JACOB EDMUND BLAKE
1812-1846

Jacob Edmund Blake,  soldier, was born in Philadelphia in 1812, the son of businessman  George Blake. He attended the United States Military Academy at  West Point and graduated in 1833. He was posted to the Sixth  Infantry and spent the next four years working at various stations in  clerk positions. In July 1838 he was transferred to the new Corps of  Topographical Engineers as a first lieutenant. He saw service in  Florida during the Seminole War (1838-39) as assistant  topographical engineer and in 1842 as a member of Gen. William  J. Worth's staff. Blake was also involved in the 1841 survey of the  Texas-United States border and did work on Lake Erie, in New  Orleans, and in Florida.

 In 1845 he was assigned to General Zachary Taylor's army of  observation at Corpus Christi. In October of that year, he was  posted to San Antonio de Béxar to survey the roads between there  and Corpus Christi-Point Isabel. In San Antonio he made an  important rendering of the unrestored Alamo chapel and barracks  (1845). The drawing, now preserved at the National Archives, is  considered one of the best representations of the Alamo before its  repair in 1850. The result of his survey was the map of South Texas  in which the Blake drawing was included.

 When Taylor moved to the Rio Grande, Blake rejoined the main  army. He was mentioned in Taylor's official report for his daring  reconnaissance of the Mexican lines just before the battle of Palo  Alto. During the lull between the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de  la Palma in May 1846, Blake remained in the saddle nearly  twenty-four hours before returning to camp at Rancho Viejo. When  he unsaddled his horse, his holsters hit the ground and his gun went  off. The ball struck him, and he died a few hours later, on May 9,  1846, and was buried on the Palo Alto battlefield. In 1909 his body,  having already been moved to Fort Brown, was again transferred  when Fort Brown National Cemetery was moved. Blake now rests  in a mass grave with other Mexican War soldiers at the National  Cemetery in Alexandria, Louisiana. Camp Blake, at the San Pedro  River on the military road between San Antonio and El Paso, was  named in honor of Lieutenant Blake.

 BIBLIOGRAPHY: George W. Cullum, Biographical Register of  the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West  Point, New York. S. W. Geiser, "Men of Science in Texas,  1820-1880," Field and Laboratory 26-27 (July-October  1958-October 1959). Susan Prendergast Schoelwer, Alamo Images  (Dallas: DeGolyer Library, 1985).

                    Kevin R. Young