A 1936 Texas Centennial Marker was placed on the courthouse square in the city of Bonham. Bonham is the county seat of Fannin County, named for the commander who Bonham tried to enjoin for assistance at the Alamo. The town of Bonham, Texas, is named for him. James Butler Bonham Elementary School, San Antonio, TX He is believed to have died manning one of the cannons in the interior of the Alamo chapel. Bonham died in the battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836. He answered back that Buck Travis deserved to know the answer to his appeals, spat upon the ground, and galloped west into his own immortality." Thus, Bonham returned to the Alamo on March 3, bearing through the Mexican lines a letter from Robert McAlpin Williamson assuring Travis that help was on its way and urging him to hold out. He was told it was useless to throw away his life. Fehrenbach in his Texas opus, Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans: ""At the end, the weary Bonham, a lawyer, a Carolinian of exulted family and a friend of Travis, turned his mount around and rode back toward San Antonio. Bonham's inimitable spirit is best described by T.R. He visited Goliad, but the commander of the forces there, James Fannin, was unable to provide assistance. He was sent by Travis to obtain aid for the garrison at Bexar on about February 16, 1836. On February 1 he was an unsuccessful candidate in the election of delegates to represent the Bexar garrison at the Texas constitutional convention. On January 26 he was appointed one of a committee of seven to draft a preamble and resolutions on behalf of the garrison in support of Governor Henry Smith. Robinson that Bonham be promoted to major, for "His influence in the army is great, more so than some who `would be generals'." Bonham probably traveled to San Antonio de Béxar and the Alamo with James Bowie and arrived on January 19, 1836. On January 11, 1836, Houston recommended to James W.
Blount of North Carolina be granted a commission as a captain in the Texas cavalry. After being in Texas for only one month Bonham recommended to Houston that William S. He had time to set up a law practice in Brazoria and was advertising the fact in the Telegraph and Texas Register by January 2, 1836.īonham and Houston quickly developed a mutual admiration. In December 1835, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Texas cavalry, but apparently was not assigned to any specific unit. On December 1, 1835, he wrote to Sam Houston from San Felipe volunteering his services for Texas and declining all pay, lands, or rations in return. The company reached San Felipe, Texas in November 1835, and Bonham was commissioned a lieutenant in the Texian Cavalry on December 3. The following year he went to Mobile, where he helped organize a company of militia cavalry called the Mobile Greys to serve in Texsus. In October 1834, Bonham moved to Montgomery, Alabama, where relatives lived. At the same time he served as captain of a Charleston artillery company. His outspoken position brought him the rank of lieutenant colonel. Bonham brandished a sword and pistol, condemning Andrew Jackson and the Washington politicians. He served as an aide to Governor James Hamilton Jr. Bonham was sentenced to ninety days for contempt of court. When ordered to apologize by the sitting judge, he refused and threatened to tweak the judge’s nose. In 1830, Bonham practiced law in Pendleton, but was found in contempt of court after caning an attorney who had insulted one of Bonham's clients. He was expelled, along with the entire senior class. In 1827, in his senior year, he led a student protest over harsh attendance regulations and the poor food served at the college boardinghouse. The family home, called Flat Grove, is still standing and is on the National Register of Historic Places.īonham entered South Carolina College in 1824. He was the son of Jame and Sophia Butler (Smth) Bon.
Bonham was born, along with his sibling ( Milledge Luke Bonham) in what is now Saluda County, S.C.