©2001 Larry Kraus, last update 24 Apr 2005
William Allen was born between 1752 and 1760 in colonial Virginia. William was a true frontiersman who apparently shunned organized government. If fact, it appears that he may have lived only 18 of his approximately 70 years in the United States proper. Before the end of the American Revolution he moved to colonial Georgia. At about the time the new United States signed the treaty with Britain that ended the war William moved to the Southwest Territory, in an area that would later become Middle Tennessee. That portion of the country was first settled by a group led by James Robertson. Using the rivers, a portion of the settlers came by water in 1779, leapfrogging a great stretch of the wilderness that existed between the French Lick on the Cumberland and the older settlements on the Holston. The rest of the party came overland, driving animals and bringing the rest of the necessary belongings with them. These early immigrants sometimes saw a surprising portion of their families and friends murdered by Indians. William appears to have followed sometime between 1782 (the birth of Nathaniel in Georgia) and 1875 (the birth of Peter in Tennessee).
In 1796 Tennessee gained statehood and in 1798 the Mississippi Territory was created. Within four years William moved to Spanish West Florida just south of the Mississippi Territory, in an area that would later become St. Helena Parish, Louisiana. In 1810 the West Florida Settlers declared their independence from Spain a demanded annexation by the United States. In 1811 West Florida became part of the Territory of Orleans. In 1812 state of Louisiana, including the Territory of Orleans, gained statehood and St. Helena Parish is created. William remained in St. Helena Parish for fourteen years.
In 1821 Mexico, including the sparsely populated area that would later become Texas gained its independence from Spain. The democratic Mexican Constitution was ratified in 1824. In August of 1826 William and three of his teenaged sons traveled to the Bevil District, Mexico where William was granted land on the Neches River. Then next year Hannah and the other minor children followed. In 1830 his married daughters Sarah Pattillo and Lydia Stephenson join them in Mexico. In 1833 Santa Anna was declared dictator of Mexico and nullified the Constitution of 1824. Around that same time William passed away but left a legacy of a strong will of independence in his children.
In 1835 Santa Anna decided to replace the federal system with a centralized republic and, accordingly, dissolved local legislatures and imposed a strict central control. Texans believed the new system interfered with their rights and demanded that the Constitution of 1824 be reinstated. On October 2nd 1835, the curtain on the Texas Revolution rose with the first shot fired at Gonzales.
On October 3rd a Declaration of War is issued and immediately a call for volunteers to muster at Gonzales was sent out. On October 11th the Army of Texas is organized and Sam Houston is elected commander-in-chief. General Austin immediately set out for San Antonio de Béxar with 300 volunteers and requested reinforcements and supplies from Nacogdoches. By October 28th Austin's army consisted of approximately 800 men but he decided that due to General Cos' continued fortification of the city, a siege or the storming of San Antonio could not be accomplished with less 1,000 men and a battering cannon. This created much descent among the officers, Colonel James Bowie, Captain William Travis and Judge Advocate William Wharton all resigned. Wharton stated in his letter of resignation:
"No. 8th 1835...To Genl. S. F. Austin... Sir, I take this opportunity of tendering to you my resignation of the office of Judge Advocate. It is useless and unusual to give reasons for so doing. I will however say that from a failure to enforce general orders and from an entire disregard of the grave decisions of councils of war I am compelled to believe that no good will be atchieved [sic] by this army except by the merest accident under heaven...Wm H Wharton"
Many of the discouraged troops, tired of inactivity, left for home promising to return if needed. There were a number of calls for Austin's resignation. By mid-November the number of men was reduced to less than 600. Benjamin Milan expressed the feelings of many in a letter to Captain Fannin...
"Nov. 15, 1835.......Your army certainly has been badly conducted....If your commander or his staff could see 2 inches from their noses and order supplies in time the country has many men and all that is necessary.....I think as an Individual the troops ought not to leave Bexar if they can possibly help it.....B.R. Milam"
Captain James Chessher, the long-time ferryman over Pine Island Bayou, mustered a company of Jefferson and Jasper County volunteers and joined Sam Houston's forces at Bexar. Members of his company included William, Moses, George, and Elisha Allen (sons of William Allen). Elisha, George and Moses were assigned to Lewis' Company on November 16th, the same day Austin ordered rationing for the troops. On November 18th, prompted by the news that a contingent of U.S. volunteers called the New Orleans Greys were on the way, Austin changed his mind and decided that San Antonia should be stormed. On November 24th Austin was appointed Commissioner to the United States and was ordered to conduct a mission to Washington D.C. to appeal for aid. Edward Burleson was elected his replacement. General Burleson, bolstered by reports from a Mexican defector that the town could be successfully taken, conceived a plan of storming the town with a party of volunteers. He accordingly authorized his adjutant and inspector-general, F. W. Johnson, and Colonel Benjamin R. Milam to raise a force of volunteers from the army to attack the enemy on the following morning. Two hundred and sixteen men promptly volunteered for this service, including the Allens. On December 5th Milam and his volunteers attacked. For four days intense house-to-house fighting ensued. Milam was killed but the 1,200 Mexican troops were soundly defeated. There were 400 Mexican casualties but only two dead and 26 wounded among the Texans. On December 11th General Cos surrendered and moved his troops back across the Rio Grande. At that point Texas was effectively liberated as there were no Mexican troops north of the Rio Grande. George Pattillo, husband of Sarah Allen, served as a member of the General Council from January 13 to March 11, 1836.
