Captain Albert Martin (Immortal 32 Gonzales Ranger)

https://www.ripbs.org/blogs/bird-wire/a-road-to-the-alamo-by-way-of...

http://www.riheritagehalloffame.org/inductees_detail.cfm?crit=det&i...

Albert Martin, 28, born 6 Jan 1808 in Rhode Island, a resident of Gonzales and storeowner. He was the son of Joseph S. and Abbey B. Martin. He came to the DeWitt Colony in 1835 from Tennessee via New Orleans after his parents and older brothers, one of whom has been suggested to be Gonzales merchant and mill owner, Joseph M. Martin. He and his father are referred to in a letter of 18 Sep 1835 from Edward Gritten in San Antonio to political chief of the Brazos Wyley Martin concerning the "action between the Steamboat and the Mexican Schooner here on the 16th." Capt. Albert Martin was a leader in the confrontation in Gonzales over the Gonzales cannon in Sep 1835 and participated in the Battle of Bexar. Due to a minor injury, he was in Gonzales in Dec 1835 and returned to the Alamo sometime after that. On 23 Feb 1836, he served as emissary from the Alamo to meet with Mexican Gen. Almonte who rejected the suggestion that he meet Col. Travis in the Alamo for negotiations. On 24 Feb 1836, Col. Martin was the courier who carried Travis’ appeal to Texans and the world for aid and delivered it to Launcelot Smither. He joined the Gonzales relief force to the Alamo. His glowing, but erroneous in some details of the event and in some spellings, obituary of July 1836 in the "Manufacturers and Farmers Journal" and the New Orleans True American suggests that New Orleans claimed him as a more than passing resident:

   "Among those who fell at the storming of San Antonio was Albert Martin, a native of Providence, Rhode Island and recently a citizen of this city of the firm of Martin, Coffin & Co. aged 29. Mr. Martin had a large establishment in Gonzales, about 150 miles from San Antonio where for the last year or two he had been carrying on an extensive business. He had left the fortress and returned to his residence, where he was apprized of the perilous situation in which his late comrades were placed. His determination was instantly taken. In reply to the passionate entreaties of his father, who besought him not to rush into certain destruction, he said 'This is no time for such considerations. I have passed my word to Colonel Travers, that I would return, nor can I forfeit a pledge thus given.' In pursuance of this high resolve he raised a company of sixty-two men and started on his way back. During the route, the company, apprized of the desperate situation of affairs, became diminished by desertion, to thirty-two. With this gallant band he gained the fort and the reinforcement, small as it was, revived the drooping spirits of the garrison ....Thus died Albert Martin, a not unapt illustration of New England heroism. He has left a family, and perhaps a Nation to lament his loss, and he had bequeathed to that family an example of heroic and high-minded chivalry which can never be forgotten and which is worthy of the best days of Sparta or of Rome."

In the Old North Burial Ground of Providence, Rhode Island there is a memorial that dates from 1858 or earlier that states "Albert Martin Fell at the Alamo, Texas, In Defense of his country March 6th, 1836, Aged 28 yrs & 2 mo's."

Source 1: http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/gonzalesrangersl-zhtm.htm

Source 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Martin_%28soldier%29

Source 3: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzales_Mounted_Rangers

Source 4: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Alamo_defenders

Links:

Capt Albert Martin Alamo memorial - https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8871611

Capt Albert Martin Rhode Island memorial - https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=119924862