Loose Ends at the Battle of San Jacinto--A Family Affair

The red-headed fire eater, Mirabeau Bonaparte Lamar

     When General Houston decided to fight at San Jacinto, he was on the verge of losing his command to mutiny.  Several of his officers were actively speaking out, questioning his leadership.  Sidney Sherman, Alexander Somerville, Mirabeau B. Lamar, and John Wharton were all critical of Houston.  Wiley Martin and Mosely Baker had decided to follow him only if he fought.  Officers loyal to Houston included Henry Millard, Edward Burleson, and Thomas J. Rusk, the Secretary of War for the Republic.  Houston kept his his plans to himself and only shared his thoughts with Secretary Rusk.

     Around noontime on the 21^st, Houston, fed up with second-guessing subordinates, told Wharton, “Fight and be damned.” Houston knew his poorly trained troops were ill-prepared for battle, but he also knew their best opportunity for victory was immediate action.  The rank and file were lusting for a fight, the enemy was just across a pasture, and Houston had seen an eagle drifting above when he awoke that morning.  The eagle--Houston's Indian Totem--was a good omen and its message was not lost on Houston--it was time to fight.

      Houston prepared his men for battle.  Starting on the left and facing the enemy, Sidney Sherman’s infantry from the Second Volunteer Regiment was spread out next to the swamp.  Mosely Baker and his men were next in line, then the steadfast Edward Burleson’s First Volunteer Regiment which contained Sherman’s original Newport volunteers. The “Twin Sisters” from Cincinnati stood in the center of the line.  Col. Henry Millard’s A and B Regiments of Volunteers completed the line to the right with Mirabeau B. Lamar’s cavalry on the far right, to protect that flank and prevent the enemy from escaping across the open prairie.

      Whether or not it was intentional, this arrangement separated Houston’s adversaries and grouped his friends at his back, in the center of the file.  Lamar’s Cavalry protected the far right flank and cut off enemy escape.  Sherman’s infantry filled in on the far left and the swamp protected that flank.  Separation of these two dissenters may have been coincidental, or it may have been keen insight on the part of Sam Houston. 

      At three-thirty that afternoon, Houston drew his sword, the drummer and fifer struck up Come to the Bower, the flag-bearer (Second Sergeant James A. Sylvester) moved Miss Liberty forward, and the unwieldy line stepped off toward the Mexican fortifications.

      Among the soldiers in that skirmish line were two young men named McLaughlin.  Private Robert McLaughlin lined up with the First Regular Texian Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Col. Edward Burleson.  Robert was in Company F, under Captain Heard, and near the center of the line, immediately behind one of the Twin Sisters.  His company was near General Houston and the Miss Liberty Flag.  On the far right, at the end of the line, First Sergeant Stephen McLaughlin took his place, riding with Lamar’s Calvary. 

      No documentation shows the relationship of these two men, but it is probable that they were related and that they came to Texas with Sidney Sherman.  Sherman’s original Newport Volunteers were put under the command of Colonel Edward Burleson, but the Cavalry stayed under Sherman’s command until the day before the battle, when Houston replaced him with Mirabeau B. Lamar.  

     During a clash with the enemy on the morning of April 20th, Lamar exhibited coolness under fire, extreme bravery, and superb horsemanship while saving the life of acting Secretary of War Rusk.   Col. Sidney Sherman demonstrated lack of experience and a tendency for rash judgment in the same engagement.  Houston immediately promoted Private Lamar to Lt. Colonel and put him in charge of the Cavalry.

     Eight miles away, two other young McLaughlin men were camped across the bayou from Harrisburg.  For greater mobility, Houston left his sick and wounded in a makeshift hospital there, under the command and protection of Major Robert McNutt.  James McLaughlin and William Henry McLaughlin were listed in Logan's Platoon under “Camp Guards, Special Detail, or Sick.”  I know these men were brothers because James was my great-great grandfather.  Family lore says Henry was sick and James asked to remain with him as part of the guard detail. 
 
     It is likely all these McLaughlins were related.  America had few McLaughlins at the time, and, although they might not have known each other, it is possible they were cousins.
 



The flag as it was originally done.  It was reversed, under glass, for display in the Texas House of Represenatives, which toned the colors to more pastel hues.  Other versions have the entire bust area covered, which makes for a pretty boring Miss Liberty.  The artist must have sensed these troops needed something to stir their souls, for it is obvious he spent a lot more time detailing the breast than he did on the face.

      Four months after the battle, in August of 1836, the Provisional Texas Government returned the Miss Liberty Flag to Mrs. Sidney Sherman with the following note:

     “Velasco, August 5, 1836, War Department.  This stand of colors, presented by the ladies of Newport, Kentucky, to Captain Sidney Sherman, is the same which triumphantly waved on the memorable field of San Jacinto, and is by the government presented to the lady of Colonel Sidney Sherman as a testimonial of his gallant conduct on that occasion.  A. Somerville (signed) Secretary of War.  Approved: David G. Burnet”

      The probability that Sherman and Burnet were friends in Cincinnati may have contributed to this "testimonial of his gallant conduct."  Nothing in his conduct during the battle warrents this praise.  He was competent, but not outstanding.

     The Sherman Family kept the flag for many years.  In 1933 a ceremony was held in the Texas House of Representatives, and the flag was given over to the custody of the Daughters of the Texas Revolution.  It was displayed, back side out under glass, behind the Speaker’s platform in the Texas House.

     Houston’s Fife and Drum Corps chose to play Come to the Bower as they moved across the prairie to attack the Mexican Army.

                                       Will you come to the bower I have shaded for you?

                                       Our bed shall be roses all spangled with dew.

                                      There under the bower on roses you’ll lie

                                     With a blush on your cheek but a smile in your eye!

     These words are certainly not that risqué in today’s world, but consider the circumstances.  Houston’s troops knew full well that they might die during this battle.  They were prepared for it.  Who can blame them if they chose to imagine their sweethearts in a brush arbor, lying nude on a pallet covered with rose-petals?  They were dreaming about different ways to put “a blush on her cheek and a smile in her eye.”  Young soldiers dream those same dreams today.