The Munsons of Texas — an American Saga

Chapter Sixteen

THE EDUCATION YEARS OF MORDELLO STEPHEN MUNSON — 1838-1849

SUMMARY
Mordello Stephen Munson was born in 1825 at the Coushatta Indian village on the Trinity River in the old Atascosita District of Mexico. His young years were spent at Oakland Plantation in the Austin Colony in Mexico’s Province of Tejas, where his father died when he was eight years old. After attending several one-room, local grammar schools, he was schooled from 1838 until 1849 at the Rumsey’s school in Hopkinsville, Kentucky; Rutersville College near La Grange, Texas; La Grange College at La Grange, Alabama; Transylvania College in Lexington, Kentucky; and the New Orleans Law School. His education was interrupted in 1842 when, at the age of 16, he joined Texian armed forces when Mexican troops threatened Texas, and he participated later in that year in the Somervell Expedition to Mexico. At the end of the latter campaign, he was wise and fortunate to avoid the disastrous Mier Expedition into Mexico and the famous "Black Bean" incident.


In the settlement of the estate of Henry William Munson in 1848, an accounting for the cost of education of each of the Munson sons was given. The record for Mordello reads as follows:


1833 & 4 To Acct. for Thomas I. Pilgram Tuition $   95.66
1836 & 7 " " " Fayette Copeland Tution & Board 93.00
1837   " " " M. Newell Tution Velasco 14.00
1838 to 41 " " " James D. Rumsey Tution & Board 87.33
" " " " " Kincaid & Gant store acct   133.80
" " " " " Thos. I. Hanks ditto 197.87
          Expenses to Kenty in 1838   13.00
          ditto from Kenty in 1840   16.66
1842 to 3 " " " Rutersville College & Board   161.87
1843 to 5 " " " LaGrange, Ala. do do 515.00
1846 Jany       Cash pd you to go to University   260.00
          ditto paid you by R. Mills   20.00
Dec. 1845       Ditto pd Sorenson & Johnson        12.50
              $1612.70


After their primary education with various private teachers near their home, Mordello and his two brothers, William and Gerard, attended the school of Mr. and Mrs. Rumsey in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, from 1838 until 1840 or 41. The transportation expense records indicate that they made just one trip to Kentucky and one return trip — thus it appears that they remained there the entire time. Mordello was probably thirteen years old when they first went, and the exact date of their return to Texas is not known, but Mordello was probably fifteen or sixteen. This appears to have served him as today’s high school.

The next records reflect Mordello and his brothers attending the newly established Methodist college, Rutersville College, near La Grange, Texas. Munson family records indicate their years of attendance were 1842-1843, but a copy of the catalogue entitled "Rutersville College - 1841" [1] lists among the roll of students the names of "William B. Munson, S. Mordella Munson , and Gerard B. Munson", all of Brazoria County. As Mordello was at college in La Grange, Alabama, in the fall of 1843, it appears that he attended Rutersville from the fall of 1841 to the summer of 1843. This appears to have served him as a junior college.

The college year at Rutersville was divided into two terms of twenty-one weeks each; the first commenced on the third Monday of January, and the second on the third Monday of July. The vacations were from the second Thursday of June to the third Monday of July, and from the second Thursday of December to the third Monday of January. The three Munson brothers may have been there for the fall session of 1841, as they probably had returned from Kentucky earlier in that year. In any event, Mordello spent much of the year 1842 as a volunteer with the Texian armed forces in campaigns against the Mexicans. Throughout his life he was extremely loyal to his native Texas and to the Confederate South, and was a dedicated soldier for both.


The Texian-Mexican Battles of 1842 [2]

From the time of the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, until November of that year, there occurred intense and confusing political maneuvering among three parties: (1) the leaders of Texas (Houston, Austin, Burnet, Lamar, Archer, Rusk, Smith, Wharton, and others); (2) their prisoner, General Santa Anna; and (3) the highest officials of the United States (President Andrew Jackson and others) [3]. At the conclusion of the complex negotiations, each party apparently gained its major goal: Santa Anna gained his freedom, Texas gained Santa Anna’s recognition of its independence from Mexico, and the United States gained Santa Anna’s acknowledgement of Mexico’s permanent release of all land north of the Rio Grande River (which the United States coveted). Many Texians wanted Santa Anna to be executed, but historians generally applaud the Texian leaders’ strategy — a live Santa Anna as their prisoner was a powerful bargaining tool. To seal the agreements, Santa Anna was given a royal trip to Washington, D.C., under Texian escort in November of 1836; an audience with President Andrew Jackson; and a return trip to Mexico, where, after several years of political turmoil, he again became president and commander of the army.

