LAPHAM, MOSES (1808–1838). Moses Lapham, surveyor and participant in the Texas Revolution, was born in Smithfield, Rhode Island, on October 16, 1808, the fifth of seven children of Amos Lapham. With his father he moved to Mechanicsburg, Ohio. After attending Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, he moved to Texas in 1831 and settled finally at San Felipe, where he worked with Thomas H. Borden as a surveyor. There he also taught school for three months in the winter of 1831. By October 1832 he had returned to Mechanicsburg, where he remained until the eve of the Texas Revolution. Lapham served in the Texas army from February through September 1836. In March 1836 he became a spy for Sam Houston's army and was a member of Erastus (Deaf) Smith's party that destroyed Vince's Bridge.
(photo of monument commemorating the destruction of the bridge is here:)
http://www.meanderandgander.com/2013/10/texas-army-route-from-cypress-to-san.html
Lapham rejoined the main army in time to participate in the battle of San Jacinto. In October 1836 Lapham helped to lay out the town of Houston. By March 1837 he was living in Fort Bend County and again aiding Borden. In 1838 he was surveying for Samuel A. Maverick near San Antonio when his party of five was attacked by Comanches, who killed him and three others on the afternoon of October 20, 1838. He was buried in San Antonio. A man of genteel rearing and a college background, Lapham complained frequently in his letters of the lack of cultured companionship in Texas; nevertheless he intended to make Texas his permanent home. At the time of his death he owned land on the Colorado River in Fort Bend County and two lots in Richmond. He never married.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Sam Houston Dixon and Louis Wiltz Kemp, The Heroes of San Jacinto (Houston: Anson Jones, 1932). Joe B. Frantz, ed., "Moses Lapham: His Life and Some Selected Correspondence," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 54 (January, April 1951).
∼Moses Lapham was killed near Bexar by the Comanche Indians while he was on a surveying expedition a business in which he had been engaged for about six months previous. It took place within 3 miles of Bexar (San Antonio) on the Presidio Rio Grande Road between the hours of one and two o'clock in the evening. He had camped on the Leon Creek Situated within five miles of Bexar where he had been probably waiting for more hands.- "The Indians discovered his camp, went to it and Mr. Lapham and the four men that were with him scattered and went into the bushes. Mr. Lapham was found next day a considerable distance out in the open prarie with an arrow sticking in his body and scalped, Mr. Jones that was along with him was found scalped and otherwise disfigured, the remaining three were also scalped. When word of the incident reached San Antonio, a party of 12 Rangers headed by Capt. Benjamin Franklin Cage, a San Jacinto Veteran went in pursuit of the Indians, but alas the band of hostiles was to large, and eight of these men also lost their lives. The bodies of the dead were subsequently recovered and taken back to San Antonio where they were buried in one mass grave, in the town's American Cemetery. This apparently was just outside the Catholic Cemetery (Campo Santo,) near the present day Milam Square, or Milam Park. Many years later due to the Cities progress the cemetery was closed and the graves were moved to the San Fernando Cemetery #1. Originally the State of Texas had erected a plaque on the wall of Campo Santo dedicated to the men who were killed at Leon Springs in November of 1838, but the plaque disappeared after the move in 1921.
But who was Moses Lapham?
He was born to Amos and Marcy Aldrich Lapham, was never married, studied mathematics, Latin, Greek, French, and other subjects leading to a degree, at Miami University at Oxford, Ohio. Graduating in 1831, he emigrated to Brazoria, Texas, by July of that year. Later arriving at San Felipe he agreed to teach school for three months, while living with the Bordens Family. In 1832, he returned home to help his family, but by February 15th, 1836 he was at Quintana, Texas "helping to lay out the town". Shortly after he found himself in the Texas Army, a member of Captain Moseley Baker's "San Felipe Company," and while a member participated in the victory at The Battle of San Jacinto. The day before the Battle, Moses was a member of the detail sent to destroy Vince's Bridge, which played a key role in the eventual capture of Mexico's Presidente Santa Anna.
(photo of monument commemorating the destruction of the bridge is here:)
http://www.meanderandgander.com/2013/10/texas-army-route-from-cypress-to-san.html
Lapham rejoined the main army in time to participate in the battle of San Jacinto. In October 1836 Lapham helped to lay out the town of Houston. By March 1837 he was living in Fort Bend County and again aiding Borden. In 1838 he was surveying for Samuel A. Maverick near San Antonio when his party of five was attacked by Comanches, who killed him and three others on the afternoon of October 20, 1838. He was buried in San Antonio. A man of genteel rearing and a college background, Lapham complained frequently in his letters of the lack of cultured companionship in Texas; nevertheless he intended to make Texas his permanent home. At the time of his death he owned land on the Colorado River in Fort Bend County and two lots in Richmond. He never married.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Sam Houston Dixon and Louis Wiltz Kemp, The Heroes of San Jacinto (Houston: Anson Jones, 1932). Joe B. Frantz, ed., "Moses Lapham: His Life and Some Selected Correspondence," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 54 (January, April 1951).
