Texas by Teran: The Diary Kept by General Manuel de Mier y Teran on His 1828 Inspection of Texas (Jack and Doris Smothers Series in Texas History, Life, and Culture)

Texas by Tera´n

number two Jack and Doris Smothers Series in Texas History, Life, and Culture

the diary kept by

general manuel de mier y tera´ n

on his 1828 inspection of texas

frontispiece General Manuel de Mier y Tera´n, a portrait likely painted just prior to his inspection of Texas. Courtesy of Museo Nacional de Historia, Mexico City.

Texas by Tera´n

Edited by jack jackson

S

Translated by john wheat

S

With Botanical Notes by scooter cheatham and lynn marshall

university of texas press Austin

Publication of this work was made possible in part by support from the J. E. Smothers, Sr., Memorial Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Copyright � 2000 by Jack Jackson All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First edition, 2000 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to Permissions, University of Texas Press, Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819.

� � The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (r1997) (Permanence of Paper). library of congress cataloging-in-publication data Mier y Teran, Manuel de. Texas by Teran : the diary kept by General Manuel de Mier y Teran on his 1828 inspection of Texas / edited by Jack Jackson ; translated by John Wheat ; with Botanical Notes by Scooter Cheatham and Lynn Marshall. p. cm. — (The Jack and Doris Smothers series in Texas history, life, and culture ; no. 2) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. isbn 0-292-78168-7 (alk. paper) isbn 0-292-75235-0 (pbk : alk. paper) 1. Texas—Description and travel. 2. Texas—History —To 1846. 3. Mier y Teran, Manuel de Diaries. 4. Generals— Mexico Diaries. I. Jackson, Jack, 1941– II. Cheatham, Scooter, 1945– III. Marshall, Lynn, 1953– IV. Title. V. Series. f389 .m54 2000 976.4�03— dc21 99-6573

Contents S

ix

acknowledgments 1

introduction the diary:

‘‘Texas by Tera´n, His Journey, 1828’’

43

diary: be´ xar to nacogdoches

91

tera´ n’s letters from nacogdoches diary: trip to the red river

113

diary: trip down the trinity

127

diary: nacogdoches to matamoros

139

diary: up the rio grande to mier

163

177

epilogue

appendix: pavie’s view of east texas notes

201

bibliography index

285

275

189

THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

Figures S

1. General Guadalupe Victoria xii

2. ‘‘Texas por Tera´n’’ page 6

3. ‘‘Diario’’ page 7

4. Tera´n letter page 28

5. Couple on horseback 42

6. Thermometer with three scales 46

7. Galli map of Texas 55

8. Mounted ‘‘dragoon’’ or lancer 82

9. Cavalryman 83

10. Horse soldier race 84

11. Tortilla vendor 84

12. Another tortilla vendor 85

13. Frontier presidial soldier 86

14. Texas rancher 86

15. Mexican herdsman 87

16. Mexican ranchero 88

17. Mexican caballero 89

18. A well-dressed Mexican horseman 90

19. Sketch map of U.S.-Mexico boundary 112

20. Williams map of east Texas 126

21. Mexican dragoon, ‘‘new uniform’’ 138

22. Berlandier route map of Victoria area 148

23. Berlandier route map of Goliad area 154

24. Sa´nchez map of south Texas 162

25. General Vicente Filisola 176

THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

Acknowledgments S

The Western Americana Collection at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University contains a treasure trove of materials concerning the early history of Texas, quite a bit of it untouched by scholars of the Southwest. Among these materials are the documents written and collected by Jean-Louis Berlandier between 1827 and 1851, many of which were acquired by Yale from Henry R. Wagner. One of these previously unpublished and seldom-cited documents is the diary kept by Gen. Manuel de Mier y Tera´n on his 1828 inspection of Texas as a boundary commissioner for the Mexican government. A translation of Tera´n’s diary is herein given, and for this privilege we must extend thanks to George Miles, director of the Beinecke. Over the years he has done much to stimulate interest in and appreciation for the Texas documents in this collection, and we trust that our volume will further the process. He has also generously allowed us to reproduce several facsimile pages and use two Tera´n letters from the Berlandier papers at Yale. We especially would like to thank Scooter Cheatham and Lynn Marshall for contributing their botanical observations to the book. Apart from the original inhabitants, people ever since Alvar Nu´n˜ez Cabeza de Vaca have wandered around Texas wondering about the flora of the countryside—which tubers, fruits, and berries were safe to eat and which ones could kill you, for starters. Scooter and Lynn’s ongoing twelve-volume series, The Useful Wild Plants of Texas, the Southeastern and Southwestern United States, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico, will answer many of these questions, and we are glad they were willing to shed some light on the plants that Tera´n saw on his journey through pristine Texas in 1828. Del Weniger offered his expertise on the fauna mentioned, which is the subject of volume two of his latest book, The Explorers’ Texas. Our friend Galen Greaser rendered much help with the Spanish records of the Texas General Land Office, fielded questions about early

x texas by tera´ n

survey plat maps, and also passed along copies of several important Texas maps he found in the National Archives. We received advice on different sections of the diary and individuals whom Tera´n met during the trip from Dorcas Baumgartner, Jim Corbin, Linda Flores, Patricia R. Leme´e, Thomas Ricks Lindley, Timothy K. Perttula, and Bill Stein. Betje Klier was gracious enough to let us reprint her translation of The´odore Pavie’s view of east Texas, and we wish to thank George Ward of the Texas State Historical Association for similar permissions involving traveler accounts of San Antonio in 1828. Ron Tyler, along with Howard Karno and Joseph Musso, helped us choose illustrations for the book, including several original Claudio Linati watercolors that are little known outside of Mexico. For securing the portrait of Tera´n on the dust jacket (also used as the frontispiece) we are indebted to Carmen Herna´ndez Pin˜a, and we must thank Engerborg Montero of the Museo Nacional de Historia at Chapultepec Castle for permission to reproduce it. We should also acknowledge Ohland Morton’s groundbreaking study of Tera´n’s life and the Texas State Historical Association’s beautiful two-volume edition of Berlandier’s Journey to Mexico, both of which made this project a lot easier to accomplish.

S

Jack Jackson John Wheat

Texas by Tera´n

figure 1 Lithograph of General Guadalupe Victoria, who was president of Mexico at the time of Tera´n’s inspection. From Claudio Linati, Costumes civils, militares y religieux du Mexique, courtesy of Joseph Musso.

Introduction S

By the mid-1820s Mexico had begun to doubt the wisdom of opening Texas to immigration from the United States. The influx turned out to be overwhelming, and the North American colonists seemed little inclined to convert to a ‘‘Mexican’’ point of view. They kept their religious and political beliefs and insisted on their right to own slaves. Further, they clamored loudly for Mexico to recognize their ideas about selfgovernment and turned menacing when told to function according to the Mexican scheme of things. Already they outnumbered the nativeborn tejanos, and this demographic imbalance was rapidly increasing. Events like the Fredonian Rebellion, late in 1826, seemed to confirm suspicions that the foreign colonists in Texas would not obey the Mexican government’s laws when they conflicted with the colonists’ own interests. Only a few of the Anglo empresarios, like Stephen F. Austin, gave any indication that they were genuinely interested in peopling the land with productive citizens or that they wished to reach an accommodation between the two cultures. But could Austin control his colonists? No one in Mexico was certain, and the situation concerning the other empresarios was even more questionable. With these serious matters looming, the idea of a Comisio´n de Lı´mites (Boundary Commission) began to take form. The Adams-Onı´s Treaty of 1819 had established a boundary between Spain and the United States, and the agreement was inherited by an independent Mexico. But it had not been ratified by either of the interested nations once Spain passed from the scene. Worse, the actual line had not been defined nor its key points surveyed on the ground. This was the initial and primary purpose of the Boundary Commission: to mark critical points on the dividing line between the United States and Mexico (as set forth in the Treaty of 1819). Sweeping events, however, soon caused the planned expedition to assume a grander import for the government of Mexico than that of a routine boundary

2 texas by tera´ n

survey. These events made it more imperative for the Boundary Commission to assess the present condition of the frontier, determine the measures necessary for its security, and decide which points should be garrisoned and how. Of particular concern was the Indian situation, not only regarding the wild tribes who regularly committed depredations on the frontier but also concerning those ‘‘peaceful’’ tribes known to be flocking to Texas from the United States. Little information was available in Mexico on these Indians, of diverse origins and various degrees of civilization, except that they were fearless fighters and all well armed. Would they prove to be a stabilizing or disruptive influence on the tribes native to Texas? Alliances might be appropriate with some of these Indians, in order to bind them to the interests of Mexico, but no one knew which tribes merited such recognition or should be encouraged to occupy the frontier zone—for example, by awarding them concessions of land. Their westward migration into Mexican (Spanish) territory had begun as a trickle at the turn of the century but had since become a flow of increasing proportions that must now be reckoned with. Some argued that their hostility to the North Americans would make them an effective buffer against U.S. designs on Texas, if they were guaranteed lands along the boundary line. Concerning the swarm of Anglo Americans into Texas, the Boundary Commission was to ascertain the true dimensions of the problem. Was it actually a problem involving Mexico’s territorial integrity, as the government had been warned? How many of them were in Texas legally, as opposed to being squatters, and what were their circumstances? This meant that the Boundary Commission had to review the results of the empresario system to date and learn how well these individuals were complying with their obligations to colonize Texas with respectable citizens. Some of these contracts might need to be canceled, due to nonfulfillment or improper behavior on the part of the empresarios. Word was that some of them planned to sell their concessions to speculative interests in the United States, thereby compounding the process of North American domination. The encouragement of immigration from Europe was one option being considered in order to achieve more of a racial and cultural balance in Texas; Irish, Swiss, and German families were deemed preferable, should this approach be taken. In view of rising fears in Mexico City concerning the attitude of the U.S. government toward the acquisition of Texas, it was important to know if some of these ‘‘colonists’’ were

introduction

3

actually agents working secretly to undermine Mexican control of the department. The Boundary Commission was also to compile a complete report on the natural resources of Texas, its agricultural, mining, and commercial possibilities, the history of its settlements, etc., in addition to satisfying the pressing need for geographical data. Named to head this ambitious undertaking was Gen. Manuel de Mier y Tera´n,1 perhaps one of the most qualified men in Mexico for the job. Tera´n, at the time the expedition was launched late in 1827, was thirtyeight years old and in charge of Mexico’s artillery school. He had graduated from the National College of Mines, was a recognized specialist in mathematics and engineering, and was very interested in the natural sciences. He had fought in the war for independence from Spain and then served in Mexico’s first congress; later he was the minister of war. Many of Tera´n’s comrades in the struggle for independence were now top officials in the government, and he was highly regarded by them.2 As the government wanted scientific results from its Boundary Commission, Tera´n was given a number of capable assistants; it was a matter not just of surveying a line but of cataloging the natural wealth of Texas, so that intelligent decisions could be made concerning its development. Two officers, Jose´ Batres and Constantino Tarnava, were selected to make military and geographical observations under Tera´n’s guidance. Both were lieutenant colonels, Tarnava in the army’s engineering corps and Batres attached to the general staff. A sublieutenant of the artillery corps, Jose´ Marı´a Sa´nchez y Tapia, served as draftsman for the expedition, and it appears that he was also a gifted artist, although none of his original illustrations are presently known. In addition to these soldiers, several civilians were attached to the Boundary Commission. Jean-Louis Berlandier, a young native of France, went as botanist and zoologist, and Rafael Chovell, a student at the College of Mines, was selected as mineralogist. Compared to earlier inspections of Texas under Spanish rule, this expedition was well equipped and composed of men with the training necessary to compile a very useful report of what they saw. Leaving Mexico City on November 10, 1827, Tera´n’s team arrived at Laredo on the afternoon of February 1, 1828. They were greeted by Gen. Anastasio Bustamante, military commander of the eastern interior states, and remained there as his guests for three weeks. San Antonio de Be´xar was reached early in March, after an eleven-day journey. Tera´n stayed at Be´xar until April 13, using this six-week layover to familiarize himself with what was to come once he passed beyond this last bastion of Mexican culture in the north. While at Be´xar he wrote an interesting

4 texas by tera´ n

letter to President Guadalupe Victoria that tells us a great deal about Tera´n’s ideas on Texas before he had actually seen much of it. These ideas were either brought from Mexico City as part of Tera´n’s intellectual ‘‘baggage’’ or were based on information that he obtained in Be´xar, probably some of both. Getting under way at the time when Texas is an explosion of wildflowers, Tera´n passed through Gonzales—then a collection of six recently erected cabins. High water kept him at the Colorado River from April 23 to 25, near present-day Columbus, where Benjamin Beeson had a ferry. He reached San Felipe de Austin on April 27, staying there until May 10 as Stephen F. Austin’s guest. All the inspection team members wrote detailed descriptions of this place, the ‘‘spark’’ from which— Sa´nchez predicted—would ‘‘start the conflagration that will deprive us of Texas.’’ Leaving San Felipe they moved on toward Nacogdoches through unbearable heat, swarms of noxious insects, and rain-sodden roads. Stops were made at Jared Groce’s two houses near the Brazos River and at Holland’s place on the La Bahı´a Road, their progress being agonizingly slow. Tera´n, Berlandier, Juan the cook, and other team members suffered from fevers all the way to the Trinity, where they arrived on May 25. As it was impossible to cross the swollen, rapidly flowing Trinity with his heavy coach and the breakdown-prone instrument wagon, on May 28 Tera´n decided to send them back to Be´xar, via the high road, with most of the team. He, Sa´nchez, and an escort of eight men continued by horseback, after crossing the river by flatboat and using a canoe to negotiate the thickly wooded floodplain on its east bank. Worn and weary, they rode into Nacogdoches on June 3, and this town served as Tera´n’s base of operations for the next seven and a half months. During this time he was almost daily regaled by Indian visitors, being assisted by Peter Ellis Bean in this delicate business. He talked to the inhabitants, wrote letters to the Mexican capital, and received many political discourses from Austin, but bad weather and ill health in the summer and fall limited his travels into the boundary zone. Finally, on October 17 he set out to make observations of the line between the Sabine and Red Rivers, as called for by the Adams-Onı´s Treaty. He wandered near modern Shreveport and went down into the Bayou Pierre district, returning to Nacogdoches on November 11. A second month-long trip was begun on the 28th, its purpose to survey the mouth of the Sabine River. The country was flooded, however, and

introduction

5

Tera´n was forced to turn back before even reaching the Atascosito settlement on the lower Trinity, his route generally following its course downstream from the Coushatta villages. This frustrated attempt marked the end of Tera´n’s explorations along the border. Even so, extensive records of Tera´n’s expedition were written by various members of his team. A number of these accounts have been published and will be duly cited. Amazingly, Tera´n’s own diary of the inspection has not been published, despite its valuable and wide-ranging observations of Texas. This document is presented herein—for the first time in Spanish or English—along with some of the general’s reports on conditions found in Texas as he passed through ‘‘this beautiful portion of Mexican territory.’’ In the Western Americana Collection at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University are two copies of Tera´n’s diary: Ms. S-313, the document used for this translation, and Ms. S-314. The first is titled ‘‘Texas por Tera´n: Su viage, 1828’’ (Texas by Tera´n, His Journey), which we have rendered simply as ‘‘Texas by Tera´n.’’ It commences when Tera´n left San Antonio de Be´xar on April 13, 1828, headed to Nacogdoches, and ends with his arrival at Matamoros on March 7, 1829. We have used this version because of its very legible and beautiful script, possibly in the hand of Jose´ Marı´a Sa´nchez, but we have closely checked it against the other version, which seems to be in Tera´n’s relatively cramped handwriting (compare Figures 2 and 3). This second version (S-314) is titled ‘‘Comisio´n de Lı´mites: Diario de General Tera´n, 1827’’; it begins when Tera´n left the Mexican capital with his inspection team on November 10, 1827, and runs through August 13, 1829, after he had returned to Tamaulipas. This fuller account, however, has a break between the Rio Grande and Be´xar. Either this portion is lost or Tera´n put the diary aside upon reaching Laredo and did not resume his entries until heading northeast from Be´xar. In terms of the expedition itself, this lapse is not a serious matter because Berlandier and Sa´nchez kept diaries for the Laredo-Be´xar segment of the trip, in which they recorded their impressions of both towns. These two accounts have been published in English and may be consulted for information missing from Tera´n’s diary.3 Briefly stated, Berlandier’s diary focuses on scientific matters (especially those botanical) while Sa´nchez’s tends to be more personal and concerned with the threat posed to Mexico by the Anglo occupants of Texas. Sa´nchez was very suspicious of these people and found himself favorably impressed, often begrudgingly so, by only a few of them.

6 texas by tera´ n

figure 2 A page from ‘‘Texas por Tera´n,’’ Ms. S-313, which we have used for our translation because of its highly legible script. Courtesy of Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven.

introduction

7

figure 3 The corresponding page from Tera´n’s ‘‘Diario,’’ Ms. S-314, where Austin’s colony is discussed. Neither copy bears a signature. Courtesy of Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven.

8 texas by tera´ n

Other preconceptions, prejudices, and prevailing ideas of the day run throughout the diaries of all Boundary Commission members (Tera´n’s included), and the reader should be cautioned against accepting these statements at face value. Not all North American settlers wished to ‘‘steal’’ Texas from Mexico, as Sa´nchez believed, and not all of them drank themselves into oblivion after a hard day’s work, as Tera´n observed at Nacogdoches. The Indians seen in Texas were routinely referred to as ‘‘savages’’ or ‘‘barbarians’’ (salvajes, ba´rbaros), despite the numerous steps they had taken toward civilization (which were also being noted by the writer in his description of them). This deprecating (by modern standards, insulting) terminology was almost as ingrained among Mexicans as it was among their North American counterparts. Nor did Africans receive from the diarists much serious consideration as individuals with inherent rights. Apparently, the long-standing tradition of servitude for dark-skinned peoples in both the Anglo and Hispanic cultures overrode whatever judgments Tera´n and his companions may have entertained about the realities of slavery seen up close. In their era it was easy to compartmentalize the institution and the abuses suffered thereby; indeed, in polite society it was almost expected that the concept of slavery would be dealt with separately from the reality. Since Tera´n in his Texas travels was hosted by the more prosperous class of people— many of them slaveholders—it should not surprise us that he often gives voice to their concerns over the government’s guaranteeing rights of ‘‘property’’ and recognizing the necessity of maintaining slavery for the development of Texas. In view of Mexico’s recent revolution against Spain and the stated egalitarian goals of the independent nation, a surprising theme emerges from the records of the 1828 inspection: class and regional distinctions between Mexicans themselves. The Mexicans in Texas were perceived as different from and somehow inferior to citizens in the rest of the republic: they were irresponsible, lazy, and backward. This theme is repeated in all the inspection diaries; it suggests that the diarists expected to find the frontier a primitive, slothful, degenerate, and violent place and that their expectations colored what they actually saw. No doubt the tejanos entertained similar biases against these upper-class, cultivated visitors who came into their midst to pronounce judgment on them. In a sense, then, Tera´n’s visita was reminiscent of those of inspection teams that had ridden north from Mexico City during the Spanish colonial era. Alas, however, the citizens of the areas being inspected rarely

introduction

9

committed their thoughts to paper, unless in official correspondence, and even then they were careful to maintain a respectful attitude toward General Tera´n and his entourage—just as they had been toward Rivera, Rubı´, and all the military inspectors of the past decades. Needless to say, we have endeavored to render Tera´n’s ideas just as he expressed them, without regard to their political correctness nowadays, and have tried to present his diary as a genuine reflection of conditions as they existed in Texas when he passed through and witnessed them in 1828. Of the other two diarists of the expedition, Berlandier is far better known than Sa´nchez and has more publications to his credit. Evidently this process began with his ‘‘Diario del viage de Luis Berlandier’’ (dated November 19, 1828), which was issued in installments starting on January 26, 1831, in the Registro Oficial, a Mexico City paper.4 In 1832 a pamphlet called ‘‘Memorias de la Comisio´n de Lı´mites’’ appeared, dealing strictly with botanical observations but credited to both Tera´n and Berlandier.5 In 1850 a more comprehensive volume was published under the title Diario de viage de la Comisio´n de Lı´mites que puso el gobierno de la repu´blica, bajo la direccio´n del exmo. sr. general de divisio´n d. Manuel de Mier y Tera´n, listing Berlandier and Chovel[l] as the authors.6 It contains only the Laredo-Be´xar segment of the Boundary Commission’s 1828 travels in Texas (February 1–March 1), plus Berlandier’s excursion northwest of Be´xar to go bear and bison hunting with Col. Jose´ Francisco Ruiz and some Comanche warriors (November 19–December 18). This hunting trip occurred after Berlandier had to leave Tera´n’s entourage on the Trinity River because of illness and once he had sufficiently recovered. In addition to these published sources, at Yale there is a brief itinerary attributed to Berlandier and Chovell in Ms. S-307; it ends on May 4 at San Felipe de Austin. Still another Berlandier/Chovell variant, in Ms. S-315 (a duplicate copy in S-330), continues to the Trinity, where Berlandier’s fever caused Tera´n to fragment the expedition and send most of the troop back to Be´xar with the three vehicles. Also, there are copies of Berlandier’s ‘‘Voyage au Mexique’’ at the Library of Congress and the Gilcrease Museum, as well as the multiple variants at Yale. Yale has additional manuscripts attributed to Chovell, including one called ‘‘General Considerations on the Department of Texas’’ (written in French on seventy narrow pages, S-317). While all these diaries differ in minor respects, the most accessible (and extensive) version to appear in print is the Texas State Historical Association’s 1980 two-volume edition of Berlandier’s ‘‘Voyage au Mexique,’’ translated from the Library of Congress copy and published

10 texas by tera´ n

as Journey to Mexico. It covers not only his travels in Texas (including an 1834 trip) but those in Mexico as well.7 Why another diary of the Tera´n expedition? First, this one was kept by the man who headed the inspection team and whose views on Texas were critical to Mexican policy-making in the years ahead. After the inspection, Tera´n became the commandant general of the eastern interior states and the federal colonization commissioner for Texas, based at Matamoros. His opinions were solicited by the president and his cabinet ministers on all matters touching Texas, opinions which in large measure formed the basis of important national legislation like the controversial Law of April 6, 1830.8 Second, Tera´n’s diary contains information lacking in the journals of his assistants. As noted, the inspection was divided at the Trinity on May 28, 1828, and only Sa´nchez stayed with Tera´n on the trek to east Texas. For the critical months of the inspection Tera´n’s diary is our primary source concerning the activities of the Boundary Commission, because Sa´nchez apparently stopped his account once they reached Nacogdoches; thereafter he gives us only a brief glimpse of the town and lifts quotes from Tera´n’s diary on some of the Indian tribes who visited Tera´n at that place. Sa´nchez may have accompanied Tera´n’s two excursions to survey (i.e., observe) the boundary line, and though he also rode back to Matamoros with Tera´n at the beginning of 1829, his account—if he kept one—has not survived, or remains unknown. Consequently, only the diary of General Tera´n offers us a firsthand look at the most important part of the Boundary Commission’s work in Texas, and we are at a loss to say why no scholar has heretofore taken the trouble to make this important document available to the general reading public with an interest in Texas history. To give the reader a fuller, more nuanced picture of Texas in 1828, excerpts from the accounts of several other travelers are presented in two places: Joseph C. Clopper’s chauvinistic and testosterone-tinged view of San Antonio, and The´odore Pavie’s lively description of life in Nacogdoches. Between the historical accounts of these two young men, one a practical ‘‘go-ahead’’ American and the other a liberally educated Frenchman, we can get a good idea of how Texas looked to cultural outsiders. Taken with the descriptions by Berlandier (who had moved to Mexico from Geneva less than a year earlier) and Sa´nchez (a native Mexican but new to the northern frontier), it is possible to gain a somewhat balanced notion of the customs and habits of the various ethnic groups in Texas at the time of Tera´n’s visit. All of these descriptions

introduction

11

contrast nicely with Tera´n’s own impressions, which were usually given in a more formal, decorous, and nonjudgmental manner.9 We have also selected a few of Tera´n’s letters and reports written in Texas to augment the diary at various points. Rather than relegate these letters to an appendix, they are placed in the text to correspond with the time he wrote them. These letters give us a sense of how Tera´n’s ideas about Texas changed after direct contact with the land and its people, of how his opinions were formed concerning the course of action necessary to preserve Texas and keep it attached to the Mexican nation. Thus, these reports back to the president and various ministers of the government supplement Tera´n’s diary observations and demonstrate how his thinking on Texas crystallized into policy recommendations. Especially is this true concerning the large number of Indians who were coming into Texas from the United States as a result of the harsh removal policies being enacted in Washington and carried out from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast. We have accordingly devoted attention to Tera´n’s views on these tribes as they appeared before him at Nacogdoches in a constant stream, all asking for lands in Texas, denouncing the greed and perfidy of the United States, and swearing eternal friendship to the Mexican nation. While Tera´n was duly concerned about the plight of these semicivilized tribes (and left us a marvelous account of their customs and appearances), his chief focus was on the restless horde of Anglo frontiersmen who were spilling into Texas and taking up residence with little regard for Mexican territorial claims. These uninvited people, not the various uprooted Indian tribes, were his main problem and Mexico’s as well. Tera´n was not happy with what he saw happening on the frontier—with the indigent squatters he encountered living hand-to-mouth in shacks or with the prosperous variety of colonists such as Jared Groce, who had settled in Texas under the empresario system, obtained legal title to his lands, and grown rich through the morally repugnant exploitation of Negro slaves. More feared than social implications, however, were the political views of these new ‘‘Mexicans’’ and whether or not their views— once put into action—would lead to the loss of Texas. This uneasiness extended even to men like Stephen F. Austin. Austin, of course, was the figurehead of Anglo-American aspirations in Texas, and for this reason alone he merited close watching. By virtue of his deceased father’s colonization contract, he had been the first norteamericano authorized to parcel out Texas lands and usher the recipients into dutiful citizenship. Beyond their personal contact at San Felipe,

12 texas by tera´ n

Austin and Tera´n wrote each other frequently in 1828, their letters revealing much about their respective concerns. Tera´n was after scientific information, while Austin was pressing for recognition of his ideas on how Texas should be developed. Even though the two men came to have respect and something akin to personal regard for one another, by no means did they agree on the issues at stake in Texas. Still, Austin helped Tera´n understand the mechanics of the ‘‘system’’ in Texas and how it differed from the traditional land tenure practices of Mexico. When Tera´n left Texas early in 1829, he had a much firmer grasp on the internal affairs of the department than did any of his high-ranking affiliates on the national scene. But was the system working to Mexico’s advantage, or would these rich concessions to foreigners eventually result in the dismemberment of Texas from the Mexican federation? Tera´n came to Texas seeking answers to this vital question, and it occupied his time and attention more than what proved to be incidental concerns about a boundary line drawn through the wilderness—a line that would have little meaning anyway if Mexico could not control movement across it. Further, because of the high standing accorded Tera´n in the Mexican capital and the role that he played in the future colonization affairs of Texas, his views of the situation became critical to the formation of official policy for governing Mexican Texas. As these views to no small degree resulted from Tera´n’s experiences during his 1828 inspection tour, his diary and letters written while in Texas are the key to understanding subsequent events. What sort of a man was Manuel de Mier y Tera´n? He was a man of education, refinement, and considerable talent—also a man of sensitivity, which sometimes led to bouts of depression when he saw events spinning out of control. Above all he was a soldier, dedicated to duty and willing to sacrifice his health, personal affairs, and predispositions for the good of his country. His men were devoted to him and perpetuated his memory long after his death.1 0 Left to himself, Tera´n might have spent years along the frontier, making careful observations of the stars, puzzling over unusual natural phenomena, and recording scientific data useful to the development of Texas. One can imagine him and the old revolutionary ‘‘Pedro Elı´as’’ Bean riding the boundary zone together with a pack mule, swapping memories, comparing the American and Mexican cultures, dropping in on the Indians whom Bean knew so well, marveling at the natural richness of Texas, and moseying off into the sunset. Political instability in both Mexico and Texas kept either man from enjoying such an idyllic life for long.

introduction

13

Among the other things he meant to accomplish, Tera´n intended to create a map of Texas from his team’s carefully recorded information, but seemingly dropped the idea when he learned that Austin was well advanced in similar plans. Instead, Tera´n provided Austin with his very precise astronomical readings of latitude and longitude for various places, which Austin then incorporated into his published map of 1830. It was an important contribution to Austin’s work, and though he credited Tera´n with these observations at the foot of his map, Austin claimed sole authorship of the map and used it as a vehicle to spur further immigration to Texas—in the process weakening Mexico’s grasp on these fertile lands.11 Even after the tumultuous political climate of Mexico forced Tera´n to abandon the affairs of his Boundary Commission and head back to the Rio Grande, he still pursued the aims that had sent him north to Texas. For example, he kept diary entries for a reconnaissance upriver from Matamoros to Mier in the summer of 1829; because of its relevance to later events such as the Mier Expedition and the Mexican War, we have included this segment of Tera´n’s diary in our translation. It serves as an interesting counterpart to Berlandier’s 1829 and 1834 travels downriver along this same stretch of road, the details of which are already in print.1 2 Berlandier, after Tera´n’s suicide in 1832 and Sa´nchez’s death two years later, became the unofficial custodian for most of the Boundary Commission’s records. It is to him that we owe the survival of this material and its placement in American archives. After Berlandier’s accidental drowning in 1851 these documents were obtained from his Mexican widow by an officer of the U.S. Army who was visiting Brownsville and Matamoros.1 3 Prior to his death Berlandier worked constantly on ‘‘his’’ collection, recopying and polishing various drafts of the journals, reports, and miscellaneous records in his possession. A great deal of this documentation ended up at Yale University, but other notable pieces went to the Library of Congress, the Gilcrease Museum (Tulsa), the Smithsonian Institution, and the Gray Herbarium (Harvard University). Berlandier, with all of this material at his disposal, labored long over integrating the bits and pieces of information about northeastern Mexico into a cohesive whole worthy of comparison with Alexander von Humboldt’s work.1 4 Further, he produced such a multitude of slightly variant copies of his own diaries—and those of his associates on the Boundary Commission—that it is often difficult to ascertain exactly what information derives from whom.

14 texas by tera´ n

That Tera´n’s diary figured into Berlandier’s compilation process is undeniable, certainly with regard to the Indians of east Texas. Berlandier never personally visited these tribes, but he wrote a noteworthy study of their customs from the documents at hand, probably assisted by Sa´nchez’s sketches, notes, and recollections.1 5 Both Tera´n and Berlandier had an informed source on the Comanches and other Plains Indians: Col. Jose´ Francisco Ruiz, who spent eight years among these tribes in the aftermath of Gen. Joaquı´n de Arredondo’s brutal 1813 campaign against the anti-royalist rebels in Texas. Thereafter Ruiz acted as a sort of military Indian agent at Be´xar and wrote a report on the Plains tribes from his personal knowledge of them. This report is among Berlandier’s papers, now at Yale.1 6 Nonetheless, Berlandier continued to gather information on the Indians of Texas after the Boundary Commission effectively shut down in 1829–1830. We are indebted to him for his concise essay on the subject, as well as for the pictures of the Texas Indians that he assembled (evidently at his own expense) to illustrate his account. These charming watercolors are the work of Lino Sa´nchez y Tapia, though acknowledged as based on the now-missing original sketches of Berlandier and Jose´ Marı´a Sa´nchez.1 7 More maps, plans, views, and botanical illustrations were executed to accompany his ‘‘Voyage au Mexique,’’ which we must assume that Berlandier intended to publish— or at least hoped would someday be published.1 8 They are priceless documents for the historiography of Texas in the period 1828–1834, and we are fortunate that so much of Berlandier’s collection has escaped the ravages of time, especially ‘‘Texas por Tera´n: Su viage, 1828,’’ herein presented after these many years.