During all of these years San Antonio was an isolated frontier community, eighty miles southwest of Austin and about 150 miles, through mostly uninhabited barren country, from Laredo and Presidio del Rio Grande. The inhabitants of San Antonio were about nine-tenths Mexican. Some political leaders in Mexico had not abandoned their hope of reconquering Texas, or at least parts of it, and in early 1842 rumors and news of an impending Mexican invasion reached San Antonio. The Texian forces stationed there, estimated at about 100, left as the 700 Mexican troops occupied the town on March 5, 1842. The Texian forces retreated thirty-six miles to the hamlet of Seguin, on the Guadalupe River, where they were joined by other volunteers. As scouts spread the word of what was thought to be an army of conquest, armed volunteers gathered at several points. The coastal people from Victoria, Jackson, Matagorda, and Brazoria Counties rallied at Goliad. Among those gathered at Goliad were Major George Sutherland from Jackson County; Captain Alfred S. Thurmond (or Thurmand) from Victoria; and a group from Brazoria County, including William H. Jack, Branch T. Archer, John Sweeny, the McNeels, Andrew Westall, Moses Austin Bryan, James H. Bell and Mordella S. Munson (at 16 years of age) [4].

Joseph Milton Nance records these assemblies as follows [5]:


    Men left their work. . .saddled their horses, took up their rifles, and headed for San Antonio, Victoria, and other points along the southern and western frontier. All Texas was in a ferment and expected the enemy, several thousand strong, to make an effort to subjugate them or expel them beyond the Sabine, for Santa Anna, having failed once. . .surely would not come a second time without being well prepared. Accustomed to forays of Indians and robbers, each ranger in the volunteer companies kept always in readiness "a good horse, saddle, bridle, and arms, and a supply of coffee, salt, sugar, and other provisions" to start on fifteen minutes warning in pursuit of the marauders.

Clark L. Owen was elected commander of the men at Goliad, and the men remained in camp for several weeks. Scouts soon brought information that the enemy, after holding San Antonio for a few days, had retreated toward the Rio Grande. Without orders from President Sam Houston to pursue the enemy, which was the wish of many of the men, the volunteers were disbanded on April 2 and returned home. Mordello probably returned to Rutersville College.

President Houston, in consequence of these incursions of the enemy and the tenuous location of the city of Austin, called a special session of Congress to meet in Houston. Legislation for a war of invasion of Mexico was speedily passed by the legislature with great public support. It was a surprise when the bill was returned with President Houston’s veto. The people, in years after, came to realize the wisdom of his judgment of the suicidal absurdity of an organized invasion of Mexico without the money, equipment, or men to sustain such an expedition. President Houston did warn that the Mexicans, in all probability, would continue to harass the Texian borders until some retaliatory check was put upon them, and he did not oppose the idea of a volunteer army to contest the Mexicans. After the adjournment of the special session in Houston, President Houston moved the seat of government to Washington-on-the-Brazos, where it remained until 1845, when it was returned to the permanent site at Austin.

Rumors of invading Mexican forces persisted. At daylight on Sunday, September 11, 1842, the people of San Antonio were awakened by the roar of cannon to find that the town was in possession of an army of Mexicans, 957 strong, commanded by General Adrian Woll. Adrian Woll was a Frenchman who had immigrated to Mexico, fought with Santa Anna in the Texas Revolution, and was now a general in Santa Anna’s army. Most of the Texians in San Antonio (sixty-two by one report) were captured, detained, and eventually sent to Mexico as prisoners. These captives were a major excuse for the later campaign against Mexico. A few escaped and hastened to Seguin to give the alarm. Couriers were sent to the Lavaca, the Colorado, and the Brazos. They rode day and night spreading the news, and fighting men, as always, rallied in squads, and companies were formed.

