The Forgotten Hero of the Revolution: Hendrick Arnold (Oct 22, 2023)
by Scott Sosebee
Spying, espionage, “covert operations,” all these terms conjure images of intrigue and shadowy figures, of James Bond and Robert Ludlum. War and military operations often turn on which side gathers the best intelligence, which one can know the exact movements of the other side. The Texas Revolutionary lore has its own spy hero—Erastus “Deaf” Smith, a man who has a county named for him and is the subject of books and lore. What many Texans don’t know is that “Deaf” Smith did not operate alone and that a free black man, Hendrick Arnold, was just as valuable a spy and guide as the celebrated Smith.
Hendrick Arnold came to Texas from Mississippi in 1826 and settled in Stephen F. Austin’s colony. Arnold’s lineage is somewhat sketchy and also unusual for the time. His father, Daniel, was white, while his mother, Rachel, was of African descent. While a child from such a union was not rare for the era, the fact that by all indications, his parents lived as husband and wife was. Records of the time refer to Hendrick as a “free Negro,” but his brother Holly was regarded as white. Apparently, while Hendrick and Holly were always considered free, the Arnold family held slaves, and Hendrick fathered a child by one of those slaves, a woman known only as Dolly, in 1827, which Hendrick held as an enslaved person. Despite Arnold living as a “free man,” there is no record of Hendrick’s father granting him such a status. Such a designation could have likely been the result of a strong Texas notion that “free” people of African descent should be forced to leave—a tradition that became legally binding after Texas received its independence, which was also likely the reason that Hendrick Arnold never “freed” his daughter as well.
Arnold eventually settled in San Antonio, where he married the stepdaughter of Erastus “Deaf” Smith in 1835, a woman of Mexican descent. Smith and Arnold became close friends and often went on extended buffalo hunts west of San Antonio. While off on one of those excursions, General Martín Perfecto Cós and his Mexican forces occupied San Antonio during the tension-filled months leading up to the Texas Revolution. Both Arnold and Smith were initially indifferent to the Anglo Texan cause, perhaps due to the fact that they both had married Tejano women from San Antonio and had become citizens of the mostly Tejano town, but they eventually offered their services as guides to the Texan forces camped on the outskirts of San Antonio and commanded by Stephen F. Austin. Arnold approached Stephen F. Austin and offered his services as a scout and guide for the Texian Army.
Reports from San Antonio indicate that Arnold became a trusted and vital spy/scout for the Texan forces. In fact, Edward Burleson (who assumed command of the forces with Austin’s departure) gave the absence of Arnold as one reason for a postponement of a planned attack on the Mexican army bivouacked in the city. When Arnold returned, Benjamin Milam made his famous appeal for an attack, and Arnold served as the guide into the city for Milam’s division. In the official report after the Battle of San Antonio, Hendrick Arnold received special acknowledgment for his bravery.
After the Battle of San Antonio, Arnold led his family, as well as Smith’s, to San Felipe de Austin and received relief and aid for them from Texas’ provisional government. Arnold and Smith departed San Felipe and rejoined the Texan forces under Sam Houston, now retreating northeast across Texas in front of Santa Anna’s army, fresh from victory at the Battle of the Alamo. Arnold and Smith became the primary scouts/guides for Houston and gave valiant service and gathered crucial information on the Mexican forces that helped lead to victory at San Jacinto later in April 1836.
After the end of hostilities, Arnold received a grant of land from the new Republic of Texas. His grant was west of present-day Bandera, which at that time was largely unexplored and subject to Indian raids. It is not clear why Arnold received a grant in such a region; some have speculated it was by his request, but others have surmised that it was due to his bi-racial heritage. His brother Holly and his father also took adjacent grants. In another quirk largely due to Texas laws governing enslaved people in those years, when Arnold’s daughter Harriet fell in love with James Newcomb, who was white, Arnold “arranged” for him and Newcomb to engage in a contract that designated Harriet as an “indentured servant,” which was legally binding in Texas. Newcomb paid Arnold $750 to make sure the contract withstood legal scrutiny. Arnold farmed on his holdings and also operated a gristmill in San Antonio. He died in the cholera epidemic that swept through San Antonio in 1849 and was buried on his land near the banks of the Medina River.
After his death—as well as that of James Newcomb—Newcomb’s executor, George Martin, had to petition the Texas legislature to allow Harriet to remain in Texas as a “free woman of color,” however, it appears that Harriet remained bound to Martin, where he may have kept her essentially enslaved despite the legislature approving her petition to remain in the state. Such a notion exists because Arnold’s widow, Martina, sued Martin for $2,000 and also requested that she be returned to her. The result of the case has been difficult to find, but it seems that Harriet was allowed to remain in Texas as a free woman and that she returned to live with Martina. Such a fate should have escaped the family of a man who was a hero of the Texas Revolution.
The East Texas Historical Association provides this column as a public service. Scott Sosebee is a Professor of History at Stephen F. Austin State University and the Executive Director of the Association. He can be contacted at sosebeem@sfasu.edu; www.easttexashistorical.org.