S

San Antonio de Be´xar in 1828 As noted above, Tera´n’s diary does not describe San Antonio, but resumes only as he departs the city headed for east Texas. But the diaries of two of his assistants, draftsman Jose´ Marı´a Sa´nchez and botanist Jean-Louis Berlandier, have entries for the layover at the city between March 1 and April 13, 1828, offering us a fair picture of what was the capital of Texas until the union with the State of Coahuila. With the description by J. C. Clopper, a young trader from Cincinnati who visited Be´xar a few months after Tera´n’s Boundary Commission left, we have three perspectives of the town: from European, Mexican, and North American viewpoints.

introduction

15

Sa´nchez, upon approaching the lower mission of Espada, felt considerable relief at his deliverance from the wilderness: ‘‘The view of this temple and the few small houses that surrounded it made an impression upon me that I cannot express. The sight of these dwellings brought forcefully to my mind the fact that I was still living among my countrymen.’’ 19 He and Berlandier commented on the other missions in the neighborhood of Be´xar, all of which were in the process of secularization at the time, and both men were caustic about the result. Of these four missions (Concepcio´n, San Juan, San Jose´, and Espada) Berlandier wrote: ‘‘Formerly celebrated, they are today abandoned to the mercy of the weather and have become private properties, sold for the profit of the nation. Those who bought and maintain them are poor farmers, who live there in as great a state of misery as the indigenes whom the friars formerly shut up in them. At every moment the warring tribes kill some laborer, and they come almost constantly to steal the animals. . . . Although in ruins, these edifices still bear the traces of a former splendor.’’ 20 Sa´nchez blamed their demise on the ‘‘very few’’ persons of judgment in the city, mainly property owners, who had clamored loudly, ‘‘Out with the friars, out with the good-for-nothings.’’ ‘‘Thus they abolished the missions and divided among themselves the lands they have not known how to cultivate and which they have left in a sad state of neglect.’’ 21 The fifth mission, San Antonio de Valero, had been secularized in the 1790s and since converted into a military barracks. Berlandier gave the following description: An enormous battlement and some barracks are found there, as well as the ruins of a church which could pass for one of the loveliest monuments of the area, even if its architecture is overloaded with ornamentation like all the ecclesiastical buildings of the Spanish colonies. In the barracks of that mission lives a presidial company, long since come from Nueva Vizcaya [actually, Coahuila] from a presidio called Alamo de Parras, which has retained the same name in Texas. It is to be regretted that those who founded San Fernando de Be´xar did not join it to the presidio of the Alamo, located on a much more favorable site. Convinced of the dangers which another flood could produce, recent authorities have several times proposed establishing the town there. Composed of some one hundred houses, the quarter of the Alamo is considered as part of San Fernando de Bexa´r. It is subject to the same authorities, and is separated only by the river.22 Berlandier and Sa´nchez described the city itself and its inhabitants in similar terms.

16 texas by tera´ n

The streets of Be´xar [wrote Berlandier] are not very straight, not only because of the windings of the river which flows to the east of the houses, but also because that admirable regularity characteristic of every town founded by the Castilians in the New World was disregarded there. Two large squares, separated from each other by the church and some houses, do not draw the traveler’s attention at all. The houses are for the greater part jacales [huts] roofed with thatch. The better ones are of a heavy and coarse construction, and the larger number have fireplaces—in a word, there are already hints of a region lying outside the tropics. The inhabitants are gay and not very hardworking, and the dance is the chief amusement among the lower classes. Most of the families are linked to the military of the presidial companies, and it is to the great defect in the organization of these troops that the lack of agricultural progress observable in the region should be attributed. These soldiers, continually in the wilderness, or going from one presidio to another, cannot devote themselves to laboring in the field. They content themselves with their pay, albeit this reaches their hands only after a thousand detours. The most comfortably off of the private citizens at the Mexican presidios are not lovers of farming; I have often seen them go elsewhere, sometimes even to the Anglo-American colonies, to seek the grain necessary for their subsistence. They much prefer to carry on a wretched trade, in which they have an infamous monopoly, to the detriment of the poor people—particularly since a law of the state excludes from retail trade all aliens who have not been naturalized.23 When they are reproached for their indolence, they allege that the Indians do not allow them to go out to cultivate the fields, which is partly true. But what I have never understood is why, although there are well-watered lands about the houses and the missions— even inside the presidio— one sees no planting there, whereas, moved by a principle of laziness, they go to sow de temporal [dry farming] fields of corn six or seven leagues from the dwellings (in localities truly exposed to attacks by the indigenes), solely in order not to have to take the trouble of watering the fields. From the brief idea which we have given of Be´xar it can easily be seen that, if it did not have a troop stationed there, the greatest of misery would prevail. Indeed, as the presidial companies are not paid in silver, money is extremely rare in the area. It is to the bad financial administration of Mexico that one should attribute the audacity of the indigenes: because the soldiers are badly paid and frequently without horses, or else very badly mounted, the indigenes are sure that after they have committed a theft or a crime the soldiers will find themselves unable to go in pursuit. The military have been without pay or clothing not only for months but even years, and they have been on campaigns against warring tribes in the meantime. They feed themselves by hunting game in the wilderness. When the commissioners of the ports send some few thousand piastres to these

introduction

17

wretches, there is always some speculator—guilty of the crime of embezzlement—who uses that money to buy merchandise to sell to the soldiers at an immense profit. These petty tyrants abound in almost all the republic. They are especially common far from the central government, which cannot keep under surveillance the conduct of employees situated at such a great distance. During my sojourn in the Interior Provinces [states] I have witnessed actions which, under a well-regulated government, ought to lead their perpetrators to the gallows, at least. Ciudad de Be´xar resembles a large village more than the municipal seat of a department. There is no paved street and no public building. Trade with the Anglo-Americans, and the blending in to some degree of their customs, make the inhabitants of Texas a little different from the Mexicans of the interior, whom those in Texas call foreigners and whom they scarcely like because of the superiority which they recognize in them. In their gatherings, the women prefer to dress in the fashion of Louisiana, and by so doing they participate both in the customs of the neighboring nation and of their own. . . . Unfortunately for the creoles of Texas, the agricultural industry which they have shown in our times is so wretched that a monopoly over them by the American colonies founded in this department is to be feared. Several times have Be´xar and Goliad gone to seek grain and cattle in those colonies. They cannot vie in any respect with those industrious colonists, much more hardworking than they, who are supplied with implements useful to their labors. If the creoles have some well-built wagons, they are very few; in general, on seeing them one would believe oneself to have gone ten centuries backwards in the elementary and necessary arts. Their wagons [carts], which one would believe to have been built without any tools, ride on wheels made of one or two joined pieces which have a lenticular shape and which are drawn transversally by some large tree trunk. The rest of the wagon [cart] is nothing but an assemblage held together by ropes or rawhide; sometimes there is not even a wooden peg. Oxen, as badly harnessed as the wagons are defective, are the only animals used for draft and plowing. In regions where man struggles with the land, it is only when cultivation is extended and perfected that the herds multiply. In Texas the inhabitants find themselves in completely opposite circumstances, for the raising of domestic animals on the immense plains covered with pasture is completely independent of the progress of agriculture. I agree that the great obstacle to the prosperity of the herds is the presence of the indigenes who steal or kill them. Nevertheless, those errant and nomadic tribes— enemies of the sedentary arts and of peace and [who are] continually at war with one another—raise horses. Lastly, the foreign colonies have had to overcome the same obstacles and today are full of such animals as oxen, cows, horses, pigs, etc.

18 texas by tera´ n

When the indigenes are at peace with the presidio, ranchos are found on all the banks of the rivers or streams. Independently of the missions they sow the most necessary grain, and the need for foodstuffs is less urgent. But these proprietors— more active than their fellow citizens— often lack field hands at harvest time, even if paying good wages. At the time for cutting the sugarcane, I have seen a piastre paid to each worker, and even so there was difficulty in finding a sufficient number. At Be´xar as at Laredo, at Goliad as at [San Juan Bautista del] Rı´o Grande, and in most of the presidios everything is military, for this is the most pleasant life for the indolent. . . . I shall content myself with pointing out that the inhabitants [of Be´xar] are not at all farmers. More than a century after it was colonized the region remains static, and it will never be covered with fields except in more active and harder-working hands. What surer wealth than the products of a flourishing agriculture? By coastal trade, they would send their cotton to the United States and their grain to Campeche, as all the [Anglo-American] colonists have learned to do. But, ever disdaining what lies under their noses, the inhabitants of Be´xar (and even some Anglo-Americans), struck by the immense riches which have come out of Mexico, are forever searching for mines. At Be´xar one rarely hears talk about a well-cultivated field or a splendid harvest, but rather hears it said that here or there—in a fluvial terrain covered with fossils—there is a gold or silver mine. So avid are they for metal, the cause of human frailty, that one sees people buying from the Indians granite from the cordilleras of the interior, because they believe that the flecks of mica are small scales of silver. It is perhaps due to false rumors about the existence of mines of precious metal that many adventurers from the north have several times tried to incite small revolutions, because the ignorant have imagined that gold and silver flow there in large waves.24 Berlandier devoted much attention to the rather complex military situation at San Antonio. The commanding general of the eastern interior states (Nuevo Leo´n, Tamaulipas, and Coahuila y Texas) was Anastasio Bustamante, who had entertained Tera´n and his troop at Laredo. In charge of the Department of Texas was Col. Antonio Elosu´a,25 a career military officer who had only assumed his position at Be´xar in December 1827; he reported directly to General Bustamante. A monthly tally of the troops in Texas dated February 1, 1828, reveals that Elosu´a had under his command 527 men, divided into eight companies hailing from different Mexican states.26 Over 300 of these soldiers were dispersed on various assignments, however, and it is difficult to say exactly how many men were garrisoned at Be´xar at any particular time. Nor does this total

introduction

19

seem to include the regular army troops stationed at La Bahı´a (Goliad) and Nacogdoches. Further complicating the troop-strength picture was the ‘‘National Civil Militia,’’ sometimes called the ‘‘Be´xar Civil Militia,’’ whose captain was Gaspar Flores.27 An April 1832 summary shows 164 cavalrymen in this unit but the number fluctuated widely; an October 1827 report has only 79 men enrolled. Nonetheless, it was a prestigious outfit, and service in the local civil militia exempted members from being ‘‘drafted’’ into the regular army. These militiamen soon played a prominent role in Indian fighting and went on to see action in the Texas Revolution (on both sides). Other such militia units were organized at La Bahı´a, Victoria, Nacogdoches, and San Felipe de Austin. It is generally agreed that they were more effective at frontier defense than the army units sent to Texas for this purpose.28 To Berlandier’s picture of Be´xar, Sa´nchez added the following: The streets are not exactly straight, for they curve at various points, and the buildings, though many are of stone, show no beauty, nor do they have conveniences. There are two squares, almost joined together, being divided merely by the space occupied by the parochial church, but neither one is worthy of notice. The commerce, which is carried on by foreigners and two or three Mexicans, is very insignificant, but the monopoly of it is very evident. I could cite many instances to prove by assertion [that foreigners illegally dominate commerce?], but I do not wish to be accused of ulterior motives. Although the soil is very rich, the inhabitants do not cultivate it because of the danger incurred from Indian attacks as soon as they get any distance from the houses, as the Indians often lurk in the surrounding country, coming in the silence of the night without fear from the troops, for by the time the latter notice the damage done it is already too late. No measures can be taken for the maintenance of a continuous watch on account of the sad condition of the troops, especially since they lack all resources. For months, and even years at times, these troops have gone without salary or supplies, constantly in active service against the Indians, dependent for their subsistence on buffalo meat, deer, and other game they may be able to secure with great difficulty. The government, nevertheless, has not helped their condition in spite of repeated and frequent remonstrances. If any money arrives, it disappears instantly, for infamous hands are not lacking to take it and give the poor soldiers goods at double their normal value in exchange for what they have earned, suffering the inclemencies of the weather while these inhuman tyrants slept peacefully in their beds. I am not exaggerating; on the contrary, I keep silent about many worse

20 texas by tera´ n

things I could say. The character of the people is care-free, they are enthusiastic dancers, very fond of luxury, and the worst punishment that can be inflicted upon them is work. Doubtless, there are some individuals, out of the 1,425 that make up the total population, who are free from these failings, but they are very few.29 Even if a foreign influence was creeping in, political power at San Antonio was still in the hands of Mexicans and would remain so for some years after the Revolution. The municipal authority was the ayuntamiento (town council), recently elected and led by alcalde (mayor) Juan Martı´n de Veramendi.30 A prominent citizen whose house had formerly been the governor’s residence, Veramendi later became vice-governor of the state and James Bowie’s father-in-law. His regidores (councilmen) were Manuel Flores, Luciano Navarro, and Jose´ Marı´a Ca´rdenas; Juan Angel Seguı´n was elected sı´ndico procurador (city attorney), and Ignacio Arocha acted as secretary to the ayuntamiento.31 The jefe polı´tico, or political chief, of the Department of Texas in 1828 was Ramo´n Mu´squiz,32 who took over the job from Jose´ Antonio Saucedo at the beginning of the year. Mu´squiz reported events in Texas to the man who appointed him, Jose´ Marı´a Viesca, the governor of Coahuila y Texas. Viesca, who resided at the state capital in Saltillo (also called Leona Vicario during this period), was generally favorable to the interests of Texas. In the state congress, or legislature, Texas had but one deputy until the constitution of 1827 was adopted, thereafter having two. At this time they were Jose´ Antonio Navarro and Miguel Arciniega, both natives of Be´xar. To them fell the difficult chore of advancing legislation of vital importance to Texas in a capital far removed from the frontier and its unique problems. Also, they were outnumbered by deputies primarily concerned with the interests of Coahuila, not those of the vast undeveloped ‘‘department’’ to the north. In his diary, Sa´nchez related an ‘‘amusing instance’’ of a state deputy ‘‘who in 1828 wrote to a friend in Nacogdoches begging him to tell him about the region from the Guadalupe [River] on [eastward], and about all that was noteworthy, in order that he might be able to speak about them in the legislature when the occasion arose. Admirable fathers of their country! Alas, wretched republic!’’ This may have been an exaggeration, but Sa´nchez thought that blind indifference on both the state and federal levels would result in the loss of Texas to the ‘‘ambitious North Americans’’ who had already ‘‘taken possession of practically all the eastern part of Texas, in most cases without the [knowledge or] permission of the authorities.’’ 33 Berlandier, from a more cosmopolitan

introduction

21

European background, was less outspoken on these political issues than native son Sa´nchez. His mind unclouded by such dire prognostications of the future, J. C. Clopper arrived at Be´xar in the summer and beheld what to him was an alien culture that he had not seen elsewhere in Texas. Though critical of the backwardness he found at San Antonio, compared to the bulging industrial muscle of Ohio and Pennsylvania, young Clopper was nonetheless charmed by the city—and especially by its ladies. His account follows.34 We cross the Salou [Salado], a small stream within five miles of San Antonio. Musquite prairie continues; the earth here is covered with small smooth grey flint stones from an ounce to two or three pounds in size. The land is ascending for a couple of miles, when we are on an exceeding high country. Two miles further and we come to a Spanish fort and magazine commenced some years since and left unfinished. This stands on the summit of the circular ridge within one mile of San Antonio, commanding a view of the town and the vast plain on which it stands. From this spot San Antonio has a very striking resemblance to one of Uncle Sam’s handsomest and largest country villages.35 The curious traveller feels stimulated to urge on his jaded steed, satisfied from this first blush that he shall be transported with a nearer view of its proportions, its lofty domes, its elegant simplicity and natural beauties. He hurriedly descends the eminence in a fever of body and mind— comes to a little canal [acequia] which he beholds with rapture, extending itself abroad o’er the thirsty land and watering beautifully verdant and flourishing fields of corn. Enters a regular avenue of huge cotton wood trees 36—thinks of the grand Avenue leading to U. Sam’s house [and] asks who it was who so slandered this people by saying that they are little superior to the lowest grade of the human family. Surely the labour and utility of these canals— the beauty and taste displayed in the planting of this avenue—is a flat contradiction to it all. He passes on, thro’ the midst of this friendly shade. On the right stands a massy pile of ruins. For what purpose were these stones piled one upon another and why were they thrown down[?]. This he discovers was one of the strong holds of Popish delusion, in which the Royalists in 1810 –1811 sought refuge from the avenging fury of the Patriots who battered down the mighty walls with their cannon; it is now a garrison [the Alamo].37 A few yds. before him he sees the exceedingly serpentine San Antonio [River], coming winding around the town and gliding by as if hurried with important despatches to the Gulph of Mexico. He looks with mortification and disgust at the order of architecture which suddenly presents itself on his left.38 He crosses the little river and beholds the same wigwam style of building, which constitutes

22 texas by tera´ n

the principal part of the town. He proceeds on, finds that the streets intersect each other very irregularly, [and he] presently enters the public Square. This is laid off at right angles, being about 150 by 300 yards, in the centre of which stands the Church, a large clumsy stone building that seems to have been standing for Centuries. It has a steeple of the same materials, very well modelled of octagonal form; in this is hung 2 bells kettle-toned and of different sizes. These have their tongues tied to ropes and are made to bellow most horribly by two barbarous boys who stand close by and jirk these engines of torture to the utter dismay and confusion of the astounded stranger perhaps 40 times per diem. This Church has also a skylight dome at the opposite end. In the midst of this Square the traveller stands and contemplates the buildings around him. He had before entering been disgusted with their dwellings that [were] first met—being formed of branches of the Musquite tree set up end ways in all the zigzag varieties of their growth, having the interstices daubed with mud. These hollow squares are thatched over with the swamp flag [reeds] and stand ready to receive their inhabitants, who carry in a few chests, a palate [pallet] or two, and some dried skins and the mansion is furnished.39 But the public square presents to the stranger’s eye a more solemn picture: each side is formed of one unbroken solid wall, except where the streets pass thro’. These walls have doors at neighbourly or family distances, opening into what may more properly be termed cells than rooms, as few of them have windows. None indeed have sashes, nor is there a pane of glass in the town. They seem more like port holes than windows, having bars like a prison grate or dark shutters. These walls show no roof above them but seem to stand as we may suppose do the ruins of an earth-shaken or sacked and burnt City after the buildings had been battered down to the last story by a destroying and victorious enemy. These walls are about 18 or 20 ft. in height [and] the roof is invisible from the outside. [It] is formed of huge cedar logs as rafters on which are laid small boards; these beams have a descending inclination from the back walls outwardly so as to rest upon the front walls about 21⁄2 ft. below their height. The roof is then covered with a cement from 8 inches to a foot in thickness, from off which the rain is conducted by wooden troughs passing thro’ the walls and projecting 3 or 4 ft. into the Square. Thro’ this square and the heart of the town runs a canal for the purpose of watering the garden lots, as the water by small outlets may be conducted from this to all parts of the place. The traveller hears around him a confusion of unknown tongues: the red natives of the forests in their different guttural dialects; the swarthy Spaniard of a scarce brighter hue; the voluble Frenchman; a small number of the sons of Green Erin; and a goodly few of Uncle Sam’s Nephews or half expatriated sons. He feels himself now for the first time in his life a stranger truly in a foreign land and enters a door for a short residence that he may discover

introduction

23

something more of this people—but what he has seen we will let him make known in his own proper person. I find that Father has obtained a house and opened his goods . . . business tolerably brisk, profits moderate. Some difficulty in dealing with the Mexicans, not understanding their language. [I] form an acquaintance with two or three families [and] become somewhat a favourite with our landlady, who has two pretty daughters. Accompany them several times to the fandangos—waltzes and reels the principal forms of dance among them, always performed in the streets. Men do not select their partners—this is more gallantly left to the ladies, the former placing themselves in a line on the floor. When the latter arise and face the object of their choice, it sometimes happens that two or more make the same selection and then there is a good deal of elbowing among the fair ones. There are always managers to regulate matters. [I am] often solicited but never participate in the intricacies and mazes of their figures. Delicacy forms but a small part of female character in San Antonio. Their very language seems almost to forbid the cultivation of this most beautiful of the Graces. Unmarried girls are very vigilantly kept from all intercourse whatever with the other sex unless one of the parents be present. Soon as married they are scarcely the same creatures—giving the freest indulgence to their naturally gay and enthusiastic dispositions, as if liberated from all moral restraint. The complexion of the native mexican is a shade brighter than that of the aborigines of the country. The men are not generally well formed in feature or person [and] are extremely ignorant in all the advanced arts of civilization, the majority not being able to read. They are astonishingly expert in the management of horses—not surpassed perhaps by any other people on the Globe. They are completely the slaves of Popish Superstition and despotism, [being] distinguished for their knavery and breach of faith. The softer sex are generally handsome in person and regular in feature and of rather a brighter hue than the men— eyes black, sparkling, holding most intelligent converse when disposed in the still language of the affections. Wear [their] long black hair handsomely adjusted into curls and puffs on public occasions. They are remarkably addicted to dress and Jewelry and on festal occasions appear as richly arrayed as any females I have ever seen, exhibiting no small degree of taste and are certainly among the vainest of their sex. But all this show lasts no longer than till they reach their homes, where they instantly appear as if they might soon be numbered on the Charity list.40 The Gochapines [Gachupines] or European Spaniards that dwell among them are exceptions to these remarks. These are mostly intelligent and wealthy —became acquainted with a daughter of one of them. And often have I regretted my ignorance of their bewitching language. She was of the middle size, her person of the finest symmetry, moving through the mazes of the fandango with all the graces

24 texas by tera´ n

that distinguish superiority of person, of mind, and of soul. Her face was perhaps not sufficiently oval to be of that form most admired as the model of beauty [but] her features were beautiful, forming in their combination an expression that fixed the eye of the observer as with a spell. Her complexion was of the loveliest—the snowy brightness of her well-turned forehead beautifully contrasting with the carnation tints of her cheeks. A succession of smiles were continually sporting around her mouth; her pouting cherry lips were irresistible and even when closed seemed to have utterance. Her eye—but I have no such language as seemed to be spoken by it, else might I tell how dangerous was it to meet its lustre and feel its quick thrilling scrutiny of the heart as tho’ the very fire of its expression was conveyed with its beamings. I felt lonely and sad as a stranger in that place, and a vision so lovely, coming so unexpectedly before me, could not fail to awaken tender recollections and altogether make an impression not soon to be forgotten. The 16th of Sept., the anniversary of the Declaration of Mexican Independence, was celebrated with a great deal of order and unanimity and considerable enthusiasm of feeling. A stage was erected in the public Square very much resembling a huge bedstead with a tester and curtains reaching down like drapery to the platform and made fast to the four posts, at the tops of which were flying their own National flag, that of The United States, of Great Britain, and of France— while that of Old Spain formed a carpeting for the stair case ascending to the stage. The Soldiery and citizens, both ladies and gentlemen, paraded the streets in the afternoon. In the evening an oration was delivered from the stage by a Priest—was told it was badly delivered and apparently with but very little effect on the multitude. A large table was set covered with wines and other liquors, sweetmeats, etc. ‘‘pro bono publico.’’ The Square was then lighted up with lamps and candles and everything cleared off for the enjoyment of the ‘‘dearly loved fandango,’’ five or six setts of it at once. Never before did I witness so large a collection of such happy beings. Thus passed off their day of Independence.41 Continue to be [by] myself ‘‘chief cook and bottle washer’’ for our company of Invalids in San Antonio. Have some amusements in teaching the [Mexican] girls A.B.C., and learning their language with them. Old lady no longer afraid to trust them to my discretion, [so I] have opportunities of witnessing their manner of living. Every family has in the yard an oven built in form of a cone solely for the purpose of roasting the heads, legs, and tails of animals. On such occasions all the connexion round [the neighbors] are invited [and] skins are spread on the earth. When these delicacies are thrown down in the centre of the waiting circles . . . every one that is fortunate enough to have a knife makes a lively use of it till the whole head is fairly demolished and as many of the legs as can be possibly crowded after it. When they have to pay for their meat in market a very little is made to suffice a family; it is generally cut into a kind of hash with nearly as many peppers as there are pieces of meat—this is all stewed together.

introduction

25

The way in which they obtain their bread is worthy of notice. They raise only Indian corn—this is soaked in lime or ley [lye] till the rind of the grain is taken off. It is then ground on a concave stone about 12 inches wide and 20 in length with legs cut to it 6 or 8 inches long—the hinder being somewhat longest so as to give the stone an inclination from the body of the grinder. A handful of corn is laid on this and masticated with another stone resembling a roller but cut so as to fit the concavity. This operation is always performed by the women, and in a kneeling posture—they generally go over it a third time. If they wish to treat their friends with a very white bread, the whole family gather round the pot of corn and grain by grain bite off the little black speck at the end of the germ. When the dough is all ready, a small portion at a time is taken and patted in the hands till thin as a flannel cake. This cake-making operation is always accompanied with tunes and words that seem peculiarly to chime in with the patting ceremony; it reminded me very much of our tuneful ladies in a finery starching scene. These cakes are baked on sheet iron and when eaten hot with butter or gravy are very palatable, but soon get tough. They answer the natives for spoons with which they all dip into the same dish of meat and peppers prepared as above, one spoon not lasting longer than to supply with two mouthfuls when a new one is made use of.42 Very few families are supplied with the common necessary kitchen and household utensils—not even with chairs, sitting on skins spread upon the earthen floors of their dwellings. Thus live the commonality throughout the northern provinces of Mexico. The population of San Antonio is differently estimated from three to five thousand—they must rapidly improve with their increasing intercourse with the Americans. There is kept up here a garrison of three or four hundred soldiers 43 for the defence of the place against the Indians but more particularly that very powerful tribe the Cumanches, who are supposed to be 6 or 7,000 warriors strong and are continually at war with the Mexicans in some part of the Province [State] of Texas. Saw about 20 or 30 of this tribe, who came in to trade; they are fine looking men—and the largest in frame, considered collectively, I ever saw. [They] are remarkably proud and overbearing toward the Mexicans whom they heartily despise. Allways on horseback in their travels and warfare—are expert horsemen—use the bow, the lance, and the shield, not having many firearms among them. Their mode of attack is generally by arranging the lances in front, the guns in the center, and bows in the rear—their horses at full speed, accompanied with the fury and yellings of demons. They are among the bravest and most warlike of the Mexican tribes—friendly in their disposition toward Americans and dreading the deadly rifle. The Lapans [Lipans] are a branch of the Cumanches and the next most formidable tribe in Texas.44 These two tribes range from the Brazos River to the Rio Grande and the mountainous country south of Santa Fee but are rarely known to molest American traders in those countries.

26 texas by tera´ n

[The people] have [an] abundance of figs, peaches, and melons here. Very little attention [is] paid to the cultivation of fruits tho’ it is a climate very congenial to most of tropical productions. [I] fall from a grape tree [and am] very seriously hurt. [We] sell off our goods at auction—make arrangements for journeying to the east. Take a ride with Captn. Lindsay toward the head of the San Antonio river which rises 6 or 7 miles above the town, or rather gushes a full-sized river of the lesser magnitude from under one of the immense hills north of the town.45 We become bewildered among the hills, woods, and ravines and are disappointed in seeing the romantic spectacle but feel in a measure compensated by witnessing a few miles farther N the most picturesque and pleasing scenes of country that ever gratified our views: immense hills, extensive vales, barren rocks, luxuriance of verdure, deer starting up from before us and bounding over the adjacent landscape, blue mountains towering in the distance, as it were to shut out the view of infinitude—the whole lovely in its original wildness, and most impressively imposing in sublimity. Such is the scenery around San Antonio—forming an immense and complete amphitheatre 6 or 7 miles in diameter, within which nearly the whole plain is a rich and productive soile and may be watered at any time of the year by canals of little expense from the San Antonio river. And certainly there never was a stream better calculated for the purpose of manufacturing machinery, but all is in the possession of a people too ignorant and indolent for enterprise and too poor and dependent were they otherwise capacitated. Begin to understand the ‘‘common parlance’’ of the place tolerably well. Landlady and girls most willing to assist me—am asked all about my country, how far it is, how many relations I have, what religion they profess. Tell them some were Roman Catholics [at which they were] greatly delighted. By the by, this family are pretty strict in their observance of their forms—repetitions of ‘‘Our fathers’’—‘‘Ave Marias’’—‘‘Credos’’ etc., for indeed the religion of this place is understood by very few if any as a gracious affection of the heart and soul but a mere requisition of personal mortification in forms of penances etc. Old lady very anxious to know when I would visit her country again; tell her perhaps in two or three years. [She] informs me by that time her prettiest daughter will be marriageable and wished I would bring her some Jewelry with me. Gives me a brass ring with a blue glass sett as a remembrance from her daughter, whose delicate fingers at the same time were ornamented with more than one of gold— put it carefully in my pocket, however, seemingly much flattered by the distinguished compliment. On the evening of 3rd October leave San Antonio for Sanfelipe on the Brassos, Mr. Gregg having started some days previous with a company. Father, Doctr. Patrick, Captn. Lindsay, Myself, and a traveller forming our Company. As we ascend the hill one mile from town, look back and behold the sun taking his

introduction

27

departure also behind the western hills—not a cloud to hinder the warm greeting of his farewell beams, the evening as tranquil and serene as I ever witnessed— our hearts danced within us and our mouths spoke the gladness thereof. Not even the great distance [or] the toils and dangers that lay between us and our homes could lessen the joyousness of our feelings, for we felt for the first time that the slow measured steps of our horses were now bearing us toward the land we loved best. We close our prelude to Tera´n’s diary with a lengthy letter that the general wrote to President Guadalupe Victoria on March 28, 1828, almost a month after his arrival at Be´xar and two weeks before heading east on his inspection. This letter is obviously a rough draft, with many words and sometimes sentences crossed out. Although there is no archival confirmation that Tera´n ever sent the letter, we include it as evidence of his thoughts about Texas in the formative stage, before being tempered by firsthand experience and his own direct observation. The extent to which the ideas expressed sprang from his close friends in the governing halls of Mexico, or were derived from influential tejano citizens at Be´xar, is a matter of conjecture. Nonetheless, it will be seen that Tera´n had some notion of what he was facing in Texas and had already reached some conclusions about steps that must be taken to avoid losing the territory.

