Valley of the Great Salt Lake

Brigham Young Monument
Salt Lake City, Utah
(from Wikimedia Commons)

At the trapper’s camp in Cache Valley, Utah, Jim Bridger built a bullboat out of thick willows woven into a basket with buffalo hide stretched over it.  He used it to settle an argument about where the Bear River ended.  Bets were laid, and Bridger set off down the river in his leather tub.  At the mouth of the Bear he discovered a great body of water.  The water tasted like brine! When he returned to camp to relay the news to the other trappers, one of them exclaimed, “Hell, Jim, you done found the Pacific Ocean!”  It was fall 1824, and Jim had actually discovered Great Salt Lake.  “Jim always felt peculiarly possessive of Salt Lake Valley. No wonder.  He had found it; he loved it; it was his!  It might well have been called Bridger’s Hole….”(1)

On July 24, 1847, the Mormon pioneers claimed the valley that Bridger loved so well.  Brigham Young was ill with mountain fever when his wagon company emerged from the mouth of Emigration Canyon.  Here they stopped, and Brigham arose from his sick bed to survey the valley below.  After several minutes he said, “It is enough. This is the right place. Drive on!”(2)   An advance company of pioneers had entered the Salt Lake Valley two days earlier on July 22, and had started immediately to create a crude irrigation system and prepare for planting.

In 1847 James Gammell had no connection whatsoever to the Mormons or to their exodus from the United States, but he would soon find himself a participant in the establishment of the State of Deseret,(3) as Brigham Young called the Great Basin:

The Saints(4) were virtually the only white settlers in the vast Great Basin, the name for an area about the size of Texas between the Rocky Mountains on the east, the Sierra Nevadas on the west, the Columbia River drainage on the north, and the Colorado River drainage on the south. The area was relatively isolated and arid and short on timber and game. The Saints realized that settling here would require considerable faith and their best efforts, but they believed that with God’s help they could succeed.(5)

Map of the Proposed State of Deseret (1849-1850)
(from Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol. 1, "Deseret, State of")

James visited the Great Basin area several times between 1843 and 1849.(6)  Upon his return to Spring Arbor, Michigan, after one of his trapping expeditions, he learned that his wife, Harriet, was ill.  We don’t know if he was at her bedside when she died, or if he arrived later, only to be told the tragic news of her death (August 20, 1848.)   But now, dealing with a burden of grief, he was anxious to be on the move again.  Early in 1850 he left his three-year-old son, Orlin, in the care of Harriet’s parents and headed west, this time arriving in Great Salt Lake City.

James must have been successful in finding employment among the Mormons almost as soon as he arrived in the valley.  Perhaps Brigham Young had met him and become aware of his skills during one of James’ earlier expeditions from Michigan.  In any event, not long after his arrival he negotiated a contract with Brigham to dig 100,000 rods (312.5 miles) of ditch at one dollar per rod.(7)   Making a ditching machine, probably like the one he had referred to while in Van Diemen’s Land, he was able to finish the contract.  James has been given credit for other public works during this period, such as building the bridge at Ogden and one across the Jordan River, and inaugurating the planting of trees in the valley.(8)

The year 1850 was an eventful one in the growth and development of the Salt Lake Valley, as well as in the life of James Gammell.  Although we have no details about his conversion, James made the decision in 1850 to become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  In August he was baptized by Apostle Parley P. Pratt.  A short time afterwards James also received the priesthood, and was ordained to the office of a Seventy by E. [Ezra] T. Benson.(9)  (See note below for an explanation of the Mormon doctrines of baptism and priesthood.)

In September 1850 the United States Congress formally established the Territory of Utah and appointed Brigham Young as governor.

On September 14, 1850, “Daniel H. Wells moved that the Supervisor of roads be instructed to proceed forthwith to improve the streets and roads, by making ditches, turnpike roads, and making good and sufficient bridges, aqueducts, &c…and that he employ Mr. Gammel [sic] with his improved ditching machine and scraper, to work under his direction upon the public works…”(10)

On Saturday, October 5, 1850, “The General Assembly of the State of Deseret met at the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, pursuant to adjournment… The resignation of Robert Pierce as Supervisor of roads was accepted, and Mr. Gammell appointed in his place.”(11)

On November 27, 1850, James Gammell married Elizabeth Hendricks, daughter of James and Drusilla Hendricks.

