George Washington Hockley
(1802 ? June 6, 1854) was a
Texas revolutionary
who served as secretary of war for the
Republic of Texas
.
[1]
Hockley was born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
. His parents were Thomas Hockley (1764-1805), a Philadelphia merchant, and his wife Mary Wescott (1764-1848). In the above-mentioned recollections of Mr. Howard, he states that then-Major Hockley was an executor of his aunt Patience Wescott of Philadelphia; she had owned 32,500 acres of land in Tipton County, Tennessee.
Hockley, serving in the Texas Army as a
colonel
, was in charge of the
Twin Sisters
at the decisive
Battle of San Jacinto
.
He was the secretary of war for the Republic of Texas during the first and second administrations of the new President
Sam Houston
. He served briefly in 1838 and again from 1841 to 1842.
In 1843, Houston selected Hockley to serve as a military representative of a Texas diplomatic mission to
Mexico
. He met with Adrian Woll's delegation at
Sabinas
, Mexico, where they discussed an amnesty offered by
Antonio de Santa Anna
to Texas, and proposed a withdrawal of Mexican troops from the
Nueces Strip
. Hockley and his colleague,
Samuel May Williams
, remained in Sabinas for six months. Although no agreement from these talks was legalized, they were successful in postponing the threat of a Mexican invasion for another year while Texas negotiated with the United States and Great Britain for protection through official recognition or annexation.
[2]
Hockley died on June 6, 1851, in
Corpus Christi, Texas
, and is interred at the city's Old Bayview Cemetery. In 1936, the year of the
Texas Centennial
, the state erected a monument in his honor.
[1]
Hockley County, Texas
, was named in his honor.
[3]
He founded the town of
Hockley, Texas
, in 1835.
In popular culture
[
edit
]
- In
season 7
of
Fear the Walking Dead
, Victor Strand arms himself with a cutlass that had originally belonged to George Washington Hockley, telling Will in "The Beacon" that it dates back to the
War of 1812
. Strand briefly uses the sword in
season 8
as well before it's stolen from him.
References
[
edit
]
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Necrology for 1851,
New York Daily Times
, January 1, 1852, page 8.
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Secretaries of War (1836 - 1841)
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Secretaries of the Navy (1836 - 1841)
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Secretaries of War and Marine (1841 - 1846)
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International
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National
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Other
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