad,
later executed, were in fact San Patricians. 12 Other sources indicate that, during
the Goliad campaign, most of the San Patricio families had moved east to Vic­toria
and that the town was burned.
Like the San Patricio Colony, Refugio included a number of Mexican settlers.
Refugio came under suspicion of supporting Mexico because General Cos's
army had been able to raise two military units there. These units were com­posed
of Mexican colonists and were recruited by colonists Carlos de la Garza
and Manuel Sabriego. 13
This apparently split the settlement. The Irish colonists of Refugio were
among the first Texans for independence. In the ensuing conflict, the town of
Refugio was burned and colonists' homes and crops were destroyed and their
cattle driven off. Within six months an estimated one-third of the manpower of
this Irish colony lay in soldiers' graves. 14 The colonial area had turned into a
bloody battlefield.
Some Irish families may have remained loyal to Mexico, but if any further
evidence of the general commitment of the Irish colonies to the Texas cause is
needed, the proceedings of the temporary government of Texas should be
conclusive. Before adjournment on March 17, 1836, a resolution was intro­duced
to the convention asking that agents and quartermasters be instructed to
furnish rations and supplies to the San Patricio, Refugio, and San Antonio
families because the husbands and fathers were in the field and the families had
been driven by the enemy from their homes. 15
67
The First Skirm.ishes
On September 20, 1835, James Power was at his Live Oak Point home on
Copano Bay when he observed a Mexican ship entering the bay. In a small boat,
he and another man followed the Mexican vessel to its landing site and dis­covered
that this was the troopship of Mexican General Martin Perfecto de Cos
and 500 men, sent by Santa Anna to disarm Texas. Walter Lambert was imme­diately
dispatched to the other colonies with the news. 1 By the next night,
while Cos's men were still unloading supplies, the colonies in the interior had
news of the landing.
The Mexican general remained in the vicinity for about 10 days, and, during
that time, he and his officers visited Power's home, giving rise to the story that
they were "entertained" there. He then took up the march for San Antonio. At
Refugio Captains Carlos de la Garza and Manuel Sabriego raised, from among
the Mexican settlers of the Irish colony, two companies of rancheros for the
Mexican army.
On the day the Mexicans reached Goliad, October 2, a historic confrontation
occurred at Gonzales. Following Santa Anna's order to disarm the colonists,
Captain Francisco Castaneda and 100 cavalrymen were sent from San Antonio
to demand from the Gonzales settlers a cannon that had been given them for
protection against the Indians. The settlers, under John H. Moore, refused with
a defiant "Come and take it," emphasized by a blast of chain and scrap metal
from the cannon. The settlers then advanced to the attack. Castaneda ordered a
69
retreat to San Antonio, leaving one dead cavalryman on the field. Now Texas
had its Lexington.
Leaving a garrison at Goliad, Cos advanced to San Antonio. He little realized
that the men of the Irish colonies he had just left were moving to cut his supply
route to Copano by capturing Goliad. John J. Linn of Victoria had sent word to
Refugio of a planned expedition to capture Goliad and asked for help. 2 Ira West­over
at Refugio sent messages to the surrounding ranchers with the call to arms.
Eyewitness accounts vary as to specific details, but, in any case, on October lO
or 11 , one or two contingents of volunteers, including quite a few Irishmen,
arrived as reinforcements for the assaulting party.3
Soon after the capture of Goliad, John O'Toole and John Williams were dis­patched
to San Patricio to enlist the support of that colony. They were captured
by the Mexicans and, in irons, compelled to work on the Lipantitlan fortifi­cations.
When word of this came back to Goliad, Westover led 35 men, includ­ing
a number of Irish colonists, off to rescue the prisoners.4 The group had
grown somewhat by the time it reached Lipantitlan.
The main body of the garrison was absent from the fort, attempting to
intercept Westover and his men, who had reached Lipantitlan undetected.
James O'Reilly of San Patricio volunteered to go into the fort and persuade the
22 defenders to surrender.s Through his efforts the fort was captured without a
shot on November 3. There the Texans discovered that the prisoners, O'Toole
and Williams, had already been sent to Mexico. The citizen-soldiers left the fort
on November 4, then, while recrossing the Nueces, were attacked by the
return-ing garrison members.
