Fisher represented the municipality of Gonzales at the Consultation at San Felipe in 1835. In 1836, he joined the Texas army and reinforced Sam Houston's army with the company that he had raised, Company I, First Regiment of Texas Volunteers, and participated in the battle of San Jacinto. Appointed secretary of war of the Republic of Texas, he served from December 21, 1836, to November 13, 1837. Fisher was elected leader of those members of the Somervell expedition who continued on into Mexico on the Mier expedition.
W. S. Fisher was a native of Virginia, came to Texas in 1833. He was in command of a company at the battle of San Jacinto. Colonel Fisher was appointed by General Houston, secretary of war during his first administration. He commanded the Mier expedition, was captured and a prisoner at the Castle of Perote. He died in 1845. [A Texas Scrapbook Made Up of The History, Biography, and Miscellany of Texas and Its People, compiled by D. W. C. Baker, 1875,
*********
William S. Fisher, the subject of this chapter, was a brother of John and, like himself, a native of Virginia. He was also a man of finished education and remarkable intelligence and one of the tallest men in the country. As a conversationalist he was captivating, ever governed by a keen sense of propriety and respect for others---hence a man commanding, esteem wherever lie appeared. His first experience as a soldier was in the fight with the Indians on the San Marcos, in the spring of 1835 sixteen men against the seventy Indians who had murdered and robbed the French traders west of Gonzales, in which the Indians were repulsed, with a loss of nine warriors. His first appearance in public life was as a member of the first revolutionary convention (commonly called the Consultation) in November, 1835. He was also a volunteer in the first resistance to the Mexicans at Gonzales and in the march upon San Antonio in October.
[William Fisher was the President of the Gonzales Committee of Safety and Correspondence in summer 1835 according to archival correspondence. In that capacity, he appealed to Col. S.F. Austin in San Felipe for reinforcements on 3 Oct 1835 after the confrontation at Gonzales. He signed the Declaration of the People of Texas at the consultation of Nov 1835 in San Felipe. On 2 Mar 1836 in his capacity as customs collector at Velasco, he impounded vessels bearing African slaves and asked Provisional Governor Smith for instructions their disposition. On 13 Mar 1836 from Velasco, he informed his brother John Fisher that he will resign because he cannot carry out his duties to his satisfaction. On 2 Apr 1836, he sat on a court martial at headquarters on the Brazos in which several private soldiers were tried for desertion and neglect of duty.]
In the campaign of 1836, he was early in the field, and commanded one of the most gallant companies on the field of San Jacinto [Company I, First Regiment of Texas Volunteers], in which he won the admiration of his comrades. He remained in the army till late in the year, when he was called into the Cabinet of President Houston to succeed Gen. Rusk as Secretary of War, thereby becoming a colleague of Governor Henry Smith, Stephen F. Austin and S. Rhoads Fisher in the same Cabinet.
[Fisher represented Gonzales in the House of Representatives of the First Congress of the Republic and chief recruiting officer for the Regular Army of the Republic in Dec 1838] The services of Col. Fisher were such that when provision was made for a regular army by the Congress of 1838-9, he was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the only permanent regiment, of which the veteran Burleson was made Colonel. In this capacity he commanded the troops engaged in the Council House fight with the Comanches on the 19th of March, 1840, and rendered other important services to the frontier [Fisher participated in the Cherokee campaign in summer of 1839]; but in the summer of 1840 he resigned to become a Colonel in the Mexican Revolutionary Federalist army in the short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande [in support of Col. Antonio Canales]. But the betrayal of Jordan and his command at Saltillo, in October of the same year, followed by the latter's successful retreat to the Rio Grande---an achievement which has been likened to that of Xenophon was followed by the disbandment of the Federal forces and the triumph of Centralism, upon which Col. Fisher and his three hundred American followers returned to Texas.