S

let ter 1 tera´ n to president guadalupe victoria be´ xar, march 28, 1828 46 Most Excellent Sen˜or President Don Guadalupe Victoria Be´jar, March 28, 1828 My dear sir and friend of my greatest attention and respect: Since I left that capital I have set for myself as a rule that would contribute to the success of the matters that have been entrusted to me on this journey, to concern myself only with observing and collecting information, without coming to any conclusions until, returned to the tranquillity of my home, I could confront all the materials that I had gathered, subjecting them to a more rigorous examination. By this means I intended to demonstrate that during the entire course of my expedition I had possessed the calm and dispassion that contribute so

28 texas by tera´ n

figure 4 A page from Tera´n’s letter to President Guadalupe Victoria written on March 28, 1828, while at San Antonio (translated as our Letter 1), from the general’s letter book and presumably in his own hand. Courtesy of Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven.

introduction

29

much to truthfulness, separating my objectives from that momentary impatience [?] with which they appear and which can push one to form false judgments. But situated in Be´jar and forecasting from my present situation what the future might hold, I find myself compelled to abandon that principle and report to you immediately on matters that I wish would allow for more time. But the political situation of this country [Texas] grants no time period. Do not be surprised if, in a matter of such gravity, I make use of the private communication that you have granted me, sending letters instead of official reports through the ministries, because [deleted: ‘‘it is my experience with that of Foreign Relations that they do not reply’’ ] you will recall having told me before my departure that I should deal personally with you in everything regarding my difficult commission. I am ready, nevertheless, to inform by official report as much as may be desired, and [deleted: ‘‘whatever may be the form in which it is received by the ministries’’ ]. Tejas, that is, an extension of territory greater than the states of Mexico, Puebla, Quere´taro, Guanajuato, and Valladolid [Morelia] together, is one of the three departments of the state of Coahuila, or of perhaps the most imperfect political division known. Its population consists of [deleted: ‘‘thirty’’] 25 thousand savages, eight thousand North Americans with their slaves, and four to five thousand Mexicans.4 7 The latter, nonetheless, are the owners of [deleted: ‘‘all’’] the land. Its fertility is well known, and doubtless there is no exaggeration in what is said about it, if one refers to the eastern part, which is traversed by rivers. But few of these come from far in the interior, and thus one must presume that the western part has lands of little use, such as some of those I have seen on the banks of the Rı´o Bravo del Norte under similar circumstances, that is, because they lack streams. The savages of different nations are scattered everywhere, but their main forces— or those of the most populous nation, which is the Comanche, with its two types: Yamparicas and Tanemues [Tanimas?]— live in mobile camps to the west and north.48 They maintain their life and independence in different ways, but in every way natural, and they contribute very little industry. Those who live on the seacoast are fishermen. Some tribes located on the banks of the Colorado River of Texas [Tera´n may mean the Rojo here] and the Brazos de Dios have settled in villages with agricultural [land] that they abandon each winter to go on the hunt, and they know how to sustain themselves with seeds and crops. But these [nations] are few in number with respect to the vast majority, which subsists only on hunting. It seems very odd that the most precarious

30 texas by tera´ n

resource [the hunt] should be the one that feeds the greatest number. But we are speaking of the northern region of Mexico, or of thousands of square leagues of prairies where bison graze and within which are the migratory limits of these animals. Buffalo do not suffer from cold at 45 degrees of latitude nor from the heat of the nearby tropics; they are always on the move in the region in between, seeking in the variety of the climate solutions for the fluctuations in the seasons. The American savages follow after and slaughter them. This is the greatest meat market that nature provides, and it should be noted that in the winter the savages living beyond and on either side of the region where the buffalo live come following them to the south, and the Mexican savage heads north to encounter the herds. In their movements on the hunt, tribes of men who never knew of one another before often find themselves face to face, and in such encounters they usually make war. The need to continue [the hunt?] then leads them to harry the [enemy] territory. Thus, one sees alternatively expeditions of warriors traveling from south to north, or from north to south, invading their adversaries. Wars between the savages [ba´rbaros], as between civilized men, end with peace accords, and when this takes place the tribe from the north now knows a territory in the south that is less inhospitable than its own. They come to like it and finally occupy it. I have data to confirm that this is an exact history of our frontiers, and that through incidents of this nature in Tejas they suffer the calamity of the sudden appearance of tribes whose existence was unknown. In the space of ten years have come the Chariticas, or dog eaters, tribe, as well as four others about which I have gathered reliable information.49 Whether it is the product of the rational progress of the Comanches or a notion born of instinct, the fact is that they do not wage wars of extermination on other savages. Campaigns involving large numbers of warriors and lasting several months usually have no other consequence than the stealing of a few animals and the death of a single adversary, with no motive for such moderation other than saving their blood and that of the enemy. From this we can infer, in every sense of the word, that only civilized men have such a reputation. The weaker tribes that cause the Comanches no concern are added through alliance. By allowing them to live independently distributed into camps of two or three hundred persons, the Comanches teach them their own martial habits and help to improve their condition. The Chariticas, Caihuas [Kiowas], and others I have mentioned had no quadrupeds for their use other than dogs when they arrived in Mexican territory. In a short time

introduction

31

they were seen to convey their tents and property on pack animals and to make war on horseback the same as the Comanches, who previously were their adversaries. According to the inquiries I have made, the Sonsores, a large tribe extending from northern New Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, were not familiar with firearms until the year 1814, when they came into contact with the savages of Tejas. The soil of this province is so appealing to outside tribes that some of them who come with the Charitica e´migre´s—who have the custom of burying their dead in a given place—are seen to carry their dead until, on the journey they make each year to their old country, they finally deposit them in a permanent cemetery. The Comanches currently are occupied in driving their principal enemies, the Huasa´s, from the Mexican frontier. To judge from the facts, one can believe that this is a powerful tribe that resists any alliance with the Comanches, even though it lacks horses and beasts of burden. Our neighbors to the north [the United States] already make contact with it through their settlements west of the Mississippi, for which reason it is to be hoped that the Huasa´s will agree to peace with the Comanches and come to make their camps on the soil of wretched Tejas. The key to the frontier in the country traversed only by the savages has come to be in the hands of the Comanches.50 [This paragraph crossed out: ‘‘East of the Mexican boundary other causes create the same scenario: the civilization of North America pushes the savages out of the forests that they have inhabited for centuries, and they rush to seek in the wilderness of Mexico an asylum for their independence. This movement, of such importance to the history of humankind, is surprising to one who observes it close at hand.’’] I shall not dwell long on what is happening to the east of the Mexican border, because it is already well known that the civilization of North America has removed the wild tribes from the forests that they have inhabited for many centuries. Zealous of their independence and forced from the land they once trod, the savages rush with weapons in hand to seek in Tejas an asylum for their freedom and settlements in keeping with the different levels of industry that they have achieved. Alongside these savage men who everywhere assault the Mexican frontier, arrogating to themselves the rights given them by the need to survive [and] sustained by their weapons, invaders of another kind are seen to arrive carrying the tools of a very advanced industry. Without respect for borders or boundaries of pure convention, they choose the

32 texas by tera´ n

best land. Nature tells them that [the land] is theirs, because, in effect, everyone can appropriate what does not belong to anyone or what is not claimed by anyone. When the occasion arises, they will claim the irrefutable rights of first possession. The laws of Mexico have provided for its territorial integrity, prohibiting foreigners from settling within twenty leagues of the frontier or ten from the coast unless permitted by the Supreme Government of the Union. But in the first place, that line which is the terminus from which the count is to be made is not marked out. Even those farmers operating in good faith would insist that they are not geographers, nor could any law on earth oblige them to be such, and that if Mexicans want their borders to be respected then they should take the trouble to mark them or to post people to guard them. But leaving aside this question, I must say that law is ignored, and official documents that I have obtained prove that more than two thousand foreigners are living on the best lands on the border. None of them has requested permission or settled more than twenty leagues from the border. In the present state of affairs there is no one to demand that they obey the laws, because the predominance of North Americans in Tejas inspires mistrust in the authorities, and they fear what no one can prevent through excessive zeal. The current situation is maintained, but at the cost of tolerance and indulgence, or more clearly, in many places (the most important ones, to be precise), acts of government cannot be carried out lest they provoke an uprising that inevitably will accomplish the expulsion of Mexicans from Tejas.51 I do not wish to refer to the established settlements, because on this point we are dealing with political considerations that give rise to endless disputes. But I must say in all frankness that everyone I have talked to here who is aware of the state of the country and devoted to its preservation is convinced, and has convinced me, that these colonies, whose industriousness and economy receive such praise, will be the cause for the Mexican federation to lose Tejas unless measures are taken soon. According to the [colonization] contracts made with the state government, in the eastern part of Tejas—which, as I have said, is the most fertile and whose rivers provide for the export of crops from the Trinity River to the Sabine for a distance of 180 leagues—there no longer exists any stretch of land where a Mexican family might locate.52 The entire coast is given over to the colonists, without the ten-league restriction prescribed by law preventing the problems that can arise from such a great mistake. The coast of Tejas is very low; marshes and flooding make the terrain uninhabitable for more than ten leagues [inland]. Why is it

introduction

33

that the town and presidio of La Bahı´a are 12 leagues from the anchorage that gives them their name? Let me be shown one single inhabitant, not a fisherman, of any nation who has been able to settle within 10 leagues of the sea. Precisely just beyond that forbidden terrain lies the most flourishing and productive land, and as I have said, all of it has been contracted. Fortunately for the Mexican nation, however, all the empresarios save one have been men without resources who have been unable to carry out their agreements. Their time limits are about to expire, and it is to be hoped that we will not commit such a folly again. If it is bad for a nation to have vacant lands and wilderness, it is worse without a doubt to have settlers who cannot abide by some of its laws and by the restrictions that [the nation] must place on commerce. They soon become discontented and thus prone to rebellion, and everything becomes graver still if those people have strong and indissoluble connections with a neighboring government that would be lacking in the fine moral qualities that characterize it if it looked with indifference, when necessary, upon the misfortunes of thousands of its subjects, who also would elicit the sympathy of their countrymen. This is a private sentiment that must be seen as a recourse in the policies of a people’s government such as theirs and ours. I believe I am not mistaken when I state that it is preferable [to have] a wilderness that bit by bit will cease to be so, in the hope of a time not far off when the progress of a population such as Mexico’s will spread over its empty lands. By now the Mexican inhabitants of Tejas would have settled a quarter of this wilderness, but their history since the time of their [first] settlement shows that they have suffered numerous misfortunes, most of which emanated from government mistakes. I return to [the subject of ] the colony. The empresario Austin,53 who had some resources at his disposal, took the best land that exists anywhere in Tejas. His devotion and industry have made that land very productive. The colony that he has created contains 1,800 individuals. This does not include the slaves, because [the settlers] conceal the number of the latter, but it must be considerable if one notes that a single colonist named Gros 54 keeps 150 blacks to cultivate his suerte [grant] of land. The first advantage that must be noted in the land chosen by Austin is that it is not frequented by the most powerful tribes of savages. Only the savages on the coast attacked the settlement, and since the North Americans understand war with the savages better than do our Mexicans, they dealt [the Indians] swift punishment, striking back ten times for every blow they received. If [the Indians] killed a settler, a large party of settlers would set out to hunt

34 texas by tera´ n

down and kill ten of the tribe, of any age or sex. By such behavior they have reduced the tribe of Tarancahuases [Karankawas] such that no one speaks of it [today], because it seems to have been exterminated.55 It is also hard for the savages to attack the settlers because their location is more systematic. They live in well-constructed houses on the same land that they cultivate and close enough [together] to provide for defense. They domesticate their cattle, which allows them to be kept in an area over which [the settlers] can extend their watch. Industry in this colony is outstanding, not only in the cultivation of the land for the harvesting of cotton and other cereals except wheat, and for raising cattle, but also in artisanry. They make wool and cotton textiles of fair quality; they have machines to gin cotton and to saw lumber to make planks. They sell their products in Be´jar, La Bahı´a, and Nacodoches [Nacogdoches], and they also go to the sea by the Brazos River. Despite this, the empresario [Austin] is not satisfied with the progress of the settlement and complains of losses; two of the colony’s boats coming from Louisiana with big cargoes wrecked on the coast. Another [boat] that they sent to Yucata´n with a load of cereals at the invitation, they say, of the national government was turned away because it was foreign in origin. It put in at various places on the coast to sell its cargo, and at every one it was rejected; finally, all of it was lost on the return trip. [Austin] complains about the state government’s measures with regard to denying him permission to sell the land to the settlers [and] about not being permitted to bring in slaves. [He complains] about the prohibition against the introduction of flour from the North, either for consumption or to sell in other places, as was done before and is done now, of course, because in Be´jar they eat bread from no other flour. [Austin complains, finally] that [the settlers] do not grow and sell tobacco, and [about] other less notable matters. For all these reasons, the colonies here are considered to be in a state of discontent, and the empresario in one of bankruptcy. With the recent example of the revolution of Nacodoches, whose only cause was the discontent of the empresario Edwards because the state government justly demanded that he fulfill the conditions of his contract, there is constant fear of an upheaval, and the traveler hears talk of little else.56 I have spoken of the savages and the foreigners and now I must consider the situation of the Mexicans. Those who live in Tejas, whose number surely totals less than four thousand souls, constitute the three towns of Be´jar, La Bahı´a, and Nacodoches. The grand resource for the subsistence of these populations is the soldiers’ pay. One of the errors

introduction

35

that we commit in Mexico is the belief that presidial soldiers are men who engage in agriculture. This is so untrue that we must consider that these troops are as alien to agrarian tasks as are those in the garrisons of [San Juan de] Ulu´a and Veracruz. When we speak of frontier communities, it is necessary to discuss the military companies because they are the most numerous among the inhabitants. When we say they are not farmers, we realize that the greatest calamity that can occur is to have no means of providing for the troops, and that these places can easily go to ruin. In the entire Mexican federation there is scarcely a more miserable little town than Laredo and some others located, like it, on the banks of the Rı´o Bravo. Because its bed is so deep, the river’s waters cannot be used for irrigating the land without costly public works. Thus, nothing is produced in those towns except for some corn that is harvested in the bottomlands of the river and that frequently is lost because of either a lack or an excess of water, depending on the floods. The communities receive everything from outside and from far away, because they are all outposts in the wilderness. It is difficult to understand why they remembered the unfortunate villa of Palafox to register it with the commandery general as a site, because some years ago it disappeared from the face of the earth. The greatest obstacle to rebuilding it is that the catastrophe that happened there filled its longtime residents with such terror and panic that today the site where [Palafox] stood is held to be cursed and prone to calamities. What is certain, without a doubt, is that [the place] offers nothing that would attract settlers, though I do believe it important to reestablish the town at another site so as not to leave empty such a large area as lies between the presidio of [San Juan Bautista del] Rı´o Grande and Laredo.57 Focusing on Tejas, the three towns are isolated from one another and from the rest of the Mexican population. They cannot resist the feared uprising of the colonies and of the foreigners who have entered clandestinely. Rather, however much we might think to help the Mexicans, they must be considered already under the power of the agitators, and therefore the Mexicans [must be considered already] expelled entirely from Tejas. If the expedition sent to Nacodoches last year had landed at La Bahı´a, as planned, it would have come ashore into the most distressful situation, deprived of any means of entering the province, much less of reaching its destination through 170 leagues of wilderness. We cannot rely on aid from Be´jar, because that town has none, even in peaceful times. What can we expect in the case of a revolution, whose first consequence would be to cut [Be´jar] off from the coast, because the town is

36 texas by tera´ n

under the control of the foreigners, who are the sole owners of the wagons [carros] that are used for travel in this country? The towns of Tejas have suffered great setbacks, and what is learned from their history is that the mindless Spanish government, when it made a determined effort to populate these lands, sent Indians from Tlascala [Tlaxcala] under the charge of missionary priests. [The Spanish] placed exorbitant funds in the missionaries’ hands so that they might pursue unchecked their chief desire to construct buildings. Thus it was that at every league they went about building churches, some of them so sumptuous and of such quality that they could well take the place of many in Mexico. There are four of them in the vicinity of Be´jar, with their corresponding convents, and one of them preserves its silver ornaments to this day. When the friars were established and the orderly and systematic spirit that controls all their activities produced some result from such costly nonsense, that fickle [Spanish] government removed the friars, and with them the sole reason for those clusters of inhabitants. They dispersed, and today not one of their descendants is known. After the friars were replaced by soldiers, there was nothing but expeditions and attacks on the savages, with little concern for what constitutes a stable settlement, which is the cultivation of the land and the growth of its population. The inhabitants of Coahuila, of Nuevo Leo´n, and even of San Luis [Potosı´] were brought in to exterminate the savages. This was followed by the revolution [i.e., War of Independence]; presidial troops were called far away to fight against the patriots. Be´jar, after being under the control of the latter, passed into the hands of the royalists as a consequence of the battle of Medina. Elisondo 58 pursued those who were escaping toward the [United] States of the North. He stopped them at the Trinity River with false promises of pardon and protection, and when he had them in his power he cut the throats of seventy of them. Arredondo, who had the presidial companies together in Monterrey, also disarmed the inhabitants of the frontier and deprived them of any means of defense, which allowed the savages to create widespread devastation without punishment. These evils have subsided, and the other towns now enjoy some calm in which to recover from so much misfortune.59 But in Be´jar, which is the most important town among all those that have been embraced by these disasters, where there is a greater number of farmers and industrious people, new worries have arisen with the admission and introduction of foreigners. At any moment they expect a revolution to break out, for which, in effect, all the necessary elements exist and for which many indications can be seen: parties of foreigners

introduction

37

cross the country in different directions without [the authorities] knowing the purpose of such extraordinary travel; they enter and depart from the Mexican towns; they travel to the encampments of the savage nations; and they travel all over the colonies and the entire frontier. The disturbance is unceasing; not a week goes by without the alarming report that Nacodoches is under siege, or that through such and such location an army of troublemakers has entered [the area], always with its vanguard of murdering savages. The foreigners also know that they are feared and distrusted, and are afraid of being seized unawares and thrown off their land. In short, here you see in everyone the agitation that precedes a great upheaval. I think this can be avoided, but if it happens that all the ingredients that have accumulated begin to ferment, this lovely portion of Mexican territory will be hopelessly lost, because it is an arduous task to dislodge the enemy once he takes it over, even when [we] have a numerical superiority. The situation of these inhabitants gives rise to considerations of another sort that are not purely practical. Reflect on what is happening around them: three little towns of the Mexican federation in an area of more than twenty thousand square leagues are in the midst of a great movement of many nations and peoples who are coming to them from all directions. Either I am mistaken, or this is a development of the greatest importance to the history of the human species. At the same time, the borders of Tejas are penetrated by swarms of savages forced out of their ancient haunts—weapons in hand, in search of lodging—and by crowds of the civilized people who follow after them, nurturing an equal desire for Mexican land. The savage is hounded by civilization, which has entered even into his forests through the well-known phenomenon of rapid growth characteristic of well organized and constituted nations. But what compels the cultured American to follow the same path and to seek new lands, leaving great wildernesses behind? It seems clear that some of them, not content with having fought for so long in Missouri and Arkansas, have challenged one another to meet again in Tejas. Upon considering such strange events, one cannot help but worry and wonder what will become of the province of Tejas. Luckily for everyone, the vastness of the land offers relief and has spared them up to now from the conflicts of crowding upon one another. If the scenario were more reduced, so many men from different races would have met within it and been compelled inevitably to kill one another.60 I should end this long report now, though I have reduced it as much as possible. But out of special regard for you—which is what caused me

38 texas by tera´ n

to leave my home for this interminable journey—and confident above all that, if you do not find solutions [in] what I will propose, which [insufficiency] I will attribute to my lack of information—that is, up to date and subsequent to my departure, without which it is impossible to make good decisions, I will add the following: The first thing that occurs to me is that it is easiest to send General Bustamante another cavalry company so that he may locate specifically in Be´jar with these reinforcements. This measure calls for immediate action, because if it is true that these inhabitants are frightened and believe, therefore, that they will be lost within a month, what cannot be doubted is that on the frontier there are intrigues, and that the Edwardses and that revolutionary doctor, whose death came to be believed, devote themselves to seducing the colonies.61 I feel that Bustamante’s presence is necessary because we need a person whom the foreigners respect.62 Second, settlement by North Americans should be suspended in the territory of Tejas, but the established colonies should remain and be granted as much freedom as possible in the cultivation of the land, the sale of their products, and the importation of those [products] of prime necessity to them, according to their uses. If [the North Americans] are allowed to introduce slaves, the Mexicans of Tejas should also be permitted to do so, but if [slavery] is denied to some it should be denied to all.63 Third, the land of Tejas, or at least its eastern part where its principal rivers begin to be navigable, should be reserved for Mexican settlers. This measure is being taken too late, because there remain no lands with such advantages since Austin managed to appropriate them. Regarding the Mexican colonists, there are very great difficulties to overcome, but it is absolutely necessary to establish at least one or two [colonies] in order to counterbalance foreign ways. Reflecting on the industry of the North Americans, and the means they use to increase the value of their lands in a short time, I find that only in Yucata´n would we have people who resemble them. The inhabitants of that state have the two industries of agriculture and navigation. The transfer of five thousand Yucatecans, or a thousand families, to the banks of the Trinity River in the course of two years is the greatest and most beneficial enterprise for the [Mexican] federation. It alone would suffice to give distinction to the current government, as I see it, and with that result alone I would consider my poor efforts well rewarded. I am persuaded that it would be very easy for you to request this worthwhile measure from the present Congress, and within eight months it can be halfway accomplished. If you adopt this

introduction

39

project as your own and do not wish to neglect it until its conclusion— that is, for two years—I offer you my services. I will be your agent for [recruiting] colonists in Yucata´n, your surveyor, and your architect; and if I do not volunteer to be a settler and empresario it is because I am growing old and I have neither a fortune nor a position to assume in political turmoils. My time now is needed for my family and for taking care of myself,64 and none of this is compatible with the wilderness. But we will not lack for men of means to whom we can turn. The national treasury will have to spend a hundred thousand pesos or a bit more. This [expenditure] is indispensable, because in our country nothing is done if the government does not do it. The way for Mexicans to be industrious entrepreneurs is for them to be encouraged once, twice, or even three times. If they are spurred, we can rely on their perseverance, and we should expect that if they are infused with the colonizing spirit, colonization will become popular. They will be filled with this frenzy for the north country and will populate its wilderness in just a few years. It is also a shame that we cannot do today what the Spanish did before. From San Luis Potosı´ to Be´jar I have not visited a single town of any size that had not been a Tlascaltecan Indian settlement, established at a cost to the [royal] treasury and run by [missionary] fathers. [This is] a little-known fact, as is all our history.65 Fourth, garrisons of troops from either the center of the federation or from the presidios should be established as colonies. There is an opportunity that I must mention: the banks of the small but lovely Medina River five leagues below Be´jar have not been claimed as [private] property, and its lands are as easily irrigated as are those of this city [Be´jar]. I only mention this fact, so as not to go on at length, but I assure you that it is a really easy project. If a body of just 400 men came, the army would be freed once and for all from the onerous duty of maintaining permanent garrisons in this country.66 This is what I have to offer to remedy the poor condition of this country, which calls for executive actions, whatever they may be. I am sorry to bother you by sending such lengthy reading, but think of how much I had to write about, eliminating unorganized notes and documents that I had determined not to discuss until my return. I wish for you the best of health and complete happiness, and extend to you again the respect and loyalty through which I am your most attentive friend and servant, who with the greatest consideration kisses your hand.

S

THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

t h e d i a ry

S

‘‘Texas by Tera´n, His Journey, 1828’’

figure 5 Tera´n may have seen such a mounted couple— depicted in this original Linati watercolor— at Be´xar, a town where horse culture reigned supreme. From a private source in Mexico, courtesy of Joseph Musso.

d i a ry

S Be´xar to Nacogdoches From Be´jar [to Nacogdoches] sunday, april 13, 1828 At 4 : 01 p.m., departure from Be´jar: 15-minute stop at the guard post.1 At 5 p.m. arrival at the Salado [Creek]. One league of level road east through hills: vegetation very thick with grasses and plants of the genus gaura and verbena, and a liliaceous plant that sen˜or Berlandier called narciso.2 Camp on the west bank of the Arroyo del Salado. This small stream runs deep between two hills. Along its entire length there is a forest of oak, pecan, plum, elm? and cottonwood trees.3 Its source is to the northwest of Be´jar, six leagues from this site on the Salado, and it flows into the Be´jar [San Antonio] River one-half league above the Espada Mission.4 Calm: very clear sky: much humidity, and by dawn a heavy dew. Samples of the plants were gathered. At night much calling of the local tiburo´n, rana taurina [bullfrog], singing of owls, and another very strange song that sounded like a cuckoo to Mr. Berlandier.5 monday, the 14th. From the Arroyo del Salado to the Cı´bolo. From 7 : 25 until 1 : 25 we traveled through the hills. In crossing the valleys they form, there are streambeds so deep and narrow that they are very dangerous for the carriages. It is said that the North Americans have opened the road, but there is scarcely more than a path and distance markings on the trees.6 The hills are sandstone of a gritty and dull appearance on some crags. But the valleys and all are covered by the most abundant vegetation: delphinium, tradescantia, verbenna . . . 7 [and] a malvaceous plant that we have not identified, as well as a syngenetic of the poligamia superflua, and several others.8 It is not easy to annotate the great harvest that sen˜or

44 texas by tera´ n

Berlandier has made. Item: singenesia segregada.9 Many trees: the mimosa inga appears as a thick tree without thorns, interspersed among the ulmus?, celtis, quercus, and the others mentioned before. The grassy plants are extremely abundant, as are the trees. In every place one is surrounded by prairies, forests, and groves.10 The Arroyo del Cı´bolo is small and perennial and it comes from deeper in the interior than does the Be´jar River, with which it joins in the hilly wilds of San Bartolo. Its cut is 20 varas deep; its direction, as with all the other rivers above Saltillo, is west to east.11 The number marking the distance at this spot is 27, which would be English miles and which agrees quite closely with our estimate.12 Heading east-northeast. Strong south-southeasterly and easterly winds. A clear sky and hot day. Humidity at night, though not so much as at the Salado. The difference is the temperature, because the dawn at the Salado was cool, and thus there was a heavier dew. A transit [inmersio´n] was observed of a satellite of [sign for Jupiter], and elevations of [sign for Sun] were taken for the hour. But there was no chance during the night to determine latitude. Animals, turkeys, owls, bullfrogs, and others with unfamiliar cries. tuesday, the 15th. Our march began at 7 : 35 and stopped at 3 : 16. The numbering indicates a distance of 49 miles [from Be´jar]. We did not make a full day’s march because the officer in charge of our escort halted us for no reason at a place where there was [only brackish, salty water]. The soil is sandy, cut by deep gullies. It appears to slope downward, but the barometer indicates no descent at all.13 The mineralogist [Rafael Chovell] investigated two hills of ferrous clay. Among the innumerable plants collected is the lithosperma, which is useful in dyeing; lantana . . .14 Four miles from the previous site we encountered two carts loaded with pecans [nueces], pulled by oxen and driven by two North Americans. Some of the soldiers wanted to buy part of that harvest [but] the drivers gave some to the whole group. These individuals come from the new colonies.15 A very hot and cloudy day. At night a clear sky until 9 o’clock, but very dark after that. Breezes from the south-southeast and east. The hygrometer is broken. Water at this place is taken from a pool left over from the rains. It is very brackish and a little polluted.

be´ xar to nacogdoches

45

wednesday, april 16. Our march began at 6 : 55 in the morning and ended at 2 : 00 in the afternoon at the ford of the Guadalupe River. The numbering indicates [no number given]. The temperature at 2 : 00 in the morning 16 is very high, but a northeast breeze began to cool the air and to dissipate the clouds from that direction that were threatening heavy rains. Mineralogy: At the 68-mile point, at 300 paces from the tree that marks it, where water is to be found, we found a formation of gypsum in layers lying on top of sandstone, and beneath another layer of red sandstone with seashells [conchas], there is a layer of ferrous clay laced with veins of selenite. Fragments of all these were collected. Plants: Salvia, Phalaris; much ramunculus; abundant viccia (paturage), and chelone? 17 Grassy plants are extremely dominant, such that, although this land is fertile for all types of agriculture proper to the climate, its strongest tendency is toward prairies. There are extensive forests of quercus, populus, mimosa inga (a mimosa prostrata efflorescent in buds and yellow flowers). [Text incomplete] . . . in this forest must be salix, carpulus. Samples were collected of them all.18 The beauty of this country surpasses all description. It is all covered in vegetation, even the ground worn by the wagons [carros]. The Guadalupe River, which we crossed at the end of our day’s march and along whose western bank we traveled for three miles, is surprising for the pleasant nature of its course and the forest which makes its banks impenetrable. The big trees on its banks appear from the plain to be only a third or a half of their height, because the [river’s] bed is deep. And although it flows over clay and over layers of very gritty sandstone, it is invariable because the masses of trees create strong barriers [to its meandering]. The river across from the so-called villa of Gonza´lez is 15 varas wide and 5 deep. Its current is not very strong, and it is crossed on a raft made crudely over two canoes and propelled with oar and rudder by two tight-lipped North Americans. On the eastern bank of this river are six wooden cabins, whose construction shows that those who live in them are not Mexicans. They are almost square, with five to six varas to a side. At the doorway there is a small gallery or porch the same length as the cabin and slightly narrower. Though the house is a single piece, it has two rooms, a high one and a low one. In the latter is found the storeroom and kitchen, whose chimney sticks up on the outside, and in the higher part are the bedroom and

46 texas by tera´ n

living room. The building and its porch are all made of wood, or of logs sawed lengthwise and placed horizontally as close together as allowed by the mortises of the four guideposts that support the structure at the corners. The gaps are covered with mud and thin shingles. A thin layer of mud insulates the chimney against fire.19 I speak in such detail about these dwellings because I examined them quite closely from the outside. Although I wished to do so, I never managed to enter one of them. I made my first attempt under the greatest necessity. At 3 : 00 the thermometer was reading 25� Re´aumur,20 and I had spent an hour and a half in the sun while crossing the river. I approached a cabin in hopes that its owner might offer me its shelter, but it was in vain. I learned later that the North Americans are not used to making such invitations. One arrives quite naturally, sure of being well received. But if one stops at the door, no one encourages him to come inside. In the afternoon I approached the porch of what seemed to be the principal dwelling and luckily I was welcomed by someone who spoke very good Spanish, because he was a Colombian.21 Two other men who were in the house scarcely noticed that there were foreigners present. In my conversation with the Colombian, I confirmed what the whole place had indicated to me: the situation of these five foreign families is unfortunate. Their possessions consist of a few oxen, cows, and swine. They raise corn and cotton, but with few tools for their labors. They have been settled in this country less than a year. They were visited by a tribe of Comanches who were on an expedition against the Tahuacases and who stole two of their horses.22 They cannot be sure of their safety, especially in a region that is close to the permanent habitat of the buffalo and consequently much frequented by the savages [ba´rbaros]. This place with five families is called the villa of Gonza´lez.23 Bot[an]y: Trifoliund (appears to be a new species).24 The Guadalupe River, in the opinion of the settlers who have explored almost its entire length, would be very useful as a canal for canoes and narrow steamboats if the logs that block its natural width and speed up the current were removed. But this project is beyond their resources and feasible only with those of the entire nation. figure 6 Thermometer, showing Re´aumur, Centigrade, and Fahrenheit scales.

be´ xar to nacogdoches

47

thursday, april 17. On the march at 10 : 30 in the morning, ending at 3 : 30. Cloudy with some drops of rain at 9 o’clock. Steady southeast breeze and high temperature. Our estimated distance was four leagues. We lacked the mileage count of the North Americans and were content to have the direction marked for us on the trees. Actually, we had no sure guide who had made the same journey we had undertaken. The road was very difficult because of the gullies of dry arroyos and the thick woods. We lost our way twice, and since we set out late because sen˜or Berlandier had to use the early morning hours for organizing the collected plants, today’s march has been the most vexing one since we left Be´jar. One league from our previous stop is the house of a North American family that is as poor as those in the other place. Two plants have attracted our attention because of the harm they do. One is called yedra, and the other, ortiguilla, or evil woman [mala mujer], and we have suggested to sen˜or Berlandier that he study them.25 The vegetation on the terrain traversed today is less varied and abundant in plants, but the woods are very thick. In the Arroyo de los Tejocotes,26 today’s stop, we have found a small amount of running water of a yellowish color caused by the logs and leaves that choke its extremely narrow channel. The bed shows signs that rain-fed currents run swiftly through it. The ford was impassable to carriages, but the troops and men of our expedition worked all afternoon to cut down the steep banks. Nevertheless, our vehicles will advance at great peril. At night, heavy overcast to the northwest, but with a breeze from the opposite direction. At two in the morning there was a heavy but calm drizzle. At 3 : 00 and 4 : 00, a very heavy storm with showers, constant lightning and strong winds from the north: a phenomenon similar to the one at the San Miguel campsite 27 on the road from Laredo and to some of those observed at Be´jar. The east and southeast winds—which are naturally strong in level terrain where there are no great heights to shield them—bring from the Gulf of Mexico moisture which is usually attenuated by the very warmth of those winds. This atmospheric development lasts several days, and this is when the barometer drops the most and the thermometer rises. When the clouds have gathered in the north, the strong currents of air come from that direction and quickly push out the moisture brought in for several days from the southeast. The clouds condense and push against