By Saturday, September 17, 210 fighting men had gathered near Seguin on the road to San Antonio. It is not known whether Mordello Munson was there. They organized under the leadership of Matthew Caldwell (no known relation to James P. Caldwell) and marched across roadless country to within six miles of San Antonio. There they occupied a strong position and challenged the Mexican forces to come out and engage in combat, being confident that 210 well-entrenched Texians could defeat 1,000 Mexicans.

On September 18 General Woll with about 1,000 men and four pieces of artillery proceeded to the scene. After several preliminary skirmishes, a severe battle took place. The well-aimed rifles of the Texian sharpshooters took their toll. After a desperate struggle of some twenty minutes, the Mexicans fell back under the protection of their guns. Woll reformed his men on a ridge and returned to San Antonio after sunset. This encounter is known as the Battle of Salado.

While the above described battle was taking place on September 18, several groups of volunteers were approaching to join Caldwell’s forces. A company of fifty-three volunteers under the command of Captain Nicholas Dawson (all but two or three from Fayette County, the location of La Grange and Rutersville College) was approaching from the east. They encountered a body of Mexican cavalry, reported to be 400, who had been sent by General Woll to engage them. Dawson took a position in a small grove of mesquite trees and prepared for battle. In the ensuing battle, Dawson’s men were overwhelmed. When it became evident that death or surrender was inevitable, efforts were made to surrender. The enemy made a rush into the grove, and as the Texians surrendered their arms, some were cut down. Thirty-six died, fifteen were taken prisoner, and two escaped to tell the tale. This is known in Texas history as the Dawson Massacre.

Later in that day, September 18, 1842, Captains Jesse Billingsly and W. J. Wallace of Bastrop (and John Caldwell, according to one source) arrived with between seventy and one hundred men, including another group from La Grange. It is possible that Mordello Munson was a member of this group. It is known that he was a member of the Somervell Expedition that grew out of this episode, but it is not known when he joined the expedition.

The details of the Dawson battle were unknown to the embattled Caldwell forces except that some persons reported hearing artillery fire in that direction. Since the approaching night was dark and stormy with a continual downpour of rain, nothing was done until morning. When morning came, Colonel Caldwell dispatched a group of men to investigate the gunfire of the previous afternoon [6]. They arrived at the scene, guided by the wounded horses around the grove. As reported by one of the participants: "They counted in the grove forty dead bodies [another source reports thirty-six Texians killed] entirely naked, so mutilated with cannon shot, sabre wounds, and lances as to be unrecognizable. The heads of several were nearly severed from their bodies. The cold rain of the previous night had cleansed them of blood and given the bodies a marble-like appearance. It was simply a horrible sight." Colonel Caldwell’s men remained in camp until the morning of September 20, and learning that Woll had begun to retreat from San Antonio, they moved in pursuit. In a hit and miss fashion, the Texians followed and chased the Mexican forces for several days, then retraced their steps to San Antonio, meeting on the way the old hero, Colonel Edward Burleson, with a group of new recruits. The Mexican forces reached El Presidio del Rio Grande on October l. The Texian forces reached San Antonio on September 24, and on the next day a meeting was held in front of the Alamo. Colonel Burleson addressed the crowd, recapitulating the repeated outrages of the Mexicans including their holding of Texian prisoners, and outlining a plan for a retaliatory expedition into Mexico. He advised those present to return home, recruit horses, procure suitable clothing, supplies, arms, and ammunition, and to rendezvous at San Antonio one month later. This plan resulted in what became known as the Somervell Expedition, of which Mordello Munson was a member; and finally in the disastrous Battle of Mier on Christmas Day of 1842, at which Mordello was not present, to his family’s everlasting thanks.


The Somervell Expedition of 1842 [7]

In support of the views expressed at the meeting at the Alamo on September 25, President Houston ordered two regiments of militia and "the effective force of Matagorda, Victoria, Brazoria, Fort Bend, Austin, Washington, Colorado, Fayette, Gonzales, and Bastrop counties" to San Antonio. He also assigned the command of the expedition to Brigadier-General Alexander Somervell, who immediately proceeded to San Antonio and assumed command. Soon there arrived in San Antonio at least fifteen companies of volunteers from different parts of the country. Arriving on November 3 was a company from Brazoria County numbering sixty men under the command of Captain Shelby McNeel. Mordello Munson, now 17 years old, was a member of this company.

