In 1948, TSHA published the first and only book-length biography of Robert McAlpin Williamson, a.k.a. Three Legged Willie, 1948. In time, it fell out of print. TSHA is pleased to bring it back into print.
Three Legged Willie’s story encompasses many of the critical events in Mexican Texas and the Republic era. He came to Texas as a young lawyer and took up editing early San Felipe newspapers. He was a close friend of William Barret Travis and allegedly a distant cousin of Sam Houston. He served as the first major of Texas Rangers, serving with Noah Smithwick who reminisced about Williamson’s camp antics in the pages of his own popular memoir.
Duncan Robinson, author of this biography, wrote of him:
“He was the kind of a man who engenders legends, for he was lively and a sad life bored him. He would have sentenced Falstaff to jail without a blink; then he would have slipped into Falstaff’s cell to sip a bottle of sack with him.”
Williamson fell in with the men hawkish for Texas independence, serving as a refined and effective voice for the war movement. His July 4, 1835 “Liberty or Death” speech was a rallying cry for the Texians to take Bexar back from General Cos. John S. “Rip” Ford credited him as the man who “did more than any one man to nerve our people to strike for liberty.” Williamson was present for the October 1835 skirmish at Gonzales and later fought at the Battle of San Jacinto. He served the Republic of Texas as a Supreme Court Justice and legislator. He then channeled his abundant energy to annexation advocacy. Post-annexation, Williamson served Texas a state lawmaker running notably colorful campaigns.
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