48 texas by tera´ n

one another, giving birth—it appears—to these storms. And since the north wind brings cold temperatures from the thawing of the northern regions, it causes the atmospheric temperature to drop. The atmosphere, unable thus to hold so much moisture, releases it in showers. These atmospheric effects have seemed the same to me since my departure from Laredo. They seem to explain how one anticipates the rainy season in Texas, coinciding with the spring. It is quite clear that following an electric shock in the atmosphere has come a strong wind from the north that lasts a certain time, and that the storms have formed in the opposite direction from the ocean, as occurs in the highlands of Mexico that have mountain ranges to the west and to the north. The Arroyo de los Tejocotes originates far from where we saw it.28 friday, april 18. Note: On Friday the 18th, before leaving Los Tejocotes, we saw a herd of 40 cattle pass by in very good condition, being driven from the Austin colonies for sale at Be´jar. They were driven by North Americans and one Mexican. The former had the wrong kind of accouterments [harneses] for working cattle.29 At that spot I received a leg of venison as a gift from the North American who owned a nearby house, to whom the previous afternoon I had given some money and biscuits for the inconvenience it must have caused him when I obliged him to stop and give us information about the route.30 A light rain until 8 : 00 in the morning. The partially unloaded wagons forded the creek with the help of the soldiers and men, an operation that was finished by 10 : 00. A very cold northeast wind. The road: 1 league through forest and the rest through open and gentle hills on which we see nothing more than a thick layer of ground vegetation, and on the tops, a gray and reddish sandstone, gritty in appearance, crumbling, and dotted with iron oxide and particles of quartz. No layers of limestone appear anywhere; predominantly clay. These hills, dispersed at random and with such gentle slopes, form the broadest horizon [visible] since Laredo. From the highest of these I calculated the direction we had taken, an impossible task a few days ago. We confirmed an east-northeast heading. From the hilltop they showed me the Lomas del Hierro [Iron Hills], which look similar to those around Be´jar. The Colorado River runs through them. If my information is correct, the sources of the Be´jar, Guadalupe, and Colorado Rivers are very close together. The first one flows to the southeast to La Bahı´a; the second bends to the north and then assumes its own direction; and the third,

be´ xar to nacogdoches

49

even more so. The San Marcos River is a branch of the Guadalupe that flows into it from its north bank. San Marcos is a site where there was once a detachment of troops.31 We made camp among the hills where there was water, with little flow and stagnant farther along. It seems to be leftover rainwater. This site—which is our first time [to stop so early?] because we did not want to commit ourselves to the difficult crossing of the next arroyo after one in the afternoon, being informed that it was muddy for a long stretch—had no name, and someone in the Commission has called it Loma Grande.32 Nevertheless, its geographical position will become well known, because the need to be sure of the condition of our chronometers causes me to pass up no opportunity. Accordingly, at 3: 00 in the afternoon I took hour angles of the sun. At 11: 24 [p.m.] I observed the passage of the Espiga de la Virgen [Spica] through the meridian, and at one in the morning, the transit of the first satellite of Jupiter. We collected a grassy plant called visquillo whose grain the savages use as [a kind of wheat?]. In the Arroyo de los Tejocotes we examined a tree of the rhus genus, as described by Michaux; its shade is quite noxious to some people.33 On the banks of the Guadalupe there are many Juglans (nogales), apparently of the Louisiana species.34 saturday, the 19th. Departure at 8 : 10. At 9 : 30 we forded the Arroyo de la Vaca.35 At 10 : 10 we halted because one of the instrument wagon’s wheels broke. We can estimate our distance traveled at 3 leagues. The Arroyo de la Vaca is forded in three branches that are close together and in which one scarcely sees a current in the small amount of water. It looks more like a swamp. On the road to La Bahı´a the river reunites and enters the aforesaid Bahı´a del Espı´ritu Santo with a great flow, creating a less-congested bar than that of the San Antonio. Breeze from the northwest. A cool day with clear skies. In the morning the ground plants were dry, lacking the abundant dew that moistens them on other days. All the previous night a strong northwest wind blew. This evening, winds were calm after 6 : 30, but it was still colder. Centigrade temperature at 12 : 00 midnight: 5.3� We have worked all day to repair the wheel, for which we cut up an oak tree from the campsite, which is at the edge of a forest of these trees. From Laredo [south] to San Luis [Potosı´] breakdowns were unrepairable because of the lack of wood.36

50 texas by tera´ n

sunday, the 20th. Clear skies. The plants showed no moisture, but the temperature from the beginning of the day showed that the wind was blowing from the south. We have collected a beautiful tree of the genus esculus, or Pavia, as described by Michaux.37 Yesterday two soldiers in the escort who came from Be´jar brought correspondence from Mexico City. There was no march. The day was spent in repairing the wagon wheel. The transit [of Jupiter’s moon] expected at 7: 28 could not be observed. At 12 : 00 midnight, a temperature of 16� Centigrade. monday, the 21st. Heavy dew as a result of the breezes from the east and south and of the morning cold. All day [it blew] from the southeast, sometimes heavily, carrying scattered clouds, some of them very low, to the north. At night the sky was so overcast that we could not observe the transit of the second moon of [symbol for Jupiter]. Our march began at 8 : 00 in the morning and ended at 4 : 00 in the afternoon, though 2 hours and 20 minutes should be subtracted for delays. In general, our pace has been very slow, because the route was nearly blocked. The one cleared by our people has advanced with great difficulty due to the depth of the arroyos, the thick forests, and the mud. We have passed five arroyos, the first two containing stagnant water. The next one, called the Navidad, seems to be permanent. In its bed we found a layered rock— or at least one with irregular divisions which seem like layers—that at first glance might be taken for crumbled porphyry. But it is a simple accumulation of particles, or a sandstone in which there is glassy feldspar, quartz, and minute flecks of mica: gray, yellowish, and reddish, dry, does not stick to the tongue, crumbly. The second arroyo is called El Metate. It runs through a deep, narrow, and steep-walled cut where one sees only clay and ground vegetation. And the third one, on whose banks we have halted, is the Cedros, according to our information. The water of these last two is clear and runs with some strength. From what we can see at the place of our passage, it seems that these three arroyos could be joined with little effort.38 Configuration of the landscape: first, hills covered in grass, and at their bases and in their folds, oak forests: a wide dell through which the arroyos run, with impenetrable forest; very big trees bound together with vines.

be´ xar to nacogdoches

51

We collected two syngenetics of the poligamia necesaria that are not described in Michaux, and the Erythrina herbacea, which is.39 The camp at the Cedro[s] was visited by a very old savage. He was naked, and only over his genital organ did he wear a square piece of suede as a covering. At his abdomen there was a cord of buffalo hair so tight that he bore permanent marks from that ligature. Then it was loosened, and we could see—and he confirmed—that [he wore it tight] from hunger, because his stomach was empty. We gave him meat and biscuits, but he asked me only for tobacco. He is from the Tancahues [Tonkawas] tribe, and he told us that some of them were camped nearby. With this news our companions went out and returned an hour and a half later accompanied by the chief and another individual from the rancherı´a who were mounted on horses. From the conversation I held with the chief I learned that this is a hunting tribe; that they are at war with the Comanches, Tahuacanos [Tawakonis], and Huecos [Wacos], and friendly with the Lipanes and the other tribes at Nacodoches; that the Lipanes are currently at La Bahı´a with other Tancahues; and that they do not hunt buffalo, but never lack for deer and turkey. They receive carbines and ammunition in exchange for horses in the new settlements.40 tuesday, the 22nd. At 8 : 00 I went to the encampment, or rancherı´a, of the Tancahues a league away: Twenty huts [constructed] in the form of an arch, built with considerable regularity from bent branches, some of them covered with leaves and others with buffalo skins. The men were lounging inside them, while the women were quite busy skinning deer, tanning hides, and gathering firewood and water. Others sewed the accouterments [harneses] and the buffalo hides in which most of them were dressed. The oldest women seemed to work the hardest. These women are quite disgusting. The tanned hides that hang around their waists are covered in grease from the animals they are skinning. Their hair and faces are unkempt. [They wear] bracelets of polished iron on their upper arms and few earrings, but many symmetrical paintings on the throat and breasts, done as permanent markings [tattoos]. The young women are less disgusting, because it seems that they work less. These people wear dark blue paint, with which they line the eyes and lips and make a stripe in the direction of the nose, but all the women have painted [tattooed] many concentric circles around their nipples and over their entire breasts. With this same artifice, using straight lines they create necklaces that cover the area from the chin down to the throat. The men wear more adornment. The chief

52 texas by tera´ n

of this small tribe has placed beads along the entire edge of his ears, the cartilage of which has seven holes for this purpose. Another has made himself a shell collar fashioned of disks one inch in diameter; and the most attractive of these pieces is in his forelock, tied with a filthy strap. Around the huts there were a great many dogs living with the savages. The bones of the animals they kill, the blood, the presence of insects, dogs, children, etc., all make the encampment very disgusting. The chief yawned and extended his arms when I arrived, shook my hand, and told me that he had a headache, after which [announcement] he returned to his hut. In the middle of it there was a fire on which a pot of Indian tea [te´ del indio] was boiling (we still have not determined what plant this is).41 With a little bundle of twigs he beat it to a froth, and when that settled he very slowly sipped the brew. He smoked the pipe, which is two feet long, expelling great quantities of smoke from his nostrils. I think these savages would scarcely survive without trading with cultivated nations. They use needles, awls, knives, and clay and cast iron pots. Their pipes, except for the shaft, are English. All this in addition to their firearms and ammunition, spears, and arrow points. The Tancahues are very few and poor. They have seemed to me lazier than the ones I have seen, and the hostility in which they live with the tribes I have already mentioned prevents them from pursuing the buffalo.42 A hot and humid day, with wind from the south. In the afternoon, intermittent drizzle, and the same at night, though stronger at times. After three leagues it was necessary to make camp because a wagon broke. We collected the plant called te´ del indio, but in too poor a condition to determine its nature. wednesday, the 23rd. A campsite that we named Sa´nchez. At 9 : 00 we set out, leaving behind the broken wagon so that the men might return for it with the front assembly of the other one. This was done, and the repairs begun yesterday were finished. Three leagues farther on we made camp on the banks of the Colorado, near the house of a North American called Mr.———. He is quite urbane, his family very honorable. Their services were very helpful to us. The food they served us cost two reales 43 per person. This settler enjoys more comforts than all those at the Guadalupe: a nice dwelling, a large field, 60 to 80 head of cattle, and a greater number of pigs and hens. They have begun to grow garden plants, having already served us lettuce and onions. They cultivate corn, from which they make a bread that in taste and characteristics resembles the Mexicans’ thick

be´ xar to nacogdoches

53

tortillas. Madame speaks Spanish well enough to be understood in conversation, as does a daughter aged sixteen.44 They told us the story of their settlement in this country, which has been at the cost of great hardship. The Hueco [Waco] tribe took away their possessions and captured everyone in the family along with other persons from Be´jar, who, knowing more about the savages’ habits, managed to free everyone. The settlement is the fruit of the labors of Mr. Weln 45 and a companion, who began with 200 pesos. They purchased four cows at La Bahı´a, and that was the only source for the cattle they now have and the principal [source] of this family’s modest fortune. Aside from their possessions, Madame says they have 1,200 pesos in savings. They have been on this land for five years, and they speak with great satisfaction of its fertility and good climate. In a word, they seem happy. According to their reports, [the land] produces wheat, sugarcane, flax, excellent cotton, corn, beans, sweet potatoes, and good tobacco.46 They have forgone the last because of the prohibition,47 but they have enough for their own consumption, and the seeds have scattered so much that it is growing wild. The monopoly law has a very harmful effect on the settlers and inhabitants of Texas. Out of respect for it they do not cultivate tobacco, yet, since what the government provides them from its so-called labrados [factories in Orizaba] is terrible and comes at exorbitant cost [only] to rot at Be´jar, foreign trade fills the need. [The tobacco] becomes contraband in another way [smuggling from the United States], without the inhabitants receiving the benefit of its cultivation, or the government [receiving] that of its monopoly. But that is not the only exception to the general laws that is necessary in Texas.48 A rainy day, with winds from the south and much heat and humidity. thursday, the 24th. Atmospheric conditions the same as on the previous day. We are camped on the right side of Mr. Weedson’s house.49 The day is spent ferrying supplies by canoe and swimming the wagons across by hand. The carriage was dismantled to float it across on a raft. It rained intermittently. Each drizzle lasted just a few minutes; some were true downpours. At 3 : 00 in the afternoon, a clear sky, gentle breeze from the northwest for a few minutes, then calm. At night, cool temperature and dew beginning at 10: 00. The tube of the barometer broke without being struck or suffering any other accident, just as the others have broken. It seems we should attribute this to the quality of the glass and not to its thickness, which is excessive. It would be better

54 texas by tera´ n

for the interior diameter of the tube to be smaller, because less mercury would be used, and the barrel [badana] of the cistern would undergo less pressure. friday, the 25th. We remained on the banks of the Colorado waiting for the repair of the entire front assembly of the instrument wagon. While here, they have indicated to me the Colorado’s source 80 leagues to the northwest and its mouth 30 leagues to the southeast. The Colorado is bigger than the Guadalupe, but not enough to be navigated by steamboats. It enters the sea at La Bahı´a [de Matagorda] with little strength, spilling out beforehand over its banks and forming a swamp (bayu´, in the popular speech of the Americans).50 R[e´aumu]r temperature at— 10 : 30: 22�, gentle southern breeze. 11 : 00: 23�, same 24� at a calm moment 12 : 00: 23.5�, southern breeze 1 : 00: 24�, same

At 1 : 30: 2 : 00: 2 : 30: 4 : 00: 5 : 00: 6 : 00:

24.5� 24.9� same, 25� 24.2� 23.2� stronger southern breeze 22� same

At night I observed Spica’s passage of the meridian, and the transit of the first satellite of [symbol for Jupiter]. saturday, the 26th. Gentle breeze from the southeast. Heavy dew. Low temperature. Since late yesterday the level of the river has begun to rise, for which reason we sent the remounts across. If this precaution had not been taken, the high water, which was considerable by morning, would have held us up. We crossed the river at 9 : 00 a.m. in a small canoe provided us by a North American from the Weedson house. At 10 : 30 we began our march along a defile opened through the forest by our escort over ground considerably washed by floodwaters. At just over half a league, the terrain was a continuation of hills devoid of forest but covered with grasses and vegetation. We passed through several very muddy arroyos; the next-to-last one had clear running water, but we left it because there was no firewood. A half league farther on we stopped at another that runs through a bed of very crumbly multicolored sandstone that abounds in quartz and leaves in its detritus a gritty surface that is quite uncom-

be´ xar to nacogdoches

55

figure 7 This 1826 map of Texas was drawn by Galli and printed by Linati at the same time these two Italians were involved with publishing El Iris in Mexico City. Tera´n probably carried the map on his 1828 inspection, or added his observations to it shortly thereafter. Courtesy of Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.

fortable for travel. This is the Arroyo de San Bernardo (see the notes on the map).51 We arrived at its crossing at 4 : 30, having made 5 leagues. sunday (april) 27th. Very strong south and southeast winds carrying heavy moisture to the north. A hot day. At 7 : 30 we set out through hills and grassy prairies. The road level but muddy and sandy. At 11 : 30 we came to the villa or

56 texas by tera´ n

colony of Austin. Its secretary 52 met us on our approach and took us to a lone house they had prepared for our lodging.

S

Ideas about the colony 53 [An annual crop of ] 600 sacks [bales] of ginned cotton of 16 arrobas 54 each, at 8 pesos per hundredweight [quintal] in the colony; in New Orleans, at 10 pesos per quintal. Duties, if for consumption there, 3 pesos, and if for export, 7.5 sueldos, or hundredths of a peso, which is 2.5 percent of the duty. The export boat must be a foreign one. The Austin colonists devote themselves to raising mules, with the idea of shipping them to the French and English colonies in the Antilles. They say that Jamaica buys 5,000 mules a year. They seek to take part in the English market for cotton, for which they see an advantage in the displeasure that must have been caused by the increased duties that have been imposed on English textiles. The reason for the emigration of the North Americans to Mexican territory, according to the colonists themselves, is the better climate. To the north the freezing temperatures and snows create obstacles to their work for several months and force them to labor harder. In Texas they work year-round and therefore in greater moderation. In winter they clear and prepare the land that they will plant in the summer [spring].55 They repair the roads for wheels, because the vehicle called Wagu¨in is their only means of transportation, and thus no home is without one.56 They [the wagons] are pulled by oxen, mules, or horses, according to their purpose or the nature of the terrain. At any rate, they are light and sturdy machines crafted with perfection. The harnesses for this [draft] stock are very well made. The second reason they mention for emigration is that in the north agricultural production outstrips demand, and the prices are exceedingly low. The colonists hope for greater appreciation in the ports and on the coast of Mexico, because they know that shipping goods from the interior is quite costly. They hope to take over the supply of flour, grains, and meats in the ports. The most persistent goal for this colony is to obtain permission for the introduction of slaves. Without them they say that their settlement cannot prosper, nor can much of the land be cultivated, because there are forests so thick that only with negro labor can they be cleared. They petition the state government for permission to have slaves and make the following proposals: that the slave will be such only temporarily until he repays through his labor the cost of owning him, and that his descendants

be´ xar to nacogdoches

57

will be emancipated. The intent to have slaves is even more disguised under the manner in which the [Mexican] government guarantees the contracts that the colonists might make in North America with salaried workers. That is, [the state] compels the former to fulfill what was stipulated there, because it has an example that obliges it to take this kind of precaution. The settlers acquired free servants in Louisiana at the prices current in that country, and when they transported [the servants] to the colony, the latter realized that their labor was worth more, upon which they dissolved their contracts. When the question was put to Mexican magistrates, a verdict was given in favor of the servants.57 Another issue of great interest is that the Galveston Bay be opened to them, and that all Texas trade pass through there. Those from Be´jar, on the contrary, desire the opening of La Bahı´a del Espı´ritu Santo and want boats to be unloaded at the anchorages that are closest, such as Aranzazu´. The state government, according to what they told me in Be´jar, is inclined to exclude the foregoing ports and instead favors opening Corpus Christi, as well as Aranzazu´ at the mouth of the Nueces River, because in case the Department of Texas separates from the State of Coahuila— as is foreseen—it will not take with it the opened port.58 The colony is visited seasonally by an agent of the state government whose duty it is to authorize the act of possession by the settlers, for which formality they pay him 60 pesos in specie over three or four years. The agent himself says they often give him [in payment] the most ornery bull, estimated at fifteen or twenty pesos, and he has to reduce that value by half in order to sell it easily, there being nothing else to do with such a beast. He lives very humbly among the colonists and endures poverty because the emoluments of his job do not cover the costs of his trips from Be´jar. A settler’s [act of ] possession, besides the aforesaid expense, also involves paying the surveyor at least 40 pesos, which he collects immediately. Another sum, whose amount I do not know, is paid to the empresario.59 Not everyone likes this [arrangement], and since there are lawyers in the settlement, there is no lack of disagreement, though up to now they have not involved Mexican magistrates. By state law the ayuntamiento must meet at least every week; the colonists have complied as often as every month in order not to interrupt their labors in the fields and leave their homes, which are far away. This is the first year that they have an ayuntamiento. They eagerly await the day when they will enter into the full enjoyment of their political rights and boast of the major influence they will have in the administration of the state.60

58 texas by tera´ n

In the villa of Austin there are vagrants whom those engaged in the enterprise [the colony] have no means of suppressing, though they wish to do so. The corn harvest amounts to 40 thousand fanegas.61 From the 27th of April to the 27th [i.e., 7th] of May the wind blew strong and steady from the southeast, declining in the mornings to the east. It brought great masses of high clouds. The night of the 30th to [May] 1 there was a heavy storm from eight in the evening until six the following morning, with some momentary lulls. The clouds came from the northwest and west, and the wind was variable, but mainly from the southeast. The rain was heavy, and the river began to rise within 24 hours. Each day it rose by two or three feet until the seventh [of May]. The dwellings of the Huecos [Wacos] and the Tahuacanos [Tawakonis] are conical. The ones of straw are 40 feet in diameter and 25 in height, made of inclined poles and thatched with straw grass.62 They have two low doorways, one in front of the other, with a buffalo hide curtain. Those are the permanent dwellings. The mobile houses are of a similar shape, 15 to 20 feet in diameter and 10 feet high, and are covered with skins and carried on horseback. The Huecos have both kinds; the Tahaucanos just the second kind. The floor is covered with clumps of grass, except for a 3-foot circle in the middle where there is a foot-deep hole for the fire. This corresponds to a round opening in the roof where the smoke escapes. The Huecos have fifty to sixty dwellings of one kind or the other, estimates the American who saw them. Six men in each house, and three hundred warriors. [They have] 240 to 250 acres of land planted in corn and beans, squash, watermelons, and cantaloupes (the acre of 70 square yards * ).63 They consume salt in excess and the meat of buffalo and mesten˜o [wild] cattle. They have good horses, which they raise apparently by chance, because they make no effort at it. They do not use the plow; planting is done by the women using hoes. The men devote themselves [only] to killing animals in the hunt, because even the task of hauling and skinning the kill falls to the women. In a word, the making of houses, accouterments [harneses], firewood, water, all is the work of the women. Salt is abundant, but no deposit is known. They have a pregonero [crier]. They respect property: three horses were lost to the Navadachos and Anadacos, very primitive nomadic tribes, and the Tahuacano chief forced them to return the animals. The Hueco chief is superior in the two tribes, which in all other respects are equal; he is called Mechaco. They have few rifles and make advantageous use of the

be´ xar to nacogdoches

59

bow and arrow. Trade: horses, mules (stolen), and buffalo hides for cloth, mirrors, large knives [belduques], vermilion, blankets, hoes, awls, needles, chains, and glass beads. The chief deals on everyone’s behalf. They are said to be very dissolute.64 The tribe of the Cheraquees [Cherokees] is agrarian and originally from Tennessee. They live with police and order and have developed a system of government. In the [New] Orleans gazettes of March of this year it is reported that they have formed a constitution and that they have printed it in English and in their own characters, which they have used for some time. After a vigorous war against the North Americans they signed a peace treaty that guaranteed their independence and the ownership of certain lands in the interior of that state [Tennessee]. But being surrounded there by settlers, some of the Cheroque chiefs traded with the government in Washington the land they inhabited for the territory that is on the banks of the Arkansas River. From there they have moved in constant retreat from the North American population toward the Mexican border. This part of the tribe, without being absolutely dependent on the part that has remained in the United States, still maintains close ties, and they communicate with one another in writing with their signs or hieroglyphics. They are belligerent and make war with some skill. They are industrious, but have bad habits, especially drunkenness, in which regard they differ from the savages who inhabit Texas, who neither have nor seek liquor with which to inebriate themselves.65 On the 7th [of May] the river was seen to be lower. The southeast breeze was weak. In the afternoon, gentle from the northeast, and at night, calm with little breeze from the east. The sky was full of heavy clouds. Don Estevan Austin assures us that a settler found the bones of a mammoth on the banks of the Brazos River and that he kept a few to show [to Austin] upon his return from Mexico. But another settler who occupied the house lost them. [Austin] adds that the river comes from deep in the interior of hill country, and that in the heights upstream there is limestone from seashells, and in other parts, mica and quartz. The Indians have been seen to possess large blocks of salt crystals, which suggests that there is likely a deposit of it, as does the water of the river, which, when the level falls, is very salty. Flour from Saltillo would be sold in Austin at 43 pesos [per carga?] in this manner: 10 pesos in price at that villa, 18 pesos for transport to Be´jar, and 15 pesos from that city to Austin.66

60 texas by tera´ n

friday, the 9th (may). In order to leave our present position an effort was made to cross with the rest of our wagons (before the river flooded the intervening 7 miles from the arroyo).67 The crossing of the coach and the instrument wagon was done with the greatest ease with the chala´n, or canoe, that they have made at the villa. It is a launch 12 feet wide and at least 30 feet long, totally flat without any keel whatsoever. In it they ferried the coach without removing any parts, and the same for the wagon carrying additional cargo, which, along with the soldiers and drivers, would add another thousand pounds to the weight of the wagon. All of this takes three men: one at the rudder and two others who use a combination of oars and long poles. The river has risen considerably: 150 varas of full riverbed. Since the beginning of the rise the water has risen to a height of 40 English feet (37 Mexican feet).68 The night of the 8th, variable winds. A storm far away to the northwest, signs that a crisis has occurred in the atmosphere. This happens regularly in this climate when the southeast [wind] has blown in clouds from the Gulf for several days and amassed them far inland, where the elevation makes the air cooler. The moisture condenses, causing a reduction in its volume and concentrations of absorption. This results in differences in the density of the air and then opposing currents, conflicts of equal masses, etc., with electrical discharges that are both the effect and the cause of these great atmospheric movements that we observed in our crossing of Texas. The settlers’ observations confirm my own, and the leader of the colony told me authoritatively that the water that the southeast winds bring in as moisture soon returns in the river. I deduced from my observations that near the seacoast the rains and storms come from and form in the northern to western quadrant. This is confirmed by the experience of Don Estevan Austin, who has provided me the information that at the beginning of the spring the rain falls on the coast itself. Fifteen days later, with some exceptions, it falls on the villa of Austin 30 leagues from the coast, and as the season advances the rains head inward into Texas and away from the sea. The explanation for these phenomena is found in the differences in the sun’s heating of denser or less-dense layers of air and the different temperature to be found in a landscape that from east to west— or, more exactly, from southeast to northwest—rises imperceptibly. From what I see and from what I am told, the climate of Texas is more strongly influenced by the general causes of the theory of winds than is [the climate of ] those lands situated farther inland and adjacent to the great

be´ xar to nacogdoches

61

mountain ranges—where the respective location of [the mountains] modifies the general laws to a certain degree, producing effects limited to short expanses of territory—and that the vegetation in Texas and the repeated series of annual phenomena occur in a more constant manner because they are derived from fewer conditions or from a smaller number of combined movements in a given locality.69 The chief of the Bidaes said in a conversation with the empresario of the colony [Stephen F. Austin] that he was dissatisfied with the government of Mexico because, without seeking his opinion or his permission, it granted lands to the North Americans; that his tribe owned all of Texas, including all the land, the waters, and the buffalo, deer, and turkeys, because all the other tribes are foreign and the Bidaes are the only native one; and that the neglect of the Mexican government is even more disturbing with respect to the fact that the Bidai chief had been quite generous in dealing with that government and granting lands to the North Americans. The chief who held this conversation can field up to 40 men, on foot and armed with bows and arrows, to defend all of Texas. His tribe is camped on the banks of the Trinity and subsists on deer hunting, because the 120 individuals who probably constitute this ancient nation, owners of forty-three thousand square leagues of the most fertile land, cannot cultivate a single acre. What does seem certain is that they really should be considered the original or among the oldest savages in Texas, because the Lipanes, Comanches, Tahuacanos, and Huecos know by tradition that they have emigrated from the north, and the coastal Karancahuases [Karankawas] inhabited Louisiana 50 or 60 years ago.70 The government of the north [the United States], through treaties with the savages, trades [their homeland] for the lands they inhabit in the western states on the banks of the Red and Arkansas Rivers, and being placed in the borderlands, the savages spread into the Mexican territory that they find empty.71 Word has arrived at the villa from the settlers located on the banks of the Colorado that the Karancahuases have stolen some animals, for which reason 30 settlers were joining together to punish this offense.72 the 10th [of may]. At a quarter to two in the afternoon we managed to begin our navigation downriver in the chala´n, carrying the greater part of our equipment. The high water filled the entire cut, whose banks are adorned with a thick forest of black cottonwoods [a´lamos negros], willows, sycamores [pla´tanos occidentales] —according to Mr. Berlandier—and another that

62 texas by tera´ n

bears sa´mara.73 The cut of the riverbed is perpendicular at times and comprises layers of sandstone and very fine clay. At 3 : 25 we came upon the entrance to an arroyo whose current has flowed back from the avenue of the river. We penetrated it with some difficulty because of the thick trees. Two blacks and a mulatto were rowing, with a white man at the tiller. The first three kept up a constant singing, one on the verse and two in chorus, monotonous but very expressive songs, according to their gestures. Some of the words were English, but others seemed to be repeated syllables without any meaning, such as the following ones repeated by the chorus: Cuquituli-luli-lu, and another: Ujunchana-lun-juse´.74 At 6 : 30 we arrived where the road to the villa crosses. We did not find the carriage that should have been there on the bank to be ferried across on the chala´n, nor [did we find it] anywhere nearby after a search. We were told a half hour later by a soldier on the other bank that, according to what was known in our camp, the carriage had been unable to get out of the mire on that day and should not get there until the following day.75 Therefore, we asked for horses to head toward the camp. When these arrived a short time later, we split up, some heading for the troop camp and others remaining at the mouth of the arroyo. I was one of the latter, and I will remember for a long time the suffering I endured that horrible night. Although I was under the tent or the curtains of my cot, I was assaulted by thick clouds of voracious insects called zancudos [mosquitoes] at the same time that the heat of the forest, whose air seemed stagnant, was suffocating me.76 [sunday,] the 11th. I awoke disfigured by swollen patches from the bites. At 7: 00 a strong breeze blew from the north, as we noted in the tops of the trees. In the interior of the forest it was imperceptible and scarcely lowered the heat. At 9 : 00 [a.m.] we made camp less than a league from the vicinity of a settler’s cabin. Breeze from the north, cold temperature, intermittent drizzle. At night, a brief rain shower and a distant storm to the south.77 monday, the 12th. A calm day; somewhat cool breeze from the north. We remained occupied in repairing the damages suffered by the wagon in getting through the two leagues of terrain washed by the floods and covered with thick forest between the Brazos and the arroyo. From the villa of Austin, three leagues northwest.

be´ xar to nacogdoches

63

tuesday, the 13th. Departure at a quarter to 8 : 00. At 3 : 00 we halted. Route through extended plains with no slope and therefore marshy and covered in herbaceous plants of the kind commonly described before. In 7 leagues of travel, three arroyos with little current and therefore swampy and difficult to cross. The direction of the latter inclines toward their confluence with the Brazos River, which we are skirting in order to take the road to La Bahı´a. At the end of this day’s journey we stayed at the crossing of what they call the Magdalena Road, another league from the house of a wealthy colonist named Gross [Jared Groce]. Two of our company went there to buy 3 loads of corn for the horse herd. On their return they said the colonist was very ill, and that his house was located on the banks of the Brazos River. They did not bring provisions because there is nothing but bacon or ham for [the family] to live on. This colonist has 116 black slaves and harvests much cotton, which they comb [gin] in a water mill used for grinding cornmeal. In addition, there is a machine made for the first [i.e., ginning] operation. At the moment, a chala´n with more than 400 quintals of cotton was being dispatched for [New] Orleans.78 We made camp on the banks of the Arroyo Atascoso. I took hour angles [a´ngulos horarios] of the sun at 4 : 00 in the afternoon. At night I observed the transit of the first moon of [symbol for Jupiter] and its passage through the meridian in order to calculate longitude and latitude. It was important to take advantage of the clear air produced by the breeze from the north after more than 15 days of constant overcast [neblina] that has prevented any observations at the villa of Austin. This same night, when it was time to make my observation, I noted a certain cloudiness that disappointed me, because it was an opportunity lost, like so many others, especially because the convenience of the hour (10 o’clock) spared me the trouble of a [late-night] vigil. On a journey through the wilderness, when one suffers privations of every variety as well as afflictions of the spirit—for which there is ample cause on this long excursion—the natural circumstances that hinder the lone consolation of making frequent use of the instruments and entertaining oneself in scientific pursuits ultimately crush the spirit, inciting protests against the order of the immutable laws that govern the universe. So as not to yield to the first obstacle, I assembled the telescope and aimed it at the planet. I saw to my surprise that, despite the water vapor that was visible to the eye and that clouded the transparency of the sky, the latter appeared so cloudless that it provided a good observation. Reflecting afterward about this fact, and the contrary [fact] that in Be´jar