His next appearance was as a Captain in the Somervell Expedition to the Rio Grande in the autumn of 1842. The history of that campaign is more or less familiar to the public. There were seven hundred men. From Laredo two hundred of them, under Capts. Jerome B. and E. S. C. Robertson, returned home. At the mouth of the Salado river, opposite Guerrero, another division occurred. Two hundred of the men (of whom I was one) returned home with and under the orders of Gen. Somervell. The remaining three hundred reorganized into a regiment and elected Col. Fisher as their commander. They moved down the river, crossed over and entered Mier, three miles west of it, on the Arroyo Alcantra, leaving forty of their number as a guard on the east bank of the river. They entered the town at twilight on the 25th of December, amid a blaze of cannon and small arms, in the hands of twenty-seven hundred Mexicans, commanded by Gen. Pedro de Ampudia, and for nineteen hours fought one of the most desperate battles in American annals-fought till they had killed and wounded more than double their own number, and till their ammunition was so far exhausted as to render further resistance hopeless. Then they capitulated, to become the famed Mier prisoners, or the Prisoners of Perote; to rise upon their guard in the interior of Mexico and escape to the mountains---there to wander without food or water till their tongues were swollen and their strength exhausted, to become an easy prey to their pursuers---then to be marched back to the scene of their rescue, at the hacienda of Salado, and there, under the order of Santa Anna, each one blind-folded, to draw in the lottery of Life or Death, from a covered jar in which were seventeen black and a hundred and fifty-three white beans. Every black bean drawn consigned the drawer to death---one-tenth of the whole to be shot for an act which commanded the admiration of every true soldier in Europe and America, not omitting those in Mexico, for Gen. Mexia refused to execute the inhuman edict and resigned his commission. But another took his place and the seventeen men were murdered. The entire imprisonment of the survivors (some of whom being, in advance, were not in the rescue and therefore not in the drawing) covered a period of twenty-two months. They were then released and reached home about the close of 1844. In 1845 Col. Fisher married a lady of great worth, but soon afterwards died in Galveston. Neither he nor his brother John left a child to bear his name, but the county of Fisher is understood to be a common memorial to them and S. Rhoads Fisher. Information found and used with permission from SONS OF DEWITT COLONY TEXAS
Wallace L. McKeehan, All Rights Reserved.
W. S. Fisher was a native of Virginia, came to Texas in 1833. He was in command of a company at the battle of San Jacinto. Colonel Fisher was appointed by General Houston, secretary of war during his first administration. He commanded the Mier expedition, was captured and a prisoner at the Castle of Perote. He died in 1845. [A Texas Scrapbook Made Up of The History, Biography, and Miscellany of Texas and Its People, compiled by D. W. C. Baker, 1875,
*********
William S. Fisher, the subject of this chapter, was a brother of John and, like himself, a native of Virginia. He was also a man of finished education and remarkable intelligence and one of the tallest men in the country. As a conversationalist he was captivating, ever governed by a keen sense of propriety and respect for others---hence a man commanding, esteem wherever lie appeared. His first experience as a soldier was in the fight with the Indians on the San Marcos, in the spring of 1835 sixteen men against the seventy Indians who had murdered and robbed the French traders west of Gonzales, in which the Indians were repulsed, with a loss of nine warriors. His first appearance in public life was as a member of the first revolutionary convention (commonly called the Consultation) in November, 1835. He was also a volunteer in the first resistance to the Mexicans at Gonzales and in the march upon San Antonio in October.
[William Fisher was the President of the Gonzales Committee of Safety and Correspondence in summer 1835 according to archival correspondence. In that capacity, he appealed to Col. S.F. Austin in San Felipe for reinforcements on 3 Oct 1835 after the confrontation at Gonzales. He signed the Declaration of the People of Texas at the consultation of Nov 1835 in San Felipe. On 2 Mar 1836 in his capacity as customs collector at Velasco, he impounded vessels bearing African slaves and asked Provisional Governor Smith for instructions their disposition. On 13 Mar 1836 from Velasco, he informed his brother John Fisher that he will resign because he cannot carry out his duties to his satisfaction. On 2 Apr 1836, he sat on a court martial at headquarters on the Brazos in which several private soldiers were tried for desertion and neglect of duty.]
