^ THE <?> 
 O LIBRARIES ^ 
 
 
SAM HOUSTON 
 
 AND 
 
 ffijilg [^i[p[lO[B[Lfl(B 
 
 □ 
 
 BY C; EDWARDS LESTER, 
 
 Author of" The Glory ami Shame of England," " Th^ Comlition and Fate of Englaud," " The 
 Life and Voyages of Americus Vespuciu.s," Translator of the Medici 
 Series of Italian Prose, &c., &o., &c. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 BURGESS, STRINGER & CO., 
 
 222 Broadway, corner of Ann St. 
 
 1846. 
 

 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by 
 
 C. EDWARDS LESTER, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court oi' the United States for the Southern 
 
 District of New York. 
 
 58754 
 
 S<»rtBrt4 
 
 S. W. BENEDICT, STER. k PRINT., 
 16 Spruce Street, N. Y. 
 
^ 
 
 
 A WORD TO THE READER 
 
 BEFORE HE BEGINS THE BOOK OR THROWS IT DOWN. 
 
 I HAVE lived to see obloquy heaped by the Sons of the 
 Puritans upon an outraged People bravely struggling 
 for Independence, in the holy name of Liberty. 
 
 I have lived to see unmeasured calumny poured on 
 the head of an heroic Man who struck the fetter from 
 his bleeding country on the field, and preserved her 
 by his counsels in the Cabinet. And I have lived to 
 do justice to that man and that People by asserting 
 the truth. 
 
 This Book will lose me some friends, but it will 
 win me better ones in their places. But if it lost me 
 all and gained me none, in God's name, as I am a 
 free man, T would publish it. 
 
 I am no man's partizan, or eulogist. But I dare 
 tell the truth to the men of my own times, and leave 
 the men of other times to take care of my reputation. 
 
 1 do not ask the Reader to adopt my opinions — but 
 I do ask him to weigh my facts. I deprecate no 
 Critic's severity ; I only say to him as the old Greek 
 did to the man with the uplifted club — " Strike, sir, — 
 but hear me firsts Let us see if any good thing can 
 come out of Nazareth ! 
 
 C. EDWARDS LESTER. 
 
 New York, 25th August, 1846. 
 
SAM HOUSTON AND HIS EEPUBLIC. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE HERO-PEOPLE. 
 
 There are moments in our lives, on which fortune loves to 
 hang all our future history ; and, when we meet the crisis 
 like men, she takes care of the future for us. Once past the 
 hour of trial, there are no more hardships to undergo, no more 
 dangers to encounter. The gates, which guard the way to 
 glory, are swung wide open to the advancing hero, and he 
 treads the path of light and triumph, as the Roman conqueror 
 marched up to the temple of Jupiter through the streets of the 
 Eternal City. 
 
 So, too, there are days in the lives of nations, when fortune 
 loves TO suspend the glory of a people upon a single hour — 
 when they are called on to decide what their future history 
 shall be — whether their banners shall float over new empires, 
 extending their liberty, laws, and civilisation over oppressed 
 and benighted millions, crushing old structures of despot- 
 ism, breaking the arm of the tyrant, and melting away the 
 rotten fabrics of hoary superstitions, to emancipate whole 
 peoples — or, whether the wheels of their national greatness, like 
 the sun of Joshua, shall stand still in mid heaven, and the 
 solemn proclamation go forth, that they have reached the far- 
 thest limits of their civilisation — that the race of their daring 
 young men is suddenly arrested — that there shall be no new 
 field for untrodden adventure and lofty achievement — that the 
 world, and even despotism itself, may roll its wheels of con- 
 quest up to their frontier borders, and enlarge the empire of 
 
b TRIAL DAYS TO NATIONS. 
 
 tyranny and superstition at its will, for they have done their 
 work. They have extended the bright circle of their freedom 
 and power till they can extend it no longer. No bold woods- 
 man may pass their limits, and plunge off into the wilds, to 
 cut out for himself and his children a home in God's own 
 forests, for his government will never protect the squatter ad- 
 venturer, albeit the James River settler, and the uncompromis- 
 ing Puritan, were nothing more. 
 
 And if so be one after another of these forest Heroes has 
 led the way through the green woods beyond the Sabine, and 
 they can at last show the traveller the smoke of ten thousand 
 new cottages, wreathing up into the clear blue sky of New 
 Estramadura ; and if so be this new race of Puritans, Cava- 
 liers, Huguenots, Catholics and Outlaws, all fraternally min- 
 gled, have built up the beautiful fabric of a new free common- 
 wealth, for all the world to come to for a home, and done it 
 withal while they were protecting their wives and little chil- 
 dren from savages, made remorseless by Vxxx\{?Lnfire-ivater^ and 
 from the enervated, but perfidious Mexicans — why, even after 
 these Hunter-Legislators, these Squatter-Founders of States, 
 have done all the hard work, this old republic, whose wheels 
 can roll no further, will not even accept, what no other nation 
 ever had to offer, the free gift of a mighty domain declared 
 independent, as New York and Virginia were seventy years 
 ago, although the offering be made without money and with- 
 out price. 
 
 Yes, these trial days come to nations as they come to men. 
 One of those Rubicon-hours came on the cold bleak Rock of 
 Plymouth, where a little band of liberty-loving men landed, 
 under the cover of a keen northern blast, to begin the great 
 business for which Anglo-Saxons crossed the Atlantic, of 
 founding free commonwealths. Virginia, too, had her hour, 
 and her Cavaliers went through Indian-haunted woods, as 
 Marshal Ney's cavalry charged through the Black Forest. 
 
 At last, after much debate and more stupid misconception, 
 the New Republic, par excellence, came and laid on our federal 
 altars her young shield. It was riddled with rifle-bullets, and 
 
THE HERO-PEOPLE. 7 
 
 battered by the trenchant strokes of the tomahawk. You need 
 not have looked very close to have seen, too, the ghostly image 
 of Mexican treachery filling up the interstices. What an offer- 
 ing was this ! A young hero-people, a new Rome, coming 
 out of the forests, walking in light, and clothed in strength, 
 and advancing in manliness up to our altars. 
 
 "When the future historian shall tell his readers that the 
 Young Republic was driven away from our Capitol, and her 
 shield hurled back in her face, they will not believe it. That 
 the Representatives of America debated, hesitated, laughed 
 Texas to scorn, will, to the next generation, seem a malignant 
 invention of the historian. But it was so, and the last re- 
 source of republicanism was resorted to. The Texian ban- 
 ner was flung to the breeze, and the People of this country 
 were asked to settle the question. And over the hills of New 
 England, the rallying cry rang where the young American 
 Eagle first unfurled his wings, and far up the Valley of the 
 Mississippi, and down to the Florida coast, and back came 
 the glorious shout of a grateful welcome, and Texas came 
 into the Union. 
 
 It was a proud day when her Senators took their seats. 
 Greatest, and most daring of all the Texians, came that won- 
 drous man, who had stood by the side of the Young Repub- 
 lic, leaning on his rifle, and rocked her infancy in those far-off 
 wilds. Yes, there he stood, on the threshold of the Senate 
 Chamber, bringing in his arms, not like the triumphant Gene- 
 rals of Rome, the fine gold or precious stones of distant bar- 
 baric princes, lashed to his victorious car, but a new and a 
 vast empire. There stood the tall, erect, ample form of the 
 care-worn chieftain — his locks turned prematurely grey by the 
 hardships of a revolutionary frontier life. His wounds were 
 upon him, for he had bled freely in the service of two Repub- 
 lics. Let us inquire something of the history of this Man. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF LIFE. 
 
 Gen. Sam Houston was born the 2d of March, 1793, in 
 Rockbridge County, Virginia, seven miles east of Lexington, 
 at a place known as Timber Ridge Church. The day of his 
 birth, he was, many years afterwards, to celebrate as the anni- 
 versary of the birth of a new Republic — for it was on his 
 natal day that Texas declared herself, by the grace of God 
 and her own brave riflemen, free and independent. 
 
 His ancestors, on his father's and mother's side, are traced 
 back to the Highlands of Scotland. They are there found 
 fighting for " God and Liberty," by the side of John Knox. 
 During those times of trouble, they emigrated with that nu- 
 merous throng of brave men and women who were driven 
 away from their Highland homes, to seek a refuge in the 
 North of Ireland. Here they remained till the siege of Derry, 
 in which they were engaged, when they emigrated to Pennsyl- 
 vania. For more than a century, these families seemed to have 
 kept together in all their wanderings, and at last a union was 
 formed between them by the marriage of his parents, who had 
 been some time settled in Virginia, when the birth of the sub- 
 ject of these pages took place. 
 
 His father was a man of moderate fortune ; indeed, he 
 seems to have possessed only the means of a comfortable 
 subsistence. He was known only for one passion, and this 
 was for a military life. He had borne his part in the Revolu- 
 tion, and was successively the Inspector of Gen. Bowyer's 
 and Gen. Moore's Brigades, The latter post he held till his 
 death, which took place in 1807, while he was on a tour of 
 inspection among the Alleghany Mountains. He was a man 
 of powerful frame, fine bearing, and indomitable courage. 
 These qualities his son inherited, and they were the only 
 legacy he had to leave him. 
 
HIS MOTHER THR FIELD-SCHOOL. 9 
 
 His mother was an extraordinary woman. She was dis- 
 tinguished by a full, rather tall, and matronly form, a fine car- 
 riage, and an impressive and dignified countenance. She was 
 gifted with intellectual and moral qualities, which elevated her 
 in a still more striking manner above most of her sex. Her 
 life shone with purity and benevolence, and yet she was nerved 
 with a stern fortitude which never gave way in the midst of 
 the wild scenes that chequer the history of the frontier settler. 
 Her beneficence was universal, and her name was called with 
 gratitude by the poor and the suffering. Many years after- 
 ward, her son returned from his distant exile to weep by her 
 bed-side when she came to die. 
 
 Such were the parents of this Man. Those who know his 
 history will not be astonished to find that they were of that 
 noble race which first subdued the wildness of Viririnia and 
 Tennessee forests, and the ferocity of their savage inhabitants. 
 It is a matter of some interest to inquire, what were the means 
 of education offered to this Virginia boy. We have learned 
 from all quarters, that he never could be got into a school- 
 house till he was eight years old, nor can we learn that he ever 
 accomplished much in a literary way after he did enter. Vir- 
 ginia, which has never become very famous for her schools at 
 any period, had still less to boast of forty years ago. The 
 state made little or no provision by law for the education of 
 its citizens, and each neighborhood was obliged to take care 
 of its rising population. Long before this period, Washing- 
 ton College had been removed to Lexington, and a Field 
 School was kept in the ruined old edifice once occupied by 
 that institution. This school seems, from all accounts (and we 
 have taken some pains to inform ourselves about this matter), 
 to have been of doubtful utility. He is said, however, to have 
 learned to read and write — to have gained some imperfect 
 ideas of cyphering. Late in the fall and the winter, were the 
 only seasons he was allowed to improve even the dubious ad- 
 vantages of such a school. The rest of the year he was kept 
 to hard work. If he worked very well he was sometimes per- 
 mitted to run home from the fields to be in time to retain his 
 
10 THE HFROINE AND HER CHILDREN. 
 
 place in spelling. But it is doubtful if he ever went to such 
 a school more than six months in all, till the death of his 
 father, which took place when he was thirteen years old. This 
 event changed at once the fortunes of the family. They had 
 been mahitained in comfortable circumstances, chiefly through 
 the exertions of the father, and now they were to seek for 
 other reliances. 
 
 Mrs. Houston was left with the heavy burden of a nu- 
 merous family. She had six sons and three daughters. But 
 she was not a woman to succumb to misfortune, and she 
 immediately sold out the homestead and prepared to cross the 
 Alleghany Mountains, and find a new home on the fertile 
 banks of the Tennessee River. Those of our readers who 
 live in the midst of a crowded population, surrounded by 
 aU that embellishes civilized life, may be struck with the 
 heroism of a Virginia woman who, forty years ago, took up 
 her journey through those unpeopled regions ; and yet few of 
 them can have any adequate conception of the hardships such 
 a heroine had to encounter. We hope the day may come 
 when our young authors will stop writing and dreaming about 
 European castles, with their crazy knights and lady-loves, and 
 hunting through the mummy-haunted halls of the pyramids, 
 and set themselves to work to glean the unwritten legends of 
 heroism and adventure, which the old men would tell them, 
 who are now smoking their pipes around the roof-trees of 
 Kentucky and Tennessee. 
 
 There is room for the imagination to play around the toil- 
 some path of this widow and her children, as she pushed her 
 adventurous way to her forest home. Some facts, too, of wild 
 interest are in our possession — but we shall hurry on with our 
 story, for, if we mistake not, our readers will find romance 
 enough in this history to satisfy the wildest fancy. 
 
 Fired still with the same heroic spirit which first led them to 
 try the woods, our daring little party stopped not till they 
 reached the limits of the emigration of those days. They 
 halted eight miles from the Tennessee river, which was then 
 the boundary between white men and the Cherokee Indians. 
 
THE ACADEMY AND POPe's ILIAD. 11 
 
 Young Houston was now set to work with the rest of the 
 family in breaking up the virgin soil, and providing the means 
 of subsistence. There seems to have been very little fancy 
 in his occupations now for some time ; he became better 
 acquainted than ever with what is called hard work, — a term 
 which has a similar signification in all the languages and 
 countries we happen to be acquainted with. 
 
 There was an academy established in that part of East 
 Tennessee about this time, and he went to it for a while, just 
 after Hon. Mr. Jarnagin, who now represents his State in the 
 U. S. Senate, had left it. He had got possession, in some way, 
 of two or three books, which had a great power over his ima- 
 gination. No boy ever reads well till he feels a thirst for intel- 
 ligence, and no surer indication is needed that this period has 
 come, than to see the mind directed towards those gigantic 
 heroes who rise like spectres from the ruins of Greece and 
 Rome, towering high and clear above the darkness and gloom 
 of the Middle Ages. He had, among other works. Pope's 
 Iliad, which he read so constantly, we have been assured on 
 the most reliable authority, he could repeat it almost entire 
 from beginning to end. His imagination was now fully 
 awakened, and his emulation began to be stirred. Reading 
 translations from Latin and Greek soon kindled his desire to 
 study those primal languages ; and so decided did this pro- 
 pensity become, that on being refused when he asked the mas- 
 ter's permission, he turned on his heel, and declared solemnly 
 that he would never recite another lesson of any other kind 
 while he lived — and from vv^hat we have been able to learn of 
 his history, we think it very probable that he kept his word 
 most sacredly ! But he had gathered from the classic world 
 more through Pope's Iliad than many a ghostly book-worm, 
 who has read Euripides or^schylus among the solemn ruins 
 of the Portico itself. He had caught " the wonted fire" that 
 still " lives in the ashes" of their heroes, and his future life was 
 to furnish the materials of an epic more wondrous than many 
 a man's whose name has become immortal. 
 
 His eider brothers seem to have crossed his wishes occasion- 
 
12 LIFE AMONG THE INDIANS. 
 
 ally, and by a sort of fraternal tyranny quite common, exer- 
 cised over him some severe restraints. At last they compelled 
 him to go into a merchant's store, and stand behind the coun- 
 ter. This kind of life he had little relish for, and he suddenly 
 disappeared. A great search was made for him, but he was 
 nowhere to be found for several weeks. At last intelligence 
 reached the family that Sara had crossed the Tennessee river, 
 and gone to live among the Indians, where, from all accounts, 
 he seemed to be living much more to his liking. They found 
 him, and began to question him on the motives for this novel 
 proceeding. Sam was now, although so very young, nearly 
 six feet high, and standing straight as an Indian, coolly replied 
 that " he preferred measuring deer tracks to tape — that he 
 liked the wild liberty of the red men better than the tyranny of 
 his own brothers, and if he could not study Latin in the 
 academy, he could, at least, read a translation from the Greek 
 in the woods, and read it in peace. So they could go home 
 as soon as they liked." 
 
 His family, however, thinking this a freak from which he 
 would soon recover when he got tired of the Indians, gave 
 themselves no great uneasiness about him. But week after 
 week passed away, and Sam did not make his appearance. 
 At last his clothes were worn out, and he returned to be 
 refitted. He was kindly received by his mother, and for awhile 
 his brothers treated him with due propriety. But the first act 
 of tyranny they showed drove him to the woods again, where 
 he passed entire months with his Indian mates, chasing the 
 deer through the forest with a fleetness little short of their own, 
 engaging in all those gay sports of the happy Indian boys, and 
 wandering along the banks of the streams by the side of some 
 Indian maiden, sheltered by the deep woods, conversing in 
 that universal language which finds its sure way to the heart. 
 From a strange source we have learned much of his Indian 
 history during these three or four years, and in the absence of 
 facts it would be no difficult matter to fancy what must have 
 been his occupations. It was the moulding period of life, 
 when the heart, just charmed into the fevered hopes and dreams 
 
THE ROMANCE OF YOUTH. 13 
 
 of youth, looks wistfully around on all things for light and 
 beauty — " when every idea of gratification fires the blood and 
 flashes on the fancy — when the heart is vacant to every fresh 
 form of delight, and has no rival engagements to withdraw it 
 from the importunities of a new desire." The poets of 
 Europe, in fancying such scenes, have borrowed their sweetest 
 images from the wild idolatry of the Indian maiden. Hous- 
 ton has since seen nearly all there is in life to live for, and yet 
 he has been heard to say that, as he looks back over the waste 
 of life, there's nothing half so sweet to remember as this 
 sojourn he made among the untutored children of the forest. 
 
 And yet this running wild among the Indians, sleeping on 
 the ground, chasing wild game, making love to Indian maid- 
 ens, and reading Homer's Iliad withal, seemed a pretty strange 
 business, and people used to say that Sam Houston would 
 either be a great Indian chief, or die in a mad-house, or be 
 Governor of the State — for it was very certain that some 
 dreadful thing would overtake him ! 
 
 Well, it may have been doubtful, and it was for a long 
 time, what all this would end in. But the mystery has cleared 
 away, somewhat, since the battle of San Jacinto. Certain it is 
 that his early life among the Indians was, as the event proved, 
 a necessary portion of that wonderful training that fitted him 
 for his strange destiny. There it was he became initiated into 
 the profound mysteries of the red man's character, and a taste 
 was formed for wild forest life, which made him, many years 
 after, abandon once more the habitations of civilized men, 
 with their coldness, their treachery, and their vices, and pass 
 years among the children of the Great Spirit, till he finally led 
 the way to the achievement of the independence of a great 
 domain and the consolidation of a powerful Commonwealth. 
 
 Guided by a wisdom all His own, the Ruler of Nations led 
 him by an unknown path, and his wild history reminds us of 
 the story of Romulus, who was nurtured by the beasts of the 
 forest till he planted the foundation of a mighty empire. 
 With the history of the Father of Rome, the pen of poets has 
 played — and it would seem, after all, to have been but a pro- 
 
14 MEETING WITH INDIAN CHIEFTAINS. 
 
 phecy in fable, whose fulfilment the world has waited for till 
 our days. Certain it is, too, that no man has ever lived on this 
 continent (whose history we know) who has had so complete 
 a knowledge of the Indian character — none who oould sway 
 so powerful a control over the savage mind. During his en- 
 tire administration of the Government of Texas, not an Indian 
 tribe violated a treaty with the Republic ; and it is nearly as 
 safe to say, that during the administration of others, not a 
 tribe was known to make or regard one. 
 
 During the latter part of June (just past), General More- 
 head arrived at Washington with forty wild Indians from Texas 
 — belonging to more than a dozen tribes. We saw their 
 3meeting with Gen. Houston. One and all ran to him and 
 clasped him in their brawny arms, and hugged him like bears to 
 their naked breasts, and called him Father — beneath the cop- 
 per skin and thick paint, the blood rushed, and their faces 
 changed, and the lip of many a warrior trembled, although the 
 Indian may not weep. These wild men knew him and rever- 
 ed him as one who was too directly descended from the Great 
 Spirit, to be approached with familiarity, and yet they loved 
 him so well they could not help it. These were the men "he 
 had been," in the fine language of Acquiquosk, whose words 
 we quote, " too subtle for, on the war path — too powerful in 
 battle, too magnanimous in victory, too wise in council, and 
 too true in faith." They had flung away their arms in Texas, 
 and with the Comanche Chief who headed iheir file, they had 
 come to Washington to see their Father. I said these iron 
 warriors shed no tears, when they met their old friend — but 
 white men who stood by will tell us what they did. We 
 were there, and we have witnessed few scenes in which min- 
 gled more of what is called the moral sublime. In the gigan- 
 tic form of Houston, on whose ample brow the beneficent love 
 of a father was struggling with the sternness of the patriarch 
 warrior, we saw civilisation awing the savage at its feet. We 
 needed no interpreter to tell us that this impressive supremacy 
 was gained in the forest. 
 
 But we have quite lost the thread of our story. This wild 
 
KEEPS SCHOOL ENLISTS IN THE ARMY. 15 
 
 life among the Indians lasted till his eighteenth year. He had, 
 during his visits once or twice a year to his family, to be refitted 
 in his dress, purchased many little articles of taste or utility to 
 use among the Indians. In this manner, he had incurred a 
 debt which he was bound in honor to pay. To meet this en- 
 gagement, he had no other resource left but to abandon his 
 " dusky companions," and teach the children of pale-faces. 
 As may naturally be supposed, it was no easy matter for him 
 to get a school, and on the first start, the enterprise moved 
 very slowly. But as the idea of abandoning anything on 
 which he had once fixed his purpose, was no part of his 
 character, he persevered, and in a short time he had more scho- 
 lars to turn away, than he had at first to begin with. He was 
 also paid what was considered an exorbitant price. Formerly, 
 no master had hinted above $6 per annum. Houston, who 
 probably thought that one who had been graduated at an In- 
 dian university ought to hold his lore at a dearer rate, raised 
 the price to $8 — one-third to be paid in corn, delivered at the 
 mill, at 33^ cents per bushel — ^one-third in cash, and one-third 
 in domestic cotton cloth, of variegated colors, in which our In- 
 dian Professor was dressed. He also wore his hair behind, in 
 a snug queue, and is said to have been very much in love with it, 
 probably from an idea that it added somewhat to the adornment 
 of his person — in which, too, he probably was sadly mistaken. 
 
 When he had made money enough to pay his debts, he 
 shut up his school, and went back to his old master, to study. 
 He put Euclid into his hands. He carried that ugly, unro- 
 mantic book back and forth to and from the school a few days, 
 without trying to solve even so much as the first problem, and 
 then he came to the very sensible conclusion, that he would 
 never try to be a scholar ! This was in 1813. But fortunately 
 an event now took place which was to decide his fate. 
 
 The bugle had sounded, and for the second time, America 
 was summoned to measure her strength with the Mistress of 
 the Seas. A recruiting party of the United States Army came 
 to Maryville, with music, a banner, and some well-dressed ser- 
 geants. Of course, young Houston enlisted — anybody could 
 
16 PARTS WITH HI3 MOTHER AND MARCHES. 
 
 have guessed as much. His friends said he was ruined — that 
 he must by no means join the army as a common soldier. 
 He then made his first speech, as far as we can learn : — " And 
 what have your craven souls to say about the ranks ? — Go to 
 
 with your stuff; I would much sooner honor the ranks, 
 
 than disgrace an appointment. You don't know me now, but 
 you shall hear of me." 
 
 His old friends and acquaintances, considering him hopeless- 
 ly di.5graced, cut his acquaintance at once. His mother gave 
 her consent, standing tall and matronly in the door of her cot- 
 tage, as she handed her boy the musket : " There, my son, 
 take this musTvCt," she said, " and never disgrace it: for remem- 
 ber, I had rather all my sons should fill one honorable grave, 
 than that one of them should turn his back to save his life. 
 Go, and remember, too, that while the door of my cottage is 
 open to brave men, it is eternally shut against cowards." 
 
 He marched off. He was soon promoted to a sergeant. In 
 a short time he became the best drill in the regiment; — soon 
 after, he was marched to Fort Hampton, at the head of the 
 Muscle Shoals, in Alabama, where he was promoted to an En- 
 sign. Returned to Knoxville — assisted in drilling and organiz- 
 ing the Eastern Battalion of the 39th Regiment of Infantry ; 
 and from thence marched to the Ten Islands, where he remained 
 encamped for some time. The line of march was then taken 
 up for Fort Williams. The Regiment descended the Coosa, 
 and marched for To-Ho-Pe-Ka, on the Horse-Shoe, where some 
 events took place, deserving a more minute relation. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SOLDIER. 
 
 Most of our readers are doubtless familiar with the history 
 of the great battle of the Horse-Shoe. An undecisive strug- 
 gle had for along time been carried on with the Creek Indians, 
 who had avoided the hazards of open warfare, hoping at last, by 
 forest ambuscades and stealthy eruptions, to weary out a foe they 
 did not dare to meet in a general engagement. But this kind of 
 warfare was soon to be brought to an end. They had a foe 
 to contend with, who out-matched them in subtlety, and all the 
 daring impetuosity of his nature was bent upon their destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 General Jackson's army encamped at Fort Williams, now 
 amounted to more than two thousand men, and his spies were 
 scattered far and wide through the forests. Retreating from 
 village to village and point to point, the enemy had gathered 
 all their effective force on a bend of the Tallapoosa, where a 
 thousand warriors — the chivalry of the Creek Nation — follow- 
 ing the guidings of their prophets, had taken their last stand, 
 resolved to risk all upon a single struggle. This bend, which 
 they called To-ho-pe-ka, or the Horse-Shoe, is accurately de- 
 scribed by its name. It is a peninsula of about one hundred 
 acres of land, opening on the north, where it was protected by 
 a massive breast-work, reaching down to the river on both 
 sides, composed of three tiers of heavy pine logs, with two 
 rows of skilfully arranged port-holes. 
 
 On the morning of the 27th of March Gen. Jackson reached 
 the Horse-Shoe, and immediately prepared for action. In a 
 few hours, by a masterly arrangement of his forces, he had 
 completely invested the peninsula. Gen. Coffee had, early in 
 the morning, crossed the river at a ford two miles below, with a 
 body of mounted men and nearly all the force of friendly In- 
 dians, serving under Gen. Jackson, and at ten o'clock he had 
 
 a 
 2 
 
^^ '^''*<*^..-..^ 
 
 A. Branches' Reg't. ^ 
 
 B. 39th Regiment. 
 
 C. Militia. 
 
 DD. Russell's Spies. 
 EE. Coffee's command. 
 F. & G. Friendly Indians. 
 
 H. Women & children, 
 J J. Creek Warriors. 
 KK. Breast Work- 
 L. Cabins. 
 M. Covered Ravine, 
 
THE BATTLE OF THE HORSE-SHOE. 19 
 
 Irawn up his lines on the south of the bend, cutting off all 
 escape from three sides of the peninsula. In the meantime, 
 the General had advanced towards the north side of the bend, 
 \vith the main army, and drawing up his lines, he ordered the 
 iwo pieces of artillery to play upon the Indian breast-works. 
 The first gun was fired at about half-past ten o'clock, and a 
 brisk fire maintained till nearly one, apparently without much 
 effect, the small cannon shot playing almost harmlessly against 
 massive timbers. No opportunity had yet been given to 
 the main army to show their valor ; but a rattle of musketry 
 mingling with the sharp crack of a hundred rifles, was heard, 
 and a heavy column of smoke came rolling up from the 
 southern part of the peninsula. 
 
 The Cherokees, under Gen. Coffee, had discovered a line of 
 canoes half concealed by the bushes on the opposite shore, and in 
 a few minutes they swam the stream and brought them 
 across. Richard Brown, their gallant chief, leaped into a canoe, 
 followed by his brave Cherokees, and with Capt. Russell's com- 
 panies of spies crossed the river. They first set fire to the 
 cluster of wigwams near the shore, and, as the smoke rose over 
 them, advanced upon the rear of a thousand warriors who 
 were sheltered from the artillery on the north. 
 
 When Gen. Jackson's troops heard the firing and saw the 
 smoke, they knew that their companions had crossed the river, 
 and they were impatient to storm the breast-works. But the 
 General held them steady in their lines till he had sent an in- 
 terpreter to remove all the women and children in the penin- 
 sula, amounting to several hundreds, to a safe place beyond 
 the river. The moment this was efl'ccted, he gave an order to 
 storm the breast-works. The order was received with a shout, 
 and the 39th Regiment under Col. Williams, and Gen. Doher- 
 ty's brigade of East Tennesseeans, rushed up with loud cries 
 to the breast-work, where a short but bloody struggle followed 
 at the port-holes, bayonet to bayonet and muzzle to muzzle. 
 Major Montgomery was the first man to spring upon the 
 breast-works, but a ball in the head hurled him back. About 
 the same instant, on the extreme right of the 39th Regiment, 
 
20 THE soldier's FIRST WOUxXD. 
 
 Ensign Houston scaled the breast-works, calling out to his 
 brave fellows to follow him as he leaped down among the In- 
 dians cutting his way. 
 
 While he was scaling the works, or soon after he reached the 
 ground, a barbed arrow struck deep into his thigh. He kept 
 las ground for a moment till his lieutenant and men were by 
 his side, and the warriors had begun to recoil under their despe- 
 rate onset. He then called to his lieutenant to extract the arrow, 
 after he had tried in vain to do it himself. The officer made 
 two unsuccessful attempts and failed — " Try again," said 
 Houston, the sword with which he was still keeping the com- 
 mand raised over his head, " and if you fail this time I will 
 smite you to the earth." With a desperate effort he drew forth 
 the arrow, tearing the flesh as it came. A stream of blood 
 rushed from the place, and Houston crossed the breast-works 
 to have his wounds dressed. The surgeon bound it up and 
 staunched the blood, and Gen. Jackson, who came up to see 
 who had been wounded, recognizing his young ensign, ordered 
 him firmly not to return. Under any other circumstances 
 Houston would have obeyed any order from the brave man 
 who stood over him, but now he begged the general to allow 
 him to return to his men. Gen. Jackson ordered him most 
 peremptorily not to cross the breast- works again. But Hous- 
 ton was determined to die in that battle or win the fame of a 
 hero. He remembered how the finger of scorn had been 
 pointed at him as he fell into the ranks of the recruiting party 
 that marched through the village, and rushing once more to 
 the breast-works, he was in a few seconds at the head of his 
 men. 
 
 The action had now become general, and more than two 
 thousand men were struggling hand to hand. Arrows and 
 spears and balls were flying, swords and tomahawks were 
 gleaming in the sun, and the whole peninsula rang with the 
 yell of the savage, and the gi'oans of the dying. 
 
 The thousand warriors who had gathered there that day 
 were chosen men. A brother of Tecumseh had some months 
 before visited all the villages of the Creek nation and stirred 
 
THE SIGNAL FUO.M HEAVEN. 21 
 
 up their passions for blood and revenge, proclaiming to their 
 prophets that the voice of the Great Spirit had called him to 
 go on the mission, and that the flower of their people must 
 assemble to give battle to the pale faces, and the day should be 
 crowned with the final destruction of their foes. There was 
 in this strange mission enough of mystery to inflame all the 
 superstition and malignity of the nation, and following their 
 prophets, they had at last met the pale faces on the day that 
 would give victory to their people. The day of the battle had 
 come, and warriors by hundreds were falling ; but they were 
 firm in the belief of their prophets, who still proclaimed 
 that they should win the day. The Great Spirit, they said, 
 would sweep their enemies away with a storm of wrath, and 
 his signal should be a cloud from heaven. And it is proper 
 to add, that when the struggle was decided, and the command- 
 er-in-chief was issuing an order to stop the carnage, and had 
 sent an interpreter to tell the foe their lives should be spared if 
 they would surrender, a cloud suddenly overspread the sky. 
 The superstitious warriors, believing it the signal of their pro- 
 mised redemption, fired upon the interpreter after his message 
 was delivered, and again the action began. 
 
 But the eagerly-watched signal ended in a quiet April 
 shower, and no deliverance came to the brave, but devoted 
 people. Not a warrior offered to surrender, even while the 
 sword was at his breast. Hundreds had already fallen, and 
 were weltering in their gore — multitudes of others had been 
 shot or drowned, in attempting to swim the river — the ground 
 of the peninsula was covered only with the dead and dying, 
 and the battle was supposed to be over. To the last moment, 
 the old prophets stood firm, and gazed up towards the sky ; 
 around them warriors clustered, feeling to the very last mo- 
 ment that relief would come. Hope expired only with the 
 expiring groan of the last prophet, and the warrior who gasped 
 at his side. 
 
 But the victory was still incomplete — the work of slaughter 
 was not yet done. A large party of Indians had secreted 
 themselves in a part of the breast-works, constructed over a 
 
22 Houston's second wound. 
 
 ravine in the form of the roof of a house, with narrow port- 
 holes, from which a murderous fire could be kept up, when- 
 ever the assailants should show themselves. Here the last 
 remnant of the Creek warriors of the peninsula was gathered, 
 and as the artillery could not be brought to bear upon the 
 place, they could be dislodged only by a bold charge, which 
 would probably cost the life of the brave men who made it. 
 
 An offer of life, if they would surrender, had been rejected 
 with scorn by these brave, desperate savages, which sealed 
 their fate. General Jackson now called for a body of men to 
 make the charge. As there was no order given, the lines 
 stood still, and not an officer volunteered to lead the forlorn 
 hope. Supposing some captain would lead forward his com- 
 pany, Houston would wait no longer. Calling on his platoon 
 to follow him, he dashed down the precipitous descent to- 
 wards the covered ravine. But his men hesitated. With a 
 desperation which belongs only to such occasions, he seized 
 a musket from one of his men, and, leading the way, ordered 
 the rest to follow him. There was but one way of attack that 
 could prevail — it was to charge through the port-holes, although 
 they were bristling with rifles and arrows, and it had to be 
 done by a rapid, simultaneous plunge. As he was stopping to 
 rally his men, and had levelled his musket, within five yards 
 of the port-holes, he received two rifle-balls in his right shoul- 
 der, and his arm fell shattered to his side. Totally disabled, 
 he turned and called once more to his men, and implored 
 them to make the charge. But they did not advance. Hous- 
 ton stood in his blood till he saw it would do no good to stand 
 any longer, and then went beyond the range of the bullets, and 
 sank down exhausted to the earth. The Indians were at last 
 dislodged from the covered ravine by its being set on fire. 
 The sun was going down, and it set over the ruin of the 
 Creek nation. Where, but a few hours before, a thousand 
 brave savages had scowled on death and their assailants, there 
 was nothing to be seen but volumes of dense smoke, rising 
 heavily over the corpses of painted warriors, and the burning 
 ruins of their fortifications. 
 
THE WOUNDED SOLDIER. 23 
 
 After all the perils of this hard-fought engagement, in which 
 he had displayed a heroism that excited the admiration of the 
 entire army, and received wounds which are to this day un- 
 healed, he was taken from the field of the dead and wounded, 
 and committed to the hands of the surgeon. One ball was 
 extracted, but no attempt was made to extract the other, for 
 the surgeon said it was unnecessary to torture him, since he 
 could not survive till the next morning. He spent the night 
 as soldiers do, who war in the wilderness, and carry provisions 
 in their knapsacks for a week's march. Comforts were out of 
 the question for all ; but Houston received less attention than 
 the others, for everybody looked on him as a dying man, and 
 what could be done for any, they felt should be done for those 
 who were likely to live. It was the darkest night of his life, 
 and it closed in upon the most brilliant day he had yet seen. 
 We can fancy to ourselves what must have been the feelings 
 of the young soldier, as he lay on the damp earth, through the 
 hours of that dreary night, racked with the keen torture of his 
 many wounds, and deserted in what he supposed was his 
 dying hour. 
 
 But God, whose mysterious Providence guides its chosen 
 instruments by a way they know not, had yet other work for 
 him to do — he was yet to pass through many scenes of 
 excitement and heroism ; and, at last, to lead a brave band of 
 pioneers triumphantly through all their struggles and suffer- 
 ings to the peaceful enjoyment of a free commonwealth. The 
 military prowess and heroism Houston displayed throughout 
 that bloody day, secured for him the lasting regard of General 
 Jackson, whose sympathies followed him through all his for- 
 tunes. More than thirty years after, when the venerable old 
 Chief was trembling on the verge of life, looking out with un- 
 dimmed cheerfulness from the dark inn of mortality upon the 
 summer path of light that opened before him, he sent for Ge- 
 neral Houston to hurry to his bed-side to see him die. 
 
 On the following day, Houston was started on a litter, with 
 the other wounded, for Fort Williams, some 60 or 70 miles 
 distant. Here he remained, suspended between life and death, 
 
24 BORNE ON A LITTER TO HIS MOTHER's HOUSE, 
 
 for a long time, neglected and exposed, the other regular offi- 
 cers of the regiment having all been removed to Fort Jackson 
 or the Hickory Ground. He was taken care of, a part of the 
 time, by Gen. Johnson, father of the present Post-master 
 General, and by Col. Cheatham, and by them at last brought 
 back to the Ten Islands, and from thence by Gen. Dougherty, 
 who commanded the Brigade from East Tennessee, through 
 the Cherokee Nation, to his mother's house in Blount County, 
 where he arrived in the latter part of May, nearlv two months 
 after the battle of the Horse-Shoe. 
 
 This long journey was made in a litter, borne by horses, 
 while he was not only helpless, but suffering the extremest 
 agony. His diet was of the coarsest description, and most of 
 the time he was not only deprived of medical aid, but even of 
 those simple remedies which would at least have alleviated 
 his sufferings. His toilsome way was through the forests, 
 where he was obliged to encamp out, and often without shel- 
 ter. No one around him had any expectation he would ever 
 recover. At last, when he reached the house of his mother, 
 he was so worn to a skeleton, that she declared she never 
 would have known him to be her son, but for his eyes, which 
 still retained something of their wonted expression. 
 
 Under the hospitable roof of that cottage, whose " door was 
 always open to brave men," he languished a short time, and 
 when he had recovered a little strength, went to Maryville 
 for convenience to medical aid. Here his health gradually 
 declined, and in quest of a more skilful surgeon, he was re- 
 moved to Knoxville, 16 miles to the eastward. The physician 
 to whom he applied found him in so low a state that he was 
 unwilling to take charge of him, for he declared that he could 
 only live a few days. But at the end of this period, finding 
 he had not only survived, but begun to improve a little, the 
 doctor offered his services, and he seemed to be slowly reco- 
 vering. 
 
 When he had become strong enough to ride a horse, he set 
 out by short journeys for Washington. He reached the seat 
 of Government soon after the burning of the Capitol. In 
 
VOYAGE DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI. 25 
 
 common with every true friend of his country, his blood boiled 
 when he saw the ruin that heroic people had worked, and he 
 experienced one of the keenest pangs of his life, in the thought 
 that his right arm should be disabled at such a moment, and 
 while the foe was still prowling through the country. Win- 
 ter was now advancing, and with his wounds still festering, he 
 journeyed on to Lexington, Virginia, where he remained till 
 early spring. 
 
 Having, as he supposed, sufficiently recovered to be able to 
 do duty as a soldier in some situation, he prepared to cross 
 the Mountains. When he reached Knoxville, on his way to 
 report himself ready for duty, he heard the glorious news of 
 the battle of New Orleans. His furlough had been unlim- 
 ited. 
 
 After peace was proclaimed, he was stationed at the canton- 
 ment of his regiment, near Knoxville, and when the army was 
 reduced, he was retained in the service as a Lieutenant, and 
 attached to the 1st Regt. of Infantry, and stationed at New 
 Orleans. 
 
 In the Fall, he had embarked on the Cumberland, in a small 
 skiff, in company with two young men, one of whom after- 
 wards became distinguished as Gov. White, of Louisiana. 
 He was then a beardless boy, just leaving college. They 
 passed down the Cumberland, entered the Ohio, and at last 
 found their way to the Mississippi, over whose mighty waters 
 they floated through that vast solitude, which was then unbroken 
 by the noise of civilized life. Our voyager had with him a few 
 of those volumes which have been the companions of so 
 many great and good men : a Bible, given to him by his mother, 
 Pope's translation of the Iliad, the same book he had kept by 
 him during his wild life among the Indians — Shakspeare, 
 Akenside, and a few of those standard works of fiction, which, 
 like Robinson Crusoe, Pilgrim's Progress, and the Vicar of 
 Wakefield, have become a part of the history of every man 
 who knows how to read. It is not difficult to imagine the ef- 
 fect such works must have produced upon the heated imagi- 
 
26 TRAVELLING IN SEARCH OF HEALTH. 
 
 nation of a young American soldier, voyaging through those 
 impressive solitudes. 
 
 After many days their skiff turned a bend in the Mississippi, 
 above Natchez, and far down the river they saw a vessel com- 
 ing up the stream without sails, sending up a heavy column of 
 smoke. Instead of being a vessel on fire, as they at first sup- 
 posed, it turned out to be the first steamboat that ever went up 
 the Mississippi river. 
 
 At Natchez they exchanged their skiff for the steamboat, 
 and in eight days they reached New Orleans, where Houston 
 reported for duty. 
 
 He now had his wounds operated on once more, and the 
 operation nearly cost him his life. The rifle balls, after shat- 
 tering most completely his right arm just below its juncture 
 with the shoulder, had passed round and lodged near the 
 shoulder-blade. Nothing but an iron constitution had enabled 
 him to endure the enormous suffering he had gone through, 
 and the operation just performed had well nigh robbed him of 
 his last strength. His lungs were supposed, moreover, to be 
 irreparably injured ; but that indomitable resolution which has 
 borne him triumphantly through all the struggles of his stormy 
 life, never gave way. 
 
 After a winter of extreme suffering, he sailed in April for 
 New York, where he passed several weeks, with a slight 
 improvement in health. Returning to Tennessee by the way 
 of Washington, after visiting his friends, he reported to the 
 Adjutant- General of the Southern Division, at Nashville, and 
 was detailed on duty in the Adjutant's office, and stationed at 
 Nashville from the 1st of January, 1817. He was attached to 
 the office till the following November, when he was detailed 
 on extra duty as a Sub-Indian agent among the Cherokees, to 
 carry out the treaty just ratified with that nation. His feeble 
 health rendered it peculiarly hazardous to encounter the expo- 
 sures of such an agency; but Gen. Jackson considered it 
 necessary to the public service that he should at least make the 
 attempt, for he could procure the services of no one in whom 
 he could repose such entire confidence. Accordingly, Lieut. 
 
RESIGNS HIS COMMISSION IN THE ARMY. 27 
 
 Houston, yielding to the importunities of his commander, who, 
 knowing he was unfit for public service, offered him a furlough 
 if he should decline the agency, entered upon his new duties 
 with ardor, and discharged them with marked ability. During 
 that same winter he conducted a delegation of Indians to 
 Washington. When he arrived at the seat of government, he 
 found that attempts had been made to injure him with the 
 government, for having prevented African negroes from being 
 smus^ded into the Western States from Florida, which was 
 then a province of Spain. These reports had been circulated 
 by the friends of the smugglers, who were then in Congress. 
 
 He vindicated himself before the President and the Secretary 
 of War, and showed that in all he had done, he had only endea- 
 vored to secure respect for the laws of the country. He was still 
 to show, too, most conclusively, that while he had been occupied 
 laboriously in his new and difficult mission, which he had, as 
 was confessed on all hands, discharged with singular ability, 
 he had been suffering without respite from his painful wounds 
 received in the service of his country. It was the opinion of 
 General Jackson, and all who understood Houston's position 
 and services at the time, that he was not only entitled to a full 
 and ample exculpation from all blame (which was indeed ac- 
 corded to him), but had a right to expect that his magnani- 
 mous sacrifices for the State should have met with a warmer 
 recognition. But he considered himself slighted at the time, and 
 he resigned his First Lieutenantcy in the army, — at a period, 
 too, when his health rendered it exceedingly doubtful how he 
 was to gain a livelihood. But he acted on the principle he 
 has so often illustrated, that no man should be an almoner upon 
 the bounty of a State who cannot bring to its service talents 
 and acquisitions which would procure higher emoluments in 
 private life. He returned with the Delegation to the agency 
 on Hi-Wassee, and then resigned his commission as Sub- 
 Agent, and went to Nashville to read Law. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE CIVILIAN, 
 
 Houston was now in his twenty-fifth year. He had played an 
 heroic part in the national struggle just past, — he had become 
 familiar with the hardships the frontier soldier has to encounter, 
 he had seen the treachery and the coldness of artificial life, 
 and he had passed years among the simple-hearted but stern 
 children of the Great Spirit. 
 
 With a mind enriched by experience and observation, and a 
 lofty aspiration for enduring fame, he abandoned the life of 
 the soldier to pursue the calmer path of the civilian. In his 
 wanderings in search of health, his pay in the army had been 
 inadequate to his necessities, and he found himself burdened 
 down by a load of debt. Before he began the study of the law, 
 he sold the last piece of property he possessed, and appropriated 
 the last farthing of the avails to the discharge of his debts ; but 
 a residuum of several hundred still remained unpaid — the bal- 
 ance, however, was soon discharged. 
 
 He entered the oflSce of Hon. James Trimble, who told him 
 that eighteen months of hard study would be necessary before 
 he could be admitted to the bar. He began his studies in June, 
 1818. He read a few of the standard works prescribed in a 
 course of law studies, and read them thoroughly. He grasped 
 the great principles of the science, and they were fixed in his 
 mind for ever. There is a class of men who are made up like 
 composite architecture of the details of beauty stolen from primi- 
 tive orders ; such men constitute the secondary fonnations of 
 society, but the intellectual world, like the frame of nature, re- 
 poses upon nobler and more massive strata. 
 
 Those men who borrow their lights from others, never lead 
 the human race through great crises — those who depend on the 
 strength they gather from books or men, are never equal to lofty 
 achievements. The minds which electrify the world generate 
 
ADMISSION TO THE BAR— PRACTICE. 29 
 
 their own fire ; such men seldom shine in details — they have no 
 time to attend to them, and they never feel the loss of these 
 secondary lights. The bold mariner who ventures at once upon 
 the open sea, and regulates his course by a few towering head- 
 lands and solitary lights that gleam from afar, can give little 
 information to the coaster about the tiny bays that indent the 
 shore, or the color of the pebbles that glitter on the beach. 
 But he has marked on his chart the dangerous reefs and the 
 arreat currents of the ocean, and he is at home with his noble 
 vessel wherever the sun and the moon and the stars shine. 
 
 So it is with those who explore the fields of science. Some 
 men cultivate such studies only to amass details, to use on ap- 
 propriate occasions, while others enter them on.ly to gather gene- 
 ral principles which have a universal application ; and in ap- 
 proaching these two classes, we discover as grand a difference 
 as we do between one of those islands of the Pacific seas newly 
 formed by the countless animalculge of the ocean, and the bold 
 brow of the everlasting mountain. 
 
 We have used these illustrations only to convey more per- 
 fectly an idea of Houston's character. His teacher had pre- 
 scribed eighteen months study. In om third of the time he was 
 recommended to apply for license, and he was admitted with 
 eclat. A few months' study had enabled him to pass a searching 
 examination with great honor to himself and his new profession. 
 He immediately purchased a small library on credit, and esta- 
 blished himself in Lebanon, thirty miles east of Nashville, and 
 began the practice of law. Soon after, he was appointed Adju- 
 tant-General of the State, with the rank of Colonel. In the 
 meantime he followed up his studies, and the practice of his 
 profession with earnestness, and so rapidly did he rise at the bar, 
 that he was, in October of the same year, elected District Attor- 
 ney of the Davidson District, which made it desirable he should 
 take up his residence at Nashville. 
 
 He was obliged to come in collision with all the talent of one 
 of the ablest bars of Western America. Every step he trod was 
 new to him, but he was almost universally successful in prosecu- 
 tions, and his seniors who rallied him upon his recent advance- 
 ment and his rawness in the practice, never repeated their jokes. 
 
30 ELECTED TO CONGRESS GOVERNOR MARRIAGE. 
 
 They discovered to their mortification that neither many books 
 nor much dull plodding could enable them to measure weapons 
 with a man so gifted in rare good sense and penetrating genius. 
 
 We have taken considerable pains to render ourselves fami- 
 liar with the various steps of Houston's advancement till he 
 reached the highest honors of the State. But we shall be obliged 
 to pass rapidly over this portion of his history, in order to leave 
 space to speak more minutely of his subsequent achievements. 
 The labors of the District Attorney were unceasing, but the 
 fees were so inconsiderable he resigned his post at the end of 
 twelve months, and resumed the regular practice of his profes- 
 sion, in which he rose to great and sudden distinction. 
 