64 texas by tera´ n

with an apparently very clear sky I could not see the satellites [of Jupiter] well enough, I recalled that sen˜or Humboldt, in the first volume about his journeys to the equinoctial regions (pp. 166 and 194),79 recounts having observed that a certain amount of moisture uniformly spread throughout the atmosphere increased its clarity. But in the present case, why was this clarity not perceptible to the eye, but only through the eyepiece? And in Be´jar, what caused the opposite phenomenon? Astronomical observations sometimes depend on circumstances we do not comprehend and therefore cannot avoid. At the same hour that I observed the transit, Spica was passing the meridian, and since it was necessary to know the latitude of that location in order to calculate the hour of the chronometer, I also observed the maximum elevation of Jupiter while trying to avoid the necessity of taking into account the barely perceptible magnitude of its diameter in superimposing the images. A little while later my favorite [star] Antares passed the meridian. But one must take advantage of the first means [of making an observation] that he encounters if he is journeying through the wilderness, if he is less than a hundred varas above sea level, 30 leagues from the sea, in the mixed equinoctial and temperate zone where Tejas is located, where the pleasure of being surrounded by the most abundant vegetation is paid for dearly with the insufferable torture of enduring the stings of thousands of mosquitoes, which makes it desirable to get under mosquito netting as soon as possible, preferring the other discomfort of limiting one’s breathing to two cubic varas of air without contact with the open [air]. This spot in the unnamed wilderness is now called La Virgen. The name is carved on the trunk of a tree, with reference to the constellation of the same name [Virgo].80 wednesday, may 14. Heavy dew; winds from the northwest; few clouds; and after noon, light winds from the southeast. Departure at 7 : 00 in the morning, and we halted at 4 : 00 in the afternoon. In these nine hours we have advanced no more than five to six leagues because of the obstacles of the terrain. In parts, the forests of oak and walnut are so thick that it is necessary to open a path by cutting down some trees, and in others the mud holes make it necessary for the laborers and the troops to extract the wagons by hand. Hills are covered with herbaceous plants and in most places with woody [vegetation]. We camped on the slope of a hill at whose base ran a small arroyo.

be´ xar to nacogdoches

65

One league to the west was the other house of the colonist Gross [Groce].81 On today’s route we have encountered a thick pine, and at our campsite there were other trees of the same family that gave a heavy shade to the forest. thursday, the 15th, day of the ascension. Very light southeast breeze; dew in the morning. The march began at a quarter to 7 : 00, and after three leagues’ travel we stopped at noon in a forest because an axle broke on the baggage wagon. Within the woods there was a three-hour calm that caused an excessive heat of 82� Fahrenheit.82 At 5 : 15 a heavy shower began that lasted until past 7 : 00, and then it drizzled off and on the rest of the night. We have suffered from a lack of food because there was no means of preparing it. The tents were flooded because the terrain allowed no runoff.83 friday, the 16th. Overcast and calm; drizzle from 9 o’clock until 11: 00. With indescribable effort we have advanced—from 9 o’clock in the morning until 4 : 00 in the afternoon—less than two leagues, emerging from the woods, where the rain is naturally more constant without diminishing the heat, as I noted last night. The instrument wagon was damaged, and [our] march was so irregular that there were times in the morning that it did not last for 15 minutes. Upon emerging from the continuous forest we encountered some hills that were totally bare of trees for considerable stretches. Near the house of a North American settler about whom we had no information, we made camp on the slope of a hill. The slough that has held up our travel today deserves some mention. The ground consists of a yellow sand with tiny grains of quartz that comes from the disintegration of the sandstone that covers the land, which, for its part, has a sufficient slope for the rain to run off. At first glance it seemed to be solid ground, but it was so only on the narrow space of the trail, and since the wagons are wider, they bogged down so deeply that it was impossible to extract them from the mire except by lifting them from above. It seems to me that the slough is created by the soil left by the decay of so much vegetation, loosely deposited over the sand and soaked by the rains, and since in the solitude of these forests there is no one to compact the ground, it stays spongy. The sloughs in this land do not resemble the ones they call sartenejas, because over great areas one sees the surface cracked into hexagons. This can be attributed

66 texas by tera´ n

to the abundant alumina [aluminum oxide] in them, which regularly contracts when it dries, and to the fact that its components adhere with such tenacity that their lines of contact open up. Upon leaving the forest [we found] the ground claylike and a bit firmer.84 In the night, strong winds from the south from 10 : 00 to 12 : 00, and then calm; rainstorm in the distance. saturday, the 17th. Fortunately, the owner of the cabin is a blacksmith, and this morning he repaired the screws on the instrument wagon. Mr. Berlandier awoke sick with a fever, and a little later we learned that Juan, our cook, had the same problem. At 2 : 00 in the afternoon we set out to move closer to Nolland’s cabin,85 a quarter league distant. We camped opposite it on a hill on whose summit one finds layers of sandstone similar to those seen on another nearby hill. The vegetation here is thicker; the woods are very dense. Some hills have few trees, but they are heavily covered with herbaceous and grassy plants. Among these plants we saw one of the pentandria type, which has the appearance of the Hoitzia but lacks the fiber [pelo] that makes it rigid, being, on the contrary, very light.86 Heavy dew from the earliest hours of the night. The sky allowed observation at the hour of Spica’s passing , but while I was setting up the instrumentation it clouded over, and the operation was not possible. This change from clarity to haze occurred in just a few minutes and unexpectedly, because no wind currents were felt, but it would be the opposite in the upper regions [of the atmosphere]. addition to saturday, may 17th, 1828. 87 In the early evening was seen one of the loveliest arrays that can be observed in the heavens, one that must attract the attention of every observer, but especially of those in the wilderness. This constellation consisted of notable bodies and first-magnitude stars, such as the moon, Venus, and Saturn clustered in the vicinity of the two Twins [Gemini]. Calculations can tell us the great number of years that will pass before such a combination of heavenly bodies will form again. sunday, the 18th. In order to traverse a slough at the beginning of our march, the wagons were unloaded and our effects passed through on five mules. This

be´ xar to nacogdoches

67

arduous maneuver was finished at 11 : 00. We continued on a better path, and in two leagues we entered the road called La Bahı´a.88 A little farther on, the rods of the instrument wagon broke while crossing an arroyo, for which reason we halted right there to repair the damage. The condition of the sick has worsened. A bed was placed in the coach for Berlandier, and a net [hammock] under the wagon for the cook. The air temperature has been very high. At night, violent storm and showers from 1 : 00 until 5 : 00 a.m., with much heat through it all. I think the perspiration it caused helped reduce the fever I felt during the night; I awoke relieved. How can one not despair amid so many troubles and rigors? A quarter league from our camp there is a settler’s cabin. At none of those I have mentioned do they speak Spanish, but they sold us pork, hens, corn bread, and milk. A savage from the Bidaes who understands Spanish was in our camp. He says that his tribe has diminished greatly because of the smallpox. This is a peaceful tribe and it deserved, more than did the Lipanes, the benefit of the vaccination that Don Vı´ctor Blanco— out of the most laudable humanity—gave to the latter, despite those barbarians’ recent ravages of Mexican settlements, including the town of Santa Rosa, where [Blanco] vaccinated the savages in person.89 monday, the 19th. Encamped while repairing the wagons. The men still sick. Winds from the northeast, alternately cloudy and clear. These changes are quite notable for the rapidity with which they take place. tuesday, the 20th of may. A calm day. Breezes from the northern quadrant. Many clouds passing by in many different directions. At 4 : 00 in the afternoon a storm began, but it had scarcely begun when it suddenly ceased. At 12 : 00 repairs to the wagon were finished, and when we were about to set out we received news that an arroyo had risen. We remained in camp. The men continue sick, and Berlandier quite seriously. At 1 : 00 [a.m.] I observed the passage of Spica through the meridian and the transit of the first satellite of [symbol for Jupiter]. For neither one nor the other of these observations did the condition of the sky seem to present an opportunity, but, once the instruments were set up, in a few minutes there was a favorable change.90 During these last few days the dew has been exceedingly heavy. In this

68 texas by tera´ n

land it seems to be the equivalent of the rain showers, and even though the latter might fail, the dew would be enough for the plants to grow. The rods placed on the wagon are elms cut in this same area, chosen from the forest of qu¨ercus and a few conifers. A beautiful species of Asclepias abounds from the Brazos River to here, as well as the mimosa postrata, which is very sensitive [to the touch].91 wednesday, the 21st. At 9 : 00 a.m., on the march. Half a league beyond, a halt to cross a deep arroyo that kept us from setting out the previous day. Its banks are overflowing and swarming with clouds of zancudos [long-legged mosquitoes]. At 12 : 00 we cleared this obstacle, only to encounter more of the same nature, until at one [arroyo] the instrument wagon was damaged, and we halted at 4 : 00 in the afternoon.92 In a 7-hour march we have advanced 3 leagues through oak forests, with cedar and cypress trees on the banks of the waterways.93 The ground today is predominantly quartz-laden sand. On the slope of the cut of one arroyo, varieties of sandstone, and on another, thin layers of a very fine clay. Since we passed the Brazos River we have found scattered along the way pieces of petrified wood [ jilolita] of different sizes, jasper, and flint. Herbaceous vegetation is a bit less evident. The sick are improved. thursday, the 22nd. As our provisions dwindle, time is lost before our daily marches. The first morning hours are spent in making atoles [cornmeal mush], doughnuts, and cakes, according to how well each person can provide the necessities for his lunch. Not until 9 : 00 did we begin our march, which lasted no more than 300 paces because the difficult crossing of an arroyo was totally blocked by an enormous tree trunk; at 100 paces there was another. Then followed less-obstructed terrain for a distance of a thousand varas, ending in two deep arroyos in quick succession that have flooded recently, because the ground is still inundated. At the cost of the most arduous labor by the troops and workers the trees were chopped up with axes and angled into the arroyos, this task taking until 3: 15 in the afternoon. Today’s journey is quite extraordinary: in more than 61⁄2 hours we advanced half a league, and in a little over an hour and a quarter, three leagues, because after we emerged from those obstacles we continued through a sandy plain, where the endless forest is not so thick and con-

be´ xar to nacogdoches

69

tinues to thin out until we found ourselves in a spacious prairie covered with the herbaceous plants that abound in this region and show in profusion here. Despite the extraordinary fatigue that saps our spirit and the lack of good provisions, when we found ourselves where we could see for some distance and could travel at a trot, we all rejoiced. This might seem very futile and contemptible to those who have never faced arduous tasks in their life, but to the unfortunates who are doomed to face them, let this provide consolation, because pleasure is relative to a man’s circumstances, and one feels a greater delight in finding a wider horizon at the end of a dismal forest than in partaking of frequent excursions where so many analogous objects that lift the spirits have been brought together. The sick continue to recover. For the past three days they have been given exclusive use of the coach. On the trail today there is a petrified log six feet long and, consistent with the broken pieces, it would be more than a foot thick. From its texture it seems to be a dicotyledonous plant. This one is the most notable, but there are many more pieces scattered over the land. We did not collect samples because they are identical to the ones we have already found between Laredo and Be´jar. The soldiers accompanying us are familiar with them and call them palo piedra [stone wood]. That trunk and all the others we have seen are cracked into cuneiform [wedge-shaped] fragments: the head of the convex wedge is formed by the exterior part of the trunk of the epidermis, or fiber, because there is no trace of the cortex, and the edge of the wedge is in the medulla. All the fragments I have seen are cut in the direction of the radiuses from the center, and I have not seen any that extend the full diameter.94 Yesterday, a gentle breeze from the north with clear skies. Today, calm with clouds that dispersed when the sun set. friday, the 23rd. 95 We set out at 7 : 15, and at 11 : 30 the prairie ended abruptly in a deep arroyo, followed quickly by several more. I am powerless to describe the extremely arduous labors that the troops accompanying me suffer without being ordered to do so. At the command of a sergeant—already an old man—when an obstacle arises they set to work not only with gusto but even with joy to open the way. When the depth of an arroyo and the steepness of its banks prevent the mules from pulling, the men strip off their clothes and ferry the loads on their shoulders and then cross the coaches. Today they spent more than two hours in the waters of the arroyo called San Jacinto. To get an idea of this unbearable task,

70 texas by tera´ n

one should know that all the watercourses, even the small ones, have very dense forests on their banks, made impenetrable by wild vines and other climbing plants. Here the humidity and heat (which in these dells is from 32� to 35� Centigrade, though in the open prairies it is no more than 25�) hold thick clouds of zancudos (culex) and other blood-sucking mosquitoes that mortify the men and the animals. The workers must feel them, but it seems only a slight discomfort. The insects have wreaked great havoc on me. My ears and most of my face are missing skin and continuously oozing lymph after 15 days of biting. To the aforementioned arroyo must be added five more that we have crossed with greater or lesser effort.96 We made camp at 4 : 00 in the afternoon. A breeze has blown from the south and southeast, and, consequently, it has been hot and cloudy. saturday, the 24th. On the march at 7 : 00. The morning was spent in crossing arroyos, and in one of them the instrument wagon broke down. The sick have recovered from the fever, but they are very weak because food is scarce. They are given broth [caldo] in the afternoon, and their breakfast is atole. Today the chocolate ran out, as well as the corn for the animals, which is needed more now because the grazing is generally not good. The most abundant pasturage is a very fuzzy type that must hurt the animals’ mouths.97 They are suffering greatly also from the flies called ta´banos, which cover them with bites and suck much blood. Some of our party reached the ranches [ranchos] located on the banks of the Trinidad [Trinity] River this afternoon.98 Winds from the southeast, somewhat strong and steady. sunday, the 25th On the march at 8 : 00 in order to allow for the preparation of a difficult crossing of an arroyo, in which these men (the escort) constructed a very solid log bridge in two hours. After many more difficult crossings we saw on our right a sizable lake that the Trinity has formed with its rising waters. At 12 : 00 we came to the ranch of a Mexican called Sartucho, who, along with a boy, has lived for some years in this wilderness. Recently, another family from the north [the United States] has moved in nearby, without the consent of any authority. On the road today we encountered a family of the wild Mojac [Mohawk] nation, which, according to the man of the family,99 lived near the Canadian border, but, pushed out by the North Americans, is immigrating to Texas. The aforesaid family is heading for Be´jar to ask for land. It

be´ xar to nacogdoches

71

is traveling with its good farming tools and kitchen utensils on good horses. The savage greeted us with courtesy. monday, the 26th. at the trinity. Sartucho is an old man from Saltillo who settled on these banks five years ago. His wife and another woman of the family died, and he has remained alone with a boy of five or six years who, judging by Sartucho’s sickly appearance, will suffer the desolation of becoming the sole inhabitant of this rancherı´a. 300 paces away is another family from the north [the United States].100 We are all sick from emaciation and from the insect bites, which have become ulcerated. The healthiest ones are Sa´nchez and Chovel. The heat is 26� to 27� Re´aumur (32.5� to 33.7� Centigrade) from 11 : 00 in the morning until 5 : 00 in the afternoon. tuesday, the 27th. There is no way to cross the river with the wagons. They are being repaired in order to return to Be´jar by the upper road.101 The sickness continues, and the scarcity of food, as do the heat and the southeast breeze. wednesday, the 28th. The forest surrounding us is of oaks and nogales (pacana). Like the previous one in every way.102 thursday, the 29th. At two in the afternoon I set out on foot to take the canoe (chala´n), in which I crossed the river. Without leaving the water, I changed to another small canoe in which we navigated through a flooded forest. During this passage a heavy tree fell, but, luckily, it missed us. We navigated through a flooded plain for a league, then reached land and mounted horses, by which means we crossed a similarly flooded prairie. Finally, another half league on dry land to arrive at the rancho of a Mexican,103 where we spent the night bathed in sweat. The thermometer never got below 22� R. (27.5� C.), and there was no dew. Our baggage did not arrive, but, fortunately, my bed was sent ahead. I am accompanied by Sublieutenant [Alfe´rez] Sa´nchez, and the rest are returning to Be´jar.104 We encountered the mail coming from Nacodoches. The ground traveled today is 3 leagues, and only about a sixth of it is free from floodwaters.

72 texas by tera´ n

friday, the 30th. Our baggage arrived at 12 : 00, with word that Batres and his men had set out very early (those who are returning to Be´jar are overjoyed). At this place are camped an Ais chief, another Tejas [chief ], and another Nadaco [chief ], along with a few other individuals from these tribes. They spent many hours singing in the night, with a drum and an annoying monotony. They have visited me and held conversations on (1) the fate of the dead and (2) the introduction of savages from the north into Mexican territory.105 The savage I mentioned on the 25th is an impostor who, because he stole a Kikapu´ [Kickapoo] woman, is being pursued by several from that tribe and from the Cheroquı´s [Cherokees], whom we encountered on the Trinity. I continue sick and tormented at all hours by thirst. saturday, may 31. At 8 : 00 we left Galindo’s house and followed the road to Nacodoches through the endless forest of oak and walnut. Grassy vegetation became more scarce, except in some spaces where the forest recedes and a vigorous vegetation of plants (herbs) appears. These clearings are picturesque because of the variety of greens that give color to the land. The forest, which consists of various kinds of pines mixed with oak and walnut, appears in parts in heavy shadows lent it by the dark green characteristic of those trees, in contrast to the bright [green] of the grassy plants. The predominant herbaceous plant is a syngenetic with a very prominent and cone-shaped disk. This plant collects where there is humidity from stagnant water.106 The entire landscape consists of small, low hills. On the ground there is a quartzlike sand from the detritus of the sandstone. In parts there is silex or smooth medium-sized flint [pedernal rodado mediano] with globular shapes. In some large clearings, especially in the depths where the rainwater runs and stagnates, one finds clay heavily loaded with iron tritoxide. At 1 : 30 we halted in the middle of the forest near a small pool of agitated and very hot water. Here the thermometer read 27� R. (33.7� C.) at 3 : 00 in the afternoon and fell to 25� (31.2� C.) at 5 : 00 because there was no ventilation, even though we saw the treetops moving from a moderate southeast wind. At 6 : 00 a few raindrops fell, and at times during the night the wind blew harder in the higher parts— though it was felt very little down below—such that, with no cooling relief, we feared that the wind might topple a heavy tree upon us. This

be´ xar to nacogdoches

73

is a hazard to which travelers who camp in such places are exposed, and it is not a remote one, because all along the trail one sees trees felled by the wind. Their root systems are shallow and bear no relation to the [trees’ ] seventy, eighty, or more feet in height. The roots extend through the layer of vegetated earth that covers the terrain where there is greater moisture, and thus they appear to trail far out. Shortly after we made camp we heard two shots, and half an hour later two savages appeared along the trail, one after the other. Upon seeing us they shouted, ‘‘Friend, friend.’’ They were mounted on good horses whose ears they had covered with branches in order to save them from the flies. They were carrying deer and an opossum [tlacuachi] they had just killed. After a conversation in sign language with the soldiers in which I think nothing was understood by either party, they continued their journey, repeating their cries of ‘‘Much friend.’’ They are from the Kicapu´ tribe. Our travel covered 6 leagues.107 sunday, june 1, 1828. At 7 : 00, agitated by the heat and pursued by mosquitoes, as usual, we got under way. Each man carries a swarm of them around his head; they travel with him and get into his eyes. At the aforesaid hour the thermometer read 21� R. (26.2� C.). The hills are higher, with many streams running between them. In some spots, which are the flat tops of the hills, only pines are seen. Truly flat terrain becomes scarcer, and is found only in some hollows where still water collects. On the hills are found some fair-sized masses of iron-rich clay, and the red color of the clay intensifies. At 1 : 00 we came to the house of a settler named Maclı´n [McLean],108 who lives on the Arroyo de San Pedro, at which place the forest is thicker. After eating, we set out at 3 : 00 for another six miles (2 leagues) to the Ne´chez [Neches] River. In these two leagues there are— counting the aforementioned [house]— five houses of North Americans who belong to no colony whatsoever and who have entered the country without the prior consent of its authorities. The settler in whose house we stayed is named John Williams, a native of Tennessee who has lived here for five years.109 He enjoys some prosperity, to judge by the agricultural assets he has accumulated through his own industry and the labor of two or three slaves. His cabin is in the very plain where the Neches River runs and floods when it rises. This settler was persecuted by the agitators of Nacodoches, to whose aims he did not wish to contribute. The em-

74 texas by tera´ n

presario [Haden] Edwards, the principal force behind that revolution, demanded a hundred pesos from him and took possession of the land where he is located. The settler Maclı´n [McLean] had some connection to the agitators.110 Today’s travel was 8 leagues. monday, june 2. A mile past our lodging we crossed the Neches, which is a watercourse with a bed of some 35 varas [in width]. At present, not only is it full, but it is flooding for several miles on both banks. The direction of this river is the same for all the rivers of Texas: northwest to southeast. After leaving the deep bottoms where this river runs and spills over, there is a small mound—an ancient Bidaes site—probably 30 to 40 feet high and some 40 varas in circumference, isolated on a plain surrounded by hills, and all is covered by thick vegetation.111 In another prairie there is a crudely built cabin, where we found two naked and very pallid North American children. We learned that they were living there alone because their mother had gone to Nacodoches. This family seems to have been reduced to the utmost misery. The day was very hot, and we suffered an unslakable thirst, even though we drank water in excess from all the many streams on the day’s journey. At 11 : 00 we came to the house of some North Americans, and they informed us that two miles beyond there was another cabin next to the Angelina River. At 11 : 30 we arrived there.112 Thermometer: 27� R. (33.7� C.). The time spent on this journey indicates a distance of 7 leagues. At this place I recognized a very beautiful arborescent bignonia.113 tuesday, the 3rd. At 5 : 30 we left the cabin and by 6 : 00 we had crossed the Angelina River in a chala´n —as at the Neches—that was run by the North American, to whom I paid a bit more for his good hospitality. He said that was odd, because the soldiers paid nothing for the ferry service.114 With the notions that I already had about the sugar tree (acer saccharinus) and from indications by the North American, who speaks no Spanish, I realized that there are many [sugar trees] along the Angelina River, along with other species of the genus acer.115 This river [the Angelina] is a small one and floods the plain through which it runs. It runs into the Neches, and both join the Sabina [Sabine].116 According to that [North American] resident, from the Angelina River to Nacodoches it is 20 English miles, which agrees substantially

be´ xar to nacogdoches

75

with our measurement of 7 leagues, which we finished at 11: 20. Before that, about a league from the Angelina, we passed by the encampment of a few Nacodochitos savages, where we noticed that five or six old women were cultivating a field of corn with hoes while the rest of the men and women were idle in the camp.117 Three leagues from there [are] two arroyos, the larger of them called El Loco. Two leagues before the town there are five houses of Mexicans and North Americans.118 On the trail there is a quartzlike sand and ferrous clay, all brick red in color. In Nacodoches beginning June 3. This town is located on a low hill surrounded by forest on all sides. Less than a mile away to the east and west run two arroyos with very good water. The first is called La Nana, and on its bank is the little stream called Father Marfil [Margil], with lovely water.119 The forests contain oak, walnut, Acer saccharinus, [or] sugar tree [palo de azu´car], and another variety, cedar, plum,120 willow— of which there is the notable species called ‘‘weeping’’ (sau´x babilonica), or of Babilonia 121—and four species of pines that predominate exclusively on the hilltops and lend a dark and somber aspect to the land.122 In the forests there is an extraordinary profusion of various species of Ampelidaceae (except the grapevine, or vitis vinı´fera), which wrap around tall trees, and their tough, elastic vines are hung and fixed with such strength that they will support a man’s weight.123 From these are made the bands for the casks and barrels that come from the north and that are also made in Nacodoches. This place is frequented by many tribes of savages (see the separate report I have written on them and forwarded to the government),124 and they trade the products of their hunts. In this respect, it is incredible that the export of deerskins in less than a year has risen to 40 thousand in number. I refused to believe it, but upon collecting reports from the merchants through their remittances to Natchitoches, an even-higher figure emerges. The export of bearskins amounts to 1,500. Otter and beaver have almost been eradicated along the Neches, Angelina, and Trinity Rivers because of the relentless pursuit of American trappers, who today seek those precious trade commodities at the headwaters of the Brazos and Colorado Rivers and on all the branches of the Rı´o Bravo del Norte and in New Mexico. Even in these places, and in the United States, these animals are considered to be greatly diminished or entirely extinct. Just a few years ago, the little Neches and Angelina Rivers abounded as breeding places for those animals. To catch them they use an iron machine (trap) equipped with a spring that is triggered when the otter or beaver, attracted by the strong

76 texas by tera´ n

scent of olerum castoreum, steps on it, leaving the animal caught by its own foot. Nevertheless, this year the savages have traded 1,200 otter and 600 beaver pelts, which have been exported through Natchitoches to the United States.125 Note: The Tahuayases [Tawehash] defeated a division of Spanish troops commanded by Parrilla.126 In Nacodoches I have been visited on different days by the leaders of the Cheroquı´s, Delavarres [Delawares], Savanales [Shawnees], Kicapu´s [Kickapoos], Cuchates [Coushattas], Nadacos, Navadachos, Nacodochitos, Tejas, Yguanis, and Bidaeses tribes. It seems true that the last, at a time when the tribe was powerful, constructed by hand the mound I mentioned on June 2. The purpose of the mound, according to the tradition of present-day Bidaeses, was to provide an elevated site, or platform, from which their captain, or chief, could make his harangues. I do not believe there is any information about this ancient monument.127 The visits that the savages make for ceremonial purposes are very annoying and worth describing.128 When they heard of my arrival at this town, and that I am commissioned by the national government, they thought it obligatory to present themselves to me. Some have entered my lodging on the spur of the moment, whereas others have announced themselves beforehand and sought an appointment to fulfill [their obligation]. My lodgings are regularly frequented by considerable numbers of [Indian] men, and sometimes women as well. They all shake hands in greeting, and their gesture of politeness is to give a rough jerk to one’s entire arm. Their hands, of course, are filthy and hard, like those associated with wild men; since the women do all the tasks and labor, their hands are rougher and dirtier. The ceremonial handshake is required even for children, and they have not excused me from it, even when some of them have had scabies. This act concluded, they sit on the trunks and even on the bed—if I have not taken the precaution of preventing it—when there are not enough chairs. Others sit on the floor, and they all form a circle. They are given tobacco, and even when it is not given to them they use what they have brought and light up their pipes. The smoke they exhale, and the 89� or more (32� or more Centigrade) that the thermometer usually reads, makes the room an insufferable oven. After a while they are asked to state their business, and they reply that they are considering what they will say and determining who will speak for everyone, and, truly, they deliberate in low voices in their own tongue. Meanwhile, I begin to contemplate the bizarre diversity of objects displayed by my visitors in their clothing and strange adornments.

be´ xar to nacogdoches

77

Some are wearing a cluster of silver rings linked with tin and hanging from the nostril all the way to the mouth. Others have a little horse in the same place, and in the earlobes similar clusters, or perhaps strings of little disks that reach below the breast. The Cado´s [Caddos] usually wear a medallion [patena] more than two inches in diameter in each ear, and in order to insert other little tubes and feathers, they have cut into the cartilage along the entire edge of the ear. Others, instead of metal pendants, wear the well-dried heads of natural birds. They cut their hair in very different ways, but always alternating between shaved and tufted areas. The most remarkable of these [haircuts] are [worn by] those who remove all their hair down to the roots, leaving only a band or zone on the top from cerebrum to forehead that imitates a cockscomb. On that artificial baldness they apply various colors, drawing wavy or serpentine lines that extend below the throat. They all like to highlight their faces with vermilion red. The savages call themselves red men [hombres colorados], creating in this color a race, like that of the whites and of the blacks. Perhaps from these vain notions of race and lineage comes the pleasure the American savages take in red hues, because, even though they apply different colors to their faces, they prefer red over all others.129 Their harangues are carefully studied, and though they know that they are not being understood and that their words will be translated by an interpreter, they pronounce them with emphasis and vigor. They begin (Cheroquı´s, Delawarres, Kikapu´s, and Cutchates) by mentioning the Great Being, or Thing, and they give him the title of Father of Men, He who is watching over all [emphasis in original]. They tell of their migration to Mexican territory, giving as their reason that they have come seeking the friendship of their brothers, with whom they wish to live in peace, smoking the pipe with them as a token thereof and keeping the white beads.130 They underscore the sincerity of their conduct, saying that they are walking a straight path and their words are true; that they shake hands as friends to avoid war; and that they do not have carbines [for this purpose]. They swear that they respect property and claim to be humble and ignorant people to whom the being on high has not given the knowledge of reading and writing as to the whites. They repeat this point so often that they must have a vehement desire to achieve this degree of civilization. They conclude by asking for a perpetual peace and plead in terms remarkable for their loftiness and figurative style: ‘‘We are friends and we live as brothers, but since our life is short, and we will soon be beneath the ground, we teach our children to carry on as we have done. We leave to them the white beads we received from our elders and charge them with

78 texas by tera´ n

their safekeeping. [We say] that they should give you their hand and smoke with you the pipe of friendship. And we ask that, in the same manner, you now teach your children to be our friends.’’ The Delawares, on their second visit to ask for lands—the governor of Arkansas having removed them from those they had on the banks of the Red River on the Mexican side—urged that they be provided with teachers of reading and writing. They gave me a document written in English, which I forwarded in translation to the government when I reported on this matter.131 The peaceful tribes living in the vicinity of Nacodoches subsist on their agricultural labors, except for the original natives, who, though they are gentle and of good character, are lazy and ignorant. Among them the land is cultivated by the women.132 The Cheroquı´s grow corn and some fruits. The government of these savages is nothing more than the chief of the tribe, whom they call captain. He is obeyed but has limited power. There are advisory captains, and they are the old men. The chiefs live by their labors like any other and receive no pay of any kind. The tribes live with one another in admirable harmony, and conflicts are rarer between them than between civilized peoples.133 The Cutchates [Coushattas] punish murder and adultery with death, but since they have lived on the banks of the Trinity there has been no occasion to apply this penalty. They celebrate the festival of the new harvest, as do the Tahuacanos [Tawakonis], but they make it last eight days. The tribes steal from one another, but their chiefs make restitution and punish [the offenders]. They do the same with the whites, with the difference that it is quite common for the savages to return what they have stolen and rare for the whites to return [stolen goods] to them. This is [true only] in Nacodoches, because in Be´jar the Mexicans are constantly plagued by the savages.134 A Quicha [Kichai] chief who came to visit me was wearing a bear-claw collar, which he wears in battle. He says it has the virtue of warding off bullets and arrows, which makes him confident that he will not be killed in battle, because he has other bracelets of larger bear claws that protect him from knife and lance wounds.135 In Nacodoches the forests are destroyed heedlessly beyond the consumption of firewood and timber for construction, in which much is used because there is no other material. In order to gather pastle (tillandsia usnoides)—which they consume in great quantities because they use it in mattresses and in mixing the mud with which they plaster the walls of buildings, chimneys, etc.— they fell the trees in which that moss hangs.