After considerable delay, all things were announced ready, and on November 22 all the camps around the Mission of Concepcion took up the line of march on the road from San Antonio to El Presidio del Rio Grande. There were about 750 men on horses, about 200 pack mules, and about 300 beeves. They camped two nights and one day on the Rio Medina. Then, after crossing that stream and following that road for several miles, they turned to the left, southerly, and moved toward the Laredo road. The whole country was inundated with water, the weather was cold, and a few miles brought them into sandy, post oak country where horses and mules sank to their bodies in quagmire. For three days they floundered through that sort of country, the men verbally abusing the country in general and General Somervell in particular. Just eight miles farther, they claimed, was a firm trail to the Laredo Road.

At night, unable to sleep on the deluged ground, large camp fires were built on little knolls and all kinds of meetings were held — political, theatrical, and comical. That locality became known to the troops as "the bogs of the Atascosa" and "the devil’s eight leagues." This was approximately the same sandy area where Mordello’s father had fought in the Battle of Medina in 1813 [see Chapter 7]. It was common to see pack mules sink until their packs stayed their further descent. A few men would lift them up and start them afresh. Thus, by extraordinary efforts and after great suffering, the army reached the Laredo road, as ancient as San Antonio itself, and always firmly packed.

From there the march proceeded to the Nueces River, which was in flood stage, having overflowed one to two miles on the east side but with dry land on the west bank. A detail was sent forward to build a bridge. With hatchets men waded to the narrow river’s edge, from where some men swam to the other side. From both sides trees were felled into the stream, their tops meeting and interlocking. Then came large bushes worked in, getting smaller and smaller until finally the bridge was floored with layers of reed cane and long grass. On December 5, 1842, the main army passed safely over and spent a day or two resting and drying baggage.

A scout command under Captain John C. Hays went forward to reconnoitre, accompanied by Captain Flaco, the brave young chief of the Lipan (Apache) Indians. Flaco, with a few members of his tribe and one other Apache named Luis, accompanied the troops. On this December night there came rain with a cold wind, and at about midnight a general stampede of the horses and mules took place. It was a fearful time — dark as pitch with hundreds of horses and mules rushing blindly and furiously around the camp. Next morning, an hour’s search brought in most of the animals, and Flaco arrived with information from Hays that there were Mexican troops at Laredo and that, by a rapid march, they could be captured. There was not a tent in the command, it was a cold, rainy morning with a severe north wind, and it was about sixty miles to Laredo. Leaving a few men behind to seek the missing animals, the command moved rapidly onward. At nightfall a halt was made to rest the animals and take refreshments, after which, abandoning all the beef cattle, the march was resumed. The skies became clear and the stars shone forth in the glory of a beautiful night.

An hour before daybreak, when the troops had surrounded the town of Laredo and awaited the dawn, it was found that not a Mexican soldier was in the place. The Mexicans had received word of the approaching Texians and had crossed the river and garrisoned on the west side. This was especially disappointing because the Texians had been planning to take prisoners to exchange for those taken by General Woll in San Antonio. It was December 8, and they had been en route from San Antonio since November 22. The troops had little to eat and many of them were destitute of blankets. Many wished to cross the river and engage the enemy, then move rapidly down the river’s western bank, inflict punishment whenever possible, recross, and return home. On December 10 the men voted approximately 500 to 190 in favor of crossing into Mexico. This General Somervell declined to do. Dissatisfaction and disgust ran high, and about 190 men, with the approval of General Somervell, left the expedition and returned home. Mordello Munson was not among these.

General Somervell’s quandary is summed up by Joseph Milton Nance as follows: "To turn home without engaging the Mexicans in battle would surely bring down upon his head great popular odium. To go on without provisions of any kind and with a shortage of horses, depending upon the country and its inhabitants for subsistence, would likely end in disaster. Likewise, to linger long upon the Rio Grande would allow the Mexicans an opportunity to rally an overwhelming force that might also be disastrous to the Texas army" [8].

