Alamo Plaza in San Antonio in Bexar County, Texas — The American South (West South Central)
Emily West Morgan (1815-1891)
The "Yellow Rose of Texas"
Photographed By Sean Flynn
1. Emily West Morgan (1815-1891) Marker
On April 16, 1836, West and other residents of New Washington were captured by the Mexican Army. West was forced to travel with the forces of General Antonio López de Santa Anna as they prepared to face General Sam Houston and the Texian Army. She was near the Mexican camp at San Jacinto on April 21 when Houston's forces attacked.
After the revolution, West returned to New York and faded from view. In 1842, author William Bollaert noted that he learned of West from General Houston when he visited Texas. According to Houston, West had kept Santa Anna distracted by her dalliance with him in his tent, enabling the Texians to surprise his camp. While this story lacks historical evidence, it has become an enduring legend in the annals of Texas History. Historians believe that she served as the inspiration for the popular song, The Yellow Rose of Texas.
Sculptor:
this page online
Erected 2019 by The Turner Family Foundation and the Alamo Briscoe Sculpture Trail.
Topics. This memorial is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Settlements & Settlers • War, Texas Independence • Women. A significant historical date for this entry is April 16, 1836.
Location. 29° 25.579′ N, 98° 29.171′ W. Marker is in San Antonio, Texas, in Bexar County. It is in Alamo Plaza. The statue is to the immediately right of the Alamo Sesquicentennial Monument and to the left of the statue to James Bowie, near the north wall of the Alamo complex. The Emily Morgan Hotel (named, likely with an incorrect last name, after the subject of the statue) is visible across the street behind the statue. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 300 Alamo Plaza, San Antonio TX 78205, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Alamo Sesquicentennial Monument (here, next to this marker); Susannah Dickinson (here, next to this marker); John William Smith, 'El Colorado' (here, next to this marker); Colonel William B. Travis (here, next to this marker); James Bowie (here, next to this marker); Tennessee Volunteers at the Alamo (a few steps from this marker); William Barret Travis
Photographed By Sean Flynn, September 5, 2023
2. Emily West Morgan statue and marker
Regarding Emily West Morgan (1815-1891). The story of Emily West and General Santa Anna was recorded, as stated on the marker at the Alamo complex, within a decade of the Battle of San Jacinto by English author William Bollaert. However, it went undiscovered until the 1940s, when researchers going through the papers Bollaert's papers, which had been acquired by Chicago's Newberry Library in 1911, found the story in a previously unpublished document. For many years, Emily was assigned the last name Morgan, under the belief that she was a slaved owned by Colonel Morgan. However, a passport found in the 1970s and an employment contract found later demonstrated that the woman was actually a freed, mixed-race woman with the name of Emily West, who never took the Morgan name.
The song The Yellow Rose of Texas first surfaced in the 1850s in a songbook produced by Edwin Christy, the founder of the blackface minstrel show known as Christy's Minstrels. The original lyrics described a Black singer seeking a "yellow" woman, meaning someone of half-Black, half-white lineage,
Photographed By Sean Flynn
3. Emily West Morgan statue
The Emily Morgan Hotel, named after the statue subject (albeit probably incorrectly), is visible in the background. Also visible are the Sesquicentennial Marker in the foreground and the statue to Jim Bowie in the background.
Also see . . .
1. Emily D. West.
From the Texas State Historical Association: "A story was told around campfires and in barrooms that Emily had helped defeat the Mexican army by a dalliance with Santa Anna. The only discovered documentation for this in the nineteenth century was a chance conversation in 1842 between a visiting Englishman and a veteran on board a steamer from Galveston to Houston. William Bollaert recorded in his journal, 'The battle of San Jacinto was probably lost to the Mexicans, owing to the influence of a Mulatta Girl (Emily) belonging to Col. Morgan(Submitted on September 13, 2023, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)who was closeted in the tent with G'l Santana.'"Texas State Library and Archives Commission4. Emily West's passportEmily West received a passport, believed to be in 1837, that enabled her to return to her home in New York. It is now preserved by the Texas State Archives.
2. The Yellow Rose of Texas.
From the Texas State Historical Association: "In the late 1950s R. Henderson Shuffler, head of the Texas A&M office of information and publication and subsequently the first director of the Institute of Texan Cultures, was bothered that this 'unsung' heroine of Texas was not better-known or appreciated. Shuffler was determined to associate her with a song and initially felt that Emily should be connected with 'Will You Come to the Bower?'—a bawdy tune that was played at the battle of San Jacinto. But by July 1959 he focused his attention on “The Yellow Rose of Texas” instead.... Shuffler later wrote [folklore singer John] Lomax in February 1960: 'if there is not, as I still suspect, a remote connection between the story of Emily and the original folk song version of ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas,’ there should be.'"(Submitted on September 13, 2023, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)
Additional keywords. emily west alamo san antonio
Credits. This page was last revised on September 13, 2023. It was originally submitted on September 13, 2023, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 221 times since then and 149 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on September 13, 2023, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. • James Hulse was the editor who published this page.