 In 1821 he was elected Major-General by the field officers of 
 the division, which comprised two thirds of the State. In 1823 
 he was recommended to offer his name as a candidate for Con- 
 gress. In the various official stations he had filled, he had won 
 so much respect, and at the bar he had displayed such rare 
 ability that he was elected to Congress without opposition. 
 His course in the National Legislature was warmly approved by 
 his constituents, and he w^as returned the second time by an 
 almost unanimous vote. 
 
 His course in Congress won for him the universal respect and 
 confidence of the people of Tennessee, and in 1827 he was 
 elected Governor of that State by a majority of over 12,000. 
 His personal popularity was unlimited, and his accession to 
 office found him without an opponent in the Legislature. 
 
 In January, 1S29, he married a young lady of respectable 
 family and of gentle character. Owing to circumstances, about 
 which far more has been conjectured than known by the world, 
 the union seems to have been as unhappy as it was short. In 
 less than three months a separation took place, which filled so- 
 ciety with the deepest excitement. Various reports flew through 
 the state, all of them unfounded, and some of them begotten by 
 the sheerest malignity, which divided the people of the State 
 into two hostile parties, and inflamed popular feeling to the last 
 point of excitement. As usual on such occasions, those who 
 were most busy in the affair were the very ones who knew least 
 about the merits of the case, and had the least right to interfere. 
 
SEPARATION FROM HIS WIFE. 31 
 
 But unfortunately for the peace of society, there is everywhere 
 a class of impertinent busy-bodies, who make it their special 
 business to superintend and pry into the domestic affairs of their 
 neighbors ; and as curiosity must be gratified at any expense to 
 private character, and such persons always like to believe the 
 worst, the secrets of no family are exempt from their malignant 
 intrusions. These are the disturbers of the peace of society 
 whom the law seldom punishes, although they perpetrate more 
 crimes than highwaymen and assassins — burglars of the domestic 
 tranquillity of families — robbers of others' good name — assassins 
 of the characters of the innocent. 
 
 Thinking, most probably, that they were doing her a kindness, 
 the friends of the lady loaded the name of Houston with 
 odium. He was charged with every species of crime man ever 
 committed. The very ignorance of the community about the 
 affair, by increasing the mystery which hung over it, only made 
 it seem the more terrible. In the meantime, Houston did not 
 offer a single denial of a single calumny — would neither vindi- 
 cate himself before the public, nor allow his friends to do it for 
 him. He sat quietly, and let the storm of popular fury rage on. 
 From that day he has even among his confidential friends main- 
 tained unbroken silence, and whenever he speaks of the lady, 
 he speaks of her with great kindness. Not a word has ever 
 fallen from his lips that cast a shade upon her character ; nor 
 did he ever allow an unkind breath against her in his presence. 
 Whatever may have been the truth of the matter, or whatever 
 his friends may have known or conjectured, he had but one 
 reply for them — " This is a painful but it is a private affair. I 
 do not recognize the right of the public to interfere in it, and I 
 shall treat the public just as though it had never happened. 
 And remember that, whatever may be said by the lady or her 
 friends, it is no part of the conduct of a gallant or a gene- 
 rous man to take up arms against a woman. If my character 
 cannot stand the shock, let me lose it. The storm will soon 
 sweep by, and Time will be my vindicator." 
 
 He had been elected to every office he had held in the State 
 by acclamation, and he determined instantly to resign his office 
 as Governor, and forego all his brilliant prospects of distinction, 
 
32 GOES INTO EXILE. 
 
 and exile himself from the habitations of civilized raen^a reso- 
 lution more likely to have been begotten by philosophy than by 
 crime. 
 
 We have no apology to offer for this singular event. If we 
 knew the truth we should tell it. If Houston acted culpably, 
 it could not be expected he would become his own accuser. If 
 lie were the injured party, and chose to bear in silence his 
 wrong and the odium that fell on him, he certainly betrayed no 
 meanness of spirit, for he never asked the sympathy of the 
 world. But notwithstanding his unbroken silence about the 
 affair and the sacrifice of all his hopes, he was denounced by 
 the journals of the day, and hunted down with untiring malig- 
 nity by those who had the meanness to pursue a generous man 
 in misfortune. After his determination to leave the country was 
 known, they threatened him with personal violence. But in this 
 he bearded and defied them. 
 
 But his friends did not desert him while the sun of his fortune 
 was passing this deep eclipse. They gathered around him, and 
 the streets of Nashville would have flowed with blood if Hous- 
 ton's enemies had touched a hair of his head. But such ruffians 
 never execute their tows, when they have brave men to deal 
 with, and Houston resigned his office, and taking leave of his 
 friends, he quietly left the city of Nashville. He now turned 
 his back upon the haunts of white men, and there was no refuge 
 left for him but the forests. There he had a home, of which the 
 reader has yet heard nothing ; it was far away from civilized 
 life. 
 
 While he was roving in his youth among the Cherokees, he 
 had found a friend in their chief, who adopted him as his 
 son, and gave him a corner in his wigwam. In the meantime, 
 the chief with his tribe had removed from the Hi-Wassee country 
 to Arkansas, and become king of the Cherokees, resident there. 
 During their long separation, which had now lasted more than 
 eleven years, they had never ceased to interchange tokens of 
 their kind recollections. When, therefore, he embarked on the 
 Cumberland, he thought of his adopted father, and he turned his 
 face to his wigwam-home, knowing that he would be greeted 
 there with the old chief's blessino-. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE EXILE. 
 
 His separation from his friends al the steamboat was a 
 touching scene. He was a young man, for he had not passed 
 his thirty-fifth year. He was in the vigor and strength of early 
 manhood. He had filled the highest stations, and been 
 crowned with the highest honors, his state could give. They 
 knew the history of his early life, and they felt pride in his 
 character. He was literally a man of the people, and they 
 looked forward to his future advancement with all the pride 
 of kindred feelings. A storm had suddenly burst upon his 
 path ; but they knew it would soon sweep by, bearing him to 
 a higher and fairer eminence than before. He seemed to be 
 casting from him the palm of victory ; to be stepping down 
 from his glory to obscurity, and his friends (and they were 
 the people of Tennessee) parted from him with sorrow and in 
 sadness. 
 
 And it was a strange sight to see one so young, around 
 whose brow the myrtle wreath of fame was twining, cast aside 
 the robes of office and give up a bright future for a home in 
 the wilderness. It was no flight of a criminal ; it was not 
 even a necessary retirement from turbulence and excitement, 
 for even before he left, the fury of his enemies had abated and 
 his real strength was greater than ever. But it was a volun- 
 tary exile from scenes which only harrowed his feelings while 
 he stayed, and the Almighty Providence, which had shaped 
 out his future life, was leading him in a mysterious way 
 through the forests to found a new empire. Let those who 
 laugh at a Divine Providence, which watches over its chosen 
 instruments, sneer as they read this ; they may sneer on — they 
 are welcome to their creed. 
 
 Landing at the mouth of the White River, he ascended the 
 Arkansas to Little Rock, and then on alternately by land and 
 
84 THE OLD CHIEF OP OOLOOTEKA^ 
 
 water to the Falls of the Arkansas, four hundred miles to the 
 northwest. The old chief's wigwam was built near the mouth 
 of the Illinois, on the east side of the Arkansas, and the 
 Cherokees were settled on both sides of the river above ForS 
 Smith. 
 
 It was night when the steamboat, which carried Houston, 
 arrived at the Falls, two miles distant from the dwelling of the 
 Cherokee chief. As the boat passed the mouth of the river, 
 intelligence was communicated to the old man that his adopted 
 son CoJenneh (the Raven — the name given him on adoption) 
 was on board. In a short time the chief came down to meet 
 his son, bringing with him all his family. 
 
 This venerable old chief, Oolooteka, had not seen less than 
 sixty-five years, and yet he measured full six feet in height, 
 and indicated no symptom of the feebleness of age. He had 
 the most courtly carriage in the world, and never prince sat on 
 a throne with more peerless grace than he presided at the 
 council fire of his people. His wigwam was large and com- 
 fortable, and he lived in patriarchal simplicity and abundance. 
 He had ten or twelve servants, a large plantation, and not less 
 than five hundred head of cattle. The wigwam of this aged 
 chieftain was always open to visitors, and his bountiful board 
 was always surrounded by welcome guests. He never slaugh- 
 tered less than one beef a week throughout the year for his 
 table — a tax on royalty, in a country, too, where no tithes are 
 paid. 
 
 Such was the home Houston found waiting for him in the 
 forests. The old chief threw his arras around him, and em- 
 braced him with great affection. " My son," said he, "eleven 
 winters have passed since we met. My heart has wandered 
 often where you were ; and I heard you were a great chief 
 among your people. Since we parted at the Falls, as you 
 went up the river, I have heard that a dark cloud had fallen on 
 the white path you were walking, and when it fell in your way, 
 you turned your thoughts to my wigwam. I am glad of it — 
 it was done by the Great Spirit. There are many wise men 
 among your people, and thev have manv counri)lor« in ir^'"- 
 
LIFE AMONG THE CHEROKEES. 35 
 
 nation. We are in trouble and the Great Spirit has sent you 
 to us to give us council, and take trouble away from us. I 
 know you will be our friend, for our hearts are near to you, 
 and you will tell our sorrows to the great father. General Jack- 
 son. My wigwam is yours — my home is yojirs — my people 
 are yours — rest with us." 
 
 Such was the touching greeting the old chieftain gave him; 
 and Houston has often been heard to say, that when he laid 
 himself down to sleep that night, after the gloom and the sor- 
 rows of the last few weeks, he felt like a weary wanderer 
 returned at last to his father's house. 
 
 Houston now passed nearly three years among the Chero- 
 kees. His history during this period is filled with stirring and 
 beautiful incidents, many of which have come to our know- 
 ledge, well worthy of being related, since they would afford 
 the finest pictures of the lights and shadows of forest life. 
 But they would only illustrate more fully those characteristics 
 of stern courage and wild heroism for which he has, through- 
 out his life, been so distinguished, and of which the world will 
 require no better proofs than he has already given. We shall, 
 therefore, pass by the romance of his forest life, at this period, 
 and speak only of his untiring and magnanimous efforts and 
 sacrifices for several years, in behalf of the oppressed and out- 
 raged Indians. 
 
 The red man on this continent has had few better friends 
 than Houston. From his youth he loved the children of the 
 forest, and among their wigwams and around their council 
 fires he studied the mysteries of their nature. He has declared 
 that, during an intercourse with them of many years, he never 
 was betrayed or deceived by a red man. Long familiarity 
 with them had made him acquainted with their wrongs and 
 iheir sufferings, and he knew why they looked upon the white 
 man as their foe. He had robbed them of their forests and 
 game — he had laid waste their wigwams and introduced dis- 
 cord at their council fires — he had, with the glittering bribe of 
 gold and rifles, enticed them away from their ancient haunts, 
 and even driven them at the point of the bayonet from the 
 
36 OUTRAGES UPON THE INDIANS. 
 
 graves of their fathers — and, worse than all, he had brought 
 among them his accursed fire-ivater, which had melted down 
 the lofty chivalry and unbending strength of their primitive 
 nature, and by that infernal agency degraded and enfeebled a 
 power which, jvithout it, they could never have subdued. 
 This was the forerunner and the hand-maid of his conquests 
 — this was the magic wand he had raised over their stern chief- 
 tains, and they had melted away. Was it any wonder that the 
 stricken few who were left of those bold, untameable tribes, that 
 once possessed the fair lands of this broad continent, should 
 know any other feelings towards their usurpers than revenge ! 
 
 Houston knew all their wrongs, and sympathized in all their 
 sufferings. He was now determined to devote himself to their 
 interests, and be the guardian of their rights. He knew that 
 General Jackson, who was then president, felt towards him 
 the affection and confidence of an old and tried friend, and he 
 was resolved to scrutinize the actions of the Indian agents and 
 sub-agents with the greatest severity, and report the result of 
 his observations to the President. 
 
 He was always invited to mingle in the councils of the 
 Cherokees during his residence among them, but while he 
 often met them as a friend, he never entered their councils or 
 joined in their deliberations. The Chief counselled with him, 
 often about his people, nor was he long in becoming ac- 
 quainted with the oppressions and glaring injustice which had 
 been inflicted on them by the agents to whom their affairs had 
 been entrusted in their migration to that country. In exchange 
 for the territory they had occupied lower down on the Arkan- 
 sas, they were by treaty to receive twenty-eight dollars per 
 capite, which amounted in the aggregate to a vast sum. In- 
 stead of paying this money as they should have done, certifi- 
 cates were issued by the agents, under the pretence they had 
 no money, and as paper is always considered worthless by 
 the Indians, merchants who had connections with the agents 
 purchased up these certificates in a fraudulent manner for a 
 mere song, representing that it was very uncertain w^hether the 
 Government ever could send them money. A Mackinaw 
 
HOUSTON S OPINIONS OF THE INDIANS. 37 
 
 blanket, a flask of powder, and even a bottle of whiskey, was 
 often all these defrauded exiles ever got for the plighted faith 
 of our Government. 
 
 In this manner, whole tribes were preyed upon by aban- 
 doned speculators, and so completely despoiled of the mu- 
 nificent appropriations of Congress, that it is more than 
 doubtful if a fifth part of the money, secured to them by 
 solemn treaty, ever got into their hands ; and even the fraction 
 which went to them only proved a curse. In speaking on 
 this subject. General Houston once said— 
 
 " During the period of my residence among the Indians, in the 
 Arkansas region, I had every facility for gaining a complete knowledge 
 of the flagrant outrages practised upon the poor Red men b}' the 
 agents of the government. I saw, every year, vast sums squandered and 
 consumed without the Indians deriving the least benefit, and the govern- 
 ment, in very many instances, utterly ignorant of the wrongs that were 
 perpetrated. Had one-third of the money advanced by the government 
 been usefully, honorably, and wisely applied, all those tribes might 
 have been now in possession of the arts and the enjoyments of civih- 
 sation. I care not what dreamers, and politicians, and travellers, and 
 writers say to the contrary, I know the Indian character, and I confi- 
 dently avow, that if one-third of the many millions of dollars our 
 government has appropriated within the last twenty-five years, 
 for the benefit of the Indian population, had been honestly and 
 judiciously applied, there would not have been at this time a singld 
 tribe within the limits of our States and Territories, but what woule 
 have been in the complete enjoyment of all the arts and all the 
 comforts of civilized life. But there is not a tribe but has been 
 outraged and defrauded ; and nearly all the wars we have prose- 
 cuted against the Indians, have grown out of the bold frauds and 
 the cruel Injustice played off upon them by our Indian agents and 
 their accomplices. But the purposes for which these vast annuities 
 and enormous contingent advances were made have only led to 
 the destruction of the constitutions of thousands and the increase 
 of immorality among the Indians. We cannot measure the deso- 
 lating effects of intoxicating liquors among the Indians by any 
 analogy drawn from civihzed lite. With the Red man the conse- 
 quences area thousand times more frightful. Strong drink, when once 
 introduced among the Indians, unnerves the purposes of the good, and 
 gives energy to the passions of the vicious ; it saps the constitution 
 with fearful rapidity, and inflames all the ferocity of the savage nature. 
 The remoteness of their situation excludes them from all the benefits 
 that might arise from a thorough knowledge of their condition by the 
 President, who only hears one side of the story, and that, too, told by 
 his own creatures, whose motives in seeking for such stations are 
 
38 PERPETRATORS OF WRONG EXPOSED, 
 
 often only to be able to gratify their cupidity and avarice. The 
 President should be careful to whom Indian agencies are given. If 
 there are trusts under our government where honest and just men are 
 needed, they are needed in such places; where peculation and fraud 
 can be more easily perpetrated than anywhere else. For in the 
 far off forests beyond the Mississippi, where we have exiled these un- 
 fortunate tribes, they can perpetrate their crimes and their out- 
 rages, and no eye but the Almighty's sees them." 
 
 During the entire period he resided in that region, he was 
 unceasing in his efforts to prevent the introduction of ardent 
 spirits among the Indians ; and though, for more than a year, he 
 had a trading establishment between the Grand River and the 
 Verdigris, he never introduced or trafficked in those destructive 
 drinks. This, too, was at a period when he was far from being 
 a practically temperate man himself. But, whatever might be 
 his own occasional indulgences during his visits to Fort Gib- 
 son and other white settlements, he had too much humanity 
 and love for the Red men, ever to contribute to their crimes or 
 their misfortunes by introducing or trafficking in those damnable 
 poisons. 
 
 Cognisant of the frauds practised on these various tribes by 
 the agents of the Government, he could not endure such intole- 
 rable acts of outrage upon the rights and the sympathies of 
 those whom he could not but esteem a generous and a good 
 people ; and he determined their conduct should be known at 
 the seat of Government, not doubting they would be instantly 
 removed. He visited Washington early in 1832, and made 
 such representations as caused an investigation into their con- 
 duct, and notless than five agents and sub-agents were promptly 
 removed. 
 
 These disgraced men were, some oi ihem, hig-hli/ respectable, 
 and they had powerful friends in Congress. Their dismissal 
 from office was, therefore, the signal for a general attack upon 
 Houston from every quarter, where mortified pride or disap- 
 pointed cupidity was aroused ; and even to this day these at- 
 tacks are made. Before leaving Arkansas, the swindlers, 
 whose conduct he had exposed, had crowded the Journals of 
 that region with the basest and most infamous libels against 
 
HOUSTON VISITS WASHINGTON. 39 
 
 Houston's character. He had been the friend of the despoiled 
 Red Man, and when he saw a band of land pirates leagued 
 together to rob the poor Indian, his humanity was stirred, and 
 he fearlessly tore off the mask which covered these perpetrators 
 of such high-handed injustice. But it was a crime for which 
 they never forgave him — and all that money, lavishly used, 
 and friends in high stations, who shared the spoils of the rob- 
 bers, and a venal press, all moved by untiring malignity, could 
 accomplish, to cover Houston with infamy — loas done. 
 
 At that time, hostility against General Jackson had reached 
 its culminating point. There was a majority against him in 
 Congress, and this majority were bent upon his ruin as a pub- 
 lic man. All the agencies that are resorted to, to crush a great 
 man, who is rising into fame, had been tried. Calumny had 
 exhausted its venom, and hatred had belched forth all its ma- 
 lignity. But the heroic old man had gone through it all, un- 
 scathed, and he now sat calm and high above the shafts of his 
 foes. 
 
 But Houston was the sworn friend of the old General, and 
 being a young man, he could be more easily crushed. A des- 
 perate effort was made to rally against him all the foes of Gene- 
 ral Jackson, and the effort was successful. One charge which 
 he had made against the agents, and proved incontrovertibly, 
 seemed to multiply their former malignity a hundred fold. 
 They had been contractors for furnishing Indian rations ; and 
 through their injustice or delinquency, some of the Indians had 
 died of starvation, and to multitudes only a scanty and insuffi- 
 cient supply of food had been issued. These rations were is- 
 sued at but one point in the two Nations (Creeks and Chero- 
 kees), which compelled the emigrants, as they had not had the 
 benefit of a crop, to locate in the most unhealthy parts of the 
 country, for there only their rations could be obtained. This 
 prevented their establishment and creation of homes in the new 
 country, to which they had emigrated. 
 
 When the mask was torn off from this den of iniquity, by 
 the bold, humane hand of Houston, he was attacked and pur- 
 sued with ferocious malignity. 
 
40 CONSPIRACY TO CRUSH HOUSTON. 
 
 But it was not enough to have stirred up the Press of the 
 Nation against a lofty-minded and upright man : Now, all Con- 
 gress was to be moved against him. It was necessary, in this 
 last desperate crusade, to hit upon a file-leader, v/ho had distin- 
 guished himself for his malignant, personal hatred of General 
 Jackson, and, at the same time, he must have no scruples 
 against being the supple tool of wiser, but not better men, who 
 pulled the wires behind the scene ». Characters of this descrip- 
 tion were not wanting in the Congress that waged this Third 
 Punic War against the old Man of the Hermitage ; but the 
 most supple, brazen-faced, shameless of all, was a certain 
 politician, who had been elected as a friend of Jackson. He 
 was chosen as the best instrument they could find to use for 
 their purposes. In his place in the House of Representa- 
 tives, he assailed Houston, and charged him with an attempt to 
 obtain a fraudulent contract for Indian Rations, and he boldly 
 intimated that the Secretary of War, and even Greneral Jack- 
 son himself, were implicated in the attempt to defraud ! 
 
 A crisis had now come. Houston had suffered all sorts of 
 abuse before, and borne it in silence, but when he saw the 
 fame, and even the integrity of Gen. Jackson, ruthlessly as- 
 sailed on his account, by a member of Congress, he was deter- 
 mined to chastise him for his cowardly insolence to the Presi- 
 dent. He knew Houston's determination, and was careful not 
 to cross his path. At last, one evening, when he knew, by posi- 
 tive information, that Houston was not armed, he crossed over 
 to the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue (where Houston was 
 walking) for the purpose of perpetrating some foul deed in the 
 dark, we have a right to suppose, since it was proved on the 
 trial that he was armed, and did attempt the life of Houston, 
 who had no weapon about him but a hickory cane. 
 
 A.S soon as Houston recognized his antagonist, through the 
 
 moon-light, he asked him if his name was , of Ohio. 
 
 The answer had no sooner escaped his lips, than Houston, who 
 knew he had no time to lose, since he was unarmed, levelled 
 him to the ground, and shivered his hickory cane upon his 
 head. In the meantime, he had snapped a pistol at Hous- 
 
TRIAL OF HOUSTON BEFORE CONGRESS. 41 
 
 ton, bat it missed fire, or he had been a dead man, for it was 
 held to his breast. Houston spared his life, and the policitian 
 crawled off to his bed, which he kept some days. 
 
 The chastised member now caused four processes to be 
 commenced against Houston, by which he expected to crush 
 and disgrace him for ever. He was arrested by the Sergeant- 
 at-arms, and brought before the House of Representatives, who 
 resolved themselves into a judicial tribunal, to try him on the 
 charge of violation of the rights of one of their Members, 
 whom Houston had held responsible for words uttered in de- 
 bate. The court sat nearly thirty days, and no means were 
 spared to condemn the accused man. It was argued, and with 
 great ability, by his friends, that the House had no jurisdiction 
 in the case ; that by the Constitution, Congress had been made 
 a Legislative Assembly, but clothed with no judicial powers 
 over American citizens. In this opinion, too, it is but just to 
 add, some of Gen. Jackson's political opponents concurred. 
 The matter dragged on nearly a month, and as the conduct, 
 the character, and the winning personal appearance of Hous- 
 ton were continually gaining him friends, and the public were 
 becoming indignant that Congress should abandon the busi- 
 ness of the country to prosecute and lacerate an unfortunate 
 and self-exiled man, who had bled in its service ; even his foes 
 themselves became tired of the prosecution. On the trial, 
 Houston spoke in his own defence, at great length, and with 
 consummate eloquence and ability. It was a touching spec- 
 tacle, to see a man who had been four years a member of that 
 body, the governor of a great State, the bosom friend of Gen. 
 Jackson, one who bore on his body the deep wounds received 
 in fighting under the flag waving from the top of the Capitol, 
 arraigned by parly politicians before their bar, for having, in 
 protecting himself, while unarmed, from the stealthy attack of 
 an armed coward, chastised a renegade demagogue, who had 
 dared to charge the President of the United States with a bold 
 fraud, because he thought he could, in his place in Congress, 
 do it with impunity. Politicians of a certain class will 
 at last learn, that in their attempts to crush those bold and 
 
42 TRIUMPH OVER THE CONSPIRACY. 
 
 magnanimous men who stand by the masses of the peo- 
 ple, and have, from the very beginning of the government, 
 led the popular majorities — they are only hastening their ad- 
 vancement to power. 
 
 What turned the popular feeling in favor of Houston at the 
 time, and made him dear to the people, just in proportion as 
 he was persecuted, was the undeniable fact that he was 
 brought to the rack and tortured there, because of his enthusi- 
 astic love for his old General, who ivas then President. 
 
 This protracted and august trial ended in a party vote of 
 instructions to the Speaker, to reprimand the prisoner at the 
 bar of the House. But the reprimand was delivered in so 
 courteous and delicate a manner, it carried with it more of the 
 tone of an approval than a reprimand. It was everywhere 
 regarded as a signal triumph to Houston, for few men ever 
 had so mighty a power maa'shalled against them. 
 
 The second process was to move for a committee to be ap- 
 pointed to investigate the truth of the charge that member 
 had made against Houston, of fraud in procuring a contract 
 for furnishing Indian rations. A committee was raised and 
 the demagogue was appointed chairman, which threw into his 
 hands power to crush his enemy, if the fraud could be proved. 
 Houston, conscious of his innocence, had procured this mea- 
 sure to be adopted himself. And what was the result of this 
 second attempt to ruin this man, who had come from his dis- 
 tant exile only on the humane mission — which an angel might 
 have undertaken — of procuring justice for the outraged In- 
 dians ! After a tedious and thorough investigation — after 
 marshalling every circumstance they could to his prejudice, 
 the committee was compelled to report that not the slightest 
 evidence had appeared to sustain the charge. 
 
 Houston was still triumphant, and his foes made another 
 effort. They introduced a resolution to exclude him for ever 
 from the lobby of the House, where, as an ex- Member of Con- 
 gress, and the Governor of a State, he had a right to go. But 
 this also failed ! 
 
 Every process that could either injure or disgrace him had 
 
RETURNS TO HIS EXILE. 43 
 
 now been tried in Congress, and so far from crushing him, he 
 had been steadily rising. The fowth and last act in this dis- 
 graceful drama then opened. At the instance of this same 
 demagogue, who, by being flogged by Houston, had now won, 
 what was doubtless to him, a very gratifying notoriety, he was 
 indicted and held to bail in a criminal process of $20,000. He 
 could have evaded the trial by leaving the District, but he met 
 his enemy once more, and after twenty days he was fined $500 
 and costs. But no enforcement of the sentence of the Court 
 was ever attempted. It is worthy of remark, that the last act 
 but one of General Jackson's administration was to remit the 
 fine. 
 
 Seldom, if ever, in the history of this country, has so ma- 
 lignant a persecution been waged against a public man. Sel- 
 dom, in the history of the world, has a man been able to with- 
 stand so mighty a conspiracy. But Houston came off tri- 
 umphantly. During this entire period of attack and abuse he 
 had displayed no cowardice nor shunned the most searching 
 scrutiny. He had bared his breast to his foes, and invited their 
 weapons. And now, when they had given over the contest, 
 and retired from it loaded with mortification and contempt, 
 this hunted and persecuted man deliberately abandoned once 
 more the haunts of civilisation, and went voluntarily where his 
 foes never could have driven him — back to his exile. 
 
 He returned by the way of Tennessee, and wherever he went 
 he was received with every demonstration of regard. Years 
 had passed since other painful occurrences had taken place— 
 and with them had passed, too, the storm they had raised. Rea- 
 son had resumed its sway over the public mind, and a strong 
 desire was manifested that he should again take up his abode 
 in Tennessee. The recent persecutions he had just passed 
 through had only won for him a deeper sympathy than ever, 
 and all the pride of the State was "aroused to protect and 
 honor the man it had lost. But he could not be dissuaded 
 from his purpose of returning once more to the forest. A 
 sight of the spot where he had seen the bright hopes that 
 had greeted his early manhood, crushed in a single hour. 
 
44 THE HEARTH-STONE OF A SAVAGE KING. 
 
 only awakened associations he wished to forget ; and he once 
 more turned his face towards the distant wigwam of the old 
 Indian Chief, where, after a year of persecution from Chris- 
 tian man, he found repose by the hearth-stone of a savage 
 king — a biting sature upon civilized life. 
 
 It is not difficult to imagine the effect that such unrelenting 
 persecution must have produced upon a sensitive, a proud and 
 a magnanimous man. He had escaped civilized life, and gone 
 where its pestiferous and calumny-loaded breath could not 
 reach him. 
 
 He had no more ambition to gratify. Posts of honor and 
 emolument proffered by General Jackson, he rejected, for he 
 would never suffer the foes of the old Warrior and Statesman 
 to heap opprobrium upon his name for showing favor to a 
 proscribed man. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILDERNESS. 4''> 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TEXAS — THE NEW FIELD. 
 
 His intention was now to become a herdsman, and spend 
 the rest of his life in the tranquillity of the prairie solitudes. 
 A fondness for rural pursuits was now the only passion he 
 had to gratify. Leaving his wigwam, which was situated on 
 the margin of a prairie between the Verdigris and the Grand 
 River, a short distance from its junction with the Arkansas, he 
 set out on the 1st of December, 1832, with a few companions, 
 through the wilderness to Fort Towson. At Nacogdoches he 
 reported himself to the authorities, and a few days after went 
 on to San Felipe de Austin, the scat of government of Aus- 
 tin's Colony ; after reporting to the authorities, he prosecuted 
 his journey to San Antonio de Bexar. 
 
 Here he held an interview with a delegation of the Ca- 
 manche Indians on a visit to that place. In all his intercourse 
 with the authorities and citizens, his conduct was marked by 
 great respect for law and the institutions of the country. After 
 some days he returned with two companions to San Felipe de 
 Austin. At Nacogdoches he was now warmly solicited to 
 establish his permanent residence, and ailow his name to be 
 used as candidate for election to a convention which was to 
 meet in the following April.* 
 
 He was slow now to yield to their request, for his purpose 
 had been formally settled to abandon public life and enjoy the 
 repose and solitude of a forest home. But a single glance at 
 the resources of this new country, and the character and con- 
 dition of its population, satisfied him that a great destiny 
 awaited them, and in imagination he already saw a new com- 
 
 * In 1832, in view of the probable necessity of revolutionizing Texas, the people 
 of the country openly and generally expressed themselves in favor of inviting 
 either Houston or Carroll to come among them, and head any revolutionary move- 
 ment that might be determined on. 
 
46 FIRST ANGLO-SAXON CONVENTION. 
 
 monwealth rising into power. He was still in the morning 
 of life — here was a new field for achievement, where all the 
 bold elements of his character could find full play. Once 
 embarked On the stream of a revolution the world would learn, 
 at last, the character of the man it had hunted from society, 
 and history and time would pronounce his eulogy. Sober 
 reflection convinced him that his public life was hardly yet 
 begun, and he permitted them to use his name for the suf- 
 frages of the people, who seemed at once to recognize his great 
 qualities as a civil and military leader. 
 
 While the election was going on he returned to Natchi- 
 toches, in Louisiana, and made a report to the government of 
 the United States. Its origin is supposed to have been in the 
 fact of his having been requested by General Jackson to ascer- 
 tain the disposition of the Camanches to make peace with our 
 Government, and to prevail upon a delegation of that nume- 
 rous and warlike nation to visit Fort Gibson on the Arkansas, 
 and afterwards proceed to Washington. General Jackson 
 thought that the emigration of the Choctaws, the Chickasaws, 
 and the Creeks, would be promoted by a Treaty of Peace with 
 the Camanches, whose power and hostile disposition they 
 dreaded in establishing themselves in their new home. As 
 this was a confidential mission, little is known of its history. 
 But it is certain that in Houston's interview with the Ca- 
 manches at Bexar, the objects were accomplished which had 
 been contemplated by the mission. 
 
 On his return to Nacogdoches he learned that during his 
 absence he had been elected by a unanimous vote. He took 
 up his residence among his new constituents, who had ex- 
 tended towards him so generous a greeting. 
 
 This convention, which was composed of more than fifty 
 members, assembled at San Felipe de Austin, the first of 
 April, 1833. It was the first deliberate assembly, made up 
 of men descended from the Anglo-Saxon race, which had ever 
 assembled within the limits of the ancient dominions of Cor- 
 tez, and the first step in that stupendous movement, which has 
 akeady swept across the Cordillera Mountains to the green 
 
DOINGS OF THE CONVENTION. 47 
 
 shores of the Pacific, where a thousand young riflemen from 
 New York and New England are going to plant fortresses of 
 protection, and institutions of learning, like those which are 
 now overshadowing the crumbling despotisms of two hemi- 
 spheres. 
 
 The convention met in a rude, narrow apartment — as the 
 first colonists of the Grecian states are said to have organized 
 those matchless republics of antiquity, under rude tents in the 
 forests, robed in the skins of wild beasts. But there were men 
 there, whose deliberations involved the fate of many millions. 
 
 As the delegates had their own expenses to pay, they pro- 
 ceeded forthwith to the business which had called them toge- 
 ther, and in thirteen days, they completed one of the best 
 models extant for a State Constitution. It was signed by the 
 members, and a memorial adopted by the Convention. Ste- 
 phen F. Austin, William H. Wharton, President of the Con- 
 vention, and James B. Miller, were appointed commissioners 
 to bear the constitution and memorial to the supreme govern- 
 ment of Mexico, and obtain the recognition of Texas as one 
 of the states of the confederacy. The memorial set forth va- 
 rious reasons why Texas should become one of the states of 
 Mexico ; amongst others, that it would enable her to negotiate 
 terms with the hostile Indian tribes, and secure their rights to 
 land previously promised by the general government. En- 
 croachments had been made on the Indian territory, subse- 
 quent to the rupture between the colonists and the Mexican 
 soldiers, stationed at Nacogdoches, Velasco and Anahuac. 
 This rupture had taken place in the summer of 1832, in conse- 
 quence of a difference between Bustamente and Santa Anna. 
 The former had attempted to subvert the constitution of 1824, 
 and the military throughout Texas had pronounced in his 
 favor. Santa Anna declared himself the friend and supporter 
 of the constitution, and the colonists sidine: with him in the 
 civil revolution, which had begun in Mexico and spread to 
 Texas, had expelled the military, whose usurpations, up to that 
 lime, had been submitted to without murmuring. Santa Anna 
 was now in power, and the colonists doubted not that Austin 
 
48 THE CONSTITUTION AND POLICY OF THE NEW STATE 
 
 and his colleagues would be received with favor, and their 
 Constitution ratified by the Federal authorities. 
 
 Austin alone finally went to the city of xMexico. He was 
 received with some formality, but little encouragement was 
 given to his mission. In the meantime Santa Anna had resolv- 
 ed on establishing- a military despotism^ which was the only 
 reason that could have been urged against accepting the con- 
 stitution. 
 
 In the formation of that instrument the greatest care had 
 been taken to render it entirely acceptable to the Central 
 Government. In the organization of the States of Mexico, 
 under the Federal Constitution of 1824, the Provinces of 
 Texas and Coahuila formed one State, but the right had been 
 reserved to Texas of constituting herself a distinct State when 
 her population would justify the measure. The Federal 
 Government and Coahuila had for some time pursued towards 
 Texas a policy which rendered it necessary for her to become 
 a separate State as soon as possible. They had granted away 
 her territory in large tracts, under the pretence of raising funds 
 to enable Mexico to defend her frontiers against the Indians, 
 but she had never appropriated one dollar to that object. For, 
 whenever the Central Administration stationed any troops 
 in Texas, it was in the towns nearest to the sea-board, where 
 no hostile attack from the savages could be apprehended. 
 Here, with a military force to overawe the citizens, a support 
 of the Government, which would never otherwise have been 
 conceded, could be extorted. The Frontiers were left without 
 protection, and the colonists were obliged to protect themselves 
 as best they could, against the hostile incursions of fifteen or 
 twenty tribes of Indians. 
 
 We have already said that great care was taken to render 
 the new Constitution acceptable to the Federal Government. 
 Mexico, for example, had no banks. In the Convention a 
 measure had been brought forward, and an article proposed to 
 be inserted, authorizing the Legislature of the State of Texas 
 to create a bank or banks. This measure was introduced by 
 Branch T. Archer, and supported by the principal men in the 
 
Houston's public policy. 49 
 
 Convention. Houston was the only speaker who opposed the 
 policy. In principle he was opposed to any system of bank- 
 ing, except one whose powers could be brought within very nar- 
 row limits ; and he did not believe a more fatal precedent could 
 be established in the infancy of the new State. The exigencies 
 of cupidity and of business would prove stronger than the 
 enactments of law, and he was persuaded that no sound sys- 
 tem of banking could be hoped for in so new a community. 
 
 But he was opposed to the measure also, on the ground of 
 policy. It would be a valid reason, if inserted, for Mexico to 
 reject the Constitution, since it would be an innovation upon 
 the legislation of the general government, and he was deeply 
 anxious to preserve harmony, and wished Texas to defer to 
 the prejudices and institutions of Mexico, rather than excite 
 her jealousy by any of these new movements, which would at 
 least be likely to excite suspicion, if not positive alarm. 
 Houston spoke on this subject with great eloquence and con- 
 vincing power. He caused the article in dispute to be stricken 
 out, and one inserted prohibiting the establishment of all banks 
 and banking corporations, for a period of ninety-nine years, 
 which passed the Convention by a large majority. 
 
 This was the first illustration Houston gave, of that wise 
 and profound policy, which guided all his counsels during the 
 long struggle Texas was obliged to pass, before she could be 
 admitted to the full and recognized liberties of an American 
 commonwealth. We shall often have occasion to remark the 
 difference between his policy, and that of other public men, 
 who figured on the same scene. All new States are infested, 
 more or less, by a class of busy, noisy, second-rate men, who 
 are always in favor of rash and extreme measures. But Tex- 
 as was absolutely overrun by such men. There seemed to be 
 few of that class who give character to the institutions of new 
 States, which spring suddenly into power, — men who are brave 
 enough for any trial of courage, wise enough for any difficult 
 emergency, and cool enough for any crisis of danger. But 
 fortunately, Texas had some such men, and she had a leader 
 
 she depended on in the camp, and a councillor she relied on 
 4 
 
50 AUSTIN S IMPRISONMENT IN MEXICO. 
 
 in the Senate. It is exceedingly doubtful what would have 
 been her fate, but for him. And yet, we shall perceive, as we 
 trace down Houston's history, involving, as it necessarily does, 
 the history of Texas, that all his difficulties and all the dan- 
 gers of the State, and the sufferings and sacrifices of her peo- 
 ple, grew out of the rash and headstrong movements of a few 
 men, whose judgments and counsels were generally precipi- 
 tate, and ended, when followed, in embarrassing the State or 
 plunging her into danger. 
 
 Those who were present in the Convention, have always 
 attributed to Houston the moulding influence which controlled 
 the action of that Assembly, which gave tone to the political 
 feelings and events that followed. They are also just as con- 
 fident in the belief, that if restless and ambitious spirits, who 
 will " rule or rend," had been willing to follow Houston's wise 
 counsels, the Independence of Texas would have been 
 achieved without much sacrifice of blood or treasure. We 
 shall see how he at last triumphed, and how much sacrifice, 
 and care, and endurance, it cost him and his country. 
 
 But to return to Austin, whom we left in Mexico, and in 
 trouble. Finding his application fail, he concluded to return 
 to Texas. On his way home, he was pursued by order of the 
 government, taken back to the capital, and plunged into a 
 dungeon, where he dragged out many months of gloom and 
 suffering. He was an amiable, enlightened, excellent man, 
 and a pure patriot. He was beloved and respected by the 
 colonists, and his fame and his virtues will be long cherished 
 by the Texians. During his imprisonment, stories of his suf- 
 ferings reached Texas, and everywhere produced a deep sen- 
 sation. The indignation of the colonists burst forth like the 
 rage of a single man. There was, at that time, only one press 
 in Texas (at Brazoria), but it gave utterance to the wrongs of 
 the people ; and although few in numbers (for the entire 
 population of Texas did not exceed 20,000 souls), yet, instead 
 of exercising discretion, they spoke freely of the wrongs they 
 endured, and the rights guaranteed to them under the Consti- 
 tution of 1824. Houston discouraged such unrestrained ebul- 
 
OUTRAGES AND WRONGS PERPETRATED ON TEXAS. 51 
 
 litions of feeling, since they would be likely to plunge Texas 
 into a bloody struggle with Mexico before she was prepared 
 for it, wliile he was as anxious as any man for the day of their 
 political redemption to come. 
 
 Austin had been cast into prison with no formal accusation 
 alleged against him, and without even the form of a trial. 
 At length he was liberated by Santa Anna, and permitted to 
 return home. He had great confidence in Austin, for he had 
 shown himself a friend of order on all occasions in Texas, and 
 loyal to the principles recognized at the time. He had first 
 migrated to that country with 300 families, as colonists, and 
 thus introduced the materials of that vast political structure, 
 which was subsequently wrought into form and beauty. 
 When he returned to Texas, he found the public mind in- 
 flamed, and indignation had been expressed in municipal 
 meetings. But when public feeling was subsiding, and few, 
 if any, orderly men were thinking of extreme measures, Santa 
 Anna showed clearly that nothing short of absolute power 
 would satisfy him. 
 
 The colonists were alarmed, and precautionary measures 
 taken. They were ruled by Mexican laws, and governed by 
 officers who followed blindly Mexican edicts. Rumors were 
 constantly reaching Texas, that the colonists were laboring 
 under the disapprobation of the Mexican government. The 
 commerce of Texas had been placed under restrictions of the 
 most oppressive character, and the worst men had been set 
 over the administration of the customs. Taxation had become 
 oppressive. The people had been baffled in all their attempts 
 to secure justice, and large sums of money extorted from them 
 in obtaining titles to the lands they had improved, and which 
 had been guaranteed to them by the Mexican government. 
 An edict of Santa Anna had demanded of the people the sur- 
 render of their private arms. This struck them like an electric 
 shock. It not only exposed their wives and children to the 
 fury of hostile Indians, but to all the horrors of starvation, for 
 many families depended upon wild game for daily subsist- 
 ence. 
 
52 A MEXICAN ARMY INVADES TEXAS. 
 
 At Gonzales, there was a piece of artillery for the defence 
 of the place, which was called into almost weekly requisition 
 by the incursions of the Indians. It was the capital of Dewitt's 
 Colony, situated on the eastern bank of the Gaudalupe, about 
 70 miles east of Bexar. In obedience to Santa Anna's edict, 
 Ugartechea, a Colonel in the Mexican army, in command of sev- 
 eral hundred dragoons, marched to Gonzales, from Bexar, to 
 carry off the four pounder. The colonists flocked together for the 
 rescue of the little field-piece. Some skirmishing took place, 
 without any serious consequences at the moment. But a great 
 point had been won — the first shot had been fired by the Mexi- 
 can army, and the swords drawn that day, were to be returned 
 no more to their scabbards, till the last link in the Mexican fet- 
 ters which had been put on the youthful form of Texan Liber- 
 ty, had been snapped asunder, and she stood erect among the 
 nations. 
 
 Austin arrived at the scene of the struggle, and was elected 
 General of the forces. But the insurgents not only rescued their 
 four pounder, they resolved to pursue the enemy to Bexar, and 
 drive the base myrmidons of the Mexican tyrant from their soil. 
 A general alarm was spread to the banks of the Sabine. East- 
 ern Texas had hitherto been disposed to remain tranquil, sup- 
 posing all might not be so bad as rumor proclaimed it ; — but 
 the torch of war had now been lighted, and Texas rose every- 
 where like a single man. 
 
 Committees of Vigilance and of Safety had been constituted 
 in the municipalities of San Augustine and Nacogdoches, and 
 a partial organization of the militia under their direction had 
 taken place. In the meantime, Houston had been chosen Gen- 
 eral of Texas, east of the Trinity. An invitation had been 
 given by the people of the county of Brazoria, and responded 
 to by other Municipalities, to elect delegates to meet in a gene- 
 ral Consultation to devise means of safety, in the event of dan- 
 ger ; for they had now become pretty well satisfied that they had 
 little to hope for from the Despot of Mexico. 
 
 Austin had proceeded on to Bexar with his forces, and invest- 
 ed it. The colonists marched to him from all sections of the 
 
TEXAS PREPARES FOR THE STRUGGLE. 53 
 
 province, till 800 armed men has joined his standard. These 
 events occurred in October, 1835. The Consultation was to 
 meet early in that month at Washington, and at the specified 
 time about fifty-six delegates assembled. At their first meet- 
 ing they conferred, and changed the place of deliberation to 
 San Felipe, where they received an invitation fi'om General 
 Austin to repair to Bexar, pledging himself, if they complied. 
 that he would reduce the place in three days. After his ad- 
 vance upon Bexar, citizens residing near Matagorda and Vic- 
 toria formed a company, and under the command of Captain 
 CoUinsworth, reduced Goliad, and maintained possession of the 
 town. On the first meeting of the Consultation, General Aus- 
 tin wrote to Houston to send on his Division of troops. Hous- 
 ton took from his pocket the last five dollars he had in the 
 world, and put it into the hand of a good rider, with despatches 
 to his Division, and in a short time the Redlanders were rapidly 
 mustering for the scene of war. Immediately after having 
 received the invtiation of General Austin, Houston, with the 
 major part of the Consultation, set out without delay for Aus- 
 tin's Camp, at the Salado, within three miles of Bexar. 
 
 Soon after their arrival. General Austin, in whose pure and 
 lofty mind love of country outweighed all considerations of 
 personal aggrandizement, feeling diffident to lead an army at 
 such a time, proposed to surrender his command to Houston. 
 Houston most positively declined his magnanimous offer, 
 alleging, among other reasons, that the troops then in the field 
 were either those who had elected Austin as their commander 
 or had marched to the camp in obedience to his requisition, 
 and he believed it would furnish a pretext for the seditious and 
 disaffected to abandon the service, and defeat the objects of 
 the campaign. But he frankly offered to render General Aus- 
 tin any aid in his power in organizing or drilling his command. 
 
 A Council of War was held in the camp, to which the 
 principal officers and members of the Consultation were in- 
 vited. A question arose as to the propriety, or rather neces- 
 sity, of forming a Provisional Government, which could be 
 done only by the re-assembling of the members of the Con- 
 
54 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONSULTATION. 
 
 sultation at San Felipe. In this exigency the Council of War 
 determined to refer the subject to the army. The following 
 day the troops were drawn up and their voice taken. They 
 were unanimous in the opinion that the Consultation ought to 
 re-assemble and form a Provisional Government, and devise 
 ways and means for maintaining the army then in the field, 
 and adopt such measures as would give Texas credit abroad. 
 After General Austin had marched the army some ten or 
 twelve miles below to the Mission of Espada, the members of 
 the Consultation repaired to San Felipe, where they re-or- 
 ganized, and once more opened their deliberations. They 
 made a Provisional Declaration, exhorting all Mexicans to 
 unite in maintaining the Constitution of 1824, and pledged 
 their lives, property, and sacred honor, in support of its prin- 
 ciples. They established an organic law for the Provisional 
 Government of the Province, and organized a temporary ad- 
 ministration for it. Houston was one of the Committee to 
 frame the Declaration. A disposition existed on the part of the 
 members of the Committee to make a Declaration of absolute 
 Independence, and such a resolution was adopted. Consider- 
 ing this movement premature and ill-judged, he got a member 
 of the majority to move for a reconsideration of the vote. 
 By one of the ablest efforts of his life, he carried his point, 
 and on the trial there was found to be a considerable majority 
 in favor of the Provisional Declaration. 
 
 These deliberations were held in a little framed building of 
 one floor, without ceiling or plaster, whose only apartment was 
 the narrow room where they assembled. Houston, as was his 
 custom in those days, was dressed in buckskin breeches, and a 
 Mexican blanket. But the appearance of the room, and the 
 costume of the members, had little to do with their deliberations. 
 In regard to this freak of Houston, of dressing for years a la 
 sauvage, General Jackson is reported to have said, he •' thanked 
 God there was one man, at least, in Texas whom thi Almighty 
 had had the making of, and not the tailor." When Houston 
 took up his abode in the forests, he assumed the simple and pic- 
 turesque costume of the proud race among whom he dwelt ; 
 
HOUSTON ELECTED COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 55 
 
 that portion of the world, which had poured gall into his lace- 
 rated bosom, and finally hunted him into the forests, now in- 
 vaded the solitude of his new home. One of his crimes was 
 that he had become an Indian — even in his dress. Certainly 
 these men " the tailors had had the making of" — and he must 
 have been an outlaw, whose dress was more like a Roman sena- 
 tor's than the dandy of the Boulevards. 
 
 Some of Napoleon's officers were once laughing, on the morn- 
 ing of one of his great battles, at the gay dress of Murat as he 
 rode by, decked in ribbons and plumes. " You may smile, 
 Messieurs," said Napoleon, " at my dandy marshal, but take 
 care that when the columns are shot down to-day, you keep 
 your eye upon him, for where you see Murat's gaudy plumes 
 they will be dancing in the hottest of the fight. Let a hero 
 have one folly, gentlemen." Diogenes lived in a tub, but from 
 all accounts the world felt a good deal more disturbed about it 
 than the old philosopher himself. 
 
 Yes, Houston, the adopted son of an Indian chief, wore the 
 dress of his tribe ; but he carried the heart of a hero under his 
 blanket. He refused to be a candidate for any office ; what he 
 could do, however, he was ready to do. A Governor and Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor were elected. A council was also created, 
 one member from each Municipality, and the requisite number 
 of officers appointed for the administration of such a govern- 
 ment. The council was to continue in session till they should 
 be superseded by officers elected by the people. Measures 
 were also taken for raising a regular army and organizing the 
 militia. 
 
