Continuing
biographical information on Colonel James Walker Fannin, Jr.,
namesake of Georgia’s county of Fannin, formed in 1854, this
narrative proceeds with the account of his service in the Texas War
for Independence and the Brazos Volunteers of which he was regimental
commander.
Why
did the transplanted Georgian, James Walker Fannin, Jr., take such an
interest in the Texas War for Independence? How did this settler in
the Brazos Valley of Texas get volunteers for his regiment?
A
review of Texas history provides an immediate insight to both
questions.
When
Fannin moved to Texas in 1834, Texas was still under Mexican rule.
After 300 years under Spanish colonial rule, Mexico won its
independence from Spain in 1821. From 1821 through 1836, Mexico had
thirteen different presidents. With such instability in Mexico’s
government, intrigue was on every hand. Ambition motivated
aggression Times were perilous.
From
1821, Mexico continued the policy of Texan colonization, allowing
immigrants from the eastern United States to take land grants and
settle in Texas territory. Settlers had to take an oath of
allegiance to the Mexican government.
In
1824, Mexico redefined its territories. Texas lost its former
standing as a full-fledged territory and was linked with Coahuila.
The capital was moved from San Antonio to Saltillo. Coahuila was
allowed eleven representatives. Texas was allowed only one.
Year
by year, rumbles of discontent grew louder. Settlers from Georgia
and other eastern states on Texas soil remembered fathers and
grandfathers who had fought in the American Revolution. They chafed
under Mexico’s domination. With continued abuses from Mexico, the
situation grew to fever pitch.
In
1830, Mexico decreed that no further immigration from the eastern
United States would be allowed. At stake under the new law were
farmlands and plantations of many Texans.
Into
that hotbed of discontent, and defying Mexico’s ban on further
settlers, James Walker Fannin, Jr. moved to Velasco in the fall of
1834 and claimed plantation lands in the Brazos River Valley near
present-day Brazosport and Columbia. His partner was Joseph Mims,
another Georgian transplanted to Texas.
Less
than a year after Fannin and Mims settled in Texas, Fannin was
appointed on August 20, 1835 by the Texas Committee of Safety and
Correspondence of Columbia to solicit influence for “The
Consultation of the Chosen Delegates of All Texas.”
This
committee met at San Felip de Austin in the fall of 1835. The avowed
intention of the Committee was to draw up an official paper listing
grievances against General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the military
despot of Mexico. His encroachments and abuses completely ignored
the freedoms for its territories promised in the Federal Constitution
of Mexico passed in 1824.
Fannin
did not lose any time after his appointment but moved immediately to
enlist an army. On August 27, 1835, he drafted a letter to a U. S.
Army officer in the east with two requests: (1) Financial Aid for
the Texas Army; and (2) West Point officers to command it.
He
began to gather his own army known as the Brazos Volunteers or the
Brazos Guards.
With
extreme unrest against Mexico’s policies, and with freedom as their
primary desire, volunteers began to sign up for the regiment Fannin
headed. In September 1835, he pledged money for an expedition to
capture the Mexican ship, “Veracruzana.” The exploit was
unsuccessful but that did not deter Fannin’s efforts. He directed
his energies toward continuing to build up the Brazos Guards.
(Next:
The ‘Lexington Shot’ of Texas)
[©2015.
Ethelene Dyer Jones. First published in The
News Observer, Blue
Ridge, Georgia, Wednesday, July 22, 1992, Section A, Page 5.]
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