Famous Skaggs: Skaggs...Texas Ranger

A long-lost Skaggs played a role in the Texas Revolution and the beginning of the Republic of Texas.  He was involved in the initial defeat of Mexico by the Army of Texas and later joined the Texas Rangers to patrol the frontiers of the new Republic of Texas and fight the Mexicans at the Battle of San Jacinto.

John H. Scaggs arrived in Texas prior to May 1835 when it was still part of Mexico.  He volunteered for the Army of Texas and from October through December 1835 was part of the siege of San Antonio and the surrender of the Mexican army there.  He was discharged from the Army of Texas in December 1835 and in 1836 joined the Texas Rangers.  It was as a Ranger that John participated in the Battle of San Jacinto, as part of the rear guard at Harrisburg under Capt. Joseph Chance to defend the army's supplies against Mexican attack.  John H. Scaggs died in Columbia, Republic of Texas on October 26, 1836.

We don't know where John came from or what his story was for how he ended up in the Texas Revolution.  We know he had claims against the Republic of Texas for his military service and he was entitled to land in Texas.  His biography at the San Jacinto Memorial Museum contains a bizarre news item from a 1936 Dallas newspaper:

"Memories of the romantic history of an early day Texas were consigned to a grave in Forest Lawn Cemetery Saturday with burial of James [sic] Albert Skaggs, 99, who died Thursday in the City-County Convalescent Home.

A small handful of men who knew the colorful character during the last years of his life attended funeral services.  Six floral pieces brightened the bier, all the gift of one man.

Formerly one of the charges of the late Dwight Lewelling, operator of the Baptist Gospel Mission, Skaggs lived under one of the Oak Cliff viaducts after Mr. Lewelling's death some months caused the mission to close, and later went to the county home.  While staying at the mission, he became a familiar figure on Dallas streets with his pushcart on which Scripture was written, gathering stale bread from bakeries for food at the mission.

When he died, C. C. Booth, 2021 Bennett, a friend of Mr. Lewelling, arranged the funeral.  Mr. Booth and the Rev. Henry May conducted the service.

Born in Tehuacana Hills, now Tehuacana, Limestone County, October 19, 1837, while Texas was a Republic and only about eighteen months after the Battle of San Jacinto, he was the son of John A. Skaggs, a soldier at the Battle of San Jacinto, and full-blooded Indian woman, Nowatna Uma (Running Water)."

I'm sending a call out for Skaggs researchers and historians of the Texas Revolution to provide us with any more information about John H. Scaggs, his family back east and any descendants he may have, including this interesting character John Albert Skaggs of Dallas.