jgoodman,
afraid McKinney was otherwise occupied during the battle of San Jacinto in 1836. He was one of five delegates from the Red River Colony to the Convention of 1836 which called for Texas independence from Mexico and was one of five appointed to draft the Texas Declaration of Independence. At age 70 he was the oldest to sign it.
(Don't think his age had a thing to do with his not fighting. :)-D )
Thanks for the recommendation, Bob. I have been reading. This is the most succinct info I have found so far:
"Soldier, colonizer and entrepreneur Benjamin Rush Milam was born in Frankfort, Kentucky on October 20, 1788, the fifth of six children of Moses and Elizabeth Pattie Boyd Milam. He began a life of traveling after serving with the Kentucky state militia in the War of 1812. In New Orleans in 1819, Milam joined an expeditionary force to help the Mexican revolutionaries gain independence from Spain. He served as a colonel and was twice imprisoned and twice released.
In 1824 Milam was granted Mexican citizenship and made a colonel in the Mexican army. That year he also met English entrepreneur and Mexican army general, Arthur G. Wavell, with whom he became a partner in a silver mine in Nuevo Leon and a licensed empresario for Texas colonies. Milam managed the Wavell Colony, located in what is now Lamar, Red River, and Bowie counties, as well as portions of Fannin and Hunt counties in Texas, and Miller County in Arkansas. Milam’s duty of drawing settlers from the United States was hampered by Mexican hostility to slavery, massive log jams on the Red River, and disputes between the United States and Mexico over the eastern boundary of the colony.
In 1835 the Mexican government was overthrown and Milam was captured and imprisoned by Santa Anna’s forces. He eventually escaped and made it to the Texas border in October of 1835. He joined the cause for Texas independence and participated in the Texian capture of Goliad. Convinced that the army’s official decision not to attack San Antonio would be a terrible mistake, Milam rallied 300 volunteers on December 4 , 1835, to strike the next morning, thus drastically changing the course of the revolution. On the morning of December 7, Milam was struck in the head by an enemy sniper’s bullet, killing him instantly. Two days later General Cos’ Mexican force surrendered to the Texas rebels."
[www.sanjacinto-museum.org]
Incidentally these same Milam- McKinney Family Papers say:
Jefferson Milam (1802 – 1844), only son of Archibald and Susan Shannon Milam, was Ben Milam’s nephew and worked with his uncle as a surveyor of the Wavell Colony, beginning in 1826. Milam settled in the area in 1830, and in 1831 married Eliza Serene McKinney (1813 – 1904), youngest daughter of Collin McKinney. The couple had ten children, including Robert A. Milam (1840 – 1913), who grew up in Bowie County, Texas, served in the Confederate Army, ran a brick manufacturing business in Cedar Bayou, and served as a judge of a justice court in Harrisburg. Robert Milam married Lucy Webb Milam.
afraid McKinney was otherwise occupied during the battle of San Jacinto in 1836. He was one of five delegates from the Red River Colony to the Convention of 1836 which called for Texas independence from Mexico and was one of five appointed to draft the Texas Declaration of Independence. At age 70 he was the oldest to sign it.
(Don't think his age had a thing to do with his not fighting. :)-D )
Thanks for the recommendation, Bob. I have been reading. This is the most succinct info I have found so far:
"Soldier, colonizer and entrepreneur Benjamin Rush Milam was born in Frankfort, Kentucky on October 20, 1788, the fifth of six children of Moses and Elizabeth Pattie Boyd Milam. He began a life of traveling after serving with the Kentucky state militia in the War of 1812. In New Orleans in 1819, Milam joined an expeditionary force to help the Mexican revolutionaries gain independence from Spain. He served as a colonel and was twice imprisoned and twice released.
In 1824 Milam was granted Mexican citizenship and made a colonel in the Mexican army. That year he also met English entrepreneur and Mexican army general, Arthur G. Wavell, with whom he became a partner in a silver mine in Nuevo Leon and a licensed empresario for Texas colonies. Milam managed the Wavell Colony, located in what is now Lamar, Red River, and Bowie counties, as well as portions of Fannin and Hunt counties in Texas, and Miller County in Arkansas. Milam’s duty of drawing settlers from the United States was hampered by Mexican hostility to slavery, massive log jams on the Red River, and disputes between the United States and Mexico over the eastern boundary of the colony.
In 1835 the Mexican government was overthrown and Milam was captured and imprisoned by Santa Anna’s forces. He eventually escaped and made it to the Texas border in October of 1835. He joined the cause for Texas independence and participated in the Texian capture of Goliad. Convinced that the army’s official decision not to attack San Antonio would be a terrible mistake, Milam rallied 300 volunteers on December 4 , 1835, to strike the next morning, thus drastically changing the course of the revolution. On the morning of December 7, Milam was struck in the head by an enemy sniper’s bullet, killing him instantly. Two days later General Cos’ Mexican force surrendered to the Texas rebels."
[www.sanjacinto-museum.org]
Incidentally these same Milam- McKinney Family Papers say:
Jefferson Milam (1802 – 1844), only son of Archibald and Susan Shannon Milam, was Ben Milam’s nephew and worked with his uncle as a surveyor of the Wavell Colony, beginning in 1826. Milam settled in the area in 1830, and in 1831 married Eliza Serene McKinney (1813 – 1904), youngest daughter of Collin McKinney. The couple had ten children, including Robert A. Milam (1840 – 1913), who grew up in Bowie County, Texas, served in the Confederate Army, ran a brick manufacturing business in Cedar Bayou, and served as a judge of a justice court in Harrisburg. Robert Milam married Lucy Webb Milam.