DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Robert McAlpin Williamson — and friend, this one's worth the stop. Now, Texas has had its share of characters, but few left a mark quite like the man they called Three-Legged Willie. Robert McAlpin Williamson, born in 1804, was struck by disease at the age of fifteen.
The illness left one leg permanently bent at the knee — so he wore a pegleg beneath his trousers, right alongside his two natural legs. All three covered up, all three in service. Hence the nickname.
Three-Legged Willie. He settled in Texas in 1827 to practice law, and right away you get the sense this was a man who did not shy from a fight — especially when the fight was righteous. Roll the clock forward to 1832.
Fort Anahuac. Williamson's client and friend, Patrick C. Jack, has been jailed.
So has a young man named William Barret Travis — later the commander at the Alamo, though nobody quite knew that yet. The man holding them was the commandant, Juan Davis Bradburn. And Bradburn, it turned out, was not a man of his word.
Bradburn and his associates offered what sounded like a deal — exchange Jack and Travis for Mexican soldiers that Williamson's men had captured earlier. A reasonable trade. The kind of arrangement honorable men make.
But it was false. A fabrication. A betrayal dressed up as a negotiation.
Williamson didn't fold. After the confrontation, Bradburn at last gave up the Texans, resigned his command, and left Fort Anahuac. Three-Legged Willie, with no more weapons than the law and his nerve, had made an heroic stand.
But that betrayal lodged somewhere deep. After what happened at Fort Anahuac, Williamson took up the cause of Texas independence — first with words, then with arms. He fought at the Battle of San Jacinto.
The man who walked on three legs walked into history. And he wasn't done. Williamson served as a district judge and as a justice of the first supreme court of the Republic — that from 1836 to 1839.
Then as a lawmaker through the fifth all the way to the ninth congresses, from 1840 to 1845. Now, there is one more story attached to this man, and it has the ring of legend — though the marker is careful to call it a noted episode. A ruffian, the story goes, drew a Bowie knife and set it on the table or thereabouts, saying, simply, "This is the law." Judge Williamson looked at that knife.
Then he covered it with his pistol. "This," he said, "is the constitution — which overrules the law." Robert McAlpin Williamson died in 1859. But that line? That line has got some legs on it.
What the marker says
(1804-1859) Crippled by disease at 15, with a leg permanently bent at the knee, wore a pegleg which like his two natural legs was covered with his trousers. Hence he was nicknamed "Three-Legged Willie." Settled in Texas in 1827 to practice law. Here at Fort Anahuac in 1832, he made an heroic stand against the commandant, Juan Davis Bradburn, who had jailed his client and friend, Patrick C. Jack, and William Barret Travis (later Alamo commander). Bradburn and associates made a false agreement to exchange Jack and Travis for Mexican soldiers captured earlier by Williamson's men. Following a confrontation, Bradburn at last gave up the Texans, resigned his command, and left Fort Anahuac. But after this betrayal, Williamson took up cause of Texas independence, fighting with words and then with arms at Battle of San Jacinto. A district judge and a justice of first supreme court of the Republic (1836-39), he also served as a lawmaker, 5th throug 9th congresses (1840-45). In a noted episode, a ruffian is said to have drawn a Bowie knife, saying, "This is the law," but Judge williamson covered it with his pistol, declaring, "This is the constitution which overrules the law."