News from Lake Creek Settlement
The Lake Creek Settlement Goes to War – Part 2
John Marshall Wade “The Montgomery
Patriot”
By Kameron Searle
Several residents of the Lake Creek Settlement
fought in the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. Last week,
we saw that Mathew Cartwright fought in the Battle of San Jacinto.
Another one of these patriots was John Marshall Wade. In 1870,
Thomas Chatham swore out an affidavit in support of the pension application of John M.Wade. “[T]he said John M
Wade participated in the Battle of San Jacinto, to the best of his belief and knowledge on the 21st
day of April 1836, that he returned from said Battle to the Lake Creek Settlement now the county and town of
Montgomery where he resided for many years in fact up to the present date save about 6 years that he resided in
Walker County, that he now resides in and has charge of the office of county surveyor of said
County.”
In an affidavit sworn to by John M. Wade in 1870 in support of the pension application
of Mathew Cartwright, John M. Wade confirmed the information provided by Thomas Chatham. “[A]nd the said John M. Wade says he knew the said Mathew Cartwright now
present before him in the years 1835 & 1836 at Lake Creek Settlement in the Municipality of Washington
now the County of Montgomery.” Evin [Evan] Corner also swore to
Wade’s presence in the Lake Creek Settlement in an 1870 affidavit. “I, the said Evan Corner do also swear I volunteered a second time under J
M Wade at Lake Creek Settlement on or about the 4th of July AD One Thousand Eight Hundred and
Thirty Six.”
In the 1872 edition of the Texas Almanac, John M. Wade provided a short
autobiography of his life in Texas. “I came to Texas in 1835
from the Western Creek Nation, being advised to do so by Gen. Houston. I came when he made his second trip to Texas, on the 11th of
October, 1835. I joined troops going from Nacogdoches to Bexar,
(Rusk’s company,) was taken sick and remained in San Felipe, and the present site of Montgomery, until the
meeting of the Convention at Washington, when I joined Capt. Ware’s company; heard of the fall of the Alamo
and hastened to the Colorado; was under Sherman at the upper encampment until the retreat; Gen. Sherman will
remember me. At Groce’s, I was detailed by Gen. Houston with
Dick Scurry, Ben McCulloch, Tom. Green, T. O. Harris and others, to man the Twin Sisters, which the lamented
J. N. Moreland, was appointed to command; staid with the Twin Sisters till after the battle of San Jacinto;
rejoined Ware’s company, and was discharged on the 11th of June, 1836.”
“Gen Rusk hearing the Mexicans were rallying on the Rio Grande, called for
men. I was elected captain of a company on the 4th of
July, 1836; reported to Rusk at Victoria; was assigned to duty with my company in the regiment of Col. Ed.
Morehouse; served three months, the term of enrollment, and discharged my company. I then went to Columbia and worked as a compositor on the Telegraph
[newspaper]; came round to Houston with Cruger & Moore, after their purchase from the Bordens, and was
foreman for them until the opening of the Land Office in 1838. I
then returned to Montgomery and was appointed to the office of Deputy Surveyor; elected County Surveyor when
that office became elective by the people, and was elected Colonel of the Militia at its first
organization. I started the Montgomery Patriot
[newspaper] in 1845, moved it to Huntsville, and with the assistance of George Robinson published it one year
and sold out. I returned again to Montgomery in 1854, and have
been Surveyor until displaced by Gov. Davis.”
Matthew Cartwright, R. Martin and myself are the only survivors of the battle of San
Jacinto, in this county. I am a native of New York, and 56 years
old; have set type beside Greeley and Kendall when a mere boy.
J. M. Wade.”
It is important to note that John M. Wade was the County Surveyor of Montgomery County
for many years and he records the name of the place, prior to the founding of the town of Montgomery in 1837,
as the Lake Creek Settlement and not Montgomery Trading Post, Montgomery Prairie or Montgomery
Settlement. See the pension (PE) applications of John M.
Wade, Mathew Cartwright and Evin Corner in Texas State Library and Archives, Republic Claims. Also see
the 1872 edition of the Texas Almanac.
Kameron K. Searle is an attorney in Houston, Texas who has thoroughly researched the history of the Lake Creek
Settlement and the early history of Montgomery County for the last eight years. For more information about the Lake Creek Settlement, go to the TexasHistoryPage.Com .
This article originally appeared in the January 21, 2009 edition of the Montgomery County
News.
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