Note:  Baptism is a sacred, saving ordinance in which one follows the example of Jesus by being baptized by immersion in order to “fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15.) It is a covenant or promise with God to accept His Son Jesus Christ as the Redeemer, and to obey His commandments. If a person honors this sacred covenant, God forgives his sins, and he is cleansed from all unrighteousness. First, a person is baptized by being lowered under water and raised again by a one having authority from God to do so. This action symbolizes Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, and it also represents a willingness to live as true disciples in obedience to God’s commandments to the end of one’s life. Following baptism, a person is confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and receives the gift of the Holy Ghost. Priesthood authority, the same that existed in the original New Testament Church of Jesus Christ, is the authority and power to act in God’s name for the salvation of all God’s children. It is delegated or conferred, also by the laying on of hands, upon all worthy male members of the Church over the age of twelve. (See http://www.mormon.org/ )

_____________________________

1. Stanley Vestal, Jim Bridger, Mountain Man, p. 64. (Some scholars claim Etienne Provost was the first white man to see the Great Salt Lake.)
2. Church History in the Fulness of Times, chapter 26.
3. “Deseret” is a word from the Book of Mormon meaning honeybee, a symbol of work and industry (see Ether 2:3.)
4. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons).
5. Church History in the Fulness of Times, chapter 27.
6. Wheeler, pp. 333-34.
7. James Gemmell obituary, The Dillon Tribune, April 9, 1881.
8. Hardin, “Sheridan’s James Gemmell”.
9. Baptism and ordination dates found by Weeks & Haslam research into early Church records, recorded in a letter to Raymond Gammell, dated 10 Oct 1973.
10. Journal History of the Church, Church History Library Archives, Salt Lake City.
11. Journal History of the Church.

Recent Article on James Gemmell

Dr. John C. Carter, Museum and Heritage Advisor for the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Culture in Toronto, is an expert on the Canadian Rebellion, and has done extensive research in Tasmania.

On August 13, 2010, he published an article about James Gemmell in an online magazine called Thousand Islands Life:

http://www.thousandislandslife.com/

I encourage the Gammell/Gemmell clan to leave comments at the end of the article.


Another excellent website, Rebels and Raiders by Shaun McLaughlin, mentions James Gammell at the end of the following article, and refers to The James Gammell Chronicles under "Further Reading":

http://www.raidersandrebels.com/2010/06/benjamin-wait-samuel-chandler-2.html#more

James Gammell's Yellowstone Expedition Revisited

August 3, 2010

Hi, Liz,

We are part of the Montana bunch of James's offspring.  We live in southwest Montana in Gallatin Gateway, near Bozeman, and we operate a ranch on the Yellowstone River north of Yellowstone Park.

My daughter Anna and I just spent eight days on horseback exploring part of the route that James and Jim Bridger took in 1846 through the area that is now the remote southeast corner of the Park.  James described the trip to Wheeler as starting in the Jackson Hole area and traveling north into what we now call the Thorofare River-Yellowstone River confluence.  We rode the entire Thorofare-Upper Yellowstone Valley and went over the divide into the Snake River headwaters that James came into with Bridger.  We came out of the backcountry at the South entrance to Yellowstone National Park, loaded our stock and drove home to the ranch on the road along the west of the lake.  James did the whole trip on horseback, of course, passing by what is now our ranch, north of Mammoth, and on to "Benson's Landing" which is now Livingston, Montana, on his way to the Big Horn.

Needless to say, we talked a lot about how we were riding the same drainages that James had traveled.   Thanks to the National Park Service, the country looks very much as it did in 1846, except the trails are much better.

I have been an outfitter and guide in the Park, and I think James probably followed the Snake from Jackson Hole to what is now the vicinity of the South entrance of the Park, then followed the river up to its origin at Mariposa Lake, high on the western side of the Continental Divide, where you can step across the river.  From there it sounds like they crossed the divide, dropped into the upper Thorofare River Country, and probably followed the Yellowstone to the Lake and went back west, over the divide again and up the West side with an excursion to the geyser basins at the head of the Firehole River which runs into the Madison.