be´ xar to nacogdoches

79

In order to bring in a hundred fifty wagons of moss, how many trees will it be necessary to chop down? 136 The population of the frontier is very heterogeneous. In numerical order of inhabitants, it consists of 25 tribes of savages who are situated around Nacodoches, North Americans, and Mexicans.137 There are black slaves belonging to the second group, and four or five of these are the only capital brought by those who come from the north into Mexican territory. A great number of the foreigners who have entered the frontier are vicious and wild men with evil ways. Some of them are fugitive criminals from the neighboring republic; within our borders they create great disturbances and even [commit] criminal acts. The origin of some [disturbances] that have taken place during my residence in this country has been the blacks, who go from one place to another to steal from those living on the banks of the Sabine River. Since the laws do not allow for any claims by one republic against the other, the inhabitants take advantage of their friends and companions to attack and to defend themselves and cross from one side [of the border] to the other in order to escape punishment. An example of this arose when there was an attack involving 6 or 8 persons, in which some of them were wounded. The blacks are generally very badly treated, and it is necessary that they be so [treated], because it is their lot to have such immoral owners. Nonetheless, there are longtime American residents whose conduct creates respect.138 The foreigners enjoy greater advantages than do the Mexicans. Commerce is in the hands of a few [of the former], but legal authority—in the form of an ayuntamiento and its alcalde —is in the hands of the latter. The greatest aversion prevails between them. Everyone, but particularly the Mexicans, lacks education and culture. The Americans maintain at their own expense a teacher of English reading and writing, a measure that the Mexicans cannot afford.139 Despite the general fertility of the land for the small number of inhabitants in this town, they bring almost everything from Louisiana, except for wine and aguardiente (rum), which as truly foreign goods— even in the United States— enter (from abroad) through [New] Orleans. From there they bring whiskey, or aguardiente de maı´z, flour, lard, salt, rice, the few vegetables to be found, sugar, and sometimes even corn and beans, along with every kind of linen for clothing.140 The cost of these goods, after deducting the value of the pelts [exchanged], is paid in cash, and that comes from no other source but the pay of the troops who garrison this presidio. The cultivation of Mexican lands is limited to corn, beans, squash,

80 texas by tera´ n

watermelons, cantaloupes, chiles, and very few potatoes. It is clear that wheat, oats, and rice grow well, and with acorns they raise very fat hogs. All around nearby there are fields that abound with a lime clay, from which, by making puddles and letting the water evaporate, salt is extracted in abundance. The savages do not supply themselves by any other method, but there is no dedication or industry for any of that. This fact is all the more notable because the inhabitants never cease talking about the fertility of their land. The say that it grows anything, which is quite as true as the fact that they lack for everything.141 One must mention that political upheavals have hindered the progress of industry. During the War [of Independence] Nacodoches was abandoned, as its inhabitants took refuge on the foreign border to escape persecution by the royalists, whose conduct was very cruel and who also abandoned the post.142 When I was visited by the captain of the Cado´s I asked him ‘‘whether he and his tribe were in the Mexican part or in that of the North [the United States],’’ and when he fully understood what was being asked, he replied that he was not in Mexican territory nor in that of the North Americans, but in his own land, which was nothing else but his. He told me himself that the small tribes called the Tejas, Badaeses [Bidais], Navadachos, and Nacodochitos had been cut off previously from the Cado´s tribe. This also was verified by several residents and confirmed by the identity of their language. The Navadachos are properly called CadoDachos. When I inquired as to the reasons for the breakup of the Cado´s, the chief of the tribe said that the primary cause was their persecution by the Chactaws.143 That [Caddo] chief showed up in epaulettes [and wearing] a medallion with the portrait of King Carlos III. He is old and his faced is heavily marked from smallpox, a disease that has wreaked great havoc in the tribe.144 Gombeau (a malvaceous plant): they eat its pyramidal fruit in Nacodoches baked or in salad. Hibiscus esculentus? 145 The men of either nation on this frontier are notable for the diversity of their origins and the present similarity of their customs. Descendants of the French founders of Louisiana, of the Spanish of Mexico, and of the English race, which lately has spread from Virginia to the Gulf of Mexico, and the tribes of savages, and, among all, the blacks and their different mixtures: all these men have the same rural tasks, skill at hunting, and the cunning and instincts that guide the savage in natural life. Considered as rural men they are all the same, but in all else they maintain specific differences. The Mexican is dissipated and constantly in town.

be´ xar to nacogdoches

81

The French invest all their tasks with a certain courtesy and much bombast. The North Americans are haughty; they shun society by inclination and because they disdain it. They devote themselves both to industrial enterprises and to the hardest labors—as well as to the grossest vices— with exceptional ardor. They do not think they have relaxed from their grueling tasks until drunkenness dulls their senses, and in that state they are fierce and scandalous.146 The speech of the savages abounds in figurative expressions and actions. In order to criticize a lack of truthfulness, they put two fingers on the edge of their lips and with very rapid movements they represent the volubility of the tongue. At the end of the action they say, ‘‘man with two tongues, or serpent’s tongue.’’ Quippe domum timet ambiguam, tyrios que bilingues. Virg[il] 147

S

82 texas by tera´ n

figure 8 Tera´n’s escort out of Mexico City probably included a few lancers, or ‘‘dragoons,’’ whose uniforms were newly obtained from England with a loan from Barclay’s Bank. From Linati, Costumes, courtesy of Joseph Musso.

be´ xar to nacogdoches

83

figure 9

As Tera´n reached the northern states, his escort was rotated with mounted local troops wearing a more typical cavalry uniform. From Linati, Costumes, courtesy of Joseph Musso.

figure 10 This ca. 1826 Linati watercolor features a race between two horse soldiers, one dressed in the uniform of a presidial cavalry company, the other reflecting a more European hussar style. From a private source in Mexico, courtesy of Joseph Musso.

figure 11 This original Linati watercolor of a ‘‘topless’’ tortilla vendor reflects a very popular theme, judging from the many variations by other artists. Gentilz painted a similar scene in a Mexican kitchen at San Antonio several decades later. From a private source in Mexico, courtesy of Joseph Musso.

be´ xar to nacogdoches

85

figure 12 This is Plate 5 in Linati, Costumes civils, militaires et religieux du Mexique (1828), later reissued in Mexico as Trajes civiles, militares y religiosas de Me´xico. Compare with Figure 11. Courtesy of Joseph Musso.

figure 13 The presidial soldier on the frontier, according to this Lino Sa´nchez watercolor, sported a top hat instead of a sombrero and had decorated leg covers, or ‘‘flaps,’’ on his saddle. Courtesy of Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa.

figure 14 The influence of the neighboring North Americans can be seen in Sa´nchez’s Texas rancher— especially in his choice of hat. He is also riding the same-style saddle as the presidial soldier in Figure 13. Courtesy of Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa.

be´ xar to nacogdoches

87

figure 15

This Linati plate of a herdsman is perhaps more typical of the working vaquero’s garb in Mexico. From Linati, Costumes, courtesy of Joseph Musso.

88 texas by tera´ n

figure 16

The lasso was a deadly weapon in the hands of the Mexican ranchero. From Linati, Costumes, courtesy of Joseph Musso.

be´ xar to nacogdoches

89

figure 17 In this Linati plate we see the rump housing (anquera), saddle covers (armas), and button-

up ‘‘chaps’’ worn by the well-to-do Mexican caballero. From Linati, Costumes,

courtesy of Joseph Musso.

figure 18 Only a few citizens of Texas were prosperous enough to afford the clothes and horse gear

of Linati’s fashionable Mexican caballero. From a private source in Mexico,

courtesy of Joseph Musso.

Tera´n’s Letters from Nacogdoches S

let ter 2 tera´ n to the minister of [foreign] relations june 9, 1828 1 4 8 No. 37 Most Excellent Sen˜or: I arrived at this presidio on the 3rd, after having separated at the Trinity River, along with Sublieutenent of Artillery Don Jose´ Sa´nchez, from the rest of the soldiers of the Commission and from the troops who were escorting us. The unhealthy climate obliged me to order them all back to Be´jar. The botanist, Don Luis Berlandier, and some soldiers and servants fell sick with fever and temperatures on the way from the Austin colony to the Trinity River. The pack [animals] and mounts for the troops were also beginning to suffer, because this country is deadly for the animals. Although I am alone and deprived of most of the expedition’s instruments, with the barest minimum that I have managed to bring I will begin to survey the main points of the [boundary] line as soon as the state of my health and the high river waters—as well as the excessive heat that we suffer in the current season— cease to hold me back. I have the honor to report this to Your Excellency, for the information of the Most Excellent Sen˜or President. God and Liberty. Nacodoches, June 9, 1828. �� Sen˜or Minister of [Foreign] Relations. let ter 3 tera´ n to minister of [foreign] relations june 9, 1828 1 4 9 No. 38 Most Excellent Sen˜or: I have been visited by the [war] chief and the political chief of the tribe of Cheraquees [Cherokees],150 who showed me an official letter from the

92 texas by tera´ n

Most Excellent Minister of War that tells them, among other things, that they will be given the land they desire as soon as the commissioner arrives to establish the boundaries between this Republic and that of the North. Since I do not have such a directive and so as not to make them doubt that promise, I told the aforesaid [Indians] that I was awaiting instructions for that purpose. The instructions I received from your ministry with regard to the savage tribes charge me (1) to examine which sites should be set aside to locate the Indians, (2) [to decide] which tribes it is best to admit, (3) to report especially on the state of civilization of the Indian tribes that contributed to the latest pacification [and] on their expectations regarding the distribution of lands, and (4) to give my opinion regarding what can be granted to said tribes in these parts. For now, I will make sufficient comment on these points for the supreme government to fulfill the offers it has made and to begin to put the frontier in order. 1. It is no longer time to be selecting the best location for the Indians, because all the land of Tejas, except for the unmapped portions to the west traveled by the Comanches, Cailmas [Caihuas?], and Chariticas, and the Tahuayases on the banks of the Colorado [Red] River of Nachitoches, has been granted to empresarios for settlement. Even though there is not nor perhaps will be more than one settlement in the midst of its contract—which is the case of Austin—the land is already devoted to that end. 2. If we attempted now to admit the [Indian] tribes, I would argue against permitting the introduction of any into Mexican territory, where there are plenty of savages on which the nation may exercise its tolerance and human sentiment. [Their introduction] would entail expenses for garrisons, and not even then would Mexican subjects be protected from their cruel abuses. On the contrary, I would propose for the good of the nation that two thousand troops be set upon the Lipanes, Comanches, Tahuacanos, Huecos, etc., for a period of six months, and that they do with them what the North Americans have done with their savages: subjugate them and send them beyond their borders. But since the circumstances are different, because the savages have settled on Mexican soil before being [officially] admitted, and it is not easy to drive them away now without a war with all [the Indians] who have entered, I will state my opinion according to [those circumstances]. With respect to the Cheraquees [Cherokees], there is no problem whatsoever in admitting their eighty families. This tribe is industrious, respects property, lives by its labor, and is obedient to the authority of

tera´ n’s letters from nacogdoches

93

its military and political chiefs. It can be hoped that when their intellectual culture has increased, they will be incorporated into the Mexican nation.151 The Cheraquees have established stable settlements between the Angelina and Sabine Rivers on lands granted to the empresario Thorn, but the latter has told me that he has no problem with leaving them there. From that I infer that this empresario, like the others, does not have the 400 families that he has contracted to settle.152 If the supreme government grants lands to [the Cherokees], it is necessary to keep in mind that in the colonization of Tejas the authorities have shown an unfortunate lack of knowledge about the economy of the land. There is no accurate map, and the apportionments [of land] have been made in the areas lying between rivers, arroyos, etc., which bear no relation to the number of families and are very large.153 The Austin colony is supposed to consist of 600 families, and thus its area should have been of a slightly larger number of square leagues according to state law. According to the distances I have traveled, the grant exceeds 2,500 square leagues. The Thorn grant is for 400 families, and by the boundaries laid down it has an area of 4,000 square leagues. The allotment of one square league per family granted by state law is excessive for the fruitful land of Tejas, even with regard to what individuals might be able to create from it. Since the Cheraquees’ grant is not made by virtue of this law, and is a favor, it can be reduced to 200 acres per family (the acre, or American arpan, is a square of 15 varas per side).154 After the Cheraquees, the tribes of Savanaos [Shawnees] and Delawares immigrated to Mexican territory. The former lived in the state of Illinois on lands they sold to the federation of the North [the United States]. The latter, as their name indicates, are native to Pennsylvania, where they lived before the independence of North America. From there they moved to the Rı´o Blanco [White River], which enters the Mississippi in Arkansas Territory, from where, finally, they came to Tejas in 1820, after the Savanaos. These tribes are intimately linked with the Cheroquees. There are 300 Savanau and 150 Delaware families; they are less industrious than [the Cherokees], but they subsist by working the land and raising cattle. The Savanau chief has visited me to ask for lands that he solicited from the state government, which referred the matter to the supreme [government]. At present, they live near the Cheraquees on lands that the state has consigned to Thorn’s colony, which does not deny admission to these tribes.155 The tribe of Kicapoos consists of 110 families, who entered onto Mexican soil in the year 1825. They inhabited the southern shores of the

94 texas by tera´ n

Canadian lakes [Great Lakes], and in the latest war between the United States and the English, they took up arms on behalf of the latter and committed atrocious hostilities against some towns in the Northeast. The North Americans have persecuted them in revenge, driving them all the way to our borders, where they are hated and feared by all the inhabitants. They are slightly less savage than the Comanches, yet they live peacefully. They have planted some fields on the banks of the Sabine, and the rest spread out on the hunt. If we admit them, I think they can remain at the same place, which is consigned to Colonel Bean’s colony. Up to now [this arrangement] has not been effected, but he is agreeable to accommodating them.156 I believe the admission of this tribe is necessary, because this is the least-harmful way. Since the odious Kicapoos cannot return to the United States, if they are expelled from the Sabine they will have no other recourse but to unite with the Comanches. [The latter are] savages in every sense of the word, but so irrational that they fail to use their considerable strength. Urged on by people of greater malice and skill in the art of fighting, such as these Kicapoos, [the Comanches] would revisit on the towns of Coahuila and Tamaulipas the desolation they caused when they were joined by the Lipanes, who were more skilled than they.157 Besides the aforementioned [tribes], there exist around this presidio a great number of small tribes, who roam in all directions; others are settled permanently. I think that Your Excellency will form a better notion of them all by means of the attached summary, which I do not consider entirely accurate because I can create it only with the meager reports to be found in this country and, when these do not suffice, with conjectures and combinations of ever obscure and often extravagant reports provided by the savages themselves. The indigenous, or older, tribes in the country are characterized by their abject poverty, because they have no other means of subsistence than hunting deer, bear, and ducks, which, as much as they may multiply in this vast country, are now becoming scarce in lands frequently traveled by thousands of hunters. Thus do the savages now recognize the insufficiency of that recourse. Most of them are now seeking a more secure subsistence in the growing of corn, but the men—rigorous observers of their old customs— do nothing but make war and hunt, leaving the tasks of agriculture in the hands of the women, and even among these, only the ones whose age or figure makes them unsuitable for other services. In the vicinity of this town we have seen a field [milpa] where some decrepit old women were laboring while the rest of the tribe rested in camp. I think it very wise

tera´ n’s letters from nacogdoches

95

to grant some land to all these wretches, where they can remain and, motivated by the example of the industrious tribes and, above all, by necessity, they might acquire other customs more conducive to their own survival.158 With respect to the rewards that should be given to those [Indians] who contributed to the pacification of this presidio last year, I believe that by being admitted and granted lands they will be rewarded. In granting the lands [we must] require that they repel the savages who may try again to enter the province. It will be necessary only to extend the special favor of rewarding the Cheraquee political chief Mush equally with their military [chief ] Mosh—to whom the supreme [government] made a gift—because the former contributed as much as the latter, and without his influence the Cheraquee tribe would not have participated. When asked what kind of gift would be appropriate, persons familiar with the ways of that tribe have suggested that [Mush] be given a staff, a medal, and a pipe.159 With the above, I believe I have fulfilled what is asked of me in the instruction that I was given, and I beg Your Excellency to please report it all to the Most Excellent Sen˜or President. God and Liberty, Nacodoches, June 9, 1828. let ter 4 tera´ n to the governor of coahuila y tejas june 24, 1828 1 6 0 Nacodoches, June 24, 1828. Sen˜or of my total respect and Friend of my greatest estimation: The interest that I have taken in ordering [the affairs of ] this frontier obliges me to take the liberty of recommending to you the attached petition. I feel that it is conducive to legitimizing the settlement of many families from the neighboring republic who, at the time of our revolution, when in this part of Tejas every kind of public authority had disappeared, came to Mexican territory and took over vacant lands that they have cultivated without anyone’s complaint. The colony founded by [Peter Ellis] Bean could well receive them, and this individual—who is so experienced in Mexican affairs—through his personal influence is in an [ideal] position to familiarize them with Mexican law, about which they currently know or care little.161 In discussing this point, I will tell you, Sen˜or Governor, that this proposed colony will only partially remedy the illegal settlement of some colonists. For these reforms to become general, in my opinion it would

96 texas by tera´ n

be necessary for the state congress to propose it as legislation. The state [colonization] law clearly indicates the means by which every settler may become a resident and acquire property, or legitimize that which he has acquired. In the present case, however, this law has the most essential defect of granting enormous tracts of land, which I feel to be excessive, as do all those who know the quality of land in Tejas: a square league. It would not be unjust to reduce grants to those subjects who have not obeyed the laws in their settlement. The execution of this proposed law could be entrusted to the [political] chief of the Department of Tejas, because it pains me to tell you that if [its execution] is assigned to the ayuntamiento of this town, not only will it not be carried out, but perhaps not even understood. [This is] because the few citizens of this town have very little enlightenment to undertake by themselves and without guidance the political functions of administering justice. Thus, on that account, the state of our frontier is lamentable and has given rise to the disdain that most of the colonists have developed toward Mexicans, judging that our republic consists only of ignorant mulattoes and Indians. Thus it is that I and some who have come with me are assumed in some of the settlers’ homes to be French or Spanish, and when we have insisted, with some annoyance, that we are Mexicans they take it as the greatest absurdity.162 This should not be understood [as applying] to the colony of Don Esteban Austin, the only one where they try to understand and obey the laws of the country and where, as a result of the enlightenment and integrity of its empresario, they have a notion of our republic and its government. I promise to communicate to you by official letter everything that I observe in Tejas, and even now I might expand on a few points. I am incapable [at present], however, because the extreme heat that we are suffering has exhausted me, but I will report everything that you wish, by that [official] route as well as personally. I wish greatly to satisfy you and prove that I hold you in true affection and am your most attentive servant and friend who, with the greatest deference, kisses your hand. let ter 5 tera´ n to the president of mexico june 30, 1828 1 6 3 Nacodoches, June 30, 1828. Friend and Sen˜or of my greatest esteem and respect: I have received with pleasure your favored [letter] of the 10th of the past [month], wherein you honor me to excess by assuming as a certainty

tera´ n’s letters from nacogdoches

97

that I will emerge successfully from the net in which I am trapped. I do not see it thus, to my misfortune, and only time will tell. Perhaps I am the mistaken one. It is not that I lack the spirit to counter the difficulties I foresee, but that the latter are such that they would suffice to consume the efforts of some men. The treaty that has been agreed to in Mexico, which is a very positive step, will follow its course through the other government.164 When it is presented to the [U.S.] Congress, the treaty most probably will entail a terrible struggle, because, according to the concept that I have formed from the public papers of that republic that come into my hands and the knowledge of the few educated persons to be found in the Austin colony and in this town, the opinions of the north and the west of that nation are opposed [to one another]. That is, the commercial states want the population to be concentrated, limited to the nation’s land and vast resources. The states of the west, that is, the agricultural states, look to expansion into new and fertile country as the principal means of [promoting] their influence within the entire federation. [The former will favor us with their votes] and the latter will be against us. But even if the treaty were ratified quickly, its execution by the commissions of both sides is the work of some years. The project to determine the boundaries of Louisiana when it belonged to Spain lasted from 1726 [1796] to 1800, according to the work of the American boundary commissioner (Ellicot), and certainly there is no comparison between that area and the immense region under discussion now.165 Thus, we should estimate that our boundaries will be established in 16 or more years of considerable effort, from the Sabine River to the Southern Sea [Mar del Sur, or Gulf of California]. Fortunately, [the situation] is not so urgent throughout the boundary line as at its extremes, especially on the frontier of Tejas, where the settlement of North Americans constantly increases, and about which I am going to inform you for what it may serve. As one travels from Be´jar to this town, Mexican influence diminishes, so much so that it becomes clear that in this town that influence is almost nonexistent. But where could such influence come from? Not from the population, because the ratio of the Mexican population to the foreign is one to ten, nor from its quality, because the population is precisely the contrary: the Mexicans of this town consist of what people everywhere call the abject class [la clase ´ınfima], the poorest and most ignorant. The North Americans residing in the town run an English school and send their children north for their education. The

98 texas by tera´ n

poor Mexicans neither have the resources to create schools, nor is there anyone to think about improving their institutions and their abject condition.166 Authorities and magistrates are also lacking. A poor little man, to put it mildly, who calls himself an alcalde,167 and an ayuntamiento that has never met in its life are what we have in the most important post on our frontier, where—from what I have seen in the short time I have been here—grave incidents of a political and judicial nature are taking place. Therefore, Sen˜or President, I must disturb you in the same way I was disturbed to see the foreign colonists’ attitude toward our nation. Most of them, with the exception of a few who have traveled to our capital— knowing no Mexicans other than those who live here and lacking the authorities that are necessary in every society—think that [Mexico] consists of nothing more than blacks and Indians, all of them ignorant. In some homes, where they have done me the favor of considering me an educated man, they have told me to my face that it could not be so unless I were French or Spanish. From this state of affairs an antipathy has emerged between Mexicans and foreigners that is not the least of the volatile elements I have found to make me tell you that, if timely measures are not taken, Tejas will pull down the entire federation.168 The foreigners grumble about the political disorganization on the frontier, and the Mexicans complain about the advantages and better education that the former [enjoy]. The foreigners find it intolerable to have to travel 200 leagues to complain about the petty vexations that a corrupt and ignorant alcalde causes them, and the Mexicans—who, having no notion of the laws of their country or even of the laws of colonization, feel themselves pushed aside for the foreigners— create complications on their part in order to deprive [the foreigners] of the right to vote and to exclude them from the ayuntamiento. Meanwhile, the new settlers continue to arrive. The first news we have of them is through the discovery of an already cultivated property where they have been settled for months. The older inhabitants claim the land, based on a duly issued title from the Spanish government— of doubtful authenticity, since the archives have disappeared— and litigation arises wherein the alcalde has occasion to demand money [in fees]. Thus it is that this town without magistrates is where the most lawsuits abound.169 This should be understood for Nacodoches and its environs, because with regard to more distant lands, especially those belonging to the national government, it is known that the natural order

tera´ n’s letters from nacogdoches

99

continues its course; that is, that the lands are being settled without anyone’s knowledge. In addition to the small number of North Americans who settled during the Spanish regime, there are two classes of settlers: one consists of fugitives from the neighboring republic, many of them branded on the face with the mark they use there for thieves and scoundrels. These people locate between Nacodoches and the Sabine River, ready to cross and recross the river whenever they need to leave the place where they have just committed a crime. Some of them have reformed and spend their lives working the land.170 The other class is that of poor laborers [ jornaleros] who did not have four or five thousand pesos to purchase a plot of land in the north and who wished to become landowners, which is one of the virtues of our neighbors who have come to Tejas. The latter, who compose the colony of Austin, are generally industrious and honorable and respect the country. Most of them have at least one or two slaves. Unfortunately, it is difficult for the latter to emigrate, because they lack means of transportation. In order to achieve this we need what has not existed up to now, which is empresarios with capital to advance [the colonists] what they need in order to settle. Prosperous North Americans in Louisiana and other western states wish to acquire lands in Tejas for large-scale speculation, but they are restricted by the laws prohibiting slavery. If these laws were rescinded (may God forbid), in just a few years Tejas would be a powerful state that would rival Louisiana in production and wealth. The rescinding of those [antislavery] laws is the object toward which the colonists direct their efforts. Recently, they have obtained from the Congress of Coahuila [y Tejas] a law that will promote their prosperity. With the declaration of the state government as guarantor of the contracts that [the colonists] celebrate with foreign laborers, the former are assured of the services of considerable manpower, which they obtain at very low prices in the United States. This [practice]—according to the use that some of them have told me themselves that they will make of this law—they say is equivalent to allowing the introduction of slaves.171 Despite the enmity that prevails between most Mexicans and [the foreign] colonists, one sees great accord on a single point, which is the separation of Tejas from the State of Coahuila and its constitution as a territory of the federation. This designation, conceived by some of

100 texas by tera´ n

the more enlightened of the colonists, is becoming more generalized throughout the population and cannot fail to cause some uproar. In presenting their arguments for such an aspiration, I am only repeating how much I have heard on the matter, without adding any of my own views whatsoever. Furthermore, in all sincerity, I must tell you that I have been asked by some of them to report to you, even though I would have done so anyway in fulfillment of my duty. What they say is that, in its current status as a colony, Tejas is a burden and not a productive country that can contribute to the administrative expenditures of a state, and that if [Texas] is a burden, it should not be imposed upon such a poor state as Coahuila. [Coahuila] cannot afford to establish the political and judicial authorities that are necessary to living in peace and order, it being impractical for all kinds of business to deal with the capital of the state, so far away across a wilderness where [travelers] are attacked by savage Indians. [They say] that their interests are very different from those of the other regions, and that therefore they should be treated separately by a territorial delegation, since they have had the experience that mixing their affairs with [the interests of ] others works to their disadvantage. The natives of this country add to the foregoing other motives that indicate their aversion to the inhabitants of Coahuila: they are in dispute over the location of the military commandancy and over the opening of ports.172 What I perceive in all this is that certainly in Nacodoches, at least, more government action is needed in the town, since it is a frontier [outpost] with which the Republic should maintain closer contact. By law, the general government possesses vast tracts of land in this country, and in order to distribute them wisely, it is necessary to pay attention to the economy no less than to politics and national security. The total population is a mixture of such strange or incoherent elements that no other like it exists in our entire federation: tribes of savages, numerous and peaceful but armed and always ready for war, whose progress toward civilization surely will be achieved through close vigilance by a zealous and well-educated political authority, and colonists who have come from another, more advanced, society, better educated but also more malicious and mistrustful than are the Mexicans. Among the foreigners there are all kinds: fugitive criminals, honorable farmers, vagabonds and ne’erdo-wells, laborers, etc. They all go about with their constitution in their pocket, demanding their rights and the authorities and functionaries that [their constitution] provides. Most of them hold slaves who, now having

tera´ n’s letters from nacogdoches

101

perceived the favorable intent of Mexican law with regard to their tragic state, are becoming restless to throw off their yoke, while their masters believe they can keep them by making [the yoke] heavier. They commit the barbarities on their slaves that are so common where men live in a relationship so contradictory to their nature: they pull their teeth, they set dogs upon them to tear them apart, and the mildest of them will whip the slaves until they are flayed. Thus, the growth of the population, its extraordinary nature, and the interests and security of the nation to my mind call for us to put here a political chief, subordinate to the one in Be´jar, and a tribunal [ juzgado] or counselor [asesor], employing all necessary means. I do not believe that this will require the political upheaval, sought by the [local] inhabitants, of separating from the state, because I think [the positions] can be established by the State [of Coahuila] itself, or if the state lacks the resources, let it be under its authority [but] funded by the federation.173 Then we could proceed to create prosperity for the colonists, many of whom—who are not prosperous because of their situation—lean toward rebellion and troublemaking. [Then we could] situate the old wild tribes who, with the introduction of the new ones, can no longer survive on hunting because their game animals are being decimated. Though it seems unbelievable, the merchants’ books show that in one year eighty thousand deerskins have been shipped from this town as a result of trade with the savages. This trade might continue for two or three more years, but finally the deer will be finished, as has occurred in the [United] States of the north, and this is another of the reasons why the wild tribes of that nation flow into our territory. Forgive the amount of reading I have sent you, but I wish to inform you right away about this country and not wait until the day I present my complete observations to the government, because [by then] the time to take corrective action will have passed. [These last lines are from the CAH typescript: ‘‘I wish you the greatest happiness. Your obedient servant and grateful friend who most attentively kisses your hand, with a thousand thanks for the paper currency I have received, whose exchange has not yet been made. I am again your obedient servant and most affectionate friend who most attentively kisses your hand.’’ ]

102 texas by tera´ n

let ter 6 tera´ n to jose´ batres july 7, 1828 1 7 4 Sen˜or Don Jose´ Batres Nacodoches, July 7, 1828 My esteemed friend and companion: However it may be, I now have the pleasure of knowing that you all have arrived. Now you can proceed to improve your situation, as we do our own. Living among the sugar loaves [piloncillo] will be unbearable, but you can free yourself from it. How was Sr. Elozu´a 175 going to allow it? This place has its flies, too, in considerable quantity, but they are wild ones, not the domestic house variety. The heat has fallen considerably since the passage of the solstice. What we get now is from 88� to 90�, but at night it cools to 75�. A few days ago I thought the range was terrible, from 66� in the morning to 89� by noon; to suffer this one needed a compensador. In [New] Orleans, according to what Tarnava reports, in May the temperature rose to 93� and did not fall below 84� even at dawn. It was exactly a month ago that I received [Tarnava’s] letter telling me he was going to sail for Tampico on June 1st! I am sorry for this, but [he] has no choice, and at any rate I want to see him now, because I fear he might be attacked by the vomits [i.e., yellow fever] or some other fever. He complains of the discomforts of the climate and of his isolation. He paints a vivid picture of the [Spanish] e´migre´s’ curses against Mexico, which he was forced to hear even at his lodgings. He asks for correspondence from Mexico, but I must excuse [its lack], in light of the month his letter took to get here from [New] Orleans. The [money] exchange in Nachitoches was not realized, and the bills have gone on to [New] Orleans. Today we are waiting for Piedras, who has received many gifts and attentions in that town [Natchitoches], and at the post on the Sabine they detained him to celebrate on the 4th of this month.176 The minister of [foreign] relations, in reply to the official communication we sent from beyond the Colorado, reiterates that I should wait either there [Be´jar] or in this town, since, with the signing of the boundary treaty, the Commission will change its objective, for which I will be issued new orders and new bills will be sent, etc. That is to say, my friend, that we will have to await the ratification of the treaty by the

tera´ n’s letters from nacogdoches

103

Congress and government of the north, the appointment of commissioners, and their arrival at the frontier. All of this will consume several months, perhaps a year. So, let us see what we can do to free ourselves from melancholy. You there in Be´jar and I in Nacodoches: a sad situation! I wish we could get together, but if you come here your mules will perish, and if I go I will leave Tarnava without ready information. The month of October is approaching, and our hope for new assistance is from [New] Orleans. In the winter I will make an excursion to Nachitoches and to Natchez without visiting [New] Orleans. I will return to Be´jar accompanied by Tarnava, and if the provisions are adequate, we will make another excursion to Monclova. Life at present is very tedious. I see that my temperament, after all that has been said, is not bad, nor do we fare badly in our domestic relations: the soldier they have assigned to me is a better cook than Juan, and there are a few things [available] for one who is not a gourmet and is accustomed to the necessary frugality. But one need not think of distractions or diversions. You already know the Americans, and here they are the majority. The Mexicans are few, live at a distance, and belong to the indigent and wretched class. In a word, they spend the evening in a hammock, devoted to meditation. Sa´nchez holds his social gathering [tertulia] in the main [building?] with the other officers. He comes back at 10, then we have supper and retire. We do not go out during the day because there is nowhere to go. In short, I lack even the opportunity for study and work because of headaches and their cures, because [the headaches] alternate with [laxative] purges. So, this place is a purgatory. If omens are valid, Nacodoches will be another Rome, because it resembles [that city] in its infancy. [Rome] and this town owe their population to scoundrels, debtors, fugitives, etc., and in Nacodoches as well as in Rome they have to go steal women in order to procreate the species, because at present there is one woman for every ten men. This circumstance, and [the fact] that their [marriage] contracts lack legitimacy, lead the men to guard their women as cautiously as one guards some ill-gotten gain, fearful that they will escape and that there is nothing to keep them here. Thus, except for a few honorable Americans, most of the men undertake to guard their captive women by driving off visitors, business, etc. It is important to harness [aparejar] the mules. In addition, I am ordering 10 from Sen˜or Bustamante. It is not possible to travel with wagons, but we need a pack of about 30 [mules]. From the teams of the [expedition’s] two wagons we will get fewer than 20; of the 5 [mules?]

