About the Gray Diary
The diary of William Fairfax Gray is one of the most vivid and essential firsthand accounts of the founding of the Republic of Texas. Kept during his travels from Virginia to Texas between 1835 and 1837, the diary captures not only Gray’s personal journey but the turbulent birth of a nation. Its pages offer a rare, day-by-day view into the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos, where delegates drafted the Republic of Texas Constitution against the urgent backdrop of revolution. Without Gray’s meticulous notes, much of the atmosphere, tension, and procedural detail of those crucial weeks would be lost.
An experienced Virginia attorney and War of 1812 veteran, Gray had only recently arrived in Texas when he found himself in the midst of political upheaval and looming conflict. Because he had no formal political role in the Convention, his diary remains unusually candid. He recorded frustrations, debates, personalities, and private reactions with a frankness seldom found in official documents. From the rapid adoption of the Texas Declaration of Independence, to the contentious debates over land policy and loans, to the moment the delegates learned of the fall of the Alamo, Gray documented both the monumental decisions and the small human moments that shaped the Republic’s earliest government.
Beyond its value as a political chronicle, the Gray Diary offers a richly textured portrait of life in early Texas. Gray noted the people he encountered, the customs he observed, and even the cost of meals and supplies as he moved across the region. These details transform the diary from a simple record into a window onto the world of 1830s Texas, providing context for the social and cultural landscape in which the Republic emerged. Today, his diary remains a cornerstone for historians seeking to understand not only what happened during the Revolution, but how it felt to live through it.