Moving through the mountains in 1846 had to be a tough way to travel, as there was no government to cut out the trails.  He mentions a trail along Snake Lake, which must have been a combination Indian, trapper and wild game trail.  It is still there today.  It must have been a hell of a trip through paradise.

I wanted to contact you and thank you for the Chronicles.  James was my great, great grandfather.  His daughter Jeanette (Duncan) was the mother of my Grandmother Hazel, who married Charlie Brown.  Their daughter Jane was my mother.

Dick Kendall

Gallatin Gateway, Montana

See Anna's website for all seventy-five Thorofare Photos: 

https://cid-0860f55303d29bcd.photos.live.com/play.aspx/Thorofare%20Pictures?Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos

Newly Discovered Photo of James Gammell

James Gemmell and his wife Susan Maria Brown
c. 1860
from Sandra Baril's website
http://montanaroots.net/

This is one of the most exciting finds of the last fifty years... a second photograph of James Gammell!  I was convinced that only one photo of James existed, until I discovered this one just yesterday on Sandra Baril's website.  (Sandra is a descendant of James' daughter Jeanette. ) 
Thank you, Sandra, for sharing it!   I hope to find out more information concerning the photo.

Expedition with Jim Bridger

Jim Bridger, 1804-1881

(Wikimedia Commons)

The next chapter in the life of James Gammell involves one of the greatest frontiersmen in American history. Jim Bridger knew more of the Rocky Mountains than any living man of his time. He and James Gammell seemed to be cut from the same cloth:

Naturally shrewd, and possessing keen faculties of observation…[Bridger] became one of the most expert hunters and trappers in the mountains.  Eager to gratify his curiosity, and with a natural fondness for mountain scenery… he familiarized himself with every mountain peak, every deep gorge, every hill, and every landmark in the country… No object of interest escaped his scrutiny, and when once known, it was ever after remembered.  He could describe with minute accuracy places he had visited but once, and that many years before; and he could travel in almost a direct line from one point to another…always making his goal…He never lost his bearing…As a Guide he was without an equal, and this is the testimony of everyone who ever employed him.

He was a born topographer; the whole West was mapped out in his mind…He could make a map of any country he had ever traveled over, mark out its streams, mountains and obstacles correctly…He never claimed knowledge of the country that he did not have. (1)

On the other hand, Bridger was ignorant of all knowledge contained in books; he didn’t even know the letters of the alphabet, and signed his name with an X.  Although totally uneducated, he spoke English, Spanish, and French equally well, besides nearly a dozen Indian tongues.(2)  Gammell must have had quite an education in the company of “Old Gabe,”(3) who was ten years his senior. Both strong-willed men, their relationship was at times rocky, as indicated by a lawsuit filed in Salt Lake County Court in April 1853.(4)   Bridger and Gammell died the same year (1881).

Enjoy this song by Johnny Horton honoring Jim Bridger:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnJL4ErQK8k 

After his escape from captivity in Van Diemen’s Land and his return to the United States (June 1842), James Gammell settled in Jackson, Michigan,(5) where he could have possibly created an idyllic life with a house, a farm, and white picket fence. But, as we know, that scenario would never be consistent with the temperament of our James Gammell.  There were still many more mountains to climb, more trails to explore, and more trials to endure before he would rest.