∼Moses Lapham was killed near Bexar by the Comanche Indians while he was on a surveying expedition a business in which he had been engaged for about six months previous. It took place within 3 miles of Bexar (San Antonio) on the Presidio Rio Grande Road between the hours of one and two o'clock in the evening. He had camped on the Leon Creek Situated within five miles of Bexar where he had been probably waiting for more hands.- "The Indians discovered his camp, went to it and Mr. Lapham and the four men that were with him scattered and went into the bushes. Mr. Lapham was found next day a considerable distance out in the open prarie with an arrow sticking in his body and scalped, Mr. Jones that was along with him was found scalped and otherwise disfigured, the remaining three were also scalped. When word of the incident reached San Antonio, a party of 12 Rangers headed by Capt. Benjamin Franklin Cage, a San Jacinto Veteran went in pursuit of the Indians, but alas the band of hostiles was to large, and eight of these men also lost their lives. The bodies of the dead were subsequently recovered and taken back to San Antonio where they were buried in one mass grave, in the town's American Cemetery. This apparently was just outside the Catholic Cemetery (Campo Santo,) near the present day Milam Square, or Milam Park. Many years later due to the Cities progress the cemetery was closed and the graves were moved to the San Fernando Cemetery #1. Originally the State of Texas had erected a plaque on the wall of Campo Santo dedicated to the men who were killed at Leon Springs in November of 1838, but the plaque disappeared after the move in 1921.
But who was Moses Lapham?
He was born to Amos and Marcy Aldrich Lapham, was never married, studied mathematics, Latin, Greek, French, and other subjects leading to a degree, at Miami University at Oxford, Ohio. Graduating in 1831, he emigrated to Brazoria, Texas, by July of that year. Later arriving at San Felipe he agreed to teach school for three months, while living with the Bordens Family. In 1832, he returned home to help his family, but by February 15th, 1836 he was at Quintana, Texas "helping to lay out the town". Shortly after he found himself in the Texas Army, a member of Captain Moseley Baker's "San Felipe Company," and while a member participated in the victory at The Battle of San Jacinto. The day before the Battle, Moses was a member of the detail sent to destroy Vince's Bridge, which played a key role in the eventual capture of Mexico's Presidente Santa Anna.
LAPHAM, MOSES (1808–1838). Moses Lapham, surveyor and participant in the Texas Revolution, was born in Smithfield, Rhode Island, on October 16, 1808, the fifth of seven children of Amos Lapham. With his father he moved to Mechanicsburg, Ohio. After attending Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, he moved to Texas in 1831 and settled finally at San Felipe, where he worked with Thomas H. Borden as a surveyor. There he also taught school for three months in the winter of 1831. By October 1832 he had returned to Mechanicsburg, where he remained until the eve of the Texas Revolution. Lapham served in the Texas army from February through September 1836. In March 1836 he became a spy for Sam Houston's army and was a member of Erastus (Deaf) Smith's party that destroyed Vince's Bridge.
(photo of monument commemorating the destruction of the bridge is here:)
http://www.meanderandgander.com/2013/10/texas-army-route-from-cypress-to-san.html
Lapham rejoined the main army in time to participate in the battle of San Jacinto. In October 1836 Lapham helped to lay out the town of Houston. By March 1837 he was living in Fort Bend County and again aiding Borden. In 1838 he was surveying for Samuel A. Maverick near San Antonio when his party of five was attacked by Comanches, who killed him and three others on the afternoon of October 20, 1838. He was buried in San Antonio. A man of genteel rearing and a college background, Lapham complained frequently in his letters of the lack of cultured companionship in Texas; nevertheless he intended to make Texas his permanent home. At the time of his death he owned land on the Colorado River in Fort Bend County and two lots in Richmond. He never married.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Sam Houston Dixon and Louis Wiltz Kemp, The Heroes of San Jacinto (Houston: Anson Jones, 1932). Joe B. Frantz, ed., "Moses Lapham: His Life and Some Selected Correspondence," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 54 (January, April 1951).