General Somervell and the remaining 500 men bore down the river until they came to the mouth of the Salado River, opposite and six miles from the town of Guerrero. The force crossed the river on December 15, and the town surrendered and supplied the soldiers with meager supplies of badly-needed food, blankets, shoes, and other supplies. During the night there came a cold northwest wind with a deluge of rain, and at daylight the group was a shivering mass of humanity, suffering from cold and hunger. They recrossed the river and spent two days gathering beeves for much needed food. The whole command was sullen, indignant, and mutinous.

Next morning, December 19, 1842, an order was read directing all to prepare at once for a return home. This was the last straw. About 305 men refused to obey. The other 189, sorely perplexed between duty and desire, resolved to obey the legal commander and return home. Included in this group are the names of Captain McNeel, Captain Flaco, Lieutenant Moses Austin Bryan (aged 25), Lieutenant John Henry Brown (aged 22), John Sweeny (for whom the town of Sweeny was later named), James H. Bell (aged 17 and the son of Josiah H. Bell of Bell’s Landing), and Mordella S. Munson (aged 17). The march home was a disorderly affair, with some companies breaking off from Somervell’s command. Munson family tradition relates that one group of these men, including Mordello, became lost, and Captain Flaco led them to safety. Family records credit Flaco with saving the lives of these men. In appreciation, Mordello often thereafter gave one of his favorite horses the name "Flaco". The events surrounding the murder of Captain Flaco are recorded differently by different authors. After most of the Texians had reached San Antonio, a party composed of Flaco and an old deaf-mute of his Lipan tribe, two Mexicans (one named Rivas), and several Texians were driving between thirty and fifty horses toward San Antonio. One version tells that the Lipan deaf-mute was taken sick, and he and Flaco stopped on the Medina River while the white men went ahead. This version tells that two of the white men were seen in Seguin with Flaco’s horses a few days later. John Henry Brown relates: "Rivas and the [other] Mexican basely murdered Flaco and the mute and fled with the horses into eastern Texas and Louisiana. The confusion of the times forbade pursuit." Not long thereafter, James O. Rice, after his escape from the Battle of Mier and on his return to Texas, discovered the bodies of the two Indians about twenty miles west of San Antonio near the Medina River. An investigation determined that they had been murdered.

After this expedition Mordello may have returned to Rutersville College for the January, 1843, term. For his services in this campaign, Mordello Munson received a check for "$67.50, Public Debt, Republic of Texas", approved and issued by the State of Texas on August 2, 1851.


The Battle of Mier and the Black Bean Incident [9]

Most of the three hundred men who refused to return with Somervell endured a horrible succeeding two years. Under the leadership of Captain William S. Fisher, they moved down the river, and by December 22 they were encamped opposite the town of Mier. On the next day they crossed the river and entered the town, and finding no opposition, they took the priest and Alcalde as hostages, requisitioned supplies, and returned to their camp. After waiting two days without receiving supplies, they learned that General Pedro Ampudia with 2,000 Mexican soldiers had arrived in Mier. On the night of December 25, 1842, 261 men crossed the Rio Grande for an attack on the town. A vicious battle raged in the town for about eighteen hours, quieting only at night. By the afternoon of December 26, the Texians, overwhelmed by force of numbers and arms, and lacking food, water, and ammunition, reluctantly surrendered. Historians place the casualties on the two sides at from twelve to thirty Texians lost, and about 600 to 700 Mexicans killed or wounded. The reasons for this amazing disparity lie in the determination and skill of the individual Texian fighters and the superiority of their rifles and marksmanship.

The treatment that followed for the prisoners was some of the harshest in the annals of Texas. They were tied in pairs and marched to Matamoros, where they were paraded in the streets in triumph, with music, banners, and the ringing of bells. On January 14, 1843, they left Matamoros on foot, under heavy guard, for the march to Monterrey, then to Saltillo, and on toward San Luis Potosi, reaching the hacienda of Salado on February 10. On the next day they made a successful escape, during which a few lost their lives. They acquired horses and arms and headed for the mountains. This was a mistake, as the mountains could not support them in January. They traveled sixty-four miles the first day, then, being totally exhausted, there followed a horrible ordeal of suffering from cold, hunger, thirst, and illness. They split into several parties, and on the seventh day the majority stumbled onto a body of Mexican cavalry on search for them, and, in total exhaustion, they surrendered again group by group. Several had died in this ordeal.