 Another event took place which decided the fate of Texas. 
 The man in buckskin and the Mexican blanket was, with only 
 one dissenting voice among more than fifty members, elected 
 Commander-in-Chief of the armies of Texas. 
 
 There was no alternative for Houston but to accept the office. 
 There was no one else gifted with those great qualities nature 
 lavishes on men born to command. He accepted the appoint- 
 ment, and proceeded to appoint his staff, and draw up the 
 necessary bills for the organization of the army, and the ap- 
 
56 THE PROGRESS OF LIBERTY. 
 
 pointment of the officers of the line, embracing a 'competent 
 organization of the forces designed to be raised. 
 
 Texas had not a dollar at this time, and previous to Houston's 
 election commissioners had been appointed to visit the United 
 States to forward her interests, and procure a loan to sustain her 
 under the pressure of her bold undertaking. Austin, Wharton, 
 and Archer were appointed commissioners, and they were 
 already on their way. Houston's hopes of money were not 
 sanguine. He regarded Texas as thrown upon her own re- 
 sources, and such aids as could be afforded by individuals whom 
 the spirit of patriotism should inspire wdth generosity. At that 
 moment, there were few men in the United States who had any 
 adequate conception of the importance of those early move- 
 ments, or dreamed of the results that were to follow. Even 
 now, as these grand events of the last ten years pass in review 
 before us, we seem, in the soberness of solitary reflection, to be 
 tracing the progress of one of the states of antiquity. But 
 there are few men who understand great social or political 
 changes till they have become matters of history. We shall, in 
 the sequel, glance at some of the causes which have operated to 
 cloud and prejudice the minds of the people of this country on 
 the entire subject of Texas. 
 
 In the meantime, General Houston issued a proclamation in- 
 viting five thousand volunteers to unite in the cause of Texas. 
 The army still remained in the field under Burleson, who had 
 succeeded to the command after General Austin had left for the 
 United States. He was an early settler of Texas, and a good 
 man ; but destitute of those great qualities which fit men for 
 military control. Before General Austin left the army, Fannin 
 and Bowie, with about one hundred men, encountered five hun- 
 dred Mexicans at the Mission Conception. The action was 
 sustained gallantly by the Americans, and the Mexicans retreated, 
 leaving some dead on the field, and carrying w4th them many 
 wounded. The victors then marched to the neighborhood of 
 Bexar, and posted themselves above the town. Colonel Benj. 
 R. Milam, who had then no command in the Army, proposed 
 that volunteers should turn out, who were willing to enter the 
 town of Bexar and storm the place. About two hundred 
 
MILAM AND IIIS HEROIC BAND. 57 
 
 flocked to his banner, and led by the gallant Milam, whose 
 chivalry entitled him to the confidence of such brave men, en- 
 tered the town at night, and taking possession of certain build- 
 ings, made their way with crowbars through the walls, from 
 house to house. After performing acts of singular bravery for 
 several days, the heroic Milam fell, his head pierced by a 
 rifle-ball ; and shortly after their leader's death, the troops got 
 entire possession of the town, and the Alamo (the enemy's 
 fortress) capitulated. 
 
 A singular spectacle was presented on the morning of the 
 capitulation. Not less than eleven hundred Mexican soldiers 
 passed before a little band of less than two hundred Texians, 
 and laid down their arms. They were released on their parole 
 of honor, and marched to Mexico by General Cos. This same 
 General violated his faith, and fought at San Jacinto. The 
 colonists were now generally discharged, and marched to their 
 homes, with the exception of the gallant company which had 
 reduced the Alamo. During the siege of Bexar, a company 
 called the New Orleans Greys, under Captain Morris, and 
 another company from Mobile, under Captain Breeze, had 
 arrived, as volunteers from the United States. They bore a 
 gallant part in the siege, and every man engaged in the town 
 deserved and secured the renown of a hero. 
 
 While the troops were before Bexar, a Doctor Grant arrived, 
 and joined the army. He had been concerned with an English 
 Mining Company at Parras, but he had fallen under the displeasure 
 of the Mexican Government, and was obliged to fly. He was a 
 Scotsman by birth, but did not seem to possess much of the metho- 
 dical shrewdness which characterizes that nation. He was a man 
 of much more than ordinary capacity, but, in all military affairs, 
 seemed to be destitute of judgment and discretion. As one of 
 the aids of General Austin, he claimed the command of the 
 troops remaining, after Burleson had retired with most of the 
 army. He immediately projected the invasion of Matamoras, 
 for he entertained a single-hearted hatred of the Mexicans, and 
 he induced the New Orleans Greys and Capt. Breeze's company 
 from Mobile to join him in the expedition. These two compa- 
 nies accordingly took up their march for Matamoras by the way 
 
58 INTRIGUES AGAINST HOUSTON. 
 
 of Goliad. At the same time Grant opened a correspondence 
 with the General Council, which unfortunately at the time con- 
 tained some man of capacity utterly destitute of moral princi- 
 ple, and carrying on machinations which were in the end to 
 terminate most disastrously for Texas. The members of the 
 Military Committee of the General Council coincided with 
 Grant's plan of attack upon Matamoras, and thought it neces- 
 sary, in effecting its capture, to destroy Houston's influence, and 
 create a power that would supersede him. 
 
 In the appointment of his staff. General Houston had chosen 
 J. W. Fannin, Jr., his Inspector General. He had had command 
 at the battle of the Mission of Conception, and arriving at the 
 Council of San Felipe, Houston, who felt that he deserved an 
 appointment in the line of the army, obtained for him the Colo- 
 nelcy of the regiment of artillery, which placed him next in 
 command to himself. 
 
 The Council, to effect their designs without reference to the 
 safety of the country, thought proper to direct the head-quarters 
 of the army to be established at Washington, about fifty miles 
 distant from the sessions of the Council. This, of necessity, 
 removed Houston's station, and it was evident they believed the 
 success of their intrigues depended upon getting him as far off as 
 possible. About the middle of December he repaired to Wash- 
 ington, and continued there, engaged in his arduous duties. 
 Meantime he had assigned the officers of the regular army to 
 their several recruiting stations, and directed them to make 
 such reports as would enable him, at any time, to know^ the 
 amount and condition of the regular force. 
 
 Fannin was ordered to Brazoria, the principal recruiting ren- 
 dezvous, and Houston supposed, of course, that his orders would 
 be carried out with a strict regard to his authority. But his 
 despatches w^ere utterly disregarded. About this time letters 
 were circulated through the country to create a suspicion, that 
 Houston's design was to establish a military government by rais- 
 ing five thousand volunteers, through the sanction of the Gene- 
 ral Council. 
 
 Houston bore this in silence, but endeavored to counteract it 
 by the eflSciency of his conduct. About the 1st of January he 
 
INSUBORDINATION AND CONSPIRACY. 59 
 
 received orders from Governor Smith, — who had detected the 
 secret intrigues of the Council with Grant, Fannin and others — 
 to repair to San Felipe, while the General had been at Wash- 
 ington. Colonel Ward's command from Georgia, and the Ala- 
 bamians, had arrived at the mouth of the Brazos. Houston had 
 taken precautions, and issued his orders for all troops that might 
 arrive in the country, requiring them to report to the Governor 
 as nominal Commander in Chief, and to himself as Commander 
 of the army, on their arrival. Fannin being in the neighbor- 
 hood of the United States volunteers when they landed, paid no 
 attention to the orders of General Houston, and abandoning his 
 post as an officer of the Regular Army, became a candidate for 
 the Colonelcy of the Regiment that was to be formed by the 
 union of the Georgia and Alabama troops. Governor Smith no 
 sooner detected the treasonable conspiracy of the Council, than 
 he manifested the highest disapprobation of their conduct, and 
 of course excited their hottest displeasure. Fannin treated all 
 General Houston's despatches with cool contempt, and looked 
 only to the orders of the Council. He had made know^n to 
 them his desire to be elected Colonel of the new Regiment, and 
 in accordance with their views, he was chosen to the new post. 
 Ward being put second in command. They were then ordered 
 to sail from Velasco to Copano, and thence to march to Refugio 
 Mission, twenty miles distant from their landing, where Grant 
 was to join them with his command, on their way to Matamoras. 
 In obedience to his orders, Houston reported to the Governor 
 at San Felipe, and was ordered to repair to Refugio, where a 
 juncture of the troops was to be effected. He returned forthwith 
 to Washington, and after arranging matters at head-quarters, 
 proceeded to the execution of the Governor's orders. He 
 reached Goliad about the middle of January, 1836, and found 
 Grant and his troops on the eve of departure for Refugio. 
 General Houston made known to the troops the orders under 
 which he was acting, and urged obedience to his author- 
 ity. Ignorant of the extent to which the Council had gone 
 in thwarting his intentions to save the country by routing 
 the enemy on their first great engagement, and knowing 
 
60 FATAL RESULTS OF DISOBEYING HOUSTON'S ORDERS. 
 
 it was impossible for the troops at Bexar to maintain the place, 
 he despatched Colonels Bowie and Bonham (of South Carolina) 
 on the 15th of January, with an escort to Bexar, directing the 
 commanding officer to blow up the Alamo, and fall back to Gon- 
 zalez on the Guadalupe, which he intended to make the line 
 of defence. 
 
 Grant and Morris refused obedience to the orders of the Go- 
 vernor, while Houston was left without the power of accounting 
 for their extraordinary conduct. He marched with them twenty- 
 five miles to Refugio Mission, leaving a few Regulars to main- 
 tain the post at Goliad, with no subsistence but the cattle of the 
 country. He arrived at Refugio, but no intelligence had come 
 of Fannin's landing. 
 
 The Governor, refusing to concur in their lawless measures, 
 had been deposed by the Council, although — under the Organic 
 Law, which required a certain number to constitute the Council, 
 or transact business — they had ceased to be a lawful Body. 
 The conduct of the stormy spirits in that Council had disgusted 
 and enraged their more patriotic and rational colleagues, and unwil- 
 ling to concur in their high-handed and treacherous movements, 
 they had withdrawn, reducing their ambitious associates to an 
 incompetent number. But they were nevertheless determined 
 to brave it out, and " rule or rend." 
 
 Houston did not wish to be the cause of insubordination, for 
 be was aware that it would require all the harmony and union 
 possible to save the country. Yet knowing that all the troops 
 from the United States had left with the expectation of serving 
 under himself, he used every persuasive he thought convinc- 
 ing against the expedition to Matamoras, and then resolved to 
 return and report in person to the Governor. 
 
 The only object of the Council in directing the campaign 
 upon Matamoras, was to command the revenues of the place. 
 Houston at once discovered the absurdity of such a plan, since 
 the possession of Matamoras by an enemy would cut off all 
 intercourse with the interior, and prevent all communication 
 with the sea, and he had forecast enough to know that if an 
 army could reach Matamoras without opposition, they could 
 not maintain it a single week with a force of only seven hun- 
 
ATTEMPTS TO CRUSH HOUSTON. 61 
 
 dred men. But they could never reach sight of its walls. 
 They had an area of several hundred miles to pass, with no 
 means of transportation — they had not three days of bread- 
 stuffs, and the men were unprovided in every respect for a 
 campaign. 
 
 Houston remonstrated with the officers in a friendly man- 
 ner, representing the great difficulties they would have to en- 
 counter, the futility of the project, and the disasters attendant 
 on a failure. So careful was he to avoid exciting sedition 
 among the troops, who bowed very reluctantly to the command 
 of any other General, that he set out from Refugio in the night, 
 with a few of his staff, for San Felipe. 
 
 On the road he received news that the Council had deposed 
 the Governor and superseded his own authority — also, letters 
 of Col. Fannin, which had been published, showing his reli- 
 ance on the Council, and disregarding all other authorities. 
 This opened Houston's eyes to the true situation of the coun- 
 try, and he saw that unless something was done, without de- 
 lay, to repair the evil, and to prepare the nation for the trying 
 struggle she must pass, in wading through a Revolution, all 
 would be lost The hopes, which had greeted the first dawn- 
 ing of Anglo-Saxon Liberty in the fair province of New Es- 
 tramadura, seemed likely to be extinguished ; and it is not 
 strange that a man who had been prevailed on to exchange 
 the tranquillity of a forest life, where he could find repose from 
 persecution, to mingle in the struggles of a nation emerging 
 into a free existence, should, when he saw himself still hunted 
 down by malignant rivals, and his hopes clouded, feel his 
 great heart dejected by sadness. 
 
 But men whom God raises up to become leaders of Na- 
 tions, cannot be crushed — and although in the midst of their 
 adversities they may seem, for a moment, to bow before the 
 blast, yet they never despair. For not more sure was Colum- 
 bus to surmount at last all opposition, and plant his feet upon 
 the green shores of the New World, than are such men in the 
 end to overcome all their foes, and triumph over even the ma- 
 lignity of fortune. All the way to San Felipe, he Was halting 
 
62 
 
 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 in the most painful suspense — whether to withdraw once more 
 from the treacheries and persecutions of the world, and bury 
 himself deep in the holy solitudes of nature, and pass a life of 
 communion with the Great Spirit, and his beautiful creations, 
 or whether he should boldly mark out a track for himself, and 
 in leading a new people to National Independence, trample 
 down all opposition. During most of the day he rode along 
 in silence, and none of his companions disturbed his reveries. 
 Towards evening he addressed them — he made a rapid but 
 clear survey of events that had passed — contemplated the pre- 
 sent slate of affairs, and dwelt upon the future prospects 
 of Texas with enthusiasm. He seemed to read her future 
 as the ancient prophets did the history of Judah. He had 
 fixed his purpose, and all the world could not move him. 
 After making an official report to the Governor, he proceeded 
 with his Aide-de-Camp, Major Hockley. to the Cherokee Nation, 
 in pursuance of instructions received from the Consultation, to 
 form treaties with that and other Indian tribes. He met the 
 Indians in Council, and having been returned as a Delegate to 
 the Convention which was to meet in Washington on the 1st 
 of March, he arrived there the day previous. The Conven- 
 tion assembled and organized, and the following dav, the 2d 
 of March, 1836, the Declaration of Independence was 
 adopted and signed. 
 
AMERICAN HOSTILITY TO TEXAS. 63 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE GENERAL. 
 
 The Declaration of Independence, for which public feeling 
 had been precipitately matured, was adopted unanimously, 
 and hailed throughout Texas with joy and acclamation. So 
 was it received, too, by the people of the United States, wher- 
 ever they had even a faint conception of the issue made in the 
 struggle, or the vast magnitude of the consequences that were 
 to follow. 
 
 But from the hour the news that Texas had declared herself 
 free and independent reached the United States, a feeling of 
 hostility was excited against the Infant Republic, without a 
 parallel in the history of the world. Losing sight of the grand 
 moral results that were to flow from that event, and unmind- 
 ful even of the hour of our own heroism, when we extended our 
 feeble hands to France for help, a chorus burst of indignation 
 went up from a thousand newspapers, and everywhere the De- 
 claration of Texian Independence was declared to be an act of 
 high-handed robbery, perpetrated by a band of bold outlaws. 
 To have emigrated to that part of the world was enough to brand 
 a man with infamy ; and those who gave the little they could 
 afford to help on the struggle, cast their mite into the Texian 
 Treasury in silence. All recollection of our fathers and the 
 days of their dark struggles seemed to be as completely 
 obliterated from the memory of many of our countrymen, as 
 though they had been swept by the waters of oblivion. We 
 forgot that the men, who were fighting those battles, were many 
 of them descended from the early settlers of Jamestown and 
 Plymouth ; that hearts were nerved there for the defence of 
 liberty, whose lathers had poured out their blood at Yorktown 
 and Saratoga, and Bennington, and Bunker Hill ! And who 
 were the men that joined in this ten years' crusade against the 
 liberties of a Sister Republic? And how would the victors of 
 San Jacinto have been laughed away by them in scorn from our 
 
64 THE CRISIS COMING. 
 
 altars of confederate freedom, if they had not themselves been 
 crushed by the simultaneous rising of an indignant people at 
 the last Election '. 
 
 Some days before the Declaration was adopted, letters had 
 heen received from Travis, in command of the Alamo at Bexar, 
 notifying the people of Texas, for there were then no chief 
 authorities of the country, that he was invested by a numerous 
 force in the Alamo, calling loudly for help. Houston, it will 
 be remembered, anticipating this very result, had given orders 
 to the commanding officer to abandon and blow up the Alamo ; 
 but his orders had been disobeyed by the officer, and treated 
 with contempt by the General Council, who had ordered the 
 commander to defend the place to the last, promising to reinforce 
 him. And now the brave men in the Alamo were to atone for 
 the treachery and low ambition of a few selfish men. The pro- 
 mised reinforcement was limited to thirty men, making Travis' 
 whole effective force not more than one hundred and eighty-five, 
 and they without a month's provisions, detached from all Texian 
 settlements more than seventy miles, and the intervening terri- 
 tory swept by the Mexican cavalry. 
 
 As the Provisional Government, by which Houston had been 
 elected Commander-in-Chief, had ceased when the Convention 
 assembled, he resigned his Major-Generalship. But there was no 
 other man in Texas to whom the people could look in this emer- 
 gency. The Convention went into the election of a Commander- 
 in-Chief, and out of fifty-six votes, Houston, who was not pre- 
 sent, received all but one vote. Texas had no organization of 
 forces, and the few gallant m.en from Georgia and Alabama in 
 the field were detached beyond the southern settlements, under 
 the command of a man who had treated the orders of the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief with contempt. The treatment Houston had 
 received from the Council was known, and the people feared he 
 would decline the office. A deep gloom now hung over the 
 public mind. Apprehension and alarm were wTitten on every 
 face, and the conviction became almost universal that the cause 
 of Texian Independence was lost unless Houston would accept 
 the command of the Army. Impressed with the general feel- 
 ing, and stirred by the heroic spirit which has always guided 
 
THE FALL OF THE ALAMO. 65 
 
 him, he resolved to peril everything, and stake life itself upon, 
 the issue, and he accepted the command. 
 
 On Sunday, the 6th of March, a letter was received from 
 Col. Travis, addressed to the President of the Convention, 
 brought by the last express that ever left the Alamo. The 
 intelligence it conveyed was no sooner known, than an electric 
 terror flashed through the community. The members, and a 
 crowd of spectators, rushed to the Hall of the Convention, the 
 President to his chair, the Members to their seats, without sum- 
 mons or signal. The President rose, and announced the re- 
 ceipt of a document of the most important character ever re- 
 ceived by any assembly of men. He then read a letter from 
 Col. Travis, of the most thrilling character. It was written in 
 all the fervor of patriotic and devoted courage ; but it breathed 
 the language of despair. Robert Potter rose, and moved that 
 " the Convention do immediately adjourn, arm, and march to 
 the relief of the Alamo." Houston, feeling that the next move- 
 ment made in the Convention would be likely to decide the 
 fate of Texas, determined what should be done by the Con- 
 vention as well as by himself 
 
 All eyes were turned upon him, and as he rose from his 
 seat, it would seem that, for a moment, every heart in the as- 
 sembly stopped beating. He opposed the motion, and de- 
 nounced it as madness, worse than treason, to the people. 
 They had, to be sure, declared themselves independent ; but 
 they had yet no organization. There must be a government, 
 and it must have organic form — without it, they would be no- 
 thing but outlaws, and could hope neither for the sympathy 
 nor respect of mankind. He spoke nearly an hour, and 
 his appeal, if he ever was eloquent, was eloquence itself. He 
 admonished the Convention of the peril of the country; he 
 advised them to sit calmly, and firmly and coolly pursue their 
 deliberations ; to be wise and patriotic ; to feel no alarm, and 
 he pledged himself instantly to repair to Gonzalez, where he 
 had heard that a small corps of militia had rallied, and inter- 
 pose them between the Convention and the enemy ; and while 
 they chose to sit in Convention, the Mexicans should never 
 
66 HOUSTON STARTS FOR THE SCENE OF CONFLICT. 
 
 approach them unless they marched over his dead body. In 
 the meantime, if mortal power could avail, he would relieve 
 the brave men in the Alamo. 
 
 Houston stopped speaking, and walked immediately out of 
 the Convention, In less than an hour he was mounted on his 
 battle horse, and with three or four brave companions was on 
 his way to the Alamo. Men looked upon it as an idle and 
 desperate attempt, or surely more would have followed him. 
 The party rode hard that day, and only stopped late at night 
 to rest their horses. They were now in the open prairie. At 
 break of day, Houston retired some distance from the party, 
 and listened intensely, as if expecting a distant signal. CoL 
 Travis had stated in his letters, that as long as the Alamo 
 could hold out against the invaders, signal guns would be 
 fired at sunrise. It is a well authenticated fact, that for many 
 successive days, these guns had been heard at a distance of 
 nearly two hundred miles across the prairie — and being now 
 within the reach of their sound, Houston was anxiously wait- 
 ing for the expected signal. The day before, like many pre- 
 ceding it, a dull, rumbling murmur had come booming over 
 the prairie like distant thunder. He listened with an acute- 
 ness of sense which no man can understand but one whose 
 hearing has been sharpened by the teachings of the dwellers 
 of the forest, and who is awaiting a signal of life or death from 
 brave men. He listened in vain. Not the faintest murmur 
 came floating on the calm, morning air. He knew the Alamo 
 had fallen, and he returned to tell his companions. The event 
 confirmed his convictions, for the Alamo had fired its last gun 
 the morning he left Washington ; and at the very moment he 
 was speaking in the Convention, those brave men were meet" 
 ing their fate. After returning to his companions, who were 
 preparing to pursue their march, he wrote a letter to the Con- 
 vention recommending them to adopt a resolution declaring- 
 Texas a part of Louisiana under the Treaty of 1803. His 
 suggestion was not adopted, but if he had been there to eu" 
 force it by his commanding eloquence, it would doubtless have 
 been passed — for in those deliberative assemblies be was as 
 
CAUSE? OF THE PRESENT WAR. 67 
 
 absolute as ever Cromwell was in the Rump Parliament, with 
 a thousand bayonets at his back. In this case, too, he would 
 have had the means of conviction in the policy he proposed. 
 Such a measure would have won for them the sympathies of 
 Legislatures as well as peoples. They would not then have 
 been regarded as a separate people. It would have matured 
 the Republic and its institutions ; it would have shortened the 
 period of her struggles. Neither the question of recognition 
 nor annexation would have been raised — she would have been 
 adopted at once. Houston looked at the whole matter 
 with the eye of a statesman and the heart of a soldier. He 
 knew that Mexico would have withdrawn at once from the 
 conflict, if Texas had at once been constituted a part of 
 Louisiana. 
 
 If, then, it be asked, why Mexico has, at last, not only 
 made war upon Texas, after the Great Powers recognized her 
 independence, but against the United States after annexation 
 we answer, that there is no man who knows enough about 
 this subject to qualify him to hazard an opinion who does 
 not understand and believe that Mexico has been emboldened to 
 provoke the war, only because of the long, powerful, perse- 
 vering, and desperate hostility with which a thousand news- 
 papers and a thousand public men, in this country, have resisted 
 the annexation. These presses and these public men have 
 held the very same language, and displayed the very same 
 spirit towards Texas, that Santa Anna, and Bravo, and Busta- 
 mente, and Almonte, and Herrera, and Paredes, and their 
 hireling presses, have done. In fact, the hopes of these mili- 
 tary despots have all rested upon the efforts of the enemies of 
 Texas in the United States, and not upon their popularity at 
 home, or the power of their cannon, or the justice of their 
 cause. In New York, and Philadelphia, and Boston, they 
 have stationed their most trustworthy and confidential agents ; 
 here they have expended their money," and here their batdes 
 have been fought. Who of those bold, impudent tyrants 
 would have dared to tread upon a single fold of the mantle 
 that wrapped the youthful form of Texian Liberty, if its very 
 
68 HOUSTON ORGANIZES THE ARMY. 
 
 name had not been made a by-word among the children of 
 the heroes of '76. It is known that Paredes never appre- 
 hended any danger of being brought to battle ; he never ex- 
 pected he would be called on to make good his braggart 
 threats. And now when this mad hostility against Texas has 
 been frowned down by the American people, and its grand 
 movers are glad enough of the first chance that is offered to 
 redeem their American character, they throw off the 
 Mexican disguise and vote the ten millions and the fifty 
 thousand volunteers with loud huzzas, throw up their cap to 
 the heroes of Palo Alto and La Resaca de la Palma, and 
 wish to make the hero of this " accursed war " President of the 
 United States. And of all the boasters and bullies who 
 damned Mr. Polk for sending the heroic Taylor to the Rio 
 Grande, not one of them all has dared to open his mouth 
 against the war after the first victory, except the editor of the 
 New York Tribune, who, with all his non-resistance principles 
 and all his other isms, has shown that he possesses more 
 genuine courage than the whole phalanx together. " Oh ! 
 shame, where is thy blush " — and echo answers where ? 
 
 The Alamo had fired its last gun, and its brave defenders 
 had met their fate. But Houston proceeded to Gonzales, al- 
 though not a man joined him on the road. On setting out 
 from the Convention, he despatched an express to Fannin, di- 
 recting him to form a junction with him on the Cibolo, a small 
 river between Gonzales and San Antonio, intending with the 
 united forces to march to the relief of the Alamo. About the 
 lOlh of March (1836) he reached Gonzalez, where he found 
 374 men. They were without organization, and destitute of 
 supplies — they were neither armed nor clad for the campaign. 
 He at once had them assembled and organized, the men electing 
 their own officers. Scouts who had been dispatched to the 
 neighborhood of San Antonio, returned about the time of 
 Houston's arrival, vinder the impression that the Alamo had 
 fallen. This created some sensation among the troops, and 
 immediately afterwards two Mexicans, whose families had re- 
 sided among the American colonists, came in from the region 
 
THE FALL OF THE ALAMO, 69 
 
 of San Antonio and confirmed the general apprehension. 
 Houston, who was satisfied that their statement was correct, 
 had it written down. It represented that the Alamo had been 
 taken on the morning of the 6th of March, and every human 
 being in it slaughtered, except a woman, her child, and a ne- 
 gro : that after their slaughter, the dead had been dragged 
 out and piled together with wood in one vast hecatomb, and 
 burned to ashes. 
 
 When the news of this act of cold-blooded barbarity flew 
 through the colonies, it stirred up a spirit that would never 
 sleep again. But the day of vengeance was rapidly coming — 
 the hour of San Jacinto was not far off. Houston immedi- 
 ately sent another express to Fannin (March llth), apprising 
 him of the fall of the Alamo, and ordering him to evacuate 
 Goliad, blow up the fortress, and fall back without delay upon 
 Victoria and the Gaudelupe. This would unite all the forces 
 then in the field, which Houston regarded as the only means 
 of saving Texas. Fannin's force, the General estimated at over 
 500, and once joined to his own, the army would number at 
 least 900 effective men, since Fannin had a fine supply of arms 
 brought from the United States. 
 
 This order reached Fannin some eight days before he at- 
 tempted a retreat; indeed he did not attempt it at all, till he 
 had been surrounded by the Mexic-ans several days. In reply 
 to the orders of the commander-in-chief, Fannin sent an ex- 
 press, saying he had held a council of war, and had concluded 
 to defend the place, and had named it Fort Defiance. He 
 also said, he was prepared to abide the consequences of dis- 
 obeying his orders. The sequel showed but too well how 
 prophetic was the glance Houston cast over the future. 
 
 On the twelfth (we believe) of March, about 8 o'clock in the 
 evening, Mrs. Dickinson arrived with her child at Gen. Hous- 
 ton's camp, accompanied by two negro guides, sent to attend 
 her by Santa Anna, and also to bring a proclamation of pardon 
 to the insurgent colonists, if they would lay down their arms. 
 The proclamation was, of course, treated as such papers had 
 been by our fathers, when they were sent to their camps of 
 
70 CONSTKRNATION IN THK CAMP. 
 
 Hudrrinjcj by tho luynnidmi grnrral of a l^ritish king. Mu 
 DirUiiison was the wilo o( one oi \\\o bravo oltioors whoe 
 hours hu<l rrmnblrtl on the saoriluMal |>yro of tho Alam^ 
 Houslon was walking aU>iio, a fow huiulnnl yanlsfroin thooain^ 
 at tho inoinoiit this striokoii an<J l>oroavoti inoRsontyi^r arrixj. 
 lie nMiiriictl f^oow afior, and fomul that hor foarful narrativo ( 
 Uin butohoriMij; and bnrninc, with soino of tho most stirring u* 
 tails of that dark Iragotiy, had alroady siriiok tho sol<b«^rs wh 
 a rhill o( horror; and whon sho told thorn that rnHH) mon \v«? 
 ndvanoing by fon^otl nianMios, and ihoir arlillory woxild !»oo 
 bo h«\ard at (»oti7.ah'!«, tho wildont oonstornation sproad thro\»« 
 tho oan\p. Thoir alarm }*oo\\ roaoln^d a piioh of do?|x^mii(n 
 Homo won' slnnnod with silonoo. othors woro wild wiih i- 
 luonlation.'*, and ovon ollioors had ^ot tiro to thoir tonts. 
 
 \N Inn Uo)i!«ton oamo ttp. Iu> ordorfd silom-^, and tho lire- \ 
 bo oMingnisho*!. Wo tin n addn^ssod tho soldiory in tho 
 forvid mannor, an«hhoy all gathon^l ar\nin<t him, ovoopi a ic* 
 who had at tho Itrst impiil.«o (lod ft>r thoir horjH^^. \\r vu 
 taohod a mianl instantly to mtorivpt fugitivos, and tuoro thni 
 twonty wort' brotighl bark snoaking to tho oamp. Hut a 1©» 
 ^mh\ r«mnors mado thoir O5oaj>o to ihr sottlomonls and carrifr 
 pajuo in ovory dirootion! 
 
 Tho (Jonoral atmonnood to his oomrados that ho shonKi ;ur 
 night fall baok to a wxow sivtjro position, a« thoy wow in 
 bond o( iho rivor, whoiv tlto onomy, by orossiug. o.>n'.? . n! i/ 
 nil po!«siblo nMn^at. AtVt^rxlingly. aKntt olovon . 
 night. Houston onlo»v»l ovory light in l^xMualo'S to Iv^ < 
 gut<>hod,and loaving aroargtianl wtth orvlcrsto u!h» tlw» v 
 vigilan»v and giw information of tln^ tirst a|'v^>roaoh i>f th 
 ononty, bo oimIomhI tho oamp to he strnok. and tho littK^ : 
 took «p thoir lin«» of mar*0\ in g\H\i onior. <)n i 
 HtNn^alos. fooling assunsi that iIxmI 
 lowod. won' tno\ ' . ho had onion m ah lao \ 
 ctnldn'n to bo ...,,., ,>rt«Hi to tho iniorii-vr srUi. -. 
 
 ^hn^^^ghoMt tho ontm^ Toxinn !>in^ .'.-'' ^.' w^s n s,'^\< .■ 
 tho holplo>!« wbo\»ld Movor 1h» lof^ . lor monnof r 
 
 Movtoanji. Uolon- tho cfi»ij» oAmo, lw» hojvxl tho inm>; 
 
A night's march. 71 
 
 would return, but in this he was disappointed, and that night 
 the entire army was followed by only one baggage wagon, 
 which was drawn by four oxen. 
 
 He continued his march that night to Peach Creek, ten 
 miles from Gonzales, and halted to refresh the troops. He 
 was here met by a reinforcement of a hundred men, which 
 increased his army to upwards of four hundred and fifty. The 
 fugitives from Gonzales had met this company and given them 
 the news from the Alamo, and so anxious had they become, 
 that nearly one quarter of them had left their officers to hurry 
 on to the camp. About day-break, an hour after the arrival 
 of the army at the Creek, an explosion was heard in the di- 
 rection of Gonzales. It produced an electrical effect upon the 
 army, and many exclaimed it was the enemy's cannon. An- 
 other and a third explosion were heard in quick succession. 
 Houston afterwards said, that they were the most agreeable 
 sounds he had ever heard. On the march that niffht, he was 
 informed that several barrels of intoxicating liquors, left in a 
 store at Gonzales, had been poisoned by arsenic, and he de- 
 nounced it as a monstrous act, and not to be justified even by 
 the barbarities of their savage foe. Understanding at once the 
 cause of the explosions, Houston quieted their apprehen- 
 sions by announcing the cause. It has been stated that Hous- 
 ton had ordered the town of Gonzales to be reduced to ashes ; 
 but credible men who were there, declared that the charge was 
 not only false, but that he was angry when he heard the fact. 
 The gallant Captain Karnes, who had been left in command of 
 the rear-guard, believing its destruction would be an annoy- 
 ance to the enemy, and deprive them of the merchan- 
 dize and other supplies, had set the town on fire. After a halt 
 of three hours, the army continued their march to the Brasos. 
 At the LaBaca he received the letter from Colonel Fannin, 
 which has already been referred to, and he is said to have 
 turned to his aide-de-camp. Major Hockley, and pointing to the 
 little band which seemed but a speck on the vast prairie, said ; 
 " Hockley, there is the last hope of Texas. We shall never 
 see Fannin nor his men — v/ith these soldiers we must achieve 
 
72 THE MARCH OF THE ARMY. 
 
 our independence or perish in the attempt." It was a sad and 
 gloomy march Over the fatal tragedy of the Alamo seemed 
 to come the dirge of 500 more devoted men. 
 
 Towards evening, they perceived, at a distance, a small mov- 
 ing mass in the advance, which soon proved to be a company 
 of some thirty volunteers, from the Brazos, under Captain 
 Splann. Even this diffused some cheerfulness, and added to 
 the lustre of the setting sun an additional ray. 
 
 At night they encamped on the La Baca, where Houston 
 created a volunteer aide-de-camp of Major Wm. T. Austin, 
 and dispatched him to the settlements of the Brazos, to meet 
 him with supplies of cannon, &c., on the Colorado, where he 
 intended to make a stand against the enemy. A person pre- 
 sent has given a graphic account of a scene that occurred 
 that night in a little shantee. Hockley was sitting by a rude 
 table, writing down orders for Austin, which were dictated by 
 his General, who was feeding a little fire with oak splinters, 
 to furnish them the only light their extremities allowed 
 
 them. 
 
 On the assurance of Austin that supplies could be obtained, 
 Houston had directed him to bring not less than seven pieces 
 of mounted cannon, with mules sufficient for draught, and at 
 least twelve good horses for his spies, with ammunition suffi- 
 cient for the artillery. The march was continued to the 
 Navidad — where intelligence reached him that a blind woman 
 and her seven children had been passed by, and were not 
 apprised that the enemy was approaching. The General 
 immediately detached a company of fifty men, under two 
 confidential officers, and delayed his march till the woman 
 and her little orphans were brought safely to the camp. 
 
 We have before us a despatch written by Houston, " from 
 the camp on the Navidad," to the chairman of the Military 
 Comiltee, dated March 15, from which we. make a few 
 extracts : 
 
 " My morning report, on my arrival at the camp, showed 374 
 men, without two days' provisions ; many without arms, and oLbers 
 ■without ammunition. We could have met the enemy and avenger] 
 
Houston's despatches. 73 
 
 some of our wrongs ; but, as we were, without supplies for men in 
 the camp, either of provisions, ammunition, or artillery, and remote 
 from succor, it would have been madness to have hazarded a contest. 
 * * The first principles of the drill had not been taught the men. * * 
 If the camp had once been broken up there would have been no 
 hope for the future. * * I am fearful Goliad is besieged by the enemy. 
 All orders to Col. Fannin, directing the place to be blown np, and the 
 cannon to be sunk in the river, and to fall back on Victoria, would 
 reach him before the enemy could advance. * * I directed, on the IQth 
 of January last, that the artillery should be moved and the Alamo 
 blown up ; but it was prevented by the expedition upon Matajnoras, the 
 cause of all our misfortunes.''^ 
 
 Those extracts show, beyond a question, that the horrid 
 slaughter at the Alamo was foreseen by Houston, and caused 
 by violating his orders. Also, that the still more bloody 
 tragedy of Goliad was in the commander's eye before it 
 happened, and caused in like manner by disobeying his 
 orders. The lives of hundreds of the bravest men paid the 
 penalty, and Texas did not recover from the fatal consequences 
 for many years. 
 
 From the Navidad he marched on to the Colorado, where 
 he halted*till all the women and children, and non-combatants, 
 with their cattle and horses, had safely crossed over. Leaving 
 a guard on his rear, he went over the Colorado with the main 
 army. On this day, 17th of March, he thus writes the Mili- 
 tary Committee : " To-day, at half-past four p.m., we reached 
 this Point (Burnham's). * * It pains me at heart that such 
 consternation should be spread by a few deserters from the 
 camp, but we are here, and if only three hundred men remain 
 on this side the Brazos, I will die with them or conquer our 
 enemies. * * Send agents to the United States. Appeal to 
 them in the holy names of Liberty and Humanity. * * Let 
 the men from the East of the Trinity rush to us. Let all the 
 disposable force of Texas fly to arms." 
 
 On the following day he marched down the eastern bank 
 of the Colorado, about twelve miles, and encamped opposite 
 Beason's, to await the arrival of Austin with his supplies. 
 During this period he had to keep pickets for more than thirty 
 miles up and down the river, to prevent surprise. Shortlv 
 
74 THE MASSACRE OF FANNIN S REGIMENT. 
 
 after his arrival, it was ascertained that General Sezma had 
 advanced to the opposite side of the river, and taken a position 
 a few miles above the Texian Camp, which caused Houston's 
 rear-guard to fall back over the river. They had, witliout 
 authority from their General, set fire to Burnham's premises, 
 as the enemy had encamped near by. 
 
 Houston now sent a detachment with orders to secrete them- 
 selves in a strong position, supposing that the army would be 
 likely to pass the river with a strong advance guard, and the 
 position of the Texians being well chosen, would enable them 
 to discomfit five limes their number. As he had anticipated, 
 the enemy crossed the river with upwards of 50 cavalry, un- 
 conscious of the ambuscade, and would have been completely 
 cut off, had it not been for the imprudence of one men, who 
 fired upon them too soon, and thus advertised them of their 
 danger. No other attempt was made to cross. 
 
 Some few reinforcements and supplies reached the camp 
 about this time. But his entire force, including all his de- 
 tachments, did not exceed 650 men : and his artillery not arriv- 
 ing, he was unable to cross the river and give battle to Gen- 
 eral Sezma. Austin had limited his arrival with the supplies 
 and artillery to twelve days, and although the time had pass- 
 ed, nothing had yet been heard from him. A slight skirmish 
 had taken place between a party of riflemen and an advance 
 guard of the enemy, but without any decisive result. 
 
 On the 23d March, Houston writes to Mr. Rusk : 
 
 " You know I am not easily depressed, but, before my God, since 
 we parted, I have found the darkest hours of my life. For forty-eight 
 hours I have neither eaten an ounce of anything, nor have I slept. 
 All who saw the deserters, breathed the poison and tied. It was a 
 poor compliment to me to suppose I would not advise the Convention 
 of any necessity that might have arisen for the removal." 
 
 In the midst of all this gloom and suspense, the news came, 
 which burst Uke a bolt of thunder over the little army — Colonel 
 Fannin's Regiment had all been massacred! A Mexican, by 
 the name of Peter Kerr, had brought the intelligence, and al- 
 though he had not a shado^v of doubt the man's story was 
 true, yet such was the alarm it had created, the General was 
 
THE SAGACITY OF THE GENERAL. 75 
 
 obliged to throw discredit upon the messenger, to prevent his 
 camp from being deserted. The fall of the Alamo had well- 
 nigh dispersed the little army, and when they heard that 500 
 brave comrades, fully armed and equipped, had all been cut off, 
 their consternation was redoubled. The last barrier between 
 them and a slaughtering army seemed swept away, and it was 
 not strange that this last sad news had unnerved their courage. 
 Houston had his part to play that night, and he played it 
 well. In such exigencies all the difficulties have to be over- 
 come at once. He instantly called for the sergeant of the 
 guard, and denouncing Kerr as an incendiary of the Mexicans, 
 sent to his camp to produce distraction, declared in a furious 
 passion he would have the spy shot the next morning at nine 
 o'clock. An order was immediately given to have the man 
 arrested and placed under a strong guard. He then addressed 
 the soldiery, and adduced many reasons why the news could 
 not be true. His apparent disbelief calmed the excitement, 
 which had reached a fearful pitch. Houston would not see 
 the prisoner, till the camp had retired to rest. He then went 
 to the guard-fire, and heard his story. He knew that his worst 
 apprehensions had become history. He gave private orders to 
 have his prisoner treated kindly, and the next morning he for- 
 got to have him executed ! The excitement had passed away 
 with the dreams of the soldiers — but the prisoner could not be 
 released at once, since everything which savored of the Mexi- 
 cans was odious to the army, and Houston would have been 
 charged with turning loose a spy, and perhaps collusion with the 
 enemy. Houston struck his camp that evening, and marched 
 towards the Brazos. The army reached San Felipe the next 
 night, effecting a march of about twenty-eight miles in less 
 than twenty-four hours. We find in one of the General's des- 
 patches, dated 
 
 " Camp, West of Brazos, March 31st. 
 " My intention was to have attacked the enemy on the second 
 night after the day Fannin's destruction was reported by Kerr. * * 
 Send me daily expresses, and let me know what to rely on. I must 
 let the camp know something, and I want everything promised, to be 
 realized by theiu, and I can keep them together. I have thus far sue- 
 
76 CAMP ON THE BRAZOS. 
 
 ceeded beyond my hopes. I will do the best I can ; but be assured, 
 the fame of Jackson could never compensate me for my anxiety and 
 mental pain. Two nights since, when it was reported that the enemy 
 was on this side of the Colorado, the citizens of San Felipe reduced 
 it to ashes. There was no order from me for it." 
 
 On the 3d of April, Houston again writes the Secretary of 
 War. After describing the massacre of Fannin's command, he 
 says : 
 
 " Humanity must recoil at the perfidy which has been exercised 
 towards brave and heroic men, who have perished in the unequal con- 
 flicts with the enemy, when they were always more than six to one. 
 Will not our friends rush to the conflict, and at once avenge the 
 wrongs which have been inflicted on our dauntless comrades l — 
 The day of just retribution ought not to be deferred." 
 
 Again, on the 6th of April, he says : 
 
 " The enemy shall be closely looked to, and the first favorable mo- 
 ment seized with avidity, to eflect his total defeat." 
 
 The army encamped on the night of the 29th of March at 
 Mill Creek, and the following day reached their destination op- 
 posite Groces. The steamboat Yellow Stone, which was lying 
 at the landing, was at once pressed into the service, and a com- 
 pany of troops stationed on board to prevent the boat or its en- 
 gineers from running off. The army remained in the same po- 
 sition till the 11th of April. During tliis time the river had 
 swollen by the spring rains, and as Houston's camp lay on an 
 island of the Brazos, where he was secure from the enemy, he 
 constructed a narrow bridge, by which communication was 
 maintained w'ith the enemy's country, over which the Texian 
 scouts could pass, to gather information, and hold a keen vigi- 
 lance of the movements and designs of the Mexicans. 
 
 Before the waters reached their greatest height. General 
 Houston had designed, as soon as the enemy should approach 
 San Felipe, to march with all his force, and surprise them at 
 night, believing that their confidence, inspired by numbers, dis- 
 cipline, and success, would have completely thrown them off 
 their guard, which would give an easy victory to the Texian 
 commander. But when he learned of the arrival of the enemy 
 at San Felipe, the freshet was at its height, and having three 
 creeks without fords, to pass in his march, this boldly conceived 
 
73 SANTA anna's PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. 
 
 plan failed. Although no fortunate result followed many of these 
 designs of Houston, yet they will show to the reader the sleep- 
 less vigilance and bold daring of the man upon whose move- 
 ments was suspended the fate of the young Commonwealth. 
 We also deem their relation important, because they serve to 
 render the reader familiar with the chances and changes of war- 
 fare, and the qualities necessary in the citizen who leads an 
 army to the field. 
 
 The company left in charge of San Felipe having retired to 
 the east side of the river, and thrown up a partial fortification 
 of timber, the enemy immediately opened their artillery upon 
 their breastworks, and the noise of their cannon announced to 
 Houston the first certainty of their approach. A company of 
 eighty men, which had just arrived at the camp from Eastern 
 Texas, w^ere detached with another body to succor Captain 
 Baker, while, by means of expresses, the Commander-in-Chief 
 kept up communication with the troops at San Felipe and Fort 
 Bend. 
 
 His entire force at Groces, where the main body of the army 
 lay, did not now exceed five hundred and twenty men. He had 
 been encouraged to expect not less than five hundred men from 
 the Redlands, and they could have been furnished, for they 
 were already in the field, and many of them had advanced their 
 march to the banks of the Trinity. But some turbulent men, 
 who were willing to ruin the country rather than fail in Hous- 
 ton's destruction, raised rumors of Indian hostilities, which pre- 
 vented them from joining him. Amongst them was General 
 Quitman's command from Natchez — a fme company of south- 
 ern chivalry, who were thus prevented from participating in the 
 triumphs of San Jacinto. They arrived at the camp two days 
 after the victory. The country behind Houston was entirely 
 depopulated. He never fell back till the women and children 
 were secure from danger — always interposing the army between 
 the enemy and the helpless. 
 
 He had now become apprised of the strength, position and 
 designs of the enemy. They were marching upon him in three 
 Divisions. The centre was to advance from San Antonio to 
 Gonzales, Beason's, ?.nd by San Felipe or Washington, and 
 
MOVEMENTS OF THE TEXIAN ARMY. 79 
 
 Robbins' Ferry to Nacogdoches — led by Santa Anna himself. 
 The Second Division, under General Urrea, was to march from 
 Goliad by the way of Victoria to Brazoria and Harrisburg, while 
 the upper or Third Division advanced by Bastrap to Tenoxtitlan 
 on the Brazos, and thence to the Camanche, crossing the Trinity, 
 on to Nacogdoches. The plan of the campaign gave evidence 
 of the superior ability of Santa Anna, and showed Houston the 
 man he had to deal with. At the same time the entire scheme 
 had to be broken up in less than thirty days, or Texas would be 
 swept by three rolling streams of fire, which would cover the 
 land with desolation, and blot out the last hope of the Repub- 
 lic. How this almost impossible work was to be achieved, no 
 one knew but Houston. There was a painful feeling of sus- 
 pense throughout the little army, and all eyes were turned 
 anxiously upon their bold leader. There was no longer a doubt 
 in the mind of any one who knew the position of affairs, that 
 the salvation of Texas, under God, had been thrown entirely 
 upon Houston's arm. 
 
 What was his policy ? Apprised of all this, he believed that 
 the Divisions were sufficiently detached to be managed in detail, 
 if the tsuccors he had a right to expect should reach him in 
 time. His position on the Brazos enabled him to cover a larger 
 extent of country than any other he could have selected, and 
 was one of the most eligible for supplies. During his entire 
 encampment there he was sending frequent expresses to Eastern 
 Texas, and while he represented his true situation in his con- 
 fidential despatches to the Committee of Vigilance and Safety at 
 Nacogdoches, he was in the habit, we have heard, of endorsing 
 the envelopes with certain postscripts, that all might see that 
 his force did not exceed twenty-five hundred men j for he be- 
 lieved if his real situation was known, it would deter all succors 
 from coming to his aid. This is the only origin we have dis- 
 covered for the report of his having so large a command. 
 
 About the 11th of April, news came from Fort Bend that 
 the Centre Division under Santa Anna had already crossed the 
 river at that place. The company stationed there not maintaining 
 the vigilance enjoined, the ferry-boat was taken over by a negro 
 to the western side. By this means they were enabled at once 
 
80 CONVENTION BREAKS UP IN ALARM. 
 
 to pass the river. Had it not been for this circumstance, the 
 Brazos being at high flood, they could not have passed for a 
 month, and Houston could have maintained his position till his 
 safety inspired a confidence that would have reinforced his 
 army. 
 