James married Harriet Fitzgerald on September 29, 1843, in Jackson, Michigan, and very soon after that, according to William F. Wheeler, he succumbed to his wanderlust, and ventured out on the plains.(6)  Although Wheeler includes no details about this first expedition, it is possible that James followed the Oregon Trail, where he may have met Jim Bridger for the first time at the newly built Fort Bridger (December 1843). James returned to Michigan sometime in 1845, and left again in 1846, probably before the birth of his first son, Orlin (July 5, 1846.)(7)

James didn’t settle long in Michigan before he decided to reenlist in the conflict with the British, this time over the Oregon boundary.  Nearly four years of captivity under what he described as British tyranny had only served to strengthen his quest for justice:

The controversy between the United States and England, concerning the Oregon boundary question, rose shortly after this to fever heat, and [James], with many others, believing it could only be settled by war and actuated by the feeling that he could be of some service to the United States, together with the desire of being upon the scene of conflict, started overland for the Pacific coast, intending to join in the war and to repay England as far as lay in his power for the injury she had done him. Before he had crossed the continent the boundary question had been settled by treaty, which, to his great satisfaction, included the release and restoration to their homes of the citizens of the United States who had taken part in the Canadian rebellion.(8)

Map of the Oregon Trail

In the early 1840s American settlers poured into the Northwest via the Oregon Trail. Possession of Oregon Territory became a huge issue in the 1844 election.  Democratic candidate James K. Polk advocated the placement of the border at 54º40' north latitude, thus the famous slogan, "Fifty-four Forty or Fight!"  When he took office in 1845, Polk made it clear to the British that joint occupation was not acceptable.  Secretary of State James Buchanan quietly entered into diplomatic discussions.  On June 15, 1846, the Treaty of Washington was signed by Britain and the United States, setting the boundary between Canada and the United States at the 49th parallel.

Eager to join the conflict over the Oregon Territory, James started out from Michigan “with his own outfit, consisting of six horses and two wagons, in company with William Gansen, a son of Gen. Gansen of New York.” Several weeks into the journey Gansen drowned as they were attempting to cross the Platte River. When James reached Fort Laramie, he joined up with a company of three hundred emigrants and became the hunter for the wagon train, reportedly killing six buffalo in one day. He later reported two incidents that opened his eyes to the law of the Wild West. At the fort a “Mr. Cox shot his own brother while quarreling over a game of cards. He was tried by a citizen’s court martial, [which] found him guilty and shot him on the spot.” Another man, who “killed his partner, was tried at once and hanged.”(9)

Upon hearing the news from other emigrants at Fort Laramie that the Oregon conflict had been settled by treaty, James had no reason to continue on to the Pacific coast.  He traveled as far as Jim Bridger’s trading post, located in a lovely spot on Black’s Fork of the Green River in present-day southwest Wyoming.  William G. Johnston wrote his impressions of the spot:

We came to Fort Bridger…at the foot of the Uintah Mountains, which loom up grandly above the beautiful, fertile valley, surrounding the trading post, one of the most attractive spots thus far seen… There are several log buildings, surrounded by a high picket fence, and having a heavy, wooden entrance gate…(10)

Drawing of Fort Bridger

Bridger built his crude fort in just eight days in December 1843.  It was hardly a secure fortification against an Indian attack:

I cannot imagine how the term ‘Fort’ came to be applied to these trading stations, for they have no one point of resemblance to such a structure, Fort Bridger being even more completely destitute than the others of any such feature.  It is simply composed of a few log huts, closely huddled together, without as much as a loophole to discharge a musket through.(11)

On July 17, 1846, Edwin Bryant wrote a vivid description of the buzz of activity that took place on most summer days around Bridger’s place, located in the middle of nowhere:

Fort Bridger is a small trading post, established and now occupied by Messrs. Bridger & Vasquez.  The buildings are two or three miserable log cabins, rudely constructed, and bearing faint resemblance to human habitations. It is in a handsome, fertile bottom, about two miles south of the old wagon trail… There is the finest quality of grass in great abundance.  The stream is pure and cold, and abounds in spotted mountain trout.  There are clumps of cottonwood trees… There are numbers of traders here from the neighborhood of Taos, with dressed buckskins, buckskin shirts, pantaloons and moccasins to trade with the emigrants.  The emigrant trade is a very important one to the mountain merchants and trappers… During the day I visited several of the emigrant corrals.  Many of the trappers and hunters now collected here were lounging about, making small trades for sugar, coffee, flour and whiskey. Several Indians visited our camp…

