Andrew Jackson Hitchcock - Denton, TX
N 33° 12.603 W 097° 08.406
14S E 673343 N 3676114
Colonel Andrew Jackson Hitchcock burned to death in 1887, years after he escaped being massacred at Goliad with James Fannin and his men in 1836. He is buried in Section B of historic I.O.O.F. Cemetery, Denton, TX.
Waymark Code: WM12CH6
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 04/27/2020
Views: 1
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2019 story in the Denton Record-Chronicle has some good reading about Colonel Hitchcock's career, including details of his escape from the massacre at
Goliad, and his death by fire fifty-one years later. Hitchcock was from Georgia, and was among the nearly 450 men who were walked out of Goliad on March 27, 1836, in the belief that they were being freed. Santa Anna had other ideas, having directed his men to shoot them all. Some were uninjured, some were clubbed to death, some feigned death, and some managed to escape. Living off of horned frogs and turtles, Hitchcock and a companion reached safety at a settler's home. Hearing that Sam Houston had captured Santa Anna, Hitchcock was eager to return to Houston's service, and he was ultimately discharged as a colonel. He believed until the rest of his life that he and four other men were the only survivors from Goliad, although we know now that 27 escaped.
Texas rewarded its soldiers with land grants, and Hitchcock received 1280 acres in Denton and Wise Counties. He moved around a few times, even marrying and losing his family to yellow fever in Louisiana, before returning to Texas, living at the James Hotel in Denton using the money acquired from the sale of his land holdings.
Hitchcock apparently made it known that he had some money, and on August 25, 1887, the James Hotel burned. Hitchcock was incinerated while trying to escape the blaze. Two men were arrested in an apparent scheme involving the owner's desire to collect insurance money, but they were acquitted. Hitchcock's gold buttons were found, but his money was never located. His Findagrave page (see below) provides some additional details, noting that Hitchcock was frail and that there were attempts to locate him inside the burning building.
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Colonel Hitchcock's marble obelisk stands about twelve feet tall, and the family name, "Hitchcock", is on the front plinth. There is text only on the front, and the main inscription reads:
Andrew Jackson
Hitchcock
Born at Columbus Ga.
Feb. 21, 1814
Came to Texas a member of
Capt. Wadsworth's Co. Ga. Batt.
was with Col. Fannin at the
Goliad massacre and escaped.
Burned to death at Denton
Aug. 25, 1887
---*---
A brave soldier, a true friend, and
a kind and charitable christian.
An epitaph is on the obelisk shaft, under a bit of relief art of a finger pointing Heavenward. It reads:
"The voice at midnight came,
He started up to hear,
A mortal arrow pierced his frame
He fell, but felt no fear."