104 texas by tera´ n

that are here, one is no good. It is also necessary to reduce the wagon drivers’ salaries to 20 pesos, at least while they are inactive, and to even less if you think it appropriate. You decide how to proceed. Send me a copy of the budget and a report on how we came out the past semester. It is necessary to carry that account over to this second semester so that the depleted categories might recover. I have told you to seek money from the commissioner and to issue it against my account. Sen˜or [Ramo´n?] Mu´zquiz writes me that he has 300 pesos that I turned over in Natchitoches. The 500 pesos sent were from the loan Piedras made to me by virtue of the dispositions of Bustamante and [Erasmo?] Seguı´n. But I think that [Mu´zquiz?] has money there [in Be´jar?], and then it will be delivered to you. If you have need of it before, then ask for it, because, even though I think it will be another month yet before the money from that exchange arrives, the draft will be a while in coming. Finally, [I must] see to my health and heal my sores; I still have my scars, and I miss Dr. Chovel. My regards to everyone; your friend and comrade is at your service. Manuel.

let ter 7 tera´ n to secretary of [foreign] relations july 7, 1828 1 7 7 In article 10 of the instructions given to me by Your Excellency’s predecessor, I am asked to report on what type of relations should be permitted between the frontier authorities of the two nations [emphasis in original]. In this regard, I think it urgent to inform Your Excellency that on this frontier there is no political or judicial authority capable of attending the many issues of prime importance—all of them involving the resources of the general government—that have accumulated through different circumstances. Foreigners from every nation have this frontier of our federation open to them to enter without [fulfilling] the requirements of the law. This [country] is the asylum for fugitives from the neighboring republic. Foreign agriculturalists settle where it suits them, and they take over whatever land they desire without the alcalde’s approval and in defiance of the laws of colonization and of the rights of prior ownership. The colonists complain that they are deprived of the right of suffrage granted them by

tera´ n’s letters from nacogdoches

105

the law when the required period [of settlement] has elapsed. [They protest] that their legal claims are impossible to pursue because of the distances, the wilderness, and attacks on travelers by savage Indians. The population of Nacodoches is growing at an extraordinary rate because of the continual entry of North Americans. They set themselves up, full of suspicion because of the illegality of their settlement, but they rely on their numbers so that eventually they might be recognized as owners of the land they occupy. This situation has now come, I think, to the point of issuing property titles when the government so orders, [but] there is the problem of the lack of a political authority to carry it out in a competent manner. Yet, nothing calls for the establishment of those authorities more than the introduction of savages. The tribes that have appeared in the territory are no more than fractions of others that have remained far away. It is clear that those who have come invite those who have remained behind to choose the same course and come to reinforce them. These foreign tribes are not plagued by the divisions and rivalries that weaken all savages, but, rather, they form a body and are governed uniformly by the influence of the Cheraque´s. It is currently feared along this entire frontier—I do not know on what basis—that next winter the populous tribe of the Creeks will come in.178 [The Creeks] have long carried on war with the [United] States of the North, having defeated their troops on some occasions, and finally were forced to seek peace by the wellchronicled campaigns of General Jakson [Andrew Jackson]. It is my understanding that to observe the conduct of these tribes, acquire influence among them, and give them guidance in accord with the good of the Mexican nation, there is need for a political chief who resides here, even though he were subordinate to the one in Be´jar. I also understand from my reading of recent publications that the State [of Coahuila y Texas?] lacks the resources to make these expenditures. These might be made by the general government by way of [supplementary] aid, so that [the state] might preserve and distribute according to law the immense territory that belongs to that very supreme government. I believe it part of my duty to report all this to Your Excellency so that you might please inform the Most Excellent Sen˜or President. God, etc. Nacodoches, July 7, 1828. �� M. M. y T. Most Excellent Sen˜or Secretary of [Foreign] Relations.

106 texas by tera´ n

let ter 8 peter ellis bean to tera´ n july 11, 1828 1 7 9 Sen˜or General Don Manuel de Mier y Tera´n Nacogdoches, July 11, 1828. My very esteemed friend and sen˜or: I did not make notes on the other tribes, because my pencil had run out on me.180 But I can assure you that [the notes] will be of the same tenor as those for the others that are mentioned. What I replied to the tribes is the following: ‘‘My heart is full of satisfaction because the great king of the heavens has protected us to this day, and I stand among my red brothers and smoke with them in the name of my great Mexican nation, which is the Father of the Red Men. It has been twenty moons since I came from Mexico to these lands, and when I arrived, the black flag of war was flying in its towns. But as soon as I answered to the chiefs who are now present, they heard my words, they opened their eyes, and saw that a few evil minds were going to involve them in war without [the chiefs’] knowing why. Then they gave me their hand and we smoked the pipe in friendship. Since that day, there have been no more clouds or darkness.181 �� Brothers, I am just one man, but I speak for a very large nation [whose people are] valiant when offended, though they be simply annoyed. They are good fathers to all the Red men. The great captain has written some words on paper, and I must explain to his children that he is very contented with you. You have seen that a captain much greater than I has arrived to give you lands so that you might build towns, plant corn, and raise cattle so that your women and children will not be hungry. On this occasion, I have spoken in total truth, and you have done the same. Some Americans have told you that the Americans were going to make war on the Mexicans. Those who have said this are evil, lying men who have fled from their country because they are thieves and have caused some deaths and cannot return to their land. They want you to take their hand, but the Mexicans do not want to gather these evil people in their lands. If some of them should return to spread these false stories, I hope that my brothers the Red men will subdue them and take them to Nacogdoches. In the past, some of them have come to your villages and seized the opportunity to steal your horses and run away with your best animals. This is most serious, my brothers. You know me well, that I

tera´ n’s letters from nacogdoches

107

never speak with two tongues [a forked tongue]. I am well satisfied that my Red brothers do not deceive me, nor do we [deceive] them. �� Twelve moons ago I went to make peace with the Huecos and Tahuacanos, because the great captain of Mexico did not wish to kill them, but, rather, to give them wise counsel. Knowing that they were ignorant men, he did not wish to punish them outright. They agreed with me to be good and smoked with me the pipe of friendship for the Mexicans and for you, my brothers, who are present now. All of this was false [however]; now they are stealing.182 I do not wish to hear more of your complaints that they do not speak the truth. If you wish to destroy them because they are not good, you can do so and take their horses and mules for your own. I am thinking of a good place—which I will soon make available—for you to build your villages. I remain the father of the Red men, who are the friends of the Mexicans.’’ All this I replied to the tribes that spoke with me, and both this reply and the enclosed official letter will acquaint you with the manner in which the speeches of these aforesaid tribes were answered. I remain your most affectionate friend and servant, who wishes to please you and kisses your hand. Pedro Ellis Bean [rubric]

[Attachment to the above] At the village of the Charaquı´es [Cherokees] on the 2nd of the current [month], some three hundred Indians gathered from the following tribes: Cheroquı´es [Cherokees], Chabano´ [Shawnees], Quicapu´ [Kickapoos], Dilivas [Delawares], Alibamo´ [Alabamas], Abadacho [Navadachos], Ayanais [Hainais], and Cosate´ [Coushattas]. They had prepared an arbor twentyfive varas long and ten wide with appropriate seating. The gathering of these Indians was most solemn. A buffalo hide was spread out in the center of this great assembly, and the political chief of the Charaquı´es brought a small box, from which he withdrew twenty-one strings of white beads and placed them on the buffalo [hide].183 Meanwhile, others were erecting a pole with a white flag in the middle of a small circular space for the dance. When this was done, the aforesaid political chief made the following speech: ‘‘At this place our different tribes have gathered to form a treaty of friendship and to honor the red youth of our peoples. It has been twenty

108 texas by tera´ n

moons since we smoked the pipe of friendship with our Mexican brothers, and we wish always to be one people and to share the same thoughts as our Mexican brothers. We will not fail [to keep] our word [and] though we may be red men, we will speak the truth. Twelve moons ago, Captain Bin [Bean] went to the Tahuacanos and Huecos to make peace, and he smoked the peace pipe with them on behalf of the Mexicans. He also brought beads from us and tobacco and smoked the peace pipe in our name. When he returned and told us [of this], our hearts were contented. [Yet] these people are false and speak with two tongues. Now they have begun to do harm, and before long the lands they inhabit will be stained with blood from their evil acts. �� Brothers, these beads that you see spread on this buffalo hide are traditional symbols of our leaders who died many years ago. But these symbols they left are ancient reminders that we will not forget. I hope that my Chabano´ [Shawnee] brothers, as the oldest nation, will speak first.’’ A Charaquı´ called Pierna Negra [Black Leg] 184 spoke next: ‘‘Chiefs and brothers, it has been the will of the great king of men that we have gathered here to discuss matters of interest to all men. You must open your ears and listen with attention to what little your brother can tell you. �� Deer hunting and all other wild game meat is disappearing, and it is important to turn our attention to planting corn and raising cattle, so that our children will not suffer hunger, and to creating villages. Our elders should give good counsel to the young that they should not steal anything from anyone and that they should behave like honorable warriors and not like thieves. Then we will not lack for friends. The Mexicans are our fathers, and we have shaken their hand [been at peace with them] for a long time. We are old and soon we will be dead and forgotten, but let our young warrior sons follow the same path without straying from our Mexican fathers, [because] we have seen their trustworthiness. I was in Nacogdoches and I saw the great Captain [Tera´n], who has come to give us land.185 Everything that Bin [Bean] told us is true; he is the father of the red men and speaks the truth.’’ The Chabano´ [Shawnee] chief spoke next: ‘‘I have heard what my Cheroquı´ brothers have said, and their words are good. We are red men and do not know how to read or write. We know only what we think in our heads. We have come from far away to this country to seek the Mexicans, and they have received us as brothers. We must be honorable men and not liars like the Huecos and the Tahuacanos. The enemies of the Mexicans are our enemies. We have come to live with them, we have smoked [the pipe] with them, and we are war-

tera´ n’s letters from nacogdoches

109

riors. We do not wish to live scattered about the country like the other tribes if [the Mexicans will help us] raise our cattle, grow corn, and teach our children to be good people. These lands are good for those who work, but he who does not work will always go hungry; he and his wife will go naked, and his children will be thieves. The Mexicans are our fathers, and we will teach our children to respect their fathers the Mexicans after we are dead, because we are old, and the day is not far off when we will return to the earth— our mother—where we will never again speak to our Mexican fathers.’’ 186 I report all of this to Your Excellency for your superior knowledge. God and Liberty. Nacogdoches, July 11, 1828. Pedro Ellis Bean [rubric] Most Excellent Sen˜or General Don Manuel de Mier y Tera´n let ter 9 tera´ n to secretary of [foreign] relations august 2, 1828 1 8 7 Boundaries No. 53 Most Excellent Sen˜or Several chiefs of the Savanau [Shawnee] tribe have come to me and stated that by permission of the government of the State of Coahuila— from which, in effect, they showed me a document promising them ownership of some land and granting them the right to occupy it when they could do so—they had settled on the southern banks of the Red River of Natchitoches in Mexican territory near the place the North Americans inhabit called Punta Pacana [Pecan Point], which is undeniably in [Mexican] national territory as well. But [they said] they had just been expelled by the inhabitants of the north and forced to abandon their houses and their cornfields before they had time to harvest. Therefore, they were asking me to assign them a place to settle, to which I agreed in order to spare the country the harm that this large and well-armed tribe might do if forced to live by stealing. I assigned them the headwaters of the Trinity River near the plains so that they might survive on buffalo hunting while planting new fields and moving their cattle. I made them understand that this was a provisional measure, and that I was going to report to the supreme government and to the state [government] for their knowledge and approval.188

110 texas by tera´ n

I enclose a copy of an article in the newspaper Correo de Natchitoches, in which it is clear that the expulsion of the Savanaus [Shawnees] was determined by the authorities of the Arkansas Territory, and not carried out by the local residents, as the Indians reported. [I also enclose] two other copies of a document and of the report given to me by the former [Shawnees?], which provide a sense of the civilized principles of this tribe. These [principles] are borne out by the passionate desire to learn to read and write revealed in all their conversations, for which purpose they have repeatedly asked me for teachers. I have the honor to report this to Your Excellency, so that when you inform the Most Excellent Sen˜or President, he may please tell me if the measure I have taken merits his approval, with the understanding that, in order to settle them in the place I have mentioned, we need the permission of the state government. I am giving it timely notification that the permanent settlement of this tribe is important to the peace and security of the country. God, etc. Nacodoches, August 2, 1828. �� M. M. y T. Most Excellent Sen˜or Secretary of [Foreign] Relations let ter 10 tera´ n to the secretary of war october 14, 1828 1 8 9 Boundaries No. 67

Most Excellent Sen˜or In accord with the orders that Your Excellency was pleased to issue at the time of my departure from that capital with regard to reporting on the military security of our frontier, I think it appropriate to inform Your Excellency that, in order to preserve the garrisons that currently exist, we urgently need measures to provide the necessary wages for the subsistence of these troops. The garrison of this presidio [Nacogdoches] has gone for nearly seven months without receiving any amount because of the unpaid wages. As a result, it has been reduced to the most deplorable state, with no other means of survival than that of taking almost by force from the town stores—all of them owned by foreigners— enough bread and rice for the [soldiers’] mess, to which even the officers are subject. Even though the commander of this post says that he has made the appropriate reports about his situation through the proper channels, I feel that Your Excellency is not aware of what is happening, or at least that you have not been given to understand that the misery suffered by

tera´ n’s letters from nacogdoches

111

the garrison is already compromising the security of the posts, as well as the decorum of the government.190 So that Your Excellency might formulate superior policies, I must add that if we do not take advantage of the short time left before the month of December, it will be impossible to provide help later, though we might wish to do so, because the roads are impassable in the winter. I have the honor to report this to Your Excellency, beseeching you to please inform the Most Excellent Sen˜or President. God and liberty. Nacodoches, October 14, 1828. �� M. M. y T. Most Excellent Sen˜or Secretary of War.

S

figure 19 This sketch map in the Berlandier papers crudely marks the U.S.-Mexico boundary north from 32� latitude on the Sabine River, as Tera´n was unsure of the course of the upper Red (Rojo) River. Courtesy of Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven.

d i a ry

S

Trip to the Red River [First excursion in the direction of 32� latitude on the banks of the Sabine] 1 91 friday, october 17 (1828). From Nacodoches to the Rancho del Guajolote 192 four leagues to the northeast. On the road from 10 : 00 until 1 : 00 in the afternoon. Continuous forest of oaks, black walnuts, sugar tree (Acer saccharinus), copalı´,193 and pines. The ground of sandy hills, ferrous clay, and fossil-shell clay. The land for the most part unsuitable for cultivation. Seven small streams, including the Arroyo de la Nana next to the town. Three of the streams join it, another three flow into the Arroyo del Carrizo, which joins the Angelina below the former [La Nana]. The last stream near our lodging flows to the Atoyaque. In the house, part of the building is made of a lumpy iron [which] in very large pieces affects the [compass] needle. Two Lobelias. The species [of one?] seems to me to be Refulgens. Speargrass [Estebia], Zinna, Eupatorium, ricinus as abundant and luxuriant as in the town.194 Baked yam (convolvulus batatas) 195 and milk are the only food for the poor family that inhabits the rancho. Thermometer at 10 : 15: 1 : 00: 3 : 00: 5 : 00: 6 : 30:

38� Fahrenheit . . . . in Nacodoches 81� . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the Rancho . . . . . wind SE

83� . . . . . . . . . . . . . . same . . . . . . . . . . . same

75� . . . . . . . . . . . . . . calm

65� . . . . . . . . . . . . . . same . . . . . . . . . . . clear

saturday, october 18. Temperature

6 : 00 a.m.: 50� . . . . . . . . . Guajolote . . . . . . foggy, calm

7 : 00: 60� . . . . . . . . . same . . . . . . . . . . . same

114 texas by tera´ n

Right after 7 : 00, southeast wind with clouds. Travel to the Rancho de Alvarado,196 5 leagues, from 7 : 45 to 12 : 10. Route along a trail. Many streambeds dry. Water in the Arroyo Grande and the Atoyaque into which it runs. Very thick forest. Hills of sand and ferrous clay. A considerable extension of land is flooded by the arroyos in high water. Herbaceous vegetation becomes less abundant, and one finds more of a sage, which is quite rare in Nacodoches.197 The black walnut [nogal negro] abounds in excess. On the banks of the Atoyac is settled a family of the Cado´, or Ais, tribe. The Rancho de Alvarado is very short on agricultural produce, due to poor cultivation. At 3 : 00 p.m.: 85� F

At 6 : 00: 74�

At 7 : 00: 68�

Because of the wind currents from the southeast, clouds have gathered in the north, and a reaction is now ready. Such is the atmospheric play of this country. It bothers me to indicate the plants that I see without collecting any samples. Because of the lack of paper, however, I cannot preserve any and I have none [paper], even though I ordered it from N. Orleans.198 Direction: 2 leagues to the north and 3 to the east-northeast.

sunday, the 19th. We set out at 7 : 00 and arrived at 10 : 00, a distance of 4 leagues. The route very narrow and obstructed by the trees, which causes our supplies to move very slowly. Direction: northeast. On the banks of a spring is the Rancho de Chicho´,199 where we lodged. Terrain all the same. The beds of some arroyos hold stagnant rainwater. Thermometer at 10 : 00. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80� F.

at 3 : 00. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85�

at 9 : 00 p.m. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72�

At this lodging I suffered a strong stomach disorder and, lacking any medicine, I drank two cups of ash, that being the only alkali I could obtain.

trip to the red river

115

monday, october 20, 1828. At 6 : 45 we left the previous lodging. We crossed the Arroyo Tanaja 200 a mile from the house, and at 10 : 30 we came to the house of a Frenchman, Mr. Palbadeau,201 150 varas from the banks of the Sabine River. There we settled in to spend the days necessary for our attempt to fix the 32nd degree of latitude [emphasis in original] on the Sabine River as the first point designated by the boundary treaty between the two republics. Given the cloudy skies and the constant southeast wind that brings them [clouds], it appears that this will be an operation of several days. The Sabine River currently is very shallow, it being possible to cross it on foot without the water’s coming above the waist. The water fills a width of 40 feet, and the bed is a little wider, but when the water rises it overflows and inundates 500 varas on either side, which indicates a rise of more than 60 feet above its current level. This is more than sufficient for navigation by steamboat during three or four months of the year. tuesday, the 21st. Encamped at the dwelling of Mr. Palbadeau. By observations we were fortunate enough to make in the morning, we are 2�11� to the east of Nacodoches, and by the midday height of the sun—which I was able to take under poor conditions because of the clouds—we are fifty seconds south of the 32nd parallel. Thus, our error in the journey we have made to find it is less than a mile. However, this result must be confirmed by sure observations, which do not appear likely for some days due to the condition of the skies. I have also observed the barometer, and by a measurement at five in the afternoon at the house and on the banks of the Sabine I see that the instrument gives me a good indication of the difference in elevation between the two points. Thermometer at 3 : 00 in the afternoon: 83� F.

at 9 : 00 in the evening: 72�

wednesday, the 22nd. Encamped at the Sabine, prevented from making observations because of the clouds. At 3 : 30 in the afternoon, a heavy shower of short duration.

116 texas by tera´ n

thursday, the 23rd. At the Sabine. The skies continue overcast. At 7 : 00 [a.m.] thermometer: 68� F.

At 3 : 00 in the afternoon: 83�

At 6 : 00 same: 72�

friday, the 24th. At certain interludes I made more precise observations, and their satisfactory results have made me decide to move on. The 32nd parallel is less than a mile from this spot, and since the Sabine River makes a turn from the west to the south a league farther north, the arc of the meridian—which according to the treaty we are to seek from the point where the 32nd parallel bisects the Sabine River until it crosses the Red River [Rojo] of Natchitoches—lies farther to the east and in a situation more favorable to the Mexican Republic.202 saturday, the 25th. At 8 : 30 we set out, crossing the river. At 9 : 30 we arrived at the dwelling of Baptiste Palbadeau,203 son of the owner of our previous lodgings. We awaited our baggage until 10 : 30, at which time we continued until 2 : 15. Although we should head directly north, we are prevented from doing so by the dense forest, which can be crossed only by following a trail.204 We took that trail to the northeast to the house of some raisers of bovine stock, whose owner lives in Natchitoches. His overseer is named Lafite.205 We have passed several small springs and two large arroyos. One of them is called El Castor,206 and it is the last stream that runs into the Sabine, the ones after that flowing into the Red [Rojo] of Natchitoches. A wild fruit called Negrillo-baya, monospermous and growing in bunches on trees. Medlar trees, large berry, and the tree produces a fine wood. The savages eat both, and in order to gather the fruit they fell the tree.207 sunday, october 26th. Departure at 8 : 15. We arrive at 10 : 30 [after traveling] a distance of 3 leagues mostly to the west, otherwise to the northwest. The trails do not allow a more direct route, and from the one we have taken we calculate that we have compensated for the distance we were to the east

trip to the red river

117

yesterday. Moreover, we have traveled a league to the west of the meridian we are to maintain.208 In the territory crossed today there are 6 dwellings, including the two where we lodged yesterday and today. The forest is as thick as the one we have crossed. At one place we noted a number of walnut trees [nogales] recently felled by the savages in order to harvest their fruit.209 The inhabitants along today’s route are all French (in origin) and are married to or have family members who are Mexicans. The owner of the dwelling told me about the taxes he paid to the state of Louisiana, and according to his account he pays the following: One peso for every hundred head of cattle, 2 reales for 25, and nothing for a lesser number, this being understood for the year. The same for a hundred horses, but nothing for ten or fewer. Two pesos for each slave of any sex or age. One percent of the value of landed property assessed by four individuals [estimateurs] chosen by vote in the parish. They inquire into everything they need to know about every property. They also interview the owner, but only on his word and without the formality of a sworn oath. If [the owners] are guilty of withholding, however, they lose everything they withheld. The assessors swear to their report for each property. The tax is taken to the district, or parish, seat and delivered to the sheriffe, an officer unknown in Mexican law, who performs the duties of alguacil [constable], collector, and executioner. For all this he receives a salary of a certain percentage of what he collects and [text blank] for each summons. Despite the low ranking of these duties in the Mexican mind, in the United States it is an honorable profession. I cannot verify exactly what taxes are paid on commerce, because, even though the settler in whose house I am staying trades with the savages, he says that his supplier, not he, makes payment. I have been able to make only four solar elevations. The clouds prevent any more [observations], even determining latitude by the elevation of some star. Thermometer at 7 : 00 a.m.: 72� F. at 3 : 00 p.m.: 84� at 6 : 00: 79�

118 texas by tera´ n

monday, the 27th. At 7 : 30, drizzle which continued without interruption until 3: 00 in the afternoon. We set out at 9 : 00 [a.m.] toward the southwest, until we retraced a league of our same route of yesterday [and stopped] at the house of some Mexicans. We then headed to the north and northeast, guided by a native savage of the Cado´ tribe without whom we might have had to abandon our objective. At 1 : 00 we camped on the banks of Bayu´-Sapin,210 settling in under the forest [canopy]. We sent the Cado´ to a nearby rancho to purchase lard, and he came back without it at 7 : 00, returning as an honorable man [would] to the encampment. He also had the courtesy to invite us to share a deer he had killed on the trail. tuesday, the 28th. After spending a very frustrating night, alternately enduring rain, heat, and cold by dawn, and fearing that a tree might fall on us—as is seen in many places where we often found them blown down by the wind—we left our forest at 8 : 00 heading northeast along a trail, passing through sandy hills covered with the endless forest. At 12: 00 we came to the hut of a North American and, knowing that there was another one closer to the Red River [Rojo], we left there and arrived at the latter a half hour later. On the way we saw another [cabin], where we were told a German lived with a black woman. At none of these was there any cultivation, and because it seemed to us impossible for them to survive in the middle of this wilderness, they have responded to our questions by saying that they are traders with the savages. We suspect that they are thieves, although the owner of the hut in which we lodged does not seem by his behavior to be such. He has a family and some slaves and devotes himself to reading; he lent me some recent newspapers from several cities in the north. He has notions of the latitude and longitude of a place and is teaching his children to read and write. All of this denotes a level of culture that is surprising for a trader with the savages who lives in such misery in the wilds of Texas and Louisiana.211 According to the direction we have taken in the 5 leagues traveled today, and that of previous days’ travel, we are to the east of the point where the boundary line between the two republics should end. To the east of the cabin we see the Red River 100 paces away and 40 feet below the hill where the house is located. At this spot there is a pool 400 varas wide that seems to be the main bed of the river, but it is

trip to the red river

119

easy to believe instead that it is one of the areas filled by the water around the islands that obstruct the bed of the river. These islands have been formed by silt deposits from floods. They occupy 160 miles along the watercourses and four or five in width, thus preventing any navigation. Upon inspecting the islands found here, one feels that amazement caused by nature’s works on a grand scale: an immense tide of enormous trees is the foundation of these islands. Some of them show signs that after their formation they have had many years of the tranquillity necessary to nourish a forest as dense as that on the banks, and that the currents flowed elsewhere, allowing the cypresses, cottonwoods, and oaks that now cover their surfaces to flourish. But, when the currents are blocked by other islands that the river has formed in its flow, it comes back to destroy the first ones, lowering their elevation with its floods and eating away the soil at their roots, which are all exposed. One enormous cypress is seen supported by three arms of its roots, as in a tripod. At the point where the water hits, the trunks that served as the base for soil buildup are disinterred; some of them have never rotted. Alongside this one, there are other islands in the first stage of formation. Tree trunks piled and bound together create a barrier, filled in later by sand. Some [trunks] are in a vertical position, as if they had grown on that spot. In these piles there is no vegetation, unless it is some bits of the riverbank dragged along with all the trees that were there. The currents, blocked by such a multitude of barriers, have flowed to one side or another and flooded the land for many leagues.212 Near this place, three miles to the north, Cass Lake (‘‘medlar’’ in the language of the Cado´s) begins.213 After a stretch of higher land comes the Sciodo,214 and the two join the river through the same mouth. Downriver the lakes continue, among which is that of Bayu´-Pierre up to near Natchitoches. On the other side of the river are the lakes of Bistineau and Nacke.215 The government of the United States seeks to remove these obstacles to steamboat navigation, and, according to the reports of their commissioners Captain Birck [Birch] and Sublieutenant Lee printed in the newspaper Courier de Natchitoches of Monday, March 13, 1826, it is impossible to clear the channel because in a distance of 100 miles they encountered 180 log dams. Altogether, they form the great raft, the great dam. But those officers propose connecting Lake Sciodo and Bayu´-Pierre as an easily achieved project, by which they would accomplish the navigation they seek for a thousand miles above Natchitoches, or well into the interior of New Mexico.216 Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Punta Pacana

120 texas by tera´ n

[Pecan Point] 217 work at opening small channels through which to take their cotton to Natchitoches. At the cost of great labor they usually manage to open channels that serve them no more than a year or two. In one of these small channels I saw a formation of soil deposit that consisted of a layer of clay one vara thick, topped by a palisade two feet high and a vara and a half of sand, there being on top of that a jumble of more logs and a crust of vegetal earth. The banks of the river are extremely fertile and attractive because of the forest. The bulk of the log mass that forms the great dam consists of cedars.218 In all this vast jumble and submerged land not a single stone of any kind is to be found. Despite the beauty of the forests that surround the water channel, the river’s aspect at this spot causes that melancholy impression characteristic of places where one finds only heaps of ruins. Riding in a canoe in the direction of the greatest stretch of water, I observed a layer of fossilized carbon that follows the entire river’s edge precisely with a thickness of two inches to four feet, running from northwest to southeast over every rise and fall of the terrain until disappearing after a half mile under the waters. I collected a few fragments to keep. wednesday the 29th, thursday the 30th, and friday the 31st. Held over at the house of James Coat,219 being unable to make observations due to the cloudy condition of the sky. The last day we could take the midday elevation of the sun with very little clearing. Since we are lacking provisions, we are forced to move on. saturday, november 1st. Departure at 7 : 00. We halted at a house one league away to await our baggage. There we saw a young North American woman who told us that she was going to marry a man who also lived there.220 We continued our journey at 9 : 30 and soon encountered three individuals. One of them told us he was the alcalde of Bayu´-Pierre 221 and was on his way with his constable to the rancho we had just left to conduct a marriage. It was for the young woman I have mentioned. I was sorry not to have seen it in order to become familiar with the ceremony, so different from Catholic tradition, which looks on it [marriage] principally as a religious act. But from information I gathered today I understand that the aspirants [pretendientes] appear before the alcalde, and the banns are posted in the most-frequented places. Impatient couples—with a little money— can

trip to the red river

121

omit this proceeding. Once public notice is posted in the parish seat, the alcalde asks the contracting parties if it is their wish to unite and then exhorts them regarding the fulfillment of their obligations and concludes with, ‘‘On behalf of the State of Louisiana I declare that you are lawfully joined in matrimony.’’ It is customary for those attending the ceremony to give a good luck kiss to the bride. Within 24 hours, if the woman changes her mind and swears before the same official that the marriage is not consummated, the contract can be annulled. The alcalde receives 3 pesos for a marriage and the scribe 1 peso for writing the banns. On today’s travel we have taken a more easterly direction in search of houses for each day’s journey, and we have concluded today’s journey at 1 : 00 in the afternoon at the house of Mr. Walis,222 a farmer from the district of Bayu´-Pierre. We were received quite coldly at first, but as soon as the lady of the house— of whom we asked nothing more than permission to camp nearby—learned that we were Mexican travelers, she had us sit at her table and treated us thereafter most attentively. That night the three [individuals] we had met on the road arrived. One of them was the owner of the house, another the alcalde of BayouPierre, and the third the schoolteacher for the family’s children. The last is a very jovial Scot, who, in order to make us understand that he knew something of the Spanish language, said that for some time he had been a subject of Sen˜or Don Fernando the 7th, ‘‘may God keep him few years.’’ He also told us that he was the first one to kiss the bride that day.223 The alcalde informed me that the territorial tax [contribucio´n] for the district of Bayou-Pierre amounts to 600 pesos and that the election of representatives and presidential electors for the United States was on the following day. The election goes on for three days, during which the alcalde and two other commissioners maintain in a public place a box with two locks in which they collect the citizens’ ballots. But before a vote is cast it must be shown on the forms displayed there that the voter is a citizen and has paid his taxes to the state. Whoever has not paid his corresponding tax on trade or landed property loses the right to vote.224 Shortly after us some Americans arrived, leading a black man in chains. The attention we focused on these individuals has been useful to me in terms of what I learned of the dealings of the North American government with the savage tribes. The leader of the Americans I saw arrive is an interpreter for the Cado´ tribe. For that service and for running a boat on the Red River for the use of the Cado´s and the Guapanaquı´s living with them, the [U.S.] government pays him 900 pesos.225 In

