James
M. Rose
Among the 189 men listed as killed in action at the Alamo on March 6, 1836 is James M. Rose. He commanded no one. He has never been singled out for a special deed or contribution to the defense of the famous outpost. No one knows how he died. Few of the many books and none of the television documentaries or motion pictures mention his existence or his death. Perhaps, there is no good reason to do so, except for the fact that he was the nephew of James Madison, fourth president of the United States. Moreover, it is probable that he was one of the one or two close friends who rode to San Antonio de Bexar with David Crockett.
In
1994, an article on the Madison family appeared in an encyclopedia, James
Madison and the American Nation, edited by Robert Rutland, a comprehensive
reference on Madison, his times, and his enduring signficance as the "father
of the Constitution" and the author of the Bill of Rights. The article on
Madison's family was drawn largely from an English publication, and it reported
that a James Madison Rose, the son of Madison's sister, died in infancy. The
encyclopedia article, and the English publication on which the article relied,
were incorrect. But not even the historians at work at Montpelier, Madison's
home, and in the county of Virginia [Orange County] where Madison lived and
served as a representative, had remembered the real fate of the president's
namesake.
Walter Lord's study of the Alamo siege, A Time to Stand (1961), mentioned Rose and identified him as the ex-President's nephew. The other "important" Alamo histories by John Myers Myers, Lon Tinkle, Jeff Long and William C. Davis make no reference to Rose. He is always on the lists of the Alamo dead, and the fact that he was Madison's nephew appeared in a few publications of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. But, until a few years ago, if one went to the Library of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and examined the file maintained on Rose, the basis for the account of Lord's book was unclear.
Rose is best described in the documents filed by his family in support of their claims for land as compensation for Rose's service. They are part of one of the most popular files of the Texas General Land Office: the James M. Rose file. Despite some discrepancies, mainly between the more modest memories of Madison's nephews and the more colorful account of a relative, John N. Rose, who acted as the heirs' attorney, the evidence seems clear.
James Rose went to Texas to meet his friend, David Crockett, and to join the fight for Texan independence. According to family's lawyer, he had been Crockett's friend and hunting companion. John Rose says that James Rose was a close friend of David Crockett before the winter of 1835-36. It is plausible. Affidavits signed by Hugh, Erasmus and Samuel Rose were executed in Tipton County, Tennessee in the western-most part of the state. If you find it on a map, it's right on a straight path between Crockett's last Tennessee home and Memphis, even then an important city in Crockett's congressional district.
Crockett left Tennessee in early November of 1835 with three companions to explore the Arkansas territory and east Texas. They probably did not know of the outbreak of hostilities at Gonzalez. Rose left later, probably after learning that Texians were taking up arms against the military dictatorship of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. He traveled by way of Louisiana to Nacodoches. where he ran into his famous friend and the newly-formed Tennessee Mounted Volunteers. At least two of Crockett's three companions on his long hunt had already turned back home. Crockett probably greeted Rose as a friendly, familiar face. Together they rode on to Bexar. The famous former Congressman from the Volunteer State did not ride to San Antonio with the legendary Thimblerig or Bee Hunter. They are fictional characters from the first Alamo novel, entitled Col. Crockett's Exploits in Texas, published in 1837. Nor did Crockett ride with a dozen or so neighboring Tennesseans as depicted in films and novels. Crockett rode with new friends & young men from Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina, only a few from Tennessee, and the nephew of a president of the United States.
Like Crockett, James Madison Rose died when Santa Anna's brave soldiers stormed the Alamo early in the morning of the thirteenth day of siege. We know nothing more. We do not need to.
The presence of Madison's nephew does not prove that the men of the Alamo defended Madison's visions of constitutionalism, federalism, religious freedom and republican government; but they did, and perhaps his presence and his relation to the most important and influential of the American Constitution's framers might be a symbol, a reminder of the more admirable causes for the Texas war for independence.
Rick Tepker
Rick Tepker is a professor of law at the University of
Oklahoma and a contributing writer to The Oklahoma Gazette
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alamo DAR Chapter, The Alamo Heroes and Their Revolutionary
Ancestors, pg. 65 (1976).
William C. Davis, Three Roads to the Alamo: The Lives
of David Crockett, James Bowie and William Travis (1998)
C. Richard King, Susanna Dickinson , Messenger of
the Alamo, pp. 70, 76-77, 149 n. 10 (1976).
William Groneman, Defenders of the Alamo, pg.
94 (1990).
Walter Lord, A Time to Stand, pp. 46, 54, 108-09,
114, 201 (1961).
