LOT RR Auction  /  RR Auction: Rare Manuscripts, Documents and Auto...  / 

292

Erastus ‘Deaf’ Smith

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD
Erastus ‘Deaf’ Smith

Bidding Over

The auction is over for this lot.
The auctioneer wasn't accepting online bids for this lot.

Contact the auctioneer for information on the auction results.

Search for other lots to bid on...
Auction Date:2012 Jul 18 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Frontiersman (1787–1837) noted for his part in the Texas Revolution and the army of the Republic of Texas. He fought at the Grass Fight and the Battle of San Jacinto. After the war, Deaf Smith led a company of Texas Rangers. ADS, in Spanish, one page, 9 x 5.5, February 15, 1837. A receipt to Francisco Ruiz for $163.31. In full (translated): “I received from the citizen Francisco Ruiz the sum of one hundred and sixty-three pesos, two and one-half reales, which he voluntarily offered to me to aid the individuals of my company, which amount the government of Texas will pay immediately upon presentation to the said government.” Signed at the conclusion by Smith. In very good condition, professionally cleaned, with intersecting folds, one through a single letter of signature, repaired tear above last name of signature, and a strip of toning along right edge, lightly affecting last name of signature.

Within a month of Smith’s signing this receipt for funds “to aid the individuals of my company,” the Texas Ranger captain would pay a final tribute to the memory of the Alamo dead and take part in a post-Revolution skirmish with Mexican forces.

In February 1837, Smith's spy company was given orders to conduct a mission in Laredo. Even a year after the Revolution, Texas’s southern border with Mexico remained ill-defined, placing community on the Rio Grande in a kind of no-man’s land. Captain Smith and his 20 scouts rode there with the intention of raising the Texas flag from the spire of Loredo’s church. The money mentioned in this document was most likely used to fund this mission; the denomination is in pesos because Texas wouldn't begin printing its own paper currency for another four months and gold and silver specie were scarce in the new republic.

In addition to receiving funds from Francisco Ruiz, the Texas Senator from Bexar, Smith also needed to secure horses before departing San Antonio. While there, he and his men helped Col. Seguin collect and bury the remains of the Alamo defenders on February 25. This solemn act was still fresh in Smith’s mind when his scouts encountered a much more substantial force of Mexicans outside Laredo on March 17. A skirmish lasting about 45 minutes ensued. Only two of Smith’s men were wounded, while ten Mexicans were killed and ten others injured; Smith also captured forty horses. Recognizing that he was vastly outmanned, he guided his men back to San Antonio.

This document’s association with one of the first Texas Rangers makes it a valuable link to the burial of the Alamo defenders and an important post-Independence military encounter with Mexico. The Robert Davis Collection.
Sign In to Bookmark Lot