The Junior Historian, Volume 8, Number 4, January 1948 Page: 6
24 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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'I'1IE JUNIOR IIISTIO'(IAN
WILLIAM W. MOON
by CLARA BETH WOO)ALL
San Marcos, Texa;W I I. LI A M WASHINGTON
MOON, one of the first settlers
of San Marcos, was an orphan
three days after his birth. He was born
during the War of 1812, on March 25,
1814, in Madison County near Hunts-
ville, Alabama. His mother, Martha
Moore Moon, suffering from exposure
to which many settlers were subjected,
(lied at his birth. His father, Joseph L.
Moon, was with Andrew Jackson fight-
ing the Creek Indians and was killed in
the battle of Horseshoe Bend three
days after his son was born.
Joseph Moon's brother accepted the
responsibility of caring for his infant
nephew. and William's early days were
spent with his uncle in the Cumberland
Mountains. Billie spent his early child-
hood hunting in these mountains, milk-
ing the cows, and feeding the hogs.
\Vhen he grew older, he had to work
in the fields.
Soon he became restless and wanted
to move from his uncle's home out into
the wilderness. His uncle wanted to
stay and help build a community, and
he wanted Billie to stay also; but Billie
d id not want to stay. When his uncle
would not give him permission to leave,
he ran away. In order that his uncle
could not find him and force him to
return home, Billie moved farther and
farther away until he finally settled
near his Alabama birthplace.
While on this trip he suffered from
hunger, cold, and sickness. Sometimes
he went hungry for days at a time. He
had to work as he went in order to get
enough food to live on. Many nights
he had to sleep in swamps.
He obtained a job taking flatboats
(lown the rivers, carrying food and furs
and hides to the towns. He followed
the Tennessee and Ohio rivers to the
Mississippi, then went down the Missis-sippi 1:o New Orleans. After the lxbats
were too old and leaky to use any more,
he would chop them up and sell them
for tiriber. He did this to make a little
more money.
Often when he made any money, he
was robbed of it by the pirates and out-
laws who killed many travelers for their
money. Billie, however, always man-
aged to escape death.
On May 12, 1834, William Moon
married Saphronia E. Sublet at Belle-
fonte, Alabama. Shortly after his wed-
ding, he enlisted in the war against
the Seminole Indians in Florida. He
left his wife with her father and mother,
Benjamin and Mary Sublet, while he
fought in this war. The Indians sur-
rendered near Tampa Bay in the south-
ern part of that state.
One morning, while in Florida, Moon
awoke to find a rattlesnake coiled at
the foot of his bed, and at once he cut
off the snake's head with his sword,
roasted( it, and ate part of it. He said
it was the best meat he had ever eaten.
The o:her soldiers with him thought
he liked it because he was so hungry,
and they expected it to kill him; they
were s lrprised when it did not.
After the war the soldiers went by
boat to Pensacola, where they disem-
barked and walked back to their homes
in northern Alabama.
In May, 1838. he packed his covered
wagon and with his wife and baby
started for Texas with a number of
other families. All the wagons traveled
together to be protected during the
hard and dangerous times. If one man's
mules )or oxen wandered off, it was the
custom for all the wagons to wait until
the man could get his things together.
Someti nes they had to wait for three
or four days before the man could find
his animals. Often they were attacked
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Texas State Historical Association. The Junior Historian, Volume 8, Number 4, January 1948, periodical, January 1948; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth391365/m1/8/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Texas State Historical Association.