Erastus Smith. A admirable scout. A valuable spy. And most of all, a significant Texas hero. Better known as “Deaf Smith”

Erastus Smith was born in Duchess County, New York, on April 19, 1787. He was around eleven years old when he moved to Natchez, Mississippi Territory. During his childhood, Smith had lost his hearing to an unknown disease, which would later on give him his acclaimed nickname, Deaf Smith. Smith first visited texas in 1817, but did not stay long. He eventually returned in 1821 and settled near San Antonio, where he found Guadalupe Ruiz Durán in 1822. In 1825, Smith helped build the town of Gonzales, which later on he would have to burn. Smith and five other men settled on the claim of James Kerr the surveyor for the new colony …show more content…
Royall, president of the council at San Felipe, who found him to be “very importantly useful,” Smith returned to Austin’s army and took part in the battle of Concepción on October 28, 1835. He was responsible for the discovery of the mexican supply train involved in the Grass Fight. During the siege of Bexar Smith guided colonel francis johnson’s men into the town. On December 8 he was wounded on top of the Veramendi palace at almost the same time Benjamin R. Milam was killed at its door. Smith, whom Governor Henry Smith called “well known to the army for his vigilance and meritorious acts,” remained with the army despite his severe wounds, “as his services as a spy cannot well be dispensed …show more content…
Travis, who considered him “‘the bravest of the brave’ in the cause of Texas.” Smith carried Travis’ letter from the Alamo on February 15, 1836. On March 13, General Sam Houston dispatched Smith and Henry Karnes back to San Antonio to learn the status of the Alamo garrison. “If living,” Houston reported to Thomas Jefferson Rusk, Smith would return with “the truth and all important news.” Smith returned with Susanna W. and Angelina E. Dickinson. Houston first assigned Smith to the cavalry but later placed him in charge of recruits with the rank of captain. During the San Jacinto campaign he captured a mexican courier bearing important dispatches to Antonio López de Santa Anna, and on April 21, 1836, Smith and Houston requisitioned “one or more axes,” with which Houston ordered Smith to destroy Vince’s Bridge, reportedly to prevent the retreat of the Mexican army. Smith accomplished the mission and reported to Houston before the battle of San Jacinto. It was to Smith that Houston entrusted Santa Anna’s orders to General Vicente Filisola to evacuate Texas. After San Jacinto,General Rusk continued to send Smith out as a scout. After having been absent from the army for the first two weeks of July, he was incorrectly reported as captured by the Mexicans. During this period his family, rendered destitute by the war, was living in Columbia, where it apparently had some dealings with Santa Anna , who was being