David Thomas was a soldier, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, the ad interim attorney general and the acting secretary of war for the Republic of Texas in 1836. Thomas was born around 1801 and came to Texas in 1835. He served as a representative of the Refugio Municipality at the Convention of 1836, where he signed the Declaration of Independence. On March 17, Thomas was elected attorney general by the Convention. In addition, he was later named acting Secretary of War when Thomas Rusk left the cabinet to join the army. In April 1836, Thomas was accidentally shot and wounded while aboard a steamship bound for Galveston. He died several days later and was buried near Vice-President Lorenzo de Zavala’s home on Buffalo Bayou.
Source: Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. “David Thomas,” http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/TT/fth7.html (accessed May 19, 2010).
From the guide to the Thomas, David, Papers, 1836, 1927, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)
