Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 4, Number 1, Spring, 1992 Page: 10
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a Mexican guard of honor, the former dictator sat
erect and looked neither right nor left as he passed
through the long row of Texans. True to their word,
they remained silent as their enemy drove past them
and into exile.34
Not long after this incident, Josiah Pancoast,
regimental commissary of the Dallas company, became
dissatisfied with the quality of beef he had
been buying from Santa Anna's major-domo. The
men of the regiment were equally unhappy. When
the major-domo next came into the Texan camp,
several men mounted up and rode out to assist him
in rounding up cattle. The beef chosen by the Texans
was of the best quality they could find and the
major-domo was forced to pay for it, rather than for
the inferior animals he had been providing.35
Finally, in the late spring of 1848, the Texans
rode back down the road to Vera Cruz where Companies
F and K were mustered out of service on April
30. The remainder of the regiment was discharged
the following day. Afterwards, they boarded ships
bound for the United States.36
Back in Dallas County, the men of Company K
went their separate ways. Some remained in the area,
while others moved on. Some prospered, and some
did not. Young Benjamin Prigmore married Andrew
S. Jackson' s sister and bought a farm near present-day
Richardson. He did well and lived a long and relatively
comfortable life. So did Hogan Witt, residing in
nearby Collin County. The Haught brothers, Samuel
and Peter, both married and raised families. Samuel
was later instrumental in forming the Dallas County
Pioneer Association. William Chenault became a
county commissioner, serving from 1852 to 1854.
Some of the veterans also enlisted in the Confederate
army during the Civil War.37
In the aftermath of the Civil War, the veterans
of the Mexican War were largely forgotten, as was
the war itself. However, the men who fought in that
conflict did not forget. A number joined the National
Association of Veterans of the Mexican War
or the State Association. During the last quarter of
the nineteenth century, and even into the twentieth,
reunions were held periodically. One of the final
reunions of both the National and Texas State Associations
took place in Dallas in 1905 at the First
Methodist Church, then located at the comer of
Commerce and Prather streets. By then, there were
only a few old soldiers left alive. Less than 200
attended.38 In 1906 and 1907, the Texas association
10met in Dallas, at the same location but with even
fewer ex-soldiers in attendance.
Recognizing that they had little time left, the
surviving veterans resolved to erect a monument in
Austin and to raise funds to buy the Palo Alto
battlefield and turn it over to the state for use as a
park.39 Sadly, neither of these plans came to fruition,
and the men of Company K, like their comrades in
the War with Mexico, gradually faded away, their
service to state and country largely forgotten and
unacknowledged.
'James D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papei v of the Pesitdents
(New York Bureau of National Literature, Inc , 1897), 5-2292
2Larry J Irion and Steve Butler, "The Battle of Monterey As Witnessed by a Texan
Volunteer," Mexician Wal Quaiteily, I (Fall 1991) 1 10
Frank M Cockrell, History of Eal Iv Dallas (Privately printed, 1944), p 5 Curiously,
Cockrell's name does not appear on the muster roll of McCulloch's company nor in the
National Archives index of Mexican War volunteers Charles D Spurlin, Texas 'Volunteet s /it
the Me i( an Wa Muster Rollv ofTexas Militai Units (St Louis Ingmire Publications, 1984)
and Inde. to Compiled Sert ic eRet ords of Volunteer Soldier Who Seti ed Di ing the Meit an
War (M616) (Washington, D C National Archives microfilm) He may have joined
McCulloch's company on the Rio Grande, after the company was mustered into service
4Henry W Barton, Texas Volunteei s in the Me.x( an Wai (Waco Texian Press, 1970),
p 28
'Samuel C. Reid, Jr, The Scouting Expeditions of M(Cullah' s Texas Rangets
(Philadelphia G. B. Zeiber and Company, 1847), pp 38-44
'Barton, TeAas Volunteers, p 29
7Reid, Scouting Expeditions, p 42
bhid., p 47
bhid, p 73
"Ibid, p 79. Seguin had fought with the Texans in 1836 and subsequently served in
the Texas Senate and as mayor of San Antonio In 1842, facing heated opposition by some
Anglo-Americans, he resigned and went to Mexico There he was given his choice by Santa
Anna of serving in the Mexican Army or going to prison Thus, in 1846, he was fighting against
his former allies In 1848, after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Seguin asked and received
permission to return to Texas (Walter Prescott Webb, ed, The Handbook of Texas, Austin
Texas State Historical Association, 1952, 2:590-1 )
'Cockrell, History of Eat ly Dallas, p 5
'2John William Rogers, The Lustv Texans of Dallas (New York E P Dutton & Co,
1951), pp 71-76
'Memotial and Biogiaphical History oJ Dallas CounttU, eteas (Chicago Lewis
Publishing Company, 1892), pp 209-211
"41bid
"Georgia Myers Ogle, Elm Fork Settlements (Nortex Press, 1977), p. 35
"John Henry Brown, Histoi v of Dallas Countvs Texas Fiorn 1837 to 1887 (Dallas
Milligan, Comett & Farnham, 1887), pp 43-44
7Memol ial and Biographi(al Histoi y, pp 209-211
"'Inscription on tombstone of Hogan Witt, Rowlett Creek Cemetery, Collin County,
Texas
2"Memorial and Biogiaphical Hti to y, p 552
2'Barbara McJunkin and Ann Abemathy,A Histoi t ofRt haidsvon (Richardson, Texas
Richardson Centennial Corporation, 1973), p 5
22Barton, Texas Volunteers, p 100
2John Salmon Ford, Rip Foid'v Texas (Austin University of Texas Press, 1963), p
61
241bid. pp 63-4.
2Ibid , pp 66 and 70.
21bid, p. 79.
2Ibid, p. 80
"Memorial and Biogiaphical Histot , pp 209-211
2Ford, Rip Ford's Texas, pp 81-2
Ihbid
"Ibid, p 85
2Memorial and Biographi al Histoi v, pp 209-211
"Ford, Rip Ford's Texas, p 104.
'Ibid
Ibhid, p 105.
16Barton, Te.as Volunteers, p 116
"Memorial and Biographi(al Histoi , pp 185, 210-11
'Daild Times Herald. Dallas, Texas, May 23, 1905
'Ibid, May 8, 1906, and May 17, 1907
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Dallas County Heritage Society. Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 4, Number 1, Spring, 1992, periodical, 1992; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth35116/m1/12/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Historical Society.