Thomas W. Ward

Thomas William (Peg Leg) Ward (1807 – November 25, 1872) was an Irish-born American soldier and politician, elected the second (1840–41) tenth (1853) and was appointed the nineteenth mayor of Austin, Texas in 1865. He also served as Texas Commissioner of the General Land Office and United States consul to Panama.

He was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1807 to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ward, landowning English immigrants. In 1828 Ward immigrated to Quebec and thence to New Orleans, where he studied engineering and architecture.

Seven years later he answered the call for volunteers to help stand off Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna's army. Ward was one of the organizers of the New Orleans Greys, which fought at the siege of Bexar in December 1835. During the battle, Captain Ward, at the head of an artillery company, followed Benjamin R. Milam into San Antonio. During the ensuing battle Ward lost his leg to a cannonball, and Col. Milam was killed by a rifle shot. Legend has it that Milam's body and Ward's leg were buried in the same grave. The crippled Ward returned to New Orleans to be fitted with a peg leg. His stay in the city was brief, however, and he returned to Texas in the spring of 1836.

Commissioned as a colonel by President David G. Burnet, Ward served under Gen. Thomas J. Rusk. For his service to the Republic of Texas, Ward later received 2,240 acres in Grayson and Goliad counties.

After the Texas Revolution Ward settled in Houston and worked as a general contractor.

On February 18, 1837, Augustus C. Allen signed a contract with Ward to build the Texas capitol in Houston. Despite missing the initial deadline due to material delays, Ward completed the building in time for the Second Session of the 1st Congress of the Republic of Texas to meet in it. He served as a clerk and later a member to the Harrisburg County's Board of Land Commissioners during 1838.

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