My selection of this picture as a theme, however, has more to do with events three years later than the expedition of the German naturalist prince and his retinue up the Missouri River---my ancestor, William C. Gill, a private in Captain William S. Fisher's "The Velasco Blues," Company I, Texas Volunteers, almost certainly set foot, however briefly, aboard this historic vessel, which author Donald Jackson has called an "Engine of Manifest Destiny," when it ferried the Texas Army across the Brazos River as the army maneuvered to position itself opportunely to meet in combat the invading army lead by Mexican President and General Antonio López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón. more »

 Benjamin Franklin Holt, farmer, teacher, soldier, and merchant, fourth son (fourth of nine children) of Benjamin and Charity Ann (Wrinkle) Holt, was born in Texas in the Sabine District (Department of Nacogdoches) on May 30, 1830.  His parents and his… more »