Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 9, Number 3, September 1999 Page: 173
[68] p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Writings of Fannie Amelia Dickson Darden
splendor, giving us a bright welcome and a happy
prescience of a pleasant visit. The home of the
Northingtons, Messrs. William and George, is a
historic spot, having been settled by their grand-
father, Capt. Wm. J. E. Heard in 1833, and was
at one time a sugar plantation. Capt. Heard com-
manded Company F, at the battle of San Jacinto.
This company was raised in this vicinity and we
recognize in the roll of officers and men the fa-
miliar names of Eli and Elijah Mercer, Alfred
Kelso, Daniel Miller, T. Breeding, Leander
Beeson, S. T. Foley, T. M. Hardeman and oth-
ers. When Dillard Cooper and his companions
made their escape from Fannin's massacre,
Capt. Heard's sugar plantation was the first place
of safety which they struck after their perilous
wanderings. They swam the Colorado at that
point, and it was there that they heard the dog
bark which made them break out into "a great
big laugh." The inhabitants had all fled, the
women and children making their way for the
Sabine, and Capt. Heard leading his company to
the defence of his loved Texas. This place is
situated on the alluvial soil of Peach creek, Old
Caney and the Colorado, unsurpassed in their
richness and fertility and is located in the upper
quarter of the John C. Clark league. Looking
from Mr. Wm. Northington's gallery we see sev-
eral residences skirting the prairie, among which
is the old John C. Clark residence with its ad-
joining plantation, so well known to lawyers and
litigants as a property for which during many
years no heir could be found. In conversing with
Mr. Wm. Northington, I was told a version of
the capture of Santa Anna, related by his grand-
father, Capt. Heard, which will probably prove
interesting to your readers and add another little
scrap to Texas history. It seems that after the
battle of San Jacinto, while two of the men who
subsequently captured Santa Anna were riding
in search of the fugitive Mexicans, that they saw
some deer on the other side of a clump of bushes.One of them dismounted and approached the
clump of bushes for the purpose of killing a deer
to take into camp, but before he reached the spot,
the deer became frightened by some object far-
ther off and ran. The huntsman's companion ob-
serving this, concluded that there must be a
Mexican hidden in the grass which grew in that
place three or four feet high, and approaching
they discovered a Mexican dressed in the garb
of a common soldier crawling through the grass.
On searching him they found he had on a shirt of
fine linen cambric and concluded that he was an
officer, and on taking him into camp, discovered
him to be Santa Anna, as the Mexican prisoners
instantly recognized him and with one accord
cried out, El Presidente! Thus did Providence in
this incident of the deer place in the hands of our
little band of Texan patriots, the crowning vic-
tory of the battle of San Jacinto-the capture of
the Dictator of Mexico, the commander-in-chief
ot her armies, Gen. Lopez de Santa Anna. The
father of the Northington brothers, Capt. Men-
tor Northington, was also a Texas Veteran, though
a mere boy at the time, and for his services un-
der Gen. Green obtained the headright on which
he is now living, located in Jones county, on the
Clear Fork of the Brazos. The name of Egypt is
significant of the great productiveness of its soil
and no doubt would hold its own in comparison
with that of its prototype on the world-famed
Nile.
To me this has been a happy visit.
Dreaming at night beneath the tender eyes of
the faithful, watching stars and wakened at morn
by the bright smile of the rising sun, I feel that
care can not stretch her hand within the encir-
cling line of the beautiful and wide-spread prai-
rie which surrounds me, and in wishing you and
your readers a happy New Year I can hope for
you no greater pleasure than to enjoy the old
Southern warm hospitality of the "Egyptians."173
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Nesbitt Memorial Library. Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 9, Number 3, September 1999, periodical, September 1999; Columbus, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth151407/m1/45/?q=nesbitt%2520memorial%2520library%2520journal: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Nesbitt Memorial Library.