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| Capt. Sam Walker |
Sam Walker
by Allen G. Hatley
War was
his element, the bivouac his delight
and the battlefield
his playground,
his perfection and inspiration" [1]
It is sad but true that
the life stories of many Texas heroes often contain a host of exaggerations
and myths distorting their actual accomplishments. Some excuse this
by referring to those men and their lives as "legendary." If that is
true, then outside of the heroes of the Alamo, there are few Texans
whose life stories are as legendary as that of Samuel Hamilton Walker.
Sam Walker, a veteran of
the Somervell and Mier Expeditions, a Texas Ranger, a hero of the Mexican
War and co-developer of the Walker Colt Revolver, was just thirty years
old when he was killed in battle. As a result, some myths were probably
to be expected, especially since he left no heirs to help set the record
straight. But no one's life should be defined by fables no matter how
fascinating they may be.
It is not only the host
of popular magazines that have added to the myths surrounding Sam Walker's
life, for misinformation and fiction seem to oftentimes find their way
even into books written by recognized historians. Walker's life has
been so corrupted that it is difficult to always separate fact from
fiction. This story will, however, not be burdened with the following
most popular myths which are corrected as follows:
Sam Walker was never imprisoned
at Perote Castle in Mexico, for he escaped prison on July 30, 1843,
some six weeks before the Texas prisoners were moved to that location.
He never placed a coin at
the base of any flagpole in Mexico.
The Walker Colt was developed
as a result of a private agreement reached between Colt and Walker in
1847 while Sam Walker was recruiting in New York for his new command
in the First United States Mounted Rifles. His command was to receive
the first shipment of those revolvers when they arrived in Mexico. [2]
Even without those myths,
most will agree that Sam Walker's impact on the Ranger image and legend
has far exceeded that of several other Rangers, even those whose exploits
clearly rival Walker’s when he was a Texas Ranger.
A Life to
Remember
Samuel Hamilton Walker was
born in the town of Toaping Castle, Prince George’s County, Maryland,
on February 24, 1817. He was the son of Nathan and Elizabeth Walker,
the fifth of seven children. When just nineteen years of age and working
as a carpenter's apprentice in the nation's capitol, Walker began a
military career by enlisting as a private in a militia company raised
to fight in the Seminole and Creek Indian Wars in Florida and Alabama.
[3]
Walker apparently saw only
limited combat during that service. He did, however, remain in Florida
after being mustered out of the volunteer company in 1838 and worked
for a time for a railroad. In late 1841 Walker traveled to Texas, arriving
in Galveston in January of 1842. In another month he would be twenty-five
years old. [4]
Off to War
in Texas
Eight months later, in September
of 1842, Sam Walker joined Captain Jesse Billingsley's company of Mounted
Volunteers, a hastily recruited Bastrop County militia command of some
seventy-five men. This was the same Jesse Billingsley who had been wounded
at the Battle of San Jacinto while commanding Company B in Colonel Edward
Burleson's regiment in the Texas Army. [5] Billingsley’s men went to
the defense of San Antonio when it was attacked by a strong force of
some one thousand Mexican Army troops led by General Adrian Woll.
Billingsley's company of
Mounted Volunteers was not the only Texas militia group racing toward
San Antonio to help repulse the invading Mexican Army. An estimated
two hundred Texas volunteers and a small band of Texas Rangers under
Captain John C. Hays would, on September 18th, engage elements of Woll's
army during the Battle at Salado Creek. This battle and the approach
of more Texas militia convinced General Woll that it was time to retreat
toward the Rio Grande. That night he abandoned San Antonio. [6]
Two months later, in November
of 1842, Brigadier General Alexander Somervell, operating under broad
discretionary powers from President Sam Houston, set about organizing
his First Brigade of the Texas Militia. The mission was to undertake
a punitive expedition against Mexican Army commands said to be operating
in South Texas. Muster rolls indicate that Samuel H. Walker was the
first of 77 privates who enlisted in Captain Ewen Cameron's Company
A. Somervell's army would eventually consist of some 750 officers and
men. On November 3, the first elements of the Texas Army marched out
of San Antonio. [7]
When the Somervell Expedition
arrived at the Rio Grande, it first captured Laredo and then moved down
river toward the town of Mier. During the march there was a general
lack of discipline shown within the army. Many soldiers refused to carry
out orders from their officers and as a result the safety and usefulness
of the army was in question. When reports of larger concentrations of