Circles of white-tented wagons may now be seen in every direction, and the smoke from the campfires is curling upwards, morning, noon and evening.  An immense number of oxen and horses are scattered over the entire valley grazing upon the green grass.  Parties of Indians, hunters and emigrants are galloping to and fro and the scene is almost one of holiday liveliness.  It is difficult to realize that we are in a wilderness, a thousand miles from civilization.(12)

On July 20, 1846, after a flurry of activity, all the wagon companies moved off from Fort Bridger, including the celebrated Donner-Reed party to its ruin, when it was trapped by an early snowstorm in the Sierra Nevadas.  James F. Reed wrote from Fort Bridger, July 31, 1846: “We have arrived here safe, with the loss of two yoke of my best oxen…I have replenished my stock by purchasing from Messrs. Vasquez & Bridger, two very excellent and accommodating gentlemen, who are the proprietors of this trading post.”(13)

In August, just a few weeks after the ill-fated Donner party left Fort Bridger, James joined Bridger’s trapping party headed for Jackson Hole and the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake. They would be gone for eight months. Bridger had explored the Yellowstone region for the first time in about 1830, forty-one years before the first official U.S. Geological Survey of Yellowstone (1871) and its designation as the first National Park. William Wheeler recorded James Gammell’s account of his first visit:

In 1846 I started from Fort Bridger in company with old Jim Bridger on a trading expedition to the Crows and Sioux.  We left in August with a large and complete outfit, went up Green River and camped for a time near the Three Tetons, and then followed the trail over the divide between Snake River and the streams which flow north into Yellowstone Lake.  We camped for a time near the west arm of the lake and here Bridger proposed to show me the wonderful spouting springs at the head of the Madison.  Leaving our main camp, with a small and select party we took the trail by Snake Lake (now called Shoshonne Lake) and visited what have of late years become so famous as the Upper and Lower Geyser Basins.  There we spent a week and then returned to our camp, whence we resumed our journey, skirted the Yellowstone Lake along its west side, visited the Upper and Lower Falls, and the Mammoth Hot Spring, which appeared as wonderful to us as had the geysers.  Here we camped several days to enjoy the baths and to recuperate our animals, for we had had hard work in getting around the lake and down the river, because of so much fallen timber which had to be removed.  We then worked our way down the Yellowstone and camped again for a few days' rest on what is now the reservation, opposite to where Benson's Landing now is.

From here we crossed the present Crow Reservation and made our winter camp at the mouth of the Big Horn, where we had a big trade with the Crow and Sioux Indians, who at that time were friendly towards each other.  The next spring we returned with our furs and robes, passing up the Big Horn River and over the mountains to Independence Rock and thence home.(14)

Bridger returned the following spring (1847) in time to meet the advance party (Brigham Young, Orson Pratt and Erastus Snow) of the Mormon pioneers,(15) and Gammell took his earnings and returned to his wife and year-old son, Orlin, in Michigan.

__________________________

1. Alter, J. Cecil, Jim Bridger, pp. 340-41. Words spoken by Major General Grenville M. Dodge, 11 December 1904, at the dedication of the monument he erected to Bridger in Mount Washington Cemetery, Kansas City, Missouri.
2. Alter, pp. 172, 301.
3. Jedediah Smith, who was known for reading his Bible around the campfire, gave Bridger a nickname. He called him ‘Old Gabe’ because Bridger, with his self-assured manner, reminded him of the angel Gabriel spreading the word of God.
4. Salt Lake County, Utah, court files, April 21, 1853: “James Gammell, plaintiff, vs. James Bridger for trespassing. Settled by the Partys May 2, 1853. The plaintiff is to pay the cost to Sheriff. James Bridger has seized upon the above named goods ($500) without due process of law.”
5. James’ letter to Mackenzie, dated January 24, 1843, indicates that he was settled in Jackson, Michigan.
6. Wheeler, William F., “The Late James Gemmell,” Montana Historical Society, vol. II, p.332. Gemmell told Wheeler that he went out on the plains in 1843 or 1844.
7. 1900 U.S. Census, Los Angeles, California, indicates that Orlin was born in July 1846.
8. Wheeler, p. 333.
9. James Gemmell obituary, The Dillon Tribune, April 9, 1881.
10. Alter, p. 233. Quote from the diary of William G. Johnston, Sunday, June 17, 1849.
11. Alter, p. 231. Written by William Kelly, 14 June 1849.
12. Alter, p. 219. A quote from Edwin Bryant, What I Saw in California, pp. 135, 142-44.
13. Alter, pp. 219, 221; Vestal p. 159.
14. Wheeler, p. 331.
15. Alter, p. 223.  "Brigham Young and the Mormon pioneers chanced to meet James Bridger near the mouth of Little Sandy. A granite monument bearing a bronze plate, in the town of Farson, Wyoming, marks the “Site of the Bridger-Young Conference” of June 28. 1847.”