Again tied in pairs, they were marched to Saltillo, and then the 110 miles to Salado. Soon after their arrival on March 25, 1843, they were informed of a decree from Santa Anna ordering all to be shot. Yielding to objections from a General Mexia (not the better known Jose Antonio Mexia) and some of his officers, the sentence was commuted to "diezmo" — one in ten. General Mexia tendered his resignation, and the order was carried out under the command of Colonel Juan de Dios Ortiz. The Texians were placed in line and an interpreter, Alfred S. Thurmond, himself a prisoner, read the sentence. A jar was brought forward containing 170 beans — seventeen black, the remainder white [10]. The roll was called and each man, blindfolded, stepped forward and thrust his hand into the jar. If he drew a black bean, it meant death. The doomed seventeen resolved to die like soldiers. Many tender messages were intrusted to those more fortunate, and fervent prayers and expressions of loyalty to Texas filled the half-hour that closed that gloomy day.

The fortunate ones were separated from the doomed men in an adjoining enclosure, from which they heard the orders to fire and the cries and groans of the dying. The seventeen bodies were buried in a common grave. Some years later, in 1848, the bones were exhumed and returned to Texas, where they were buried with military honors on Monument Hill, now a state park near La Grange. The names of the unlucky seventeen are as follows:

James D. Cocke, Robert H. Dunham, James M. Ogden, William M. Eastland, Thomas L. Jones, J. M. Thompson, Henry Whaling, John S. (or L.) Cash, William N. Rowan (or Cowan), C. M. Roberts, Edward E. Esta (or Esty), James Turnbull, Robert H. Harris, Martin Carroll Wing, Patrick Maher (or Mahoney), and James Torrey. The seventeenth man, James L. Shepherd, did not die when shot. He played dead and escaped, but was later recaptured and shot. The remaining prisoners were marched to Mexico City, where they were held for almost one year of hard labor, and then to the prison at Perote on the road to Vera Cruz. On September 16, 1844, their number having been diminished by an occasional release or escape and fourteen deaths, the remaining 104 were released by order of Santa Anna. It has been reported that the deathbed request of Santa Anna’s gentle wife (a sister of former Emperor Agustin de Iturbide), who had shown concern for the condition of the prisoners and had asked for their release, so softened Santa Anna’s heart that he consented. The prisoners went by ship to New Orleans (where they were met and aided by William Benjamin Munson on his way home from college [see Chapter 13]; and thence back home to Texas, where many of them played important roles in the future history of the State.


Mordello Munson’s Further Education

Mordello Munson, having avoided the disaster of Mier, apparently returned to school at Rutersville. Records indicate that he attended there in 1843, possibly through the spring term. Of Rutersville he wrote: "Ostensibly we were there to go to school, but we did little else than hunt Indians. Scarcely a week passed that we did not have a skirmish with the Redskins."

He then attended La Grange College in La Grange, Alabama, from 1843 to 1846. This college and town no longer exist. Today a state historical marker located on State Highway 157 (sometimes 57) southeast of Muscle Shoals and Spring Valley tells of the college. It was a Methodist college, the first college chartered by the Alabama State Legislature, and it opened in 1830. The first president, Bishop Robert Paine, served until 1846, so he would have been there during Mordello’s attendance. After a change of organization and name to La Grange College and Military Academy in 1858, the entire college and its library of 4,000 volumes and science laboratories (and possibly the town) were burned by the Union Army on April 28, 1863. The college was never rebuilt.

Mordello entered Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, in the fall of 1846. Transylvania, the oldest college west of the Appalachian Mountains, was established in 1780 and was affiliated with the Methodist Church. Stephen F. Austin attended from 1808 until 1810, and his first cousin, Mary Austin Holley, was married to Horace Holley, the president of the university from 1818 until his death in 1827. In later years Mary Austin Holley lived in the Austin Colony in Texas where she wrote her famous diary, The Texas Diary, 1835-1838. Mordello could have been influenced to attend Transylvania University by contacts with Stephen F. Austin or Mary Austin Holley, or by James Caldwell’s contacts through the Methodist Church. A letter from James Caldwell to Mordello in Lexington dated October 8, 1846, states, "I am pleased to learn that you have gone into the College."