the Mexican Army were said to be approaching from the south, Alexander
Somervell elected to take the Texas Army back to San Antonio as Governor
Sam Houston had allowed. [8]
Many of the officers with
the army agreed it was time to end the operation. However, led by Colonel
William S. Fisher and including Samuel Walker, almost three hundred
men—about forty percent of the army—crossed the Rio Grande and invaded
Mexico near the town of Mier. On December 25, 1842, while on patrol
just before the battle, Samuel Walker and Patrick H. Lusk were captured
by Mexican troops. [9]
Of the estimated 261 men
in the Texas Army who finally crossed into Mexico and then fought at
Mier, 10 were killed in the battle and 6 later died of wounds. The remainder
surrendered after being surrounded and began a period of great personal
trial. The Mexican government refused to recognize the Texans as prisoners
of war although the surrender document made that promise. The men were
herded on foot from the Rio Grande toward prisons near Mexico City by
way of Matamoros, Monterrey, and then Saltillo. Some would wear chains
for over 6 months, while all would receive poor rations, end up wearing
rags for clothes, and suffer from a lack of medical treatment. [10]
During the almost two years
of captivity, although over 100 attempted to escape, only 26 prisoners
were successful. One of those was Samuel Walker. Eighty-two of the Texans
died while being held captive: seventeen of them were shot when they
drew a black bean when Santa Anna commanded that the prisoners be punished
for an attempted escape and the other sixty-five died from various causes
while in captivity. Among those was Captain Ewen Cameron, Walker’s company
commander, who was also ordered shot by Santa Anna. On September 16,
1844, some 137 prisoners were finally released. [11]
Sam Walker spent seven months
in captivity. He avoided the firing squad when he drew a white bean
at Hacienda Salado and then escaped from prison on July 30, 1843. For
those who escaped, like Walker and the two companions who went with
him, personal bravery, luck and persistence was needed. The three men
would finally reach Tampico weeks later and Walker arrived in New Orleans
by ship in late September 1843. He soon booked passage to Galveston
and was back in Texas about the time the prisoners still in Mexico were
moved to Perote. [12]
The Texas
Rangers
The defense of Texas against
Indian and Mexican deprivations during the remaining years of the Republic
fell largely to the various local militia commands and to small groups
of Texas Rangers. About the time Sam Walker arrived back in Texas, the
Rangers were reduced to a single small company commanded by Captain
John Coffee Hays with only twenty-five men. By year’s end, even those
men were disbanded for lack of funds.
When the last Ranger command
was disbanded in late 1843, Hays visited the Republic's capital at Washington-on-the-Brazos.
While there he was treated to an example of what has been called "Texas
luck." Hays was told about some unissued revolvers that had originally
been purchased for the Texas Navy. Some had been issued but the rest
sat packed in a government storehouse near the capital. [13]
Those revolvers were among
the first Paterson Colts, a .36 caliber five-shot repeating revolver
made by Samuel Colt in New Jersey. Colt's weapons were unwanted by the
United States military and almost everyone else except the Texas Navy,
who got a great deal from Colt when they purchased a reported 180 of
those revolvers in 1839. But even the Texas Navy and the few other Texas
fighting men who tried out the Paterson Colts were reluctant to carry
the rather delicate weapon to war. The reasons? It lacked a trigger
guard and its trigger only dropped down when the hammer was cocked.
Furthermore, the weapon had to be disassembled to reload and few had
wanted to trust their lives to such a weapon. [14]
But when Captain Hays returned
to duty in the new Texas Ranger company in early 1844, he apparently
had a better opinion of the Colt revolver than did others. Hays saw
the advantage that it would give his command fighting from horseback
with each man carrying a repeating pistol or two. As a result, after
Hays returned to Ranger service the Paterson Colt was introduced for
use in that company. No records have been found, however, giving the
exact time or the number of weapons issued. [15]
In Mexico, Sam Walker had
experienced mistreatment and had seen his companions abused and murdered
while prisoners. His company commander had also been singled out and
shot. This apparently convinced him that he would use every opportunity
in the future to take revenge on the Mexican Army. He thought that the
best chance for doing this was to join the Texas Rangers. Walker enlisted
as a private in the new Ranger company being organized in February.
Captain Hays did not wait until the entire company was enlisted, but
took to the field by late February. He left Ben McCulloch in San Antonio.
Hays wanted McCulloch, who had been elected lieutenant, to enlist the
full complement of men.
