Future Alamo Defender and Survivor Elope

[Craig Tx]

From the Texas State Historical Association

Future Alamo defender and survivor elope

On this day in 1829, Almaron Dickinson eloped with Susanna Wilkerson. Dickinson, a native of Pennsylvania, was born around 1800 and later moved to the area of Bolivar, Tennessee, where he met Wilkerson, who was born in that state in 1814.

The couple moved to Gonzales, Texas, in 1831 and had a daughter, Angelina Dickinson, in 1834. As a colonist in Green DeWitt's colony, Dickinson received a league of land on the San Marcos River. He participated in the battle of Gonzales in 1835 and distinguished himself as a lieutenant of artillery at the siege of Bexar; at the battle of the Alamo he was the captain in charge of artillery.

Although he died at the Alamo, his wife and child survived; legend says Susanna displayed her husband's Masonic apron to a Mexican general in a plea for help. General Santa Anna sent Susanna and her daughter to Sam Houston with a letter of warning dated March 7. Susanna married four more times before her death in 1883.



Craig