Silas Millsaps (1822 - 1839)

Born 1822 in Pike, Mississippi, United States

Ancestors

Died 1839 at about age 17 in Galveston, Republic of Texas

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Biography

Born in Bogue Chitto, Pike, Mississippi, USA on 1822 to Isaac Millsaps and Mary Blackburn.

He passed away on 1839 in Texas, USA.

On February 23, 1836, Silas' father Isaac Millsaps was mustered into the service of Texas as a member of the Gonzales Ranging Company of Mounted Volunteers also known as the "Immortal 32". He rode to the relief of the Alamo with this unit and arrived on March 1, 1836. Millsaps died in the battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836.

Shortly thereafter Sam Houston's "guard rode thirty miles to rescue a poor blind woman, Mary Millsaps (and her children)." Andrew Kent and Isaac Millsaps were neighbors in Lavaca County. Mary Millsaps was blind. In the confusion following the Alamo defeat, she and their seven children were left on the homestead on the lower Lavaca River as the area was evacuated and settlers took flight along with Houston's army toward East Texas on the Runaway Scrape. )."^[1] David Boyd Kent from the neighboring kent Andrew Kent family noted their absence and informed General Houston who sent a squad of men which found blind Mrs. Millsaps and the children hiding in the brush near their home. At the time, 1836, Silas would have been about 14.

In 1839 at the age of 16 Silas joined the Texas Navy. He died a month later on board the brig Colorado.^[2][3]

Major John Milsaps mentions a letter from brother Willie requesting a power of attorney to B. L. Logan of Memphis regarding interest in land claims in Texas. One league and one labor, 4605 acres, on Pulaxy Creek in Erath County; 640 acres in Hamilton County and 960 acres in Victoria County.

"All the lands above were set apart or granted to my grandfather, Isaac Milsaps, who was killed in the Army of Texas against the Republic of Mexico"

• "Was killed by Santa Ana's Mexicans at the Alamo"

"Also to do like charges on one league and one labor, 4605 acres, in Walker County and one small survey of about 250/300 acres set apart to my grandmother Mary Milsaps by the state of Texas"^[4]

"Also to do the same services in clearing the charges on land granted my uncle, Silas Milsaps*, who deceased in the Army of Texas against the Republic of Mexico.

:* Probably died in the so called Texas Navy" ^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ The writings of Sam Houston, 1813-1863, Volume 7, Sam Houston, Eugene Campbell Barker, The University of Texas press, 1942, Page 313
2. ↑ Ancestry.com. Texas, Muster Roll Index Cards, 1838-1900
3. ↑ In 1838. President Mirabeau B. Lamar formed a second Texas Navy. Unlike Sam Houston, Lamar was an ardent supporter of the Texas Navy and saw the urgent need for its continuation. The second Texas Navy was placed under the command of Commodore Edwin Ward Moore, an Alexandria Academy graduate who was recruited from the United States Navy. One of the ships of this second navy was the Wharton along with her sister ship, the Archer. Wharton was built in Baltimore, Maryland at the Schott and Whitney shipyard. Originally called the Colorado, she was rechristened in honor of John Austin Wharton, a hero of the battle of San Jacinto. From her commissioning until January 1842, Wharton remained in Galveston awaiting provisions and repairs
4. ↑ John E. T. Milsaps Diary, volume 2, July, 1877 to January, 1879 Page 131
5. ↑ John E. T. Milsaps Diary, volume 2, July, 1877 to January, 1879 Page 132