Isaac Watts Burton and the Texas “Horse Marines”
Naval warfare has seen great innovations throughout the centuries, from Greek fire to nuclear submarines. While the Texas Revolution was coming to an end, Texian soldiers employed a unique naval strategy of their own that incorporated a fairly simple technology — horses. Little more than a month after the Battle of San Jacinto, a small group of cavalrymen led by Isaac Watts Burton captured three Mexican naval vessels, and became known as the “Horse Marines.”
Isaac Watts Burton was born in Georgia in 1805. He briefly attended the United States Military Academy at West Point before withdrawing in 1823.[1] In 1831, he arrived in Texas and settled at Nacogdoches, where he quickly involved himself in military and political action. By 1835, he settled in present-day Henderson County.[2]
Shortly after being declared loyal to the Mexican government and receiving his land, Burton was appointed captain of a ranger company in the Texan army. He would serve under Henry W. Karnes as a cavalry private at the Battle of San Jacinto, for which he received a Donation Land Certificate of 640 acres from the Republic of Texas.[3]
After San Jacinto, Burton received orders from Gen. Thomas Jefferson Rusk; he and his company were sent to patrol the Texas coast from the Guadalupe River to Mission Bay near the town of Refugio. Despite the Texan victory at the Battle of San Jacinto, tensions were still high and armed conflict was ongoing in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. On May 29, 1836, Burton and his mounted rangers were to monitor the coast for approaching threats and intercept incoming Mexican supplies.
On June 2, 1836, Burton’s men, which included about 20 soldiers and three scouts familiar with the area, encountered what they thought could be a Mexican ship in the waters off Copano. Copano, then considered the deepest port in Texas, had been used by Gen. Cos when he arrived in Texas with his troops in September 1835.[4]
Burton’s men camped overnight, observing the Watchman, a ship chartered by the Mexican government to deliver supplies to its army, and patiently waited to make their move. The next morning, Burton ordered most of his men to hide along the shore, leaving two to signal the ship. He tricked the Mexican vessel into thinking the remaining men were Mexican soldiers in need of assistance, and when the ship’s captain and crew went to provide aid, they were captured. Burton then commandeered the ship. He found it to be full of supplies intended for the Mexican army, and claimed the ship and its cargo as spoils of war.
The Watchman remained near Copano for two weeks, during which time two additional Mexican ships, the Comanche and the Fanny Butler, arrived in the area. These ships were also attempting to deliver supplies for the Mexican army. Under orders from Burton, the captured Mexican captain sent friendly signals to the incoming ships. Burton’s men then captured both captains and took control of their ships, claiming them as spoils of war in a bloodless coup.[5]
The ships, originally chartered by the Mexican government, were taken to Velasco, then Galveston, and eventually released to their American owners; however, their contents were claimed for Texas. In total, the value of the cargo was estimated at approximately $25,000, and it provided a large supply of meat, grain, weapons, and ammunition for the Texan army.[6]
Burton’s rangers earned their unique nickname from Col. Edward J. Wilson, who described their actions in a letter published in the Kentucky Gazette: “They saw two other vessels coming; they hoisted the Mexican flag on board the vessel they had taken. The coming vessels seeing this, came up carelessly, and cabled, when they in turn were visited by this company of Horse Marines — a new kind of troops, you will say — and the last two shared the same fate as the first.”[7]
With their audacious ingenuity, Burton’s so-called “Horse Marines” found their way into the military lore of the Republic of Texas. Their names are immortalized in the pages of the Muster Roll of the Republic of Texas under the heading “List of Major Burton’s Command, who were engaged taking the Schooner Fanny Butler, Comanche &c.”
Hear the story of the Horse Marines from This Week in Texas History, courtesy of the Save Texas History Program.
[1] “Burton, Isaac Watts,” Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbu60), accessed May 29, 2015. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[2] Burton participated in the Battle of Nacogdoches on August 2, 1832, when an assembly of Texans refused an order by Col. José de las Piedras to surrender their weapons. Combat ensued, which resulted in the expulsion of the Mexican forces from Nacogdoches. As a result, East Texans were able to hold political gatherings without the fear of interruption or interference by Mexican troops.
In 1835 Burton obtained a character certificate from Radford Berry, alcalde of Nacogdoches. This document declared Burton “a man of very good morals and customs, friendly to the constitution and laws of this country” and “a resident of [Nacogdoches] since the year 1831.” Burton was granted title to a league of land (4,428.4 acres) on September 18, 1835.
[3] Duplicate Donation Certificate for Isaac W. Burton, 9 April 1861, Bexar Donation 001608, Texas Land Grant Records, Archives and Records Program, Texas General Land Office, Austin, TX.
[4] June Melby Benowitz, “Copano, TX,” Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hvc74), accessed June 02, 2015. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[5] Hobart Huson, “Horse Marines,” Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qjh01), accessed May 29, 2015. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Modified on March 31, 2011. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[6] Stephen L. Moore, Savage Frontier: Rangers, Riflemen, and Indian Wars in Texas. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2002. p. 151.
[7] Ibid.