In the campaign of 1836, he was early in the field, and commanded one of the most gallant companies on the field of San Jacinto [Company I, First Regiment of Texas Volunteers], in which he won the admiration of his comrades. He remained in the army till late in the year, when he was called into the Cabinet of President Houston to succeed Gen. Rusk as Secretary of War, thereby becoming a colleague of Governor Henry Smith, Stephen F. Austin and S. Rhoads Fisher in the same Cabinet.
[Fisher represented Gonzales in the House of Representatives of the First Congress of the Republic and chief recruiting officer for the Regular Army of the Republic in Dec 1838] The services of Col. Fisher were such that when provision was made for a regular army by the Congress of 1838-9, he was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the only permanent regiment, of which the veteran Burleson was made Colonel. In this capacity he commanded the troops engaged in the Council House fight with the Comanches on the 19th of March, 1840, and rendered other important services to the frontier [Fisher participated in the Cherokee campaign in summer of 1839]; but in the summer of 1840 he resigned to become a Colonel in the Mexican Revolutionary Federalist army in the short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande [in support of Col. Antonio Canales]. But the betrayal of Jordan and his command at Saltillo, in October of the same year, followed by the latter's successful retreat to the Rio Grande---an achievement which has been likened to that of Xenophon was followed by the disbandment of the Federal forces and the triumph of Centralism, upon which Col. Fisher and his three hundred American followers returned to Texas.
His next appearance was as a Captain in the Somervell Expedition to the Rio Grande in the autumn of 1842. The history of that campaign is more or less familiar to the public. There were seven hundred men. From Laredo two hundred of them, under Capts. Jerome B. and E. S. C. Robertson, returned home. At the mouth of the Salado river, opposite Guerrero, another division occurred. Two hundred of the men (of whom I was one) returned home with and under the orders of Gen. Somervell. The remaining three hundred reorganized into a regiment and elected Col. Fisher as their commander. They moved down the river, crossed over and entered Mier, three miles west of it, on the Arroyo Alcantra, leaving forty of their number as a guard on the east bank of the river. They entered the town at twilight on the 25th of December, amid a blaze of cannon and small arms, in the hands of twenty-seven hundred Mexicans, commanded by Gen. Pedro de Ampudia, and for nineteen hours fought one of the most desperate battles in American annals-fought till they had killed and wounded more than double their own number, and till their ammunition was so far exhausted as to render further resistance hopeless. Then they capitulated, to become the famed Mier prisoners, or the Prisoners of Perote; to rise upon their guard in the interior of Mexico and escape to the mountains---there to wander without food or water till their tongues were swollen and their strength exhausted, to become an easy prey to their pursuers---then to be marched back to the scene of their rescue, at the hacienda of Salado, and there, under the order of Santa Anna, each one blind-folded, to draw in the lottery of Life or Death, from a covered jar in which were seventeen black and a hundred and fifty-three white beans. Every black bean drawn consigned the drawer to death---one-tenth of the whole to be shot for an act which commanded the admiration of every true soldier in Europe and America, not omitting those in Mexico, for Gen. Mexia refused to execute the inhuman edict and resigned his commission. But another took his place and the seventeen men were murdered. The entire imprisonment of the survivors (some of whom being, in advance, were not in the rescue and therefore not in the drawing) covered a period of twenty-two months. They were then released and reached home about the close of 1844. In 1845 Col. Fisher married a lady of great worth, but soon afterwards died in Galveston. Neither he nor his brother John left a child to bear his name, but the county of Fisher is understood to be a common memorial to them and S. Rhoads Fisher. Information found and used with permission from SONS OF DEWITT COLONY TEXAS
Wallace L. McKeehan, All Rights Reserved.
