1. Benjamin Rush Milam was an American colonist of Mexican Texas and a military leader and hero of the Texas Revolution.
15 Facts About Benjamin Milam
1. 2.
Benjamin Milam was the fifth of six children born to Moses Milam and his wife, Elizabeth Pattie Boyd.
3.
In 1818, after learning of the trading opportunities with the Native Americans living along the upper Red River, Benjamin Milam traveled from Kentucky to Spanish Texas to trade with the Comanche.
4.
In New Orleans in 1819, Benjamin Milam met Jose Felix Trespalacios and James Long, who intended to lead a filibustering expedition to Texas to help Mexican revolutionaries in their ongoing fight for independence from Spain.
5.
Benjamin Milam decided to join the pair on what became known as the Long Expedition.
6.
Trespalacios and Benjamin Milam reconciled, and Benjamin Milam was granted Mexican citizenship and commissioned as a colonel in the Mexican Army.
7.
In 1829, Milam sought to organize a new mining company in partnership with David G Burnet, but their efforts failed due to a lack of funds.
8.
In 1835, Benjamin Milam went to Monclova, the capital of Coahuila y Texas, to urge the new governor, Agustin Viesca, to send a land commissioner to Texas to provide settlers there with land titles.
9.
However, before Benjamin Milam could leave the city, word arrived that Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna had overthrown the representative federal government and established a dictatorship.
10.
Benjamin Milam eventually escaped thanks to sympathetic jailers, who supplied him with a horse.
11.
Benjamin Milam joined them, helping to capture Goliad on October 10,1835.
12.
Benjamin Milam then joined the main Texian Army in its attempt to expel all Mexican forces from Texas by capturing San Antonio in the ongoing Siege of Bexar.
13.
Commander Edward Burleson and his council of officers were reluctant to attack, and the next day at 3 PM, Benjamin Milam went to Burleson's tent to ask permission to call for volunteers to storm the city.
14.
Benjamin Milam was convinced that putting off the final assault on San Antonio would be a disaster for the cause of independence.
15.
On December 7,1835, the Texians renewed the attack and progressed further into the city, capturing another foothold, but Benjamin Milam was killed while leading the attack.