William H PATE {VETERAN TXREP)

PRIVATE Texas Army
2nd Regiment 7th Infantry Company
The Battle of San Jacinto April 21, 1836
October 31, 1813 - August 29, 1879

William H. Pate, the only identified veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto known to have lived in the De Leon area is buried in the northeast section of the Victor Cemetery. (Cyrus Campbell who made the leg irons used on Santa Anna arrived at San Jacinto the day following the battle.) The battle which secured Texas Independence was fought on April 21, 1836.

Pate was born on October 31, 1813 in Putnam, Georgia. He arrived in Texas in January 1836 at the age of 22. In a letter written sometime before his death in 1879 he wrote that after receiving word of the fall of Goliad and the Alamo, “Two companies were raise forthwith, one in Sabine County and one in San Augustine County, the writer of this joined the company raised in the first named county. These companies were organized and left the Red Lands (presumably east Texas) I think sometime in March. Nothing of note occurred until we got to the Brazos River. We did not know precisely where the Texian army was but we supposed it was somewhere on the west side of the Brazos perhaps on the Colorado, we therefore crossed the Brazos at Washington and had traveled but a few miles when we received information that General Houston with the Texas Army was encamped at Groce’s Ferry some distance below Washington. Our officer therefore concluded that they would recross the river and go down on this side-lest we might otherwise meet up with Santa Anna by going down on the west side of the River, for we did not feel exactly able to measure swords with an army of 6 or 8 thousand regulars. We therefore returned to Washingon and here a scene was presented to our view the like of which I hope never to witness again. I allude to what is gerally known as the Runaway scrape. The citizens of Washington were crossing over to the east side of the river as fast as possible when we arrived and such was the consternation and confusion that it was impossible even to get something to eat for (up)on two of us going to the tavern to get our dinner we were informed that we could not get any from the fact that they were packing up to leave and had not time to prepare it. We succeeded, however, in getting 4 eggs for which we paid 75 cts. We recrossed the river and took up our line of march down the river and finally reached the army encampment in the Brazos bottom where we remained until about the 15th. April at which time the army crossed over to the east side of the river and after a forced march of fifty five miles we arrived opposite Harrisburg on the 18th.”
Pate was a Private in the 2nd Regiment 7th Infantry Co. of the Texas Army under Captain Ben F. Bryant. The 1st Lt. was John C. Hale and the 2nd Lt. was Archibald S. Lewis.
Pate married Jane C. Nix. Their children were: Rebecca, Malider, John, Charles, Ella, M.L., William D., Martha Ophelia, and Benjamin F. Pate. His family ties in De Leon have not been verified however, he is known to have been related to the W.C. Streety family, probably through Streety’s son-in-law Atlas Pate, who married Lillie Streety.
For his participation in the battle he was was awarded 1/2 league of land by the Board of Land Commissioners of Houston County.
*From the online resource for history of De Leon, Texas and surrounding communities.

Jane
Mar. 10, 1827 - Mar. 18, 1906

Historical Marker in the Victor Cemetery erected by the State of Texas during the Texas Centennial in 1936

Contributed on 6/20/15 by tomannkill
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Record #: 78567

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