Fisher represented the municipality of Gonzales at the Consultation at San Felipe in 1835. In 1836, he joined the Texas army and reinforced Sam Houston's army with the company that he had raised, Company I, First Regiment of Texas Volunteers, and participated in the battle of San Jacinto. Appointed secretary of war of the Republic of Texas, he served from December 21, 1836, to November 13, 1837. Fisher was elected leader of those members of the Somervell expedition who continued on into Mexico on the Mier expedition.
W. S. Fisher was a native of Virginia, came to Texas in 1833. He was in command of a company at the battle of San Jacinto. Colonel Fisher was appointed by General Houston, secretary of war during his first administration. He commanded the Mier expedition, was captured and a prisoner at the Castle of Perote. He died in 1845. [A Texas Scrapbook Made Up of The History, Biography, and Miscellany of Texas and Its People, compiled by D. W. C. Baker, 1875,
*********
William S. Fisher, the subject of this chapter, was a brother of John and, like himself, a native of Virginia. He was also a man of finished education and remarkable intelligence and one of the tallest men in the country. As a conversationalist he was captivating, ever governed by a keen sense of propriety and respect for others---hence a man commanding, esteem wherever lie appeared. His first experience as a soldier was in the fight with the Indians on the San Marcos, in the spring of 1835 sixteen men against the seventy Indians who had murdered and robbed the French traders west of Gonzales, in which the Indians were repulsed, with a loss of nine warriors. His first appearance in public life was as a member of the first revolutionary convention (commonly called the Consultation) in November, 1835. He was also a volunteer in the first resistance to the Mexicans at Gonzales and in the march upon San Antonio in October.
[William Fisher was the President of the Gonzales Committee of Safety and Correspondence in summer 1835 according to archival correspondence. In that capacity, he appealed to Col. S.F. Austin in San Felipe for reinforcements on 3 Oct 1835 after the confrontation at Gonzales. He signed the Declaration of the People of Texas at the consultation of Nov 1835 in San Felipe. On 2 Mar 1836 in his capacity as customs collector at Velasco, he impounded vessels bearing African slaves and asked Provisional Governor Smith for instructions their disposition. On 13 Mar 1836 from Velasco, he informed his brother John Fisher that he will resign because he cannot carry out his duties to his satisfaction. On 2 Apr 1836, he sat on a court martial at headquarters on the Brazos in which several private soldiers were tried for desertion and neglect of duty.]
In the campaign of 1836, he was early in the field, and commanded one of the most gallant companies on the field of San Jacinto [Company I, First Regiment of Texas Volunteers], in which he won the admiration of his comrades. He remained in the army till late in the year, when he was called into the Cabinet of President Houston to succeed Gen. Rusk as Secretary of War, thereby becoming a colleague of Governor Henry Smith, Stephen F. Austin and S. Rhoads Fisher in the same Cabinet.
[Fisher represented Gonzales in the House of Representatives of the First Congress of the Republic and chief recruiting officer for the Regular Army of the Republic in Dec 1838] The services of Col. Fisher were such that when provision was made for a regular army by the Congress of 1838-9, he was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the only permanent regiment, of which the veteran Burleson was made Colonel. In this capacity he commanded the troops engaged in the Council House fight with the Comanches on the 19th of March, 1840, and rendered other important services to the frontier [Fisher participated in the Cherokee campaign in summer of 1839]; but in the summer of 1840 he resigned to become a Colonel in the Mexican Revolutionary Federalist army in the short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande [in support of Col. Antonio Canales]. But the betrayal of Jordan and his command at Saltillo, in October of the same year, followed by the latter's successful retreat to the Rio Grande---an achievement which has been likened to that of Xenophon was followed by the disbandment of the Federal forces and the triumph of Centralism, upon which Col. Fisher and his three hundred American followers returned to Texas.
