1844 - Letter from the owner of a stage line in Houston providing news of the city to a one-legged, one-armed hero and Land Commissioner of the Republic of Texas in Austin who had relocated there with the capital

Houston, Texas, 1844. Envelope or Cover. Very good. This one-page stampless folded letter, dated 19 December 1844 and measuring 15.5" x 9.5", was sent by Jonathan Hull from Houston to Colonel Thomas William (Peg Leg) Ward in Austin. It bears a manuscript Houston postmark and "Free" frank [due to Ward's position as the republic's Land Commissioner.] Although it affects no text, every mailing fold of the document has been very neatly reinforced or mended with what appears to be archival tape; otherwise, the letter is in nice shape with news of the city. It reads in part:

"I drop you a line to let you know how things are progressing. Yours by F R Lubbock from Washington was received [along] an order to Messrs Rice & Nichols for a Sack of Coffee & 100# Sugar. . .. Mr Brattin the waggoner arrived here yesterday and will commence loading this evening or tomorrow morning. The Steamer Dayton has arrived here this morning and the only Boat we have had from Galveston since you left here the Dayton has been on Red Fish & Clappers bars about six days with a very heavy freight and Sixty passengers. The New York has left Galveston some days since. I closed with Jesse K. Randle yesterday by giving him your note of 35$ and the balance which he owed on Rent up to December 10th being he had lease and today I have Rented the House & ground to N. K. Kellum for $11 for a shoe shop. . .."

. Ward was an Irish-born American soldier and politician who served three nonconsecutive terms as the mayor of Austin, the republic's 3rd Land Office Commissioner, and a consul to Panama. He came to Texas as a volunteer artillerist from New Orleans to fight in the revolution and became known as "Pegleg" after a counter-fire cannon ball took off his leg near San Antonio. Several years later while celebrating Texas Independence Day, he lost an arm when firing a cannon salute.

The Steamer Dayton transported supplies and people along the Texas coast with other shallow draft steamboats until it blew up in a spectacular explosion at the huge Army camp in Corpus Christi.

(For more information, see Humphrey's Peg Leg: The Improbable Life of a Texas Hero, Wagner's "The Tragic Sinking of the Sidewheel Steamship Dayton" at the Texas State Historical Association's website and Glass's "The Original Book of Sales of Lots of the Houston Town Company from 1836" on line, but originally published in The Houston Review.)

This newsy letter was sent to a true Texian hero in Austin, apprising him of his interests in Houston. At the time of listing, nothing similar is for sale in the trade. Although the Rare Book Hub and ABSA that a number of land grants signed by Ward have appeared at auction, no other first-hand materials have. As well, OCLC shows the Texas General Land Office colonization certificate records, but no other Ward materials, are held at the Texas State Library and Archives.