∼Moses Lapham was killed near Bexar by the Comanche Indians while he was on a surveying expedition a business in which he had been engaged for about six months previous. It took place within 3 miles of Bexar (San Antonio) on the Presidio Rio Grande Road between the hours of one and two o'clock in the evening. He had camped on the Leon Creek Situated within five miles of Bexar where he had been probably waiting for more hands.- "The Indians discovered his camp, went to it and Mr. Lapham and the four men that were with him scattered and went into the bushes. Mr. Lapham was found next day a considerable distance out in the open prarie with an arrow sticking in his body and scalped, Mr. Jones that was along with him was found scalped and otherwise disfigured, the remaining three were also scalped. When word of the incident reached San Antonio, a party of 12 Rangers headed by Capt. Benjamin Franklin Cage, a San Jacinto Veteran went in pursuit of the Indians, but alas the band of hostiles was to large, and eight of these men also lost their lives. The bodies of the dead were subsequently recovered and taken back to San Antonio where they were buried in one mass grave, in the town's American Cemetery. This apparently was just outside the Catholic Cemetery (Campo Santo,) near the present day Milam Square, or Milam Park. Many years later due to the Cities progress the cemetery was closed and the graves were moved to the San Fernando Cemetery #1. Originally the State of Texas had erected a plaque on the wall of Campo Santo dedicated to the men who were killed at Leon Springs in November of 1838, but the plaque disappeared after the move in 1921.
But who was Moses Lapham?
He was born to Amos and Marcy Aldrich Lapham, was never married, studied mathematics, Latin, Greek, French, and other subjects leading to a degree, at Miami University at Oxford, Ohio. Graduating in 1831, he emigrated to Brazoria, Texas, by July of that year. Later arriving at San Felipe he agreed to teach school for three months, while living with the Bordens Family. In 1832, he returned home to help his family, but by February 15th, 1836 he was at Quintana, Texas "helping to lay out the town". Shortly after he found himself in the Texas Army, a member of Captain Moseley Baker's "San Felipe Company," and while a member participated in the victory at The Battle of San Jacinto. The day before the Battle, Moses was a member of the detail sent to destroy Vince's Bridge, which played a key role in the eventual capture of Mexico's Presidente Santa Anna.
(photo of monument commemorating the destruction of the bridge is here:)
http://www.meanderandgander.com/2013/10/texas-army-route-from-cypress-to-san.html
Lapham rejoined the main army in time to participate in the battle of San Jacinto. In October 1836 Lapham helped to lay out the town of Houston. By March 1837 he was living in Fort Bend County and again aiding Borden. In 1838 he was surveying for Samuel A. Maverick near San Antonio when his party of five was attacked by Comanches, who killed him and three others on the afternoon of October 20, 1838. He was buried in San Antonio. A man of genteel rearing and a college background, Lapham complained frequently in his letters of the lack of cultured companionship in Texas; nevertheless he intended to make Texas his permanent home. At the time of his death he owned land on the Colorado River in Fort Bend County and two lots in Richmond. He never married.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Sam Houston Dixon and Louis Wiltz Kemp, The Heroes of San Jacinto (Houston: Anson Jones, 1932). Joe B. Frantz, ed., "Moses Lapham: His Life and Some Selected Correspondence," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 54 (January, April 1951).
∼Moses Lapham was killed near Bexar by the Comanche Indians while he was on a surveying expedition a business in which he had been engaged for about six months previous. It took place within 3 miles of Bexar (San Antonio) on the Presidio Rio Grande Road between the hours of one and two o'clock in the evening. He had camped on the Leon Creek Situated within five miles of Bexar where he had been probably waiting for more hands.- "The Indians discovered his camp, went to it and Mr. Lapham and the four men that were with him scattered and went into the bushes. Mr. Lapham was found next day a considerable distance out in the open prarie with an arrow sticking in his body and scalped, Mr. Jones that was along with him was found scalped and otherwise disfigured, the remaining three were also scalped. When word of the incident reached San Antonio, a party of 12 Rangers headed by Capt. Benjamin Franklin Cage, a San Jacinto Veteran went in pursuit of the Indians, but alas the band of hostiles was to large, and eight of these men also lost their lives. The bodies of the dead were subsequently recovered and taken back to San Antonio where they were buried in one mass grave, in the town's American Cemetery. This apparently was just outside the Catholic Cemetery (Campo Santo,) near the present day Milam Square, or Milam Park. Many years later due to the Cities progress the cemetery was closed and the graves were moved to the San Fernando Cemetery #1. Originally the State of Texas had erected a plaque on the wall of Campo Santo dedicated to the men who were killed at Leon Springs in November of 1838, but the plaque disappeared after the move in 1921.
But who was Moses Lapham?
He was born to Amos and Marcy Aldrich Lapham, was never married, studied mathematics, Latin, Greek, French, and other subjects leading to a degree, at Miami University at Oxford, Ohio. Graduating in 1831, he emigrated to Brazoria, Texas, by July of that year. Later arriving at San Felipe he agreed to teach school for three months, while living with the Bordens Family. In 1832, he returned home to help his family, but by February 15th, 1836 he was at Quintana, Texas "helping to lay out the town". Shortly after he found himself in the Texas Army, a member of Captain Moseley Baker's "San Felipe Company," and while a member participated in the victory at The Battle of San Jacinto. The day before the Battle, Moses was a member of the detail sent to destroy Vince's Bridge, which played a key role in the eventual capture of Mexico's Presidente Santa Anna.
