The tragedy of Mordecai Gist

The trag­ic death of Mordecai Gist occurred dur­ing the Texas Revolution.  By 1829, the large influx of American set­tlers out­num­bered the Hispanic pop­u­la­tion in Texas.  The rev­o­lu­tion that began in October 1835 was a rebel­lion by American immi­grants as well as Hispanic Texans who were opposed to the régime of President Antonio López de Santa Anna.  The mas­sacre at the Alamo is the best remem­bered event of the revolution. 

Mordecai Gist (1782−1835) was born in Baltimore, Maryland.  Mordecai’s grand­fa­ther was Col. Thomas Gist, a broth­er of the ear­ly Kentucky explor­er, Christopher Gist.  Mordecai came out to set­tle in Clark County in 1805 and mar­ried Martha “Patsy” Clark the fol­low­ing February.  She was the daugh­ter of Robert Clark Jr., a broth­er of future Kentucky gov­er­nor James Clark.

Mordecai was appoint­ed post­mas­ter of Winchester in 1810, suc­ceed­ing Edmund Callaway.  He leased the brick tav­ern known as the Indian Queen from Callaway, which also served as the Winchester post office.  The house stood on the east side of Main Street, across from the courthouse. 

During the War of 1812, Mordecai enlist­ed in Capt. Samuel R. Combs’ com­pa­ny of mount­ed infantry.  The com­pa­ny marched through Ohio, crossed Lake Erie, and fought the British at the Battle of the Thames.  Combs’ com­pa­ny was placed in the right flank, which led the charge under Col. Richard M. Johnson that result­ed in the death of Tecumseh.  The American vic­to­ry under Gen. William Henry Harrison effec­tive­ly end­ed the war in the West.

In the ear­ly 1830s, Mordecai joined the hordes of Americans head­ing for new oppor­tu­ni­ties in Texas.  “Gone to Texas” was a pop­u­lar refrain of the era.  Mordecai took part in the “Texas Revolution” that fol­lowed Santa Anna’s rise to pow­er.  Without U.S. sup­port, the rebels raised funds to pur­chase arms and recruit vol­un­teers.  Initial plans called for a small force to launch an attack on the Mexican coast in the hopes of stir­ring up an insur­rec­tion in the east­ern states that would pre­vent Santa Anna from send­ing troops to Texas.

In 1835, a few months before the Battle of the Alamo, Mordecai vol­un­teered for this expe­di­tion led by Gen. Jose Antonio Mexia.  (It was lat­er report­ed that some of the men thought Mexia was tak­ing them to see lands they might take up for set­tle­ment.)  On November 6, Mexia sailed the schooner Mary Jane with 150 recruits from New Orleans to the port town of Tampico.  The ves­sel near­ly sank in a bad storm but sur­vived. While approach­ing the coast, the ship ran aground.  The boats that were sup­posed to fer­ry the men and arms ashore failed to arrive.  His troops had to wade ashore with­out their can­non and much of their arma­ment.  They spent a day dry­ing out and replac­ing lost weapons. 

Mexia marched his men toward the city and came under heavy fire.  In the bat­tle that fol­lowed, he had eight killed and a large num­ber cap­tured.  He man­aged to take refuge in a small fort near Tampico.  While wait­ing, they ran short of food and ammu­ni­tion.  With no funds avail­able to buy more and the local par­ti­sans not com­ing to their aid, Mexia decid­ed to with­draw.  He retreat­ed to the coast and embarked for Texas, leav­ing the cap­tives behind. 

Three of the cap­tives died of wounds.  As for the remain­ing 28, the Mexican gov­ern­ment declared they were part of an expe­di­tion car­ried out by “pirates,” not belong­ing to any rec­og­nized coun­try and, and deserv­ing no quar­ter, they were ordered to be put to death by fir­ing squad. 

The night before they were shot, one of them penned a farewell address; each of the pris­on­ers signed it and left the name of the next of kin to be noti­fied.  They man­aged to put the let­ter in the hands of a priest who smug­gled it out of the camp.  The let­ter was the sub­ject of an arti­cle that appeared in the Baltimore American. 

One of the signees was “Mordecai Gist of Maryland, aged 53, father in Maryland.”

On December 14, at 8 o’clock in the morn­ing, Mordecai Gist and the oth­er pris­on­ers were executed.

Texas declared inde­pen­dence from Mexico in 1836.  The Republic of Texas was annexed by the U.S. Congress and became the 28^th state in December 1845, which set the stage for the Mexican-American War (1846−1848).