 A fortunate combination of circumstances enabled Houston to 
 maintain himself against the influence that seemed to be mark- 
 ing his destiny. The Upper Division of the Mexican army, 
 under Gaono, became bewildered in their march, and ascended 
 the Colorado. The South Division under Urrea, was delayed 
 by high waters, and never passed the Brazos at all. Santa 
 Anna had, doubtless, learned that Harrisburg had become the 
 seat of Government, after the adjournment of the Convention, 
 which took place on the 17th of March, and was prepared to 
 take advantage of the alarm which this flight of the officers of 
 the Republic had spread over the colonies. The Convention 
 had broken up in utter consternation and dismay, and only seven 
 of its members ever found their way to the army. None but 
 those who were on the ground can have any conception of the 
 fatal consequences that attended this movement. It is safe, 
 probably, to say that to it more than any other cause was it 
 owing that Houston received no more reinforcements in that 
 trying crisis. A constitutional act had been passed by the 
 Convention, creating a Government ad interim^ consisting of a 
 President, and Secretaries of War, Navy, and the Treasury, 
 with all powers incident to a Government, except the law- 
 making. They had adjourned to Harrisburg, not less than 
 seventy miles from the scene of war. The wise men and the 
 worthies of the nation, thus fleeing from danger, was calculated 
 to alarm the old, the young, and the helpless, to afford an ex- 
 cuse to the timid, and sanction the flight of the cowardly. 
 Many brave men, who had joined Houston, hearing of the general 
 consternation which had followed the adjournment of the Con- 
 vention, could not resist their natural impulses to go and render 
 protection to their abandoned fugitive wives and children. Hous- 
 ton has often declared that this was one of the most appalling 
 circumstances that ever befel him w^hile struggling for Texas, 
 and we find this confirmed by his dispatches. 
 
THE ARMY CROSSES THE BRAZOS. 81 
 
 But the event proved it was fortunate for him that Santa Anna 
 had heard that Harrisburg had become the seat of Government,, 
 for it caused him to abandon his general plan of invasion, and 
 diverge from his route to Nacogdoches, with a view to capture 
 the self-preserving administration of the new Republic. As 
 soon as General Houston received intelligence that Santa Anna 
 was crossing the Brazos, he despatched without delay his orders 
 for all the troops, scattered up and down the river, from Wash- 
 ington to Fort Bend, a distance of more than eighty miles, to 
 join him on his march to Harrisburg. While he lay on the 
 Brazos, General Rusk, now Senator from Texas, and then 
 newly-appointed Secretary of War, instead of flying from the 
 scene of danger, when the rest of the cabinet fled, hastened to 
 the Commander-in-Chief on the Brazos. They advised together 
 most cordially, on all matters connected with the welfare of 
 Texas, and harmonized most perfectly in the means necessary to 
 be adopted. The steam-boat Yellow Stone was put in motion, and 
 in two days the entire army, with their baggage-wagons and 
 horses, was transported to the eastern side of the Brazos. On 
 the shore, Houston met the first artillery w^hich had been under 
 }^is control. They were two six-pounders (a present from some 
 patriotic men in Cincinnati) , but they were without equipments 
 necessary for use, except that they were mounted. There 
 being a smith's shop and gunsmiths there, who had been em- 
 ployed in repairing the arms of the troops, the two field-pieces 
 were immediately made ready for effective use, and all the old 
 iron in the neighborhood cut into slugs, and formed into car- 
 tridges. The little army halted a few miles from the Ferry, and 
 encamped for the night. After the Commander-in-Chief had, 
 as was his uniform custom, examined in person the state of the 
 camp, and seen that everything necessary for an early march 
 had been done, he inquired the route for Harrisburg. Houston 
 had never before been in that region ; but he took the precau- 
 tion to inform himself perfectly of the geography of the country, 
 well knowing that he was liable to be surprised any hour by a 
 superior force. One road led to Nacogdoches, crossing the 
 Trinity at Bobbins' Ferry ; and Houston knew that this was 
 
 the road Santa Anna must have taken in his march upon Har- 
 6 
 
83 MARCH THROUGH THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 risburg. The main army, amounting to between seven and 
 eight hundred men, was now put in motion. They marched 
 that day (16th April) to McArley's, a fatiguing march of eight- 
 een miles, through a prairie. There were fourteen baggage- 
 wagons, and two pieces of artillery in the train. Excessive 
 rains had made the prairie boggy, and in many places the 
 wagons had to be unloaded, and the dismounted field-pieces 
 carried or rolled through the mire. This brought into requisition 
 the entire physical strength of the army. Houston had, early 
 in the march, foreseen what lay before his men, and on the first 
 emergency, he stripped off his coat, dismounted, and set the 
 example of unloading and transporting baggage and guns, and 
 so continued throughout the day, commanding and aiding the 
 soldiers wdth his personal strength. The brave little army 
 halted at sun-set, and laid themselves down to sleep in the 
 open field, without covering, for there was not a tent in the 
 camp. About dark, a cold rain set in, and continued for twenty- 
 four hours. Such were the hardships those men were compelled 
 to undergo, who were working out the emancipation of their 
 country. 
 
 The second day (17th) they pursued their exhausting march 
 through the rain, twelve miles, to Burnett's settlement, which 
 they found deserted. Another night followed — the soldiers 
 slept on the wet ground, with their arms in their hands, ready 
 to answer in a single moment the three taps of the drum, 
 which was the only instrument of martial music in the camp, 
 and which was never touched but by the General himself. 
 The third day's march (18di), through the prairie, of eighteen 
 miles, brought them to Post Oak Bayou, where they encamped 
 for the night. Their toilsome march through the prairie was 
 now over, and they were only six or eight miles from Harris- 
 burg. But Santa Anna had been there before them, and re- 
 duced the town to ashes, on his march to New Washington. 
 
 The army had marched up within two miles of the stream, 
 and almost in sight of the ruin, and prepared to cross the Buf- 
 falo Bayou, which lay between them and the scene of deso- 
 lation. The gallant Karnes, and Deaf Smith, swam over the 
 
HOUSTON PREPARES TO MEET SANTA ANNA. 83 
 
 stream with several companions, and in a short time brought 
 back over the Bayou two expresses who bore most important 
 intelligence. On the person of the courier, who was a Mexi- 
 can officer, were found despatches from Filisola to Santa 
 Anna, so recently written, that the reader remarked : " The ink, 
 sir, is hardly dry." The Texian commander now had the 
 most positive assurance that Santa Anna was in command of 
 the advance of the enemy. The second express contained the 
 mail from the capital, filled with letters of congratulation re- 
 cognizing Santa Anna as Emperor of Mexico, &c. 
 
 Mr. Rusk, the Secretary of War, and General Houston, im- 
 mediately retired for a private conference. Very few words 
 passed between them : the facts were before them, and they 
 could come to but one decision. " We need not talk," said 
 the General, "you think we ought to fight, and I think so 
 too." The battle was decided on, and the fate of Texas was 
 to be settled as soon as the enemy could be found. Shortly 
 after this conference, General Houston was informed by Colo- 
 nel Hockley that he had overheard an officer in command of a 
 regiment saying to the men about him, over whom he sup- 
 posed himself to possess the greatest influence, " Boys, Hous- 
 ton don't intend to fight — follow me and you shall have enough 
 of it," Houston at once remarked to Hockley, " I'll cure this 
 mischief directly." He ordered the two Colonels to be sent 
 for. " Gentlemen, have you rations of beef in the camp, for 
 three days ?" " Yes, sir." " You will then see that each man 
 is supplied with three days' cooked rations, and hold the camp 
 in readiness to march. We will see if we can find Santa 
 Anna : good morning, gentlemen." Turning off with Hock- 
 ley, Houston remarked, " There is no excuse for sedition now, 
 if they wish to fight." At the same time orders were given to 
 prepare for crossing the Bayou — that the army might com- 
 mence their march the next morning upon the enemy. 
 
 Night passed, and daylight came — but no preparations had 
 been made for the march. The orders of the Commanding 
 Officer had been disregarded, and not a soldier was prepared 
 with his rations. Not a moment was to be lost. Instead of 
 
84 PASSAGE OF BUFFALO BAYOU. 
 
 taking his rest, as was his custom early in the morning, the 
 General issued his orders himself to the men, and the camp 
 was soon busy with the note of preparation. But it was nine 
 o'clock before he could get his column under arras. When 
 the army arrived at the Bayou, two miles from the encamp- 
 ment, they found the boat nearly filled with water. Houston 
 at once dismounted, called for an axe, and went to hewing 
 oars out of rails. 
 
 The passage was a difficult and perilous undertaking, and yet 
 Houston was determined to make it that morning. The Bayou 
 was about fifty yards wide, and more than twenty feet deep. 
 As the Pioneers, a small company, were going aboard, an acci- 
 dent occurred which damaged the boat. Houston leaped aboard 
 at once ; and his faithful horse, whom he had left pawing on the 
 bank, plunged in after his master, and swam to the opposite 
 shore. A rope was soon constructed out of cabriestas (a rope 
 of horse hair) and raw tugs, and fastened to both sides of the 
 stream, which enabled the boat to make more rapid trips, and 
 kept it from floating down stream. The passage was noAV be- 
 ing made with great rapidit}', but it was an hour of intense anx- 
 iety to the commander and his intelligent councillor, the Secre- 
 tary of War. General Houston had crossed, and stood on one 
 side, while Mr. Rusk remained on the other, both watching the 
 perilous movement of their little army, in whose brave hearts 
 the hopes of Texas were now all gathered. A single accident ! 
 No one knew but the next moment the enemy's column might 
 heave in sight, and if they came up while that deep stream di- 
 vided the army of Texas, the result would be foretold before it 
 happened. 
 
 Half the army had now passed, and of course it was the mo- 
 ment of the deepest peril. The boat was giving way ; four 
 strong men were bailing out the water continually. The body 
 of cavalry was now to be risked. They were goaded to plunge 
 into the deep stream, and they at once disappeared. But they 
 rose again in their strength and strained for the steep bank. 
 They reached it, and when they struck the solid ground they 
 sprang from the water, and shook their tired limbs. The pas- 
 
LAST DESPATCH FROM SAN JACINTO. 85 
 
 sase was made. Mr. Rusk went over on the last boat. It was 
 an affecting spectacle to sec these two brave men seize each 
 other's hands when they met on the left bank of the stream ; and 
 it is not difficult to believe what is indeed said, that the same 
 expression of gratitude fell from their lips together — " Thank 
 God — we are at last safely over." While the lines were form- 
 ing, General Houston drew from his pocket a scrap of paper, 
 and with a pencil (here was his only portfolio) wrote the fol- 
 lowing letter. 
 
 Camp at Harrisburg, April 19lh, 1S36. 
 To Colonel Rusk in the Field. 
 This morning we are in preparation to meet Santa Anna. It is 
 the only chance of saving Texas. From time to time I have looked 
 for reinforcements in vain. The Convention's adjourning to Harris- 
 burg struck panic throughout the country. Texas could have started 
 at least four thousand men. We will only be about seven hundred 
 to march, besides the camp guard But we go to conquest. It is 
 wisdom growing out of necessity to meet and fight the enemy 7iow. 
 Every consideration enforces it. The troops are in fine spirits, and 
 now is the time for action. We will use our best efforts to fight the 
 enemy to such advantage us will insure victory, though the odds are 
 greatly against us. 1 leave the result in the hands of an all-wise God, 
 and I rely confidently upon His providence. My country will do 
 justice to those who serve her. The right for which we fight will be 
 secured, and Texas shall be free. 
 
 SAMUEL HOUSTON, Commander-in-Chief. 
 (Certified copy from the Department of War, of the Republic of 
 Texas.) 
 
 The lines were now formed, and Houston rode up and ad- 
 dressed the soldiers. Those who heard hira, say that he made 
 the most impassioned and eloquent appeal they ever listened to. 
 The words seemed to flow along the lines like streams of elec- 
 tric fluid, and when he gave them for their watchword, Remem- 
 ber THE Alamo, it struck like a bolt of fire. The watchword 
 had no sooner fallen from his lips, than it was caught up by 
 every man in the army, and one simultaneous shout broke up 
 into the sky — Remember the Alamo — Remember the ./llamo, was 
 repeated, and the green islands of trees in the prairie sent back 
 the echo. The Secretary of War also spoke in the most happy 
 and stirring manner. The men seemed inspired with the spirit 
 
86 MARCH TO THE BATTLE-FIELD. 
 
 of chivalry, and were impatient for the order of " March " to be 
 given. 
 
 The order came, and the column got under way. As it 
 moved on over the prairie, the golden sun shone out full and 
 clear from mid-heaven, as it never shines even in that beautiful 
 climate, except after a long cold rain. It seemed to be the sig- 
 nal of God's approval, and they felt that the Heavens themselves 
 smiled on the struggle. No martial strains fell upon the ear, 
 no rich bugle rang out its full clear blast, no gorgeous banners 
 waved over the embattled host. Their march was not mea- 
 sured even by " the thrilling fife, the pealing drum." There 
 was little of the pomp or circumstance of glorious war, but there 
 was the firm purpose, the strained muscle, the compressed lip, 
 and the heavy tramp of seven hundred men, determined to be 
 free. 
 
 In a narrow woodland not far from the stream, the army halted 
 till sun-down, to avoid being seen in the open prairie. The 
 column was now once more in motion, and a forced march made 
 to a point not more than four or five miles distant from the ground 
 where the main struggle was to be made. They took shelter 
 under the covert of a grove off from the line of march, and the 
 weary men laid down on their rifles to sleep for an hour. 
 
 At daylight General Houston rose from the ground wdiere he 
 had been resting his head on a coil of rope used in dragging the 
 artillery, and roused the camp by his well known three taps of 
 the drum — for a reveille or tattoo-had never been beaten from the 
 day he took the command. Their artillery had never been 
 fired till it was fired in the face of the enemy. 
 
 Pickets were advanced in every direction. The scouts sent 
 on ahead soon returned with information which satisfied the 
 Commander the enemy was not far distant. A small party had 
 been fallen in with, and chase given to them, but they were well 
 mounted, and effected their escape. On the return of the scout- 
 ing party, the army halted to take refreshment, beeves were 
 dressed, and the roasting-fires kindled. 
 
 But little progress had been made when, about seven o'clock 
 that same morning, news came that the enemy was marching up 
 
THE MEETING OF THE TWO ARMIES. 87 
 
 from New Washington to cross the San Jacinto, which, if ef- 
 fected, would have enabled Santa Anna to carry desolation to 
 the Sabine. Houston immediately ordered the line to be 
 taken up for the crossing of the San Jacinto at Lynchburg. 
 The issue of the entire struggle hinged on cutting off Santa 
 Anna's retreat. The army saw it at once. The soldiers, with 
 alacrity, abandoned their meat half cooked, flew to their arms 
 as one man, and as soon as the horses could be hitched to the 
 artillery the march began. The column did not halt till the 
 Ferry at the junction of Buffalo Bayou and the San Jacinto 
 was reached, where, to the great joy of the Texians, they 
 learned that Santa Anna had not yet come up. Houston took 
 possession of a new boat which Santa Anna had forced some 
 Americans to construct, and had it rowed up opposite the first 
 grove on the Bayou. In the meantime, having arrived first, 
 he could choose his own position, and he posted himself in a 
 beautiful copse of trees which grew on a bend in the stream— 
 and lay in a semicircular form on the margin of the Prairie. 
 The trees and the undergrowth enabled him to conceal his 
 forces on the bank of the river, and plant his artillery on the 
 brow of the copse. 
 
 The Texian army was now ready to go into battle at a mo- 
 ment's warning. But as the enemy had not yet come up, they 
 again lighted their fires to complete their culinary operations, 
 which had been so suddenly interrupted a few hours pre- 
 viously. But they had scarcely laid aside their arms and 
 kindled their fires, before Houston's scouts came flying into 
 the camp with the news that the Mexicans were in sight — 
 and shortly after Santa Anna's bugles were heard over the 
 Prairie, sounding the charge of the Mexican army. 
 
 Whatever may have been said to the contrary, it is perfectly 
 certain that Santa Anna knew the position of the Texian Gen- 
 eral, and so far from his being surprised by a discharge from the 
 Texian artillery, he intended to surprise the enemy himself. 
 Accordingly he opened his " brass twelve-pounder" upon the 
 Texian position, intending to sustain the Artillery by his In- 
 fantry and Cavalry. But a well directed fire of grape-shot and 
 
'Battle Grouiu 
 
 -^ . 
 
 Som Jacvnlo 
 
 AA. Honston's Camp. _ 
 
 BB. Burleson's Reg't. ^^^ 
 CC. Artillery and Regulars. 
 DD. Sherman's Regiment. 
 EP. Islands of Timber. 
 GG. Santa Anna's Camp. 
 H. 400 men under Almonte, 
 lilL 1400, main Army. 
 
SKIRMISHING THE FIRST DAY. 89 
 
 canister from Houston's two six-pounders drove back the In- 
 fantry column, which took sheUer in a piece of timber within 
 rifle shot of the left wing of the Texian army. In the mean- 
 time the Mexican field-piece was kept playing, but with no 
 other result than that Col. Neill, the gallant olFicer of the Ar- 
 tillery, received a grape-shot in his thigh, which disabled him 
 from service. These events took place about ten o'clock in 
 the morning. Col. Sherman, of the 2d Regiment, requested 
 of the Commander permission, with a detachment, to drive 
 the Infantry from their covert. Houston, who had already 
 decided (for reasons known then only to himself, but apparent 
 enough the next day) his plan and time for action, complied 
 with Col. Sherman's request, although he gave him positive 
 orders not to advance beyond the piece of timber, or endanger 
 the safety of his men. Houston directed him to take two 
 companies of his Regiment. He preferred charging on horse- 
 back. Houston gratified him. He was repulsed, and the cir- 
 cumstance produced no good effect upon the men. 
 
 General Houston, as appears from his despatch, which we 
 have already given, was resolved to choose his own time for 
 fighting, and compensate, for his want of numbers, by military 
 skill and superior advantage in position. In other words, he 
 was resolved to watch his opportunity and " fight the enemy 
 to such advantage as would insure victory, though the odds 
 were greatly against him." 
 
 Some slight skirmishing followed, which ended in Santa 
 Anna's retiring with his army to a swell in the Prairie, with 
 timber and water in his rear. His position was near the bank 
 of the Bay of San Jacinto, about three-quarters of a mile from 
 ihe Texian camp, where he commenced a fortification. 
 
 Houston was well satisfied with the business of the day ; 
 and he declared to one of his confidential officers that evening, 
 that, although he did not doubt he would that day have won a 
 victory, if he had pursued the enemy, yet it would have been 
 attended with a heavy loss of men — " while, to-morrow," says 
 he, " I will conquer^ slaug-hter, and put to Jiight the entire 
 Mexican army — and it shall not cost me a dozen of my brave 
 
90 TREACHERY IN HOUSTON'S CAMP. 
 
 men." Those who clamored then, and have clamored since, 
 about Houston's losing so fine an opportunity of fighting on 
 the day before the battle of San Jacinto, were, without doubt, 
 brave men — but if they could have had their way at any one 
 time after Houston took the command at Gonzales, it is more 
 than certain it would have cost another Alamo or Goliad tra- 
 gedy, and the day of San Jacinto would never have come. 
 
 Evenins: came on, and Houston was about to withdraw his 
 army from the field, to give them time enough for refreshment 
 and repose, and to prepare for the following day. The flight of 
 the enemy in the first instance, and Santa Anna's rather precipi- 
 tate retreat afterwards, had inspirited the Texian army. But 
 Col. Sherman, who was determined to resort to a ruse for the 
 purpose of forcing General Houston into a general engage- 
 ment that day — now pressed the General most earnestly for 
 leave to advance with his Cavalry, and attempt the capture of 
 the Mexican field-piece. Houston discountenanced the move- 
 ment altogether — for he felt sure that his plan of giving battle 
 to the enemy the next day would succeed, and he was re- 
 luctant to peril unnecessarily the life of a single man. He 
 also had some reason to apprehend a similar result to that 
 which followed Sherman's ill-advised movement that morning. 
 But he importuned him till the General consented he might 
 go out with the Cavalry and reconnoitre the enemy's position 
 and forces ; but he peremptorily ordered him by no means 
 to go within gun-shot of the enemy, nor court a conflict. 
 Houston ordered out the artillery and the infantry battalion be- 
 hind an island of timber, to remain concealed, and if the en- 
 emy should attack Sherman's command, to be in readiness to 
 meet and check their advances. Sherman disappeared with his 
 Cavalry behind the timber the enemy had occupied in the morn- 
 ing, and Houston and his staff" awaited the result, utterly igno- 
 rant of the ruse of Sherman to force the Texian commander into 
 a general engagement, and therefore unconscious of their immi- 
 nent peril. The reconnoitering party had hardly disappeared, be- 
 fore the sound of firing in that direction was heard. In a single 
 moment a suspicion of Sherman's real design flashed over 
 
THE NIGHT BI:F0RE THK BATTLE. 91 
 
 Houston's mind ; he mounted his horse and rode straight to 
 the scene of action. He met Col. Sherman coming in. Al- 
 though he had not succeeded in perilling the entire army by 
 forcing them into a general engagement, yet he had succeed- 
 ed in sacrificing the life of the brave Trask, and disabling the 
 intrepid WoodlifT, both of whom were now being borne back. 
 Houston was incensed, for all this had been done in direct 
 violation of his orders, and two of his Spartan soldiers borne 
 bleeding by, were the only fruits that had followed. Gen. 
 Foote's History (vol. ii., p. 301) declares that this was "a 
 bold and well-conceived ruse to delude the Commander-in- 
 Chief into a conflict in spite of the monitions of his cooler 
 judgment," though Sherman has since had the effrontery to 
 delare that Gen. Houston sent him to be cut off! This would 
 seem rather a singular charge, without remembering the cir- 
 cumstances, since Houston had lost neither a man nor a beast 
 in his retreat to the Brazos, or in his advance to San Jacinto; and 
 on the night before the battle, he certainly had no men to spare. 
 We only allude to the circumstance, however, as a fair sample 
 of the countless calumnies which disappointed and factious 
 men have heaped upon the name of Houston. The best way 
 to kill falsehood is to publish plain truth — and we shall not 
 trouble ourselves to deny in detail the thousand and one false 
 statements which have been published against the Texas 
 Senator. 
 
 The Texlan army now retired to their camp, and refreshed 
 themselves for the first time m two days. " The enemy in 
 the meantime extended the right flank of their infantry, so as 
 to occupy the extreme point of a skirt of timber on the bank of 
 the San Jacinto, and secured their left by a fortification about 
 five feet high, constructed of packs and baggage, leaving an 
 opening in the r enire of their breast-work in which their artil- 
 lery was placed — ihe cavalry upon the left wing." (Extract 
 from Gen. H.'s oflScial report.) 
 
 Such was the position of the Mexican army, and they main- 
 Jaiued it till the charge was made the next day. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE HERO OF SAN JACINTO. 
 
 INURING the entire presence of the enemy, on the first day the 
 hostile armies met, Houston had remained on horseback, ex- 
 posed to their artillery, and served them as a target. Branches 
 were cut down over his head by cannon balls, and one shot 
 struck the bit of his horse's bridle. After he had doubled the 
 vigilance of his encampment, to render surprise impossible, he 
 was prevailed on by his staff to take some rest, for he had 
 scarcely eaten or slept for several days. It was now evening 
 twilight, and the men were enjoying a hasty repast of the beef 
 they had found so difficult to cook. 
 
 Houston laid himself down under an old oak, with the coil 
 of the artillery rope for his pillow. From the day he took 
 command of the army, he had never been known to have one 
 hour's sound rest. His onhj time of repose had been after four 
 o'clock in the morning, when he beat three taps on the drum, 
 which he had done every morning till that day. At four o'clock, 
 the line was always formed, and every man kept under arms 
 till daylight. He then lay down, and got what rest he could 
 till the men had taken their breakfast, and were ready to 
 march. In one of his letters to Mr. Rusk, during this period, 
 in speaking of the solicitude he suffered, he says : " I will do 
 the best I can ; but, be assured, the fame of Jackson could 
 never compensate me for my anxiety and mental pain." All 
 this suffering arose from uncertainty. He had expected troops 
 and supplies, and waited for them in vain. The fall of the 
 Alamo, and the massacre of Fannin's command, had dis- 
 pirited his men, and caused desertions. The Government 
 itself had fled from the scene of danger, consternation had 
 spread through Texas; he was in a new country, without the 
 means of subsistence or transport ; his men were but half 
 clad and half armed ; he was in the neighborhood of a power- 
 
THE MORNING OF SAN JACINTO. 93 
 
 ful army, whose picket-guards outnumbered all the men in his 
 camp, and he could decide neither the day nor the scene of 
 battle. He had slept on the wet ground, without covering, 
 his only dress was the garb of a hunter, and his food only 
 kept him alive. 
 
 It is not strange, therefore, when the harrowings of suspense 
 were over, and he, in the presence of the enemy, had posted 
 his faithful guards and fixed his iron purpose, that this man 
 could lie down and sleep calmly and profoundly throughout 
 the entire night. But he was probably the only man in that 
 camp over whose mind flitted no anxious vision. 
 
 The night which preceded the bloody slaughter of San 
 Jacinto, rolled anxiously away, and brightly broke forth the 
 morning of the last day of Texian servitude. Before the first 
 grey lines shot up the East, three strange taps of a drum were 
 heard in the camp, and 700 soldiers sprang to their feet as one 
 man. The camp was busy with the soldier-hum of prepara- 
 tion for battle ; but in the midst of it all, Houston slept on 
 calmly and profoundly. The soldiers had eaten the last meal 
 they were to eat till they had won their independence. They 
 were under arms, ready for the struggle. 
 
 At last the glorious sun came up over the Prairie, without a 
 sinsle cloud. It shone full and clear in the face of the Hero, 
 and it waked him to battle. He sprang to his feet, and ex- 
 claimed, " the sun of Austerlitz has risen again." His face 
 was calm, and for the first time in many weeks, every shade 
 of trouble had moved away from his brow. He ordered his 
 Commissary General, Col. John Forbes, to provide two good 
 axes, and then sent for Deaf Smith. He took this faithful and 
 intrepid man aside, and ordered him to conceal the axes in a 
 safe place near by, where he could lay his hands on them at a 
 moment's warning, and not to pass the lines of the sentinels 
 that day without his special orders, nor to be out of his call. 
 
 Morning wore away, and about nine o'clock, a large body of 
 men was seen moving over a swell of the Prairie in the direc- 
 tion of Santa Anna's camp. They were believed to be a 
 powerful force which had come to join the Mexicans, and the 
 
94 THE DESTRUCTION OF VINCE's BRIDGE. 
 
 spectacle produced no little excitement in the Texian lines. 
 Houston saw it at a glance, and quelled the apprehension by 
 coolly remarking, that " they were the same men they had 
 seen the day before — they had marched round the swell in the 
 prairie and returned in sight of the Texian camp to alarm 
 their foe, with the appearance of an immense reinforcement — 
 for it was very evident Santa 4nna did not wish to fight. But 
 it was all a ruse deg-uen-e that could be easily seen through — a 
 7nere Mexican trick.''^ 
 
 All this did very well, and yet Houston, of course, had 
 quite a different notion on the subject. He sent Deaf Smith 
 and a comrade with confidential orders as spies on their rear- 
 ward march. They soon returned, and reported publicly that 
 "the General was right — it was all a humbug." A few 
 minutes after. Deaf Smith whispered quite another story in 
 the private ear of the commander. The enemy seen was a 
 reinforcement of 540 men, under Gen. Cos, who had heard 
 Santa Anna's cannon the day before on the Brazos, and come 
 on by forced marches to join his standard. But the secret 
 was kept till it did no harm to reveal it. A proposition was 
 made to the General to construct a floating bridge over Buf- 
 falo Bayou, "which might be used in the event of danger." 
 Houston ordered his Adjutant and Inspector Generals and an 
 Aide to ascertain if the necessary materials could be obtained. 
 They reported that by tearing down a house in the neighbor- 
 hood, they could. " We will postpone it awhile at all events," 
 was Houston's reply. In the meantime, he had ordered Deaf 
 Smith to report to him, with a companion, well mounted. He 
 retired with them to the spot where the axes had been depo- 
 sited in the morning. Taking one in either hand, and ex- 
 amining them carefully, he handed them to the two trusty fel- 
 lows, saying, " Now, my friends, take these axes, mount, and 
 make the best of your way to Vince's bridge ; cut it down, 
 and burn it up, and come back like eagles, or you will be too 
 late for the day." This was the bridge over which both armies 
 had crossed in their march to the battle ground of San Ja- 
 cinto, and it cut off all chance of escape for the vanquished. 
 
ORDER OF BATTLE. 95 
 
 " This," said Deaf Smith, in his droll way, " looks a good 
 deal like fight. General." 
 
 The reader will not fail to notice the difference between 
 Houston's calculations of the results of that day, and those of 
 some of his officers. They bethought themselves of building 
 a neiv bridge — he of cutting down and burning up the only 
 bridge in the neighborhood. The fact was, Houston was de- 
 termined his army should come off victorious that day, or 
 leave their bodies on the field. 
 
 The day was now wearing away; it was three o'clock in 
 the afternoon, and yet the enemy kept concealed behind his 
 breast-works, and manifested no disposition to come to an en- 
 gagement. Events had taken just such a current as Houston 
 expected and desired, and he began to prepare for battle. 
 
 In describing his plan of attack, we borrow the language 
 of his ofKcial report, after the battle was over. " The 1st 
 Regiment, commanded by Col. Burleson, was assigned the 
 centre. The 2d Regiment, under the command of Col. Sher- 
 man, formed the left wing of the army. The artillery, under 
 the special command of Col. George W. Hockley, Inspector- 
 general, was placed on the right of the 1st Regiment, and four 
 companies of infantry, under the command of Lieut. Col. 
 Henry Millard, sustained the artillery upon the right. Our 
 cavalry, sixty-one in number, commanded by Col. Mirabeau 
 B. Lamar, placed on our extreme right, completed our line. 
 Our cavalry was first despatched to the front of the enemy's 
 left, for the purpose of attracting their notice, whilst an exten- 
 sive island of timber afforded us an opportunity of concen- 
 trating our forces and displaying from that point, agreeably to 
 the previous design of the troops. Every evolution was per- 
 formed with alacrity, the whole advancing rapidly in line, and 
 through an open prairie, without any protection whatever for 
 our men. The artillery advanced and took station within two 
 hundred yards of the enemy's breast-work." 
 
 Those who expect a minute and accurate account of this 
 engagement from the writer or any one else must be disap- 
 
96 CHARGE OF THE TEXIAN ARMY. 
 
 pointed, for no such description can ever be written. It was 
 a slaiig-hter more than a battle. We can only give the reader, 
 with the aid of an illustration, a perfect idea of the position of 
 both armies when the engagement began, — fill up the interval 
 of the next few minutes with blood and smoke and cries and 
 slaughter, and then tell the almost incredible result. The two 
 armies were now drawn up in complete order. There were 
 700 Texians on the field, and Santa Anna's troops numbered 
 over eighteen hundred. Houston had informed Mr. Rusk of the 
 plan of the battle, and he approved of it as perfect. The Secre- 
 tary, it is true, had never been a soldier — he understood little of 
 military evolutions or the discipline of an array ; — but Houston 
 knew he carried a lion-heart in his bosom, and he assigned him 
 the command of the left wing. The General of course led the 
 centre. 
 
 Everything was now ready, and every man at his post 
 waiting for the charge. The two six pounders had commenc- 
 ed a well directed fire of grape and canister, and they shat- 
 tered bones and baggage where they struck. The moment 
 had at last come. Houston ordered the charge and sounded 
 out the war cry. Remember the Alamo. These magic words 
 struck the ear of every soldier at the same instant, and the Ala- 
 mo ! the Alamo ! went up from the army in one wild scream, 
 which sent terror through the Mexican host. At that moment 
 a rider came up on a horse covered with mire and foam, swing- 
 ing an axe over his head, and dashed along the Texian lines, 
 crying out, as he had been instructed to do, " 1 have cut down 
 Vince's bridge — now fight for your lives and remember the 
 Alamo," — and then the solid phalanx which had been held 
 back for a moment at the announcement, launched forward 
 upon the breast-works like an avalanche of fire. Houston 
 spurred his horse on at the head of the centre column right 
 into the face of the foe. 
 
 The Mexican army was drawn up in perfect order, ready to 
 receive the attack, and when the Texians were within about 
 sixty paces, and before they had fired a rifle, a general flash 
 was seen along the Mexican lines and a storm of bullets went 
 
THE WORK OP SLAUGHTER. 9^ 
 
 rushing over the Texian arraj. They fired too high — several 
 balh struck Houston's horse in the breast, and one ball shat- 
 tered the General's ankle. The noble animal staggered tor a 
 moment, but Houston spurred him on. If the first discharge 
 of the Mexicans had been well directed, it would have thinned 
 the Texian ranks. But they pressed on, reserving their fire 
 till each man could choose some particular soldier for his tax- 
 get, and before the Mexic-ans could reload, a murderous dis- 
 charge of rifle balls was poured into their very bosoms. The 
 Texian soldiers rushed on. They were without bayonets, but 
 they converted their rifles into war<-lubs and levelled Them 
 upon the heads of Santa Anna's men. Along the breast-work 
 there was little more firing of muskets or rifles — it was a des- 
 perate struggle hand to hand. The Texians, w^hen they had 
 broken off their rifles at the breech, bv smashinof in the skulls 
 of their enemies, flung them down and drew their pistols. 
 They fired them once, and having no time to reload, hurled 
 them against the heads of their foes, and then drawing tbrtli 
 their bowie-knives, literally cut their way through dense masses 
 of living flesh. 
 
 It would be a sad mistake to suppose that the Mexicans 
 played the coward that day — for they were slain by hundreds 
 in the ranks where they stood when the battle began — bat the 
 fierce vengeance of the Texians could not be resisted. They 
 fought as none but freemen can fight, when they are striking 
 for their homes, their families, and their dead kindred. The 
 Mexican officers and men stood firm for a time, but the Texi- 
 ans stamped on them as fast as they fell, and trampled the 
 prostrate and the dyinsr down with the dead, and clambering 
 over the groaning, bleedins: mass, plunged their knives into the 
 bosoms of those in the rear. When they saw that the dread- 
 ful on?etof their foe could not be resisted, they either attempted 
 to fly, and were stabbed in the back or fell on their knees to 
 plead for mercy, crying, ^ me no Alamo H ^ me no Alamo .^' 
 " me no Alam^D /'' These unfortunate slaves of the Mexican 
 tyrant had witnessed that brutal massaCTe of brave men. aad 
 now they could think of no other claim for mercy, but the plea 
 
98 THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE. 
 
 they were not there, for they knew the day of vengeance for 
 the Alamo had at last come. 
 
 But before the centre breast-work had been carried, the right 
 and left wing of the enemy had been put to the rout or the 
 slaughter. The Mexicans, however, not only stood their 
 ground at first, but made several bold charges upon the Texian 
 lines. 
 
 A division of their Infantry, of more than five hundred men, 
 made a gallant charge, in handsome order, upon the Battalion 
 of Texian Infantry. Seeing them hard pressed, by a force of 
 three to one, the Commander-in-chief dashed between them 
 and the enemy's column, exclaiming—" Come on, my brave 
 fellows, your General leads you." The Battalion halted and 
 wheeled into perfect order, like a veteran corps, and Houston 
 gave the order to fire. If the guns of the Texians had all been 
 moved by machinery they could not have been fired nearer 
 the same instant. There was a single explosion ; — the batta- 
 lion rushed through the smoke, and those who had not been 
 mowed down by the bullets were struck down by the cleaving 
 blows of uplifted rilies ; and the prostrate column were tram- 
 pled into the mire together. Of the five hundred, only thirty- 
 two lived, even to surrender as prisoners of war. 
 
 In the meantime, although Houston's wound was bleeding 
 profusely, and his dying horse could scarce stagger his way 
 over the slain, yet the Commander-in-chief saw every move- 
 ment of his army, and followed the tide of battle as it rolled 
 over the field. Wherever his eye fell he saw the Mexicans 
 staggering back under the resistless shock of his heroic sol- 
 diers. Regiments and Battalions, Cavalry and Infantry, 
 horses and men, were hurled together, and every officer and 
 every man seemed to be bent upon a work of slaughter for 
 himself. 
 
 The Mexican army had now been driven from their posi- 
 tion, and were flying before their pursuers. Houston saw 
 that the battle was won, and he rode over the field and gave 
 his orders to stop the carnage of the wounded, and those 
 who surrendered. But it would have been easier to stop the 
 
THE DAY OF VENGEANCE. 99 
 
 ill-rolling tide of the sea. He had given the Alamo for their 
 war-cry, and the magic word could not be recalled. The 
 ghosts of brave men, massacred at Goliad and the Alamo, flitted 
 through the smoke of battle, and the uplifted hand could not 
 be stayed. " While the battle was in progress," says General 
 Rusk, " the celebrated Deaf Smith, although on horseback, 
 fighting, was with the infantry. When they got pretty near 
 the enemy. Smith galloped on ahead, and dashed directly up 
 to the Mexican line. Just as he reached it, his horse stumbled 
 and fell, throwing him on his head among the enemy. Hav- 
 ing dropped his sword in the fall, he drew one of his belt-pis- 
 tols, presented it at the head of a Mexican, who was attempt- 
 ing to bayonet him, and it missed fire. Smith then hurled 
 the pistol itself at the head of the Mexican, and, as he stag- 
 gered back, he seized his gun, and began his work of de- 
 struction. A young man, by the name of Robbins, dropped 
 his gun in the confusion of the battle, and happening to run 
 directly in contact with a Mexican soldier who had also lost 
 his musket, the Mexican seized Robbins, and both being stout 
 men, rolled to the ground. But Robbins drew out his Bowie- 
 knife, and ended the contest by cutting the Mexican's throat 
 On starting out from our camp, to enter upon the attack, I 
 saw an old man, by the name of Curtis, carrying two guns. 
 I asked him what reason he had for carrying more than one 
 gun. He answered : ' D — n the Mexicans ; they killed my 
 son and son-in-law in the Alamo, and I intend to kill two of 
 them for it, or be killed myself.' I saw the old man again 
 during the fight, and he told me ' he had killed his two men ; 
 and if he could find Santa Anna himself he would cut out a 
 razor-strap from his back.' " 
 
 Such was the day of vengeance. It was not strange that 
 no invading army, however brave, could long withstand so 
 dreadful an onset. " When the Mexicans were first driven 
 from the point of woods where we encountered them," con- 
 tinues General Rusk, " their officers tried to rally them, but 
 the men cried, * It's no use, it's no use, there are a thousand 
 Americans in the woods.' When Santa Anna saw Almonte's 
 
100 THE FLIGHT TO VINCE'S BRIDGE. 
 
 Division running past him, he called a drummer, and ordered 
 him to beat his drum. The drummer held up his hands and 
 told him he was shot. He called then to a trumpeter near him 
 to sound his horn. The trumpeter replied that he, also, was 
 shot. Just at that instant a ball from one of our cannon struck 
 a man who was standing near Santa Anna, taking off one 
 side of his head. Santa Anna then exclaimed, ' D — n these 
 Americans ; I believe they will shoot us all.' He immediately 
 mounted his horse, and commenced his flight." 
 
 The flight had now become universal. The Texians had 
 left on the ground, where the battle began, more than their 
 entire number, dying and dead ; and far away over the Prairie 
 they were chasing the flying, and following up the slaughter. 
 Multitudes were overtaken and killed as they were making 
 their escape through the deep grass. The Mexican cavalry 
 were well mounted, and after the event they struck deep their 
 spurs into their fleet horses, and turned their heads towards 
 Vince's Bridge. They were hotly pursued by the victors, and 
 when the latter came up, the most appalling spectacle, per- 
 haps, of the entire day, was witnessed. When the fugitive 
 horsemen saw that the bridge was gone, some of them, in 
 their desperation, spurred their horses down the steep bank ; 
 others dismounted and plunged into the stream ; some were 
 entangled in their trappings, and were dragged down with 
 their struggling steeds ; others sunk at once to the bottom ; 
 while those whose horses reached the opposite bank fell back- 
 wards into the river. In the meantime, while they were strug- 
 gling with the flood, their pursuers, who had come up, were 
 pouring down upon them a deadly fire, which cut off all 
 escape. Horses and men, by hundreds, rolled down together ; 
 the waters were red with their blood, and filled with their 
 dying gurgles. The deep, turbid stream, was literally choked 
 with the dead ! 
 
 A similar spectacle was witnessed on the Southern verge 
 of the Island of Trees, near the Mexican encampment, in the 
 rear of the battle ground. There was little chance of escape 
 in this quarter, for a deep morass was to be passed, and yet 
 
THE VICTORY. 101 
 
 multitudes, in their desperation, had rushed to this spot as a 
 forlorn hope. They had plunged into the mire and water with 
 horses and mules, and, in attempting to pass, had been com- 
 pletely submerged ; every one who seemed likely to escape 
 soon received a ball from the murderous aim of a practised 
 rifleman, and the morass was literally bridged over with car- 
 casses of dead mules, horses, and men. 
 
 But a company of about two hundred and fifty cooler or 
 braver men had rallied in the Island of Trees, under Almonte, 
 prepared to resist or surrender rather than fly. Houston ral- 
 lied as large a body of men as could be assembled, and was 
 preparing to lead them to the charge, when his gallant horse, 
 that had so nobly borne his rider through the carnage of the 
 battle, with seven balls in his body, at last staggered and fell 
 dead. Houston, in dismounting, struck upon his wounded 
 leg and fell to the earth. It was now discovered, for the first 
 time, that he was wounded. Alarm immediately spread over 
 the field. Houston called for General Rusk and gave him the 
 command. He was then helped upon another horse by the 
 officers of his staff, and General Rusk advanced with his 
 newly-formed company upon the last remnant of the Mexican 
 Army. Its commander, however, came promptly forward and 
 surrendered his sword. Houston then cast a glance over the 
 field and said, " I think now, gentlemen, we are likely to have 
 no more trouble to-day, and I believe I will return to the 
 Camp." 
 
 The party then rode slowly off from the field of victory and 
 the resting place of the dead, and returned to the oak, at whose 
 foot the hero of San Jacinto had slept till the " Sun of Aus- 
 terlitz" had woke him that morning. All resistance to the 
 arms of Texas ceased. The pursuers returned to the camp, 
 where a command was left to guard the spoils taken from the 
 enemy. As the Commander-in-Chief was riding across the 
 field the victorious soldiers came up in crowds, and slapping 
 him rudely on his wounded leg, exclaimed — " Now, arn't we 
 brave fellows. General?" " Yes, boys, you have covered 
 yourselves with glory, and I decree to you the spoils of vie- 
 
102 THE SPOILS OF VICTORY. 
 
 tory ; I will reward valor. I only claim to share the honors 
 of our triumph with you." 
 
 While he was giving his orders, after he reached the Texian 
 encampment, and before he dismounted, General Rusk came 
 in and presented his prisoner Almonte. It was the first time 
 they had ever met. This seemed to give a finishing stroke to 
 the victory, and Houston, who was completely exhausted from 
 fatigue and loss of blood, fainted and fell from his horse. 
 Colonel Hockley caught him in his arms, and laid him at the 
 foot of the oak. 
 
 Thus ended the bloody day of San Jacinto — a battle that 
 has scarcely a parallel in the annals of war. Its immediate 
 fruits were not small — for the spoils were of great value to 
 men who had nothing in the morning but the arms they car- 
 ried, scanty, coarse clothinor, and the determination to be free. 
 About 900 stand of English muskets (besides a vast number 
 that were lost in the Morass and Bayou), 300 sabres, and 200 
 pistols, 800 valuable mules, a hundred fine horses, a good lot 
 of provisions, clothing, tents, and paraphernalia for officers and 
 men, and twelve thousand dollars in silver, constituted the 
 principal spoils. 
 
 But the booty was esteemed meaner than nothing, in com- 
 parison with the great moral and political consequences that 
 attended the victory. On that well-fought field Texian Inde- 
 pendence was won. A brave, but an outraged people, in imi- 
 tation of their fathers of the last age, had entrusted their cause 
 to the adjudication of battle, and God took cure of the issue. 
 For my own part, I can find in the whole range of History no 
 spectacle more sublime. It was not a struggle for the aggran- 
 dizement of some military chieftain — nor was it a strife for 
 empire — the soldiers, who marched under the " Lone Star" 
 into that engagement, were free, brave, self-relying men. Some 
 of them, indeed, had come from a neighboring Republic, as 
 Lafayette crossed the sea, to join in the struggles of freedom, 
 but most of the Texian army were men who cultivated the 
 soil they fought on, and had paid for it with their money or 
 their labor. Hundreds of them had abandoned their fugitive 
 
ADVANCEMENT OF THE ANGLO-SAXON RACE. 103 
 
 wives to achieve everlasting freedom for their children. They 
 were fighting for all that makes life worth having, or gives 
 value to its possessions. 
 
 And when the victors laid themselves down to rest that 
 night, and Heaven folded its blue curtains kindly around 
 them, and they thought that their troubles and anxieties were 
 over — that they could now return to the embrace of their happy 
 families with the hope of a long and peaceful life of earnest 
 and manly endeavor, and a quiet old age, when they should 
 hold their grand-children on their knee, and tell them the story 
 of the bloody day of San Jacinto — it is not strange that they 
 felt more than compensated for all their privations and all their 
 sufferings. 
 
 But the sublimity of the spectacle is lost unless the eye has 
 scope for a wider field of vision. There are events whose 
 consequences can be measured by no estimate into whose cal- 
 culation centuries do not come. If the historian of the Ply- 
 mouth colony could have lived a century longer, he might 
 have perceived clearly what is now reduced only to a question 
 of time^ that from the day the Mayflower swung round to her 
 mooring on the rock of Plymouth, the sceptre of the New 
 World passed for ever into the nervous hand of the Anglo-Sax- 
 on race. But for a long period this grand result seemed im- 
 possible, and he who should have proclaimed that it would one 
 day take place, would have been called a dreamer. Spain and 
 Portugal, France and England, had divided the Northern and 
 Southern Hemisphere of the new found World. But the 
 French empire in America received a fatal shock when Eng- 
 land wrested from it the Canadas in 1763; and she afterwards 
 lost by diplomacy what could not be wrested from her in bat- 
 tle. — One dominion then disappeared. 
 
 At last, when it became apparent that even Englishmen in 
 America could not develope their strength under British sway, 
 the drama of '76 began, and all that was valuable in the New 
 Continent that belonged to England, became the heritage of 
 her American children. This ivas the second ^reat act. 
 
 In the meantime the powerful savage tribes, whose wig- 
 
104 WHY AMERICANS FIRST WENT TO TEXAS. 
 
 warns served as beacon fires to the earliest voyagers along the 
 Atlantic coast, melted away before the steady advance of Eu- 
 ropean population, and the Indian dominion passed away. 
 
 At last, the American people, this neiv form of humanitij — 
 which concentrated in itself nearly all those qualities, which, in 
 past times, had given empire to separate nations, began to cross 
 the frontiers of that ancient power which, for three hundred 
 years, had made the fair valley of the Montezumas the seat of 
 their dominion. But this began in nn encroachment — no inva- 
 sion upon the rights or soil of a neig-hboring state. Mexico, 
 although she had caught enough of the all-pervading spirit of 
 the Anglo-Saxon to rise and shake off the foul mantle of Span- 
 ish despotism, had not vital energy enough left within herself to 
 work out her own political regeneration. STie had been too 
 long bowed into the dust by the foreign tyrant — she had been 
 too long steeped in the besotted bigotry of superstition — she 
 had never thought or acted for herself — she had no clear per- 
 ception of human rights — no intelligent idea of liberty. She 
 did not know that a nation never can grow rich by abandoning 
 the cultivation of the soil, and digging gold and silver from the 
 mine — she could not understand why it was that six vigorous 
 republics had grown up into power on the cold barren hills of 
 New England, while she had become feeble and impoverished 
 in the midst of the very garden of the world. And yet she be- 
 lieved, if she could once introduce that northern population into 
 her limits, she could borrow from them the secret of their ma- 
 gic power. Her statesmen were told that New Englanders, 
 when they found they could not get their bread from their 
 rocky, frozen soil, made commerce of stones and grew rich by 
 exporting their granite, and lime, and cobble-stones, during the 
 summer, and sent off ship-loads of their surplus water as soon 
 as it froze in winter, albeit they had to find their market for it 
 on the other side of the globe. These, said the Mexican 
 statesmen, are the men we must get to colonize our vast garden- 
 province of Texas — for we have for three centuries tried in 
 vain to do it ourselves. 
 
 So that fertile territory was thrown open to the people of the 
 
PERFIDY OF MEXICAN DICTATORS. 105 
 
 United States, and they wore plied with all those motives of 
 gain and pledges of protection which, in the mind of the 
 pioneer setller, prove too strong for the allurements of home. 
 A band of choice spirits, hardy, working men, who had been 
 trained in the district schools of New York and New England, 
 and cultivated their cold, ungrateful soil, were led out to find 
 their new homes in the fair province of New Estramadura, 
 where all nature was blushing under the purple light of the 
 tropics. At their head went Stephen F. Austin ; one of those 
 few men upon whose incorruptible, dauntless truth, a young 
 nation finds it her salvation to repose. In his rare and great 
 character, all that was lofty in the Cavalier and uncompro- 
 mising in the Puritan was mingled. 
 
