Information on James Nowlan who served and died at the Alamo.
NOWLAN, JAMES (1809–1836). James Nowlan, Alamo defender, was born in either England or Ireland in 1809. He probably traveled to Texas as a member of Capt. William Gordon Cooke's company of New Orleans Greys. He was severely wounded in the siege of Bexar. He died in the battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836, but it is likely that his previous wounds prevented his playing an active role in the battle.
NEW ORLEANS GREYS. The New Orleans Greys, two companies of United States volunteers that served together in the Texas Revolution, were organized at a meeting held in the grand coffee room of Banks's Arcade in New Orleans on the evening of October 13, 1835. The arcade owner, Thomas Banks, was a supporter of Texas independence, and his red-brick, three-story building on Magazine Street between Natchez and Gravier streets was often used for meetings in the service of Texas independence. Nacogdoches alcaldeNicholas Adolphus Sterne was present at this meeting and offered weapons to the first fifty men who would volunteer for Texas. By the evening's end nearly 120 men appear to have been recruited; no original muster role exists. Two companies were formed, the first under Capt. Thomas H. Breece and the second under Capt. Robert C. Morris.qqvWeapons and equipment were provided, probably from the stores of the Washington Guards, whose armory was located on the second floor of the arcade. Hermann V. Ehrenbergqv, who joined Breece's company, indicates that the uniforms were "grey...for service on the prairie." Ebenezer Heath, a member of Morris's company, stated that "the color of our uniform was a grey jacket & pants with a seal-skin cap." Indians around Nacogdoches mistook the Greys for United States regulars. The descriptions seem to suggest that both companies wore the 1820s-pattern United States fatigue jacket and either the M1825 or M1833 United States forage cap. The Greys' arms were described as "rifles, pistols, swords & large knives"; Morris's company possibly carried rifles, and Breece's men were issued United States-pattern muskets.
The two companies left New Orleans within two days of each other. Breece took an overland route, up the Mississippi and Red rivers aboard the steamer Washita. His company disembarked at Alexandria and then, avoiding Fort Jesup, followed the Old Spanish Trail to its crossing into Texas at Gaines Ferry. Between the ferry and San Augustine, a delegation of local women greeted the company and presented it with a blue silk banner that bore the words "First Company of Texan Volunteers from New Orleans." The company was welcomed with a public dinner at San Augustine. At Nacogdoches, also, the Greys were treated to a dinner of roasted bear and champagne. Here some two-thirds of the company were given horses before proceeding to San Antonio.
Morris's sixty-eight-man company sailed from New Orleans and arrived at Velasco on October 22, 1835. There elections were held for company officers, and Morris was reconfirmed as captain; William Gordon Cooke of Virginia became second officer. Morris's company proceeded to Brazoria by steamship and marched inland to Victoria, where some of the men were issued horses. The rest secured mounts at La Bahía. The company then proceeded to San Antonio to join the Texas army. They arrived before Breece's company. In San Antonio Morris was appointed a major and assumed command of a division made up of both companies of Greys; Cooke assumed command of Morris's old company. Cooke noted that seventy men were in his company and fifty in Breece's.
The Greys took an active part in the siege of Bexar, in which Breece's company apparently suffered one killed and two wounded; Cooke's company suffered six wounded. After the capture of Bexar both companies underwent a series of organizational changes as a result of the Matamoros expedition of 1835–36. All but twenty-two members of Breece's company and one of Cooke's company left San Antonio under Francis White Johnson and James Grant.qqv Those who remained at San Antonio were under the command of Capt. John James Baughqv. When Baugh became garrison adjutant, William Blazeby took command of the company, all members of which died in the battle of the Alamo. The company standard was among the flags captured by the Mexicans; it is now the property of the National Historical Museum in Mexico City.
The Greys who went south with Grant and Johnson became members of either the San Antonio Greys under Cooke or the Mobile Greys under Capt. David N. Burke. After Cooke's departure with Sam Houston in January 1836, his company was commanded bySamuel O. Pettus. Though a number of the Greys continued with Grant, including both Morris and Breece, most chose to become part of the garrison at Goliad under Col. James W. Fannin, Jr. Nathaniel R. Brister of the Greys was promoted to regimental adjutant when Fannin reorganized his command in February. Both Morris and Pettus were killed with Grant. Nineteen members of Cooke's old company were killed in the Goliad Massacre. Four members of the Greys escaped from the massacre, includingWilliam L. Hunter and Hermann Ehrenberg. Three, including Joseph H. Spohn, were spared. Although the Texan disasters at the Alamo and Goliad destroyed the New Orleans Greys as military units, at least seven Greys were present at the battle of San Jacinto, including William Cooke, the only senior officer of the Greys to survive the Texas Revolution. Thus the Greys are one of the few volunteer units to be able to claim Bexar, the Alamo, San Patricio, Refugio, Coleto, Goliad, and San Jacinto as battle honors.
