CONCLUSIONS

                                                                                                                                                             

This survey of the members of the Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition investigated 117 non-native Mexican participants in the 1812-13 filibuster identified through various sources as active in the expedition (see Table 1, following page). Depending on the widely-varying figures of how many actually took part, this number represents 15-25 percent of the total. The sources from which these names are drawn are not the muster rolls (long since lost), but rather letters, diary entries, affidavits, and family histories. The nature of such sources skews the sample slightly towards officers: colonels, majors and captains; though there are, clearly, a number of enlisted soldiers within the survey.[1]

In age, expedition participants were as young as 12 (Peter Boone) and as old as 58 (Benjamin Allen). Most, however, were in their twenties and thirties. In addition to the Allen family, there were several groups of relatives who fought together. Warren D.C. Hall, who would later play a significant role in the Republic of Texas, fought alongside his brother John “Jack” Hall and possible relative Darlington Hall. In terms of wealth, those who we know appear to be diverse. A few, such as Reuben Ross and Joseph Carr were identified as men of distinction, although wealth on the frontier could be fleeting and Ross found himself nearly bankrupt by 1828, and died trying to validate his claims in Mexico. Many were poor or middle-class farmers like Edmund Quirk, Aylett Buckner, or Henry Munson who were seeking new lands for cultivation and possibly speculation, or insecure frontier professionals like David Phelps. Some were men with elite pretensions like Henry Adams Bullard, Darius Johnston, and Orramel Johnston who saw a path to distinction and respect through military glory.

Table 1: Known or Suspected Participants
Samuel Alden	Martin Allen	Hiram Allen	Benjamin Allen	David Allen
John Ash	Samuel Barber	Stephen Barker	Carlos (Charles) Beltran	Jose Benitis
Horatio Bigelow	Peter Boone	Matthew Bonnette	Aylette C. Buckner	Henry Adams Bullard
John G. Burnett	Evariste Calvettes	Joseph Carr	? Caston	Andrew Chase
Michael Chesneu	Joshua Child(s)	Nathaniel Cogswell	Albert Cole	Colonie
Hamlin Cook	Godwin Brown Cotton	Henry Derbonne	Bernardo Despallier	? Deen
George M. Dick	Peter Dillon	Peter Dolet	Bernardo D’Ortolan	Anthony Dubois
Eoses	William Fisher	Dr. Samuel D. Forsyth(e)	Isaac Foster	William Francis
James Gaines	? Gemaile	Pierre “Pedro” Girard	? Gormley or Gromby	Alexis Grappe
Nathan M. Hale	Darlington Hall	John “Jack” W. Hall	Warren D.C. Hall	Eli Harris
Charles A. Hickman	? Holmes	Darius Johnston	Orramel Johnston	Samuel Kemper
Joseph Pulaski Kennedy	John Gladden King	Amalie Lafitte	Bernard Lafitte	Abner Lane
Louis Lathum	Arsine Latour	David Long	Thomas Luckett	Augustus Magee
Dan MacLean	Louis Massicott	A.W. McClain	John McLannahan	Daniel McClean
John McFarland	James McKim	William McLane	? Menepier	Tenoss Moinet
Aaron Samuel Mower	Henry William Munson	William B. Murray	Samuel Noah	H.I. Offeet
George Orr	William Owen(s)	William Parker	Anthony Parish (Pared)	James Patterson
Henry Perry	David Phelps	W. Phierson	Juan Pincornel	William A. Prentiss
? Prudhomme	Edmund Quirk	Elisha Roberts	Andrew Robinson	Reuben Ross
James Royall	Charles Rollins	? Rollins	Joseph Ruth	? Scott
Samuel Sexton	Peter Sides	Thomas Slocum	William Slocum	Reuben Smith
William Snodgrass	Josiah Taylor	Thomas Taylor	Chesneau Tontin	John Villars
W.W. Walker	Stephen Wallace	George Westfield	James Biddle Wilkinson	Joseph Biddle Wilkinson
? Wolforth	Walter Young

Geographically, they came from across the nation. There were New Englanders like Augustus Magee, Henry Adams Bullard, Henry Perry, and Nathaniel Cogswell; New Yorkers like Walter Young; Pennsylvanians like Samuel Alden, George Orr, and William McLane; Georgians like the Allen family, Marylanders like William Parker; and Mississippians like Joseph Carr. This diversity is notable, but deceptive. With the exception of Toledo’s group formed in Philadelphia, almost all participants identified by region came through the West, having immigrated to Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, or Louisiana in the years before joining the expedition, and likely absorbed the frontier ethos in their adopted homes. Thus, Darius and Orramel Johnston are born New Englanders (from Connecticut), but their family moved west and they (and their much younger half-brother Albert Sydney) were raised in Kentucky. Samuel Kemper’s family moved from the Virginia backcountry progressively west as the population followed them. They settled first in Ohio, then Kentucky and finally Mississippi. A small number of participants were native Westerners like George Westfield, who was born in Kentucky (see Table 2, following page).