In the ensuing 20-minute battle, the Mexicans suffered heavy losses before
withdrawing into the fort . One Texan, William Bracken, was wounded. The
Texans withdrew to the town of San Patricio and then to Goliad.6
Most of the Goliad garrison, including some Irish, went on to the Siege of
Bexar (San Antonio) to drive Cos out. The Irish remaining at Goliad organized
under Captain Phillip Dimmitt to hold Presidio La Bahia.
Goliad was important to the defense of San Antonio. Whoever held that
frontier bastion controlled the supply route from the port at Copano to San
Antonio. While the Texans held it, General Cos was unable to receive supplies
or reinforcements. This capture of his supply route may have been a reason for
Irish in the Lipantithin Battle, November 4, 1835
James Power; John Dunn; Nicholas and John Fagan; John, James, and Walter
Lambert; Martin Lawlor; John, Michael, and Patrick Quinn; Charles Malone;
Morgan and Thomas John O'Brien; James and Thomas O'Connor; Michael
McDonough; James O'Reilly; Patrick and Michael O'Reilly; Daniel O'Driscoll;
William Ryan; and Jeremiah OToole. 7
70
ThomasJohn O'Brien, nephew
of James Power, was 13 when
he served in Dimmitt's
garrison at Goliad. Bereft of
his parents less than two years
after they emigrated from
Ireland, "john" followed his
older brother, Morgan, and
other Irish colonists who
volunteered to secure Goliad
from reoccupation by Mexican
Centralist forces.
his surrender of San Antonio to a numerically smaller force.8 After some bitter
house-to-house fighting, Cos surrendered San Antonio on December 10, 1835.
With the retirement of his forces beyond the Rio Grande, Texas enjoyed a brief
respite. It was the calm before the storm.
The Consultation of Texas delegates at San Felipe in the Austin colony to the
east had, on November 7, 1835, issued a declaration that Texans were fighting
for their liberties as guaranteed by the Mexican Constitution of 1824. Indepen­dence-
the second stage of the revolt-was not declared until March 2, 1836.
The men who had fought at Goliad, at Lipantitlan, and at the siege and taking
of San Antonio had definite feelings about independence. On the 20th of De­cember,
91 men under Captain Dimmitt signed what is known as the Goliad
Declaration of Independence. There were 42 signers from the Irish coloniesY
On that same date, there was raised at Goliad one of the first flags of Texas
independence. It was made by Dimmitt and depicted, against a white field, a
red sinewy arm and hand grasping a red sword. In front of the assembled garri­son,
it was hoisted to the top of the flagstaff by Nicholas Fagan and Morgan
O'Brien.Io It is interesting to note that the design on the flag was similar to that
which appears on the crests of many Irish families.
71
The Santa Anna Catnpaign
Convinced that he was the one to bring the Texans to heel, Santa Anna per­sonally
prepared a massive strike early in 1836. He sent General Jose Urrea to
strike along the southern colonies while he marched to San Antonio.
Following the fall of San Antonio to revolutionary forces the previous Decem­ber,
the foreign volunteers there became restless, and a march was planned on
Matamoros to join with Mexican Federalists. General Sam Houston, now com­manding
the Texas army, had advised against this division of forces. However,
EW. Johnson and Dr. James Grant left for San Patricio with 60 men and three
cannons to make that town their headquarters for the Matamoros expedition.
Fannin prepared Goliad for the expected Mexican invasion.
Urrea, informed of the presence of Grant and Johnson at San Patricio, set out
from Matamoros to meet them. He and approximately 700 men arrived at the
Irish town at three o'clock on the morning of February 27.' Immediately, and in
the midst of a driving rainstorm, he ordered an assault. Johnson and his men
were the only occupants of the town; Grant and his men were away searching
for horses. The defenders were overcome. Nine or 10 of the Texans were killed
in the fighting, and, except for Johnson and a few who escaped, the rest were
captured. Grant's men were surprised and killed on March 2 at Agua Dulce
Creek. Of the men taken at San PatriciO, Father Molloy of San Patricio was able
to save 18 from execution. These were sent as prisoners to Mexico.
