Gonzales CO. TX - Military: Ben McCulloch
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Submitted by: June E. Tuck <jparks@neto.com>
March 28, 2002
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The following brief sketch of the life of Maj. McCulloch was copied from
interesting letter from Washington to the "New York Times". Reprinted in
the "Southern Intelligencer" Sept. 16, 1857

Maj. McCulloch was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee, in 1814. His
father, Alexander McCulloch, was aid de-camp to Gen. Coffee, and fought
under Gen. Jackson at the battles of Talledega, Tallahassee, and
Horseshoe during the Creek War. His father emigrated to Georgia while Ben
was very young, and Ben was kept at school in Tennessee until he was
fourteen years old. After this, Ben was kept hunting until he was near
21. At that time, bears were so bad in Tennessee that the settlers could
not raise any hogs. Hunting bears in the cane required much caution, and
if a man's gun snapped he lost his breakfast. Young McCulloch frequently
killed as many as 80 bears during a season, and never less than 20 in the
course of winter. His life gave him taste for wild adventures, and when
he became of age he was determined to go on an expedition to the Rocky
Mountains, and left home for St. Louis to join a company of trappers. He
arrived too late however and likewise failed in joining a company of
Santa Fe traders.

He returned home, and soon after called on David Crockett who was taking
an expedition to go to Texas to take part in the revolution. The whole
southwest at that time was alive with feelings of sympathy for the
Texans, and men were daily flocking to their standard. Nacogdoches was
appointed the place of rendezvous from which the expedition was to start,
and Christmas, of the year 1835, was named for the day of meeting, when,
as "Old Davey" expressed it, they were to make their Christmas dinner off
the hump of a buffalo. McCulloch again arrived too late, and finding the
party gone, he proceeded on by himself to the river Brazos where he was
taken sick, and he did not recover until the fall of the Alamo.
McCulloch's disappointment was very great at not being able to join the
gallant band of patriots, but it afterwards proved very fortunate for
him, for Col. Travis, after having sustained a siege of 13 days, with
only 180 Texans against Santa Anna's army, fell with his brave little
band. Maj. McCulloch, on joining the Texas army under Gen. Sam Houston,
was assigned to artillery and made captain of a gun. He served gallantly
at the battle of San Jacinto where Santa Anna was taken prisoner, and his
army of 1500 men killed or taken prisoners. McCulloch afterwards settled
in Gonzales County, Texas, and was employed on the frontier surveying and
locating lands. He frequently led the wild border scouts against the
Indians and Mexicans, which service he entered before the celebrated Jack
Hays. When the war broke out with Mexico, he rallied a band of Texas
warriors on the banks of the Guadalupe and set out for the seat of war on
the Rio Grande. The company arrived four days after the battle of Palo
Alto and the Resaca. His company was accepted by Gen. Taylor, and he was
afterwards employed in scouting expedition towards Monterey, in which
battle, as well as that of Buena Vesta, he won imperishable renown. He
afterwards joined Gen. Scott's and continued with it to the conquest to
the City of Mexico. For his gallant service, Gen. Pierce created him
Marshal of Texas, which office he now holds. He is a thin spare man of
great muscle and activity, and is now about 48 years old. He is yet a
bachelor.