The men of the Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition were the products of the migration described in the introduction, made up primarily of the democratic elements of the southern and middle states, formed into a new western nation-within-a-nation that was unified economically and culturally by the north-south highway of the Mississippi River and its tributaries. This region’s interests pointed west and south along the great river, in opposition to the coastal states, which still dominated them politically. This relationship would change in time, particularly as the Southwest became integrated into the South’s cotton culture, but the year 1812 was a hinge moment in American history, before which

nationalism was still embryonic, and sectionalism existed along a more of a horizontal, rather than vertical axis. For westerners, the prime driver in everything that they did was the desire for land. It was why they had left the original 13 states to begin with. Annual sales of western land rose from 100,000 acres in the 1790s to over 500,000 after 1800.

Table 2: Geographic Origin of the Participants
Name	Born in	Resided in 1812
Samuel Alden	Pennsylvania
Martin Allen		Campbell County, Kentucky
Hiram Allen		Campbell County, Kentucky
Benjamin Allen	Wilkes County, Georgia	Campbell County, Kentucky
David Allen		Campbell County, Kentucky
Samuel Barber	Virginia	Louisiana
Carlos Beltran	Wheeling, Virginia	Ohio
Horatio Bigelow		Pennsylvania
Peter Boone		San Antonio, Texas
Aylette C. Buckner	Louisa County, Virginia	(Possibly) Kentucky
Henry Adams Bullard	Pepperell, Mass	Philadelphia
Joseph Carr	Woodville, Mississippi
? Caston	Mississippi
Nathaniel Cogswell	Haverhill, Massachusetts	Philadelphia
Godwin Brown Cotton		Philadelphia
Bernardo Despallier	Louisiana	Texas
? Deen	Mississippi
Bernardo D’Ortolan	Louisiana	Texas
William Francis		Louisiana
James Gaines	Culpeper County, Virginia	Louisiana
Darlington Hall	Fairfield County, South Carolina
Warren D.C. Hall	North Carolina
Darius Johnston	Connecticut	Kentucky
Orramel Johnston	Connecticut	Kentucky
Samuel Kemper	Fauquier County, Virginia	Louisiana
Joseph Pulaski Kennedy		Mississippi
Thomas Luckett	Virginia
Augustus Magee	Massachusetts	Louisiana
A.W. McClain	North Carolina
John McLannahan		Missouri
James McKim	North Carolina	Louisiana
William McLane	Pennsylvania	Louisiana
Henry William Munson	Volla Gayoso, Mississippi
George Orr	Pennsylvania
William Owen(s)	Baltimore	Natchitoches, Louisiana
Henry Perry	Newtown, Connecticut
David Phelps	Hebron, Connecticut
? Prudhomme	Louisiana	Louisiana
Edmund Quirk	Virginia	Kentucky
Reuben Ross		Missouri
Peter Sides	North Carolina	Tennessee
Reuben Smith		Missouri
William Snodgrass		Mississippi
Josiah Taylor		Natchitoches, Louisiana
George Westfield	Kentucky	Kentucky
James Biddle Wilkinson	Pennsylvania	Kentucky
Joseph Biddle Wilkinson	Kentucky	Kentucky
Walter Young	New York

Land was a status symbol; Joyce Appleby notes that ownership of real estate put a settler on “the right side of the critical divide between independence and dependency, probably the most salient of all social markers in an America that was still preponderantly rural.”[2] This desire for land predated the nation, and burst forth after the revolution as British restraints on westward migration were moved. It would grow to a flood before 1812 and a torrent afterwards. Western land was desirable, and its costs were increasing proportionately. On the other hand, land in Mexico, even under the Spanish, was available for a nominal fee. Although as we have seen, the expedition’s members were very diverse, Gutiérrez’ offer of free land was certainly the prime motivation for most recruits, because land was the universal currency of the frontier. And it was so by design: as the Mexican revolutionary agent had traveled throughout the West in 1811, Gutiérrez had observed and spoken with many westerners, and this land hunger would have been the most outstanding facet of frontier society, as we saw in the early accounts in the introduction. Gutiérrez also added other inducements – the right to capture and sell livestock and work mines, which may have sweetened the deal for some participants, but those were illusory goals; land was real. Joseph Carr’s promissory note proving his claim to a league of land would have been among the former soldier’s most prized possessions, and most participants would have felt the same way. The fact that so many survivors did eventually return to Texas indicates that the desire to settle was strong.

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[1] While approximately 130 Americans entered Texas at the beginning of the expedition, the numbers swelled with success and may have reached nearly 800. There are additional names that were not included because the connection to the expedition could be investigated and proven to be spurious. For instance, Juan Davis Bradburn, who became infamous as a pro-Mexican foil for Anglo settlers in the 1830s, has been tied to the expedition on purely speculative grounds. Additionally, non-military personnel and Spanish citizens who joined from within Texas are not included in this list. The purpose is to encompass “outsiders” as the Spanish regime would have defined them.

[2] Appleby, 138.