Veteran Bio

Benjamin Cage received a headright certificate for one-third of a league of land which was surveyed in Robertson County. Married Mary Ann Bates at Matagorda, March 10, 1846.

CAGE, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN -- A member of Captain William H. Patton's Columbia Company. He was issued Donation Certificate No. 923 for 640 acres of land July 20, 1839 for having participated in the battle. The land was surveyed in what is now Kerr County. He did not apply for the bounty land due him for his services in the army. He evidently left the army shortly after the battle. Colonel Jesse Benton, Jr. commanded Captain Patton's Company from July 20, 1836 until it was discharged. On June 21, 1856 at his home at San Augustine Colonel Benton prepared a list of the names of all of the men who had served in Captain Patton's Company. This list is copied on pages 232 and 233 of the army rolls in the General Land Office. By oversight Mr. Cage's name was omitted.

The Benjamin F. Cage who participated in the battle of San Jacinto was single January 25, 1838 when he received a headright certificate for one-third of a league of land from the Board of Land Commissioners for Brazoria County. In the certificate it is stated that Mr. Cage came to Texas in 1832.

A Captain B. F. Cage was killed October 20, 1838 on Leon Creek, four miles from San Antonio while in command of a company of twelve volunteers in a battle against a superior force of Indians. He and his seven companions who were killed with him were buried in a single grave just outside of the Catholic cemetary near the present Milam Square in San Antonio. The compiler has considered, without proof that this was the B. F. Cage who participated in the battle of San Jacinto.

The compiler believes that the following statements are true but will check them to make sure that they are. The State of Texas in 1870 began paying pensions to the surviving veterans of the Texas Revolution. Nearly all of the veterans alive at that time applied for such pensions, but no one by the name of B. F. Cage did so. In 1873 the Texas Veterans Association was organized and continued active until about 1905. Nearly all of the surviving veterans joined it. The compiler has not been able to find where any one by the name of B. F. Cage was a member at any time. In 1881 all surviving veterans were given 1280 acres of land. No one by the name of B. F. Cage applied for Veterans Donation land.

Mrs. Bennie Frances Cage Clift believed that it was her grandfather Benjamin Franklin Cage, who died in 1887, who participated in the battle of San Jacinto and probably has proof that he was. Following is a brief sketch of his life:

Benjamin Franklin Cage was born in Tennessee, June 8, 1814. His brothers and sisters were John, Joseph and James Cage, Susan Cage Anderson and Martha Cage Roahn.

Mr. Cage was married to Mary Ann Bates at Matagorda, March 10, 1846. Mrs. Cage died and on April 6, 1851, Mr. Cage was married to Nancy Bethia Grier. Mr. Cage died somewhere in Blanco County, November 19, 1887.

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