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Chapter 9 A Chain of Frontier Forts August 10–December 1836 By the fall of 1836, the corps of Texas Rangers was at an all-time high in terms of number of men enrolled and number of companies. Colonel Edward Burleson had at his disposal the companies of captains Billingsley, Hill, Lockhart, McGehee, York and Robertson. The original corps, now under Major Burton, included the companies of Captain Putnam and Lieutenant Smith by late August. During August, authorization was given for Colonel Robert Coleman to create three additional companies. In September, Major James Smith in the East Texas area became supervisor of yet another three ranging companies. Although Captain Lockhart’s company disbanded in August, by mid-September there were thirteen ranger companies on the frontiers comprising approximately 450 men in four battalions.1 Not counting later expeditions by the Texas Militia, this strong showing of ranger companies would not be equalled until 1839. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Captain Robertson’s Senate Race During the early days of August, preparations were made for the next election of governmental officers for Texas. Extra copies of the August 2 issue of the Telegraph and Texas Register were distributed to make Texans aware of the upcoming election.2 As of August 11, Captain Sterling Robertson’s company was near the home of pioneer Jesse Webb, from whom the rangers received four and a half bushels of corn at one dollar per bushel and 221 pounds of pork at five dollars per hundred weight. Paymasters Samuel T. Allen and Thomas Graves certified that these goods were for “the use of S. C. Robertson’s Ranging Company.”3 Captain Robertson kept a small notebook created of legal size sheets of paper which he folded into quarter sheets and crudely stitched together along the left-hand margin. The resulting pages 174 A Chain of Frontier Forts 175 were 4.5” x 7” on which Robertson kept records of his rangers. He began this notebook on August 14. Beside each man’s name was recorded all items provided to his company. The men were charged with pantaloons, shoes (ranging in size from 6 to size 10), gun locks, guns, shirts, plugs of tobacco, a coffee boiler and a thin fabric called “lawn.” This notebook also listed entries of the men receiving “strouding” from Colonel John Darrington, a former U.S. army officer who had recently been out among the Caddo Indians. This strouding was a coarse woolen blanket or garment issued to the rangers in two to two and a half yard lengths in either red or blue color.4 By about August 20, Captain Robertson’s ranger company was on the northern frontier of the old Robertson Colony. During this time, he received a letter from Judge Joseph Hood in Washington announcing the impending election just a couple weeks away. Robertson’s nemesis, Stephen F. Austin, was one of the serious candidates for president. Robertson himself became a candidate for senator covering the new precinct of Milam. Captain Robertson, upon deciding to make a serious run for the Texas Senate, furloughed twelve of his sixty-three man ranger company for fifteen days beginning on August 21, 1836. This would give his men enough time to return home briefly to see their families and help campaign in the Milam precinct for Robertson among their friends. Robertson’s ranger notebook shows these men to be Levi Taylor, Daniel Monroe, Moses Griffin, David Dorson, James Wilkinson, Calvin Boales, John Fulcher, Thomas Graves, George Morgan, Enoch Jones, Jesse Munford and John David Smith. Hood’s letter to Robertson had invited “you all” to come in to Tenoxtitlan for the election on September 5. In these elections, Captain Robertson was elected senator for Milam and one of his rangers, Private Samuel Allen, was elected as the representative for Milam. After this election, it became necessary for Robertson to relinquish command of his ranger company. He did so on September 11, 1836, turning it over to Captain Calvin Boales, who had been his first lieutenant. The men, who had enrolled for a four-month period, completed their remaining two months under Boales from that date. Private Thomas Ross, who joined Robertson’s rangers on July 15, stated that at the time Boales took command, Ross was out “performing a specific duty in conformity” with Captain Robertson’s orders. While so doing, Ross became ill from “excessive fatigue and exposure in discharging his duties as soldier.” Ross was 176 SAV AGE FRONTIER left entirely destitute at or...

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