A garrison of 104 Texans then moved into the Alamo mission. Santa Anna was enraged by the loss of Bexar by General Cos and vowed to personally take it back. On Tuesday, February 23rd 1836, Santa Anna's troops moved into the San Antonio main plaza and the General demanded an immediate and unconditional surrender by the Alamo garrison. The answer from the Texans was a cannon shot and the siege began. On February 24th Colonel Travis sent an appeal to Sam Houston for reinforcements. During the siege on March 2nd the Convention held in Washington-on-the-Brazos declared Texas an Independent Republic. When Joseph Dunman reached Liberty on March 1st with a copy of Colonel Travis’ letter from the Alamo, Captain Benjamin F. Harper immediately raised a company of twenty-eight men at Beaumont. In Logan’s company were John Stephenson son-in-law of William Allen (husband of Mary) and Hezekiah Williams, father-in-law of Moses Allen. At Liberty, Harper’s company was merged with Captain William Logan’s company. They did not make it to San Antonio before the Alamo fell and all defenders were killed on March 6th.
Sam Houston immediately took control of the meager Texas Army and retreated eastward with Santa Anna in pursuit. Harper and Logan joined Houston at Buffalo Bayou, a few miles southeast of the current city of Houston. On April 19th they marched to the confluence of the Buffalo Bayou and the San Jacinto river and prepared a defense. The following morning Santa Anna's troops arrived but were stopped by cannon fire. On April 21st Houston's forces included 750 men against more than 1,500 enemy. Celebrated Texas spy Deaf Smith and several other men destroyed Vince's Bridge across the bayou. When the Mexican's only route of escape was blocked, Houston advanced. When within seventy yards of the enemy the command to fire was given and shouts of "Remember the Alamo" rang along the entire Texas line. Within eighteen minutes 700 Mexicans were killed and another 730 taken prisoner. Only nine Texans were lost and thirty-four wounded. The battle for Texas was won. Captain George W. Hargraves, along with George Pattillo, was en route to San Jacinto with twenty-one men, including John and one other Allen, when the battle was fought but did not arrive until after the surrender of General Santa Anna.
After the surrender of Santa Anna these men returned to their farms and ranches. But, even after the victory at San Jacinto there were a number of Mexican armies still intact in Texas, and the volunteer Texas companies were sorely needed to escort the Mexican forces to the Rio Grande. The threat of a renewal of hostilities continued. On June 6, 1836, Captain William Logan discharged his 90-day volunteers, but his lieutenants, Franklin Hardin and B. J. Harper, re-enlisted most of them into two companies. A number of Jefferson County soldiers served in each unit. Among Captain Hardin's enlistees were Elisha and James Stephenson, sons of John Stephenson (who fought at San Jacinto) and Lydia Allen. At Beaumont on July 7th Captain Harper’s enlistees included 2nd Lt. George Allen, Moses Allen, and John Allen.
Later that year the newly formed Republic of Texas issued land grants of one league of land to each adult male who was in Texas prior to 1836. Grants in the Bevil District were given to Hannah (apparently William's grant), Moses, and George who each were granted one league. Benjamin, Elijah and Elisha each received 1/3 league, perhaps because they were minors at the time of emigration or this was a division of their father's grant. George Pattillo was granted one labor (177 acres). Additional grants were awarded to Moses, William, Daniel, Elisha, Elijah and John for their service in the Texas War of Independence.
Joseph Grigsby, father-in-law of Nathaniel Allen, and a cotton planter of Grigsby’s Bluff represented Jefferson County in the Second, Third, and Fifth Texas Congresses. George Pattillo held a number of public offices in Austin and in Southeast Texas. He served as associate justice of Jefferson County in 1837 before holding the position of justice of the peace in 1838. Although defeated in the 1840 House race, he represented Jefferson County in the House of Representatives of the Sixth Congress (1841-42) and was senator from Jefferson and Jasper counties in the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth congresses of the republic. During this period Pattillo was chairman of the Committee on Enrolled Bills and led a successful fight against the repeal of the tariff. He was also noted as an ardent annexationist. In February 1844, Pattillo urged President Sam Houston to appoint an additional annexation negotiator in Washington. In 1845 the state of Texas was added to the union.
After the annexation of Texas, Pattillo became the first chief justice of Orange County, in 1852-53. In 1861 he served as justice of the peace for that county.
See Philip Hamer, Tennessee: A History (New York: American Historical Society, 1933); Archibald Henderson, The Conquest of the Old Southwest (New York: The Century Company, 1920); Albigence Waldo Putnam, History of Middle Tennessee (Nashville: n.p., 1859; reprinted., Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1971); Pauly, "Early North Carolina Migrations into the Tennessee Country: 1768-1782" (M.A. Thesis, Middle Tennessee State University, 1969); Edward Albright, Early History of Middle Tennessee (Nashville: Branden, 1909); Charles W. Alvord and Lee Bidgood, The First Explorations of the Trans-Allegheny Region by the Virginians 1650-1674 (Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1912); John Morgan Bright, Donelson and the Pioneers of Middle Tennessee (Washington, D. C.: Globe Publishing Company, 1820); John Carr, Early Times in Middle Tennessee (Nashville: C. Stevenson and F. A. Owen, 1857).