As usual during those years,
as long as the state provided the funds, a Ranging company could be
raised to serve and to patrol the frontier. In early June, Captain Hays
led a fifteen-man patrol, which included Sam Walker, north out of San
Antonio toward the Llano River. They were to confirm stories regarding
a possible concentration of hostile Indian tribes in the area. The patrol
saw signs, but no actual Indians were sighted until they had turned
back south and recrossed the Pedernales River. Somewhere between the
Pedernales and the Guadalupe Rivers, the Rangers detected a large group
of Comanche warriors moving in their direction. [16]
Near Walker’s Creek, one
of the numerous spring-fed creeks in that area, the Comanches attempted
to bait the Rangers. Hays’ men were now armed with one—or more likely—two
revolvers. At the least they carried a loaded extra cylinder of the
five-shot repeating Colt revolvers. Hays decided to find out just what
the weapon was capable of in combat. With only fifteen men, he led an
attack against an estimated sixty to seventy Comanche braves. Hays wrote
that the fight, which was a moving one, continued for about three miles
and was desperately contested by both parties. The Rangers had one man
killed and four wounded, with Comanche casualties estimated up to fifty
killed or wounded, including their chief Yellow Wolf. [17]
In his report, Hays credits
the "five-shot repeating pistols" with the victory. He further
states, "Had it not been for them, I doubt what the consequences would
have been. Cannot recommend these arms too highly." During the
fight, Sam Walker and his good friend R. A. Gillespie were separated
from the other Rangers and both suffered wounds from an Indian lance.
According to Hays’ report, both were "wounded badly." Upon the
Ranger command’s return to San Antonio, the injured Sam Walker was left
in the care of Mrs. W. H. Jacques, who nursed him back to good health.
About this time, as a result of his capture at Mier and imprisonment
in Mexico and the later wounds he received fighting Indians, the Rangers
gave Walker a nickname: "Unlucky Walker." [18]
In February of 1845, more
appropriations were voted and the Ranger command expanded. It included
not only Captain John C. Hays' company but also smaller Ranger companies
raised and stationed in Travis, Bexar, Roberts, Milam, Goliad and Refugio
Counties. Each company was led by a Lieutenant. On August 12, Captain
Hays resigned from the Rangers and was succeeded by R. A. Gillespie
as captain. Captain Gillespie and his last forty-three-man Texas Ranger
company, including Private Sam Walker, were discharged on September
28, 1845, some three months before Texas became the twenty-eighth state.
There would be no more Texas Rangers enlisted during the Republic.
The day of his discharge
from the Texas Rangers, R.A. Gillespie formed a new company of mounted
volunteers. They were called the Texas Mounted Rangers and were mustered
into federal service that same day. These men were mostly composed of
personnel recruited in San Antonio and were used to range the northern
and western frontiers. This command watched for expected raids by hostile
Indians while U. S. Army troops were all occupied guarding Texas along
the Rio Grande. Sam Walker was twenty-eight years old when he joined
that company, again as a private. [19]
War in Mexico
There were few hostile Indians
sighted over the next several months. As the end of Sam Walker's term
of enlistment in the Texas Mounted Rangers approached, he arranged a
meeting with General Zachary Taylor, who was stationed at Corpus Christi,
Texas. Walker offered his services to the United States Army, which
was about to fight a war in an unknown land against an army whose military
tactics and language they did not understand. [20]
That Sam Walker had previously
served with the United States Army in a militia command in Florida and
in Alabama did not hurt his chances. That he had known Lieutenant George
Meade in Florida, now attached to Taylor's command, also did not hurt
his chances. But certainly of more interest to General Taylor was that
Walker knew the ground over which the coming first battles of the war
would be fought from his service in the Somervell Expedition. He also
had learned a great deal about northern Mexico and the Mexican Army
while he was a prisoner and then an escapee.
Samuel Walker was authorized
on April 21, 1846, to raise the first volunteer company of scouts—sometimes
called spies—for Zachary Taylor’s army. Walker named his company the
Texas Mounted Rangers, but they were not Texas Rangers. They were a
Texas volunteer command in federal service and a part of the United
States Army. The unit would initially serve just under ninety days,
until July 16, 1846. This unit was commanded by Captain Samuel Walker,
with the total complement of ninety-three officers and men. To his command,
Walker attracted a number of veterans of the Somervell and Mier Expeditions,
along with several former Texas Rangers. {21]
During the first months
of hostilities in the Mexican War, Samuel H. Walker would become a national
hero and a living legend as a result of his exploits. At the time, this
national recognition far exceeded that attained by his peers back in
the Texas Rangers. After his reported death and then his success in
a daring mission to Fort Brown behind enemy lines in early 1846, he
was held in such high esteem that the city of New Orleans presented
Walker with a "magnificent horse" named Tornado and sent it
to him in Matamoros, Mexico, on the steamer Alabama. [22]
Following American victories
at Palo Alto and Resaca de Palma in early May, the Mexican Army retreated
across the Rio Grande. On the West Coast and in New Mexico, Mexican
troops met with more defeats. Although the United States had initially
expected the Mexican Army to sue for peace at that time, the war continued.