Transylvania University records indicate that Mordello Munson was twice "entitled to tuition in M. C." — in 1846 and 1847. "Tuition" here refers to remuneration for teaching, and "M.C." refers to Morrison College, the academic department that was controlled by the Methodist Church at that time.

Munson records indicate that Mordello also attended the University of Kentucky in Lexington during these years, but that is certainly in error, as this university was first established in 1865. Transylvania University was for a time known as Kentucky University, which might account for the confusion. Family records indicate that Mordello graduated with honors from Transylvania University in 1847 with a degree in law. This also appears to be partially in error. Transylvania records indicate that he received an A.B. degree on August 17, 1847, and his period of attendance would probably not have allowed him to complete a law degree. It seems more likely that his initial law study was from "reading law", a common practice then, and that he probably "read law" for some months before entering the New Orleans Law School.

In a letter dated May 21, l847, brother William Benjamin Munson wrote to Mordello in Lexington as follows:


     I am told that you have an idea of commencing your practice in New Orleans but of course did not correct the reports - you would not I know leave your native state for the simple reason that your practice would be worth more for a few years elsewhere. No, you must live in Texas - and if you apply yourself I feel satisfyed that your relatives will at some future day feel proud of your successes - James Bell is in Brazoria in practice with Mr. Towney. This has given him a good practice at once; and he bids fair to become an imminent lawyer. I am sure you can do as well if not better than James Bell.

William’s letter of June 10, 1847, reads in part:


     You can scarse imagine the pleasure your last letter gave me - to know that you were getting on so well - that your standing among your classmates was a desirable one, and that you had many friends - all these things gave me a pleasure - and I hope and feel satisfyed that your success at home may be the same. Your friends here, all, have high expectations of your success - and I am (certain?) of no disappointment so far as talent and industry on your part is involved. Brother, do not stay long in Louisiana. I know it will be hard to get off - but you have many relatives at home, and your duty calls on you to stay with them.

It is clear from this correspondence that Mordello had plans to go to New Orleans, but the purpose is not clear. William’s letter mentions "commencing your practice in New Orleans", while family records tell that, after graduation in Lexington, he went to New Orleans to study law under "Judge Henry A. Bullard, then president of the New Orleans Law School". This is said to be the same Henry Bullard who was with Henry William Munson at the Battle of Medina in 1813.

Recent research reveals that the Louisiana Legislature chartered the University of Louisiana (not LSU) in 1846 as a medical school. The law school was started a year later, when Harvard alumnus Henry Adams Bullard, a former justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, and three others, established the school in New Orleans. On December 6, 1847, Judge Bullard, as dean of the law school, gave the introductory lecture to a distinguished audience, including the first twenty-three students, in the federal court room of the New Orleans Customs House. New Orleans was no small town — it was the fourth largest city and the second largest port in the nation, and had a distinguished collection of judges and lawyers. In 1906 this school moved to the new campus of Tulane University and became the law school of that university, the nation’s only university to go from public to private, which it is today.

Mordello was probably a member of that first class in December of 1847, as his plans for going there were recorded in May and June of that year. He likely studied law for some months prior, and he may have practiced law as an apprentice while taking classes during this period. There were sixteen members of the first graduating class in 1848 and twenty-two in 1849. Mordello is not listed among the graduates. He apparently went to Brazoria County at the time of the death of his brother, William Benjamin, (on March 18, 1848), as he filed a petition with the Probate Court in Brazoria County on March 27, 1848, asking for a partition of the estates of his father and his brother, which partition was made on September 21, 1848 (see Appendixes IV, V, and VI). He then appears to have been at Bailey’s Prairie to stay in May of 1849, as he filed a petition with the Brazoria County Court (in Brazoria) on May 11, 1849, asking to be admitted to the practice of law there. These dates suggest that he may have been in New Orleans from late-1847 until May of 1849.

It appears that Rutersville College and La Grange College served Mordello as junior colleges, Transylvania University as a senior college, and the University of Louisiana (New Orleans) as a law school.



On April 24, 1848, Mordello had his 23rd birthday. His father had died in 1833, his brother William in March of 1848, and neither estate had been settled. Texas was now in a more stable condition as the twenty-eighth state of the Union, and Mordello had apparently decided to make Brazoria County his home. He desired to acquire a share of his father’s estate, start his law practice, and become a planter. Evidence indicates that he also had plans to find a wife and raise a family.

