Corpus Christi History
By Murphy Givens

Thursday, Mar. 4, 1999

Army brought movers, shakers

   I keep returning to Zachary Taylor's stay in Corpus Christi in 1845 and early 1846, I guess because it represents one of the most important periods in this city's history. Half the total strength of the U.S. Army was camped here. It swelled the city's population from 100 to 4,000. More importantly, with Taylor's army came the future leaders who would transform South Texas and Corpus Christi.
    Some examples are familiar. Mifflin Kenedy and Richard King, riverboatmen in Florida, came to operate steamboats on the Rio Grande, ferrying supplies for the army. After the Mexican War was over, Kenedy and King stayed to operate steamboats and then to create their famous ranching empires. But there were many others.
    Norwick Gussett, of Guilford, N.C., arrived in 1845, a sergeant in U.S. Grant's company. He was reassigned to Winfield Scott's army and attached to Robert E. Lee's unit; Gussett served under both Grant and Lee.
    He returned after the war and bought ranches in McMullen, Nueces and Duval counties. He founded a town called Gussettville, which disappeared half a century later. In Corpus Christi, Gussett owned a bank, a hardware store, and a general merchandise store; he was one of the main buyers of hides brought from Mexico. He built N. Gussett Bank, the second bank in town and owned a fleet of ships that he named after his daughters, Susan, Leona and Josephine. He was a driving force for a deepwater port.
    Matthew Dunn, born in county Kildare, Ireland, came to Corpus Christi as a sutler (a term for a storekeeper who sold provisions to the army). But the only way Dunn could go south with the army was to volunteer as a teamster. He barely escaped with his life when his wagon train was attacked by Mexican cavalry near Saltillo. He returned to Corpus Christi and set up his homestead on land given him by H.L. Kinney. Dunn sent for his four brothers -- Thomas, Peter, John and Patrick -- and between them they founded one of the great family dynasties of South Texas.
    In 1845, two Irish orphans, Mat Nolan and brother Tom, 12 and 10 years old, enlisted as bugle boys in a regiment of dragoons. They returned from the war to become lawmen; Mat was elected sheriff in 1858 and his brother hired on as a deputy. Both were killed in gunfights; Tom was shot in a saloon fight in 1860 and Mat was shotgunned to death in 1864, the victim of a grudge killing.
    Harrison W. Berry, from Tennessee, also came with the army and stayed. He was elected Nueces County's first sheriff. He did such a good job of raising money to build a jail that he was elected assessor-collector in 1850, then mayor in 1854 and again in 1857. Known as a man with a big heart, Berry raised four children, who were no relation, after their parents died with yellow fever. Berry owned a brick kiln and the La Retama Saloon with James R. Bernard. It was at the La Retama where Tom Nolan was killed and it was Berry's two stepsons -- Charles K. and Frank Gravis -- who were accused of gunning down Mat Nolan four years later.
    Elias Tyre Mussett Sr. arrived here with the Texas militia. He became convinced that Corpus Christi would become the gateway to Texas and returned to settle on a 400-acre tract. He was an unlucky man. His first infant son was bitten to death by a rattlesnake, and Mussett, serving as town marshal, was killed by an assailant in 1873; his son named after him was killed in almost the same way 20 years later.
    Forbes Britton, a lieutenant in Taylor's army, returned to practice law. He built a house on the bluff (Centennial House) and his daughter married E. J. Davis, Texas' "carpetbag" governor during Reconstruction. (There's a good story about Britton. When he was at Saltillo in the war, a general ordered that no horses or wagons could pass on the street in front of his residence; he didn't like the dust. Britton, another officer wrote, would gallop by a dozen times a day at lightning speed, raising a huge dust cloud, and be gone before the sentries could yell "halt!")
    Capt. John Anderson came here on a ship transporting supplies for Taylor's army. He came back and set up a salt mill on Water Street. John McCampbell served with Coffee's Regiment; he returned to practice law. Felix A. von Blucher came here with the army as an interpreter and returned to become the area's surveyor. Others included John James Dix, John Bernard Murphy, Cornelius Cahill ... But this is not a complete list.
    They came with Zachary Taylor's army, as soldiers and civilians, and left with the army. But they came back after the war to begin a new life and many of them would become the builders of Corpus Christi and South Texas.
    Sources: Caller-Times archives; Frank Wagner's research papers at the Corpus Christi Central Library; "Handling the Mails at Corpus Christi" by Rex H. Stever; "The Mexican War Journal" of Capt. Frank Smith; and "Pathfinders of Texas" by Mrs. Frank DeGarmo.