Draft:Horace Alsbury

Horace Arlington Alsbury (1805June 1847) was an American soldier and settler, known for fighting at the Battle of the Alamo. He was one of Stephen F. Austin's "Old Three Hundred" to be granted land in Mexican Texas.

Biography
Horace Arlington Alsbury was born sometime in 1805 around Hopkinsville, Kentucky to Thomas (1773–1826) and Leah Catlett Alsbury. He grew up there with brothers Charles and Harvey and with sisters Leah Ann and Marion. His father is known to have fought in the War of 1812, but very little else is known of Horace's childhood.

Along with his family, he immigrated as part of the "Old Three Hundred" in 1824 and was granted land in present day Brazoria County, Texas on August 3, 1824. He is referred to as a doctor, but it is unknown where or if he studied medicine. While living there, he rode on horseback across the Rio Grande between Mexico and Texas a number of times and volunteered for an assortment of military activities.

In August 1835, after possibly being a member of the legislature of Coahuila and Texas, he published a handbill, "To the People of Texas," in which he warned of Antonio López de Santa Anna's plans to drive American settlers out of the region. During the 1835 Siege of Bexar in the Texas Revolution, he was a member of Captain John York's company.

Early in 1836, he married Juana Navarro Pérez, the daughter of José Ángel Navarro, a Santa Anna loyalist and supporter. At the Alamo, he was one of the messengers to ride out on February 23, and he possibly accompanied the 32 Gonzales volunteers as they rode to the Alamo on March 1. After failing to contact James W. Fannin's company, who were expected to reinforce the Alamo, he was in Gonzales with the volunteers.

At San Jacinto, he was a member of Henry W. Karnes's company and was one of 154 freemasons to take part in the battle. Afterwards, he took part in surveillance of Mexican soldiers retreating towards La Bahía and Mexico. He returned to Bexar in May 1836 but took his wife and young son away from the stricken town and towards Calavero Ranch.

After the war, he was given payment as a Major of the Infantry and interpreter for the Bexar Post by the Congress of the Republic of Texas. He was also granted land south of San Antonio near present-day Von Ormy. He became tax assessor for Bexar County in 1837 and he may have held the role for multiple years.

In 1838, he and Joseph Baker attempted a peaceful meeting with the Comanches. However, it did not go as planned, and they narrowly escaped alive. Later that year, he wrote of good business and trades with Federalist traders, as they called themselves. In 1839 and 1840, he served as commander of the bodyguards of Antonio Canales during the period of skirmishes along the Rio Grande for Canales's and Samuel W. Jordan's bid for establishment of the Republic of the Rio Grande. He and others escaped with their lives into Texas during fighting.

He and other San Antonio citizens asked the government for protection from Native and Mexican incursions into Texas, to little avail. He was then taken prisoner in September 1842 by Adrian Wóll and was imprisoned in Perote Prison. He was released on March 24, 1844. By account of his wife, he marched with American soldiers across the Rio Grande during the Mexican-American War and was killed in June 1847.