Sam Houston was so badly shaken by the Nov. 30, 1837 death of Deaf Smith, the famed San Jacinto scout, that he took a month-long leave of absence from the presidency of the Lone Star Republic.

Even though Erastus Smith was among the earliest of Anglo immigrants to the Mexican province, he was a late convert to the cause of independence. Hoping the climate would cure his ailing lungs, the Mississippian moved to San Antonio in 1821, married a local woman and for the next 14 years quietly raised a f...