Memorials to William Gammell

In 1936, the State of Texas erected individual monuments at Founders Memorial Park (formerly City Cemetery) in Houston, commemorating the service of twenty-six veterans of the Texas Revolution.  One of those monuments honored William Gammell for having fought at the Battle of San Jacinto.  Since the actual gravesites of many of the veterans were unknown, the monuments were placed in random positions throughout the park.

Years later, possibly as late as 2008, further research showed that William was actually buried in Washington Cemetery, and that his original stone still existed.  It turns out that he was never buried in Founders Park, but the cenotaph(1) remains there to this day.  The small plaque beside it gives the explanation:

Later research shows William Gammell (Oct. 18, 1812 – Apr. 10, 1869) was buried in the Masonic Cemetery (now Sam Houston Park) on Apr. 11, 1869, and reinterred in the German Society Cemetery (now Washington Cemetery) on Jan. 22, 1900.  His wife, Jane McDaniel Gammell (Mar. 28, 1825 – Nov. 12, 1908), was interred in the German Society Cemetery on Nov. 13, 1908. Texas Historical Commision 2009

Monument to William Gammell

Founders Memorial Park, Houston

J. Edward Stark, photographer

http://thetexasunderground.blogspot.com

William and his wife, Jane McDaniel, are both buried in Washington Cemetery in Houston.(2)  Grouped together are two headstones and a plaque.  The small stone bearing the Masonic symbol is William’s original gravestone.  The large stone likely marks Jane’s burial plot. The plaque, which was placed there in 2009 by the State of Texas Historical Commission, gives quite a detailed account of William’s life:

William Gammell was born in Ayshire [sic], Scotland.  He and his parents immigrated to the United States, settling in Lowell, Massachusetts.  Gammell arrived in Texas during the spring of 1836, where he enlisted in the Texian(3) army on April 5.  He served in the army under Captain Alfred Henderson Wyly and fought at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836.  Gammell also served as a gunsmith for the new Republic of Texas, rebuilding firearms for the army in the summer of 1836.  In the summer of 1837 he served under Captain John Bowyer in the “Mounted Gun Men”, a volunteer group established by the Republic of Texas for the protection of the northern frontier from the Indians.

Gammell married Jane McDaniel, a native of New York, on July 19, 1839 in Houston.  The couple had no children.  In 1842 Gammell was again called to defend his new homeland and enlisted in Captain James Gillespie’s company in the spring of that year to defend San Antonio against an invasion by the Mexican army.  Gammell again took up arms in September of 1842 and fought under Captain Jesse Billingsley against the Mexican army at the Battle of Salado Creek.

Gammell traveled to California during the Gold Rush, but returned to Texas to settle on 390 acres just outside the city limits, now situated under Highway 59 at Lyons Avenue in Houston’s Fifth Ward.  Gammell opened a gunsmith shop on Congress Avenue in Houston circa 1851 and operated the business until his retirement in 1866.  Gammell died unexpectedly from pneumonia in 1869 and was buried in Houston’s Masonic Cemetery.  In 1900 he was reinterred in the Deutsche Gesellschaft (German Society) Cemetery, which is now Washington Cemetery. (2009) Marker is property of the State of Texas.