On March 27, 1848, Mordello filed a petition with the Probate Court of Brazoria County asking that his mother, his stepfather, and the legal guardians for his two brothers and his half-brother and half-sister agree that commissioners be appointed by the court to make a partition of the estates of his father and his brother. On the following day, or soon thereafter, all cited parties filed answers in agreement. The texts of these difficult-to-read documents, as transcribed by family historian Erma Munson Rich during the 1950s and 1960s, are given in Appendix IV.

On April 1, the court appointed James F. Perry, Wm. Joel Bryan, W. M. Masters, and Thomas Blackwell, or any three of them, as Commissioners to partition the estates of Henry W. Munson and William B. Munson.

The text of the resulting property division, dated September 21, 1848, is given in Appendix V. Ann and James Caldwell retained ownership of the 554 acres at Oakland Plantation, which was valued at $7,632.00. Allotted to Mordella S. Munson was a tract of land containing 1,000 acres "being the West end of the tract of 2,479 acres situated on the East Bank of the Brazos River in the County and purchased from the said Wm. J. Bryan." This land, earlier described as "lying near Bolivar", was valued at $5,000.00 . This land extended to Oyster Creek, and was often referred to as "the land on Oyster Creek." Gerard and George, still minors, were allotted together the remaining 1,479 acres near Bolivar and an undivided half of a half league of land (i. e. about 1,107 acres) on the Bernard River, plus some cash.

Curiously, no mention was made in the settlement of the 500 acres at Bailey’s Prairie, the "Russell Place", which William B. Munson had reported purchasing from the Mills Brothers (by a trade of "eleven hundred and eleven acres of the Oyster Creek land") in May of 1847 [see Chapter 13]. A court petition regarding this Bailey’s Prairie land, filed against Mordello in November of 1850 by James Knight of Fort Bend County recites as follows: "That on or about the tenth day of May, A.D. 1849, Mordello S. Munson, a resident citizen of the County of Brazoria, with force and arms, illegally entered upon and took possession of the said three hundred acres of land, without the knowledge or consent of Petitioner, and the Defendant refused to deliver up to Petitioner the possession of the aforesaid tract of three hundred acres of land, although often requested so to do." This would suggest that someone had presumably also sold this land to James Knight, or at least Knight claimed so.

The text of another document, apparently erroneously dated "Decr. 27, 1860" (possibly meant to be 1850) , describing the division of slaves and mentioning other items of family business is given in Appendix VI. The slaves herein divided appear to be those from Oakland Plantation. Thirty-six slaves were divided, four were left as undivided property, and one that had been given to Wm. B. Munson years earlier was passed on to M. S. Munson. It thus appears that Mordello received five slaves: the family of "Ralf" and Laura with children Benjamin and Joe, plus the one "boy", Sam, who had been given to William. Ralph (sometimes recorded as Ralf and Rafe) is found again during the Civil War when Mordello’s letters home to Sarah often contained instructions on plantation management for "Ralph". It appears that this Ralph became the slave-manager of the plantation.

Another interesting entry in the Minutes of the District Court for Brazoria County, page 913, dated May 11, 1849, reads as follows:


     This day Mordello S. Munson made application to the Court to be admitted [as] an attorney and counselor in the courts of this State. . . It is ordered [that]. . .a committee to examine him as to his qualifications [be established]. . . and being satisfied as to his qualifications report the fact to the court. . .It is ordered, that [in that event]. . . a License issue to him according to law.

It is of interest that the James Knight suit names May 10, 1849, as the date that Mordello occupied the Bailey’s Prairie property, and Mordello’s application for admission to the Texas Bar was dated May 11 of the same year. These dates suggest that this was the month that Mordello moved permanently to Brazoria County.

Mordello now planned to marry Sarah Kimbrough Armour and live on the Bailey’s Prairie property. It is not known what became of the land that Mordello inherited near Bolivar. One indication that it may have gone to Gerard and George, possibly in return for their interest in the Bailey’s Prairie land, is the 1860 (or 1850?) document (Appendix VI) which, referring to land, states, "to say the land on Oyster Creek is the property of Gerard B. & Geo. P. Munson. . ."

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