On 14 February 1842, some time before midnight, Lt. Charles Fuller, officer on deck of the Texas Navy schooner San Antonio, met a mob of sailors with marines in the front, all wanting to go ashore. Fuller ordered the marines to arms to take control of the mob. Instead, Marine Sgt. Oswald Seymour attacked Dearborn with a tomahawk. Marine Pvt. Benjamin Pompilly shot Lt. Fuller. Rushing to their aid, Midshipman William Henry Allen was shot in the foot. Midshipman T. H. Odell was shot in the thigh. Marine Pvt. Antonio Landois bayoneted Fuller. At that point Boatswain Frederick Shepherd intervened, shoving Landois. The wounded officers were dragged below deck. As Lt. Fuller lay dying on deck, the passing mutineers clubbed and stabbed him. The mutineers then took two boats and made for shore. New Orleans city police and United States Marines quickly rounded up the runaways.
At 12:20 PM on 26 April 1843, aboard the Texian Navy flagship Austin, four men were hanged for their mutiny on the night of 14 February 1842, while their ship, the TN San Antonio was in port anchored off Slaughterhouse Point, New Orleans. Much about the events was then and remains now questionable. Commodore Edwin Moore published his own history of the Texian navy, in part to answer accusations that he acted without authority when he ordered the court martial and then the executions aboard his ship. Histories of the mutiny aboard the San Antonio written either then or now do not refer to a similar incident aboard the US Navy Brig-of-War Somers, when the captain of the ship, Commander Alexander Slidell Mackenzie ordered the execution by hanging of an officer and two sailors on the charge of mutiny on 1 December 1842.
Although four men—Antonio Landois, William Simpson, Isaac Allen, and James Hudgans*—were hanged aboard the TN Austin, they were not the only mutineers. Marine Sergeant Seymour Oswald had escaped from prison in New Orleans and was never recaptured. Marine Corporal Benjamin Pompilly died in prison, supposedly giving a death-bed confession and an account of the attack on the officers. Seaman Thomas Rowan, whom Lt. Seeger had delivered to Commodore Moore aboard the Austin on 10 March 1842, a month after the mutiny in what must have been a Captain’s Mast hearing and not a court-martial for mutiny, was given 100 lashes. Boatswain Frederick Shepherd was found not guilty. Seaman John Williams was given 50 lashes as was the cook Edward Keenan. Seaman William Barrington may have received 100 lashes or probably only 50 based other published recollections.
*Variously spelled Huggins and Hudgins. Many of them were illiterate and signed their names with a mark or X.
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April 26th 1843 P.M. Still Beating for Telchae. At 11.30 Laid the Fore Top Sail to the mast & Hoisted the Colours. At 11.45 Called all hands to execute sentence of Court Martial when they were addressed by Comdre Moore on the Subject of Mutiny. At 12 the prisoners were carried Forward & placed upon the Scaffold[.] After addressing the Crew the Ropes were placed around their necks. Until this time they appeared to believe they would be pardoned & did not evince much fear but now the truth flashed upon them & they knew they had to pay the Penalty of their crimes & commenced praying eagerly & piteously for Pardon[.] At 12.20 the Signal Gun was Fired & the four Prisoners run up to the Fore Yard. Lat at Meridian 23ยบ31’03” N The Journal of Alfred Walke, April 16-27, 1843. https://www.tsl.texas.gov/exhibits/navy/al_walke_apr16-27_1843_3.html |
I first learned about the Texian navy when I saw pay warrants for sale in a dealer’s showcase at a coin show in Austin in the late winter of 2018. I had seen the more common and well-documented so-called “Red Back” notes of the Republic of Texas. The navy scrip was different from them and I bought the one on display and asked the dealer to have it certified. As that was in process, he found another and I bought that as well. At that time I was serving in the Maritime Regiment of the Texas State Guard where I was assigned as a technical specialist in future operations to the Texas National Guard. I donated both of them to the Brigadier General John C. L. Scribner Texas Military Forces Museum at Camp Mabry.
I believe that the pay warrants provide evidence about the mutiny that has not been published elsewhere. I found corroborating evidence in the archives of the Texian navy at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in Austin.
Historians Jim Day Hill, Tom Henderson Wells, and Jonathan W. Jordan all make Marine Sergeant Seymour Oswald the ringleader. Indeed, surviving records agree that he was at the front of the gang when they cut down the officer of the watch. However, also among the mutineers was William Simpson who was one of the four hanged for their crimes. It is interesting that Simpson’s endorsement appears on the warrants originally issued to three other men (not mutineers). Simpson then signed over all four notes to Galveston store owner, Christopher Fox.