Gravesite of William and Jane Gammell

Washington Cemetery, Houston

J. Edward Stark, photographer

(Used by permission)

William Gammell's original gravestone

Washington Cemetery, Houston

J. Edward Stark, photographer

(Used by permission)

 

After the Texas Revolution, William was qualified to receive several large plots of land.  He was granted 640 acres as compensation for his service at the Battle of San Jacinto, and another 640 acres for serving in the army (March to September 1836).  In 1841, William received a Headright Certificate for one-third of a league (1,476 acres) of land.(4)  Headright land grants were awarded to “encourage immigration and reward native citizens.”  To qualify for a first-class Headright certificate, the applicant was required to take the following oath:

I do solemnly swear, that I was a resident citizen of Texas at the date of the declaration of independence [March 2, 1836], that I did not leave the country during the campaigns of the spring of 1836, to avoid a participation in the struggle, that I did not refuse to participate in the war, and that I did not aid or assist the enemy, that I have not previously received a title to any quantum of land, and that I conceive myself justly entitled, under the Constitution and Laws to the quantity of land for which I now apply.(5)

After William married Jane McDaniel in Houston on June 18, 1839, they made their home at Chapmonville (now a part of Houston) on the north side of Buffalo Bayou.(6)  The plaque at his gravesite states that William operated a gunsmith shop on Congress Avenue in Houston from 1851 to 1866.  Two of William’s rifles survive today as part of a Texas gun collection. (Click on the link in the footnote below to see photos of the two rifles.)(7)

By the time of his death in 1869, William had become a wealthy landowner and slaveholder.  (In 1860 his personal estate was valued at $10,000.)  Two of his slaves, Squire Gammell and his wife, Martha Gammell, actually took his name.(8)  It is interesting to note that William also used his influence to try to emancipate a slave woman named Lyle.  In 1847 he and two other men purchased Lyle for $400.  They filed the deed in the county clerk’s office at Austin, and then petitioned the Legislature for authorization to allow “said negro Lyle to go hence free and to use her time as her own on condition of her proper behaviour.”  The petition was denied.(9)

_____________________________

1. A tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person whose remains are elsewhere.
2. William’s cenotaph indicates that his wife, Jane, is buried in Glenwood Cemetery, which is adjoining Washington Cemetery (formerly German Society Cemetery.)
3. Texian refers to the inhabitants of the Texas portion of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas.
4. http://www.sanjacinto-museum.org/Herzstein_Library/Veteran_Biographies/San_Jacinto_Bios This biographical sketch was written by Louis W. Kemp, between 1930 and 1952. Much of the information is obviously incorrect, but until further research, we assume that William received all three of these land grants: February 4, 1848, Donation Certificate No. 95 for 640 acres for his service at San Jacinto; Bounty Certificate No. 8010 for another 640 acres for service in the army; and the Headright certificate on February 4, 1841. (The Headright certificate states that William came to Texas in 1835.)
5. http://jack0204.tripod.com/gen/Heskew/first_settlers.html Pat Riddell Lococo found these land records online: William Gammell received land grants for service performed in the War of Texas Independence, on October 10, 1845, a patent for 1,476.13 acres in Austin County, Texas, and on October 17, 1846, a patent for 640 acres in Houston County, Texas.
6. http://www.sanjacinto-museum.org/Herzstein_Library/Veteran_Biographies/San_Jacinto_Bios
7. http://www.texasguntrade.com/texassportingrifles.htm
8. 1860 U. S. Census, Precinct 5, Harris, Texas (Roll: M653-1296, page 353); 1870 U.S. Census, subdivision 35, Houston, Harris County, Texas, page 503.  In 1860 William’s real estate was valued at $7,000 and his personal property (slaves, money in the bank, etc.) at $10,000.  Using what historical economists call the “consumer bundle” to compare historic and current values, William’s total estate ($17,000) has an equivalent value of about $1,173,000 in 2010.
9. Muir, Andrew Forest, “The Free Negro in Harris County, Texas” http://www.tshaonline.org/publications/journals/shq/online/v046/n3/contrib_DIVL2944.html

William Gammell and the Battle of San Jacinto, Part II

Battle of San Jacinto

Henry Arthur McArdle, 1895

(Wikimedia Commons, in public domain)

