Deaf Smith
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Erastus "Deaf" Smith (April 19, 1787 – November 30, 1837) was an American frontiersman noted for his part in the Texas Revolution and the army of the Republic of Texas. He fought at the Grass Fight and the Battle of San Jacinto. After the war, Deaf Smith led a company of Texas Rangers.
[edit] Biography
Smith was born in Dutchess County, New York. He was the son of Chilab and Mary Smith. His family moved near Natchez, Mississippi, in 1798 where current Grand Gulf is located. Erastus was in Texas in 1821 for a short time for health reasons and returned in 1822. His health apparently recovered except for a partial loss of hearing, hence the nickname "Deaf" Smith. Smith, also known as "El Sordo," appeared in wide areas of Mexican Texas and was in most significant actions related to development of the region both under Mexico and during evolution of independence. He had a place at one time below San Jose Mission where he introduced fine stock of Mulie cattle from Louisiana to the San Antonio area, which before were primarily the Longhorn breed. He used San Antonio de Bexar as a base and his family lived at the southwest corner of Presa and Nueva Streets.
Smith married in 1822 a Tejana, Guadalupe Ruiz Duran (b. 12 December 1797), the widow of Jose Maria Vincente Duran (m. 1812; children Refugia, Josefa, Lucinda). The couple had four children, Susan Concepcion (b. 15 Aug 1823; d. 22 Jan 1849), Gertrudes (b. 1825; m. Macario Tarin), Travis (b. 1827; d. 1833 cholera) and Simona (b. 28 Oct 1829 in Mission Espada; d. 11 Nov 1890). Susan C. Smith married Nathaniel Fisk (b. 4 Sep 1815 Scranton, VT; d. 5 Apr 1876) in 1839. After her death, Fisk married her sister Simona Smith on 1 Aug 1849. Guadalupe Ruiz Duran Smith was the daughter of Salvador "Bernardino" Ruiz de Castaneda and Maria Ignacia Robleau. The Ruiz de Castaneda family were from San Luis de la Paz, Queretaro, New Spain. Salvador was a horse trader in Louisiana and then settled in San Antonio near Mission San Jose, after France regained control of Louisiana. Maria Ygnacia was born on the Los Adaes Mission in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. Her father Pierre Robleau was said to be a political refugee from France or Canada, while her mother Maria Isidora de Cepeda was the daughter of a Spanish soldier stationed at Mission Los Adaes.
Deaf Smith moved freely between both Anglo and Hispanic Tejano societies, was known to be a man of few words, fiercely loyal to his superiors and dedicated to the job at hand. Because of his knowledge of both Anglo and Hispanic cultures and the terrain of Texas, he served as a guide, scout and spy. Similar to a majority of other DeWitt Colonists, after attempts to remain neutral in the increasing conflict between colonists and the centralista Mexican government, he was one of the first to join the Texas Republican Army in Gonzales. Smith was essentially the "eyes and ears" of commanders in all the major engagements leading to the victory at San Jacinto. His intelligence gathering was important at the Battle of Concepcion in October 1835, he discovered the mule train that brought on the Grass Fight, in December 1835 he guided troops into San Antonio in the Siege and Battle of Bexar where he was wounded atop the Veramendi House at the same time that Ben Milam was killed. After the evacuation of centralista troops from San Antonio in the latter engagement, he moved his family to Columbia and met General Sam Houston at Gonzales after the declaration of independence of Texas at Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas. Houston relied on him to determine the fate of the Alamo garrison. He met and escorted Mrs. Almeron Dickinson and party to report to General Houston in Gonzales the fate of the Alamo defenders.
In Gonzales, Smith was assigned to Captain Karnes Cavalry Company of the 1st Regiment of Volunteers and placed in command of new recruits. Smith operated continuously on the way to, at, and after the Battle of San Jacinto with small groups of volunteers from the cavalry unit and sometimes other units, successfully generating intelligence and special missions almost continuously. At Harrisburg, he captured a Mexican courier with dispatches revealing the strength and position of Antonio López de Santa Anna's army. On 21 April prior to the Battle of San Jacinto, he and his men destroyed Vince's Bridge, the means of any retreat or reinforcements of both armies. He joined his unit to participate in the main battle. He was the courier that took the captured Antonio López de Santa Anna's orders to General Filisola's army to retreat from Texas. He captured General Cos, who had escaped from the main battle.
After the Battle of San Jacinto, Deaf Smith returned to Columbia and later moved to Richmond in Fort Bend County, Texas. At one time he raised a company of rangers and in 1837 he and twenty men fought a battle near Laredo, Texas with a superior Mexican force, which he defeated by killing ten and capturing forty horses. Smith died in Richmond, Texas at age 50 at the home of Randall Jones and is buried in the Episcopal Churchyard with a modest marker "Deaf Smith, The Texas Spy, Died Nov. 30, 1837." In a legislative act of 11 November 1836, the Republic of Texas granted Deaf Smith "any house and lot in the city of Bexar, which may be confiscated for public use." His widow chose the old Granado homeplace at the southeast corner of Main Plaza and Commerce St. Smith was also granted a sitio of land for his service. His widow returned to San Antonio, died there on 1 May 1849 and is buried in the Catholic Cemetery.
Deaf Smith County is named in his honor. Likewise, a brand of peanut butter known as Deaf Smith was manufactured by the Arrowhead Mills company of Hereford, Deaf Smith County, Texas.
[edit] Sources
- "Battle of San Jacinto" A Texas Historical Commission historical marker.
- ” Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Muster Rolls of the Texas Revolution (Austin, 1986).
- ” Joseph Milton Nance, Attack and Counterattack: The Texas-Mexican Frontier, 1842 (University of Texas Press, 1964).
- ” The Writings of Sam Houston, 1813-1863 (University of Texas Press, 1938)
