John Berry

Birth Date: 1813-05-08
Death Date: 1891-12-20
Gender: Male
Nationality: U.S.

Born in Indiana, John “Bate” Berry immigrated to Texas with his father and two younger brothers in 1826. In February of 1836, Bate and his brother Andrew Jackson Berry joined the Texas army. Andrew Berry fought in the battle of San Jacinto, John Berry was detailed to guard the baggage train and did not participate in the battle. The brothers joined Colonel Edward Burleson’s ranger company in 1840, taking part in the Battle of Plum Creek on August 12 against Comanche Indians. They also joined the 1842 Somervell-Mier Expedition, in which a younger brother, Joseph Berry was killed. Bate Berry would spend the next two years imprisoned in Mexico.

In 1846, John Berry enlisted in the Mounted Texas Rifles, serving as a scout for General Zachary Taylor’s Army of Occupation in northern Mexico. Some Texas volunteers were believed to have used the conflict to exact revenge for earlier conflicts with Mexico. John Berry was reprimanded by General Taylor for taking scalps from Mexican soldiers killed in action.

After the war, John Bate Berry moved to Koockville, Texas where he farmed and ranched until his death on 20 December 1891. He is buried in the Grit Cemetery in Mason County.

Bibliography

Dixon, Sam Houston and Louis Wiltz Kemp The Heroes of San Jacinto Houston, Tex., Anson Jones Press, 1932.

Fisher, Ovie Clark. The Texas Heritage of the Fishers and the Clarks (Salado, Texas: Anson Jones Press, 1963).

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