BÉXAR, ALAMO I - James Nowlan At Béxar the siege was in place, but going badly. There was no action, and men of action were standing about waiting. James McGahey joined the siege. He had with him a flag that was made at the house of William Scott. No doubt the flag was waved during this period of inactivity. Many of the colonists left daily for their neglected fields. Slowly, the Texan army began to wilt away. Inside the city was worse; the Mexicans under General Cós were running out of provisions and were completely surrounded. Mexican morale inside the city was waning with each day's passage. Adding to the problems was the fact that the winter of 1835-'36 was an unusually cold and wet one. In the Rio Grande Valley, 50 oxen died from the weather. The cold and wet winter weather of 1835 - 1836 played a part in the Texas Revolution and its outcome from this siege to the final battle on the plain of San Jacinto. It impacted most on those who did not have the fire of revolution in their hearts to keep them warm and oblivious to the cold and rain. Austin, ever the diplomat and never a soldier, wanted to negotiate Cós out of San Antonio and out of Texas. The Texans wanted a fight. When the Consultation called Austin to San Felipe, the men surrounding Béxar de San Antonio were ready for him to go. The Consultation sent Edward Burleson to command the army. Edward Burleson was of Welsh ancestry. His father served on the military staff of Andrew Jackson. The next day a skirmish broke out that became known as the "Grass Fight." Fifty men were sent out of the city by Cós to forage for some hay. The Mexicans were discovered as they were attempting to make their way back into the city. The Texans, among them John McGuffin, thought they would capture whatever provisions the pack train carried. In the brief battle, all the Mexicans were killed. When the Texans opened the saddle bags they found only grass, thus the name of the skirmish. The Texans were disappointed. This brief fight whetted the appetite of the Texans, but they were unable to reach Cós and his main army. Cós remained safely entrenched behind the walls of the city, his artillery and the Alamo. The Texans and the Americans with them were frustrated men. They became even more discouraged when they realized they probably could not take the city without artillery. Most of the men were unwilling to launch an assault without it. More colonists and some of the Americans left the dull siege to go home. They were replaced by new arrivals such as a company of men brought from New Orleans by Colonel William G. Cooke. Colonel Cooke was the son of Irish parents. There was a change in the make-up of those outside the walls of the Alamo and the city of San Antonio de Béxar that cold winter. Most of the colonists went back home to check family and fields. Those who now had Béxar surrounded only recently entered Texas. They heeded the call of the frontier and of Texas that men like Houston, Bowie, and Crockett helped spread. The speeches Austin made for help in New Orleans were still being heeded. A member of the Robertson Colony, Irishman George Childress, made pleas in Tennessee for help to throw off the yoke of Mexican tyranny. Many others did likewise. Many heard these pleas and not a few came. One of those that heard that call among the many now standing guard outside the walls of Béxar was Stephen Williams. His father was born in Ireland and fought the British there. Stephen fought them in the American Revolution and in the War of 1812. And now he was again fighting the cause of liberty outside the city of San Antonio de Béxar, Texas in 1835. He was 75 years old! With him was his grandson, Andrew Jackson Youngblood. The newspapers of the day was where most Americans learned of the situation in Texas. Two Texan Celts, who were well aware of the power of the press, kept sending copy to American newspapers during the Texas Revolution. They were: Ira Ingram and John J. Linn. Their reports, and those of others, found ready readers. Observers in New Orleans reported that "..not less than 70 men daily pass here for Texas." As shown earlier the newspapers in the border states and territories, and even as far away as New York and Baltimore carried stories asking for volunteers to come to Texas. John Edward Weems in his book, Dream of Empire, wrote: In the United States, people followed Texas events with great interest. Some had kin folk there; others who did not, felt bound by a bond virtually as strong as blood: a love of freedom. A mark remained where the English yoke had chafed. It got so the initials G.T.T., which meant "Gone To Texas," were nationally known, and understood when speaking of someone who left to help Texas. Of course some took the opportunity and left a wife, a debt, or a life behind them that was not agreeable. The Americans came into Texas like a torrent; they soon outnumbered Texans. There were many Irish among these new arrivals. Without them, Texas would never have been made free. Now many of them were at Béxar, in a cold December, 1835, when the new Commander, Edward Burleson, decided to do something. Because the "army" was getting restless and unruly, he decided to call off the siege and retreat to Gonzales. On the 4th of December, 1835, the men were paraded for a last review, the baggage carts were loaded and the whole Texan Army was prepared to leave. At this moment a Mexican officer who deserted Cós was brought to Burleson as he stood reviewing the formations of his men. In front of the whole assembled Texan army, Burleson questioned this affected man. The captive said the men in the city were disheartened and hungry, and the city could be taken. Colonel Frank Johnson remarked to Ben Milam that now might be a good time to ask for volunteers. Milam turned to the men and said, "Who will go with old Ben Milam into San Antonio? Who will go with old Ben Milam into San Antonio?" Two hundred men stepped forward to stand with the Welshman. Ben Milam Burleson agreed to hold the rest of the men outside the city's gates while Milam's volunteers attacked the city. When Milam got to his marshalling point, he counted over three hundred men. James Neill bombarded the city from the opposite side with cannon to set up a diversion for Milam's attack. Neill took particular aim at the Alamo as it was known Cós had placed most of his men there. Ben Milam and Frank W. Johnson attacked the city in two separate columns. Celtic names among these attackers were: Milam, Johnson, Bowie, Doctor James Grant, Jeremiah Day, Edward McCafferty, Thomas Mitchel, James Nowlan, Charles J. O'Connor, William Brenan, Isaac Robertson, John Cameron, Peter Teal, Doctor John Cameron, Pleasant McAnelly, Ezekial Cullen, William J. Bryan, Mathew Caldwell, T. J. Rusk, William Travis, William Patton, William G. Cooke, Peter J. Duncan, William Sutherland, William McDonald, J. W. E. Wallace, Aaron and Edward Burleson, cousin Joseph Burleson II, Thomas William Ward, and others. Ward lost a leg for Texas at San Antonio; in later years as an official of Texas celebrating its Independence, he fired a cannon in a salute to Texas. The cannon exploded; he lost an arm and an eye. He continued his career as an active official of Texas, and then of the United States. Thomas William Ward was born in Ireland. He came to Texas as a member of the New Orleans Grays, a unit made up of many Irish.