Emily D. West

Emily D. West (c.1815–1891), also known as Emily Morgan, is a folk heroine whose legendary activities during the Texas Revolution have come to be identified with the song "The Yellow Rose of Texas".

Biography West was a mixed-race free woman of color, or a "high yellow", and Connecticuter born in New Haven. thumb Signatures of Emily West and James Morgan on employment contract of October 28, 1835. In 1835 she was contracted to James Morgan in New York to work as an indentured servant for one year in Morgan's Point (at that time still in the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas), at the New Washington Association's hotel as a housekeeper.

According to legend, Santa Anna had been caught unprepared because he was having sex with West. No contemporary accounts indicate that Santa Anna was with a woman at the time, but the story was recorded in the journal of Englishman William Bollaert in 1842, who was told the story by Sam Houston during a steamer trip.

Passport of Emily D West issued by the Department of State, Republic of Texas, in 1837. After the Battle of San Jacinto, the real Emily West wanted to leave Texas, but the papers that declared her "free" had been lost. Major Isaac Moreland, commandant of the garrison at Galveston, vouched for Emily in her application for a passport. Emily possibly returned to New York in March 1837. The widowed Mrs Lorenzo de Zavala had returned to New York in 1837 at about the same time as Emily D. West, although West de Zavala returned to Texas in early 1839. Denise McVea suggests that the Emily West of the Yellow Rose of Texas legend was Emily West de Zavala. There is no contemporary or primary evidence that Emily D. West and Emily de Zavala were the same person.

In popular culture In the History Channel miniseries Texas Rising, West is portrayed by actress Cynthia Addai-Robinson. A statue of her can also be found on the grounds of the Alamo in San Antonio (with the plaque calling her Emily West Morgan).