As a result, the U.S. Army broadened its efforts and the war began its
second phase with preparations for the invasion Of Mexico. [23]
More U.S. troops were recruited
and moved into South Texas. It was also at that time that four regiments
of volunteers were raised in Texas for the advance into Mexico: three
mounted regiments and one on foot. Colonel John C. Hays, George T. Wood,
and William C. Young each commanded a mounted regiment and many who
had initially served with Samuel Walker's former company of scouts were
absorbed into those groups. [24]
On June 24, Samuel Walker
was elected a brevet lieutenant colonel by the troops of the First Regiment,
Texas Mounted Riflemen, and was made second-in-command to Colonel John
Hays. Walker would join this organization when his own term of enlistment
ran out two weeks later, on July 6. About that same time, Walker also
accepted a regular army appointment as a captain in the First United
States Mounted Rifles. He delayed this appointment until the First Regiment
Texas Mounted Riflemen was mustered out of Federal service less than
three months later on October 2, 1846. [25]
Colt and
the First United States Mounted Rifles
After Walker's enlistment
expired in the Texas Mounted Riflemen, he visited the Northeastern United
States to personally recruit his complement of men for Company C, First
United States Mounted Rifles. Because of Walker’s personal notoriety,
Samuel Colt found out that he was in the area and wrote him In New York.
They met in late November of 1846. Walker was interested in acquiring
weapons for his new command while Colt, whose company had failed following
his experience with the Paterson and other weapons, asked Walker to
convince the U.S. Army to buy his new weapons.
Sam Walker and Samuel Colt
entered into an agreement in January of 1847 that would satisfy both
of their desires. During their meetings, Walker suggested several alterations
to the original Colt Paterson revolvers and convinced Colt that these
would make the gun a better weapon to be carried into battle. The principal
changes were the additions of a trigger guard and a loading lever. Four
pounds of weight and several inches were also added to the barrel of
the new six-shot 44-caliber Colt revolver. [26]
The Walker Colt
Collections of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum
Within a month, Walker persuaded
the U.S. Government to purchase 1000 of the new .44 caliber six-shot
Colt revolvers. He then proceeded to Newport Barracks to recruit and
train his new Army command. In April of 1847, Captain Walker and Company
C of the First United States Mounted Rifles shipped out for Vera Cruz,
Mexico, without receiving the shipment of what was now called the Walker
Colt or the Model 1847 Army Pistol. Finally on June 26, the Army took
delivery of the Walker Colts and shipped them to Walker in Mexico. Unfortunately,
the guns just sat packed in boxes in Vera Cruz. [27]
Captain Samuel Walker was
now fighting in the army of General Winfield Scott. They were in a much
more savage and destructive war than Zachary Taylor had fought on the
arid plains and mountains of South Texas and northern Mexico. General
Scott was fighting his way uphill from Vera Cruz—much of it in heavy
cover and concealment—toward the capitol in Mexico City. It was a tough,
bloody campaign. It fell to Captain Walker’s command, consisting of
some 250 men, to help keep the vital supply road open.
On October 5, 1847, Company
C still had not received the new Colt revolvers, but Walker that day
received a pair of those pistols as a gift from Samuel Colt. Four days
later, during action against guerillas in Huamantla, Mexico, Captain
Samuel H. Walker was shot and killed in action. His body was brought
back and buried in his adopted state of Texas, in the city of San Antonio.
[28]
Walker was no hell-raiser
while serving gallantly in several volunteer commands during the Mexican
War. From the publicity he received and from his exploits, he obviously
impressed the U.S. Army command enough that he was offered a Regular
Army commission of captain and command of Company C in the First United
States Mounted Rifles. This was no small accomplishment in an army that
already contained Captains Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant along
with lieutenants like George C. Meade, George B. McClellan and William
Tecumseh Sherman. None of those officers had yet made his mark, but
all had earned their ranks by graduation from West Point. It is worth
speculating on what Samuel H. Walker might have achieved in such an
army if he had not been killed in Mexico.
Walker spent his entire
adult life pursuing one war after another. He went to war voluntarily
in Alabama, Florida, Mexico, and more than once in Texas. He finished
his life on the battlefield, commanding his own company in the United
States Army and attacking Mexican troops directly commanded by Texas’
greatest enemy: General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. I doubt that Sam
Walker would have wanted to do it any other way.
