View source for George Washington Hockley

{{Infobox officeholder
 | honorific_prefix   = 
 | name               = George Washington Hockley
 | image              = 
 | image_size         = 
 | image_upright      =
 | smallimage         = <!--If this is specified, "image" should not be.-->
 | alt                = 
 | caption            = 
 | order              = 
 | office             = Texas Secretary of War and Marine
 | term_start         = 1841
 | term_end           = 1842
 | president          = [[Sam Houston]]
 | predecessor        = [[Branch T. Archer]] (War) <br> [[Louis P. Cooke]] (Navy)
 | successor          = [[George Washington Hill(Texan)|George Washington Hill]]
 | prior_term         =
 | order2             =  
 | office2            =  Texas Secretary of War <br> (Acting)
 | president2          = [[Sam Houston]]
 | term_start2        =  1838
 | term_end2          =  1838
 | predecessor2        = [[Barnard E. Bee Sr.]]
 | successor2          = [[Albert Sidney Johnston]]
}}
{{Texas History}}
'''George Washington Hockley''' (1802 – June 6, 1854) was a [[Texas Revolution|Texas revolution]]ary who served as secretary of war for the [[Republic of Texas]].<ref name=HTO>{{cite web|series=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|title=HOCKLEY, GEORGE WASHINGTON|last=Hyman|first=Carolyn|access-date=August 25, 2018|date=June 15, 2010|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fho08}}</ref>

Hockley was born in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]]. His parents were Thomas Hockley (1764-1805), a Philadelphia merchant, and his wife Mary Wescott (1764-1848). In the above-mentioned recollections of Mr. Howard, he states that then-Major Hockley was an executor of his aunt Patience Wescott of Philadelphia; she had owned 32,500 acres of land in Tipton County, Tennessee.

Hockley, serving in the Texas Army as a [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]], was in charge of the [[Twin Sisters (cannons)|Twin Sisters]] at the decisive [[Battle of San Jacinto]].

He was the secretary of war for the Republic of Texas during the first and second administrations of the new President [[Sam Houston]].  He served briefly in 1838 and again from 1841 to 1842.  

In 1843, Houston selected Hockley to serve as a military representative of a Texas diplomatic mission to [[Mexico]]. He met with Adrian Woll's delegation at [[Sabinas]], Mexico, where they discussed an amnesty offered by [[Antonio de Santa Anna]] to Texas, and proposed a withdrawal of Mexican troops from the [[Nueces Strip]]. Hockley and his colleague, [[Samuel May Williams]], remained in Sabinas for six months. Although no agreement from these talks was legalized, they were successful in postponing the threat of a Mexican invasion for another year while Texas negotiated with the United States and Great Britain for protection through official recognition or annexation.<ref>{{cite book|pages=122{{endash}}130|last=Henson|first=Margaret Swett|title=Samuel May Williams: Early Texas Entrepreneur|publisher=Texas A & M University Press|location=College Station, TX|year=1976|via=archive.org}}</ref>

Hockley died on June 6, 1851, in [[Corpus Christi, Texas]], and is interred at the city's Old Bayview Cemetery. In 1936, the year of the [[Texas Centennial]], the state erected a monument in his honor.<ref name=HTO/> 

[[Hockley County, Texas]], was named in his honor.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n157 158]}}</ref>

He founded the town of [[Hockley, Texas]], in 1835.

==In popular culture==
*In [[Fear the Walking Dead (season 7)|season 7]] of ''[[Fear the Walking Dead]]'', Victor Strand arms himself with a cutlass that had originally belonged to George Washington Hockley, telling Will in "The Beacon" that it dates back to the [[War of 1812]]. Strand briefly uses the sword in [[Fear the Walking Dead (season 8)|season 8]] as well before it's stolen from him.

==References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Necrology for 1851, ''New York Daily Times'', January 1, 1852, page 8.

{{TXRepublicSecWar}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hockley, George Washington}}
[[Category:1802 births]]
[[Category:1854 deaths]]
[[Category:People of the Texas Revolution]]
[[Category:People from Corpus Christi, Texas]]
[[Category:Politicians from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:Hockley County, Texas]]

{{Hockley County, Texas}}