Benjamin Milam Benjamin Rush " Ben " Milam ( October 20 , 1788 – December 7 , 1835 ) was a leading figure in the Texas Revolution . Milam County , Texas was named in his honor , as was the Ben Milam Hotel in Houston . He was born in Kentucky . Early life . Milam was born in Frankfort , Kentucky , on October 20 , 1788 . He was the fifth of the six children of Moses Milam and his wife , Elizabeth Pattie Boyd . Milam had little or no formal schooling . He enlisted as a private in the 8th Regiment of the Kentucky Militia , but eventually was elected a lieutenant . He served in the War of 1812 . Early Years in Texas . In 1818 , after learning of the trading opportunities with the Indians of the upper Red River , Milam traveled to Coahuila y Texas to trade with the Comanches . While there , he met David G . Burnet , who at the time was living with the Indians in an attempt to get over his tuberculosis . In New Orleans in 1819 , Milam met José Félix Trespalacios and filibuster , who were planning an expedition to help the revolutionaries in Mexico gain their independence from Spain . Milam joined Trespalacios and was commissioned a colonel by him . In Puerto Vallarta and Mexico City , Trespalacios and Milam met the same reception Long had previously received . The non - revolutionaries had them jailed . While in prison , Long was mysteriously killed ( reportedly shot by a guard ) , and Milam blamed Tresplacios . Milam was again imprisoned for threatening to kill Tresplacios . Milam and his friends were sent to Mexico City where Agustín de Iturbide ordered all of them shot . Milam and the others were imprisoned until the fall of 1822 , when they were released , thanks to the influence of Joel R . Poinsett , U . S . Commissioner of Observation to Mexico . Poinsett secured their freedom and , with the exception of Milam , all were returned to the United States on the sloop - of - war USS John Adams ( 1799 ) . By the spring of 1824 Milam had returned to Mexico , which was adopting the 1824 Constitution of Mexico and a republican form of government . Milam was granted Mexican citizenship and commissioned a colonel in the Mexican army . Texas Revolution . From 1800 to 1820 , Milam was Arthur Wavell ' s partner in a silver mine operation in Nuevo León . The two also obtained " empresario " grants in Texas . In 1829 , Milam intended to organize a new mining company in partnership with David Burnet , but failed due to a lack of funds . In 1835 , Milam went to Monclova , the capital of Coahuila y Texas to urge the new governor , Agustín Viesca , to send a land commissioner to Texas to provide the settlers with land titles . However , before Milam could leave the city , word arrived that Antonio López de Santa Anna had overthrown the representative government of Mexico and established a dictatorship . Governor Viesca fled with Milam , but both were captured and imprisoned at Monterey . Milam eventually escaped , thanks to sympathetic jailers who gave him a horse and let him escape . By chance , he encountered a company of Texas soldiers commanded by George Collinsworth , from whom he learned of the movement in Texas for independence . Milam joined them , helping to capture Goliad on October 10 . He wrote : " I assisted Mexico to gain her independence . I have endured heat and cold , hunger and thirst ; I have borne losses and suffered persecutions ; I have been a tenant of every prison between this and Mexico . But the events of this night have compensated me for all my losses and all my sufferings . " He then marched with them to join the main army in capturing San Antonio . On November 18 Stephen F . Austin resigned command of the Texan forces at San Antonio to fulfill his mission to the United States as a commissioner . Edward Burleson was elected on November 24 by the volunteers to take Austin ' s place and then commissioned as commander of the volunteer army by the provisional government on December 1 . While returning from a scouting mission in the southwest on December 4 , 1835 , Milam learned that a majority of the army had decided not to attack San Antonio as planned , but to go instead into winter quarters . Burleson and his council of officers were reluctant to attack , and the next day at 3 pm , Milam went to Burleson ’ s tent to ask permission to call for volunteers to storm the city . Burleson had little choice but to go along with Milam ' s plan . Milam was convinced that putting off the final assault on San Antonio would be a disaster for the cause of independence . He then made his famous impassioned plea : " Who will go with old Ben Milam into Bexar ? " Three hundred volunteered to attack at dawn on December 5 . The Siege of Bexar . Plans were quickly made . The men would form at an abandoned mill , Molino Blanco or Zambrano ' s mill , at 3 a . m . , while Burleson was to hold the rest as a reserve . At the same time , Captain James C . Neil was to open fire with two cannons on the Alamo to distract the Mexican soldiers . On December 7 , 1835 Milam , standing with Frank Johnson and Henry Karnes near the Veramendi house , was shot in the head by a Mexican rifleman and killed instantly . He fell into the arms of Samuel Maverick . He had been trying to observe the San Fernando church tower with a field telescope given to him by Stephen Austin . Robert Morris was chosen to take over Milam ’ s command of the first division . The Mexican Army lost more than 400 killed , deserted or wounded in the ensuing battle . Texan losses were only 20 to 30 killed . The siege ended on December 9 , 1835 when Martín Perfecto de Cos sent a subordinate to negotiate a truce with the Texans . Morris gave Cos and his troops six days to leave the Alamo . Burleson provided the Mexican Army with as much supplies as he could spare , and the Mexican wounded were allowed to remain behind to be treated by Texan doctors .