Biographical Encyclopedia of Texas Page: 347 of 372
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ENCYCLOPEDIA.
'2 'I
Gutierres, with about four hundred troops. in command
of the place. He was my old friend and I
was very glad to see him, as my horses and mules
were giving out, and m3y money also: but to my
misfortune, I found him very poor and unable to
help himself." In his old age, Bernardo supported
himself by keeping a small saddlery-shop in Guerrero.
CHILTIIEE,
WILLIAM B., tie long coni
_ nection of Judge Ochiltree with the public
L~ service of Texas, as well as his high
position at the bar, held for so long a
period, render it proper that, in a publication of
this character, a sketch of his career should be
preserved, although he camne to Texas subsequent
to 1836.
He was born in North Carolina in 1811, and
after moving first to Florida and then to Alabama,
he emigrated from that State to Texas in 1839.
Here lie settled at Nacogdoches and engaged in
the practice of law. From 1842 to 1844 he held
the position of judge of the Fifth District of the Republic,
and was then, ex offcio, a member of the
Supreme Court of Texas. In December, 1844, Judge
Ochiltree was by President Jones appointed secretary
of the treasury. In 1845 he was appointed
attorney-general. He was a member of the convention
of 1845. In 1855 and '6 he was a member
of the legislature of Texas. In 1861, he was a member
of the secession convention and was one of
the signers of the ordinance of secession. He was
afterward elected a delegate to the Provisional
Congress of the Confederate States, then in session
at Montgomery, Alabama. During the war he
raised an infantry regiment for General Walker's
division, but in 1863, on account of ill health he
resigned his commaand nd returned home. From
this time until his death, which occurred in Decelmber,
1867, he was in feeble and gradually failing
health. At the time of his death he was fiftysix
years of age.
ENET, MAJOR VALENTINE, immigrated
to Texas 1830. He was with the Brazaria
and Columbia boys in the battle of Velasco,
where "he was shot down, reeeiving
severe wounds in the hip and face. He joined
De Witt's Colony and located his head-right on theGaudaloupe river, having his citizenship at Gonzales,
introducing his family there in 1838. He
was one of the notable "eighteen" who at that
place stood. for the defense of the cannon when the
Mexicans came on to move them in 1835. He thus
was one of the first to enroll in the army of Texas,
and became of considerable service of General
Stephen F. Austin in drilling the citizen soldiers
who gathered to the defense of Texas, and were
organized into an army by that statesman, at that
Lexington of Texas. He soon received from General
Austin a conmmission in the army, and continued
with energetic constancy in public service, participating
in the siege of San Antonio (de Bexar;
and, ranking as major in the quarter-master and
commissary department, remaining in the army
until after the battle of San Jacinto. He was also
major in -the same department in the Santa Fe
expedition, and chain-mate to George WV. Kendall
in one of the dungeons of Mexico. Returning from
that imprisonment late in 1842 ~to his home at
Gonzales, he again took a prominent part in the
defense of that frontier, by co-operating with his
old companions-in-arms, Captain Caldwell, in hurrying
forward volunteers to neet the Mexican forces
under General Woll, who was advancing upon San
Antonio. He was, by his well-known devotion to
Texas, able to raise immediate supplies of subsistence
from voluntary contributions of the citizens;
and thus. furnished many squads of poorly provisioned
volunteers with jerked beef, and such
small stores of corn as could upon the instant be
collected. Finding frotn the dispatches of Colonel
Caldwell that the Mexican advance was likely to
be formidable, he- in person hurried to the assistance
of that officer at the well-known battle-field
of the Salado, and joined in the pursuit of the defeated
enemy, continuing until the Texans returned
to their homes. lie then assisted in, organizing
the Somerville expedition and remained in the
service of the Republic until his death, which occurred
at Gonzales in July, 1833. The following
notice of him was at the time published in the
New Orlea'ns Picayunre:
"AANOT TER SANTA FE PRISOPNEm DEAD. --T-Major
Valentine Bennet, one of members of the unfortunate
Santa Fe expedition, died at Gonzales, Texas,
on the 24th of July, of the cramp colic. Major
Bennet was one of the companions of Mr. Kendall
in his dreary march to the city of Mexico, and
was imprisoned in the same quarters. He was a
man far advanced in life, and was one of the earliest
and bravest defenders of Texas, and bore an honorable
part in the most sanguinary conflicts of the
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Biographical Encyclopedia of Texas (Book)
Biographical view of Texas and its history including narratives of the individuals who helped shape Texas history and information about important point in history including: the pioneer days of Texas, Texas' transition from a Mexican state to being part of the United States, and the wars in which Texas citizens took part.
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Biographical Encyclopedia of Texas, book, 1880; New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth5827/m1/347/?rotate=90: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.