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October 3rd - a day in Texas history


ztejas

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Sorry for the redundancy of those that have seen me post this before.  My great-great-great grandfather is James Clinton Neill.  

Due to his previous experience in battle, Neill had some knowledge of artillery. In 1834 Neill and his family moved to Mina, modern day Bastrop. On September 28, 1835, when armed conflict with Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican troops seemed inevitable, he joined the Texian militia as a captain of artillery. On October 2, 1835, he saw action at the conflict at Gonzales. Texian John Holland Jenkins recorded that Neill actually fired the famed Gonzales "Come and Take It" cannon, crediting him with firing "the first shot of the Texas Revolution."

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Slightly related but kind of cool and coincidental.  Colonel Neill is on my mom's side.  My father's side of the came to Texas a little later from Virginia.  Anyway, my great-grandmother on his side was a genealogist long before ancestery.com and the interwebs.  She wrote a book about their family history back in the 70's.  Anyway, one of the chapters is devoted to another grandfather, which I suppose would be a great to the 5th power.

His name is Colonel John Green.  

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/j-green.htm

Two interesting things about him. 

He fought in The Revolutionary War in the Culpeper Militia.  From what I gather, this unit was the first land-based group to use the "Don't Tread on Me" flag.  I believe a naval unit preceded Culpeper with its use.  Secondly, his body was reintered from Liberty Hall, VA to Arlington National Cemetery in 1911 making him (or I guess his body) the oldest member of Arlington.

What I find cool on a personal level is that I can trace my roots back directly to two of the most famous battle flags in US history.  "Don't Tread on Me" and "Come and Take It".

1200px-Culpeper_Minutemen_flag.svg.png

 

gonzalez-flag.jpg

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