73
Dawn at the Alamo by Harry Arthur McArdle
Santa Anna's advance units had reached San Antonio on February 23, and the
Texans there retired with Colonel William Barret Travis into the Alamo. From
behind its walls, approximately 188 defenders hurled defiance at the massing
thousands of the dictator's army. The story of their stand is well known: When
they refused the demand to surrender, the order of "no quarter" was given. The
Alamo was taken on March 6, 1836. All the defenders died. Among them were
12 Irish-born men and an additional 14 bearing Irish surnames. Eight or nine of
those in the old mission were settlers from the Irish colonies to the south.2
Three of the Irish-born were from Gonzales-the only Texas community to
answer Travis's plea for help.
After the fall of the Alamo, Santa Anna continued eastward in search of Sam
Houston's retreating army-and to his defeat at San Jacinto.
Meanwhile, the abandoned property of the San Patricio Irish had been occu­pied
for almost two weeks by Urrea's men. His troops now numbered an esti­mated
1,000.> On March 13 he began the advance to Goliad but turned aside to
Refugio when he heard it had been occupied by some of Fannin's men.
Known Irish-born Men Who Died at the Alamo
Samuel E. Burns, Andrew Duvalt, Robert Evans, Joseph M. Hawkins, William D.
Jackson, Edward McCafferty, James McGee, Robert McKinney, James Nowlan,
Jackson J. Rusk, Burke Trammel, and William B. Ward.!
74
The greater part of the militia of the Irish colonies was in Hugh McDonald
Frazer's and Ira Westover's companies with Fannin at Goliad. 5 Many of the fami­lies
had been moved to places of safety, but there were still a few in the Refugio
area. Without teams or wagons and with no militia to protect them, the women
and children sought help from Goliad. Fannin dispatched Captain Amon King
and a detachment that included several Irish volunteers to escort the families
and their possessions to the protection of Refugio Mission. The flight of the
families under escort was noted by advance units of Urrea's cavalry. The Mexi­can
horsemen pursued the lumbering oxcarts, but the Texans reached the stout
walls of the mission safely. However, they were in danger of being entrapped
there, and King dispatched young Thomas John O'Brien to Goliad with news of
the predicament. Fannin then sent William Ward and part of his Georgia bat­talion
to relieve King. 6
Ward arrived at Refugio on March 13. Bickering between Ward and King and
a misconception of the strength of Urrea's forces resulted in a division in the
command. King and his men left the mission in one direction, while Ward's
men took another. The latter, realizing the strength of Urrea's still-assembling
forces , returned. They alone faced the mounting attacks of the Mexican army.
When, on March 14, Urrea launched his final assault, he found the mission
occupied by eight women, five or six children, and three wounded men. Ward
and his men had slipped away the previous night. They were captured on
March 22 and marched to Goliad. 7
King and his men were captured near Refugio on or about March 15. All but
three were shot within sight of the women and children at the mission, and
their bodies were left on the prairie. Nearby lay the body of a messenger from
Fannin at Goliad, James Murphy, who had attempted to reach the Refugio Mis­sion
through the Mexican lines. 8
On March 16, at Urrea's orders, a Mexican detachment under Colonel Rafael
de la Vara occupied Copano. Thus, the Irish colonies were sealed off. 9
On March 19 Urrea's advance units were already before Goliad, and the vacil­lating
Fannin finally left that place to join Houston's army to the east. After a
few hours, he halted his men on the open prairie near Coleto Creek and was
there surrounded and taken by the Mexicans after a bloody battle. Among 10
Texans killed or wounded were John Kelly, Alfred Dorsey, and William Quinn. to
A total of 284 men of Fannin's command were marched back to Goliad. There
they were joined by Ward's 80 men captured near Victoria-that town had been
taken by Urrea on March 21-and by others from Refugio. In all, the total num­ber
of prisoners at Goliad is estimated at 407.
On direct orders from Santa Anna on March 27, the prisoners were marched
out of the fort in three groups and shot down on the open prairie. Some 28
escaped into nearby woods, and 20 were spared because of help from Mexican
friends or, as in the case of doctors, because their skills were needed.