 He entered into his obligations with the Mexican Govern- 
 ment, and conducted all his negotiations and redeemed all his 
 pledges, in good faith. For a time, Mexico stood by her en- 
 gagements, and the infant colony struck its roots deep into the 
 soil. At last Mexico discovered that the very qualities from 
 which she promised herself so much advantage — the industry, 
 the enterprise, the inventions of the new colonists, were all ow- 
 ing to that intelligent love of liberty which she so little under- 
 stood, and yet so much dreaded. She saw that men who had 
 energy enough to be good settlers, where Spaniards had failed, 
 had too much independence ever to be governed as Spaniards. 
 But she found out her mistake only when it was too late to 
 correct it. Like the ancient Britons, she had invited a supe- 
 rior race into her country, unconscious that her sceptre would 
 one day be transferred to their hands. 
 
 This was the point upon which the destiny of the old Span- 
 ish empire hinged. Mexico might now have borrowed from 
 her new subjects the elements of an entire political regenera- 
 tion. These colonists were not ambitious men — they went 
 there only to cultivate the soil — but they had carried, of necessity, 
 their civilisation and love of liberty with them, and they could 
 not brook the tyranny of Mexican Dictators. They went pre-, 
 pared to stand by the Federal Constitution of 1824, and up to 
 the 2d of March, 1836, when the Declaration of Independence 
 
106 TEXAS COMPELLED TO FIGHT FOR LIFE. 
 
 • 
 
 was signed, all the protests and discontents, all the demands 
 and petitions of the Texianswere limited to a concession of the 
 rights secured to all the States hy that Constitution I 
 
 But Mexico was now under the sway of selfish, ambitious 
 military chieftains, who, in the struggle for supremacy, had 
 trampled the Constitution of 1824 into the dust. And let it never 
 be forgotten, that when the political agitations of Texas began, 
 and the will of the entire people had been declared, all they 
 asked for, and all they desired then, was to see the Constitution 
 of 1S24: preserved inviolate. But men, who are driven to the 
 wall and compelled to fight for life, sometimes fight for victory. 
 Mr. Austin was then Commissioner to Mexico, and he went to 
 the Capital with his memorial. His very appearance in that 
 city with the prayer of his colony, that the Mexicans would 
 abide by their own constitution, under whose solemn pledges 
 he had led his people to their new home — was too bitter a sar- 
 casm upon the corrupt tyrants who had trampled down that 
 high compact, and he was plunged into a foul dungeon, where 
 for many months he never saw a beam of sunshine, nor even 
 the hand that fed him. 
 
 How was all this tampering with Anglo-Saxon men to end ? 
 — "Who, that knows what plighted faith means, or has any no- 
 tion of the obligations growing out of a political compact, will 
 pretend to say that Texas was bound to submit to the decrees 
 of a Dictator who had committed high treason against his gov- 
 ernment — treason for which he would have been brought to the 
 block by the people of Mexico, had he not had 20,000 bayo- 
 nets at his back. The Federal compact had now been broken, 
 and by the highest law of nations, every state of the Union not 
 only had the right, but was bound in duty to take care of itself. 
 An immediate Declaration of Independence would have been 
 justified by the world. But Texas still remonstrated, and still 
 prayed. All she ivanted, ivas a return to the Constitution of 
 1824. But that Constitution lay bleeding under the hoofs of 
 Santa Anna's battle horse, and his myrmidon soldiers had 
 possession of the Capital. War was proclaimed against Texas 
 by Mexico, because she would not acknowledge a Dictator; — 
 
THE DRAMA OF THE NEW WORLD. 107 
 
 and an invading army was sent across the Rio Grande, to " lay 
 waste the infant colony, and slaughter all its inhabitants.'''' 
 
 This was the position of Texas — and if those men were not 
 justified in defending their wives and children from slaughter, 
 and their dwellings from fire, there never was a people who 
 had a right to smite the arm of a tyrant. The heroes of '76 
 rebelled against a constitutional government, with its parlia- 
 ment and king, because they were required to pay a stamp tax. 
 The Texians never rebelled at all. They would not bow to a 
 Dictator who had stamped the free constitution of his country 
 under his feet; — and now a war of extermination was pro- 
 claimed. Seven hundred brave men were slaughtered and 
 burned to ashes, after they had, under a solemn pledge that 
 their lives should be spared, surrendered themselves prisoners- 
 of war. 
 
 The red flame of exterminating war was now rolling over the 
 very bosom of the young republic, whose only crime was her 
 loyalty to the Federal Constitution ! 
 
 At last the slaughter-day of San Jacinto came, and the Texians 
 who went into battle knew that every one of them would have 
 been put to death in cold blood, if the enemy had conquered. 
 Such had been the case at Goliad and the Alamo, and such was 
 the watch-word of the advancing Dictator. But high over the 
 smoke and screams of the field of San Jacinto, I seem to see, 
 and I do see, the hand of the God of Freedom and of Ven- 
 geance. His purposes were unknown to man, but they could not 
 be overthrown. The wing of his Almighty Providence had 
 sheltered the bark of the Pilgrims, and his strong arm ha 1 been 
 thrown around the rude homes of Plymouth. Over the delibera- 
 tions of the Provincial Congress He again presided, and in the 
 Declaration of Independence His will was done. And now, 
 having decreed, that the broad prairies and shining rivers of that 
 vast land, which had groaned under the tramp of despotic 
 power, and been blasted by the withering blight of superstition 
 for ages, should be regenerated by a nobler and better race. He 
 had begun to reveal his great purposes. 
 
 The last act of this drama, which had begun on the shores of 
 
lOS THE DOMINION OF MEXICO PASSING AWAY. 
 
 New England, was to be opened on the field of San Jacinto. 
 And although the sun gleamed on the armor of more than 
 eighteen hundred men that morning, and when the Commander's 
 bugles sounded the charge, he was, to all human appearances, 
 sure of a victory ; yet the result proved that the battle is not 
 ahvays to the strong— that " God rules among the nations of the 
 earth, and giveth its kingdoms lavishly to whomsoever He 
 will." A decree had gone forth against that army, and against 
 the sceptre of Spanish power in Mexico — " thy dominion is 
 taken from thee." 
 
 And the future historian will, one day, open his scroll by 
 announcing that when the sun went down over the groans and 
 the slaughter of San Jacinto, the dominion of Mexico passed 
 for ever away. Such had been the first four acts of the drama 
 of the New World. 
 
 " The Fifth, then closed the Drama with the day, 
 Time's noblest offspring was the last." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE VICTOR AND THE CAPTIVE. 
 
 The battle of Independence had been fought. Seven hundred 
 soldiers had met nearly three times their number, and come off 
 victorious. Six hundred and thirty men were left dead on 
 the field ; among them were, one general officer, four colonels, 
 two lieutenant-colonels, seven captains, and twelve lieutenants. 
 Multitudes had perished in the morass and the bayous. Of the 
 surviving, upwards of two hundred and eighty were wounded, 
 and there were nearly eight hundred prisoners. Only seven 
 men are known to have escaped from the field. And yet, in- 
 credible as it may seem, this bloody engagement had cost the 
 Texians the lives of only seven men, and less than thirty had 
 been wounded. It was incredible, and when the Commander- 
 in-Chief awoke the next morning, he asked, " Are we really 
 victors, or is it only my dream 1" 
 
 At ten o'clock in the morning, Gen. Houston sent a detach- 
 ment of men to bury those who had fallen in battle ; but de- 
 composition had taken place so rapidly, the troops returned 
 and reported ihey could not execute his order ! This extraor- 
 dinary circumstance excited the greatest surprise, and the 
 Mexican prisoners accounted for it by resolving it, like the 
 defeat of the previous day, into " a malignant blast of des- 
 tiny." 
 
 In the meantime, a large number of Texians were scour- 
 ing the prairie throughout the day, and bringing in prisoners. 
 The grass was everywhere four or five feet high, and those 
 who had not been taken the day before, were now crawling 
 away on their hands and knees, hoping thus to effect their es- 
 cape, Santa Anna had not yet been taken, but the victors 
 were scourins: over the field in search of the Dictator. " You 
 will find the Hero of Tampico," said Houston, " if you find 
 him at all, making his retreat on all fours, and he will be 
 
110 
 
 CAPTURE OF SANTA ANNA. 
 
 dressed as bad at least as a common soldier. Examine every 
 man you find, closely." 
 
 Lieutenant Sylvester, a volunteer of Cincinnati, was riding 
 over the prairie, on a fine horse, about three o'clock in the after- 
 noon, when he saw a man making his way towards Vince's 
 bridge. The moment he saw he was pursued, the fugitive 
 fell down in the grass. Sylvester dashed on in that direction, 
 and his horse came very near trampling him down. The man 
 sprang to his feet, and apparently without the slightest surprise, 
 looked his captor full in the face. He was disguised in a 
 miserable rustic dress. He wore a skin-cap, a round jacket, 
 and pantaloons of blue domestic cotton, and a pair of coarse, 
 soldier's shoes. But his face and his manners bespoke, too 
 plainly, that he belonged to a different class than his garb be- 
 tokened ; and underneath his coarse disguise, Sylvester saw 
 that he wore a shirt of the finest linen cambric. " You are an 
 oflicer, I perceive, sir," said the horseman, raising his cap po- 
 litely. " No, soldier," was his reply ; and he drew out a letter 
 in Spanish, addressed to Almonte. When he saw there was 
 no hope of escape, he inquired for General Houston. By this 
 time, Sylvester had been joined by several of his comrades, 
 and mounting his prisoner behind him, they rode off together, 
 on the same horse, to the camp, several miles distant. As he 
 rode by the Mexican prisoners, they exclaimed with the great- 
 est surprise as they lifted their caps, " El Presidente .'" 
 
 Tn a single moment, the news spread through the camp 
 that Gen. Santa Anna was a prisoner, and the Dictator was 
 taken to Houston, The General was lying on the ground, 
 and having slept little during the night, in consequence of his 
 wound, had now fallen into a doze. Santa Anna came up 
 behind him, and took his hand. Houston roused himself, and 
 turning over, gazed up in the face of the Mexican, who ex- 
 tended his left arm, and laying his right hand on his heart, 
 said, '■'■lam General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, President 
 of the Mexican Republic, and 1 claim to be your prisoner of 
 war:'' Houston waved his hand to a box, for it was the only 
 seat in the camp, and asked his prisoner to be seated ; and 
 
MEETING OF THE TWO GENERALS. Ill 
 
 then sent for Almonte, who spoke English perfectly, request- 
 ing him to act as interpreter. 
 
 In the meantime, Santa Anna had taken his seat, and glanc- 
 ing his keen eye occasionally around the camp, with a timid 
 expression, pressed the sides of his breasts with both hands, 
 and gave two or three half-suppressed groans, like a man who 
 was suffering deep pain. An interesting incident took place 
 about this time, which is thus related by Gen. Rusk : " At the 
 time Santa Anna was brought into our camj), I was walking 
 with young Zavala. (The reader will recognize in this youth- 
 ful character, the son of the noble and venerable Zavala, who 
 distinguished himself as the friend of Texian independence.) 
 We approached him together. Santa Anna recognized young 
 Zavala at once, and advanced to meet him with great appa- 
 rent cordiality, uttering many expressions of kindness, such as 
 are customary among the Mexicans on such occasions, several 
 of which I remember. Among other things, he exclaimed 
 " Oh ! my friend, my friend, the son of my early friend ;" 
 with which, and other exclamations in the same strain, he em- 
 braced young Zavala, with high indications of apparent feel- 
 ing, and I think, dropping- a tear. Young Zavala returned his 
 greeting with that deference which would have been due to 
 his former rank and power; but at the same time, emitting 
 from his countenance an expression I have scarcely seen 
 equalled on any occasion. His look seemed to wither Santa 
 Anna, and staring him full in the face, he replied immediately, 
 with great modesty, ' It has been so, sir.' Santa Anna evinced 
 plainly that he was much mortified." 
 
 Almonte approached his captive General with evident re- 
 spect and grief, and the following conversation took place be- 
 tween the two commanders ; Houston, in the meantime, lying 
 on the ground, resting on his elbow. Great pains have been 
 taken to get as nearly as possible the exact words used by the 
 speakers, and those who were present at the interview, have 
 assured us, that all here related they do remember, and they 
 recollect nothing else of importance. 
 
 Santa Anna (after embracing Almonte, and recovering per- 
 
112 CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN THE VICTOR AND CAPTIVE. 
 
 fectly from his embarrassment, rose, and advancing with the 
 air of one born to command, said to General Houston — 
 " That man may consider himself born to no common destiny, 
 who has conquered the Napoleon of the West ; and it now 
 remains for him to be generous to the vanquished." 
 
 Houston. — You should have remembered that at the Alamo. 
 
 S. A. — You must be aware that I was justified in my course 
 by the usages of war. I had summoned a surrender, and they 
 had refused. The place was then taken by storm, and the usa- 
 ges of war justified the slaughter of the vanquished. 
 
 H. — That toa5 the case once, but it is now obsolete. Such 
 usages among civilized nations have yielded to the influences of 
 humanity. 
 
 S. A. — However this may be, I was acting under the orders 
 of my Government. 
 
 //. — Why, you are the Government of Mexico. 
 
 S. A. — I have orders in my possession commanding me so to 
 act. 
 
 H. — A dictator, sir, has no superior. 
 
 S. A. — I have orders, General Houston, from ray Govern- 
 ment, commanding me to exterminate every man found in arras 
 in the province of Texas, and treat all such as pirates ; for they 
 have no Government, and are fisrhtinsc under no recofjnized flaff. 
 This will account for the positive orders of ray Government. 
 
 H. — So far as the first point is concerned, the Texians flatter 
 themselves they have a Government already, and they will 
 probably be able to make a flag. But if you feel excused for 
 your conduct at San Antonio, you have not the same excuse for 
 the massacre of Colonel Fannin's command. They had capitu- 
 lated on terms proffered by your General. And yet after the 
 capitulation they were all perfidiously massacred, without the 
 privilege of even dying with arms in their hands. 
 
 Those who were present say that when Houston came to 
 speak of the Goliad tragedy, it seemed impossible for him to 
 restrain his indignation. His eye flashed like a wild beast's, 
 and in his gigantic effort to curb ia his wrath, cold sweat ran 
 off from his brow in streams. 
 
ALMONTE AND HOUSTON. 113 
 
 S. A. — I declare to you, General (laying his hand on his heart) , 
 that I was not apprised of the fact that they had capitulated. 
 General Urrea informed rae that he had conquered them in bat- 
 tle, and under this impression I ordered their execution. 
 
 H. — I knoxo, General, that the men had capitulated. 
 
 (5. A. — Then I was ignorant of it. And after your assevera- 
 tion I should not have a shadow of doubt, if it were not that 
 General Urrea had no authority lohatever to receive their capitu- 
 lation. And if the day ever comes that I can get Urrea into 
 my hands, I will execute him for his duplicity in not giving rae 
 information of the facts. 
 
 Here the conversation was suspended for a while, and Santa 
 Anna requested a small piece of opium. It was ordered by 
 Houston, who asked him if he would desire his marquee and 
 luggage, and the attendance of his aides and servants. Santa 
 Anna thanked him very politely, and said " it would make him 
 very happy, since they were proffered by his captor." 
 
 While the order was being given, Almonte manifested a dis- 
 position to continue the conversation with Houston. After re- 
 marking to the Texian General that fortune had indeed favored 
 him, he asked why he had not attacked the Mexicans the first 
 day the armies met. " You had reason to suppose we should be 
 reinforced. And yet if you had risked a battle that day you 
 would have had another story to tell, perhaps, for our men were 
 then ready to fight, and so anxious for the battle to come on, 
 that we could hardly keep them in their ranks. Why did you 
 wait till the next morning. General 1" 
 
 '* Well," replied Houston, " I see I was right. I knew you 
 expected I should bring on the battle that day, and were con- 
 sequently prepared for it. Now if I must be questioned by an 
 inferior officer in the presence of his General, I will say that 
 was just the reason why I did not fight ; and besides, I thought 
 there was no use in having two bites at one cherry." After 
 some remark of Almonte, which irritated Houston, and which, 
 in the opininon of all who heard it, ill-befitted the occasion, he 
 said — " You have come a great way to give us a great deal of 
 trouble — and you have made the sacrifice of the lives of a great 
 8 
 
114 THE SAN JACINTO CORN. 
 
 many brave men necessary." " Oh," flippantly replied Al- 
 monte, " what are six or eight hundred men ! And, from all 
 accounts, only half a dozen of your brave men have fallen." 
 
 Houston replied : " We estimate the lives of our men, I per- 
 ceive, somewhat higher than you do," and gave him a look 
 which seemed to say, " taunt me again, and you don't live an 
 hour." Almonte very politely changed his tone. " You talk 
 about reinforcements, sir," said Houston, raising himself up, 
 *' it matters not how many reinforcements you have, sir, you 
 never can conquer freemen." And taking from his pocket an 
 ear of dry corn which he had caried for four days, only a part of 
 it being consumed, he held it up and said, " Sir, do you ever ex- 
 pect to conquer men who fight for freedom, whose General can 
 march four days with one ear of corn for his rations ?" 
 
 The exhibition of the ear of corn stirred up all the enthusi- 
 asm of the Texian soldiers, and they gathered round their Gene- 
 ral, and asked him to allow them to divide the corn. " We'll 
 plant it," said they, " and call it the Houston corn." " Oh, 
 yes, my brave fellows," said the General, smiling, " take it 
 along if you care anything about it, and divide it among you — 
 give each one a kernel as far as it will go, and take it home to 
 your own fields, where I hope you may long cultivate the noble 
 arts of peace as well as you have shown yourselves masters of 
 the art of war. You have achieved your independence — now 
 see if you cannot make as good farmers as you have proved 
 yourselves gallant soldiers. You may not call it Houston corn ; 
 but call it San Jacinto corn — for then it will remind you of your 
 own bravery." It is also said that in one of his despatches that 
 day to the people of the Sabine, the General said to those who 
 had fled from their homes, " return and plant corn." The sol- 
 diers distributed their corn, and it now waves over' a thousand 
 green fields of the New Republic 
 
 Santa Anna had become interested in the conversation, and 
 Almonte related to him what had been said. The Mexican 
 General seemed to be transported with rage, and he cursed 
 Almonte for losing the battle. He was mortified beyond mea- 
 sure to think that his large army, perfectly armed and muni- 
 tioned, with officers whose camp was filled with every luxury. 
 
ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE SANTA ANNA. 115 
 
 should have been conquered by an undisciplined band of raw- 
 troops, incompletely armed, and whose officers were destitute 
 of most even of the necessaries of life. It is worthy of remark, 
 also, that Santa Anna afterwards said " that this was the first 
 moment he had ever understood the American character ; and 
 that what he had witnessed^ convinced him that Americans never 
 could be conquered.^^ 
 
 Santa Anna's marquee was set near the spot where Houston 
 was lying. His trunks were not examined, nor any portion of 
 his baggage molested. The Texian General knew that there 
 was hardly a man in his army who did not wish to see Santa 
 Anna expiate his crimes with his blood, and very few believed 
 it would be possible even for Houston to protect him from assas- 
 sination. But he knew the eyes of the civilized world would 
 be turned upon the Texian camp, and that however guilty 
 Santa Anna may have been, the name of Texas would be given 
 over to execration if any violence was offered to the captive. 
 He therefore took the necessary precautions to see that not only 
 no violence but no indignity should be offered to his prisoner. 
 The course he took in this matter entitles him to the regard of 
 mankind. The feeling that prevailed in the army could not be 
 mistaken, and various circumstances have come to our know- 
 ledge which serve to illustrate not only Houston's extreme vigi- 
 lance, but his superior shrewdness in detecting insubordination, 
 and his address in putting it down. One example we will 
 allude to. 
 
 An officer had resolved to shoot Santa Anna, and had pre- 
 pared himself for the work. His design, however, he had 
 kept to himself, and Houston could have had no intimation of 
 it from any quarter. But as the officer was passing Houston 
 on the day of the night he had fixed on for the execution of 
 his purpose, the General, who saw something wrong in his 
 manner, beckoned him to approach. He conversed with him, 
 privately and confidentially, on the subject of his fears, and 
 after depicting the horrible consequences that would follow 
 Santa Anna's assassination, told the officer that he had made 
 him his confidant in the matter, because he knew he would be 
 
116 THE BALD EAGLES OVER THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 
 
 more likely than any other man in the camp to detect any 
 murderous scheme projected, and he relied on his vigilance. 
 The officer gave him his pledge he would act on his sugges- 
 tion, and, moreover, declared that Santa Anna should never 
 be assassinated while lie stayed in the camp. He was as good 
 as his word : and yet he afterwards declared he had, at the 
 very time, the arms on his person with which he had sworn 
 to kill Santa Anna. Such was one of the thousand expe- 
 dients Houston was obliged to resort to, to maintain discipline 
 over those wayward, reckless men. No one knew how he 
 did it, and yet it passed into a proverb that Houston was the 
 only man in the ivorld that could have kept the army in subjec- 
 tion, or achieved the independence of Texas, or preserved it after 
 it was ivon. Houston, therefore, exercised the keenest vigi- 
 lance over the safety of his prisoner, and treated him as a 
 guest and a gentleman, rather than as a captive. 
 
 Night came — the guard was so disposed as to include Santa 
 Anna's marquee, and he slept on his camp-bed with every com- 
 fort he could have had if he had been the victor ; while, near 
 by him, Houston lay upon the earth — his wonted bed in camp 
 — with no respite from the intense agony of his wound. The 
 ball had entered about one inch above the ankle joint, shatter- 
 ing the bone, and severing the muscles and arteries. It pros- 
 trated him for months, during which time he was worn down 
 by fever and pain to the shadow of a man. 
 
 On the evening of the day which followed the victory, two 
 bald eagles were seen hovering over the field of battle, with 
 their heads turned to the Westward. Houston heard of the 
 circumstance, and at the same time several practised riflemen 
 started to shoot them. He ordered them to be called back, 
 saying, " Don't shoot them, comrades — their heads are turned 
 towards the West — it is a good omen. The bird of Wash- 
 ington points out to you the course of your empire. I own I 
 am a little superstitious." The riflemen came back — and till 
 late that night, the two birds beat their wings heavily over the 
 field of the slain, with their heads pointing towards the going 
 down of the sun. 
 
SANTA anna's PROPOSALS. FOR HIS RELEASE. 117 
 
 The next morning Santa Anna asked leave to see General 
 Houston, which was granted. He presented himself elegantly- 
 dressed in citizen's garb, and tendered a most respectful and 
 cordial greeting to his "host," and inquired kindly for his 
 health and the condition of his wound. The difference in the 
 dresses of the two men was striking. Houston had on a 
 plain, old, black coat, snuff-colored pantaloons, a black velvet 
 vest, a fur cap, a worn out pair of boots, and a scimetar of 
 tried metal, with a plated scabbard — a gift from his friend 
 Captain Joseph Bonnell, of Fort Jessup. He had worn it 
 hung by buckskin thongs. This constituted his wardrobe and 
 his armory. Santa Anna would have been taken for the vic- 
 tor, and Houston for the captive. 
 
 The Texian commander received, with courtesy, his pri- 
 soner, who immediately proposed negotiations for his liberty. 
 Houston, who, from the beg-inning' to the end of Santa Anna's 
 capture, never loas alone ivith him a single moment, imme- 
 diately sent for the Secretary of War, who came, and they 
 conversed some time with the prisoner. Santa Anna sub- 
 mitted a proposition written in pencil, and General Rusk had 
 the paper translated. In the meantime General Houston in- 
 formed the Mexican " President" that he could take no action 
 on his proposals, as Texas was ruled by a Constitutional Go- 
 vernment, whose members had been sent for immediately after 
 the battle. Santa Anna naturally asked where the Govern- 
 ment was — a question which he found could not be so easily 
 answered. 
 
 This " Government" had, as we have already stated, fled from 
 the scene of danger, and scattered to the four winds of Hea- 
 ven. Fortunately, it was known where the head of the Go- 
 vernment was, or rather where he had been, for he had escaped 
 to Galveston, and prepared to take passage on a little vessel 
 called the Flash, before even the first flash of the enemy's 
 guns. Houston thinking he might wait there till the news of 
 the battle came, since &ven so prtident a man would perceive 
 he could have plenty of time to get his craft under way before 
 
118 SANTA anna's ORDERS TO FELISOLA. 
 
 the victors could reach him, had despatched his first express to 
 that quarter. 
 
 Santa Anna, who had a great aversion against any nego- 
 tiations with civilians, manifested a perfect willingness to act 
 with military men. But Houston and Rusk were immovea- 
 ble in their determination. A detachment of 250 Texians was 
 then ordered to march with a despatch from Santa Anna, in 
 which General Filisola was instructed to depart immediately, 
 with all the Mexican troops, as far at least as Monterey, and 
 this order had been tendered to General Houston without an 
 intimation that even Santa Anna's life should be spared. 
 Filisola was on the east side of the Brazos when he received 
 news of the disaster of San Jacinto from an officer who had 
 escaped from the battle-field on a fleet Andalusian courser, and 
 succeeded in reaching his camp. 
 
 It was night when he reached Filisola's head-quarters, and 
 the camp broke up in confusion, and prepared for flight. They 
 fired a large cotton gin, to have the benefit of the flames to 
 light up their passage over the river. The Texian detachment 
 pressed on by forced marches in pursuit of the rear-guard of 
 the Mexican army. They found horses, and mules, and bag- 
 gage-wagons, and sick soldiers, scattered along the path of 
 the flying Division, which indicated the utter consternation 
 with which the retreat had been made. They had been 
 obliged to march through a low, flat, wet prairie, in reaching 
 the Colorado. But they were overtaken by the pursuers, and 
 Filisola received the messengers who bore the flag with every 
 mark of respect, and pledged himself to execute General 
 Santa Anna's orders without any delay. He asked leave only 
 to take some cattle along his march — he stretched his license 
 far enough to rob every living thing he fell in with on his 
 way. Filisola's Division got under way, and the Texian De- 
 tachment began their march back to San Jacinto. 
 
 Houston had given orders that a portion of the spoils should 
 be divided equally among officers and men, and appointed 
 three superior officers to execute his order. 
 
 A great number of incidents occurred during this period, 
 
THE "fUGITITIVE GOVERNMENT" AT LAST FOUND. 119 
 
 which would serve to illustrate the character. But we are 
 obliged to omit their relation. A soldier, for example, had 
 fled from the battle, declaring that all his comrades were 
 killed at the first fire. When General Houston heard of the 
 circumstance, he declared he would have him shot. His 
 Captain importuned the Commander to let him go. " Why, 
 yes, Captain," said the General, " I will let him off, but on 
 condition that he will promise to marry into a valiant race 
 and cross the breed. On these conditions, I will let hira go." 
 
 The news of the victory spread by expresses all over the 
 country, and not many days elapsed before the little Steam- 
 boat Yellow Stone arrived from Galveston, bringing the (fugi- 
 tive) " Government;" and they boldly marched right into the 
 very presence of Santa Anna himself! But when they came 
 from their hiding-places, they looked, of course, more like 
 victors than fugitives. Houston, at once, surrendered every- 
 thing into their hands but the money ; this had been already 
 divided among his gallant comrades. 
 
 Those who understand much of humanity will not be sur- 
 prised to hear that, from that day forward, these " fugitive 
 statesmen" became the irrevocable foes of the brave man who 
 had redeemed the nation v/hich they had deserted in the hour 
 of her darkest trial. They had fled, and Houston had fought ; 
 they knew the odium that would rest upon their names, and 
 as Houston had been covered with the fame of a hero, they 
 never could forgive him. An old philosopher once said, we 
 never do forgive anybody whom we have injured. They did 
 not express any aversion to, or condemnation of, Houston's 
 acts — this would not have been particularly safe — but their 
 future conduct showed most clearly, that, from that day, they 
 were bent upon his destruction. 
 
 They began by treating him with manifest coolness. A 
 proposition was even made to dismiss him from service, alleg- 
 ing no cause, but many reasons. Mr. Rusk, the Secretary of 
 War, who, when the Cabinet fled to the sea-shore, had fled to 
 the camp, and toiled with its heroic soldiery, partaking of 
 their privations and mingling in its perils — Mr. Rusk, the 
 
120 Houston's views of santa anna's release. 
 
 patriot-soldier, met the proposition in a spirited and indignant 
 manner, and defeated their malicious machinations. The 
 $12,000 had been distributed among ^the soldiers, and this 
 was a crime heavy enough to damn Houston ; for the " Go- 
 vernment" thought they needed it for their own purposes-— 
 and it is quite likely they did. But the " Government " did 
 not dare to bring it forward as an accusation against the 
 General, for they knew it would have roused the indignation 
 of every man in the army. 
 
 The Secretary of War wrote a letter to Houston, asking 
 his views about the release of Santa Anna. He returned the 
 following answer : 
 
 Head Quarters of the Army. 
 Camp San Jacinto, 3d May, 1S36. 
 
 I have not the pleasure to know on what basis the Executive 
 Government contemplate the arrangement with General Santa Anna, 
 but I would respectfully suggest, that so far as I have been enabled 
 to give my attention to the subject, the following points should have 
 some weight : 
 
 The recognition of the Independence of Texas should be a dne 
 qua non. The limits of Texas should extend to the Rio Grande, and 
 from the mouth, pursuing the stream to its most northwestern source, 
 and from thence northeast to the line of the United States. Indem- 
 nity for all losses sustained by Texas during the war. Commis- 
 sioners to be appointed for ascertaining the fact — One Mexican, one 
 Texian, and one American. The guarantee to be obtained from the 
 United States, for the fulfilment of the stipulation on the part of the 
 contending parties. General Santa Anna to be retained as a hostage, 
 with such other officers as the Government may think proper, until 
 they are recognized or ratified by the JNIexican Government. Imme- 
 diate restoration of Texian or Mexican citizens, or those friendly to 
 the cause of Texas, who may have been retained, with their pro- 
 perty. Instantaneous withdrawal of all the Mexican troops from the 
 limits of Texas. All property in Texas to be restored, and not 
 molested by the troops or marauders in falling back. Cessation of 
 all hostilities by sea and land. A guarantee for the safety and resto- 
 ration of Mexican prisoners, so soon as the conditions shall be com- 
 plied with. Agents to be sent to the United States to obtain the 
 mediation of that government in the afiairs of Mexico and Texas. 
 
 An attempt was made to heap upon Houston the odium 
 both of Santa Anna's release and imprisonment after the 
 treaty. But the attempt succeeded only for a time, as false- 
 
" MOUNTAIN LIES." 121 
 
 hood aliocujs vnll, and then these charges, with a thousand 
 otliers, returned to plague the inventors. But in Texas they 
 never were believed at all — there the facts were all known. 
 It is a curious circumstance, that the report once so common 
 in the United States, and even till now uncontradicted by 
 Houston (for he never esteemed any lie worth contradicting), 
 viz. that Houston played the coward at San Jacinto, and never 
 would have fought at all if he had not been forced into battle 
 by his soldiers ; that he fled from the field, or — as many had 
 it — was never in the field at all, — should have originated and 
 been industriously circulated by the very men who had been 
 the first to fly from danger, and leave the country in its dark- 
 est hour to take care of itself! And yet such was the case. 
 But from all these "mountain lies" the name of Houston 
 has come out fair and clear. 
 
 Volunteers had now rushed in from all quarters, where the 
 news of the victory had gone ; and some brave men, who had 
 come on by forced marches to join Houston's standard when 
 he needed their help, had the misfortune, also, to reach the ^ 
 camp too late. Great activity, discipline and vigor became 
 necessary. Houston was rendered perfectly helpless by his 
 wound ; and it was believed that, even if he survived, he 
 would not be again fit for service for many months. He sig- 
 nified his desire that General Rusk should succeed him in the 
 command, and, as no other man would have been acceptable, 
 he was selected by the Cabinet as Brigadier-General. From 
 the arrival of the "Government," which, to the surprise of Santa 
 Anna, had at last been found, the Mexican President had not 
 been permitted to pay his customary morning visit to his 
 courteous and humane captor ; and he had also been kept 
 under the irritating and humiliating surveillance of the 
 cabinet. This unnecessary and indelicate severity (or, as 
 Santa Anna himself termed it, " bad manners ") was a source 
 of great pain and mortification to the captive General. 
 
 Mr. Lamar was appointed Secretary of War, to fill the va- 
 cancy in the cabinet. After the failure to disgrace Houston, 
 there was a cruel effort made to depress and harrow his feelings. 
 
122 HOUSTON LEFT TO DIE ON THE BATTLE-FIELD. 
 
 Every petty artifice was resorted to, to torture the feelings of 
 the enfeebled, wounded hero. A fine stallion, that had been 
 ridden in battle by Almonte, and captured by Karnes in the pur- 
 suit of the enemy, had been presented by that gallant officer to 
 his General. Although the animal was not of the spoils taken 
 on the field, Houston sent him to parade, and to be sold for the 
 benefit of the army. By the united voice of the camp, he was 
 led up to his master, with an earnest entreaty that he would 
 retain him, and " they hoped, too," they said, "the General 
 would be able to ride him very quickly." He was a noble ani- 
 mal ; he was as black as a raven. After the army had con- 
 firmed the present of Karnes, the " Government " took the horse 
 from the Commander. This was, certainly, a chivalrous act 
 towards a man who had saved the country, and was yet unable 
 to move, even on crutches. We will state one more circum- 
 stance about these men, and then leave them to the fame they 
 are so sure to win with posterity, for having tortured the saviour 
 of his country. 
 
 When the army were taking up their line of march to the west, 
 with the settlements all broken up, and Houston was without 
 any of the comforts the wounded man so much needs, when his 
 surgeon had no medicine in the camp to give him, or dress his 
 wound with, and it became necessary for him to visit New Or- 
 leans as the nearest place he could go to for medical aid to save 
 his life, and the steamboat was ready to sail for Galveston, with 
 the Cabinet, and Santa Anna and suite ; these gentlemen had, 
 by common consent, agreed to leave the wounded Commander- 
 in-Chief to die — in sight of the field of San Jacinto ! Houston 
 could hardly believe this, and yet, when he saw he was going 
 to be left in his helplessness, he applied to the Cabinet for a 
 passage. The application was sternly refused! The captain 
 of the boat, hearing of the circumstance, v^owed his boat never 
 should leave the shore without it bore General Houston, brought 
 his hands up with him, and carried the wounded soldier aboard. 
 He was also accompanied by a few of his staff; among others 
 his surgeon-general. Dr. Ewing. When the Doctor came on 
 board, Mr. Lamar told him he could not accompany General 
 Houston, and if he did, he would be discharged from the ser- 
 
ARRIVES AT GALVESTON 123 
 
 vice. The surgeon told Houston of this. " I am sorry, my 
 dear fellow," said he, '' for I have nothing to promise you in 
 the future, and you know I am poor ; so you had better not 
 incur the displeasure of the new Secretary of War." But the 
 magnanimous man determined to follow his General, for he 
 would not desert either a friend or a brave man in the hour of 
 need. He went; but the Secretary was as good as his word ; 
 he dismissed him at once from the army. He did not know then 
 that Houston's star was so soon to come forth from its deep 
 eclipse. When Santa Anna, who had wept when he was told 
 that General Houston was not coming on board, saw him brought 
 on, he ran to him, and embraced him with unfeigned joy. 
 
 The boat reached Galveston Island, where, at the time, there 
 was not a framed house, and remained there for the night. Some 
 volunteers, who had arrived there from the United States, hear- 
 ing the President ad interim, when he went on shore, cast 
 some reflections upon Houston, their officers immediately waited 
 on the General, and offered to take him off, and do anything he 
 might desire for his comfort or his honor. He was aware of 
 the spirit the men felt, for they showed it too plainly to allow 
 it to be mistaken, and he declined going just then. But he 
 issued an order as he took leave of the men, and exhorted them 
 to "render obedience to the authorities of the country, and not 
 dishonor themselves by any disrespect to the Government, 
 being assured that by honoring the ranks they would be quali- 
 fied for the highest rights of citizenship." They discussed the 
 subject of treating the Cabinet with great harshness; but they 
 at last yielded to Houston's commands and entreaties, and 
 smothered their indignation. A single word from the wounded 
 man would have crushed those restless and ambitious men, who 
 had inflicted so much pain upon himself, and afterwards brought 
 so much misery and dishonor upon his country. But on this 
 occasion, as on all others, he showed how well regard for law 
 and order had fitted him to govern, and how easy it is for a 
 truly great man to be magnanimous to his enemies. 
 
 We had nearly forgotten to mention the scene w^hich was 
 witnessed when Houston parted with the army. He was too 
 
124 Houston's parting from the army. 
 
 feeble to speak to them, but he dictated the following touching 
 address, which was read in camp as Army Orders. 
 
 Head Quarters^ San Jacinto, May 5th, 1836. 
 
 Comrades, — Circumstances connected with the battle of the 21st 
 render our separation, for the present, unavoidable. I need not ex- 
 press to you the many painful sensations which that necessity inflicts 
 upon me. I am solaced, however, by the hope, that we shall soon 
 be reunited in the great cause of Liberty. Brigadier-General Rusk 
 is appointed to command the army for the present. I confide in his 
 valor, his patriotism, his wisdom. His conduct in the battle of San 
 Jacinto was sufficient to ensure your confidence and regard. 
 
 The enemy, though retreating, are still within the limits of Texas ; 
 their situation being known to you, you cannot be taken by surprise. 
 Discipline and subordination will render you invincible. Your valor 
 and heroism have proved you unrivalled. Let not contempt for the 
 enemy throw you off your guard. Vigilance is the first duty of a 
 soldier, and glory the proudest reward of his toils. 
 
 You have patiently endured privations, hardships, and difficulties 
 unappalled ; you have encountered odds of two to one of the enemy 
 against you, and borne yourselves, in the onset and conflict of battle, 
 in a manner unknown in the annals of modern warfare. While an 
 enemy to your independence remains in Texas, the work is incom- 
 plete ; but when liberty is firmly established by j'^our patience and 
 your valor, it will be fame enough to say, " I was a member of the 
 army of San Jacinto." 
 
 In taking leave of my brave comrades in arms, I cannot suppress 
 the expression of that pride which I so justly feel in having had the 
 honor to command them in person, nor will I withhold the tribute of 
 my warmest admiration and gratitude for the promptness with which 
 my orders were executed, and union maintained through the army. 
 At parting, my heart embraces you with gratitude and affection. 
 
 SAM HOUSTON, Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 It is said that when this touching and eloquent address was 
 read to the array, the tears of the brave men fell upon the rifles 
 on which they were leaning. Such was his parting with his 
 companions in arms. 
 
 A small war vessel, belonging to the Republic, was sailing 
 from Galveston to New Orleans. Houston applied for a pas- 
 sage with his staff. It was refused ! A little American schooner 
 (the Flora) was also lying there, bound for the same port. 
 The General sent for the captain, and contracted with him for 
 himself and staff, to be paid when he could, for he had not a 
 dollar of money to advance. During the entire campaign. 
 
HIS RECEPTION AT NEW ORLEANS. 125 
 
 neither he nor any one of his followers had received a shilling 
 from the " Government,'' and all the funds he had of his own, 
 he had generously devoted to the relief of the fugitive women 
 and children, whose husbands and fathers had been slaughtered 
 at the Alamo, or massacred with Fannin. Santa Anna now 
 asked permission of the Cabinet to take leave of General Hous- 
 ton, but he was refused that privilege. Captain Chas. Hawkins, 
 of the Texian Navy, stated these facts ; and he also said, that 
 Santa Anna wept on the occasion. 
 
 We pass over the long and tedious voyage of the little 
 schooner. She arrived at the Balize in the night, and the next 
 day was towed up to New Orleans. General Houston had now 
 been nearly forty days without medicine or poultices ; the band- 
 ages for his wound he had torn fi'om the shirt he wore, till all 
 but its bosom was gone — for he had given all he had away to 
 the soldiers as their necessities had before been greater than his 
 own. He was now, as he supposed, in a dying state. He was 
 so feeble, he could not even be raised up without fainting. In 
 passing the English Turn, about eighteen miles below New 
 Orleans, it was known by expresses in waiting that Houston 
 was on board, and it was the first confirmation of the news of 
 the battle. It was Sunday, and the levee was black with the 
 dense crowd which, as the intelligence spread through the city, 
 had rushed together to see the wounded Soldier. His friend, 
 Colonel Christy, with whom he had served as lieutenant in his 
 youth, had prepared for him in his house every comfort his 
 situation required, and he was now eager to grasp the hand of 
 his old comrade, and extend him the most cordial welcome. 
 Dr. Kerr, too, who had operated on his wounds just thirty years 
 before, hastened to the vessel, where he found him lying on the 
 deck. He fell upon him, and embraced him like a father. He, 
 with Dr. Cenas, gave him every attention, and they saved his 
 life ; for they said if he had arrived a few hours later, he could 
 not have been saved, since his wound had begun to show the 
 first symptoms of mortification. The crowd on the boat was so 
 great, it was in danger of sinking, and the throng so dense on 
 the pier, it was a long time before he could be got ashore. An 
 unsuccessful attempt had been made to lift him ashore, but it 
 
126 RETURN TO TEXAS. 
 
 seemed he would die of torture before it could be done. At 
 last, feeling that his strength was going, he rose on his crutches, 
 and, by a desperate effort, got over the gunwale himself. 
 He was immediately laid upon a litter, where he fainted again. 
 In the meantime, bands of music had come down to the pier, 
 and were playing martial airs, while the landing was being 
 effected. The cot, which had been prepared, was brought up, 
 and Houston, who seemed to be dying, was borne through the 
 vast throng to the hospitable mansion of his friend, where this 
 skeleton of disease and suffering at last found repose. 
 
 He remained about two weeks in New Orleans, and although 
 he was far from being out of danger, yet his anxiety to return 
 to Texas was so great, that he took passage to Nachitoches, on 
 the Red River. The fatigue and exposure of the journey were 
 too much for his feeble health, and he was obliged to stop 
 several days to recover his strength. But the first moment he 
 was able, he travelled on to San Augustine, where he remained 
 till the news came that the Cabinet had made a treaty with 
 Santa Anna, and were resolved on his liberation. At the 
 same time it was stated that the enemy was preparing for 
 another campaign. Demonstrations of respect had been made, 
 and dinners offered to him at New Orleans, Nachitoches, and 
 San Augustine ; but he declined all such compliments. The 
 report of the advance of the enemy had brought together a 
 vast concourse of people at San Augustine. Houston was 
 taken to the meeting, and, resting on his crutches, delivered 
 an address, which produced such an effect, that one hundred 
 and sixty men in two days, took up their march for the 
 frontier. 
 
 Soon after, the General received intelligence that Colonels 
 Millard and Wheelock had been despatched from the army then 
 at the Coleto, with a demand on the Cabinet that they should 
 deliver up Santa Anna into their hands for execution, reproach- 
 ing them for the neglect of their duty, and an order to arrest 
 President Burnet, and bring him to the Texian camp. Houston 
 immediately despatched the following Protest against their pro- 
 ceedings, by express to the army. 
 
PROTEST AGAINST SANTA ANNa's EXECUTION. 127 
 
 Ayish Bayou, 26th July, 1836. 
 To THE General commanding the Army of 1'exas. 
 
 Sir, — I have just heard through a citizen, of the army, that it is the 
 intention to remove General Santa Anna to the army, and place him 
 upon his trial. I cannot credit this statement ; it is obviously contrary 
 to the true policy of Texas. The advantages which his capture pre- 
 sented to us, will be destroyed. Disregard, if you will, our national 
 character, and place what construction you please upon the rules of 
 civilized warfare, we are compelled by every principle of humanity 
 and morality, to abstain from every act of passion or inconsideration 
 that is to be unproductive of positive good. Execute Santa Anna, 
 and what will be the fate of the Texians who are held prisoners by 
 the Mexicans — what will be the condition of the North Americans 
 who are residing within the limits of Mexico? Death to them, arid 
 confiscation of their property is the least that can be expected. Doubt- 
 less torture will be added to the catastrophe, when stimulated by ig- 
 norance, fanaticism, and the last expiring struggle of the priesthood 
 for power and dominion. Texas, to be respected, must be considerate, 
 politic and just in her actions. Santa Anna, living and secured beyond 
 all danger of escape, in the eastern section of Texas (as I first sug- 
 gested), may be of incalculable advantage to Texas in her present cri- 
 sis. In cool blood to offer up the living to the manes of the departed, 
 only finds an example in the religion and warfare of savages. Re- 
 gard for one's departed friends should stimulate us in the hour of bat- 
 tle, and would excuse us in the moment of victory, for partial excess- 
 es, at which our calmer feelings of humanity would relent. 
 
 The affairs of Texas connected with General Santa Anna, as Presi- 
 dent of the Republic of Mexico, have become matter of consideration to 
 which the attention of the United States has been called, and for 
 Texas, at this moment, to proceed to extreme measures, as to the 
 merits or demerits of General Santa Anna, would be treating that 
 Government with high disrespect, and I would respectfully add, 
 in my opinion, it would be incurring the most unfortunate respon- 
 sibility for Texas. 
 
 I, therefore, Commander-in-Chief of the army of the Republic, 
 do solemnly protest against the trial, sentence, and execution of 
 General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, President of the Republic 
 of Mexico, until the relations in which we are to stand to the 
 United States shall be ascertained. 
 
 SAM HOUSTON, Commander-in-chief of t^e army. 
 
 This protest had just the effect designed by the writer. The 
 trial of Santa Anna was delayed, and Texas was saved from the 
 disgrace and execration which so summary and barbarous a pro- 
 ceeding would have brought upon her name. Soon after this, 
 Houston removed to Nacogdoches, where he remained under the 
 
128 TREATY AND LIBERATION OF SANTA ANNA. 
 
 influence of his wound till fall. But he was far from being idle;, 
 for the country was under a quasi state of martial law, and the 
 exigency called for his constant vigilance and advice. 
 
 In the mean time we must glance rapidly over the events 
 which were elsewhere taking place. The Cabinet perceiving 
 that Houston's views, oflScially communicated to General Rusk, 
 were founded upon the highest principles of policy, humanity, 
 and justice, adopted them in the main in the treaty they made 
 with Santa Anna, on the 14th of May. The President and his 
 Cabinet were still at Velasco on the first of June, and the Tex- 
 ian schooner Invincible was anchored off the bar, in sight of the 
 town, with Santa Anna and his suite on board, and the sailing 
 orders of the vessel had been issued for her to proceed to Vera 
 Cruz. Santa Anna wrote the following Farewell to the 
 Texian Army. 
 
 " My friends ! I have been a witness of your courage in the 
 field of battle, and know you to be generous. Rely with confi- 
 dence on my sincerity, and you shall never have cause to regret 
 the kindness shown me. In returning to my native land, I beg 
 you to receive the sincere thanks of your grateful friend. Fare- 
 -^ell. Ant. Lopez De Santa Anna. 
 
 <' Velasco, 1st June, 1836." 
 
 I know not what may be the opinions of others, but I am per- 
 suaded that Santa Anna never would have committed himself 
 in this manner, when there was no necessity of doing it (for it 
 was written after the vessel was under sailing orders) , unless he 
 really intended to redeem his pledge. For although he had 
 entered into a solemn treaty, yet his own conscience and the 
 whole world would have palliated any violation of that treaty 
 (which was wrung from him by his captors ; for what will not a 
 prisoner promise to buy his liberty? they would have said), 
 much sooner than they would have forgiven the violation of pri- 
 vate pledges, voluntarily given by a//-ee man. No such pledges 
 were now necessary ; he was perfectly free to give or withhold 
 them. Any bad faith subsequently manifested, would have 
 been regarded as the blackest perfidy, and Texas would have 
 gained more, perhaps (if she had kept lier faith inviolate) , by 
 
LAWLESS CONDUCT OF GREEN. 129 
 
 his treachery, than she would have lost ; for her honor and her 
 magnanimity, and the perfidy of Santa Anna, would have won for 
 her the sympathy of the civilized world ! But an event now took 
 place which I must regard as a public and a lasting calamity to 
 Texas. 
 
