Robert Potter, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, a chief author of the Republic's Constitution, the first Secretary of Navy of the Republic of Texas, and a former U.S. Congressman, settled on Caddo Lake in 1837 and won election to the Texas Senate in 1840. After the Senate adjourned in 1842, he tried to arrest his political foe William P. Rose. On the night of March 1, 1842, Rose led armed men to Potter's home, and at dawn Senator Potter jumped into the lake to swim for help but was shot to death. He is buried in State Cemetery, Austin.