William Gammell was one among hundreds of volunteers from the United States who sat poised on the other side of that field, anxiously awaiting to go into battle.  There were enough volunteers to fill two full regiments, which were organized to augment the Regular Texas Army. One volunteer company was called the Kentucky Rifles. They were raised in Cincinnati and northern Kentucky by Sidney Sherman, and were the only troops in the Texas army that wore formal uniforms.(1)

Private William Gammell served under Captain A.H. Wiley in the Second Regiment of Texas Volunteers Infantry Company. Colonel Sidney Sherman, commander of the Second Regiment,(2) led his troops into battle on that day, and they are said to be the first to utter the famous warcry, "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!"(3)

After a small skirmish on April 20, both sides camped for the night. On the morning of April 21, 1836, General Houston held a council of war.  Most of his officers advised him that they should hold their position and wait for Santa Anna’s attack. That afternoon Houston announced his decision:  the Texas army would attack. The Mexican soldiers awoke from their afternoon siestas to the sound of shouting and gunfire. Santa Anna had failed to post sentries to monitor the Houston's army, camped only a thousand yards away, and hidden only by trees and a slight ridge.  Having the advantage of  surprise, 800 Texans charged across the open field and defeated the Mexican army of 1,400 men in just eighteen minutes:

At 4:30 p.m. on April 21, after scout Deaf Smith announced the burning of Vince's Bridge (cutting off the primary avenue of retreat for both armies), the main Texan battle line moved forward.  A fifer played the popular tune "Will you come to the bower I have shaded for you?"  General Houston personally led the infantry, posting the 2nd Volunteer Regiment [William Gammell’s regiment] of Colonel Sidney Sherman on his far left, with Colonel Edward Burleson's 1st Volunteer Regiment next in line.

Two small artillery pieces, the only ones they had, were positioned in the center, supported by four companies of infantry.  (The two artillery pieces were named "The Twin Sisters".  See the comments at the end of this post.)   A regiment of Texas regulars made up the right wing, and to the far right, sixty-two Texas cavalrymen planned to circle the Mexican left flank.  The charge began:

The Texan army moved quickly and silently across the high-grass plain, and then, when they were only a few dozen yards away, charged Santa Anna's camp shouting "Remember the Alamo!" and "Remember Goliad!",(4) only stopping a few yards from the Mexicans to open fire.  Confusion ensued. Santa Anna's army primarily consisted of professional soldiers, but they were trained to fight in ranks, exchanging volleys with their opponents.  Many were also ill-prepared and unarmed at the time of the sudden attack. General Manuel Fernández Castrillón desperately tried to mount a semblance of an organized resistance, but was soon shot down and killed. His panicked men fled, and Santa Anna's defensive line quickly collapsed… their training had left them ill-equipped to fight well-armed American frontiermen in hand-to-hand combat…Santa Anna's once-proud army had disintegrated into chaos. The battle only took 18 minutes.(5)

The Battle of San Jacinto, “one of the biggest military upsets in the hemisphere,” marked the end of the Texas Revolution.  Of the 1,400 Mexican soldiers, 600 were killed, and over 700 surrendered; of the 800 Texans, nine were killed or mortally wounded. Sam Houston was shot in the ankle. Santa Anna, found hiding in the grass and dressed as a common foot soldier, was captured the next day.(6)

For Mexico, the defeat resulted in the loss of nearly a million square miles of territory.  For the Texans, “their victory led to annexation into the United States and the United States' war with Mexico.  In the end, the United States would gain not only Texas, but also New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, California, Utah and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming.”(7)

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1. http://www.sanjacintodescendants.org/battle.html
2. http://www.footnote.com/page/1174_officers_and_men_of_the_texas
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Sherman   At Goliad, Texas, on March 27, 1836, 342 Texans were massacred, most of them lined up and shot at close range, after surrendering to the Mexican army.
4. Three known survivors of the Goliad Massacre fought at San Jacinto.
5. http://www.sanjacintodescendants.org/battle.html
6. http://www.sanjacinto-museum.org/The_Battle/April_21st_1836
7. http://www.sanjacinto-museum.org/The_Battle/April_21st_1836  See also Wikipedia articles: Mexican Texas, Republic of Texas, and Texas Revolution.