 General Green arrived at Velasco, with several hundred volun- 
 teers from the United States, just as the Invincible was sailing. 
 This individual, who had not, as yet, participated in the Texian 
 struggle, and who, in fact, had yet no authority to order a drum 
 beat in Texas, set himself at once in opposition to the Govern- 
 ment, and declared that the Invincible should not be allowed to 
 lift her anchor. He was determined Santa Anna should be 
 tried and executed ! It is unnecessary to indulge in any excla- 
 mations of censure for this high-handed abuse of military power. 
 Popular feeling was on his side, and Mr. Lamar had already 
 protested (in a voluminous paper) against Santa Anna's release. 
 The President ad interim at last yielded to this outrageous 
 violation of the public faith, and although the treaty had been 
 signed, sealed, and delivered, and Santa Anna had it with him 
 on board, and the vessel was under sailing orders, yet he coun- 
 termanded her orders, and sent a requisition on board for the 
 Mexican President. Santa Anna was aware what had been 
 the popular feeling towards him from the day of his capture ; and 
 he undoubtedly believed that his life would be in danger in the 
 hands of a President who would violate a solemn treaty. Under 
 such circumstances he resolutely refused to go on shore. The 
 order was repeated the next day, and it provoked a similar 
 reply. On the afternoon of the third of June, General Green, 
 with several armed men, " visited the Invincible " (says Foote, 
 2 vol., p. 342) , " for the purpose of bringing off the dictator, 
 dead or alive.^^ Santa Anna remonstrated against the 'lawless 
 outrage, and, like a brave man, declared he would die before he 
 left. " All this time," says General Green (p. 343) , " he lay 
 on his back in his berth, and his respiration seemed to be ex- 
 ceedingly difficult." No wonder such a display of the boasted 
 Anglo-Saxon faith should disturb the respiration even of a Mexi- 
 can ! All other means failing, General Green ordered him to be 
 
 9 
 
130 SANTA anna's PROTEST. 
 
 put in irons. " When the irons were brought within his view, 
 the prisoner immediately jumped up, adjusted his collar, put on 
 his hat, and stated his readiness to accompany us " (p. 343) . 
 And how else would you have a defenceless prisoner act, with 
 a score of bayonets or bowie-knives at his breast 1 For my own 
 part, I know of no circumstance in Santa Anna's history so 
 w^orthy of admiration as his conduct on this occasion ; nor do I 
 know of any act of perfidy or cowardice equal to that evinced 
 by his lawless aggressors. 
 
 I am no eulogist of Santa Anna. I consider him an am- 
 bitious, selfish, military chieftain, who has trampled on the 
 Constitution, and blotted out the liberties of his country. But 
 to his honor be it said, that lie was not the first to violate the 
 treaty of the 14th of May. Like a brave man, too, he boldly 
 protested against the perfidy of the Texian cabinet. 
 
 He said : " I had embarked on the Texian schooner-of-war, 
 the Invincible, on the 1st of June, after addressing a short 
 farewell to the Texians, wherein I thanked them for their 
 generous behavior, and offered ray eternal gratitude. And 
 I protest (5thly), for the act of violence committed on my per- 
 son, and abuse to which I have been exposed, in being com- 
 pelled to go on shore, merely because 130 volunteers, under the 
 command of Gen. Thos. Green, recently landed on the beach 
 at Velasco, from New Orleans, had with tumults and threats 
 demanded that my person should be placed at their disposal, 
 which took place on the very day the government received from 
 Gen. Filisola the answer that he had strictly fulfilled what had 
 been stipulated in the treaty. * * Under these circum- 
 stances, I appeal to the judgment of civilized nations, to the 
 consciences of the citizens who compose the Cabinet, and, 
 above all, to the Supreme Ruler of the destinies of nations, 
 who has placed the existence and happiness of nations On the 
 faith of treaties and punctual fulfilment of engagements." 
 
 If I am pointed to Goliad and the Alamo, my only reply 
 is, that such an appeal to the civilized world and to the Su- 
 preme Ruler of nations from the perpetrator of those massa- 
 cres, only makes his sarcasm on Texian faith the more bitter. 
 
LAMAR REJECTED BY THE ARMY, 131 
 
 And yet all the blame of this infamous proceeding be- 
 longs to a military adventurer, the gratification o*f whose love 
 of notoriety was dearer than the faith of a government plight- 
 ed to a prisoner. If it be said that the President ad interim 
 was obliged to yield to the clamor of the populace, who 
 were thirsting for Santa Anna's blood, I reply that he could 
 not have been compelled, by any mortal power, to write with 
 his own hand the requisition for Santa Anna — had he been a 
 man of nerve enough to fit him to hold the reins of power in 
 revolutionary times. When Houston was asked what he 
 would have done in the same circumstances, he said, " I would 
 have regarded the faith of the nation under any circumstances, 
 and before the mob should have laid hands on Santa Anna, 
 they should have first drunk my blood." It now became per- 
 fectly certain that all the hopes of advantage Houston had 
 borrowed from the treaty and the release of Santa Anna, were 
 to be disappointed. He knew that the only reliance they had 
 or could have was upon his gratitude and sense of honor, and 
 now the course his enemies had taken had dissolved all his 
 obligations. 
 
 After Mr. Lamar resigned his post as Secretary of War, the 
 Cabinet appointed him Commander-in-Chief of the Array, 
 over the heads of Generals Houston and Rusk. He imme- 
 diately repaired to the army with his commission, and sur- 
 rounded by his staff. The army was drawn up ; after ad- 
 dressing them, he requested an expression of their sentiments. 
 They were anxious for Houston again to assume the com- 
 mand, and in the meantime were perfectly satisfied with Gen. 
 Rusk. But Mr. Lamar wished some more decided demon- 
 stration, and they were ordered, by marching in different di- 
 rections, to indicate their feelings towards the new co.m- 
 mander. There were about 1800 troops in the camp — less 
 than one in eighteen voted for him, and the rest positively re- 
 fused to serve under him ! He thus acquired the title of Gene- 
 ral, and got rid of the responsibilities of command. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 The Government ad interim at last became disgusted with 
 power. The people felt that when Houston was away they had 
 no one to repose on, and discontent became universal. Pro- 
 vision had been made by the Convention for the crisis, and 
 writs were issued for the election of a President by the people 
 of Texas. 
 
 There were two candidates — Gen. Stephen F. Austin, ajid 
 Ex-Governor Henry Smith. They were both excellent men, 
 particularly Gen. Austin, whom we have had occasion so oft^n 
 to mention with respect. Houston had been importuned from 
 the beginning to become a candidate, but he had refused, nor 
 did he consent till twelve days before the election. He wished 
 to retire from public life, for he believed there would be no 
 necessity of firing another hostile gun in Texas if the public 
 councils were guided by firmness and wisdom. He had been 
 unrelentingly persecuted, and his feelings outraged, just in 
 proportion as he had devoted himself to the State. In retire- 
 ment, he could be happy, and his country free. He was, 
 therefore, disinclined to mingle in the turmoil of public life. 
 But one motive at last overcame his objections. He believed 
 (such was the virulence of party) that if either of the candi- 
 dates should succeed, their cabinets would be made up exclu- 
 sively of party men, which would endanger the stability of the 
 administration. A government was to be created from chaos, 
 without a dollar and without credit. The parties were pretty 
 equally balanced, and there was great reason to fear that those 
 out of power would so far embarrass the administration as to 
 destroy its efficiency. He believed, that since he belonged to 
 neither party, and possessed the confidence of the great mass 
 of the people, he might still render signal service to the state, 
 and he allowed his name to be used. 
 
Houston's inauguration. 133 
 
 At the announcement, the turbulence of party everywhere 
 gave way to a national enthusiasm. None but his enemies 
 thought of opposing his election, and they were only a feeble 
 clique of adventurers, who had rushed to Texas when her 
 agitations began, hoping to win, in the turbulent scenes of 
 Revolution, a notoriety they had in vain sought for in the 
 calmer scenes of civic life. The Provisional Government of 
 '35, and the Administration of '36, had proved they were inca- 
 pable of holding the reins of Government over a frontier 
 population. The people at last saw that they must place 
 some man at the helm whose strong hand would steady the 
 vessel through the boisterous surges. They knew there was 
 but one man in Texas who could sway the multitude, and 
 when the hero of San Jacinto consented to accept the Presi- 
 dency, they offered it to him by acclamation. 
 
 Houston had indeed displayed those rare qualities which 
 make the great General. It now remained to be seen if he 
 was endowed with those loftier and nobler qualities, which 
 would fit him for the cabinet — for a far more difficult task now 
 remained, in the organization of a government which should 
 secure peace, and power, and prosperity at home, and com- 
 mand the respect of civilized nations — than it had been to win 
 even the brilliant victory of San Jacinto. Senators and re- 
 presentatives were elected at the same time, and on the 3d of 
 October (1836), the delegates assembled at Columbia, and the 
 first Congress of the Republic of Texas was organized. 
 
 On the morning of the 22d of the same month, the Presi- 
 dent ad interim tendered his resignation, and a resolution was 
 immediately introduced, " that the inauguration take place at 
 four o'clock this day." A committee from both Houses wait- 
 ed upon the President elect, and at four o'clock, he was intro- 
 duced within the bar of the House of Representatives. The 
 Speaker administered to him the oath of office, and then pro- 
 claimed Sam Houston President of the Republic of Texas. 
 Advancing to the table, he delivered an extemporaneous inau- 
 gural address. We consider it important the reader should be 
 furnished with it entire, for it unfolds the policy of Houston's 
 
134 Houston's inaugural, address. 
 
 administration, and it could never have been spoken but by a 
 great statesman. It will be consulted by future times as the 
 most important State paper that will be found in the early 
 archives of Texas. We give it as it came from the reporter 
 of the Congress. 
 
 Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen : 
 
 Deeply impressed with a sense of the responsibility devolving on 
 me, I cannot, in justice to myself, repress the emotion of my heart, or 
 restrain the feelings which my sense of obligation to my fellow 
 citizens has inspired — their suffrage was gratuitously bestowed. Pre- 
 ferred to others, not unlikely'superi.ir in merit to myself, called to the 
 most important station among mankind, by the voice of a free people, 
 it is utterly impossible not to feel impressed with the deepest sensa- 
 tions of delicacy, in my present position before the world. It is not 
 here alone, but our present attitude before all nations, has rendered 
 my position, and that of my country, one of peculiar interest. 
 
 A spot of earth almost unknown to the geography of the age, des- 
 titute of all available resouices, few in numbers, we remonstrated 
 against oppression ; and when invaded by a numerous host, we dared 
 to proclaim our Independence and to strike for freedom on the breast 
 of the oppressor. As yet our course is onward. We are only in 
 the outset of the campaign of liberty. Futurity has locked up the 
 destiny which awaits our people. Who can contemplate with apathy 
 a situation so imposing in the moral and physical world ! No one. 
 The relations among ourselves are peculiarly delicate and important ; 
 for no matter what zeal or fidelity I may possess in the discharge of 
 my official duties, if I do not obtain co-operation and an honest sup- 
 port from the co-ordinate departments of the government, wreck and 
 ruin must be the inevitable consequences of my administration. If 
 then, in the discharge of my duty, my competency should fail in the 
 attainment of the great objects in view, it would become your sacred 
 duty to correct my errors and sustain me by your superior wisdom. 
 This much 1 anticipate — this much I demand. I am perfectly aware 
 of the ditficulties that surround me, and the convulsive throes through 
 which our country must pass, i I have never been emulous of the 
 civic wreath — when merited it crowns a happy destiny. A country 
 situated like ours, is environed with ditficulties, its administration is 
 fraught with perplexities. Had it been my destiny 1 would infinitely 
 have preferred the toils, privations, and perils of a soldier, to the du- 
 ties of my present station. i Nothing but zeal, stimulated by the holy 
 spirit of patriotism, and guided by philosophy and reason, can give 
 that impetus to our energies necessary to surmount the difficulties that 
 obstruct our political progress. By the aid of your intelligence, I 
 trust all impediments in our advancement will be removed ; that all 
 wounds in the body politic will be healed, and the Constitution of the 
 Uepublic derive strength and vigor equal to any emergency. I shall 
 
hohston's inaugural address. 135 
 
 confidently anticipate the establishment of Constitutional liberty. 
 In the attainment of this object, we must regard our relative situa- 
 tion to other countries. 
 
 A subject of no small importance is the situation of an extensive 
 frontier, bordered by Indians, and open to their depredation. Treaties 
 of peace and amity and the maintenance of good faith with the Indi- 
 ans, seem to me the most rational means for winning their friendship. 
 Let us abstain from aggression, establish commerce with the different 
 tribes, supply their useful and necessary wants, maintain even- 
 handed justice with them, and natural reason will teach them the 
 utility of our friendship. , 
 
 Admonished by the past, we cannot, in justice, disregard our na- 
 tional enemies. Vigilance will apprise us of their approach, a dis- 
 ciplined and valiant army will insure their discomfiture. Without 
 discrimination and system, how unavailing would all the resources of 
 an old and overliowing treasurj'^ prove to us. It would be as unprofita- 
 ble to us in our present situation, as the rich diamond locked in the 
 bosom of the adamant. We cannot hope that the bosom of our 
 beautiful prairies will soon be visited by the healing breezes of peace. 
 We may again look for the day when their verdure will be converted 
 into dyes of crimson. We must keep all our energies alive, our 
 army organized, disciplined, and increased to our present emergen- 
 cies. With these preparations we can meet and vanquish despotic 
 thousands. This is the attitude we at present must regard as our 
 own. We are battling for human liberty ; reason and firmness must 
 characterize our acts, i 
 
 The course our enemies have pursued has been opposed to every 
 principle of civilized warfare — bad faith, inhumanity and devastation, 
 marked their path of invasion. We were a little band, contending 
 for liberty — they were thousands, well appointed, munitioned and 
 provisioned, seeking to rivet chains upon us, or extirpate us from the 
 earth. Their cruelties have incurred the universal denunciation of 
 Christendom. They will not pass from their nation during the pre- 
 sent generation. The contrast of our conduct is manifest ; we were 
 hunted down as the felon wolf, our little band driven from fastness to 
 fastness, exasperated to the last extreme ; while the blood of our 
 kindred and our friends inv^oking the vengeance of an offended God 
 was smoking to high heaven, we met our enemy and vanquished 
 them. They fell in battle, or suppliantly kneeled and were spared. 
 We offered up our vengeance at the shrine of humanity, while 
 Christianity rejoiced at the act and looked with pride on the sacrifice. 
 The civilized world contemplated with proud emotions, conduct 
 which reflected so much glory on the Anglo-Saxon race. The moral 
 effect has done more towards our liberation, than the defeat of the 
 army of veterans. Where our cause has been presented to our 
 friends in the land of our origin, they have embraced it with their 
 warmest sympathies. They have rendered us manly and efficient 
 aids. They have rallied to our standard, they have fought side by 
 
136 HOUSTON SURRENDERING HIS SWORD. 
 
 side with our warriors. They have bled, and their dust is mingling 
 with the ashes of our heroes. At this moment I discern numbers 
 around me, who battled in the field of San Jacinto, and whose chiv- 
 alry and valor have identified them with the glory of the country, its 
 name, its soil, and its liberty. There sits a gentleman within my 
 view, whose personal and political services to Texas have been 
 invaluable. He was the first in the United States to respond to our 
 cause. His purse was ever open to our necessities. His hand was 
 extended in our aid. His presence among us and his return to the 
 embraces of our friends will inspire new efforts in behalf of our cause. 
 [The attention of the Speaker and that of Congress, was directed to 
 Wm. Christy, Esq., of New Orleans, who sat by invitation within 
 the bar.] A circumstance of the highest import will claim the at- 
 tention of the court at Washington, y In our recent election, the im- 
 portant subject of annexation to the United States of America was 
 submitted to the consideration of the people. They have expressed 
 their feelings and their wishes on that momentous subject. They 
 have, with a unanimity unparalleled, declared that they will be reunited 
 to the Great Republican family of the North. The appeal is made 
 by a willing people, i Will our friends disregard it ? They have al- 
 ready bestowed upon us their warmest sympathies. Their manly 
 and generous feelings have been enlisted on our behalf. We are 
 cheered by the hope that they will receive us to participate in their 
 civil, political, and religious rights, and hail us welcome into the 
 great family of freemen. Our misfortunes have been their misfor- 
 tunes — our sorrows, too, have been theirs, and their joy at our success 
 has been irrepressible. 
 
 A thousand considerations press upon me, each claims my attention. 
 But the shortness of the notice of this emergency (for the Speaker 
 had only four hours' notice of the inauguration, and all this time was 
 spent in conversation) will not enable me to do justice to those sub- 
 jects, and will necessarily induce their postponement for the present. 
 [Here the President, says the reporter, paused for a few seconds and 
 disengaged his sword.] It now, sir, becomes my duty to make a 
 presentation of this sword — this emblem of my past office. [The 
 President was unable to proceed further ; but having firmly clenched 
 it with both hands, as if with a farewell grasp, a tide of varied asso- 
 ciations rushed upon him in the moment, his countenance bespoke 
 the workings of the strongest emotions, his soul seemed to dwell 
 momentarily on the glistening blade, and the greater part of the audi- 
 tory gave outward proof of their congeniality of feeling. It was in 
 reality a moment of deep and painful interest. After this pause, 
 more eloquently impressive than the deepest pathos conveyed in lan- 
 guage, the President proceeded.] /I have worn it with some humble 
 pretensions in defence of my country, — and should the danger of my 
 country again call for my services, I expect to resume it, and respond 
 to that call, if needful, with my blood and my life. 
 
ORGANIZATION OF HIS ADMINISTRATION. 137 
 
 • The first step the President took in his administration, 
 evinced his political forecast and the broad national principles 
 on which he intended to govern the country. He chose his 
 two most important cabinet officers from his rivals for the 
 Presidency ; General Austin, the incorruptible patriot, became 
 Secretary of Slate, and Ex-Provisional Governor Henry Smith, 
 Secretary of the Treasury. This selection was not only mag- 
 nanimous, but it was high policy. The rancor of party sub- 
 sided — the oil calmed the turbid waters. It evinced the im- 
 portant fact, that Houston had no party but country, and no 
 aim but the public good. 
 
 Everything was in chaos. The archives of the State were 
 hurled loosely together in an old trunk — everything had to be 
 done. Although the Cabinet was composed of apparently so 
 discordant materials, yet all their proceedings were character- 
 ized by harmony, till Mr. Austin's death, which took place in a 
 few months. He was deeply regretted by his people, for he was 
 an upright, enlightened and purely patriotic man. Congress 
 was now completely organized, and public business was being 
 done in an orderly and efficient manner. 
 
 When Houston arrived at Columbia, for the inauguration, 
 he found that his former captive, Santa Anna, was still retained 
 a prisoner about twelve miles from the seat of government, un- 
 der a guard of twenty men. Santa Anna sent word to Houston, 
 that he would be very glad if he could have the pleasure of 
 seeing him. He did not send to implore his release — for he 
 seems to have given up nearly all hope of ever regaining his 
 liberty. But in Houston he had found a magnanimous foe, 
 and he wished to see his conqueror. 
 
 The reader can readily imagine how Houston was affected 
 by such a message from a prisoner, to whose release the gov- 
 ernment ad interim had pledged its most solemn faith, and 
 then left him to drag out months of weary imprisojiment. He 
 still felt as he had in the beginning, and he determined to 
 wipe out the stain of dishonor from the name of Texas. "Af- 
 ter a victory like San Jacinto," said he, » we could richly have 
 afforded to have been magnanimous — now the only question 
 
138 HOUSTON VISITS SANTA ANNA IN PRISON. 
 
 is, can we afford to be just?" He knew, besides, there were 
 no means in the government to support captives. It had been 
 in a state of quasi dissolution for months. Santa Anna and 
 his friends had been living on a mere pittance, destitute of the 
 comforts and many of the necessaries of life. Houston took 
 with him several gentlemen and went to visit the prisoner. 
 Those who were present have represented their meeting as 
 rather affecting. Santa Anna, after the custom of his nation, 
 opened his arms and came forward to meet his visitor. 
 Houston, whose great heart was large enough to hold even 
 his enemies, received him in like manner, and as the worn 
 captive rested his head on Houston's broad breast (for he hard- 
 ly came up to his shoulder), they say that the two generals 
 wept together — the Mexican at the recollection of his reverses 
 — the Virginian sympathizing with the man he had vanquish- 
 ed. 
 
 Through Almonte, who still acted as their interpreter, and 
 in the presence of Patton and others, Santa Anna appealed to 
 his conqueror to interpose his power in his behalf, and advert- 
 ed to the letter he had himself written to Gen. Jackson, and 
 enclosed to Houston at Nacogdoches. Jackson had answered 
 his letter in very kind terms, and passed a high eulogium upon 
 his friend Gen. Houston, for his magnanimity towards his 
 captive. Indeed, Gen. Jackson often declared that Houston 
 deserved and would receive as much honor from all great and 
 good men for his treatment of Santa Anna after the victory, 
 as for the victory itself. " Let those who clamor for blood," 
 said the brave old hero, " clamor on. The world will take 
 care of Houston's fame." 
 
 Houston was not yet inaugurated, but he assured the Mexi- 
 can general that he would remember him. Col. Christy (who 
 bore Texas on his heart, and was jealous of her honor) and 
 other generous men, had sent some comforts to Santa Anna a 
 short time before, and Houston and some of his friends dined 
 with him that day, and then they parted. Santa Anna wrote 
 Houston after his return to Columbia. The communication 
 was laid before Congress, and his release solicited. The mat- 
 
SANTA anna's LIBERATION. 139 
 
 ter was referred to committees of both houses, and a report was 
 made of a most inflammatory character. In a secret session 
 the Senate passed a resolution requiring his detention as a 
 prisoner. Houston responded in a calm, dignified veto, show- 
 ing the impolicy of a longer detention — the probability o£ his 
 being assassinated (as one attempt had already been made 
 before Houston's arrival), and whether he might die from 
 violence or disease, that Texas never would escape the odium 
 of his death. The Senate reversed their decision, and referred 
 the matter to the discretion of the President. He expressed 
 the belief that if Santa Anna was restored to his country, he 
 would keep Mexico in commotion for years and Texas would 
 be safe. Houston determined at once to release him on his own 
 responsibility. He informed him that if he wished to visit 
 Washington, as Gen. Jackson had requested, he should have 
 an escort, chosen by himself. Santa Anna returned his thanks 
 by the messenger, and requested that Cols. Hockley and Bee, 
 and Major Patton be allowed to attend him. About the 25th 
 of November, the escort departed, and Houston went with them 
 to take his final leave of the liberated captive. The parting 
 took place — and the little party set out on fine horses, for the 
 Sabine. They lost their way in the prairie, and it so happened 
 that they they were compelled, in regaining it, to pass over tlie 
 battle ground of San Jacinto ! When Santa Anna saw the 
 bones of his soldiers whitening on the field, he was deeply 
 affected, and the gentlemanly men who attended him, 
 seeming not to observe his agitation, rode leisurely on and Left 
 the deserted general to indulge his feelings on the field of his 
 slain. 
 
 Santa Anna is a great man. He has a Mexican education 
 and Mexican principles, but an American intellect of high 
 order. He is a great General. He has a fine face — a rather 
 long, but well-shaped head — black hair and eyes, and a perfect 
 form — he is about five feet and seven or nine inches high — his 
 elocution is rich, and characterized by considerabl-e fire — his 
 eye is quick, but firm, and his manners and address are 
 worthy of a prince. 
 
140 RECOGNITION OP TEXIAN INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 In the beginning of his Administration the President ap- 
 pointed Colonel William H. Wharton, Minister to Washing- 
 ton, with instructions to commence negotiations with General 
 Jackson for the annexation of Texas to the United States. 
 Soon after Memucan Hunt, Esq., was appointed to act in con- 
 cert with him. During the summer of 1836, General Jackson 
 had despatched a confidential agent to Texas. He explored 
 its Territory, scrutinized its Government, mingled in its so- 
 ciety, made himself familiar with its resources, and reported 
 fully to the President. His Report satisfied the President and 
 his Cabinet that Texas was entitled, by the Law of Nations, 
 to a recognition of her Independence, and although his own 
 sympathies were with that people in their struggle, and from 
 the hour they achieved their independence he never had a 
 doubt they would one day be annexed to the United States, 
 yet he wisely withheld the expression of such an opinion, and 
 did not even press upon Congress the Recognition. In his 
 Message of the 5th of December, 1836, after assigning the 
 most satisfactory reasons, he says, " Our character requires 
 that we should neither anticipate events, nor attempt to control 
 them." And alluding to the desire of Texas for annexation, 
 he says : " Necessarily a work of time, and -uncertain in itself, 
 it is calculated to expose our conduct to misconstruction in the 
 eyes of the world." On the twenty-second of the same mOnth, 
 the President, in another message, after discussing the ques- 
 tion, expresses his opinion that it would be impolitic yet to re- 
 cognize Texas as an Independent State, and then proposes to 
 acquiesce in the decision of Congress. The question was not 
 brought up again till the 12th of January, 1837, when Mr. 
 Walker, Senator from Mississippi, introduced the following 
 resolution : 
 
 Resolved, That the State of Texas having established and main- 
 tained an independent Government, is capable of performing those 
 duties, foreign and domestic, which appertain to Independent Govern- 
 ments ; and it appearing that there is no longer any reasonable pros- 
 pect of the successful prosecution of the war by Mexico against said 
 State, it is expedient and proper, and in conformity with the Laws of 
 Nations, and the practice of this Government in like cases, that the 
 
COURSE OF AMERICAN SENATE- 141 
 
 independent political existence of that State be acknowledged by the 
 Government of the United States." 
 
 The Senate was not prepared for immediate action on the 
 question, and Mr. Walker knew it. He was aware that the 
 stransre and disgraceful war which the American Press had so 
 ge^ierally begun to wage against the interests and advance- 
 ment of Tcxian Liberty, had colored the prejudices, and 
 would control the votes of Senators, and he determined to 
 bide his time. Mr. Walker moved that his Resolution be 
 made the order of the day for the 18th of January ; but when 
 the time came it was crowded aside. Several ineffectual at- 
 tempts were made to decide the question, and at last it was 
 brought up on the 1st of March for final action. An able and 
 brilliant debate followed ;" Messrs. Preston, Crittenden, Clay, 
 and Calhoun, all sustained the Mississippi Senator with the 
 persuasive power of their eloquence. Mr. Clay spoke of 
 Texas with generous enthusiasm, and unhesitatingly declared 
 that her Constitution, as a whole, was superior to that o'f the 
 United States. How different might have been the political 
 fortunes of that truly great and patriotic man, and the fortunes 
 of his party, if he had, to the end, pursued the same high and 
 sagacious policy towards that beautiful country! But his 
 course, as well as Mr. Van Buren's, only furnishes us with 
 another impressive illustration how few great men, even, are 
 able to withstand the clamor of party in turbulent times. The 
 measure prevailed by a small majority. For the success of 
 the measure Texas was indebted to the efforts of Mr. Walker, 
 and his course in the affair entitled him to the regards of the 
 entire nation. The day will come, too, when the mists that 
 have obscured the gaze of the people and their statesmen 
 shall have cleared away, and the name of the Mississippi 
 Senator will everywhere be mentioned with honor and with 
 gratitude. Texas will build his monument, and give it a con- 
 spicuous place in the temple she will erect for those who 
 proved themselves her friends in the day of trial. The grate- 
 ful Republic commissioned the portrait of Mr. Preston, and 
 the bust of Mr. Walker, for her Capitol. 
 
142 THE SPIRIT OF HOUSTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 The last time General Jackson ever put his pen officially to 
 paper, was to sign the Resolution recognizing Texas an Inde- 
 pendent State, Such was the earliest fruit of the Mission of 
 those intelligent and accomplished men whom General Hous- 
 ton commissioned to the court of Washington. We have read 
 their correspondence with the two Governments, and we have 
 seldom perused abler state papers. 
 
 In March, 1837, the seat of Government was removed from 
 Columbia on the Brazos, to Houston, which stands on the 
 highest point of navigation on the Bayou, that empties into 
 Galveston Bay. There was but one house in Houston. It was 
 a cabin just erected, and in it the President of the new nation 
 took up his abode. His floor was the ground, where the grass 
 was growing. But population rushed in, and in a short time 
 comfortable public buildings were erected. 
 
 Houston's policy in regard to the future was to obtain annex- 
 ation if possible. If this could not be done, he was determined 
 to conduct the Government on principles that would secure 
 confidence abroad and inspire hope at home. The proposition 
 for annexation had been rejected by our Government, and such 
 was the state of feeling at the time in the United States, Hous- 
 ton had no expectation of the early success of that grand meas- 
 ure, in whose consummation the keen-sighted statesmen of 
 both countries saw so many elements of mutual power and 
 prosperity. He was therefore determined to lay the foundations 
 of the Texian Republic deep and strong — to husband its re- 
 sources — never to cripple the state with a public debt — to har- 
 monize warring factions — to be the ruler of the Nation, and 
 not of a party or a clique. 
 
 The cultivation of friendly relations with the powerful and 
 warlike savage tribes on the frontier, he regarded as one of the 
 most important objects of his administration. This ferocious 
 population not only outnumbered all the inhabitants of Texas, 
 but they could not be conquered. The Camanches, the most 
 numerous and savage Iribe, live in the saddle. They can 
 move with their women and children with great celerity when- 
 ever and wherever their necessities or their passions carry them j 
 
STATE OP TEXAS. 143 
 
 they can make their incursions without the possibility of pursuit 
 from their enemies. Tiiey are hordes of barbarians, as ferocious 
 as Cossacks and as fleet as the Bedouins of the desert. And yet, 
 such was Houston's knowledge of the Indian character, and 
 so rigidly did he regard the letter and spirit of his treaties with 
 those fearful tribes, he saved the Republic from their incur- 
 sions and made them venerate and love his name. 
 
 In a former part of this work, we have given the views of 
 Houston on the subject of our treatment of the Indians. Those 
 views have been regarded by many as utterly chimerical ; and 
 yet if we had space we could show that during his two adminis- 
 trations in Texas, he carried them out successfully ; and he has 
 often declared that, in no instance where he had an opportunity 
 of giving the Indians evidence that he intended to treat them 
 with good faith and with common justice, did he experience the 
 slightest difficulty in winning their friendship and preservin-g 
 their perpetual alliance. In all these negotiations the great se- 
 cret of his power over those wily red men, consisted in two 
 things. His associations with the Indians gave him a complete 
 knowledge of their character — and he treated with them on the 
 great principles of humanity and justice. 
 
 And yet the Government was destitute of all the ordinary 
 means of support. They had not a dollar, nor could loans be 
 obtained. An army was in the field, but they could not be 
 supported. When Congress met at Houston, General Felix 
 Huston, who commanded the army, hurried to the place. He 
 had projected a grand campaign against Matamoras. Every 
 man who felt jealous of the influence of the President joined 
 in the scheme. The army now numbered over 2,400 men. 
 The President foresaw the consequences of these movements. 
 There was no money in the Treasury, or means, or currency, 
 except promissory notes, struck on common paper. It was 
 clearly impossible to conduct a campaign. The President saw 
 what the upshot of this matter would be if something were 
 not done at once, and he resorted to a sagacious expedient. 
 Col. Rodgers, now left in command of the army, had caused 
 it to be understood that, if the volunteers did not get justice, 
 
144 HOUSTON DISBANDS THE ARMY. 
 
 he would march with them to the Seat of Government, " chas- 
 tise the President, kick Congress out of doors, and give laws 
 to Texas." 
 
 At this crisis the President determined to cut the evil up by 
 the roots. General Felix Huston had occasionally indulged 
 his men in what he called a Saturnalia^ where murders had 
 occurred in consequence of the brutal intoxication of the men. 
 One evening, from intelligence of what was doing in Con- 
 gress (for he never visited the House, except at the opening 
 or close of the Session), Houston directed the Secretary of 
 War to be ready to start the next morning, at two o'clock, for 
 the Camp. He handed him sealed orders, to be opened in 
 the Camp, and ordered him to go there with all possible dis- 
 patch. These orders required the Secretary to furlough the 
 army by companies, until they were reduced to six hundred 
 men. The first company was furloughed to march to Dimitt's 
 Landing, on Matagorda Bay ; the second to the mouth of the 
 Brazos ; the third to Galveston ; and this process was con- 
 tinued till the reduction was made. His object was to give 
 them an opportunity to get to the United States by water, and 
 thus relieve the country from apprehensions. The furloughs 
 given to the men were unlimited, but they were liable to be 
 recalled at any time by Proclamation ; and if they did not 
 report themselves in thirty days after the Proclamation they 
 were to be considered deserters, and treated as such. Houston 
 could not disband the army, for there was nothing to pay 
 them off with ; and he had been taught a lesson by the attempt 
 of General Washington to disband the army of the North. And 
 yetjSO entirely had all subordination been broken down — daring 
 scenes of violence were so constantly occurring at the camp — 
 so many lawless and desperate men were banded together, to 
 commit high-handed depredations — that the whole country 
 began to suffer the most serious apprehensions. Houston 
 manifested no alarm, but the course he took bespoke his fears. 
 He was determined that the army should be disbanded, and 
 he accomplished his purpose in his own way. When the 
 
RECKLESS LEGISLATION VETOES. 145 
 
 various companies reached their destinations, no longer held 
 together by the bond which iinion had before given, they 
 thought they had seen enough of military life. They had 
 fared roughly ; and thcii- surplus chivalry had so completely 
 oozed out of the holes in their coats, that they no longer had 
 courage enough to be dangerous ; and — fearing they would not 
 get out of the country before the Proclamation was issued — - 
 they made the best of their way to the United States. In 
 thirty days they had all disappeared; and when the finale was 
 known throughout the country, every man felt that Houston 
 had saved the nation from the deepest peril. It was, in fact, a 
 stroke of bold, but sagacious policy, which none but a man 
 like him would have dared to attempt. General Felix Huston 
 was plotting at the Capital ; but before he knew what the 
 President was doing, his army was disbanded. 
 
 About this time a Land Law was passed, under which all 
 the troubles about titles have grown up. Its object was spe- 
 culation, and many voted for it anticipating enormous gains. 
 Houston vetoed it in one of his ablest state papers. But his 
 veto was not supported, and the law w^ent into operation. A 
 few years showed its malign and fatal fruits. It opened the 
 door to all sorts of fraud, and was a fruitful source of las^insr 
 litigation. This was but a single specimen of the reckless- 
 ness of Legislation in the Congress of Texas. (During Hous- 
 ton's two terms he issued not less than eighty vetoes.) Had 
 there not been a firm and intelligent statesman at the head of 
 the Government, no man can tell where such Congresses 
 would have plunged the Nation. 
 
 Another Law was passed, authorizing an excessive issue of 
 Promissory Notes. This also the President vetoed, and he 
 declared that if the measure prevailed the paper would soon 
 depreciate ten to one. He arrested this fatal proceeding for a 
 time. It passed under the administration of his successor, and 
 his prophecy was abundantly fulfilled. 
 
 During the year 1837 the country was agitated by occasional 
 
 alarms of Mexican and Indian invasions, but Houston was on 
 
 the alert, and nothing of the kind look place. The utmost 
 10 
 
146 BENEFICENT FKUITS OF HOUSTON^S ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 confidence in bis administration prevailed among the people; 
 and the beautiful spectacle was presented of an industrious 
 and increasing population, which bad just recovered from the 
 shock and the devastation of a powerful invading army, and 
 environed with Mexican and Savage foes, quietly and suc- 
 cessfully prosecuting the arts of peace. Houston proclaimed 
 trade and intercourse between Mexico and Texas, and caused 
 his Proclamation to be printed and circulated in both lan- 
 guages. Trade grew up rapidly; the frontier counties were 
 repopulated ; and the tide of emigration was gradually flow- 
 ing towards the Mexican borders. Caravans of horses and 
 mules came into Texas, with large quantities of silver and 
 merchandize ; good feeling was fast growing up, and con- 
 tinued to increase. Men, on both sides of the line, were now 
 anxious for peace. The Mexican people had nothing to gain 
 in battle, and had the renewal of hostilities depended on the 
 vote of the Mexican population, both countries would have 
 been blessed with lasting peace. 
 
 We must now close our brief account of Houston's first 
 administration. The proposition for annexation had been 
 steadily pressed upon the attention of the Government at 
 Washington. But the Texian ministers received little encour- 
 agement, and as Texas could promise herself no advantage 
 from further negotiations, Houston withdrew the proposition. 
 He believed that any further attempts to consummate that 
 great measure would prejudice Texas in the eyes of other 
 nations ; and in withdrawing the proposal his conduct met the 
 approval of the nation. His Presidential term closed the 12th 
 of December, 1838. He went out of office, leaving a Govern- 
 ment perfectly organized ; with officers of ability, integrity, 
 and economy in every department of the State. The nation 
 was not more than a million and a half in debt, with about 
 $600,000 of Promissory notes in circulation. Texas had 
 peace with the Indians and commerce with Mexico. The 
 feuds between the two nations were dying away, and the 
 Promissory notes were at par. This circumstance is, perhaps, 
 the clearest and most convincing proof of the great ability and 
 
A FRONTIER POPULATION, 147 
 
 integrity with which Houston had conducted the GovernmenL 
 There was little specie in the country — how these notes were 
 ever to be redeemed the people did not know ; — but they said, 
 " As long as Old Sam is at the helm the ship is safe." They 
 were voyaging through stormy seas, but they knew they 
 were sailing with Caesar. 
 
 No man was ever confronted with greater difficulties in the 
 beginning of his administration — for the mild but firm sway of 
 Constitutional Law had to be substituted in the place of an- 
 archy and confusion, over a reckless people who had long been 
 accustomed to the unrestrained liberty of the frontier, where no 
 man Ipoked for protection but in his own right arm. During 
 these revolutionary times, too, even in the older settlements, the 
 ordinary course of justice had been suspended, and it was no 
 strange thing that such men should not at once yield to the 
 high supremacy of Constitutional Law. The very same ele- 
 ments of character, which have long made the Anglo-Saxons 
 the most law-abiding people on the globe, have always made 
 them the most lawless frontier-men. Men who choose their 
 homes in the distant forest or prairie, are slow to transfer their 
 protection from their rifles, which never miss fire, to tardy 
 juries which seldom mete out justice. How long was it be- 
 fore that wonderful People, that first scared the wild beasts 
 from the solemn forests of the Tiber, voted to abide by the 
 awards of the Temple of Justice ! And how many centuries 
 did our ancestors roam over the beautiful Island of Britain, 
 dressed in the skins of wild beasts, before they would listen to 
 the stern utterances of Judicial Tribunals. But Houston could 
 sway those reckless frontier settlers by the mild sceptre of 
 civil Law as easily as he had swayed them by the stern despot- 
 ism of the camp. 
 
 But while he was successfully accomplishing these benign 
 changes, and rearing the noble structure of civil government, 
 he was not only harassed by petty intrigues, but confronted 
 with formidable combinations. The same clique of small but 
 ambitious men, who had from the beginning busied themselves 
 in inventing means to undermine the castle which they could 
 
148 Houston's valedictory address. 
 
 not overthrow, while Houston was bleeding on the field, or 
 toiling anxiously in the Cabinet, finding all their intrigues fruit- 
 less, at last cemented themselves as well as they could, into 
 one organized conspiracy, bent upon his destruction. Their 
 history would be a story of all that is exciting in faction and 
 mean in selfishness. But we have neither time nor inclination 
 to chronicle their doings — nor would we snatch them from 
 the oblivion to which they seem to be hastening. 
 
 Houston's conduct throughout the country met with the 
 warmest approval, and he would have been the almost unani- 
 mous choice of the people, had he been eligible to the office, 
 the next term. But the 2d Section of the Third Article .of the 
 Constitution declared — that, " The First President elected by 
 the people shall hold his office for the term of two years, and 
 shall be ineligible during the next succeeding term." An ac- 
 cident gave the Presidency to Mr. Lamar. Just before the 
 election his rival died ! — and no other candidate was brought 
 forward. 
 
 It had been said that the President Elect would be the idol of 
 the State, and that Houston's power was gone. The hour of his 
 resignation came, and the largest concourse of people, ever seen 
 in Texas, gathered. An attempt had been made to prevent 
 the retiring President from delivering his valedictory address — 
 the arrangements of the Inauguration Committee utterly ex- 
 cluded him. But when the fact was known, a burst of indig- 
 nation went up from the vast multitude, — the Cf»mmittee and 
 their arrangements were all set aside, and the name of the 
 Hero of San Jacinto was on every tongue. 
 
 When he came forward in the porch of the Capitol, and the 
 people gazed upon his lofty, ample, and heroic form, relieved 
 against the portrait of Washington, suspended behind him, a 
 wild shout of enthusiasm rent the sky. He spoke three hours, 
 and we have been told by those who heard him, that the dense 
 thousands before him swayed to and fro under the impetuous 
 storm of his eloquence, like a forest swayed by a strong wind. 
 He had unrolled the scroll of the history of Texas — he por- 
 trayed her future policy, and dwelt upon her great: destiny if 
 
THE BENEDICTION OF THE PATRIOT AND SOLDIER. 149 
 
 that policy were pursued. He enjoined most solemnly good 
 faith with all nations — economy in the government and in in- 
 dividuals — the cultivation of peace with the Indians — he warn- 
 ed the people against faction and the rancor of party spirit, 
 and he implored them not to treasure up their hopes in annex- 
 ation or treaties, but to rely upon their own public and private 
 virtue — to be just and magnanimous with all men and with all 
 nations. \ 
 
 And in conclusion, when he took his farewell of the people 
 he loved, he extended his broad arms and poured down upon 
 them from his great heart the benediction of the patriot and the 
 soldier, as the tears streamed down his face. When he ceased, 
 all was still but the deep murmur of subdued feeling, and that 
 vast multitude was all in tears ! 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE LEGISLATOR. 
 
 The new President began his administration by opposing 
 everything that had been pursued and recommended by Hous- 
 ton. In his Inaugural Address he recommended the extermi- 
 nation of the Indians — pronounced a violent Philippic against 
 Annexation — advocated the establishment of a huge National 
 Bank, and inculcated a splendid Government. 
 
 The first appropriation for frontier defence was one and a 
 half million of Treasury Notes, and another half miUion for 
 the civil list — without a dollar to base the issues upon. A 
 regular army of two Regiments was to be raised for extermi- 
 nating the frontier Tribes. A law was passed to remove the 
 Seat of Government to some point N. W. of the San Antonio 
 Road. Commissioners were appointed by Congress from 
 its own body, contrary to the Constitution, to perform this 
 act. The entire object of the movement was speculation. 
 With land scrip, which they had procured, and certificates of 
 head-rights granted to settlers, they dispatched Surveyors to 
 locate land around the spot where Austin now stands — at the 
 extremest settlement of the Republic even at this day. The 
 expense of removal, with the erection of suitable buildings, 
 caused an additional issue of Promissory Notes. The new 
 Capital was so far from the settlements the plank had to be 
 carried thirty miles. 
 
 The Republic soon lost confidence in the Administration — 
 the depression of the currency naturally followed. And yet, 
 in this state of embarrassment of the finances, and while Texas 
 was at peace with Mexico, the President caused a proposition 
 to be introduced into both Houses, to conduct an expedition 
 to Santa Fe, through a wilderness and Prairie more than five 
 hundred miles. The proposition was made in both Houses 
 at the same time, and by both rejected. But the President 
 
THE SANTA FE EXPEDITION. 151 
 
 ordered the expedition during the recess of Congress in 1840, 
 and upwards of three hundred armed men started on a war- 
 like expedition to a distant country. Its disasters are too well 
 known to need a relation. The President appointed a Gover- 
 nor for Santa Fe — a Custom House Officer and a Military 
 Commandant, and organized a Territorial Government. All 
 his plans subsequently fell into the hands of the enemy, when 
 the men were captured, and were a moving cause for the 
 cruelty with which they were treated. The Expedition flooded 
 the country with another enormous issue of paper ^'■promises 
 to pay money," unauthorized by the Constitution or Congress. 
 The horses on that Ex|>edition cost, on an average, a thou- 
 sand dollars, the currency of the President had become so de- 
 preciated. Costly arms and munitions of war had been ab- 
 stracted from the public arsenal by Presidential edict — the 
 country was robbed of a large number of its most chivalrous 
 men — the public wagons and means of transportation w^ere 
 laid hold of, and a piece of artillery, with Mirabeau B. Lamar 
 inscribed on its breech, dragged through the Prairies that im- 
 mense distance to become the trophy of the enemies of Texas 
 and afford an illustration of the stupidity of the President, and 
 the degradation of the nation. 
 
 This expedition revived the hostilities between Texas and 
 Mexico, which, but for it, would have slept, perhaps, for ever. 
 Houston had left the two countries really at peace, and the 
 sole cause we have ever been able to ascertain for the renewal 
 of hostilities was this silly and lamentable Expedition. It is 
 to be remarked, that for some time previous to this expedition, 
 Mr. Lamar had sent Commissioners to Gen. Arista, and his 
 object is supposed, by his friends, to have been to propose a 
 Union of the Northern Provinces with Texas, forming a great 
 Power, over whose government he was to be placed. The sa- 
 gacious Arista took advantage of the incompetency of his 
 friend, and returned Commissioners. They were in Austin 
 when the Santa Fe Expedition took up its line of march, and 
 witnessed the silly display. What passed between " the high 
 contracting parties," is noi known with certainty, for the facts 
 
152 A PEURILE STATESMAN. 
 
 have never been officially disclosed. The world knows the 
 result. Arista seems to have given into the plan, for one 
 thing is certain, the Expedition started from Austin with a 
 guide who had long resided in Mexico, and spoke the lan- 
 guage perfectly ; and the commanding officers charged him 
 with their betrayal at San Miguel and Santa Fe. When the 
 guide got them many days in the wilderness, and the mise- 
 ries of their situation began to press heavily on them, he 
 abandoned them in their calamity, and never was heard of again. 
 The object of Arista doubtless was to have them conducted 
 into the solitudes of the wilderness, and there left to perish 
 — if this should fail, the authorities of Santa Fe, being duly 
 informed, were to receive, betray and then capture them. The 
 blame of all these proceedings is to be cast upon the Presi- 
 dent. 
 
 DurinsT his administration, he sent two ministers to Vera 
 Cruz — but neither of them was received ; and they returned, to 
 the disgrace of Texas. There was no method or consistency 
 in anything he did. That he wished to be distinguished and 
 wished well to his adopted country, there is no doubt ; but he 
 was a feeble and puerile statesman. In civil affairs, he was 
 a great schemer. One day, his hobby was a National Bank ; 
 another, it was a great National Road ; a third, it was an alli- 
 ance with Mexico, by his marrying the daughter of some dis- 
 tinguished public functionary of that country; for the diplo- 
 matist supposed his alliance with some opulent family would 
 be tantamount to an aUiance between the two nations. One 
 day, he must make war upon one tribe of Indians ; the next 
 day, upon another. His first great exploit, when his adminis- 
 tration began, was to attack the Cherokees, and drive them 
 from their possessions between the Nueces and Sabine river.-, 
 where they had been settled longer than the Texian colonists 
 themselves. They had been invited by Mexico from the 
 United States, and land had been assigned and great induce- 
 ments held out to them. They had settled there, and were 
 quietly and inoffensively pursuing their avocations. In 1835, 
 the Consultation had guaranteed to that tribe undisturbed pos- 
 
OUTRAGES ON THE INDIANS. 153 
 
 session of their territory, by a solemn assurance, signed by each 
 member of the Consultation. A treaty had been subsequently 
 made with the tribe (recognizing the same rights and guar- 
 rantee) by Houston and other Commissioners, and this treaty 
 had been ratified by the Consultation. The Convention which 
 declared their Independence, had recognized this as well as 
 all other acts of the Consultation as valid. A more solemn 
 ratification of a treaty could not have been made. 
 
 Mr. Lamar began his administration by carrying out that sec- 
 tion of his Inaugural Address, in which he had recommended 
 the extermination of the Indians. The Cherokees were a 
 peaceful, industrious and profitable community. The arts 
 had made considerable progress among them, and they lived 
 nearly as comfortably as white men. During the hostilities 
 with Mexico, they had been prevented by the influence of 
 Houston and Rusk from going over to the enemy, and they 
 had made great advances in civilisation during Houston's 
 Presidency. They looked upon the Texians as their friends, 
 and Houston as their " Father." With a force of 700 men, 
 a portion of whom had fought at San Jacinto, Lamar com- 
 menced his war of extermination against " Houston's pet In- 
 dians." His force was some five times superior, and of 
 course he carried ruin to the poor red men's homes ! 
 
 This treatment of the Cherokees and other tribes spread 
 scenes of rapine and murder from the Red River to the Rio 
 Grande. Even the President's two regiments of regulars in 
 the field could not secure frontier protection. 
 
 In the disorders of Yucatan, when a separation from Mex- 
 ico was spoken of, Mr. Lamar entered into a treaty of alli- 
 ance with a minister sent to him for that purpose, and, without 
 the concurrence of the Senate or the ratification of the treaty, 
 ordered theXexian Navy to sail to the coast of Yucatan. That 
 Province was then an integral part of Mexico, and had not 
 proclaimed revolt or independence. 
 
