TODAYS NOTABLE TEXAN ALFONSO STEELE JULY 8th 2014 As was noted in the posting of this day in Texas History, Alfonso Parcutt Steele (April 9, 1817 – July 8, 1911) was the last remaining survivor of the Battle of San Jacinto during the Texas Revolution. Alphonso (Often spelled Alfonso) was born in 1817 in Hardin County, Kentucky. At seventeen, he traveled to Lake Providence Louisiana, where he joined Captain Ephraim Daggetts volunteers bound for Texas in 1835. Upon arriving New Years Day 1836 at Washington-on-Brazos, he found that Texas had not yet declared independence from Mexico. He worked at a local hotel and gristmill across from what would later be named Independence Hall and served the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. After independence was declared, he then joined a company that marched toward the Alamo, which was under siege, to aid in defense of the Alamo, Colonel William B. Travis, and its defenders. While crossing the Colorado River and learning that the Alamo had fallen, Steele and his group joined Houstons army. Steele served as private in Sidney Shermans regiment at the Battle of San Jacinto. He was wounded by a shot through his lung early in the battle. He continued in the fight until its conclusion and accepted no surrenders. Houston rode Steeles gray horse through much of the battle; it was one of the horses that got shot out from under Houston. Following the battles conclusion, he was carried by row boat across Buffalo Bayou to the home of Republic of Texas Vice-President Lorenzo de Zavala in order to have his wounds treated and was then transported by boat to Perkins Island, which had a one-room hospital, where he recuperated for many weeks. Discharged, Steele made his way to Montgomery County, where he farmed and raised cattle. Steele was a Mason and served in the San Jacinto Veterans Association. He was honored in 1909 by the Thirty-First Texas Legislature as being one of the last two living survivors of the Battle of San Jacinto and was invited to speak on the floor of the Texas Senate. Two years later, on July 8, 1911, he died aged 94, having outlived his co-survivor. He is buried in the Mexia City Cemetery in Mexia Texas in Limestone County.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 00:08:08 +0000
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