Republic of Texas Document signed by Thomas R. Miller, Alamo Defender
DESCRIPTIONIn 1836, Thomas R. Miller took up arms and died to defend the Alamo during the Texas War of Independence.
Dated just one year before that fateful stand, this extremely rare antique document – signed by that great Alamo Defender – is a certification for successfully paid state dues on a league of land with signatures of both Thomas R. Miller and Adam Zumwalt in their positions as Commissioners.
Find history & context below.
DETAILS & MEASUREMENTSMeasures 8” width x 10” length
Dated June 6, 1835
In clear plastic protective sleeve
In good condition, with case folds, a few pin holes, no repairs, and some cracks and creases from wear – as expected for a document of this age
Writing and signatures still very clear and legible, especially considering its age
DESCRIPTIONIn 1836, Thomas R. Miller took up arms and died to defend the Alamo during the Texas War of Independence.
Dated just one year before that fateful stand, this extremely rare antique document – signed by that great Alamo Defender – is a certification for successfully paid state dues on a league of land with signatures of both Thomas R. Miller and Adam Zumwalt in their positions as Commissioners.
Find history & context below.
DETAILS & MEASUREMENTSMeasures 8” width x 10” length
Dated June 6, 1835
In clear plastic protective sleeve
In good condition, with case folds, a few pin holes, no repairs, and some cracks and creases from wear – as expected for a document of this age
Writing and signatures still very clear and legible, especially considering its age
DESCRIPTIONIn 1836, Thomas R. Miller took up arms and died to defend the Alamo during the Texas War of Independence.
Dated just one year before that fateful stand, this extremely rare antique document – signed by that great Alamo Defender – is a certification for successfully paid state dues on a league of land with signatures of both Thomas R. Miller and Adam Zumwalt in their positions as Commissioners.
Find history & context below.
DETAILS & MEASUREMENTSMeasures 8” width x 10” length
Dated June 6, 1835
In clear plastic protective sleeve
In good condition, with case folds, a few pin holes, no repairs, and some cracks and creases from wear – as expected for a document of this age
Writing and signatures still very clear and legible, especially considering its age
➼ History & Context
Thomas Redd Miller arrived at the Alamo on March 1, 1836 responding with 31 other Gonzales Rangers to the request for relief sent out from the embattled position, and five days later he died in the battle of the Alamo, on March 6, 1836 when he was just 31 years old.
Born in Stone Knoll, Virginia in 1804, when he was 25 he sold off his inherited property for $500 and left for Texas. Upon arriving in Gonzales, he bought some prime town center property, including a hotel along the river and a shop with a home above it on Water Street.
Three years later he married Sidney Gaston, sister to a future compatriot at the Alamo John Gaston, and when they separated she went on to marry yet another future Alamo Defender, John Kellogg. All three men rode to San Antonio as Gonzales Rangers in 1836.
Miller was integral to the town of Gonzales, serving as road surveyor and a sindico procurador of the Gonzales Ayuntamiento of 1834, and hosting town council meetings in his own home that same year.
So when Mexican troops attempted to take the town’s cannon in September of 1835, Miller was one of the “Old Eighteen” who held off their attacks until relief could arrive, and later in the Battle of Gonzales as well.
Thomas Miller served as a member of the Texas Consultation, as one of the delegates there in 1835 to decide how to respond to Santa Anna’s dictatorship, which led directly to the emergence of the sovereign Republic of Texas on March 2, 1836 and the ensuing War of Independence – and the Battle of the Alamo.