 Such were some of the acts of this puerile administration. 
 We should not have glanced at them, even in so brief a man- 
 ner, had it not been necessary to give the reader an idea of 
 
154 lamar's administration. 
 
 the state of the country when Houston's second term began. 
 Lamar, who had found the Government perfectly organized, 
 had succeeded in reducing the country to the very verge of 
 ruin. All the difficulties that had lain in the way of the ad- 
 vancement of Texas, Houston had successfully overcome. 
 Disinterested and sagacious spectators of the progress of affairs 
 beyond the Sabine, have often been heard to say, that in no 
 portion of the world had a civil government ever been estab- 
 lished and consolidated in so short a space of time. This 
 was as much the work of Houston, as the victory of San Ja- 
 cinto had been, although in both instances he was surrounded 
 and aided by brave and true men, or he never could have 
 done it. He left the domestic and foreign relations, the 
 finances and the administration of law, the agriculture and 
 the commerce of Texas, all in a sound, peaceful, flourish- 
 ing state. 
 
 When Mr. Lamar left the administration, what was the 
 state of the nation ? He had committed outrages upon peaceful 
 Indian tribes, and kindled the flames of savage war all along 
 the borders of Texas. He had sent a hostile marauding Ex- 
 pedition into the very heart of the Mexican Provinces, and 
 sent the navy to aid a revolting territory in making war upon 
 Mexico, and now she was rousing all her force for a new in- 
 vasion of Texas. He had quadrupled the national debt, and 
 squandered the public treasure, till Texian securities depre- 
 ciated ten to one. The people had lost all respect for the Go- 
 vernment, and confidence in its stability. The mail routes 
 had been broken up, profligacy prevailed, and the social com- 
 pact began to be regarded by the orderly and patriotic every- 
 where as virtually dissolved. 
 
 But Lamar's term had nearly expired, and the eyes of all 
 men, who surveyed with gloomy forebodings the ruin that 
 seemed to have fallen on the country, were now turned once 
 more anxiously upon Houston. Even the lawless and the 
 desperate began to fear the result of their crimes, and with 
 one united voice the man, who had already twice saved the 
 country, was called a third time to the helm. Houston was 
 
HOUSTON IN CONGRESS. 155 
 
 one of the few men who believed that the Nation and the 
 Government could be saved, and he came forward to the res- 
 cue. No Conventions were obliged to nominate him. There 
 was an almost universal feeling that no other man could save 
 Texas, and Texas made him her President for the second time, 
 the very first hour the Constitution would allow her. 
 
 During Lamar's Administration Houston had consented to 
 represent his District in the Congress of 1839-40, and again 
 in 1840-41, and it was well that he had, for he not only ar- 
 rested the tide of evil — he had prevented a dissolution of the 
 Government. On a certain occasion, after a stormy debate, 
 Congress was going to adjourn shw die. The members pub- 
 licly proclaimed that all hope of carrying on the Government 
 was gone, and they were determined to end the farce by going 
 home. Houston rose in the midst of the tempest, as the mem- 
 bers were leaving their seats, and addressed the Speaker. 
 There never was a time when that man could not get a hear- 
 ing, and the rush to the door stopped. " Let us hear old 
 Sam," was the voice on every side. 
 
 The crowd began to return — members gradually resumed 
 their seats and dropped their hats — they pressed up around 
 him — the House became still, and not ten minutes went by be- 
 fore nothing was heard throughout the hall but the rich, deep 
 voice that had echoed over the field of San Jacinto. No idea 
 of the speech can be given but by telling the result. He 
 closed by reading a resolution, "that the House adjourn till 
 to-morrow morning at the usual hour," and not a member 
 voted against it ! They flocked around him, and so universal 
 was the feelin<; that but for him the Government would have 
 gone to pieces, that even his old enemies seized him by the 
 hand, and thanked him " for saving the country." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 AGAIN PRESIDENT. 
 
 He was inaugurated the second time on the 13th of Decem- 
 ber, 1841. His Message was hardly delivered before the news 
 came of the capture of the Santa Fe Expedition. This was 
 the first greeting he had, in office, of the fatal results of the 
 policy of his predecessor. He, however, began immediately 
 to bethink himself of the redemption of the unfortunate men 
 who had been deluded away into the wilderness — for the lives 
 of Texian soldiers seemed to be as dear to.him as they could 
 have been if they had been his own children. 
 
 The Government was now in an infinitely worse state than 
 it had been when he took the reins five years before. Then 
 it was a formless chaos — now it Avas a ruin. The body politic 
 had fallen into premature and inflammatory decay. It was 
 not a disease only, but a relapse. The Treasury was not only 
 empty but millions in debt, and not another dollar could be 
 borrowed in Christendom. The Promissory Notes and Lia- 
 bilities of the Government depreciated ten to one, and they 
 were postponed, but not repudiated. The money had been 
 squandered, but the debt must be paid. But Texas could at 
 that time have no more paid it than Parliament could pay 
 the debt of England. But something had to be done. Hous- 
 ton proposed a new currency called the Exchequer System — 
 its entire issues were not to exceed $200,000. He had asked 
 as a guarantee for their redemption the Customs of the coun- 
 try, and certain tracts of lands, amounting to about three mil- 
 lions of acres. "While in Congress he had procured an act to be 
 passed declaring these lands not subject to location. But now 
 the private interests of members were to be interfered with, 
 and although Congress hypothecated the Customs they would 
 not pledge the lands. 
 
 The President was fully aware of the opposition that was 
 combining against him. The same hostile clique which had 
 
Houston's second administration. 157 
 
 attempted to ruin him whenever he was in power, and who 
 had come so near ruining the country when they had power 
 themselves, were now determined to control the appointments 
 under the new administration. But all attempts to constrain 
 his policy proved as ineffectual as they had hitherto done. He 
 chose for his cabinet officers men in whom he had unlimited 
 confidence, and they were among the most enlightened and 
 firm statesmen of Texas. Mr. Jones, the late President, be- 
 came Secretary of State, Col. Hockley, a warm patriot and a 
 devoted friend of Houston in all his struggles. Secretary of 
 War and Marine, Wm. H. Dangerfield, Secretary of the 
 Treasury, and G. W. Terrell, Attorney General. During 
 these turbulent times, when prominent men declared openly 
 that they would ruin Houston's administration, even if they 
 had to do it by a revolution, multitudes of broken down specu- 
 lators and politicians from the United States were continually 
 flocking into Texas, and as they found little chance of winning 
 distinction in the new field they had chosen, they joined the 
 ranks of the opposition, and devoted themselves zealously to 
 the ruin of the state. 
 
 But Houston had marked out his policy and he went calmly 
 and firmly on to its execution. His first measure was to de- 
 spatch a minister to Washington to open negotiations for the 
 annexation of Texas. His first object was annexation — if this 
 failed, his next was the recognition of the independence 
 of Texas by Mexico ; and if he failed in both, he was resolved 
 to open negotiations with France and England, and enter into 
 some treaty or alliance which would secure peace to Texas, 
 extend her commerce, and advance her prosperity. His next 
 movement was to recal the Navy, which Mr. Lamar had de- 
 spatched to help on a revolt in Yucatan. 
 
 In the meantime the country was absolulely stripped of all 
 her defences. A wide coast and a broad sea were open to 
 the depredations of the enemy ; the Santa Fe expedition and 
 the league with Yucatan had given Mexico every provocation 
 for a renewal of hostilities ; and the outrages committed upon 
 the Indian tribes had broken the amity that had subsisted. 
 
158 NEWS OF A MEXICAN INVASION. 
 
 In this exposed situation of the country, when an irruption 
 from the frontiers, or an invasion from Mexico, might be rea- 
 sonably apprehended, Houston recommended Congress to 
 raise a company of sixty men to protect the archives — for 
 there was then no military force in the field. Congress re- 
 fused to grant the subsidies necessary, and adjourned the 5th 
 of February. He soon after started for Houston, to bring his 
 family to the seat of government. While he was at Galves- 
 ton, in the early part of March, the news came of the invasion 
 by Vasquez. The intelligence spread the deepest alarm 
 throughout the country. All along the western border, fami- 
 lies were seen flying from their habitations towards the interior. 
 The public mind was stirred by the wildest apprehensions. 
 Everybody knew the provocation that had been given to the 
 enemy — the follies and the disasters of Santa Fe seemed but 
 a prelude to another Goliad or Alamo slaughter— the coast 
 was without protection, and no army concentrated to march 
 on the invader. 
 
 Suddenly all the intrigues and conspiracies against Houston 
 ceased. The very men who had been foremost to threaten 
 the overthrow of his administration in the storm of a revolu- 
 tion, were now the most active in stimulating their neighbors 
 to prepare for the approaching disasters. Committees of vigi- 
 lance and safety were everywhere organized, and all those 
 means resorted to which are called into requisition in revolu- 
 tionary times. Houston's orders at this time show that he did 
 not believe the enemy would remain long in the country. 
 The event proved that the Mexicans had already made a pre- 
 cipitate retreat beyond the Rio Grande, after committing out- 
 rages upon the citizens of San Antonio. 
 
 In the meantime, the press throughout the south and west 
 had displayed great sympathy for the cause of Texas, and relying 
 upon the sensation caused in the United States by the news of 
 the reported invasion and the miscarriage of the Santa Fe expe- 
 dition, Houston made an appeal to the American people. He 
 sent agents to the United States to receive contributions, and 
 procure volunteers. He issued a Proclamation, in which he 
 
THE EXTRA SESSION OF CONGRESS. 159 
 
 distinctly required that all troops which came should be per- 
 fectly armed and provisioned for a campaign of six months 
 — since Texas had no means of doing it herself — several hun- 
 dred volunteers v^rent to Texas, in direct violation of the pro- 
 clamation — for they went without arms and without provisions. 
 Contributions were merely nominal. Some generous individ- 
 uals in Georgia raised something over $500 at a public meeting 
 ' — but all that was raised besides, throughout the United States, 
 and reported to the government of Texas, in arms, ammuni- 
 tion, provisions, equipments and money, did no tamount to 
 five hundred dollars! 
 
 In June, Houston called an extra session of Congress, to 
 consider the state of the country, and devise means for national 
 defence. They debated and legislated without much formality 
 or delay, for the impression was general, that if anything was 
 to be done, it had better be done quickly. So, too, all wise 
 men would have said, "if t'vvere well done." But their de- 
 liberations ended in passing a bill which invested Houston with 
 dictatorial powers, and appropriated ten millions of acres of the 
 public domain, to carry on a campaign. But this came no 
 nearer making a provision for war, than a resolution appropriat- 
 ing ten millions of acres of blue sky, and conferring dictatorial 
 power upon the north wind ! For there was not a dollar of 
 money in the treasury to pay agents to go and dispose of the 
 land, and Houston was the last man to make use of dictatorial 
 powers in resisting the encroachments of a Dictator. 
 
 But Congress thought they had acquitted themselves like 
 men — and their disposition, probably, was good enough too — 
 but it had no more efficacy than the disposition of the man who 
 willed in his last testament all his debts to be paid, for in neither 
 case could the executor find anything had been left to pay the 
 debts with. Apprehensions had been felt, while the bill was 
 under debate, that Houston would veto it, and the time he could 
 constitutionally keep it had nearly gone by. The excitement 
 was intense ; the Capital was filled with angry and desperate men, 
 and their noisy clamor spread over the country. All sorts of 
 accusations were brought against the Executive, and he was 
 
160 AN ALARMING CRISIS. 
 
 plied with threats from every quarter. He was told that his 
 life would pay the forfeit if he vetoed the bill. His friends. 
 who apprehended his assassination, gathered around him, and 
 besouocht him not to hazard a veto, for it would end in the ruin 
 of himself and his country. At last the ebullitions of excite- 
 ment began to subside, but they were followed by demonstra- 
 tions of a deeper and more desperate feeling. For two weeks, 
 few, even of his friends, approached the President's house, and 
 they stole there under the shadow of the night ; — assassins, 
 in the meantime, were lurking around his dwelling. Even his 
 Cabinet officers began to talk about resigning. 
 
 But in the midst of all this storm, which few men could have 
 resisted, Houston was calm and cheerful. He stationed no 
 guard around his house ; he had no spies on the alert ; he did 
 not even inquire what was said in Congress, or done in the 
 streets. The blinds and the windows of his dwelling were 
 wide open, and he was often seen walking across his parlor, 
 conversing cheerfully with his family. His wife, whom he had 
 married in 1840, and one of the most accomplished and gifted 
 of w^omen, reposed confidently upon his character, and she 
 calmly and confidingly sustained him by her placid and intel- 
 lectual conversations. Long after the lights had been ex- 
 tinguished through the town, and sullen, desperate, armed men 
 were gathered in secret meetings to plot, and counterplot, the 
 gay voice of his wife, mingling with the tones of the harp and 
 the piano, was heard coming forth from the open windows of 
 Houston's dwelling. 
 
 All this must seem strange to the reader, without doubt, but 
 we shall very soon solve the mystery. It was a tremendous 
 crisis ; but Houston was equal to it, and we know of no act of 
 his life in which he s^ave such indubitable evidence that nature 
 had lavished upon him all those gifts which make up the really 
 great man. The reader, too, will agree with us. 
 
 When the time came, the veto was sent up to Congress. In 
 it he showed that they had utterly and totally failed to accom- 
 plish the object for which he had called them together. They 
 had proclaimed war against a powerful and organized foe, but 
 
ACTS OF Houston's administration. 161 
 
 they had made no provision for carrying it on. The President 
 had not the means of buying a pound of powder. If they would 
 provide the means for a campaign, he would head it himself, if 
 necessary ; but without money, no army could be made ready 
 to take the field, and any attempt at hostilities would only bring 
 down upon Texas universal contempt. He also dwelt upon the 
 danger of the precedent they had established, in conferring upon 
 the Chief Magistrate of the country unlimited powers. The 
 prerogatives of a dictator he never would accept, while they 
 were lighting against that same power in a neighboring state. 
 
 The veto w^as published, — a universal calm at*once suc- 
 ceeded, and the man who had been covered with maledictions, 
 became the idol of the people. 
 
 We are now obliged to cut short our relation of events in 
 detail, to give a brief account of other more important move- 
 ments. Confidence began to be restored. One open rebellion 
 against the laws of the country Houston put down by going to 
 the scene, and calling out the militia. When desperadoes 
 found there was a man at the head of aflfairs, who could not be 
 trifled with, they soon disbanded, and the supremacy of law 
 was again restored. A new set of men were in office — justice 
 was efficiently administered — economy was observed, and 
 although Mr. Lamar had saddled an enormous debt upon the 
 country, which could not be discharged for a long time to come, 
 yet public credit was being restored, and men began to feel 
 proud of their Government. 
 
 Houston had left no resource untried to effect the liberation 
 of the Santa Fe prisoners. He had appealed to all friendly- 
 Powers to mediate in their release. The Congress of Texas 
 had adjourned, after the news of their capture had arrived, 
 without doing anything to aid the President in restoring them to 
 their liberty. They had been given up as doomed men ; they 
 had gone to Santa Fe in violation of the law of nations, and 
 with no constitutional authority from their Government. They 
 had leen thrown on Houston's hands ; his only reliance was 
 on the terms of their capitulation, for he insisted that, even if 
 they had been outlaws before, this had brought them within the 
 11 
 
162 MEXICAN WARFARE, 
 
 pale of civilized warfare. We have no space to give the his- 
 tory of the negotiations that were carried on for the release of 
 these brave but misguided men. Suffice it to say, that they 
 were liberated. Nor have we space to give the history of the 
 Mier expedition. Probably some authentic account (for none 
 such has yet appeared) will one day be published. 
 
 Texas had now been repeatedly invaded by predatory Mexi- 
 can bands, who seemed to have but two objects — to harass the 
 nation they could not subdue, and pay up their arrearages due 
 to their soldiers from the treasury of Mexico, with spoils of the 
 robber. JVfbxico was always talking about a grand campaign, 
 but since the battle of San Jacinto she had not dared to meet 
 the revolted Province in honorable battle. The people of 
 Mexico knew that the tyranny of her Dictators had lost them 
 for ever that portion of their dominion ; and at no period did 
 they wear the yoke so tamely that the tyrant in power dared 
 to leave the Capital to head any army of invasion. Who- 
 ever that tyrant may have been, he knew that his worst enemies 
 were the Mexicans themselves ; his supremacy rested upon the 
 presence of his troops in the city, and if he succeeded in con- 
 solidating his power at home, and turned his face towards 
 Texas, he was sure to be overtaken by a courier from the Capi- 
 tal with the news, that his dominion was ended, and another 
 dictator had been proclaimed. In the opinion of the Texian Pre- 
 sident, the time had come when the civilized world should inter- 
 fere to end this contemptible system of pillage and robbery of 
 the Republic. 
 
 Accordingly he caused his Secretary of State to address the 
 following high toned and honorable appeal to the Great Powers, 
 which had acknowledged the Independence of Texas. It shows 
 clearly the condition of Texas, and will correct many false im- 
 pressions which have gone abroad in reference to the struggles 
 of that nation. It is also proper to add, that this was the paper 
 which proved so powerful in winning the sympathy and respect 
 of Sir Robert Peel and M. Guizot, who ever after showed the 
 deepest interest in the fortunes of Texas. 
 
AN APPEAL TO THK GREAT POWERS. 163 
 
 DEPARTiMENT OF StATE, TeXAS. 
 
 Washington, Oct. 15th, 1S42. 
 
 I am instructed by his Excellency, the President, to submit for your 
 consideration and action, a subject of general concern to civilized na- 
 tions, but of peculiar interest to Texas, viz : the character of the war 
 at present waged by Mexico against this country. The President is 
 led to believe, from the nature of the facts involved, that this step vi^ill 
 be deemed not only admissible but entirely proper. The civilized and 
 Christian w^orld are interested in the unimpaired preservation of those 
 principles and rules of international intercourse, both in peace and 
 war, which have received the impress of wisdom and humanity, and 
 been strengthened, through a long course of time, by the practice and 
 approval of the most powerful and enlightened of modern States. 
 To these rules, in their application to the pending difficulties between 
 this repubhc and Mexico, your attention is respectfully invited. 
 
 Whenever a people, separate and sovereign in their political charac- 
 ter, are admitted into the great community of nations, they incur re- 
 sponsibilities and contract obligations which are reciprocal in their 
 character, and naturally binding upon all the members of this com- 
 munity, the extent and force of which depend upon that code of 
 ethics which prescribes the reciprocal duties and obligations of each 
 sovereign member. Hence arises the right to control the mode of 
 warfare pursued by one nation toward another, and the corresponding 
 duty of providing against the perpetration of acts at variance with the 
 laws of humanity, and the settled usages of civilized nations. 
 
 In view of the character of hostilities, at present waged by Mexico 
 against Texas, and of those principles which have been, in the opinion 
 of this government, so frequently and so flagrantly violated by our 
 enemy, the hope is confidently indulged by the President, that the 
 direct interference of nations mutually friendly will be extended to 
 arrest a species of warfare, unbecoming the age in which we live, and 
 disgraceful to any people professing to be civilized. 
 
 The course of conduct uniformly observed by the government and 
 people of Texas towards our enemy, stands in palpable contrast with 
 their manifold enormities and wanton aggression, and will, it is 
 confidently expected, furnish abundant ground for the exercise of the 
 rigrht of interference now invoked. 
 
 It has now been nearly seven years since the Declaration and the es- 
 tablishment of the Independence of this Republic. During the whole of 
 this time, Mexico, although uniformly asserting the ability and de- 
 
164 OFFICIAL HISTORY OF MEXICAN INVASIONS. 
 
 termination to re-subjugate the country, has never made a formidable 
 effort to do so. Her principal war has consisted of silly taunts and 
 idle threats, of brasigadocio bulletins and gasconading proclamativins. 
 All her boasted threats of invasion have resulted in nothing more 
 than fitting out and sending into the most exposed portions of our 
 territory, petty marauding parties for the purpose of pillaging and 
 harassing: the weak and isolated settlements on our western border. 
 
 Since March last, no less than three incursions of that character have 
 been made, none of which have continued longer than eight days. 
 The first party was composed of artillery, infantry, rancheros, and In- 
 dian warriors, in all about 700. Their attack was made upon the 
 defenceless town of San Antonio. The second, consisting of about 
 800, attacked a party of about 200 emigrants at Lipantillan. They 
 ■were repulsed with loss and retreated out of the country. The last, 
 tinder Gen. Wall, of about 1300, attacked and took San Antonio the 
 second time b}' surprise, during the session of the District Court. 
 His force was composed of regulars, rancheros and Indians. The In- 
 dians employed by the Mexicans are fragments of bands originally 
 from the United States, but now located within the limits of Texas. 
 This government has always refused to employ the services of In- 
 dians, when tendered against Mexico, and has sought every possible 
 means to mitigate, rather than increase the calamities of war. Per- 
 sisting in this effort, the President has had recourse to the present 
 measure, with a hope to subserve the cause of humanity. Should 
 this effort fail, the government must resort to retaliatory measures, 
 growing out of our peculiar situation, which are to be deprecated by 
 every Christian and generous feeling. The rulers of nations are respon- 
 sible for their preservation, and as a last resort, must ado-ptajust re- 
 taliation. What is most to be deplored in a war of this character, is, 
 that the unoffending and defenceless become victims of the most re- 
 lentless cruelty. War, in its most generous and noble aspect, is ac- 
 companied by great calamities. Nations are not benefited by it, and 
 it must be productive of great individual sufferings. But when indi- 
 viduals and nations are exasperated by repeated wrongs, even cruelty 
 itself may be rendered tolerable, if it be used as retaliation for in- 
 juries long endured. The massacres and cruelties v^'hich have been 
 inflicted upon Texas, since the commencement of her revolution, have 
 been responded to by a generous forbearance, but that cannot be ex- 
 pected longer to exist. 
 
 The object of Mexico, in her course, cannot be misunderstood. 
 
\ 
 
 CHARACTER AND DISPOSITION OF THE TWO GOVERNMENTS. 165 
 
 By incursions of the character complained of, the spirits of our hus- 
 bandmen and farmers are depressed — the cry of invasion is kept up, 
 and the excitement incidental to war prevents emigration, and embar- 
 rasses our resources, by deterring men of enterprise and capital from 
 making importations of goods into our country. This, for a time, 
 may avail her something, but the aggregate of human suffering will 
 be a poor recompense for the advantages she may gain. The origin, 
 genius, and character of the people of Texas, are guarantees for her 
 ultimate success. Nations that contribute to her advancement will 
 command her gratitude. Never, since 1836, has Mexico attempted 
 anything like a general invasion of the country, or conducted the war 
 upon any plan calculated to test the superiority of the two nations oa 
 the field of battle, and bring the war to a close by the arbitration of 
 arms. Her hostile demonstrations, thus far, have consisted, exclu- 
 sively, in the clandestine approach of small bands of rancheros from 
 the valley of the Rio Grande, for plunder and theft, but sometimes 
 associated with fragments of the Mexican army, composed for the 
 most part of convict soldiery, fit for nothing either honorable in enter- 
 prise or magnanimous in conduct. The people of Texas, being, for the 
 most part, agriculturalists, engaged in the tillage of the soil, the con- 
 sequences of this predatory system of warfare have been to them ex- 
 tremely vexatious and harassing, without in any degree hastening 
 the adjustment of the difficulties existing between the parties. En- 
 tirely different is the general character of the Mexican population. 
 They are literally a nation of herdsmen, subsisting, in a great measure, 
 on the proceeds of their flocks and herds. They can move about 
 from place to place, and make their homes wherever inclination or 
 convenience may prompt, without detriment. 
 
 Hitherto the conduct and disposition of the Government and people 
 of Mexico have been diametrically opposed to those manifested by 
 the people of Texas. While the one has been depredating upon the 
 property and dwellings of our exposed and defenceless frontier, mur- 
 dering the inhabitants in cold blood, or forcing them away into a 
 loathsome, and too often fatal, captivity; inciting the murderous 
 tribes of hostile Indians, who reside along our northern border, to 
 plunder our exposed settlements, stimulating to the most cruel and 
 barbarous massacres, and inhuman butcheries, even of our defenceless 
 women and children, and to commit every excess of savage warfare — 
 the other, animated by the hope of a further resort to arms and their 
 attendant calamities, for injuries received, returned forbearance. 
 
166 DETERMINATION OF THE TEXIAN GOVERNMENT. 
 
 The President has sought to abstain from the effusion of blood, and 
 in that aim has uniformly restrained the impetuosity and calmed the 
 excitement of his countrymen, so often aroused by a course of con- 
 duct which violates every rite both private and national, and a cruelty 
 and depravity which would disgrace the darkest ages of feudal bar- 
 barism. The popular impulse might have been turned upon the 
 enemy, on their own soil. The result might have proved that a free 
 people, burning with vengeance long restrained, could levy a heavy 
 retaliation. 
 
 Such being the character of hostile operations against Texas, on 
 the part of our enemy, which being plainly violative of every prin- 
 ciple of civilized or honorable warfare, and, at the same time, so little 
 calculated to achieve the professed object of the war — the re-con- 
 quest of Texas, the President confidently hopes the Government 
 of will feel not only justified, but even called upon, to inter- 
 pose its high authority and arrest their course of proceedings, and 
 require of Mexico either the recognition of the Independence of 
 Texas, or to make war upon her according to the rules established 
 and universally recognized by civilized nations. If Mexico believes 
 herself able to re-subjugate this country, her right to make the effort 
 to do so is not denied, for, on the contrary, if she choose to invade 
 our territory with that purpose, the President, in the name of the 
 people of all Texas, will bid her welcome. It is not against a war 
 with Mexico that Texas would protest. This she deprecates not. 
 She is willing at any time to stake her existence as a nation upon the 
 issue of a war conducted on Christian principles. It is alone against 
 the unholy, inhuman, and fruitless character it has assumed, and 
 still maintains, which violates every rule of honorable warfare, every 
 precept of religion, and sets at defiance even the common sentiments 
 of humanity, against which she protests, and invokes the interposition 
 of those powerful nations which have recognized her independence. 
 
 The Government of this Republic has already given an earnest of 
 its disposition to consult the wishes of other nations, when those 
 wishes do not conflict with the general interests and convenience of 
 the country. Fully appreciating the friendly sentiments of those 
 Powers, which have acknowledged the Independence of Texas, and 
 relying much upon their ability and influence in securing an early and 
 permanent adjustment of our difficulties with Mexico, the President, 
 in compliance with the desire of those Nations, expressed through 
 their Representatives to this Government, revoked the late proclama- 
 
APPEAL FOR THE INTERVENTION OF THE GREAT POWERS. 167 
 
 tion of blockade against Mexico, and thus removed every cause of 
 embarrassment to those nations in their intercourse with our enemy. 
 Having thus yielded the opportunity of retaliating upon our enemy 
 the many injuries we have received at her hands, the President feels 
 less reluctance in making this representation, and invoking the inter- 
 position of those nations to put an end to a mode of warfare at once 
 disgraceful to the age, so evil in its consequences to civil society, so 
 revolting to every precept of the Christian religion, and shocking to 
 every sentiment of humanity. 
 
 G. W. TERRELL, 
 Attorney General and Acting Secretary of State. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ANNEXATION FRENCH, BRITISH, AND AMERICAN CABINETS 
 
 This luminous and able paper unfolded clearly the merits of the 
 Texian struggle, and it received the profound attention of the 
 Cabinets of Washington, London, and Paris. The leading Jour- 
 nals of England and France, borrowing their prejudices and their 
 intelligence about Texian affairs from powerful and widely circu- 
 lated American Papers, had hitherto regarded the people of 
 Texas as a band of outlaws. Scarcely a word of encourage- 
 ment or sympathy had been uttered by their ministers to the 
 agents of Texas in Europe, and beyond a tardy recognition of 
 her independence, they hardly ventured. The American Press 
 groaned under the burden of calumnies against the Texian peo- 
 ple and their bold leader. 
 
 Consequently, this appeal was received and read wuth surprise 
 and mortification. They saw that the same high veneration for 
 justice — the same lofty regard for national honor, and the same 
 (if not a nobler) recognition of the claims of humanity and Chris- 
 tian principle which had characterized the progress and the in- 
 tercourse of those great kingdoms — inspired the councils of the 
 man who had given freedom to his outraged country. 
 
 We have been told, and we do not doubt it, that both of those 
 great ministers, who guided the destinies of England, declared, 
 on reading this appeal, that it would have done honor to the 
 bravest nation and most enlightened statesmen. However this 
 may have been, we do know, from the archives of Texas, that 
 immediately afterward a rivalry began between the French and 
 English Cabinets, for the cultivation of friendly relations with 
 Texas. Instructions were sent to the ministers of those nations 
 accredited to the Texian Government, to allow no opportunity 
 of winning the regard and friendship of the Republic to pass un- 
 improved. We also know, too, that no effort which vigilant 
 ministers could put forth, and no motives which keen-sighted di- 
 
VIGILANT POLICY OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE. 169 
 
 plomatists could press, were left untried, to gain for their Sove- 
 reigns control over the commerce and the political fortunes of 
 Texas. They saw that as an independent power, no barriers 
 could be interposed to her ultimate advancement ; and it became 
 a matter of infmite moment to France and England, to prevent 
 the final union of Texas with the United States. Hence, those 
 powers watched with so much vigilance and alarm, the tendency 
 of affairs towards annexation. Hence, they brought into requi- 
 sition all their diplomatic, commercial and financial machinery to 
 prevent what they clearly foresaw would prove so detrimental a 
 blow to all their interests in the New World. We have had facili- 
 ties for knowing something of these movements, and we venture to 
 say, that had not Houston had the control of these negotiations, 
 and had he not been a man whose policy neither England nor 
 France could constrain or coerce by any motives of personal ag- 
 grandizement — Texas never would have been a part of our 
 confederacy, and those great powers would have gained a foot- 
 hold beyond the Sabine, which would not unlikely have trans- 
 ferred to their hands that vast empire which we are yet to wield 
 towards the shores of the Pacific. 
 
 The very moment the French and British Cabinets saw the 
 tendency of events, they increased their vigilance just in pro- 
 portion as Texas was spurned from our embraces. But while 
 timidity and apprehensions filled the minds of the friends of 
 Texas in this country, and Congress, blinded by falsehood and 
 prejudice, plied by threats and awed by clamor, still held itselt 
 aloof from all legislation on the subject, Mr. Tyler and his cabi- 
 net were no idle spectators of the advancing drama. That 
 President, whatever may have been the wisdom of the rest of his 
 course, pursued in the aflfair of Texas a most enlightened, saga- 
 cious, and American policy. He saw the vast importance of 
 consummating annexation at the earliest possible moment, and 
 what vigilance, activity, and a complete understanding of the 
 merits of the question could accomplish, was done. His efforts 
 were at last successful. And although his reputation as a states- 
 man may have suffered, and he may have paid the penalty of 
 having in many things proved untrue to both parties as well as 
 
170 
 
 INTERVENTION OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 
 
 to himself, yet all these things will be in a great measure for- 
 gotten, and the time will come when the vast consequences of 
 that great act, whose consummation is so much due to him, 
 will become so apparent to all our people, that his name will be 
 cherished by every American. Throughout his administration, 
 he was true to his policy on this question. Unawed by popular 
 clamor, and unseduced by the minions who pressed around his 
 feet (and who brought the eclipse over his fame) , he steadily and 
 firmly pursued his noble purpose. 
 
 In the meantime France and England did interfere, and 
 brought about an armistice between Mexico and Texas. The 
 friendly offices of our cabinet were also proffered, but they had 
 little influence with Mexico. The negotiations in London were 
 conducted with consummate ability by Mr. Ashbel Smith. 
 
 In a despatch from the Department of State of Texas, to Mr. 
 Van Zandt, Charge d' Affaires of the Republic at Washington, 
 dated July 6th, 1843, that functionary was thus instructed : 
 *' The United States having taken no definite action in this mat- 
 ter, and there now being an increased prospect of an adjustment 
 of our difficulties with Mexico, the President deems it advisable 
 to take no further action at present in reference to annexation, 
 but has decided to await the issue of events now in progress, and 
 to postpone that subject for future consideration, and for such ac- 
 tion as circumstances may hereafter render most expedient for 
 the interests of this country." 
 
 This extract, with others we shall presently give, will unfold 
 what has been a matter of so much dispute, viz. : — the policy of 
 Houston on this important subject. Whatever his own private 
 feelings may have been, it was exceedingly doubtful whether 
 our Government would ever consent to annexation on what he 
 considered fair and equal terms ; and he was resolved to main- 
 tain with France and England the most friendly relations ; that 
 in the event of Texas being spurned from the embrace of the 
 United States, she might fall back upon a Treaty with a powerful 
 ally, under whose patronage she might claim protection from her 
 foe, and under whose policy (made liberal by interest) she 
 might advance rapidly to power. 
 
MPORTANT DESPATCH OF HOUSTON. 171 
 
 The French and English ministers resident in Texas, had 
 already manifested some little jealousy on the subject of Hous- 
 ton's negotiations with the Washington Cabinet, and seeing little 
 probability of consummating a treaty of annexation, he instructed 
 Mr. Van Zandt to defer all further action for the time beinsf. 
 
 Accordingly, instructions were forwarded to Mr. Van Zandt 
 on the 13th of December (1843) . The following extracts will 
 clearly unfold the reasons for Houston's policy. 
 
 " The interposition of foreign friendly governments, by which an Ar- 
 mistice has been established between Texas and Mexico, and the 
 prospect of a permanent peace with that power given, has been ex- 
 tended by the particular governments mostly influential in obtaining 
 these most desirable results chiefly with a view that, in the event of 
 Mexico's agreeing to acknowledge the independence of Texas, she 
 should continue to exist as a separate and independent nation. The 
 great object and desire of Texas is the establishment of a permanent 
 and satisfactory peace witli her enemy, and for this purpose the good 
 otfices of these powers have been asked and obtained, and the object 
 sought for, through their intervention, appears now on the eve of be- 
 ing realized. 
 
 " This intervention and these good offices have been gratui- 
 tously and unconditionally given, and although Texas is entirely free 
 to pursue any course she may please in future, the President thinks 
 that, in the present state of our foreign relations, it would not be poli- 
 tic to abandon the expectations which now exist of a speedy settle- 
 ment of our difficulties with Mexico through the good offices of other 
 powers, for the very uncertain prospect of annexation to the United 
 States, however desirable that event, if it could be consummated, 
 might be. Were Texas to agree to a treaty of annexation, the good 
 offices of these pov.'ers would, it is believed, be immediately withdrawn, 
 and were the treaty then to fail of ratification by the Senate of the 
 United States, Texas would be placed in a much worse situation than 
 she is at present, nor could she again ask or hope for any interposi- 
 tion in her behalf, either by England or France ; and with our conse- 
 quent supposed dependence upon the United States, might again re- 
 turn the apathy and indifference towards us which has always until 
 now characterized that government. Texas would then be left in 
 the same situation she was two years since, without a friend, and 
 her difficulties with Mexico unsettled. 
 
172 INSTRUCTIONS TO SUSPEND NEGOTIATIONS. 
 
 " This government is duly sensible of the very friendly feelings 
 evinced by the President of the United States, in the offer to con- 
 clude a treaty for the annexation of this country, but from all the in- 
 formation which he has been able to obtain in relation to the views 
 and feelings of the people of tlje United States, he is induced to 
 believe that its approval by the other branches of that govern- 
 ment would be, if not refused, at least of very uncertain attainment 
 at this particular time — therefore, and until such an expression of 
 their opinion can be obtained as would render this measure certain of 
 success, the President deems it most proper and most advantageous to 
 the interests of this country, to decline the proposition for concluding 
 a treaty. In making a communication of this determination to the 
 government of the United States, it will be proper to inform that go- 
 vernment that whenever the Congress or Senate of the United States 
 shall throw wide open the door to annexation by a resolution author- 
 izing the President of that country to propose a treaty for the purpose, 
 the proposition will be immediately submitted to the representatives 
 of the people of this country, and promptly responded to on the part 
 of its government. 
 
 " The present determination of the President on this subject, does 
 not proceed from any change in his views of the general policy of the 
 measure, but from a change in the relations of this country with other 
 poicers.''^ 
 
 These instructions to suspend negotiations on the subject of 
 annexation, with a knowledge that England was pressing her 
 powerful and friendly offices upon the Republic, alarmed the 
 Cabinet at Washington. The facts which were soon after 
 made public excited the apprehensions also, not only of all the 
 friends of annexation, but of all those Americans, who had the 
 foresight to anticipate the prejudicial consequences that would 
 come upon this country by allowing England to gain a foot- 
 hold on our Southern frontier. She had always proved a bad 
 neighbor, as our difficulties growing out of the Norlh-Eastern 
 and Oregon boundaries had abundantly proved, and the deep- 
 est anxiety was everywhere manifested for the prompt action 
 of Congress. In the meantime, Mr. Tyler, fearins^ the result, 
 had instructed his Secretary of State to lose no opportunity of 
 assuring the Texian government of his earnest desire to con- 
 summate annexation. 
 
SECRET MESSAGE TO THE CONGRESS OF TEXAS. 173 
 
 The President of Texas was placed in a position of ex- 
 treme delicacy, and any imprudent act or movement would 
 have proved exceedingly hazardous to the interests of his 
 country. He had early manifested his desire for annexation, 
 and done all he could to effect it during his first executive 
 term. Under Mr. Lamar's administration, the question had 
 slept. Houston had pursued a discreet course in regard to it 
 after his re-election, and although he had now been for some 
 time earnestly occupied in securing annexation, he had, like a 
 wise man, kept his own counsels. 
 
 On the 20th of January, 1844, however, he sent a secret 
 message to Congress, in which he uses the following lan- 
 guage : 
 
 " Connected with our present condition, our foreign relations are 
 becoming daily more and more interesting ; and it seems to me that 
 the representatives of the people should anticipate the events which 
 may in all probability occur. ***** 
 
 * * * * " The Executive, therefore, relies upon the 
 deliberative wisdom and decision of the representatives of the people 
 to give him all the aid in their power to conduct the affairs of Texas 
 to such an issue as will be promotive of its interests as a community, 
 and at the same time gratifying to the people. Heretofore, he has 
 carefully abstained, during his present administration, from the ex- 
 pression of any opinion in reference to the subject of annexation to 
 the United States. And, in submitting this communication, he does 
 not think it becoming in him now to express any preference. 
 
 " It will be perceived by the honorable Congress, that if any effort 
 were made on the part of this Government to effect the object of an- 
 nexation, which is so desirable, and it should fail of meeting responsive 
 and corresponding action on the part of the United States, it might 
 have a seriously prejudicial influence upon the course which England 
 and France might otherwise be disposed to take in our favor. And a 
 failure on our part, after a decided expression, could not but be morti- 
 fyinof to us, and to a great extent diminish our claims to the confi- 
 dence of other nations. It would create distrust on their part towards 
 us ; because the opponents of our interests would allege there was 
 no stability in our purposes, and therefore unsafe in other nations to 
 cultivate very intimate relations with us, or even to maintain those 
 
174 
 
 HOUSTON S SECRET MESSAGE. 
 
 which now so fortunately exist. They might apprehend that after 
 the lapse of a few more years, Texas, once having acquired increased 
 importance from their friendly aid and good offices, would be induced 
 again, by the agitation of the same question in the United States, to 
 apply for admission into that Union, and that by possibility it might 
 be effected. Hence the utmost caution and secresy on our part as to 
 the true motives of our policy should be carefully observed." 
 
 He recommends that in the event of the failure of Texas, 
 she should enter into "a treaty of alliance, defensive at 
 least, if not offensive" with the United States. 
 
 " If nothing else," says he, " were effected in a treaty for defence, 
 it would secure to Texas a position that would for ever bid defiance to 
 our Mexican enemy. It would be as important to us in fact as the 
 recognition of our independence by Mexico." 
 
 He also proposes the appointment of " an additional agent 
 to the Government of the United States, to co-operate with 
 our agent there." He thus concludes : 
 
 " If the honorable Congress should think well of these suggestions, 
 they will be aware of the propriety of immediate action on the sub- 
 ject. The Congress of the United States have now been in session 
 some time, and there can be but little doubtthat if they have not al- 
 ready done so, they will soon indicate their disposition, and course of 
 policy towards this country. 
 
 " Believing as the Executive did, at the commencement of the pre- 
 sent session, that the subject of annexation was in the best position 
 in which Texas could place it, he did not allude to it in his general 
 message— apprehending that any public action taken either by the 
 Executive or the Congress would only have a tendency to embarrass 
 the subject. Action must now be taken by the United Slates ; and 
 we must now watch and meet their disposition towards us. 
 
 " If we evince too much anxiety, it will be regarded as importu- 
 nity, and the voice of supplication seldom commands great respect." 
 
 The spirit of this message inspired all Houston's acts on 
 this great question, and the effect was most salutary. For it 
 is more than probable that our Congress would have turned a 
 deaf ear to " the voice of supplication," had they not discovered 
 that the people of Texas, grown weary of delays and indignant 
 
OLD ENGLAND BY THE SIDE OP TEXAS. 175 
 
 at repeated repulses, would supplicate no longer. The posi- 
 tion of parties was suddenly changed — completely reversed. 
 It became clearer than noon-day, that unless Texas was al- 
 lowed to come into our Union, under auspices the most favor- 
 able to her, she would not enter, and in any event it seemed 
 probable that she was after all to be the sufferer. Her anxiety, 
 therefore, for annexation, was every hour growing less, while 
 ours was increasing. 
 
 Both parties were conscious of the movements of England 
 — and while Texas saw in the extension of that proud shield 
 over her young Republic, the boon of mighty protection, we 
 watched with jealous and anxious interest the progress of that 
 same imperial emblem. When, therefore, that Republic, 
 whose people, " bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh," had 
 been pleading on their knees the same admission which had 
 hitherto been cordially tendered by Congress to every other 
 American colony on the continent, was repulsed "like some 
 stranger," she sprung to her feet, and the next moment we 
 saw her youthful figure relieved against the giant form of 
 Old England, whose purple mantle was thrown kindly over her 
 shoulder, and whose flag of St. George was waving over her 
 head. It was a strange, but beautiful spectacle. " Is that," 
 said all, " the suppliant who so lately was kneeling on the 
 steps of our Capitol ?" 
 
 Texas was now lost to America. The only question was, 
 " Can she be again won ?" and the American Congress was 
 no longer the sole party to answer the inquiry. 
 
 The Cabinet at Washington manifested an anxiety to re- 
 new negotiations. In his letter to Mr. Van Zandt (29th Jan., 
 1844), Houston instructs his Minister to meet the United States 
 half way, and to inform him of any disposition on their part 
 to come to the terms they had rejected. " They must be con- 
 vinced," says he, " that England has rendered most important 
 service to Texas by her mediatorial influence with Mexico." 
 He then proceeds : 
 
 " If the United States really intend to deprive England of connec- 
 tions on this continent, a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive. 
 
176 NEGOTIATIONS AGAIN OPENED. 
 
 formed with this country against Mexico, would enable that govern- 
 ment to retain an influence in the affairs of Texas which could be done 
 by no other circumstance. In November, 1S42, when Texas protested 
 to the three Great Powers against the course pursued by Mexico in her 
 war with this country, it was understood the three Powers were to act in 
 harmony, so far as any mediation was to be interposed. From some cir- 
 cumstances, England appears to have been most active and eflBcient in 
 her efforts. The United States, from their contiguity in situation, 
 had greater facilities than England at their command, and had they 
 been as forward in their efforts at mediation as England, it would have 
 been more grateful to the citizens of Texas. A moment's reflection 
 will present many reasons why it should have been so. When an in- 
 dividual is overwhelmed by misfortune, and that misfortune is light- 
 ened or relieved, the beneficiary always feels grateful for the benefits 
 conferred ; and in the event of a recurrence, would naturally look to 
 the same source for a renewal of favor. Thus must it be with na- 
 tions, and it requires no argument to convince the United States, that 
 in submitting the first proposition for a treaty of alliance with them, 
 the authorities of Texas are far from pretermitting any just claims 
 which they may have to the confidence of Texas as a nation, but the 
 reverse. 
 
 " It is true that our eyes were directed to the United States, not 
 only as a people but as a government, to which Texas was most wil- 
 ling to feel herself obligated. If we did not realize all our expecta- 
 tions, we are far from concluding that anything left unaccomplished 
 by her arose from hostility to Texas on her part ; and for that, among 
 other reasons, we propose an alliance as an earnest of the confidence 
 we are still willing to place upon them and their efforts." 
 
 Negotiations were now once more commenced in earnest, 
 and the two Ministers of Texas (Mr. Van Zandt, and Gen. 
 Henderson, now Governor of Texas), represented their coun- 
 try with great ability, and won for themselves universal re- 
 spect. 
 
 In the despatch of Houston to Mr. Van Zandt (P^eb. 15, 
 1844), informino; him of the investment of Gen. Henderson (just 
 appointed) and himself, " with proper powers to conclude the 
 subject of annexation as far as it can be consummated by the 
 Government of the United States and our Ministers," the Presi- 
 
THE CONSEQUENCES OF ANNEXATION. 177 
 
 dent thus speaks of the vast consequences of annexation, if it 
 should be effected. 
 
 " It would be useless for me to attempt to portray to you the mag- 
 nitude of the consequences which are to grow out of these transac- 
 tions. Millions will realize the benetits ; but it is not within the 
 compass of mortal expression to estimate the advantages to mankind. 
 The measures of this Government have not been devised without due 
 consideration of the subject, so far as Texas may be affected by it ; 
 and no matter how great the ultimate advantages to the two countries 
 may have been considered, in the event of annexation, it was the mani- 
 fest duty of this Government to use such precaution as would secure 
 it against any accidental catastrophe. It is now in possession of such 
 assurances from the United States as will hazard the die." 
 
 In another dispatch, dated the 29th of April, 1844, we find 
 the following language : — 
 
 " I have felt, and yet feel, great solicitude for our fate. The crisis 
 to Texas is everything. To the United States it is worth its union. 
 My toil has constantly been for the freedom and happiness of man- 
 kind, and if we are annexed, I hope we shall have accomplished 
 much ; but if from any cause we should be rejected we must redouble 
 our energies, and the accompanying duplicate will express to you 
 decisively what my purposes are. Texas can become sovereign and 
 independent, established upon her own incalculable advantages of 
 situation, and sustained by European influences, without the slightest 
 compromiltal of her nationality. If the present measure of annexa- 
 tion should fail entirely, and we are to be thrown back upon our own 
 resources, fix your eye steadily on the salvation of Texas, and pursue 
 the course which I have indicated. I again declare to you, that every 
 day which passes only convinces me more clearly that it is the last 
 effort at annexation that Texas will ever make ; nor do I believe 
 that any solicitation or guarantee from the United States would, at 
 any future day, induce her to consent to the measure." 
 
 But the Mission of General Henderson seemed likely to se- 
 cure no good results, and in a dispatch of May 17th, 1844, he 
 was advised to return. The President says : — 
 
 " Whatever the desires of this Government, or the people, are, or 
 might have been, in relation to Annexation, I am satisfied they are 
 not ambitious, at this time, nor will ever be again, to be seen in the 
 12 
 
178 THE POSITION OF THE TWO COUNTRIES. 
 
 attitude of a bone of contention, to be worried or gnawed by conflict- 
 ing politicians. The views of the Executive of this country, as well 
 as the viev/s of its citizens, were fairly presented in a willingness to 
 become annexed to the United States. And though the advantages 
 presented to the United States were incalculably greater than those 
 resultin<y to Texas, she was willing to stand the hazard of the 
 
 adventure. 
 
 " The statesmen of that country appear to be united in opinion 
 adverse to our admission into the Union of the North. We must, 
 therefore, regard ourselves as a nation, to Tema.\n for ever separate. 
 It would be unpleasant for us to enter into a community, as a mem- 
 ber, where we should be regarded ungraciously by either of the po- 
 litical parties. Texas, alone, can well be sustained, and no matter 
 what sincere desire we may have entertained for a connection with 
 that Government, and the affectionate enthusiasm that has existed in 
 this towards it, we will be compelled to reconcile ourselves to our 
 present condition, or to assume such an attitude towards other coun- 
 tries as will certainly look to our independence. This can be accom- 
 plished, if the United States will carry out the pledges which they 
 have already given. The compromittal of our national honor i 
 cannot contemplate, nor would I entertain any proposition which 
 could be averse to our character as an independent nation ; but Texas 
 can now command interests which will require no such sacrifice. We 
 must act ! ! * * It would seem, from the complexion of matters at 
 Washington, that General Henderson's remaining there longer would 
 be unnecessary. As indicated in my last communication, negotiations 
 can be very well conducted at this Government, not designing to cast 
 any reflections upon the representatives of this Government at Wash- 
 ington, in whom the Executive has the highest confidence. Mo- 
 ments of leisure could be employed here, and even hours and days 
 commanded, which is not permitted when urgent despatches arrive. 
 The locality of our seat of Government is such, that the Executive 
 has had to sul stitute himself in correspondence for the Secretary of 
 State, and dispense with the services of that valuable ofiicer, for the 
 sake of dispatch. * * The measure of Annexation having been 
 taken up at the instance of the United Stales, ought to secure Texas, 
 and fortify her against all inconveniences arising from having opened 
 negotiations on that subject. The treaty having been signed and 
 submitted to the Senate, is all that can be performed on the part of 
 Texas. Further solicitation, on her part, would present her as an 
 
Houston's real feelings about annexation. 179 
 
 object of commiseration to the civilized world. If the embarrass- 
 ments of our condition have presented us in a humiliating posture, it 
 furnishes no excuse to us for voluntary degradation. 
 
