It was composed of one hundred men, sixty-eight of whom were regulars, well armed, and possessed of one field piece. It started in pursuit on March 4, 1801. Two weeks later they reached the point where he had entrenched himself on the bank of a river. The Spanish commander thereupon sent a messenger, “Mr. William Barr, an Irishman,” who had joined his command as interpreter, to summon Nolan to surrender. Nolan and his men determined to fight, and at daybreak next morning, began the engagement by firing on the Spaniards. The contest lasted until nine o’clock a. m., when Nolan was struck and killed by a cannon ball. His party then surrendered. [Illustration: HON. JOHN J. LINN, Born in County Antrim, Ireland, 1798; a pioneer settler of Texas; was a member of the Texan Congress; author of “Reminiscences of Fifty Years in Texas.” ] The stream on whose bank he was killed is known as Nolan’s Creek, and Nolan county, Texas, was named in his memory. Three of his associates, judging from their names, were of his blood, namely, Michael Moore, William Dandlin and Simon McCoy. John Henry Brown, author of the History of Texas, quotes the following from a Mr. Quintero: “The diary kept by Nolan, and many of his letters which are in my possession, show conclusively that he was not only a gallant and intelligent gentleman, but an accomplished scholar. He was thoroughly acquainted with astronomy and geography. He made the first map of Texas, which he presented to the Baron Carondelet, on returning from his first trip in 1797.” He was followed four years later by Capt. Zebulon Pike. A third invasion was that of the party led by A. W. Magee, a native of Massachusetts, a graduate of West Point, and an ex-officer of the United States Army. This expedition like that of Nolan’s ended badly for those engaged. Seventy or eighty of them who were captured by the Spaniards were shot and buried in one grave. They had rendered material aid, however, to the Mexican patriots in their struggle for independence. In 1822, thirteen years after their death, the governor of Texas, under the new republic of Mexico, collected their bleached bones, and had them interred with military honors. A tablet on an oak tree, near the place of sepulchre, bore the inscription: “Here lie the braves who, imitating the immortal example of Leonidas, sacrificed their fortunes and their lives contending against tyrants.” It is not possible to make an estimate of the number in this expedition who were, like Nolan and Magee, of Irish origin, as their names are not given, but that there were many, the record of those who followed proves. From 1813 to 1819 others followed in the steps of Nolan and Magee.