Greenwood family’s journey through Texas’ revolution

Nacogdoches—Long before highways and railroads cut across East Texas, settlers like Garrison Greenwood pushed wagons through dense forests, cut their own roads, and built crude cabins in hostile territory. Greenwood, born in Illinois in 1799, is remembered as one of the early figures who helped shape Texas during the turbulent years of revolution and frontier conflict.

Greenwood and his wife, Elizabeth, joined a wagon train led by Baptist minister Daniel Parker in 1832, leaving Georgia with 39 other families. The group endured a perilous trek through wilderness roamed by hostile tribes and rife with unseen dangers. Scouts rode ahead and behind, keeping watch against surprise attacks. Every obstacle, from swollen rivers to impassable woods, had to be solved on the spot with axes, ropes, or handmade rafts.

“Traveling then was an arduous undertaking, with no railroads, wagon roads, or bridges,” recalled Greenwood’s eldest son, Jordan H. Greenwood, in a memoir written around 1870. “Despite obstacles that would seem insurmountable to the present generation, we reached the land of promise.”

Carving a home in Texas

Once in East Texas, the Greenwoods and other families secured land grants from the Mexican government and began building cabins near Nacogdoches and San Augustine. Their homes, sealed with plaster and anchored by wide stone fireplaces, were simple but sturdy, often warmer in winter and cooler in summer than later lumber houses.

The Greenwoods raised 14 children and lived as farmers, but their lives were shaped by the chaos of the Texas Revolution. Garrison Greenwood, respected as both a settler and soldier, was named commander of Texas frontier forts by the Convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos. From his post, he coordinated defenses as settlers scrambled to protect their families during the Runaway Scrape, the mass evacuation ahead of the advancing Mexican army.

For a time, the Greenwoods found refuge in small cabins near San Augustine. Then, one April day in 1836, a thunderous cannonade echoed from the town.

“We were puzzled until men came racing down the road, shouting, ‘Hurrah for Texas! Houston has taken Santa Anna and his whole army prisoner!’” Jordan Greenwood remembered. “The news seemed too good to be true, yet it was. Tears of joy flowed, women embraced, and prayers of thanksgiving were offered.”

Confronting frontier violence

Victory at San Jacinto did not end the family’s hardships. Native American tribes, pushed northwest by waves of settlement, frequently raided isolated homes and forts. In one incident later recounted by Jordan, the Greenwoods narrowly avoided a deadly attack by hiding in the woods until the threat passed. Other families were less fortunate — including settlers in the Murchison and Eadon settlement, where hesitation and lack of preparation led to a devastating massacre.

The constant danger eventually drove the Greenwoods eastward in search of safer ground. After selling property near Fort Houston, they purchased a farm along Patroon Creek in San Augustine County. For $1,000, they acquired land, cattle, and hogs, settling in an area better suited for stock raising. Over time, the family expanded their holdings, acquiring thousands of acres in Shelby and Nacogdoches counties.

The move marked a turning point. With fertile soil, canebrakes for winter pasture, and abundant timber and game, the Greenwoods began to thrive.

A legacy of resilience

Though the family sought stability, the challenges of frontier life never fully faded. Horse theft, raids, and harsh conditions tested their endurance. Yet through persistence, they established a lasting presence in East Texas.

By the time of Garrison Greenwood’s death in 1859, he was remembered not only as a farmer and father of 14 but also as a military leader, a fort commander, and a symbol of the resilience required to tame the Texas frontier. His son’s writings, passed down through generations, capture the raw immediacy of that era — the terror of flight, the relief of victory, and the determination to build a future out of wilderness.

“My father and mother arrived in Texas determined to brave the terrors of frontier life and carve out a home,” Jordan wrote. “Despite hardships and unseen dangers, we survived — and we built.”

Today, historians point to accounts like Jordan Greenwood’s as a vivid reminder of the human struggles behind Texas independence. They are stories of ordinary families who endured extraordinary trials, shaping a state that was still very much in the making.

As Jordan himself concluded, the frontier tested every family that dared to settle it. For the Greenwoods, it was a test they passed — one log cabin, one cleared field, and one hard-won victory at a time.