Captain Young Williamson This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine-The Case of the Deadly Milkshake-Texas Ranger Films of the Texas Centennial-Sam Walker-Robert McAlpin Williamson

   www.texasranger.org/dispatch/2 - [Cached]

   Published on: 7/25/2001   Last Visited: 8/16/2006

   Young Williamson threw away his crutches, had a peg leg attached at the knee, and always had his pants made with the trousers covering his artificial limb. Eventually he could walk, run, dance, ride and shoot. By age nineteen, he was a lawyer.
   
   Williamson had it all with his family connections, money and profession. So why did he leave and go to Mexican Colonial Texas? It was because of a woman. She was a proud Georgia beauty for whom he killed a man in a duel and by whom he was then spurned. As a result of this rejection, he packed up and left for Texas in 1826.
   
   In 1827 Williamson rode into San Felipe, Texas, and presented a letter of introduction to Empressario Stephen F. Austin. Williamson's education and zest for life soon brought him into the mainstream of the frontier people. Williamson was not a snob. He participated in the community and quickly adapted to the frontier lifestyle that matched his passion for life. He became an excellent horseman and rifleman and was just as adept in a barroom brawl as a legal debate. [2] The colonists, with typical frontier humor, gave him the nickname "Three-Legged Willie" and Williamson was accepted as one of their own.
   
   While living in San Felipe, Williamson made friends with another lawyer, William B. Travis.
   ...
   On July 4, 1835, Williamson published a speech that would eventually label him the "Patrick Henry of the Texas Revolution," [3] At the time, however, it made him unpopular with the colonists who wanted peace and with the Mexican government who wanted him arrested.
   
   In mid-July, Williamson left San Felipe and moved to the outer edge of the frontier: Bastrop County and the town of Mina. It was here that he made his name as an Indian fighter and a leader of the "Ranging Corps." Bastrop County was on the outer edge of colonized Texas, and there Williamson learned the craft of being a Ranger from the best in Texas. He made friends and associates like Edward Burleson, John H. Moore, R. M. Coleman, John J. Tumlinson, Jesse Billingsly, Rueben Hornsby and many others. Here he would also learn the horrors of innocent families murdered by various Indian tribes.
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   In those days, companies elected their captains, and Williamson was elected to lead the Mina Company. They spent fifty days in the field [4] chasing Tonkawa and Waco Indians, living off the land, hunting their own food, and sleeping under the open sky. This kind of lifestyle made a frontiersman out of a man or he didn't last long in command. Captain Williamson, despite his peg leg, proved he was just as natural in buckskins as a suit and tie.
   ...
   With his law background, Williamson was selected as a member representing Mina and he played a leading role in drafting statements of the Consultation. [5] Texians had gained easy victories thus far, but the growing hostilities with the Indians was perceived as a very real threat. In haste and confusion several documents concerning the formation of the Texas Rangers were produced.
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   In early January, Williamson began recruiting with his first company commander, John J. Tumlinson.
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   Williamson wrote a plea to all Texians to come to the aid of Travis.
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   On February 27, Williamson dispatched the Gonzales Ranging Company to reinforce the Alamo. He could not have known at the time that this group would be the last Texian unit to arrive at the Alamo and would be doomed to share the same fate of the defenders already there. On March 1, 1836, Williamson passed a personal letter to James Butler Bonham to give to Travis at the Alamo.
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   Williamson continued to organize the Gonzales relief forces and gather supplies. Colonel Edward Burleson arrived with Captain Jesse Billingsly's Mina Militia and relieved Williamson by order of General Houston.
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   Williamson had now lost his entire Second Command and his friend Travis On March 10, he arrived back in Mina and took command of the Rangers.
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   Williamson ordered his First and Third Companies to protect the families remaining in Mina. He then broke up Tumlinson's Rangers into detachments.
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   Upon completion of moving the families to safety, the Rangers returned to Williamson or to General Houston's army.
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   Williamson was in communication with General Houston and discussed the spies out on assignments. [13] Williamson again followed his original orders and organized a company called the Washington Guards under Captain J. B. Chance and sent them to Houston's army.
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   Williamson was in communication with General Houston and discussed the spies out on assignments. [13] Williamson again followed his original orders and organized a company called the Washington Guards under Captain J. B. Chance and sent them to Houston's army.
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   On April 13, Williamson was recalled to Houston's Army but ordered to keep his spies out.
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   Williamson served as a messenger until the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21,1836, where he served in the cavalry.
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   On June 24, 1836, Williamson turned over command of the Ranging Corps to Major Isaac Watts Burton. Williamson went on to help organize the government of the newly won Republic of Texas. [15]