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| Roster of Texian Navy Marines |
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| Pay Warrant issued to William Simpson, Boatswain's Mate |
One question that every author asks, some with more imagination than others, is why was discipline lost? Most authors assume that the men were drunk. Where did the men get the whiskey? Some authors follow each other in claiming that rogue merchants in small boats traded among the sailing ships. In point of fact, the Texian Navy floated on a sea of whiskey. I found seven receipts between 14 May 1841 and 6 December 1841, totaling 2527 gallons of whiskey.
And then there was this for 10 February 1842 at New Orleans for another short barrel of 37-1/2 gallons "for immediate use." The full truth is that unlike this receipt, the whiskey usually was among other purchases for beans, rice, bread, butter, lard, beef, pork, molasses, vinegar, and fresh food as well. Even so, hardly any stores were brought aboard without whiskey.
It is axiomatic that historians rely on primary documents. Those sources are not always accurate. At the University of Texas Briscoe Center I found the Adams-Gilmore Family Papers. Many of the sheets were typewriter written, apparently from older handwritten diaries. One entry detailed a patriotic celebration at the first anniversary of Texas Independence. It said that Sam Houston nailed a $20 gold coin to a flag pole for any man who could climb to the top and place the Texas flag. No such coin existed at that time. The first US $20 Double Eagle was struck in quantity in 1850.
Sources
[1.] “Pay Warrants of the Texas Navy,” Michael E. Marotta, The Numismatist, November 2020.
[2.] “Pay Warrants of the Texian Navy,” Michael E. Marotta, ANA eLearning Academy, 4 August 2020.
[3.] “Pay Warrants of the Texian Navy,” Michael E. Marotta, TNA News, September 2019.
[4.] Mabry Museum Receives Texian Navy Scrip, Texas Navy Association, Invincible Newsletter, July 2019.
[5.] “Texas” Whitman Encyclopedia of Obsolete Paper Money, Volume 7. [Michael E. Marotta, editor].
- Bevill, James P. The Paper Republic: The Struggle for Money, Credit and Independence in the Republic of Texas. Houston: Bright Sky Press, 2009.
- Eller, E. M. The Texas Navy. U.S. Navy Department. Naval History Division. January 1, 1968. (TMF Museum online archives at http://www.texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.org/articles/texasnavy/texasnavy.htm and online at University of North Texas archives https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2419/)
- Fischer, Ernest G. Robert Potter: Founder of the Texas Navy. Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing, 1976.
- Gouge, William M. The Fiscal History of Texas Embracing an Account of its Revenues, Debts, and Currency from the Commencement of the Revolution in 1814 to 1851-52 with Remarks on American Debt. Philadelphia,1852; reprinted New York, Burt Franklin, 1969.
- Hill. Jim Dan. The Texas Navy in Forgotten Battles and Shirtsleeve Diplomacy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1937.
- Jones, Anson. Memoranda and Official Correspondence Relating to the Republic of Texas Its History and Annexation 1836 to 1846. Chicago: The Rio Grande Press, Inc., 1966.
- Jordan, Jonathan W. Lone Star Navy: Texas, the Fight for the Gulf of Mexico, and the Shaping of the American West. Washington, D. C.: Potomac Books, Inc., 2006.
- Medlar, Bob. Texas Obsolete Notes and Scrip. Society of Paper Money Collectors. San Antonio: R. A. Glasscock, 1969/
- Olson, Joseph D. Texas Currency: A Catalog 1813-1868. San Antonio: Corporate Image; Waco: James D. Olson, 2006.
- Siegel, Stanley. A Political History of the Texas Republic 1836-1845. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1956.
- Wells, Tom Henderson. Commodore Moore and the Texas Navy. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1960.
Websites
- Handbook of Texas Online, Joseph Milton Nance, “REPUBLIC OF TEXAS,” accessed December 29, 2018, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/mzr02.
- Handbook of Texas Online, James M. Daniel, “TEXAS NAVY,” accessed December 29, 2018, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qjt02.
- Handbook of Texas Online, Marie Giles, “MOORE, EDWIN WARD,” accessed December 29, 2018, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fmo24.
- The Texas navy: Fortune Favors the Brave. “THE YUCATAN ALLIANCE,” accessed January 18, 2019, https://www.tsl.texas.gov/exhibits/navy/alliance.html
- Texas Navy Association https://texasnavy.org/Resources/Documents/Historical/General/Texas_Navy_Bibliography.pdf
- Wikipedia, The First Texas Navy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Texas_Navy
Museums and Libraries
- Brigadier General John C. L. Scribner Texas Military Forces Museum, Camp Mabry, 3038 West 35th Street, Austin, Texas 78703, P.O Box 5218, Austin, Texas 78763.
- Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin, 2300 Red River St, Austin, Texas 78712
- Texas State Library and Archives Commission, 1201 Brazos Street, P.O. Box 12927, Austin, Texas 78711
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