Veteran Bio

Matthew W. Cartwright was issued Donation Certificate No. 529 for 640 acres of land, August 29, 1838 for having participated in the Storming and Capture of Bexar, December 5 to 10, 1835. In Comptroller's Military Service Record No. 7256 it is certified that he served in Captain Joseph L. Bennett's Company from October 7 to December 24, 1835. He was a member of Captain William Ware's Company at San Jacinto. In Comptroller's Military Service Record No. 7256 it is stated that a horse belonging to him was killed during the engagement. Appraisers Jonathan Collard and Lewis Cox fixed the value of the horse at one hundred dollars. Mr. Cartwright was issued Bounty Certificate No. 3144 for 320 acres of land, May 2, 1838 for having served in the army from April 12, to July 13, 1836.

Mr. Cartwright was married to Susan Sykes. Mrs. Cartwright died September 20, 1883. Mr. Cartwright died December 4, 1884 while a member of the Texas Veterans Association. Husband and wife are buried in the Cartwright family cemetery one mile from Keenan in Montgomery County. The State of Texas had a monument erected at their graves in 1936.

Children of Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright, were Pleasant Lemuel Cartwright, who married Joanna Gafford; Eugene Cartwright, who married John A. Rabum; Chipsie Cartwright, who married John B. Butler; William Franklin Cartwright, who married Mary Jane Lynch; Mathew Duncan Cartwright, who married Mary Rabum; Florence Yettie, Herbert, and Edwin Cartwright, who died early in life.

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Texas Almanac, 1869.

"- - We learn also from Mr. William S. Taylor, of Montgomery County, that the name M. W. Cartwright, who was also in the battle of San Jacinto and participated in the preceding campaign, was omitted in the list of names we published in the ALMANAC of 1860. Mr. Cartwright belonged to Captain William Ware's Company and fought with the cavalry on the evening of April 21, 1836, and had his horse shot from under him during the battle. The omission of his name in our previously published list was owing to the fact that he was separated from his company during the battle, and joined the cavalry, and hence was not reported by Captain Ware; and, not being enrolled in the cavalry company, he was not reported as belonging to it. But Mr. Taylor bears witness to the fact that he was in the battle and performed good service throughout that campaign. He was also in the campaign of 1835, under Colonel S. F. Austin, and was in the battle of Concepcion, below San Antonio."

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Matthew Cartwright of Montgomery county, is, I think, a native of Alabama, and removed with his father and family to Texas, about the year 1833. Mr. C. was for a time, the "mess mate" of the writer in the campaign at Bexar, in 1835, in Capt. Joe Bennet's Company. When the call was made for volunteers (from the army under Gen. Austin, then at Mission Espada) to make a "reconnoissance" up the river, and look out a place for the troops to encamp, nearer the enemy, Mr. C. turned out and was one of the eighty-two raw Texans who, under Bowie and Fannin, so severely drubbed Gen. Coss's 1200 infantry and cavalry, at Mission Concepcion; killing and wounding 120, and inflicting a defeat that damped Mexican courage for the remainder of that campaign. Mr. C's next service was in Capt. Ward's company, in 1836 (for he was compelled to return home before Bexar fell) under that company was incorporated with others; then he joined the cavalry; was in the battle on the evening of the 20th with Lamar, etc. etc., and, had his horse killed under him. The next day Mr. C. was in the decisive conflict, but, I believe, with the infantry.

Texas Almanac 1872.

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