William Leslie Cazneau (1807-1876) was a Texas pioneer and is credited with having buried the Alamo Heroes with full military honors.
William Leslie Cazneau was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 5, 1807. In 1839, he moved to Texas and established a general merchandise business. Appointed on the staff of Thomas J. Chambers in 1835, he served until the Texas Army disbanded. He was dispatched to the United States to raise men and supplies. He was assigned the burial of the remains of the Alamo heroes, as well as the guarding of Mexican prisoners on Galveston Island. He moved to Austin in 1839 and was appointed Commissary General by Mirabeau B. Lamar. An influential figure in Texas politics, Cazneau represented Travis County in the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Congresses, in the Convention of 1845, and in the First Legislature. He served during the Mexican War until August 1847, when he entered into partnership with Henry L. Kinney. In 1850, after his marriage to Jane McManus, he established the townsite of Eagle Pass to extend his trading enterprises into Mexico.
Under the patronage of James Buchanan, Cazneau was twice appointed special agent to the Dominican Republic in 1853 and 1859. In 1856, he contracted to furnish one thousand colonists to William Walker in Nicaragua. In 1861, he partnered with Joseph W. Fabens to colonize formerly enslaved people in Santo Domingo and later was involved in other equally unsuccessful endeavors. He continued to make his home in the West Indies except for brief intervals until his death at his Jamaica estate on January 7, 1876. José Gabriel García termed him a "tenacious adventurer."
Cazneau's wife, Jane Cazneau, was lost at sea while traveling to Jamaica to recover his body.
Colonel David Crockett was an American politician, militia officer and frontiersman. Often referred to in popular culture as the "King of the Wild Frontier", he represented Tennessee in the United States House of Representatives and fought in the Texas Revolution.
The Alamo is a historic Spanish mission and fortress compound founded in the 18th century by Roman Catholic missionaries in what is now San Antonio, Texas, United States. It was the site of the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, a pivotal event of the Texas Revolution in which American folk heroes James Bowie and Davy Crockett were killed. Today it is a museum in the Alamo Plaza Historic District and a part of the San Antonio Missions World Heritage Site.
Martín Perfecto de Cos was a Mexican Army general and politician during the mid-19th century. Born in Veracruz, the son of an attorney, he became an army cadet at the age of 20, a Lieutenant in 1821, and a Brigadier General in 1833.
Lieutenant-Colonel William Barret "Buck" Travis was a Texian Army officer and lawyer. He is known for helping set the Texas Revolution in motion during the Anahuac disturbances and defending the Alamo Mission during the battle of the Alamo.
David Gouverneur Burnet was an early politician within the Republic of Texas, serving as the interim president of Texas in 1836, the second vice president of the Republic of Texas (1839–1841), and the secretary of state (1846) for the new state of Texas after it was annexed to the United States.
John Milton Niles was a lawyer, editor, author and politician from Connecticut, serving in the United States Senate and as United States Postmaster General 1840 to 1841.
Henry Eustace McCulloch was a soldier in the Texas Revolution, a Texas Ranger, and a brigadier general in the army of the Confederate States during the American Civil War.
Juan Nepomuceno Seguín was a Spanish-Tejano political and military figure of the Texas Revolution who helped to establish the independence of Texas. Numerous places and institutions are named in his honor, including the county seat of Seguin in Guadalupe County, the Juan N. Seguin Memorial Interchange in Houston, Juan Seguin Monument in Seguin, World War II Liberty Ship SS Juan N. Seguin, Seguin High School in Arlington.
William Lewis Dayton was an American politician, active first in the Whig Party and later in the Republican Party. In the 1856 presidential election, he became the first Republican vice-presidential nominee when nominated alongside John C. Frémont. The Republican Party lost that campaign. During the American Civil War, Dayton served as the United States Ambassador to France, a position in which he worked to prevent French recognition of the Confederate States of America.
James Butler Bonham was a 19th-century American soldier who died at the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution. He was a second cousin of William B. Travis and was a messenger of the Battle of the Alamo. His younger brother, Milledge Luke Bonham, was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army in the American Civil War, and served as Governor of South Carolina from 1862 to 1864.
James Clinton Neill was an American soldier and politician, most noted for his role in the Texas Revolution and the early defense of the Alamo. He was born in North Carolina and served in the Alabama House of Representatives between 1825 and 1827.
Thomas William Ward was an Irish-born American soldier and politician who served three nonconsecutive terms as the mayor of Austin, Texas. Ward also served as the 3rd Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office and United States consul to Panama.
The Boyle–Workman family relates to the pioneer interconnected Boyle and Workman families that were prominent in: the history of colonial Pueblo de Los Angeles and American Los Angeles; the Los Angeles Basin and San Gabriel Valley regions; and Southern California from 1830 to 1930 in Mexican Alta California and the subsequent state of California.
Harold Pierce Cazneaux, commonly referred to as H. P. Cazneaux, was an Australian photographer; a pioneer whose style had an indelible impact on Australian photographic history. In 1916, he was a founding member of the pictorialist Sydney Camera Circle. As a regular participator in national and international exhibitions, Cazneaux was unfaltering in his desire to contribute to the discussion about the photography of his times. His career between the Wars established him as "the country's leading pictorial photographer".
Moses Yale Beach was an American inventor, entrepreneur, philanthropist and publisher, who founded the Associated Press, and is credited with originating print syndication. His fortune, as of 1846, amounted to $300,000, which was about 1/4 of the fortune of Cornelius Vanderbilt at the time, and was featured in a book that he published named the Wealthy citizens of the City of New York.
William Telemachus McManus was an American lawyer and politician from New York.
Jane Maria Eliza Cazneau was an Irish-American journalist, lobbyist, and publicist who advocated the annexation of all of Mexico during the Mexican–American War.
John William Smith was a Republic of Texas and American political figure, the first mayor of San Antonio under the Republic, and the first mayor of San Antonio under the state of Texas. He supported and served Texas during the struggle for Texas Independence.
Byrd Lockhart (1782–1839), was a 19th-century American surveyor, Alamo defender, courier, and Texian officer during the Texas Revolution.
Matthew Caldwell,, also spelled Mathew Caldwell was a 19th-century Texas settler, military figure, Captain of the Gonzales – Seguin Rangers and a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Because of his recruitment ride ahead of the Battle of Gonzales, some call him the Paul Revere of Texas.