FROM THE JAMES M. ROSE COURT OF CLAIMS FILE, #C-007115, TEXAS GENERAL LAND OFFICE:
- Affidavit of Hugh F. Rose, Erasmus T. Rose and Saml. J Rose, 24 October 1853: "Our brother James M. Rose at the time he left Lake Providence in the winter of 1835-6 by the way of Alexandria Louisiana on his route to Nacogdoches Texas where he joined the company of David Crocket in the military service of Texas and was afterward killed at the fall of the Alamo According to the best of our recollection [he] was a man of sanguine temperament about thirty years of age, about 5 ft 7 or 8 inches high of fair complexion disposed to freckle, but rendered sallow by continued attacks of chill & fever before he went to Texas, was partially bald on the top of the head, hair sandy Eyes light Blue or Grey. Broad shouldered inclined to round and would weigh when in flesh about one hundred & sixty pounds and was apt to Stammer when at all confused with Eye Brows heavy and light coloured and course features."
-
Affidavit of Suzannah Dickinson Bellows, 21 November 1853:
A[S]ometime during the years 1835 or [183]6 I lived with my former husband
Almeron Dickenson in the town of San Antonio in the said state of Texas.
. . . I was acquainted with a man by the name of Rose who with David Crocket
was frequently an inmate of my house. . . . [W]hen the Army of Mexico advanced
upon the town said Rose Crocket and all the Americans took refuge in the
Alamo . . . . Said deponent [Mrs. Bellows] did not know the Christian name
of said Rose, but remembers his personal appearance . . . . [H]e was a
man of some 30 years of age medium height fair skin disposed to freckle
sandy or light hair: Blue or gray eyes, broad shoulders and inclined to
round or stoop, and would weigh probably 150 to 160 pounds B . . . [S]he
knew no other man by that name: and furthermore . . . she believes that
he is the man who came to Texas with Crocket as he seemed to be his friend
and companion.
-
Petition to the Legislature of the State of Texas, undated
[attached to documents dated October and November 1853]: A[S]ometime in
the winter or spring of the years 1835/or6 one James M. Rose, a citizen
of the state of Tennessee . . . left for the purpose of joing David Crocket
for the Seat of War, then waging between Mexico and the then Republic of
Texas, since which time said Rose has not been heard from by his relations,
and friends, and the presumption is, that he fell with Crocket and his
companions at the siege of the AAlamo@: . . . Mrs. Dickinson now Mrs. Bellows
of the City of Houston, testified that before the time of the difficulties
alluded to She was acquainted with David Crocket and a man by the name
of Rose who were both frequently inmates of her house . . . [W]hen the
Mexican Army advanced upon the town of San Antonio de Bexar where she then
resided said Rose Crocket and all the Americans took refuge in the AAlamo@,
and as she believes were all Massacred except her self child and a negro
servant: and . . . she is satisfied the said Rose shared the same fate
with the rest . . . [H]e was the only man of the name of Rose known to
her; . . . [H]e was a man of some 30 years of age, medium height, fair
skin, disposed to freckle, sandy or light hair, blue or gray eyes, broad
shoulders inclined to round or stoop; and would weigh probably 150 or 160
pounds; . . . [S]he believes he came to Texas with Crocket as from his
intimacy he was his friend and companion; Her description substantially
corresponds with that given by his surviving brothers. . .
-
Letter from John N. Rose to James Nelson of Austin Texas,
November 18, 1856: AThe man named James M. Rose was a nephew of James Madison,
Ex Pr[esident] of the U.S. B his relatives have never heard from him since
he left Tennessee in 1835 with Crockett for Texas & if the enclosed
crude papers do not establish him as having fallen at the Alamo, nothing
can.
-
Deposition of Suzannah Dickinson Bellows, 30 June 1857 (in
response to interrogatories): AHe was about 35 or 40 years of age. He was
of medium height, heavy set, rather full square face, very quiet spoken
B he fell with the rest of the defenders of the Alamo B during the siege
I saw Rose often, and upon one occasion he and my husband Capt. Dickinson
speak to Rose of a narrow escape he (Rose) had made from a Mexican officer
upon their first attack.
-
Letter of John N. Rose to J.O. Illingsworth[?], 1 September
1857: A. . . James M. Rose left Tennessee with Crocket for Texas. . . .
The family of J.M. Rose are confidant he shared the fate of Crocket: he
was a young man of ardent temperament fond of excitement B a neighbor of
Crocket a warm friend & admirer of his, a companion in his Bear hunts
and other amusements & were inseparable B he certainly left Tennessee
with him & has never been heard from since.
- Deposition of Samuel J. Rose and Erasmus T. Rose of the County of Tipton, state of Tennessee, 3 October 1857: AHe did emegrate to Texas in the last days of 1835 or in the beginning of 1836 for the purpose of volunteering in the Army of Texas then at war with Mexico. . . . I cannot say to what individual or party he attached himself but believe and have been informed that he joined Travis= Command. He was about 30 or 31 years of age. He stood about five feet seven or eight inches, with light auburn hair, fair skin inclined to freckle, Blue Eyes, Bald head, Heavy Set and a little round shouldered. From the Best of my recollection and information He left Lake Providence La at the time above stated and for the purpose of joining the army of Texas in the war with Mexico in company with some fi[document obliterated] and to the best of my knowledge and belief He was killed in the Alamo.
