Milsaps family paid price for Texas’ freedom

Isaac Milsaps, age 40, wiped his brow with the back of his hand as he finished hoeing the garden. Although cooler weather seemed to be coming a little later this year, this fall of 1835 in Gonzales, there was a chill in the late afternoon air as he completed his work in the garden.

As he propped his hoe against the shed, he could smell the evening meal cooking. Mary, his wife, some five years younger, was quite the cook. She had to be, with all their children to feed — seven of them — plus the two grownups — nine stomachs to feed in all. Quite a task, but Mary Milsaps was up to it. She was a hard worker.

They were married when she was 19, and he was 24. The moved around Mississippi farming and having kids, trying to make a living. And then Isaac heard about Texas, and how there was land available — good land — to grow cotton and corn. So, the Milsaps left Mississippi, and headed to Texas. They settled near Gonzales in Green De Witt's Colony, and set about the business of carving out a home in this hard but bountiful land.

And Mary worked, too. Doing what she could. Helping in the ways she was able. A few acres were cleared, and a one room log cabin was built with the trunks of the trees Isaac chopped down. He added a stone chimney at one end, and it was the smoke from that chimney that was carrying to him the aroma of the evening meal. It had been a good season for the corn. The crop was plentiful, and the corncrib was full. Isaac Milsaps felt at peace with himself, and with the land.

Entering the cabin, he saw his children helping cook the meal and setting the table. What a good bunch of children, he thought. He sat down, took of his boots, and waited for the meal to be ready. A few weeks earlier, they had all gone to hear the circuit rider preacher down by the river. Isaac had remembered something the preacher said. It was "God gives us so many blessings. We need," the preacher said, "to spend more time thinking about what God has given us, what we have, and less time thinking about what we do not have. Less time feeling sorry for ourselves. More time being thankful."

And these thoughts were on his mind as he sat down at the table for the meal. Isaac looked at his wife, his partner in life; how beautiful she was; how much he loved her; how thankful he was for that.

Isaac Milsaps said the blessing as he did every night before they ate, but this evening the prayer sounded differently. Mary Milsaps noticed it immediately. There was more sincerity in Isaac's voice. He prayed "Dear God, thank you for my wife and my children, and for our health. And thank you for the corn crop, and the livestock, and the garden, and thank you for each day you give us." Mary Milsaps could hardly breathe — her heart was beating so fast — listening to her husband thanking God. She was filled with love for this man, her husband.

Isaac Milsaps would be dead in a few months. He would die in the Alamo on March 6, 1836, with the other brave Texans. Isaac was one of the 32 men from Gonzales and Green De Witt's Colony who answered Colonel Travis' letter asking for help.

Mary Milsaps would receive the word of the fall of the Alamo with the other women of Gonzales, but she would do so somewhat differently. For did I say, or forget to say, that Mary Milsaps was blind. Yes, Mary Milsaps, blind, with seven children, hears that her husband is dead.

Mary Milsaps, blind, with seven children, hears the order from General Sam Houston that all must leave Gonzales because Santa Anna is coming.

Mary Milsaps, blind, with seven children, makes her way from Gonzales to the East, leaving all she knows by touch, sound and aroma, all she possesses, running to save her life and those of her children.

We thank God today for freedom. It did not come easy to Gonzales or to Texas. Freedom is hard. We have to really want it, for freedom demands a sacrifice — takes a sacrifice.

And the Milsaps family, Isaac at the Alamo, Mary blind, with seven children, paid the sacrifice for freedom, Texas freedom.

But on this Fall evening of 1835, listening to the man she loves utter a prayer, giving thanks for family and health, giving thanks for the land and the crops, giving thanks for life, Mary Milsaps, blind, with seven beautiful children, thinks of herself as the luckiest woman in the world.

And that is part of our history, the history of Gonzales. Gonzales, Texas, is the birthplace of your Texas Freedom.