Allen G. Hatley
is a freelance writer who was born in San Antonio, Texas. He served
in the U. S. Army and was in Korea from 1951-1952. Hatley holds a Bachelor
and a Master of Science Degree in Geology. He now lives in La Grange,
Texas, and holds a certification as an Advanced Peace Officer in the
State of Texas and is commissioned with the Fayette County Sheriff’s
Department.
His latest book, Texas
Constables: A Frontier Heritage, is the first definitive book written
on the history of either Texas or American constables and was published
by Texas Tech University Press in October of 1999. Eakin Press will
publish his next book in February of 2001. It is entitled The Indian
Wars in Stephen F. Austin’s Texas Colony, 1822-1835.
Allen Hatley has had a number
of articles published on Western history and law enforcement in the
Texas Police Journal and True West Magazine, while several
other articles are awaiting publication in Military History and
Wild West magazines. He is currently researching another Western
history book.
Having spent over thirty
years working in the petroleum industry, seventeen of which were spent
living outside of North America, Hatley has written extensively on petroleum
exploration subjects. This writing included collecting the stories and
editing the popular book, The Oil Finders: A Collection of Stories
About Exploration, which was first published by the American Association
of Petroleum Geologists and has been republished by Centex Press.
In 1988, Hatley graduated
from the Middle Rio Grande Law Enforcement Academy in Uvalde, Texas
and also received a Basic Peace Officer Proficiency Certificate from
the state of Texas. He has worked as a criminal investigator for a district
attorney’s office and as a narcotics agent in the federally-funded Southwest
Texas Narcotics Task Force. In 1993 he was elected Constable, Precinct
#4, Bandera County, and was re-elected in 1997. In August 1998, Hatley
retired and moved to Fayette County.
§
Notes
[1] Oswandel, J. Jacob,
"Notes of the Mexican War, 1846-47-48" Philadelphia, no publisher, 885,
354
[2] Nance, J. M., "Dare-Devils
All The Texan Mier Expedition, 1842-1844" (Austin, Eakin Press,
1998), 34.
[3] Spurlin, Charles D.,
"Texas Volunteers in the Mexican War," (Austin, Eakin Press, 1998),
4
[4] Sibley, Marilyn McAdams,
editor, "Samuel H. Walker's account of the Mier Expedition," (Austin,
Texas State Historical Association, 1978), 7.
[5] Sibley, "Samuel Walker's
Account," 25; "Walker, Samuel Hamilton" New Texas Handbook, (Austin,
Texas State Historical Association, 1996), Vol. 6, 797-798.
[6] "Samuel Walker,"
New Texas Handbook, Vol 6, 797.
[7] Sibley, "Samuel Walker's
Account," 30.
[8] Nance, "Dare-Devils
All," 30-32.
[9] Nance, "Dare-Devils
All" 31-33, 47-49; Sibley, "Samuel Walker's Account," 35-36.
[10] Nance, "Dare-Devils
All," 50-78.
[11] Nance, "Dare-Devils
All," 286-297, 305-307, 434-435.
[12] Nance, "Dare-Devils
All," 331-334; Sibley, "Samuel Walker's Account," 80-81.
[13] "Colt Revoluers,"
New Texas Handbook, Vol 1, 233.
[14] "Colt Revolvers,"
New Texas Handbook, Vol 1, 233.
[15] Sibley, "Samuel Walker's
Account," 12.
[16] "Samuel Walker,"
New Texas Handbook, Vol 6, 797.
[17] Sibley, "Samuel Walker's
Account," 12.
[18] Sibley, "Samuel Walker's
Account," 13.
[19] Wilkins, Frederick,
"The Legend Begins, The Texas Rangers, 1823-1845," Austin, State
House Press, 1996), 196.
[20] Sibley, "Samuel Walker's
Account," 13.
[21] Spurlin, "Texas Volunteers,"
8-15; "Samuel Walker," New Texas Handbook,6,797-798.
[22] "Samuel Walker,"
New Texas Handbook, 6, 797-798; Spurlin, "Texas Volunteers," 8-17,
[23] Spurlin, "Texas Volunteers,"
18-19
[24] Spurlin, "Texas Volunteers,"
141-180.
[25] Spurlin, "Texas Volunteers,"
54, 150; Sibley, "Samuel Walker's Account," 13-14.
[26] "Samuel Walker,"
New Texas Handbook, 1, 233-234.
[27] Sibley, "Samuel
Walker’s Account," 14-15.
[28] Sibley, "Samuel
Walker’s Account," 16.
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