Tampico, Dec 12, 1835 My Dear Brother Prepare to read these lines, conveying the news of my unhappy fate with the same firmness that you would have done, had you been summoned to attend the death bed. but reflect that the momentary pang which separates temporal and eternal life shall have passed ere this reaches you. to be brief, as the time allotted me to compose my mind for the event is short, I have only to say, that instead of arriving in Texas a freeman and at large, as I had supposed when I left you, the vessel was taken to Tampico, and myself and companions were compelled to March against a city which I had never seen, and to shoot down the inhabitants of a country that had never offended me; - rest assured this was an order not very faithfully executed, the consequence of which was, that a great many prisoners were made, among whom I am now confined under sentence of death, to be SHOT on Monday morning, at 7 o'clock. It is however a great consolation that I die innocent of any crime, and feel better enabled to encounter death than I could have expected... Present my dying affections to my wife and family, and believe me to remain your affectionate brother, Thomas Whitaker To Mr. William H. Whitaker - New Orleans... P.S. Endeave to broach the intelligence as smoothly as possible to our aged father, and remember me to all your friends in Pa. Betty Sellers