His next appearance was as a Captain in the Somervell Expedition to the Rio Grande in the autumn of 1842. The history of that campaign is more or less familiar to the public. There were seven hundred men. From Laredo two hundred of them, under Capts. Jerome B. and E. S. C. Robertson, returned home. At the mouth of the Salado river, opposite Guerrero, another division occurred. Two hundred of the men (of whom I was one) returned home with and under the orders of Gen. Somervell. The remaining three hundred reorganized into a regiment and elected Col. Fisher as their commander. They moved down the river, crossed over and entered Mier, three miles west of it, on the Arroyo Alcantra, leaving forty of their number as a guard on the east bank of the river. They entered the town at twilight on the 25th of December, amid a blaze of cannon and small arms, in the hands of twenty-seven hundred Mexicans, commanded by Gen. Pedro de Ampudia, and for nineteen hours fought one of the most desperate battles in American annals-fought till they had killed and wounded more than double their own number, and till their ammunition was so far exhausted as to render further resistance hopeless. Then they capitulated, to become the famed Mier prisoners, or the Prisoners of Perote; to rise upon their guard in the interior of Mexico and escape to the mountains---there to wander without food or water till their tongues were swollen and their strength exhausted, to become an easy prey to their pursuers---then to be marched back to the scene of their rescue, at the hacienda of Salado, and there, under the order of Santa Anna, each one blind-folded, to draw in the lottery of Life or Death, from a covered jar in which were seventeen black and a hundred and fifty-three white beans. Every black bean drawn consigned the drawer to death---one-tenth of the whole to be shot for an act which commanded the admiration of every true soldier in Europe and America, not omitting those in Mexico, for Gen. Mexia refused to execute the inhuman edict and resigned his commission. But another took his place and the seventeen men were murdered. The entire imprisonment of the survivors (some of whom being, in advance, were not in the rescue and therefore not in the drawing) covered a period of twenty-two months. They were then released and reached home about the close of 1844. In 1845 Col. Fisher married a lady of great worth, but soon afterwards died in Galveston. Neither he nor his brother John left a child to bear his name, but the county of Fisher is understood to be a common memorial to them and S. Rhoads Fisher. Information found and used with permission from SONS OF DEWITT COLONY TEXAS
Wallace L. McKeehan, All Rights Reserved.
W. S. Fisher was a native of Virginia, came to Texas in 1833. He was in command of a company at the battle of San Jacinto. Colonel Fisher was appointed by General Houston, secretary of war during his first administration. He commanded the Mier expedition, was captured and a prisoner at the Castle of Perote. He died in 1845. [A Texas Scrapbook Made Up of The History, Biography, and Miscellany of Texas and Its People, compiled by D. W. C. Baker, 1875,
*********
William S. Fisher, the subject of this chapter, was a brother of John and, like himself, a native of Virginia. He was also a man of finished education and remarkable intelligence and one of the tallest men in the country. As a conversationalist he was captivating, ever governed by a keen sense of propriety and respect for others---hence a man commanding, esteem wherever lie appeared. His first experience as a soldier was in the fight with the Indians on the San Marcos, in the spring of 1835 sixteen men against the seventy Indians who had murdered and robbed the French traders west of Gonzales, in which the Indians were repulsed, with a loss of nine warriors. His first appearance in public life was as a member of the first revolutionary convention (commonly called the Consultation) in November, 1835. He was also a volunteer in the first resistance to the Mexicans at Gonzales and in the march upon San Antonio in October.
[William Fisher was the President of the Gonzales Committee of Safety and Correspondence in summer 1835 according to archival correspondence. In that capacity, he appealed to Col. S.F. Austin in San Felipe for reinforcements on 3 Oct 1835 after the confrontation at Gonzales. He signed the Declaration of the People of Texas at the consultation of Nov 1835 in San Felipe. On 2 Mar 1836 in his capacity as customs collector at Velasco, he impounded vessels bearing African slaves and asked Provisional Governor Smith for instructions their disposition. On 13 Mar 1836 from Velasco, he informed his brother John Fisher that he will resign because he cannot carry out his duties to his satisfaction. On 2 Apr 1836, he sat on a court martial at headquarters on the Brazos in which several private soldiers were tried for desertion and neglect of duty.]
