Part of an old map of the San Jacinto area from the Texas Revolution

Veteran Bio

Texian Location:  Participant

The Kemp Sketch

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FITZHUGH, DR. JOHN P. T. -- On page 115 of the army rolls in the General Land Office it is shown that Dr. Fitzhugh enlisted in the Auxiliary corps at Nacogdoches January 14, 1846 and his place of birth is shown as Virginia. In the Headright Certificate issued to him January 7, 1840 by the Board of Land Commissioners for Bastrop County for one-third of a league of land it is stated that he arrived in Texas in 1835.

Dr. Fitzhugh was Assistant Surgeon of the Medical Staff of the First Regiment at San Jacinto and on December 26, 1839 he was issued Donation Certificate No. 983 for 640 acres of land for having participated in the battle. The land was surveyed in what is now Van Zandt County in 1841. Apparently he did not claim the bounty land due him.

Dr. Wesley Fitzhugh, surgeon and dentist, a brother of Dr. John P. T. Fitzhugh, died in the Texas Army September 11, 1836, while a member of Captain H. R. Wigginton's Company and on January 22, 1840, Dr. Fitzhugh had the following notice inserted in the Austin City Gazette: "I shall make application to the Hon. Judge of Probate of this county (Bastrop) for letters of administration on the estate of my brother Wesley Fitzhugh, who died in the army of Texas in the fall of 1836. P.S. Alexandria Gazette of the District of Columbia and Enquirer of Richmond, Va., will please give the above notice a few insertions."

Dr. Fitzhugh was a practicing physician in Prince William County, Virginia, in 1858, and in 1859 he lived in Madison County, Mississippi. In the Pension Papers of the Archives of the State Library is an application for a pension by Dr. Fitzhugh dated at Canton, Van Zandt County, Texas, December 1, 1870. It contains an affidavit from Captain Jesse Billingsley that Dr. Fitzhugh was promoted to Surgeon in Colonel Burleson's regiment, February 28, 1836 and was discharged sometime in May 1836. The Deed Records of Travis County, Book R, page 65, show that on November 231 1877, he was living in Warren County, Mississippi. He was a member of the Texas Veterans Association.

Written by Louis W. Kemp, between 1930 and 1952. Please note that typographical and factual errors have not been corrected from the original sketches. The biographies have been scanned from the original typescripts, a process that sometimes allows for mistakes in the new text. Researchers should verify the accuracy of the texts' contents through other sources before quoting in publications. Additional information on the veteran may be available in the Herzstein Library.


Battle Statistics

  • Died in Battle: No
  • Company: Assistant Surgeon, First Regiment Texas Volunteers

Personal Statistics

  • Date of Birth: 1815
  • Birthplace: Virginia
  • Came to Texas: 1835
  • Donation Certificate: 983
  • Profession: Doctor