Green DeWitt (February 12, 1787 – May 18, 1835) was an

empresario An empresario () was a person who had been granted the right to settle on land in exchange for recruiting and taking responsibility for settling the eastern areas of Coahuila y Tejas in the early nineteenth century. The word in Spanish for entre ...

Mexican Texas Mexican Texas is the historiographical name used to refer to the era of Texan history between 1821 and 1836, when it was part of Mexico. Mexico gained independence in 1821 after winning its war against Spain, which began in 1810. Initially ...

. He brought families from the United States to what is now South-central Texas and founded the DeWitt Colony.

Missouri

Green Dewitt was elected as the first Ralls County, Missouri Sheriff in 1821 and served for three years before heading to Texas for adventures that would make him an icon of American history. During his tenure as sheriff, the first courthouse and jail were housed in a log structure built in 1822. The jail was two rooms on the first floor, one a

dungeon A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably belongs more to the Renaissance period. An oubliette (from ...

with no windows, the other a cell with a barred window. Both were entered by trap doors from the courtroom above. An area surrounding the jail a half-mile square was marked off as "prison bounds", so inmates could work outdoors. He served as sheriff until 1824. In March 1825, he headed to Texas to make his fortune.

Texas empresario

In 1822, DeWitt petitioned the Mexican government for permission to settle colonists in Texas, but was denied. After teaming up with Stephen F. Austin, an influential Texas empresario, the government authorized DeWitt's contract in April 1825. He was given permission to settle 400 respectable, industrious, Catholic families in an area bounded by the Guadalupe, San Marcos, and Lavaca Rivers. This colony was southwest of the one founded by Austin.Roell (1994), p. 27. DeWitt hired James Kerr as his

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ...

. Kerr placed the capital, called Gonzales after

Rafael Gonzales Rafael may refer to: * Rafael (given name) or Raphael, a name of Hebrew origin * Rafael, California * Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israeli manufacturer of weapons and military technology * Hurricane Rafael, a 2012 hurricane Fiction * Rafa ...

, provisional governor of

Coahuila y Tejas Coahuila y Tejas, officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila y Tejas (), was one of the constituent states of the newly established United Mexican States under its 1824 Constitution. It had two capitals: first Saltillo (1822–1825) f ...

, at the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...

of the San Marcos and Guadalupe Rivers. The first settlers arrived in the summer of 1825. DeWitt visited the colony in October, but spent much of 1825 in Missouri recruiting settlers.Roell (1994), p. 28. DeWitt was accused of misappropriation of funds in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

, by settler Peter Ellis Bean, but was exonerated on October 16, 1825. Sarah DeWitt, whose Brooke County, Virginia, family was quite wealthy, contributed to her husband's endeavors, selling off some of her property in Missouri to help finance his venture. In July 1826, Gonzales was raided by Native Americans looking for horses. Most of the settlers fled temporarily to Austin's colony. Although the colonization laws specified that settlements should not be established within 10 leagues of the coast, DeWitt gained permission from the authorities to establish a temporary settlement, which they called Old Station, on

Matagorda Bay Matagorda Bay () is a large Gulf of Mexico bay on the Texas coast, lying in Calhoun and Matagorda counties and located approximately northeast of Corpus Christi, east-southeast of San Antonio, south-southwest of Houston, and south-southeas ...

near the mouth of the Lavaca River. The settlement was allowed there until enough colonists had arrived to secure their safety in Gonzales.Roell (1994), p. 29. By October 1826, 40 people lived in Old Station, including Dewitt and his family. His family there included his wife, two sons, and three of his four daughters; one daughter had already married in Missouri. Because the Mexican government had made an error and included another colony in the contract grant, DeWitt had numerous disputes with another empresario, Martín De León. At one point, DeWitt was arrested by authority of the Mexican government, because De León claimed that

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

being shipped into his colony was

contraband Contraband (from Medieval French ''contrebande'' "smuggling") refers to any item that, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold. It is used for goods that by their nature are considered too dangerous or offensive in the eyes o ...

. Stephen Austin stepped in and helped reduce tensions,Roell (1994), p. 30. but the damage caused to the relationship of DeWitt and De León would never be repaired. After arresting DeWitt, Mexican authorities ordered that Old Station be abandoned, and sent the settlers to Gonzales. In 1827, DeWitt joined Austin and De Leon in signing a peace treaty with the Karankawa so their colonies would be safe from raiding. Each of these colonies had been encroaching on Karankawa territory, particularly along the rivers on which they depended for fishing. DeWitt also negotiated a peace treaty with the

Tonkawa The Tonkawa are a Native American tribe indigenous to present-day Oklahoma. Their Tonkawa language, now extinct, is a linguistic isolate. Today, Tonkawa people are enrolled in the federally recognized Tonkawa Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. ...

, but he was unable to reach terms with the

Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in ...

. As Comanche raids took a toll on the settlement, the political chief in Bexar (northern Texas) sent the settlers of Gonzales a small cannon to use for defense.Roell (1994), p. 31. In 1830, the Mexican legislature passed a law prohibiting further immigration to Texas from the United States. Austin was able to secure a waiver for DeWitt's colony, but the measure made it difficult for him to recruit families. When his contract expired on April 15, 1831, DeWitt had settled a total of 166 families. Because he had been unable to meet the terms of the contract, unassigned lands in his colony reverted to the Mexican government, and DeWitt was unable to get a further contract.Roell (1994), p. 33.

Later years and death

By 1831, the colony was becoming more successful, but DeWitt's finances were depleted. He had used personal family funds (chiefly his wife's) to help support the colony. In 1835, near the time of the start of hostilities that would result in the Texas Revolution, DeWitt traveled to

Monclova Monclova (), is a city and the seat of the surrounding municipality of the same name in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. According to the 2015 census, the city had 231,107 inhabitants. Its metropolitan area has 381,432 inhabitants and ...

, in Mexico, in an unsuccessful attempt to gain more premium land for his colony. While in Monclova, he contracted

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium '' Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting an ...

, and died on May 18, 1835. He was buried there. Following his death, during the

Battle of Gonzales The Battle of Gonzales was the first military engagement of the Texas Revolution. It was fought near Gonzales, Texas, on October 2, 1835, between rebellious Texian settlers and a detachment of Mexican army soldiers. In 1831, Mexican authorit ...

, his wife Sara and daughter Naomi cut up a dress to make the banner "

Come and Take It "Come and take it" is a historic slogan, first used in 480 BC in the Battle of Thermopylae as " Molon labe" by Spartan King Leonidas I as a defiant answer and last stand to the surrender demanded by the Persian Army, and later in 1778 at Fort M ...

", which has since become a symbol of pride for the community.

Legacy

Green DeWitt is the namesake of

DeWitt County, Texas DeWitt County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 19,824. The county seat is Cuero. The county was founded in 1846 and is named for Green DeWitt, who founded an early colony in Texas. His ...

References

External links