05 LC 18
4581
House
Resolution 935
By:
Representatives Coleman of the
144th,
Ralston of the
7th,
Ray of the
136th,
Houston of the
170th,
Parrish of the
156th,
and others
A
RESOLUTION
Commending
Joanna Troutman; and for other purposes.
WHEREAS,
Joanna Troutman was born on February 19, 1818, in Crawford County, Georgia, and
was the daughter of Hiram Baldwin Troutman; and
WHEREAS,
in 1835 a band of stalwart Georgians formed the Georgia Brigade and traveled to
Texas under the command of Colonel William Ward in response to an appeal for aid
by Texas as it fought for independence from Mexico; and
WHEREAS,
Joanna Troutman designed and made a flag of white silk, bearing a blue,
five-pointed star and two inscriptions: "Texas and Liberty" on the obverse, and
in Latin: "Where Liberty dwells there is my country," on the reverse;
and
WHEREAS,
she presented the flag to the Georgia Battalion and it was unfurled at Velasco
on January 8, 1836, above the Americana Hotel; and
WHEREAS,
the flag was carried to Goliad where James W. Fanin, Jr., raised it when he
heard the Texas Declaration of Independence; and
WHEREAS,
the flag was accidently torn to shreds, but its tattered remnants flew
above
the battle signifying the first flag to fly over free Texas; and
the battle signifying the first flag to fly over free Texas; and
WHEREAS,
in 1839, Joanna married S. L. Pope and moved to Elmwood, a plantation near
Knoxville, Georgia; and
WHEREAS,
in 1875, following the death of her first husband, she married W. G. Vinson, a
member of the Georgia General Assembly; and
WHEREAS,
she died in 1879, but in 1913, Honorable Oscar B. Colquitt, Governor of Texas,
and also a Georgia native, received permission for her remains to be interred in
the Texas State Cemetery in Austin; and
WHEREAS,
in 1919, a bronze sculpture designed by Pompeo L. Coppini depicting a girl
sewing was erected to honor the memory of that Texas patriot; and
WHEREAS,
her portrait hangs in the Texas state capitol; and
WHEREAS,
it is abundantly fitting and proper that this native daughter of Georgia, whose
memory is so revered in Texas, be appropriately recognized.
NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES that the members of
this body commend Joanna Troutman for her steller service on behalf of the cause
of liberty and for designing the first flag of the State of Texas.