In the campaign of 1836, he was early in the field, and commanded one of the most gallant companies on the field of San Jacinto [Company I, First Regiment of Texas Volunteers], in which he won the admiration of his comrades. He remained in the army till late in the year, when he was called into the Cabinet of President Houston to succeed Gen. Rusk as Secretary of War, thereby becoming a colleague of Governor Henry Smith, Stephen F. Austin and S. Rhoads Fisher in the same Cabinet.
[Fisher represented Gonzales in the House of Representatives of the First Congress of the Republic and chief recruiting officer for the Regular Army of the Republic in Dec 1838] The services of Col. Fisher were such that when provision was made for a regular army by the Congress of 1838-9, he was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the only permanent regiment, of which the veteran Burleson was made Colonel. In this capacity he commanded the troops engaged in the Council House fight with the Comanches on the 19th of March, 1840, and rendered other important services to the frontier [Fisher participated in the Cherokee campaign in summer of 1839]; but in the summer of 1840 he resigned to become a Colonel in the Mexican Revolutionary Federalist army in the short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande [in support of Col. Antonio Canales]. But the betrayal of Jordan and his command at Saltillo, in October of the same year, followed by the latter's successful retreat to the Rio Grande---an achievement which has been likened to that of Xenophon was followed by the disbandment of the Federal forces and the triumph of Centralism, upon which Col. Fisher and his three hundred American followers returned to Texas.
His next appearance was as a Captain in the Somervell Expedition to the Rio Grande in the autumn of 1842. The history of that campaign is more or less familiar to the public. There were seven hundred men. From Laredo two hundred of them, under Capts. Jerome B. and E. S. C. Robertson, returned home. At the mouth of the Salado river, opposite Guerrero, another division occurred. Two hundred of the men (of whom I was one) returned home with and under the orders of Gen. Somervell. The remaining three hundred reorganized into a regiment and elected Col. Fisher as their commander. They moved down the river, crossed over and entered Mier, three miles west of it, on the Arroyo Alcantra, leaving forty of their number as a guard on the east bank of the river. They entered the town at twilight on the 25th of December, amid a blaze of cannon and small arms, in the hands of twenty-seven hundred Mexicans, commanded by Gen. Pedro de Ampudia, and for nineteen hours fought one of the most desperate battles in American annals-fought till they had killed and wounded more than double their own number, and till their ammunition was so far exhausted as to render further resistance hopeless. Then they capitulated, to become the famed Mier prisoners, or the Prisoners of Perote; to rise upon their guard in the interior of Mexico and escape to the mountains---there to wander without food or water till their tongues were swollen and their strength exhausted, to become an easy prey to their pursuers---then to be marched back to the scene of their rescue, at the hacienda of Salado, and there, under the order of Santa Anna, each one blind-folded, to draw in the lottery of Life or Death, from a covered jar in which were seventeen black and a hundred and fifty-three white beans. Every black bean drawn consigned the drawer to death---one-tenth of the whole to be shot for an act which commanded the admiration of every true soldier in Europe and America, not omitting those in Mexico, for Gen. Mexia refused to execute the inhuman edict and resigned his commission. But another took his place and the seventeen men were murdered. The entire imprisonment of the survivors (some of whom being, in advance, were not in the rescue and therefore not in the drawing) covered a period of twenty-two months. They were then released and reached home about the close of 1844. In 1845 Col. Fisher married a lady of great worth, but soon afterwards died in Galveston. Neither he nor his brother John left a child to bear his name, but the county of Fisher is understood to be a common memorial to them and S. Rhoads Fisher. Information found and used with permission from SONS OF DEWITT COLONY TEXAS
Wallace L. McKeehan, All Rights Reserved.
Bio by: Shelley Edwards
Inscription
Captain of a company at San Jacinto 1836 and in command of the Mier expedition in 1842 Erected by the State of Texas 1936. Born in VA, Captain of a company at San Jacinto 1836 and in command of the Mier Expedition, 1842, died in Galveston, erected by the State of Texas 1936.
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