 " Therefore it is, that my purpose is fixed in relation to the subject 
 of which I have treated. The desires of the people of Texas, 
 WITH MY love of REPOSE (thus far I am selfish), had deteb.mined 
 
 ME IN FAVOR OF ANNEXATION. My JUDGMENT, THOUGH RENDERED 
 SUBSERVIENT TO THEIR INCLINATIONS AND MY OWN, HAS NEVER FULLY 
 RATIFIED THE COURSE ADOPTED. YeT, IN ALL GOOD FAITH, I HAVE 
 LENT AND AFFORDED EVERY AID TO ITS CONSUMMATION." 
 
 We shall now close our extracts from Houston's Des- 
 patches by giving a portion of a very important private letter 
 to Mr. Murphy, the American Minister to the Texian Govern- 
 ment. We have nowhere seen the same views expressed in 
 regard to the future destiny of Texas. The letter shows, 
 beyond a question, that the writer was persuaded that Texas, 
 even if she was compelled to stand alone, had no mean des- 
 tiny awaiting her in the future. The views here given are 
 those of a statesman — of one who knew the history of his 
 nation and the character of her people — of a patriot, who 
 never despaired for his country, before whose altars he had 
 consecrated himself for ever: 
 
 * * The times are big; with comingr events to Texas and the 
 world. I feel that matters now transacting are, if carried out, to 
 perpetuate the union of the States, by the Annexation of Texas, for 
 centuries. If this great measure fails, the Union will be endangered ; 
 its revenues diminished ; and a European influence will grow up in 
 Texas, from our necessities and interests, that will most effectually 
 prejudice the interests of the United States, so far as they are to 
 look for the sale of their fabrics in the southern section of this con- 
 tinent, and a forfeiture of our sympathies. Mexico, in a short time, 
 by the influences which Texas can command, will yield everything 
 to the superior energy, activity, and the employment of well-directed 
 capital, which will flow into us from Europe, and render us the bene- 
 ficiaries of a most important and extensive trade. All our ports will 
 soon become great commercial marts ; and places, now scarcely 
 
180 THE CRISIS OF ANNEXATION. 
 
 noticed upon our maps, will be built up, and grow into splendid 
 cities. 
 
 These are but few of the advantages which are noticed; but 
 these, to the statesmen of the United States, ought to cause ceaseless 
 efforts to secure so rich a prize. 
 
 The present moment is the only one that the United States will 
 ever enjoy to annex Texas. I am intensely solicitous to see the 
 matter consummated, and my country at rest. 'Tis true that we are 
 not to be great gainers, when compared to the United States, in what 
 they derive. Had I been at Washington, I would, most certainly, 
 not have made a treaty so indefinite as to individual rights which 
 may arise, and be involved in the subject of annexation. We sur- 
 render everything, and in reality get nothing but protection — and that 
 at the hazard of being invaded or annoyed by Mexico before any 
 aid could be rendered by the United States. I hope that the pre- 
 cautions taken will be such as to deter Mexico from any attempt 
 upon us. 
 
 The fact, that the United States is one of the rival powers of the 
 
 world, will render that nation more liable to war than we would be 
 
 as a minor power. There are a thousand reasons which I could 
 
 urge, why Texas would be more secure from trouble if she could 
 
 have present peace, — which she can obtain readily if she is not 
 
 annexed. When we once become a part and parcel of the United 
 
 States we are subject to all their vicissitudes. Their commercial 
 
 relations are extensive, which subjects them to jealousy and the 
 
 rivalry of other powers, who will seek to overreach them, and cramp 
 
 them by restrictions, or annoy them by interference. They will not 
 
 be willing to submit to these things, and the consequences will be 
 
 war. Nor will this danger arise from any one power of the earth, 
 
 but from various nations. The wealth of European nations depends 
 
 more upon their labor, than the people of this continent. We look 
 
 to the soil — they to their manufacturing capacity, for the means of 
 
 life as well as wealth. These facts are not all ; and, indeed, but a 
 
 very partial notice of important affairs. The political relations of 
 
CONSEQUENCES OF ITS FAILURE. 181 
 
 the United Slates will increase, and become more complicated and 
 extensive with their increase of power. Not only this, but they, 
 too, will grow arrogant ; and it will not be a half century, if the 
 Union should last, until they will feel a strong inclination to possess, 
 by force, that which they at the present would be willing to make a 
 subject of negotiation and treaty. 
 
 In all contingencies, if we are annexed, we have to bear a part of 
 their troubles — no matter of what character. Alone and Indepen- 
 dent, Texas would be enabled to stand aloof from all matters uncon- 
 nected with her existence as a nation ; while the causes of war to 
 the United States would be a source of benefit and prosperity to her. 
 War could grow up between no power and the United States, but what 
 Texas would be the beneficiary. The value of her staples would be 
 enhanced, and that arising from the influence of war upon the United 
 States. Texas, enjoying as she does a situation on the Gulf, and a 
 neutral attitude, would derive the greatest possible benefits. Ca- 
 lamity to other nations, would be wealth and power to Texas. The 
 encouragement given us by the demand for our staples would increase 
 our individual, as well as our national wealth. The fleets of bel- 
 ligerents would be supplied with meats from our natural pastures ; 
 and the sale of our superabundant herds would, when added to the 
 sale of our other commodities, give us more wealth than any other 
 nation, in comparison to our population. 
 
 Apart from this, if we should not be annexed, all the European 
 nations would introduce with alacrity vast numbers of emigrants, be- 
 cause it would enable them to extend their commerce. Those who 
 migrate from the different nations to Texas will retain predilections, 
 for many years, in favor of the partialities which nativity carries with 
 it in after life. 
 
 That France and England will pour into our country vast numbers 
 of industrious citizens, there can be no doubt. Belgium, Holland, 
 and other countries, will not be remiss in their duty to ulterior con- 
 sequences. All these countries have an excess of population, and 
 the common policy and economy of nations are such, that they will 
 
182 DESTINY OF TEXAS LEFT TO HERSELF. 
 
 have a care to the location of those who leave their native countries. 
 Never, to my apprehension, have all nations evinced the same dispo- 
 sition to commerce as that which is now exercised and entertained. 
 Hence, no time has ever been so propitious for the upbuilding of a 
 nation possessed of our advantages, as that which Texas at this 
 moment enjoys, in the event that the measure of annexation should 
 fail. Its failure can only result from selfishness on the part of the 
 Government or Congress of the United States. If faction, or a 
 regard to present party advantages, should defeat the measure, you 
 may depend upon one thing — and that is, that the glory of the 
 United States has already culminated. A rival power will soon be 
 built up, and the Pacific, as well as the Atlantic, will be component 
 parts of Texas, in thirty years from this date. 
 
 The Oregon region, in geographical affinity, will attach to Texas. 
 By this coalition, or union, the barrier of the Rocky Mountains will 
 be dispensed with or obviated. England and France, in anticipation 
 of such an event, would not be so tenacious on the subject of Oregon, 
 as if the United States were to be the sole possessors of it. When 
 such an event would take place, or in anticipation of such a result, 
 all the powers, which either envy or fear the United States, would 
 use all reasonable exertions to build us up, as the only rival jwwer 
 which can exist on this continent to that of the United States. Con- 
 sidering our origin, these speculations may seem chimerical, and that 
 such things cannot take place. A common origin has its influence 
 so long as a common interest exists, and no longer. Sentiment tells 
 well in love matters or in a speech ; but in the affairs and transactions 
 of nations there is no sentiment or feeling but one, and that is essen- 
 tially selfish. 
 
 I regard nations as corporations on a large and sometimes magnifi- 
 cent scale, but no more than this ; consequently, they have no soul, 
 and recognize no Mentor but interest. 
 
 Texas, once set apart and rejected by the United States, would 
 feel that she was of humble origin ; and if a prospect was once pre- 
 sented to her of becoming a rival to the United States, it would only 
 
THE GREAT SOUTH-WESTERN REPUBLIC. 183 
 
 stimulate her to feelings of emulation ; and it would be her least 
 consideration, that, by her growth to power, she would overcome 
 the humility of her early condition. So the very causes which now 
 operate with Texas, and incline her to annexation, may, at some 
 future period, give origin to the most active and powerful animosity 
 between the two countries. This, too, we must look at, for it will 
 be the case. Whenever difficulties arise between the United States 
 and Texas, if they are to remain two distinct nations, the Powers 
 of Europe will not look upon our affairs with indifference ; and no 
 matter what their professions may be of neutrality, they can always 
 find means of evasion. The union of Oregon and Texas will be much 
 more natural and convenient than for either, separately, to belong to 
 the United States. This, too, would place Mexico at the mercy of 
 such a power as Oregon and Texas would form. Such an event 
 may appear fanciful to many, but I assure you there are no Rocky 
 Mountains interposing to such a project. But one thing can prevent 
 its accomplishment, and that is annexation. 
 
 If you, or any Statesman, will only regard the map of North Ame- 
 rica, you will perceive that, from the 46th degree of latitude North, 
 there is the commencement of a natural boundary. This will em- 
 brace the Oregon, and from thence south on the Pacific coast, to the 
 29th or 30th degree of south latitude, will be a natural and conve- 
 nient extent of sea-board. 
 
 I am free to admit, that most of the Provinces of Chihuahua, 
 Sonora, and the Upper and Lower Californias, as well as Santa Fe, 
 which we now claim, will have to be brought into the connection of 
 Texas and Oregon. This, you will see by reference to the map, is 
 no bugbear to those who will reflect upon the achievements of the 
 Anglo-Saxon people. What have they ever attempted, and recoiled 
 from, in submission to defeat ? Nothing, I would answer. Population 
 would be all that would be needful, for, with it, resources would be 
 afforded for the accomplishment of any enterprise. As to the propo- 
 sition, that the Provinces of Mexico would have to be overrun, there 
 
184 A POWER BEYOND THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 
 
 is nothing in this ; for you may rely upon the fact, that the Mexicans 
 only require kind and humane masters to make them a happy peo- 
 ple, and secure them against the savage hordes who harass them 
 constantly, and bear their women and children into bondage. Secure 
 them from these calamities, and they would bless any power that 
 would srant them such a boon. 
 
 The Rocky Mountains interposing between Missouri and Oregon 
 will very naturally separate them from the United States, when they 
 see the advantages arising from a connection with another nation of 
 the same language and habits with themselves. The line of Texas 
 running with the Arkansas, and extending to the great desert, would 
 mark a natural boundary between Texas, or a new and vast Republic 
 to the Southwest. If this ever take place, you may rely upon one 
 thing, which is this, that a nation, embracing the advantages of the 
 extent of seventeen degrees on the Pacific, and so extensive a front 
 on the Atlantic as Texas does, will not be less than a rival power to 
 any of the nations now in existence. 
 
 You need not estimate the population, which is said, or reputed, to 
 occupy the vast Territory embraced between the 29th and 46th de- 
 grees of latitude on the Pacific. They will, like the Indian race, 
 yield to the advance of the North American population. The amal- 
 gamation, under the guidance of statesmen, cannot fail to produce 
 the result, in creating a united Government, formed of, and embracing 
 the limits suggested. 
 
 It may be urged, that these matters are remote. Be it so. States- 
 men are intended by their forecast to regulate and arrange matters in 
 such sort as will give direction to events by which the future is to be 
 benefited or prejudiced. 
 
 You may freely rely, my friend, that future ages will profit b}' 
 these facts, while we will only contemplate them in perspective. 
 They must come. It is impossible to look upon the map of North 
 America, and not perceive the rationale of the project. Men may 
 laugh at these suggestions ; but when we are withdrawn from all the 
 
CLOSE OF THE LETTER. 185 
 
 petty influences which now exist, these matters will assume the 
 most grave and solemn national import. 
 
 I do not care to be in any way identified with them. They are the 
 results of destiny, over which I have no control. 
 
 If the Treaty is not ratified, I will require all future negotiations to 
 be transferred to Texas. * * 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 RETIREMENT. — HOUSTON'S CHARACTER. 
 
 Such was the destiny which, to the keen vision of Houston, 
 awaited Texas if she remained a Sovereign Nation. 
 
 The extracts we have given from his despatches put the 
 question of his policy and his preferences, in regard to annexa- 
 tion, at rest for ever. He was, up to the last moment, in favor 
 of that great measure. 
 
 He favored it, because it would secure immediate peace to 
 his fellow citizens, and protection from a perfidious and bar- 
 barous foe. 
 
 He favored it, because it would settle the affairs and esta- 
 blish the tranquillity of the Republic, and enable him to with- 
 draw from the turbulent scenes of political life, and enjoy the 
 repose of retirement, after his long and ceaseless labors. 
 
 He favored it, because it would bind the people of Texas 
 firmly to the great Federal Family of Washington, and link 
 their fortunes to the American Republic. 
 
 He favored it, because, like all the true and all the patriotic 
 of his country, he felt an earnest longing to return to the family 
 hearth-stone, where the great Patriarchs of the Revolution had 
 gathered, and unite with twenty millions of his brethren in burn- 
 ing incense to the Genius of Liberty around its holy altars. 
 
 He favored it, because he saw that it would narrow the field 
 of many petty ambitious men, whose struggles for power 
 might disturb the tranquillity of Texas, and impede her ad- 
 vancement. 
 
 He favored it, because he felt he had himself achieved his 
 work on the field and in the Cabinet, and although he was 
 beloved by the people, and could always have been, in one 
 form or another, their Leader, yet he had no more ambition to 
 gratify. He believed, too, that his beloved country would find 
 under our broad shield the same repose from her alarms and 
 
ANNEXATION AT LAST CONSUMMATED. 187 
 
 her troubles, that he himself looked forward to in the quiet of 
 his Prairie Home. And yet his despatches show that he was 
 prepared for any result. He had his eye fixed on the future, 
 and if American Statesmen were resolved Texas never should 
 mingle her fortunes with us, he also was determined to watch 
 over her career and guide her to a nobler destiny. 
 
 Up to the very moment the decision was made by the Ameri- 
 can Senate, he held the question of annexation in the hollow 
 of his hand. And when, at the eleventh hour, we grudgingly 
 opened the doors to let the light of the single Star shine into our 
 Temple, there is not a shadow of doubt, that if Houston had 
 resented the tardy offer, it would have been proudly and scorn- 
 fully hurled back by the people of Texas. He was not then 
 President, actually — but in or out of office he was still their 
 Leader, the Counsellor of his country. His last term ex- 
 pired just before annexation was passed, and the Constitution 
 would not allow him to be President again. But his own con- 
 fidential friend, his Secretary of State, his adviser and his sup- 
 porter, was chosen to follow him, and it was everywhere under- 
 stood that Houston's policy was still followed — his feeling still 
 consulted — and his voice still heard. 
 
 Great apprehensions were felt by the friends of Texas in 
 this country about the course Houston would finally pursue— 
 for it was believed that he would carry the people of that Re- 
 public with him in his decision. The time at last came, — 
 Houston gave his support to Annexation, and by an over- 
 whelming majority Texas became one of the Sovereign States 
 of the American Republic. 
 
 Henceforth, for weal or woe, her fortunes were mingled 
 with the fortunes of the United States. Whether she will 
 regret it, is yet to be seen. She most certainly will rue 
 the day she ever sought refuge under our protection, unless she 
 is allowed to occupy a high and honorable place in our Con- 
 federacy. She is no outlaw, she is no menial — nor will she 
 be treated as either. With the richest soil and vast natural 
 resources — with a wide territory which stretches from the sea, 
 where it blushes under a tropical sun, to the North where it 
 
188 
 
 AMERICAN FEELING TOWARDS TEXAS. 
 
 whitens with the eternal snow of the mountains — with a cli- 
 mate as balmy as the lands which are bathed by the blue 
 waters of the Mediterranean — and, above all, with an inge- 
 nious, enterprising, and heroic people, she must become the 
 garden of ihe New World. Let it be the pride of every man, 
 whose inestimable privilege it is to say " I am an American 
 Citizen,'- to extend towards Texas and the Texians his generous 
 greeting. They have been misrepresented and traduced ; but 
 let us lift the odium from their name, for they are a brave and 
 a magnanimous people, and let us be proud everywhere, 
 whether it be by the firesides of our northern homes or in the 
 courts of foreign princes, to call them brothers. Let us show 
 to them and the world that the children of sires who bled at 
 Bunker Hill and Yorktown, know how to prize the heroic 
 men who rang out the Anglo-Saxon battle-cry over the bloody 
 field of San Jacinto. 
 
 But we are admonished that we have already trespassed far 
 too long upon the patience of our kind Readers. Our only 
 excuse is, that, in tracing the fortunes of a brave People and 
 their heroic Leader, we have been beguiled by the pleasant 
 lights and shadows that have fallen over the path where we 
 were roaming. A few words, gentle Reader, and we will 
 abuse your goodness no longer — for we must not leave the 
 hero of our humble story on the surges, as the elegant and 
 philosophical Dumas did the noble Count of Monte Christo. 
 
 His predecessor had made war upon the Indians, and carried 
 desolation to their peaceful wigwams. In their forest homes 
 were heard the wailings of women whose chiefs had fallen by 
 the hand of the white man; and the young Indian boy was 
 sad because his Chieftain Father led him out no more on the 
 war-path. Houston had seen injustice perpetrated upon the 
 Red Men, and when his last term began, he at once sent 
 the wampum among the forest tribes, and soon after went 
 himself, in the Indian dress, to the distant woods and smoked 
 
TEXAS AS HOUSTON LEFT IT. 189 
 
 the pipe of peace in the Chieftains' dwellings. He made 
 treaties with twenty-four different Chiefs, and they regarded 
 these treaties sacredly. Among them he felt safe — he wrapped 
 his blanket about him, and laid himself down to sleep by the 
 fires of ferocious savages, near whom other white men did not 
 dare to venture. " We have nothing to fear from an Indian," 
 he used to say, "if we only treat him with justice, and he 
 believes us his friends." Peace was again restored along the 
 frontiers, and the green corn was again growing luxuriantly 
 by the side of the primeval forests where the savage stealthily 
 lurked for his game. 
 
 Houston paid off a large amount of debt incurred by his pre- 
 decessor, due to other governments, arising from the prodigality 
 of the administration. He created no new debt — administered 
 the Government on the basis of the revenues, and left the Ex- 
 chequer Bills issued at the beginning of his term at par, with a 
 considerable surplus in the Treasury. 
 
 He left the country at peace with all the Indian tribes on the 
 frontiers — the Navy was laid up in port, for there was no use 
 for it — the state was blessed with tranquillity at home, the na- 
 tion was prosperous — emigrants of the better class were rapidly 
 pouring in from the North and from Europe ; and the people 
 were happy, 'fhe prisoners in Mexico were all restored to 
 their homes — inland trade with Mexico was brisk and lucrative ; 
 — Texas was respected by all nations, and Annexation was 
 near its consummation. 
 
 Houston's last term expired. He could never be President 
 again ; and it was with no little sadness that the people sav/ him 
 lay down the insignia of his office, and take leave of them, to 
 return to private life. He was received back with joy by his 
 family, and they thought that he would part from them no more. 
 His home was on a rolling elevation in the midst of a green 
 prairie, interspersed with Islands of trees, and silver lakes, 
 gleaming in the sunlight. His labors, his sorrows, and his 
 struggles were over, and in the bosom of an affectionate family 
 
190 HOUSTON ELECTED TO THE U. S. SENATE. 
 
 he expected to spend the last peaceful years of his stormy life in 
 the noble pursuits of the husbandman. 
 
 Texas became one of the States of our Confederacy, and she 
 called her old Leader from retirement once more, to represent her 
 in the Senate at Washington. It is not strange that he yielded 
 with deep reluctance — for he felt that in his quiet home he was 
 as happy as the regards of the Nation he had saved, the affec- 
 tion and society of his wife and his child, and the remembrance 
 of sorrows past and victories won could make him. But he re- 
 sponded to the call of his country, and brought his Republic and 
 laid it on our Federal Altar. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 " And so," said a friend to us a day or two ago, when we had 
 read these few last pages, " you consider Houston a perfect 
 character" — 
 
 No ! far from it — my . In a world like ours, such a 
 
 character probably does not exist: But we do believe, that 
 it is filled with noble and generous hearts. The blight that 
 has fallen on man has blotted out the fair image of perfection ; — 
 but it has not chilled every noble feeling — it has not annihilated 
 Heroism. And what higher office can we aspire to, than to seek 
 for the noble, the magnanimous and the beautiful, and embalm 
 it for coming times 1 
 
 We know all of Houston's history. We know that his 
 youth was wild and impetuous ; but it was spotted by no crime, 
 it was not even soiled by indulgence. His early manhood was 
 filled with earnestness and daring, but it was deformed by no 
 act which lost for him the confidence of the virtuous, or the 
 doating love of his mother. We know, too, that just as he 
 was stepping upon the theatre of high and brilliant fame, a 
 cloud came over the sky, and wrapped his heart and his home 
 in sadness and gloom. 
 
 There is a sorrow which even the Hero cannot bear. The 
 storms of life may beat against the frail dwelling of man as 
 wildly as they will, and the proud and the generous heart may 
 
-y 
 
 Houston's private character. 191 
 
 still withstand the blast. But when the poisoned shaft of dis- 
 appointment strikes the bosom where all we love and live for is 
 treasured, the fruit of this world turns to ashes, and the charm 
 of life is broken. Then it is that too often reason and bliss take 
 their flight together. 
 
 When this dark cloud fell over the path of Houston, he 
 buried his sorrows in the flowing bowl. His indulgences began 
 with the wreck of his hopes, and like many noble and generous 
 spirits, he gave himself up to the fatal enchantress. But his 
 excesses have been exaggerated by his enemies a hundred 
 fold. We believe no man can say that he ever saw Houston 
 rendered incompetent by any indulgences, to perform any of the 
 offices of private or public life, a single hour. 
 
 But the days of his indulgences have long since passed away. 
 When the sunlight of domestic happiness again shone through 
 his dwelling, and he was sustained once more by that great con- 
 servative principle of a man's life, a happy home, illumined by 
 the smile of an affectionate and devoted wife — his good angel 
 came back again, and for years no man has been more exemplary 
 in all the duties and all the virtues of the citizen^ the father and the 
 husband. From that moment he espoused the great cause of Virtue 
 and Temperance, with all the earnestness of his nature. 
 
 Whenever an opportunity has been presented, he has elo- 
 quently spoken, in public and in private, in favor of that 
 beneficent movement, which has restored many thousands of 
 generous but misguided men to the long-abandoned embraces of 
 weeping families, and to the noble duties of citizenship. And 
 who could better tell the horrors and the woes of the poor 
 inebriate's life than the man who had experienced them 1 Who 
 could more eloquently and winningly woo back the wanderer 
 to the fold of virtue, than he who had just returned to its hal- 
 lowed enclosure ? Blessings on the head of the devoted and 
 beautiful wife, whose tender persuasions proved too strong for 
 the clamors of appetite and the allurements of vice ! In win- 
 ning the stricken wanderer back to the pure charities of home, 
 she saved the State one of its noblest citizens ; and so benign 
 has been the influence of his wonderful example, and so calm, 
 
192 .Houston's person. 
 
 and so holy a light beams ceaselessly around the altars of that 
 distant Prairie Home, that his child will, with the nation he 
 saved, rise up and call him blessed. Houston's indulgences never 
 were carried so far as to give a shock to his constitution. They 
 were only occasional at any period. And now he finds himself 
 standing on the meridian of life, with an erect, well-made form 
 of perfect health and gigantic strength. His hair has been 
 turned grey by Herculean labors, but his eye is still soft and 
 clear, and it beams with a smile which no man can wear whose 
 heart does not overflow with love of country and philanthropy to 
 his race. His countenance is flushed with the glow of health 
 and cheerfulness, which seldom, in a world like ours, lingers 
 after the morning of life is passed. And but for occasional 
 days of suffering from the wound he received in his right 
 shoulder from two rifle-balls at To-ho-pe-ka, more than thirty 
 years ago, he knows no physical ailment. Sometimes these 
 sufferings are intense, and he will never be free from them while 
 he lives, for no surgical skill has ever been able to close up that 
 wound. It has discharged every day for more than thirty years. 
 In a manner almost miraculous, he has entirely recovered from 
 the wound in his ankle received at the battle of San Jacinto. 
 
 And thus we find ourselves at the close of our humble work. 
 Would that some better pen had performed the task ! But we 
 could not forbear to make the offering, however unworthy it 
 may be to History, to Heroism, and to Truth. And if it 
 be an honor to human nature to repent, and abandon 
 errors of opinion and frailties of conduct, why may not the 
 Biographer rejoice to weave the woof of such a story as Hous- 
 ton's, and throw it before the world, that all the wrong a great 
 man may have inflicted by the splendor of his talents — who had 
 stooped to w^aste his time as Charles James Fox did, in gar- 
 nishing vice by his genius, and ornamenting crime by its eleva- 
 tion, may be at last atoned for by the reformation of the admired 
 individual transgressor ! Such a case would seem to present 
 one of the most captivating subjects in all history for the pen of 
 a Biographer. 
 
IMPORTANT DISPATCHES AND STATE PAPERS, 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE OF TEXIAN HISTORY. 
 
 official. 
 
 City of Houston, 
 April 16th, 1844. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 Your notes have both reached me, one of the 30th ult., 
 and one of the 1st inst. To day I forward to the State De- 
 partment all my dispatches. 
 
 Col. Ashbel Smith, our Charge d' Affaires, writes from 
 Paris, under date 29lh February, this important fact. " The 
 French and British Governments have united in a Protest to 
 the United States aa^ainst the annexation of Texas to the 
 Union." This is an important fact. Never has the situation 
 of Texas been so interesting since the 21st of April, 1836, as 
 at this moment. You may rely upon it, if the Government of 
 the United States does not act immediately, and consummate 
 the work of annexation, Texas is for ever lost to them. 
 
 In my opinion, England and France will say to Texas, " if 
 you will agree to remain separate for ever from the United 
 States, we will forthwith prevent all further molestation to you 
 from Mexico, and guarantee you Independence, agreeably to 
 your Institutions now established and avowed." You cannot 
 fail to discover what would be the proper course of Texas in 
 such an event. Texas has done all that she could do, to obtain 
 annexation, and you may rely upon this fact, in the event of a 
 failure, that Texas will do all tliat she sliould do. 
 
 If a Treaty is made, it will of course have been done after 
 the pledges given by the United States Charge d' Affaires have 
 been recognized by his Government, and then we are secure. 
 If a Treaty has been made, and those pledges exacted by you, 
 and it should be rejected, it will be proper to ascertain if an- 
 13 
 
194 DISPATCH TO TEXIAN MINISTERS. 
 
 nexation can take place by Congressional action, and this done 
 promptly. Should all fail, you will forthwith call upon Mr. 
 Packenham, the French Minister, as well as also the Govern- 
 ment of the United States, and after suitable conversations and 
 explanations, present to them the subject of a Triple guarantee 
 for our Independence, and to prevent all further molestation, or 
 at least an unlimited truce with Mexico. And then if all prospect 
 of annexation fails with the Government of the United States, 
 and it should refuse to unite upon the basis here laid down, 
 you will then, so far as practicable, arrange the matter with 
 France and England, and General Henderson, with Mr. Mil- 
 ler, Secretary of the Secret Legation, will make a visit of leave 
 . to the Heads of the proper Departments, and return to Texas. 
 Texas ought not, cannot, and will not remain in its present 
 situation. 
 
 The subject of annexation has already embarrassed our re- 
 lations with Mexico. The Truce will end on the first of May, 
 as I presume, for I did not accede to the terms of the armistice, 
 since Texas was recognized as a "Department of Mexico," in the 
 terms of agreement between the commissioners. Mexico was 
 well disposed to settle matters very amicably, when our com- 
 missioners arrived at Sabinus, but one of the Mexican com- 
 missioners was too unwell to proceed to business. When he 
 recovered, the subject of annexation was mooted in the United 
 States, and the Texian Congress, all of which had reached 
 Mexico. Of these facts, in part. Gen. Henderson was apprised, 
 and the anticipated rupture of our negotiations with Mexico 
 was one reason why I was so careful to require of Gen. Mur- 
 phy (endorsed by his Government), such pledges as would se- 
 cure us against all contingencies that might arise to us, in con- 
 sequence of our opening negotiations with the United States, 
 on the subject of annexation. 
 
 This Government has been called on, and requested by her 
 Majesty's Government, to state our relation to the Govern- 
 ment of the United States. It was due to England, and her 
 Majesty's Government was informed that an agent, Gen. Hen- 
 
DISPATCH TO TEXIAN MINISTERS. 195 
 
 derson, had been sent to Washington City, to negotiate upon 
 the subject of annexation ; but the particulars were not render- 
 ed. Since this occurred, I had an interview with Capt. Elliot, 
 and I do not think the British Government will withdraw its 
 friendly offices from the subject of Peace between Texas and 
 Mexico. 
 
 It is reported here, that the Government of the United States 
 has refused to sanction the pledges given by General Murphy. 
 This surely cannot be the case. If so, you will have found 
 yourselves in a most awkward dilemma. What — disavow 
 such pledges when they were based upon Mr. Upshur's letter ? 
 I cannot believe this, unless the United States desired Texas 
 to surrender herself to the uncertainty, or chances of annexa- 
 tion, contingent upon the various political influences which 
 might interpose to theconsummation of theobject,and subject us 
 to the injurious and annoying action of Mexico, instigated by 
 the adhesion of Texas to the United States. A refusal on the 
 part of that Government to secure us against consequences, 
 which it has produced by direct solicitation of us, would be 
 selfish in the extreme, and indeed I cannot conceive appropri- 
 ate terms in which to characterize such conduct and policy, in 
 an official dispatch. It would amount to this only — that if 
 anything could be made out of Texas, by the United States, 
 they were prepared and willing to derive the advantage, and if 
 that could not be done, they wished to incur no responsibility 
 on the account of Texas, but leave her to all the consequences 
 which might possibly result to her from the course, which her 
 generosity and credulity might induce her to pursue. Pitiable 
 would our situation be if we were not annexed, and had re- 
 quired no pledges; fortunately, this is not our situation. 
 
 You have now all the grounds before you, and I hope you 
 will ponder wisely and proceed securely for our safety. 
 
 It is palpable scandal to the 19th century, that Statesmen 
 should be prating about the emancipation of persons born, and 
 their raee held in slavery, by the custom and consent of na- 
 tions for centuries, while they permit Santa Anna to forge, and 
 
196 DISPATCH TO TEXIAN MINISTERS. 
 
 and rivet chains upon eight-millions of people who were born 
 free. Thus will the horrors of slavery be increased, with de- 
 sJ2:n to render his success subservient to the subversion of the 
 liberties of Texas, and form a new era in the history by de- 
 grading to slavery a portion of the Anglo-Saxon race. This 
 ought not, and cannot be. It argues on the part of Statesmen 
 a want of perception, as well as self-respect. 
 
 Gentlemen, you will keep the Government advised by every 
 mail, and daily, of important events as they Jranspire. If you 
 should be thrown for future reliance upon the friendly offices 
 of Great Britain and France, you will, if possible, ascertain 
 from them if they will act promptly, and what conditions they 
 will expect of this Government. 
 
 Mr. Van Zandt has written that the United States were not 
 willing to form any alliance with Texas, as it was contrary to 
 their policy. Hence the necessity, upon the failure of the im- 
 mediate annexation of this country to the confederacy of the 
 North, and you will, as I have indicated, approach the Govern- 
 ments of England and France. 
 
 It is the first duty of statesmen and patriots to insure the 
 liberty and well-being of their country. This is now our atti- 
 tude, and every honest man in Texas will justify and approve 
 that policy, which will place us in a situation where our lib- 
 erties are secured, whether it be by annexation, or the esta- 
 blishment of our Independence. France and England will act 
 effectively, if we do not permit ourselves to be trifled "wdth and 
 duped by the United States. But of this subject, as your situa- 
 tion may soon call your attention to it, you will be the best 
 
 judges. 
 
 * ** ***** * 
 
 This letter does not cancel former instructions from the De- 
 partment ; but it is designed to meet emergencies which may 
 arise, or remedy those which have already arisen. Having 
 awaited the arrival of your dispatches, and there being no time 
 to forward them, and send a reply from the State Department, I 
 
DISPATCH TO TEXIAN MINISTERS. 197 
 
 have deemed it proper to write to you directly by the return 
 mail ; so that you may be ready? in the event of necessity, to 
 take such action as our situation may require, and be prepared 
 for contingencies. 
 
 I have the honor to be. 
 
 Your obt. servant, 
 
 SAM HOUSTON, 
 
 To Gen. J. P. Henderson 
 
 and 
 Hon. Isaac Van Zandt 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 :i 
 
Executive Department, > 
 
 Washington, July 29th5 1844. ] 
 
 To His Excellency, 
 
 General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, 
 
 President of the Republic of Mexico : 
 
 It appears by a letter received from General Adrian 
 Woll, under date of the 19th ultimo, that you have entertained 
 a desire to communicate with this government. I regret, how- 
 ever, extremely, that in so doing, you should have indulged in a 
 departure from the courtesy which ordinarily obtains in the cor- 
 respondence between civilized States of the present age. There 
 are certain designated and universally acknowledged channels of 
 intercourse between nations, such as the Department of Statep 
 or Foreign Affairs. 
 
 Through your subaltern, General Woll, you have, in the com- 
 munication to which I allude, addressed no Government, or 
 functionary of any Government. It is, however, addressed to 
 Texians ; but in language w^hich even common courtesy does 
 not sanction. 
 
 For the information of your Excellency, I will suggest, that 
 the Commission sent out by this Government for the purpose of 
 regulating the conditions of an Armistice between the two coun- 
 tries was authorized by the President of Texas, and as such must 
 have been communicated to your Excellency ; otherwise they 
 could not have been received in their official capacity. Their 
 credentials alone entitled them to the recognition of yourself or 
 officers. 
 
 The Texian Commissioners had special and prescribed powers 
 delegated to them, and all their acts were subject to the review 
 and rejection, or approval of the Executive. Without approval, 
 they could acquire no validity. The designation of Texas as a 
 Department of the Mexican confederacy so-calledy Wcis highly ob- 
 noxious to the President, and consequently the conduct of the 
 
LETTER TO SANTA ANNA. 
 
 199 
 
 Commissioners was, at once, disapproved. For this, you are, 
 now. Sir, pleased to express, through your subaltern, youv indig- 
 nation at the perfidious conduct of the people of Texas. 
 
 I regret much that you have given this complexion to the af- 
 fairs of the two countries. When men, by chance or Providence, 
 have been elevated to the rule of nations, and entrusted with the 
 protection of the best interests of the people, it must be consi- 
 dered a great misfortune if they entail upon them calamities 
 which their duties as philanthropists should teach them to 
 avert. 
 
 Whenbelligerents,even in the most angry excitement of feeling, 
 are arrayed against each other, it is but proper that their chieftains 
 should preserve toward each other that comity which might render 
 them approachable, and thereby avert great human suffering and 
 the effusion of human blood. When war rages, all ranks and 
 conditions are subject to its agitations and calamities. Texas 
 has already endured the extremest agony, and will endeavor to 
 profit by her experience. Against her, you have again denounc- 
 ed war. We will await the event. Eight years ago, you were 
 a suppliant ; obtained your liberation without ransom, and ac- 
 knowledged the Government of Texas. If Texas existed then 
 as a nation, her recognition since then by other powers, and her in- 
 creased commercial relations, would well excuse your recognition 
 now of her sovereignty. But, Sir, you speak of your resources 
 and powder. They were defied and triumphed over in 1836 ; and 
 if you invade Texas in 1844, you will find neither her prowess 
 nor the success of her arms less complete. 
 
 I desire to know for what reason you have charged the author- 
 ities of Texas with perfidy. Have they given to Mexico any 
 pledge they have not redeemed I They have liberated her chiefs 
 and soldiers taken on the field of battle, without obligation so to 
 do. But they are of a race which permit neither their word nor 
 their honor to be falsified. How has it been with Mexico ? 
 The capitulation of Fannin was disregarded, and hundreds mas- 
 sacred in cold blood. You indeed denied a cognisance of this 
 fact ; declared that you were implicated by the fidsehood of Gen. 
 Urrea, and that if you ever returned to your country and came 
 
200 LETTER TO SANTA ANNA. 
 
 into power, you would execute him for his duplicity. Have you 
 done it 1 You have power, but to what purpose 1 Of the inof- 
 fensive Traders who visited Santa Fe, and capitulated to your offi- 
 cers, what was the treatment 1 
 
 They were slaughtered by the way-side, when unable to 
 march, and their ears cut off; evidences, indeed, of barbari- 
 ty not heard of among nations pretending to be civilized, since 
 the ninth century of the Christian era. Again, at the surren- 
 der of Mier, your officers pledged to the men the protection 
 due to prisoners of war ; in fulfilment of which, they were soon 
 after barbarously decimated, and the remainder ever since held 
 in chains and prison. They were also to be returned to their 
 home immediately after their submission ; — but every pledge 
 given to them has been violated. Is this good faith '? You 
 pledged yourself also solemnly, through H. B. M. Ministers, to 
 release the Texian prisoners in Mexico, if those of Mexico re- 
 maining in Texas, should be set at liberty — which was done on 
 the part of this Government, by public proclamation, and safe 
 conduct offered to them to return to their country. Have you 
 performed your part of the agreement and your duty ? Are they 
 free? Will all this justify you in charging, through General 
 Woll, either the Government or citizens of Texas with perfidy, 
 or its Executive with double dealing in diplomacy 1 
 
 I regret, Sir, extremely, that it has been my duty thus to ad- 
 vert to circumstances which must be as disagreeable to you as to 
 myself. But you have invoked it. 
 
 You have denounced war, and intend to prosecute it ; do it 
 presently. We will abide the result. Present yourself with a 
 force that indicates a desire of conquest, and with all the ap- 
 pendages of your power, and I may respect your effort. But 
 the marauding incursions which have heretofore characterized 
 your molestation, will only deserve the contempt of honorable 
 
 minds. 
 
 I have the honor, &c., &c. 
 
 SAM HOUSTON. 
 
RESOLUTIONS OF THK SKNATE OF TEXAS. 201 
 
 Senate Chamber, > 
 December 9th, 1844. j 
 To His Excellency, 
 
 Sam Houston, President. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to transmit to your Ex- 
 cellency the following Resolutions, introduced by the Hon. 
 David S. Kaufman, Senator from the District of Shelby, Sa- 
 bine, and Harrison, and passed by the Senate. 
 
 1st. Resolved by the Senate, That the Administration of 
 President Houston, which this day terminates, has been cha- 
 racterized by a forecast, economy, and ability, which entitle it 
 to the thanks and gratitude of the Nation. 
 
 2d. Resolved, That as the Constitutional advisers of the 
 President, we have undiminished confidence in the unbend- 
 ing integrity and devoted patriotism of Gen. Sam Houston, 
 and he carries with him into retirement, our warm wishes for 
 his health and happiness. 
 
 2d. Resolved, That the Secretary furnish Gen. Houston 
 with a copy of these Resolutions. 
 
 With great respect, 
 
 HENRY J. JENET, 
 
 Secretary of the Senate. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Hero-People — Trial Days to Nations ... - 5 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Beginning of Life— His Mother— The Field-School— The He- 
 roine and her Children — The Academy and Pope's Iliad — 
 Life among the Indians — The Romance of Youth — Meet- 
 ing with Indian Chieftains — Keeps School — Enlists in the 
 Army — Parts with his Mother and marches - ... 8 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Soldier— The Battle of the Horse-Shoe— The Soldier's First 
 Wound — The Signal from Heaven — Houston's Second 
 Wound — The Wounded Soldier — Borne on a Litter to his 
 Mother's house — Voyage down the Mississippi — Travelling 
 in search of Health — Resigns his Commission in the Army - 17 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Civilian — Elected to Congress— Becomes Governor— His mar- 
 riage—Separation from his Wife— Goes mto Exile - - 28 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Exile— The old Chief of Oolooteka— Life amons the Chero- 
 kees— Outrages upon the Indians— Houston's opinions of the 
 Indians— Perpetrators of wrong exposed— Houston visits 
 
204 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Washington — Conspiracy to crush him— His Trial before 
 Congress — Triumph over the Conspiracy — Returns to his 
 Exile — The Hearth-stone of a Savage King - ... 33 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Texas — The New Field — First Anglo-Saxon Convention — Doings 
 of the Convention — The Constitution and Policy of the new 
 State — Houston's Public Policy — Austin's Imprisonment in 
 Mexico — Outrages and Wrongs perpetrated on Texas — A 
 Mexican Army invades Texas — Texas prepares for the 
 Struggle — Proceedings of the Consultation — Houston elected 
 Commander-in-Chief — The Progress of Liberty — Milam and 
 his heroic Band — Intrigues against Houston — Insubordina- 
 tion and Conspiracy — Fatal results of disobeying Houston's 
 orders — Attempts to crush Houston — Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence -45 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The General — The Crisis coming — The Fall of the Alamo — Hous- 
 ton starts for the Scene of Conflict — Causes of the present 
 War — Houston organizes the Army — The Fall of the Alamo — 
 Consternation in the Camp — A Night's March — The March of 
 the Army — Houston's Dispatches — The Massacre of Fannin's 
 Regiment — The Sagacity of the General — Camp on the Bra- 
 zos—Santa Anna's Plan of Campaign — Movements of the 
 Army — Convention breaks up in Alarm — The Army crosses 
 the Brazos— March through the Prairie — Houston prepares 
 to meet Santa Anna — Passage of Buffalo Bayou — Last Des- 
 patch before San Jacinto — March to the Battle-Field — Meetmg 
 of the two Armies — Skirmishing the first day — Treachery in 
 Houston's Camp— The Night before the Batttle - - - 63 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Hero of San Jacinto — The Morning of San Jacinto— The De- 
 struction of Vince's Bridge— Order of Battle— Charge of the 
 Texian Army— The Work of Slaughter— The Struggle for 
 Life — The Day of Vengeance — The Flight to Vince's Bridge — 
 The Victory — The Spoils of Victory — Advancement of the An- 
 glo-Saxon race— Why Americans first went to Texas— Perfi- 
 
INDEX. 205 
 
 PAGE 
 
 dy of Mexican Dictators — Texas compelled to fight for Life 
 — The Drama of the New World — Tlie Dominion of Mexico 
 passing away 92 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Victor and the Captive— Capture of Santa Anna — Meeting of 
 the two Generals — Conversations between the Victor and 
 Captive — Almonte and Houston — The San Jacinto Corn — At- 
 tempt to assassinate Santa Anna — The bald Eagles over the 
 Field of Battle — Santa Anna's proposals for his release — San- 
 ta Anna's Orders to Filisola — The " Fugitive Government" at 
 last found — Houston's views of Santa Anna's Release — 
 " Mountain Lies" — Houston left to die on the Battle-Field — 
 Arrives at Galveston — Houston's parting from the Army — 
 His Reception at New Orleans — Return to Texas — Protest 
 against Santa Anna's Execution — Treaty and Liberation of 
 Santa Anna — Lawless Conduct of Green — Santa Anna's Pro- 
 test — Lamar rejected by the Army 109 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The President — Houston's Inauguration — His Inaugural Address 
 — Organization of his Administration — Visits Santa Anna in 
 Prison — Santa Anna's Liberation — Recognition of Texian In- 
 dependence—Course of American Senate — The Spirit of 
 Houston's Administration — State of Texas — Houston dis- 
 bands the Army — Reckless Legislation — Vetoes — Beneficent 
 Fruits of Houston's Administration— A Frontier Population — 
 Houston's Valedictory Address — The Benediction of the Pa- 
 triot and Soldier . 132 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The Legislator — The Santa Fe Expedition — A Puerile Statesman 
 — Ontrages on the Indians — Lamar's Administration — Hous- 
 ton in Congress 150 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Again President — Houston's Second Administration — News of a 
 Mexican Invasion — The Extra Session of Congress — An 
 
206 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Alarming Crisis — Acts of Houston's Administration — Mexi- 
 can Warfare — An Appeal to the Great Powers — Official His- 
 tory of Mexican Invasion — Character and Disposition of the 
 Governments — Determination of the Texian Government — 
 Appeal for the Intervention of the Great Powers - - - 156 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Annexation — French, British, and American Cabinets — Vigilant 
 Policy of England and France — Intervention of France and 
 England — Important Despatch of Houston — Instructions to 
 suspend Negotiation — Secret Message to the Congress of Tex- 
 as — Houston's Secret Message — Old England by the side of 
 Texas — Negotiations again opened — The Consequences of 
 Annexation — The Position of the two Countries — Houston's 
 real feelings about Annexation — The Crisis of Annexation — 
 Consequences of its Failure — Destiny of Texas left to herself 
 — The Great South-western Republic — A Power beyond the 
 Rocky Mountains— Close of the Letter .... 168 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Retirement — Houston's Character — Annexation at last Consum- 
 mated — American feeling towards Texas — Texas as Houston 
 left it — Houston elected to the U. S. Senate — His Private 
 Character — His Person 186 
 
 IMPORTANT DISPATCHES AND STATE PAPERS. 
 
 Despatch to Texian Ministers — The Spirit of Houston's Adminis- 
 tration — Acts of his Administration — Letter to Santa Anna — 
 Resolutions of the Senate of Texas 193 
 
THE EAGLES OVER THE FIELD OF SAN JACINTO, 
 
 The flight of ravens through the dusky air, 
 The superstitious Roman deem'd 
 Propitious omen of triumphant arms, 
 And march'd to conquest — this his sole intent. 
 Empire alone, his proud ambition fill'd ; 
 For this he fought, and fame of daring deeds. 
 Empire was his, and fame of Heroism — 
 But warring to enslave — to ashes fell 
 The gilded, coreless fruit, unblest of Heaven. 
 Dark as the raven's wing, the breath of Fate 
 Swept o'er his conquests, and his empire fell 
 Albeit, his valor, with the empire, gained 
 And saved the mind's achievements — 
 Arts and sciences of nations conquer'd. 
 And last of all, amidst his trophies, shone 
 The two great lights of earth's Redemption : 
 The flame of Sinai, and Bethlehem's star ; — 
 And yet he knew them not from darkness. 
 
 The Gothic Hero from his icy home 
 Came down and snatch'd them from the Seven Hilb. 
 Thenceforth the vital germ of Freedom sprang. 
 The Saxon bore it to the Briton's home, 
 And He transplanted it, in this New World. 
 
 Lo ! what a glorious, soul-inspiring show 
 The tramp of Freedom through the Western World ! 
 Look through the lens of Time, that gathers in 
 His mighty movements through the century — 
 How like a wonder, swells his vast procession ; 
 From one small vessel's crew, to millions ! 
 How rays his torch across the Continent ; — 
 At every gleam an Empire springs to life — 
 At every gleam, a Despot's throne doth quake — 
 At every gleam through dark barbarians' wilds, 
 A State springs up, and golden harvests wave. 
 
208 THE EAGLES OVER THE FIELD OF SAN JACINTO. 
 
 Stay not his course ! — 
 See ! on the western ocean's peaceful shore 
 His torch bright glowing, and his flag unfurled. 
 A dark spot intervenes — but all around, 
 The rays of civilization penetrate 
 Inevitably, to illumine all ! 
 
 Fair Freedom's torch 
 
 Is blazing on the broad Pacific's shore, 
 That way from San Jacinto's battle-field 
 Flew — not the ominous Ravens of old Rome, 
 The talisman alone of victory and empire ; — 
 The flight of Eagles told the Hero more — 
 Of Freedom's triumph o'er the Western World! 
 
 Look through the lens again, the future see ; — 
 See Freedom's flag of interwoven dyes. 
 And torch of golden light, in every wave 
 Reflected. — Against the shores of Asia 
 See them dash illum'd all Avith hope-beams ! 
 Against all shores they dash, difi"using light 
 Like young Auroras, o'er the world new-born. 
 
 Stay not their course ! — Thou can'st not, if thou would'st :• 
 
 * These beautiful lines are furnished by a friend. 
 

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