Joseph Bonnell Biography
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The West Point Society of Central Texas Joseph Bonnell Project 2010-2012 Honoring a Hero of the War for Texas Independence 1 Stan Bacon <[email protected]> Fred Bothwell <[email protected]> WPSCT April 14, 2012
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Biography of Joseph Bonnell, Hero of the Texas war for Independence, West Point Class of 1825
Transcript of Joseph Bonnell Biography
The West Point Society of Central Texas
Joseph Bonnell Project
2010-2012
Honoring a Hero of the War for Texas Independence
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Stan Bacon <[email protected]>
Fred Bothwell <[email protected]>
WPSCT
April 14, 2012
•West Point founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1802
•The nation’s oldest engineering school
•West Point Societies are comprised of graduates who
oFurther the ideals of the Military Academy
o Perform community outreach
oAssist with Academy admissions.
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•Over 600 West Point graduates in the Austin area
•WPSCT members adopted Mount Bonnell and began
improvement projects in 2010
Contacts:
Stan Bacon
WPSCT , Class of 1958
512-345-5964
Fred Bothwell
WPSCT, Class of 1962
512-635-4433
LIEUTENANT JOSEPH BONNELL, 1802-1840
Lieutenant Joseph Bonnell was an 1825 graduate of West
Point assigned to duty on the Texas-US border with the
US Army when he successfully quelled an uprising of
1,700 Indian warriors in East Texas through a peaceful
negotiation with Caddo Chief Cortes.
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His efforts enabled General Sam Houston to focus the full
strength of the Texas army on defeating Mexican troops at
the Battle of San Jacinto, securing the independence of
the Republic of Texas.
Sam Houston gave Lieutenant Bonnell the rank of Captain
in the Texas Army, and Texas Legislature Resolution HR
No. 615, March 17, 2007, recognized Joesph Bonnell as a
Hero of the Texas Revolution.
“Some sources credit George Bonnell asthe namesake for Mount Bonnell on theColorado River and that Gen. EdwardBurleson may have named the mountainin 1838, but other historians* have alsospeculated that the Travis Countylandmark may have been named forarmy officer Joseph Bonnell by AlbertSidney Johnston.”
CURRENT HANDBOOK ENTRY
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Sidney Johnston.”The Handbook of Texas Online,1/21/2011http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbo17
*Position endorsed by:
the Executive Director of the Texas State Historical Association,
the Chief Historian of the Texas State Historical Associationthe Austin Chapter of the Sons of the Republic of Texas, and by
Jeff Hunt, Director of the Texas Military Forces Museum, Texas’ foremost military historian.
George Bonnell was an author, publisher and militiaman who came to Texas after the War for Texas Independence had ended, moved to Austin in late 1839, wrote a book and briefly published a newspaper in Austin in 1840, and was killed in 1842. “
More recent discovery of additional information indicates that the mountain was most likely named in 1839 by Albert Sidney Johnston, the Texas Secretary of War, to honor his colleague and fellow
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in 1839 by Albert Sidney Johnston, the Texas Secretary of War, to honor his colleague and fellow West Point graduate Joseph Bonnell. Joseph Bonnell was an officer in the Texas Army during the War for Independence, a personal friend and Aide de Camp to General Houston, and an acknowledged hero of the Texas Revolution, recognized by the Texas Legislature for his valor in events leading up to the climactic Battle of San Jacinto.”Narrative History – Reconsidering the Historical marker on Mount Bonnell – West Point Society of Central Texas, August 2011http://www.west-point.org/joseph_bonnell/mt-bonnell_narrative_history#_ftn54.
BONNELL HOME, NEWMARKET STREET, PHILADELPHIA, PA
