82R2740 MMS-D
By: Eiland H.C.R. No. 38
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Widely regarded as one of the first Texas heroines,
Jane Herbert Wilkinson Long is remembered for the remarkable
courage and perseverance she displayed during the tumultuous years
that carried Texas from Spanish and Mexican rule to independence;
and
WHEREAS, Jane Wilkinson was born in Maryland on July 23,
1798, the 10th child of Captain William Mackall and Anne Herbert
Wilkinson; her uncle, General James Wilkinson, is noted in Texas
history for having negotiated the creation of the Neutral Ground in
1806, while serving as governor of the Louisiana Territory, and for
his longtime interest in Texas as a place of opportunity and
adventure; and
WHEREAS, After the death of her parents, Jane Wilkinson lived
with her older sister in Mississippi Territory; she married James
Long in 1815 and gave birth to their first child, Ann Herbert, the
following year; she was expecting another child when her husband
left to lead a filibustering expedition to Texas in 1819; and
WHEREAS, Soon after the birth of her second daughter, Mrs.
Long left her children in the care of her sister in Louisiana and
set out to join her husband in Nacogdoches, where he and his forces
had declared independence from Spain and had established a civil
government; she reached the outpost in August 1819, but within a
couple of months, American families in the area were forced to flee
the arrival of Spanish troops; by 1821, however, Jane Long was
living at her husband's new headquarters at Fort Las Casas, on the
Bolivar Peninsula; and
WHEREAS, James Long embarked on another filibustering
expedition later that year, while Mrs. Long and their surviving
daughter, Ann, as well as a young slave girl, Kian, stayed behind;
during Mr. Long's absence, Mrs. Long and the girls fended off
Karankawa Indians by convincing them that soldiers were still at
the fort, a feat they accomplished by donning cast-off uniforms,
firing the cannon, and raising a makeshift flag; Mrs. Long was
pregnant at the time and was the only adult present when she gave
birth to another daughter, Mary James, on December 21, 1821; and
WHEREAS, Finally abandoning the fort in March 1822, Mrs. Long
joined settlers on the mainland, where she learned that summer that
her husband had been killed in Mexico City; in 1824, as one of
Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred, she received title to land in
present-day Fort Bend and Waller Counties; she made her home in San
Felipe until 1830, then lived briefly in Mississippi before moving
in 1832 to Brazoria; there she bought a boardinghouse, which was
used for rallies and secret meetings and for hiding arms and
munitions during the colonists' struggle against Mexico; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Long, who died in 1880, became a symbol of the
strength and determination of the young Texas republic; often
referred to as the "Mother of Texas," she was made an honorary
member of the Texas Veterans Association, and a U.S. Liberty ship
was named for her during World War II; and
WHEREAS, Over the years, Jane Long has captured the
imagination of countless Texans, and this spirited woman will long
be remembered in the annals of the Lone Star State; now, therefore,
be it
RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby pay tribute to the life of Jane Herbert Wilkinson Long.