"For the Relief of the Texians": A Theatrical Benefit to Aid the Texas Revolution

This 1836 broadside for a New York theatrical show seeks relief for "the Texians." Courtesy of Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries, Governor James V. Allred Papers.

An 1836 theatrical broadside presenting a "benefit for the relief of the Texians" at New York City's American Theatre, has come to light at the University of Houston Libraries—a serendipitous discovery. The framed broadside was accidentally discovered on an otherwise empty top shelf of an archival range in 2004 as collections were being readied for transfer to a new wing of the library. The importance of the broadside, illegible beneath years of accumulated grime, became immediately evident once the glass was cleaned. It advertises a theatrical benefit on January 7, 1836, at the American Theatre, owned and managed by English-born actor Thomas Sowerby Hamblin.¹

While events leading up to the Texas Revolution are not the focus here, it seems worthwhile to discuss briefly the requests for assistance calling for "relief of the Texians," as stated on the theatrical broadside. The first direct plea, made from Texas to the citizenry of the United States, was issued from the Permanent Council meeting in San Felipe de Austin on October 26, 1835. It was published under the heading "To the Citizens of the United States of the North" and appealed for Texas army volunteers, as well as monetary aid. The council also ordered the address to be printed and circulated. This appeal first saw publication in a supplement to the Natchitoches (Louisiana) Red River Herald on November 6.² Twenty-four days later, the New York Evening Post picked up the news.

The New Orleans papers received . . . contain . . . intelligence from Texas . . . "We have received by express several documents from San Philipe [sic] de Austin. The General Consultation . . . appeal[ed] to our citizens for aid.³

In the East, the Texans' plea for financial assistance stirred sentiments both pro and con. Citizens of the United States closely followed escalating tensions between the Texans and the Mexican government in the summer and autumn of 1835. Local New York papers, such as the New York Courier and Enquirer, employed New Orleans correspondents, who regularly furnished updates on the growing conflict in Texas.⁴ Thanks in large part to newspaper editorials, "inspired crowds" packed theatres and meetings halls nationwide "to discuss the quest for liberty" then unfolding.⁵

According to Southwestern Historical Quarterly author James E. Winston, people living in New York State received news in late October of that year of the arrival of Mexican troops into Texas.⁶ An examination of the New York Evening Post through November and December 1835, concurrent with the meeting of the Texans' provisional government and the continuation of the war, confirms regularly published coverage of the revolution. It shows that, out of fifty-one days on which the newspaper was issued during that November-December period, it carried news of Texas on twenty-six of those days.⁷

While the press argued for and against the Texans' revolt, the citizenry of New York showed clear interest in doing what they could to provide support. Thirty-two New York gentlemen came together on November 7 at the city's Shakespeare Hotel and resolved to receive donations for Texas.⁸ John P. Austin, living in New York, reported this meeting to his cousin, Stephen F. Austin.⁹

The Evening Post published an announcement concerning this "cause of Texas," as the appeal was headed, in its November 10 edition, noting that the committee would "solicit and receive subscriptions" for the benefit of the "Texians."¹⁰ Winston states that a Tammany Hall meeting was attended by over 2,000 citizens on November 12, raising a subscription of "several hundred dollars." Presiding over the meeting was the prolific biographer and orator Samuel Lorenzo Knapp, who also gave an "eloquent address."¹¹ A few days later, the same paper devoted considerable space to the New York committee's solicitation efforts for Texas with the addition of an impassioned plea for subscriptions...