75
At least 47 Celtic surnames appear on the list of those killed at Coleto and
Goliad. Many more than those mentioned were probably Irish-born, since the
New Orleans Greys were part of Fannin's command and there were Irish-born
volunteers in that unit. The escape of Nicholas and John Fagan, Edward Perry,
Anthony and John Sidick, and James Byrnes was arranged by Mexican Captain
Carlos de la Garza. These men were all his neighbors, living near him on the San
Antonio River. Nicholas Fagan was in the line of those being herded outside for
execution, when some of de la Garza's rancheros laid a quarter side of beef on
his shoulders to hide his identity so he could walk away from the line. He
escaped through a nearby orchard. After the shooting he came back and found
William L. Hunter still alive. He carried him to Manehuila Creek, where they
hid from Mexican patrols combing the area for those who had escaped.
Andrew Boyle of San Patricio was saved by a Mexican officer who had been
treated hospitably by Boyle's brother and sister. ll
San Patricio and Refugio Irish Who Died at Coleto Creek and Goliad
Matthew Byrne, George W. Cash, Alfred Dorsey, John Fadden, Lewis Gates, Ed­ward
Garner, John Gleeson, John James, John Kelly, John McGloin, Dennis
McGowan, Patrick Neven, Thomas Quinn, William Quinn, Thomas Quirk, and
Edward Ryan. 12
76
None Paid a Greater Price
In terms of lives sacrificed, property lost, and land despoiled, none gave more
to Texas independence than the Irish colonists of San Patricio, Refugio, and
Victoria. When they espoused the Texas cause, they knew they would bear the
brunt of the conflict. Their colonial area was a crossroads of battle.
The Texans attempted to hold a western front on a line running generally
southeast from San Antonio to the Gulf. The tide of conflict ebbed and flowed
across this line, washing over the lands of the Irish colonists. Except for the
Battle of San jacinto-fought just east of present-day Houston-most of the mili­tary
operations were conducted west of the Guadalupe and south of a line run­ning
westward from Gonzales to San Antonio. The towns of San Patricio, Refu­gio,
and Victoria were burned. Property and homes were destroyed and live­stock
driven off. The areas were almost depopulated.
The colonists of this area had provisioned and supplied the volunteers who
gathered there in 1835 and 1836. Two gunsmiths of Refugio, Edmund Quirk
and Antoine Sayle, repaired and maintained the guns of the men of Fannin's
command. Merchants Henry Foley, Martin Power, and John Dunn furnished
large quantities of dry goods and clothing. Nicholas Fagan placed his whole
corn crop and several hundred head of cattle at the disposal of the Texans.
Foodstuffs were provided and transported by John Fagan, Peter Hynes, Edward
McDonough, John J. Linn, and five Mexican colonists of the area. I
77
Sending their wives and children to safety in the eastern colonies and in
Louisiana, most of the men joined the Texan volunteers and regular army units
that took the field against Santa Anna.
These colonists would continue to pay for some years after San Jacinto. The
Texas upheaval had attracted to the area a number of men whose only purpose
was to plunder. In the patriots' absence, their deserted homes were looted and
their livestock driven off.
In her "Reminiscences," Mrs. Annie Fagan Teal tells of well-mounted men
causing panic by riding through the country shouting that the Mexicans and
Indians were coming, looting and killing on the way. Leaving behind all their
possessions, she and the women and children of other families headed east in
headlong flight. On the way they were accosted by a band of men who took
their weapons, leaving them defenseless. When she returned after San Jacinto,
plunderers had driven off all but one cow of the large herds of Nicholas Fagan,
Peter Teal, and Edward McDonough. The robbers were still at work, and she
saw load after load of elegantly carved mahogany furniture being taken from
the deserted homes of rich Mexicans. 2 Pillage and murder were to continue in
this part of the country for some years. Indians, Anglo-American and Mexican
bandits, the Mexican army, and even the frontier-based Texas army would
plague this area through the late 1830's and 1840's.
The infant Republic of Texas was, after San Jacinto, inundated by waves of
volunteers from the United States. The army that had fought at San Jacinto had
been composed mainly of colonists. Most of the survivors had gone back to
their farms and ranches. The new army was made up of latecomers with, as one
historian noted, neither rights nor property in Texas to defend.3 It became a
problem to the government, at times even a threat to public order and stability.
At one time s