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. Since ''empresarios'' attract ...

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 Mexican War of Independence, war against Spain, whi ...

. 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 Ralls County is a county located in the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,355. Its county seat is New London. The county was organized November 16, 1820, and named for Daniel Ra ...

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 derives more from the Renaissance period. An oubliette (fr ...

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. These points are usually on the ...

. Kerr placed the capital, called

Gonzales Gonzales may refer to: Places * Gonzales, California, U.S. * Gonzales, Louisiana, U.S. * Gonzales, Texas, U.S. * Gonzales County, Texas Other uses * Battle of Gonzales, 1835 * Gonzales (horse) (1977 – after 1996), an American-bred Thoroughbr ...

after Rafael Gonzales, 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 watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

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 San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

, 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-southea ...

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 Martín De León (1765–1833) was a rancher and wealthy Mexican empresario in Texas who was descended from Spanish aristocracy. He was the patriarch of one of the prominent founding families of early Texas. De León and his wife Patricia de l ...

. 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") is any item that, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold. It comprises goods that by their nature are considered too dangerous or offensive in the eyes of the leg ...

. 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 The Karankawa were an Indigenous people concentrated in southern Texas along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, largely in the lower Colorado River and Brazos River valleys."Karankawa." In ''Cassell's Peoples, Nations and Cultures,'' edited by Joh ...

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 from Oklahoma and Texas. Their Tonkawa language, now extinct language, extinct, is a linguistic isolate. Today, Tonkawa people are enrolled in the Federally recognized tribes, federally recognized Tonkawa ...

, but he was unable to reach terms with the

Comanche The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Tribe (Native American), Native American tribe from the Great Plains, Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the List of federally recognized tri ...

. 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 The Texas Revolution (October 2, 1835 – April 21, 1836) was a rebellion of colonists from the United States and Tejanos (Hispanic Texans) against the Centralist Republic of Mexico, centralist government of Mexico in the Mexican state of ...

, 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 Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

, 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, Gonzales, Mexican Texas, Texas, on October 2, 1835, between rebellious Texian settlers and a detachment of Mexican army soldier ...

, his wife Sara and daughter Naomi cut up a dress to make the banner " Come and Take It", 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. Hi ...

References

External links