122 texas by tera´ n

addition to this employee, the same government pays two others. One, who is the principal [authority] for each tribe, is called an agente; the one for the Cado´s has a salary of 1,200 pesos a year.226 These posts are given to officers of the regular army by way of retirement. They provide, in addition to that salary, other considerable earnings in trade with the savages. For this reason the job of agent is highly prized. The government furnishes its agent with a certain sum so that he may establish a store in the savages’ village, with the metal adornments, arrow points, vermilion, and other items of clothing that they use in order to trade for the skins produced by hunting. After a while, the agent reimburses the government, and for security he gives his bond beforehand. The agent is also a farmer, and for that purpose he obtains land. His job is to prevent the savages from stealing and from being robbed, and they respect him. He forces them to return or pay for whatever they have taken from the whites, and he also files complaints with the authorities about the abuses the latter might have committed. The current agent is named Grees, and I was told he was near death and was leaving a fortune.227 The other employee that the government pays a salary of 800 pesos is an armorer sent to maintain the savages’ firearms in good condition.228 Besides these expenditures, the chief of the Cado´ tribe receives 50 pesos a year in gratificacio´n and other small supplies of tobacco, paints, etc.229 This tribe has its assigned territory, and the agent keeps watch so that the whites do not occupy it. We passed the arroyo that marks the lands of the Cado´. Since it is clear that the government provides the savages the means of maintaining their firearms in useful condition—with which weapons they might attack the inhabitants of the republic [the United States]— I pointed this out to the Americans who were telling me all this. They replied that the government has no fear at all of hostilities on the part of these tribes, which they have settled into agrarian life on a given expanse of land, and that the entire purpose of making war on them boils down to placing them in this status. In fact, no truly nomadic and wandering tribe like the Comanches and the Lipanes of Texas exists now in the United States.230 Once the savages are established in their territory, for which they are supplied with tools for agriculture and carpentry by the government, Protestant Presbyterian or Methodist missionaries are sent to civilize them. I was told that the latter were paid by the government (there currently is a mission of eight or nine among the Wasas). They are

trip to the red river

123

obliged to respect the independence, habits, and customs of the savages. They do not burden them in any way, and they and their wives (I was told that not infrequently the missionaries took savage women as their wives) devoted themselves to teaching them the [English] language and to read and write without seeking to attract them to any form of worship, just to make them sociable and, by their own example, to teach them agriculture. The missionaries are commonly farmers and cultivate a field located within the community of the savages, with whom they live for many years under the authority of the tribal agent.231 The house in which we are lodged is the best-constructed one we have encountered on this journey. The cultivated land is extensive, and in every way it appears that this family enjoys many comforts provided by a dozen slaves who are very well treated. At a short distance from the house several of them were cleaning sweet potatoes and storing them in a cellar, filling it to half its height, for consumption during the entire year. In all the homes we have visited they eat the sweet potato baked, roasted, or fried in slices in place of bread. The owner of the house is a North American, but his wife is a Louisianan of French origin.232 Since she seems to be the most active member of the family, the entire group follows French customs. According to these, they drink very strong coffee at all hours: a cup upon arising, breakfast [almuerzo] two hours later ending with coffee and milk, the noonday meal, coffee and milk at four o’clock, and shortly after dark, supper is served. The supper they gave us this night was complimentary and splendid with regard to the place and customs. When it ended at 7 : 00 a conversation formed around the fireplace, as is customary. I missed it because I could not stand the fireplace, when in the cool breeze blowing from the north the thermometer registered no more than 9� Centigrade. Distance traveled today: 5 leagues. A shower at sunset and storms in the distance in different directions. Note: It is necessary to see a northern newspaper in Nacodoches regarding the annual expenditure made by the government in dealing with the Indians [emphasis in original].233 sunday, november 2. We set out at 7 : 15 after expressing deep gratitude for the hospitality with which this family received us. We continued our journey to the southeast, stopping at 10 : 30 at the house of a poor Mexican woman. At 12 : 00, when our baggage arrived, we continued to Lafitte’s house,

124 texas by tera´ n

where we stayed the 25th of last month. We arrived at 2 : 00 in the afternoon; 16 miles traveled.234 monday, the 3rd. We set out at 6 : 30 heading southeast, arriving at Palbadeau’s house on the banks of the Sabine River at 11 : 30. Distance: 21 miles. The baggage and most of the entourage took another route.235 tuesday, the 4th. The baggage has not arrived, and we are lacking everything. Our poor hosts have provided us two beds. I sent a dragoon out to look for the lost party. During the morning Colonel Bean arrived,236 having gone out yesterday on foot to hunt deer. His assistant being one of the lost ones, [Bean] has been forced to travel on foot the entire way. The dragoon returned in the evening, reporting that all the way back to the house we left yesterday he did not find those who are lost. wednesday, the 5th. At dawn the guide Mr. Pierre Houbleau [Roubleau] set out to find the lost party.237 thursday, the 6th. At 11 : 00 a countryman arrived who had gone out yesterday with Roubleau, and he reported that our companions have wandered as far away as Bayu´-Pierre, where he found them late yesterday not knowing where they were or what direction they should take. friday, the 7th. At two in the afternoon the lost party arrived. I took elevations of [symbol for sun] and at night that of the Polar star. saturday, the 8th. The chronometer stopped for no other reason, apparently, than the cold overnight, which was zero [degrees Centigrade] at dawn. We left Palbadeau’s house for that of Chicho´, where we arrived at 11: 00. sunday, november 9, 1828. From the previous house to Alvarado’s. Some of the soldiers’ mounts became fatigued.

trip to the red river

125

monday, the 10th. From Alvarado’s house to the dwelling called Guajolote [Turkey]. Here there are thirty beehives. tuesday, the 11th. A strong northwest wind blowing. Nevertheless, the thermometer registered 54� F. at 9 : 00 in the morning. The preceding days have been hot. We set out at 7 : 00 and arrived at Nacodoches at 9 : 15. All around this town the Bignonia catalpa tree abounds.238

S

figure 20 John A. Williams drew this map of east Texas for Stephen F. Austin’s younger brother in 1827. Courtesy of Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.

d i a ry

S

Trip down the Trinity A second excursion to the southeast of Nacodoches in the direction of the mouth of the Sabine River. friday, november 28th [1828]. From Nacodoches to the hacienda of Mr. Pierre [Roubleau]: 4 leagues south-southeast. Five streams flow into La Nana (arroyo) and this into the Angelina. They flow already united before reaching the house. Sandy hills, pine forest.239 Thermometer reading at 6 : 30: 0� R.; at 3 : 00 in the afternoon at our lodging: 16� R.; at 6 : 00 in the evening: 6.5� R. saturday, the 29th. From the previous house into the country, heading south and southwest 4 leagues. [We crossed] a stream that flows to the Angelina. Forest of pines, with few oaks; the sugar tree and copal are not to be found. After 3 leagues we came into a prairie more than a league long and a half league wide. Such terrain without trees is quite rare in this country, although the forest does surround it.240 Ice. At 6 : 00, temperature in R.: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . At 7 : 00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . At 8 : 00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . At 12 : 00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . At 6 : 00 in the afternoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . At 7 : 30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

-2�

-1� Calm

�3�

16� Light southeast wind

9� Calm. Clear skies

5.8� Same. Same

sunday, november 30th. At 6 : 00: [temperature] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6� Dew.

At 7 : 00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6�

128 texas by tera´ n

We set out at 7 : 45 to the south, southwest, and west. At 3 : 00 in the afternoon we arrived at the house of Poncho-Michi (‘‘He who took the scalp’’), a native of the Alibama tribe.241 Level terrain, few hills and large prairies. A league from our resting place we passed six empty Heloese [i.e., Beloese, or Biloxi] dwellings, their owners having gone to hunt. The house where we stopped has cattle and a fair number of tools and is equal in every way to what a civilized family might possess. The Alibamas speak the same language as the Chicasaws.242 At 1:00, thermometer at 20� in the sun on a plain. Light southeast breeze. At 6 : 00 in the afternoon, 11� Calm. Clear. 7 : 00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.8� Same. Same.

8 : 00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7� Same. Same.

monday, december 1st, 1828. Dew. At 6 : 30 in the morning: 1.3� Calm. Clear.

At 2 : 00 in the afternoon: 19�.

Departure at 8 : 00. At 10 : 30 we came to the banks of the Neches River, and since we could not ford it, the baggage was crossed on a fallen tree that served as a bridge and the animals swam across. This operation took us until one in the afternoon. Two miles farther on we stayed in the dwellings of some Alabama Indians,243 who warned us that we would not find pasturage for the animals for a great distance if we were planning to go on. [In reaching this village] we have advanced two leagues and a half to the southeast. Breezes from the south and some clouds throughout the morning, but they have dissipated at nightfall. At 6 : 00 in the evening: 11.5� Calm. Clear. Six or eight families of the Alabama tribe live in the rancherı´a where we are staying. Their wooden houses differ little from those built by the civilized settlers. The very fertile land they cultivate is well fenced. They grow much corn and sweet potatoes, which they also supply to Nacodoches. They keep large herds of domesticated bovine stock and pigs and are supplied with good horses and with arms. This tribe distinguishes itself, as do they all, by its hairstyle: on either side of the head they have a triangular patch without hair, which they shave to the skin. On the top there is a strip of hair two inches wide, and to flatten it in either direc-

trip down the trinity

129

tion they use grease. On the forehead and down the neck the hair hangs evenly like a fringe. They have white metal adornments in every shape and paint their faces heavily with vermilion. The Alabamas of Tejas, the Chactaws, and the Chicasaws of the U.S. of the North all speak a common language, which is the Mobile [Mobila].244 During the entire time we were there, we noted the pleasure that reigns among these natives. They did not cease to play ball games, or, gathered in small groups, they laughed as if they were having the most amusing conversation. It seems that these forest people live in great contentment; at least they have the means to satisfy their needs abundantly through their labors in a fertile land. The fruits that it produces and their frugality would bring them ever-greater prosperity, to the point of becoming rich farmers. But they have concerns that place limits on their industry and keep their labors imperfect: when, after residing [in a place] for some years, they are enjoying the comforts born of their accumulated efforts, they abandon the place if someone in the family dies or if some other calamity occurs which they take as a sign that the place is evil.245 tuesday, december 2nd. Departure at 8 : 00, halting at 4 : 00 in the afternoon. Heading: southeast; distance: 5 leagues. Sandy hills and forests largely of long-needled pines.246 At 3 : 00 it began to rain heavily and continued with interruptions through the night. We made camp on the banks of an arroyo in the middle of a very dense forest, with the threat that some enormous rotten trees surrounding us might fall; during the night two of them fell in the distance. Today we traversed a pile of trees blown down by a windstorm [huraca´n]. I noticed one tree that was a hundred feet long with eight feet of roots. Few of the trees were broken, and the majority were torn out by the roots. The storm must have come from the southeast, because the trees point in the opposite direction. The land that suffered this devastation is about a half league wide, but its length is indeterminable. If this log pile is the same one encountered on the Sabine River to the east of Nacodoches, on this side it would be more than 30 leagues [long].247 wednesday, the 3rd. On the march at 8 : 30, halting at 2 : 00 in the afternoon on the slopes of a hill. Cloudy skies, with northeast breezes starting at noon. It rained continuously from 5 : 00 in the afternoon until 7 : 00 the following morn-

130 texas by tera´ n

ing. Today we passed through another forest destroyed by a windstorm; the log pile is thicker. These huracanes form with storm clouds and terrible lightning discharges. The log pile today is not as wide. The trees indicate that this disaster would have occurred last year. thursday, the 4th. We encamped in the same place. Intermittent rain, with a gentle northeast breeze. At 7 : 00, thermometer: 6� [R?]

At 11 : 00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9�

At 6 : 00 in the evening: 7.5�

An ailment in my waist [cintura]. friday, the 5th. Because the pasturage is bad we found ourselves obliged to move camp, even though the weather does not allow us to travel. We set out at 9 : 20 and halted on the bank of the Arroyo del Carrizo at 2 : 00. We traveled 3 leagues and a half to the south.248 saturday, the 6th. It has rained all night. We remain encamped. Gentle winds from the northeast and northwest. At 11 : 00 in the morning, thermometer at 8�. Holding at 7.5� throughout the day. Cloudy skies and wind the same, intermittent. sunday, the 7th. Since our guide is an Alibama, we followed his advice and struck camp at 9 : 00 in the morning. After a league we halted, because he told us that it would be a great distance before we found pasturage—reeds, that is, because Bermuda grasses [gramas] are found in most parts.249 It rained very little during the morning, and by noon the clouds had cleared away. The hunters Bean and Houbleau [Roubleau] brought two ducks and two turkeys, and the Alabama killed a lion, which, according to what they say of it, is a cuguar.250

trip down the trinity

131

At 2 : 00 in the afternoon, thermometer: 10� in the sun. 5 : 00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.5� 7 : 00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4� 8 : 00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5� 9 : 00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5� 11 : 00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7�

Clear. Same. Same. Same. Same. Overcast.

Calm. Same. Same. Same. Same.

monday, the 8th. This evening a variation in the atmosphere has occurred that shows the direct influence of the winds on this climate, and that they, more than latitude, give rise to the great differences we observe in the current season. Early in the evening the clear skies and the steady drop in temperature foretold a heavy frost by morning. But between 10: 00 and 11 : 00 clouds covered the sky, and their presence alone caused the temperature to rise, such that at midnight one felt an uncomfortable warmth. The day dawned with rain, which ended at 10 : 00. The thermometer remained all day at 9.5� R., but at 6 : 00 in the evening, when the wind from the torrid zone to the southeast was blowing with greater strength, it rose to 12�. Under those conditions heavy showers fell at dawn. We traveled this day from 10 : 00 in the morning to 2 : 00 in the afternoon, going 4 leagues. We halted at a large arroyo that flows into the Trinity River. There was a family of Alabamas settled there, engaged in the hunting of bear and deer. For the first time I ate the meat of the former, which is similar in every way to pork.251 Continuous forest; there are no walnut trees. In the arroyos there is a leafy tree that seems to be of the genus laurel.252 tuesday, the 9th. As soon as we could dry off somewhat from the heavy rain that fell on us, we began our march. All morning long we were hit by showers. I so describe a peculiar way of raining that is very common in this country: the winds drive the clouds at great speed, they quickly soak the ground, and the shower ends suddenly. One of them lasted 20 seconds, but the longest did not exceed a minute and a half. The rains ended at noon, which I think should be attributed to the thinning of the clouds likely caused by the heat of the sun and of the ground, the thermometer reading 19.5�. We came to a Cutchate´ [Coushatta] village on the banks of the Trinity River.253 During the night there were frequent lightning flashes

132 texas by tera´ n

to the north and a strong, steady wind. It rained heavily but briefly at dawn. The thermometer fell to 18�. wednesday, the 10th. In the village of the Cutchate´s to dry the baggage and wait for better weather. Breeze from the southeast. Thermometer at 8 : 00: . . . . . . . . . . .18� R. 11 : 00 . . . . . . . . . . . .20.2� Southeast wind. Thick clouds. 1 : 00 . . . . . . . . . . . .23� Same. After a shower. 7 : 00 . . . . . . . . . . . .18� Same. Overcast.

It rained heavily three times. Lightning to the north during the night. thursday, december 11th. At 7 : 00, thermometer: 17� Southeast winds. Overcast. The Cutchate´s and Alabamas have their own languages, but they use that of the Mobila to deal with other tribes. The latter serves them all as a common language, for which reason they learn it, excepting those tribes that have come recently from the north. On the march at 10 : 00. At 2 : 00 in the afternoon we came to the dwelling of a North American [that is] very poorly located on the bank of the river because it is surrounded by land that floods. We learned that this North American, because of his evil ways, has sought this lair to hide what he steals. The trail runs along the riverbank, and two sizable arroyos flow into it. [We went] 12 miles. friday, the 12th. We set out at 9 : 00. After a mile of forest we crossed some very broad prairies flooded by the Trinity when it rises; now they were under a lot of water. At 6 miles we crossed an arroyo, where it was necessary to unload the animals and carry the baggage on [our] shoulder[s] across a tree trunk. We continued through densely forested high hills, and five leagues later we encamped near a small arroyo. saturday, the 13th. At 4 : 00 this morning a storm began, a formidable thundershower until 10 : 00 in the morning, and it continued raining until nightfall, while we felt a strong northwest wind. Temperature between 8� and 10�

trip down the trinity

133

throughout this storm, during which we have felt amazement along with some terror because of the din created by the wind and rain in such a dense forest. We were unable to prepare food. Even though we are convinced that it is impossible to get to the bay of Galveztown 254 after all it has rained and will yet rain, we are continuing our march to the place called Atascosito to replenish our supplies and to recover. sunday, the 14th. At 10 : 00 we were able to set out for Green’s house,255 which is two leagues away. There we could observe the rise in the Trinity River, which has overflowed its banks and flooded more than two leagues. This house is well constructed and the land well cultivated. They have harvested sugarcane with great success. The place called Atascosito is eight miles farther on. It consists of 58 families of North Americans who live dispersed in the area and have prospered in cattle raising and agriculture. One settler had an increase of 600 calves last year (marked or branded). This year they have made a hundred barrels of sugar, as good as that of Louisiana, but both much inferior to Mexican sugar. This settlement was established five years ago, and no settler has brought any capital other than his labor and very few slaves. It should be pointed out that this colony has been created without the authorities’ knowledge.256 Along with the rich fertility of the soil comes an unhealthiness that even the inhabitants admit. One settler has a schooner [goleta] on which he exports his produce through the bay.257 Northwest breeze. Heavy overcast. Thermometer 8� (R.). monday, the 15th and tuesday, the 16th. At Green’s house awaiting Colonel Bean, who went to Atascosito to bring provisions. wednesday, the 17th. Return journey. We stayed a mile before [reaching] the place where we were on the 12th. At 10 : 00 in the morning, rain that did not cease until dawn the following day. thursday, the 18th. With much effort, due to the mud and sloughs, we managed to travel eight miles. Since we cannot return the way we came because it has been flooded by the Trinity, we are being guided by a Cuchate´ along a very

134 texas by tera´ n

narrow trail.258 We made camp at 4 : 00 in the afternoon at a place where we found some palm leaf shelters made by the Indians. We have welcomed these as much as a magnificent inn. Thermometer 9�. Cloudy, with a gentle northwest breeze. friday, december 19th. Departure at 9 : 00. After 7 miles we were detained by an arroyo whose water is 40 feet higher than when we passed it eight days [a week] ago. After we unloaded, the animals swam across and we crossed on a fallen tree. A mile past the aforesaid arroyo we encountered another in the same condition. Since there was no trunk, with an ax we cut down a pine, over which we crossed the baggage. We stayed on its banks, making camp at 4 : 00 in the afternoon. [Distance]: 8 miles. saturday, the 20th. Circling around mostly with no trail, we came, after great difficulty, to the village of the Cutchate´s at 2 : 00 in the afternoon. 9 miles. sunday, the 21st. Held up by the rain. According to what the chief of the Cutchate´ tribe says, their reason for emigrating from Florida to Opelusas [Opelousas], and from that place to their current location, was the persecution they suffered from the Criks [Creeks], or Moscowitas [Muskogees], which is a powerful tribe. The Trinity River has risen 60 feet since we left here; the flooding reaches the foot of the hill where the village is situated.259 monday, december 22nd. Under way at 10 : 00. At noon we came to an arroyo that joins the Trinity. Because it was full, we crossed the baggage on a fallen tree and remained until 2 : 00. At 4 : 00 we halted in a forest. All day the highest thermometer reading was 7�. Cloudy, with a gentle northwest breeze. Clear at night with frost. Distance: 8 miles. Terrain: sandstone hills and continuous tree cover. During the night I almost perished from weakness. The bad weather and the lack of food have prostrated me, and the fever has made me delirious.

trip down the trinity

135

tuesday, the 23rd. 260 Due to the loss of some animals—that appeared later—we waited until 11 : 00. We traveled with no trail in order to avoid flooded land. We crossed a watercourse, bigger than those of yesterday, in the usual fashion and stayed on its banks. At 3 : 00 in the afternoon, thermometer at 12�, clear, with a gentle northwest breeze. Clear at night, with frost at dawn. Distance: 8 miles. I am better, with no fever, but am greatly emaciated. wednesday, the 24th. After a mile we passed by a Cutchate´ village that is smaller than the one we left on Monday. Here lives the chief of the tribe, Rey Largo [ ‘‘Long King’’ ], or Camajaque.261 He is an old man of great strength, yet of much venality. In his house they offered milk and sweet potatoes, which my companions consumed. We stopped after 12 miles on the banks of an arroyo. Traveling ahead of us— on foot, with neither provisions nor weapons—is a North American who has come from the state of Mississippi to visit the country, with the idea of settling there. He has gone as far as the Guadalupe River and says that he is heading back to bring his family. Clear. Temperature 16� at 2 : 00 in the afternoon. It clouded over at night. Temperature: 8�. thursday, the 25th. On the march at 9 : 00. After 12 miles we passed the last streams flowing to the Trinity, and we took some hills running from south to north that divide the waters of that river from those of the Neches. We stayed among those hills at 4 : 00 in the afternoon, unable to reach the Carrizal. Distance: 18 miles. A Savanau [Shawnee] family was camped here hunting deer. friday, the 26th. Departure at 7 : 30. After 6 miles we descended from the hills. On their tops there is nothing but gloomy pine forests and grass-covered ground. At these medium altitudes the pine dominates exclusively, as it does in the higher elevations of the [Valley of ] Ana´huac, in the torrid zone. In classifying the hills of Tejas one could say that the vegetation covering them divides them into three orders. The lowest ones, exposed to flooding by rivers and streams, are extremely grassy and covered with

136 texas by tera´ n

oak, walnut, and ash, though in less profusion. On these, pines are rare. On the second kind [of elevation], one finds more variety and luxuriance in the vegetation and heavier trees. On the higher third kind, there is proportionately less clay than sand and pine grows exclusively. At the foot of these hills we encountered a cluster of arroyos all with high water, and in the difficult task of crossing them we spent the entire day, then camped on their banks. These arroyos belong to the Neches.262 saturday, the 27th. Another cordillera [chain] of high hills separates the previous streams from the Neches, at which we arrived after traveling 3 leagues. We found it at its highest flow, that is, flooded for more than two leagues. We stayed in the Alabama village where we were at the beginning of the month. sunday, the 28th. We crossed the Neches River in a canoe belonging to the savages and steered by one of them. I avoided the flood by navigating with the current more than two leagues, which took me 57 minutes. I found myself on the other side without baggage or provisions, which could not cross until the following day. For that purpose we made rafts of bull and bear hides, which the soldiers of our entourage swam across in the flooded places. The presidial soldiers are well trained in this [work]; nevertheless, in December, immersed for more than six hours in water whose temperature was 10� R., and without sufficient food, it was a calamity they could scarcely endure. When the baggage was placed on the island closest to the channel of the river, which was 100 varas wide, they were taken to the other side in the canoe on the 29th and 30th. Meanwhile, they cast a fishing line with which they caught two catfish and another large fish that I do not recognize (described in the corresponding notebook) 263 that weighed 24 pounds. The river was 25 feet higher than when we crossed it at the beginning of the month. In such a state it is navigable for steamboats, for which purpose it is necessary only to clear some logs that lie across the current. The banks are fertile and covered with a very dense forest. At two in the afternoon of Tuesday, the 30th, we continued our journey and stopped after 6 miles at the house of the Indian Poncho-Mahı´,264 which we found empty. The chickens [gallinas] were locked up in the main room, where the savages keep them for up to a month until they return from the hunt.

trip down the trinity

137

Three days of heat, with breeze from the southeast. Heavy dews at night, with a thick morning fog that lasts until near midday. wednesday, the 31st. Six leagues beyond the aforesaid house, we made camp on a prairie at the opposite edge of where we camped on our way up. january 1st, 1829: thursday. After 7 leagues we found the house of the guide Mr. Pierre Houbleau [Roubleau], whose family treated us very well.265 friday, the 2nd. The Angelina is as swollen as the Neches. Our baggage took all day to cross, and I set out at one in the afternoon for Nacodoches, where I arrived without baggage at 3 : 30 in the afternoon. This arduous journey has been fruitless. The bad weather and our struggles have absolutely impeded every observation I was prepared to make to determine the geographical positions of these remote locales.266

S

figure 21 This dragoon, while not so ‘‘dashing’’ as the one seen in Figure 8, was probably dressed more like those mentioned by Tera´n while lost in the woods east of the Sabine. From Linati, Costumes, courtesy of Joseph Musso.

d i a ry

S Nacogdoches to Matamoros Journey to the coast of the State of Tamaulipas. january 16th, 1829. On the 11th current [January] I received orders from the government to proceed to Matamoros (previously El Refugio) 267 for military purposes made necessary by the lamentable state of anarchy that is devouring the Mexican Republic.268 Despite the diligence with which I prepared my march, the few resources I have available to transport all my baggage have held me back five days. I am setting out today on this much-delayed journey in the harsh winter and at a time when the roads are impassable. Upon departing from the little town of Nacodoches I hate bitterly to leave a place where, at the cost of many privations, I have enjoyed without interruption that tranquillity so pleasing to those who love the sciences, and much more so to those who seek in them the means to erase the fateful scars left in the heart by the tempests of human life. Since this journey will not end in my arrival at the sweet seclusion of my home, as I begin it I feel an aversion that must be caused by the dismal situation in the center of my nation. It seems that I am seeing for the last time the tranquillity hidden in this immense wilderness, and that I am denying myself this lone refuge in order to plunge into that abyss of passions that causes my country to groan. After the silent melancholy instilled by the eternal forests of Tejas will follow the tumultuous agitation and the terrible bitterness that oppress a society torn asunder by bloody partisanship. In the solitude of the wilderness one truly finds the realm of all human sentiments. Here [in this isolation] one feels that the poison of melancholy works with all its strength because it has the time to overtake whoever lacks the distractions that interrupt it. Having been brought to such an extreme, I cannot expect any consolation other than from beneficent providence, whose incomprehensible designs merit rather a blind faith. . . .

140 texas by tera´ n

At 10 : 30 I set out with my companion Sa´nchez and an escort of sixteen soldiers, four of them on foot and most of the remainder very poorly mounted. I was accompanied on my departure by the commandant and officers of the garrison along with other citizens of the town. After four miles we took our leave at a house where the owners served me a meager lunch. We halted at the banks of an arroyo called the Loco, 13 miles from town, at 4 : 00 in the afternoon.269 Terrain: uninterrupted hills of sand and ferrous clay. Of the latter, there are two varieties: one a brick red and the other yellow. In the first type there are abundant clusters of iron that surround the clay and that in some cases are disseminated in small grains, and the mass has the red color of hepatita? [question mark in original]. All day long a strong northwest breeze that, as usual, at nightfall lessens or slackens. Clear sky. Thermometer at 6 : 00 in the afternoon: 7�. saturday, the 17th. We woke up covered with frost and the water in the streams appeared frozen even after 9 : 00 in the morning. Water in a glass cup under my cot, despite being totally covered by the tent, froze as well. We set forth at 9 : 00 and after three miles we met the mail [detachment] for Nacodoches. Because I was carrying orders by instructions of the [postal] administrator, I extracted my letters from the pouch. At 12 : 00 we were at the Angelina River, which we crossed in a chala´n. At 1 : 30 we continued our march and made camp at 3 : 30 at an arroyo without advancing for fear of [not finding] pasturage for the animals. Distance: 10 miles. Two dwellings of North Americans on the route. Very gentle northwest breeze. Clear sky. The forest less dense than in the vicinity of Nacodoches, and in it fewer black walnuts. Direction: west-southwest. sunday, the 18th. Ice. We set out at 8 : 30. At the mounds of Neches at 12 : 00. There are three mounds built, according to the story, by the Bidaeses. Clearly, they are constructed by human effort. The first one is a rectangle of red ferrous clay. Its edges have disappeared with the ravages of time. I counted 17 paces from north to south and 10 from east to west. Its sides are aligned in the cardinal directions. It measures from 20 to 25 feet in height. At a distance of 200 paces to the southwest there is another mound of greater extension but less height, and to the south of the latter,

nacogdoches to matamoros

141

the other one, which has three sides 30 feet wide and 20 feet high. Only the mound on the south side is lacking to enclose the area. These mounds are in a very extensive prairie that terminates to the west in the chaotic stream and floodplain of the Neches. From the embankment that descends from the prairie the builders extracted the earth for the mounds.270 In its normal state the Neches exists in a bed 35 varas wide and very deep, but when it rises it floods more than three miles. We crossed it by boat, with the waters within their banks. The water temperature was 6.8�, and it was necessary for three privates and the sergeant to swim across to get the boat. We halted at 5 : 00 in the afternoon. Distance: 15 miles. Direction: west-southwest. Unbroken forest. Two houses of North Americans, one on either side of the Neches, and two more abandoned in the next league. Strong southwest breeze, therefore, some cloudiness and mild temperature. monday, the 19th. Under way at 9 : 00. Two houses in the first league, after that deserted. The forest less dense, with shorter trees full of branches. On the lands we left behind they are very tall, with a very thick single trunk that is smooth to near the top, where the branches are. We halted next to a field of reeds at a spot that, because of this circumstance [the presence of reeds], is the resting place of those who travel this route, and it is called San Nicola´s.271 Distance: 6 leagues. Southwest wind with clouds, and at night clear and calm. The tube of the barometer broke, and now there is no other. tuesday, january 20th. Because some of our animals got lost we could not leave until 10: 00, when they were found. An open forest of oaks and walnuts. The spaces without trees are very frequent. A great deal of petrified wood begins to appear on the ground. Southwest wind, some clouds. Direction: westsouthwest. Distance: 7 leagues. We halted at 5 : 00 in the afternoon in a prairie called Llano de las Mesten˜as [emphasis in original].272 wednesday, the 21st. A heavily overcast day, with wind from the northeast. At midday a light drizzle, strengthening by night. We departed at 8: 30 and used a chala´n to cross the Trinity River, which was contained in its banks. On its banks there are more than two leagues of prairie that flood in high

142 texas by tera´ n

water, such that to cross it they get in the boat and float for four leagues. The condition of the river is worst when it is half-flooded and there is not sufficient water on the flooded land to handle the boat, but too much to travel on horseback or in wagons. We made camp around the cabin of Sartucho, who still lives there with his grandson. Nearby there is another dwelling of North Americans, who have well-cultivated land and especially the income from the chala´n: to ferry me across they charged 6 pesos.273 Note: between the Neches and the Trinity there are very few small streams. thursday, the 22nd. Heavy rains all day long, for which reason we remained in our camp, which almost turned into a lake. friday, the 23rd. We set out at 10 : 00 heading southwest. We encountered an arroyo with high water, and in the operation to cross the baggage over a tree trunk that served as a bridge we lost two and a half hours. We halted at 5 : 00. Distance: 6 leagues. saturday, the 24th. Ice. On the march at 9 : 30. Of the four arroyos we have crossed, two have been very full and have forced us to perform the customary operation. On the banks of one of them I found five enormous molars of I know not what quadruped, permeated with silica, the same as the [petrified] wood of the jilolita. On the trail there is a fossilized trunk broken into sections. Once again we saw buzzards on the Trinity, having seen none beyond there. An example of how mild the winter is in this climate is the diversity of birds seen in the forests. The most abundant and noisy of them are fledglings of the genus turdus that the locals call crows [cuervos]. There are also the Corvus Mexicanus, auras [turkey buzzards], and, especially, hawks, seen here more than in the torrid zone. Owls abound, and their night calls differ from those I have heard in the Mexican states—gayer and more harmonious, at times like human laughter.274 The stagnant waters of the many arroyos are covered with web-footed birds of many varieties. At night the crickets and frogs make an insufferable racket, and I have noticed that it does not diminish except when the thermometer is at zero.

nacogdoches to matamoros

143

Distance: 3 leagues. Direction: southwest. Wind, the same. Some clouds, but clear at night. Thermometer at 3 : 00 in the afternoon: 15� R. sunday, the 25th. On the march from 9 : 00 in the morning until 6 : 00 in the afternoon. Distance: 9 leagues, 6 [leagues] of open forests and wide prairies and 3 [leagues] of hills of sandstone de amolar,275 heavily forested with oak groves. Many streams. Southwest breeze and many clouds. At night, calm and clear. Heavy dew and little frost. monday, the 26th. On the march from 9 : 00 until 1 : 00 in the afternoon. Distance: 4 leagues. During the first [league], at the arroyo called Los Xaranames, there is a dwelling of North Americans. We stopped at the house of another one named Holland.276 Very strong northwest breeze. Overcast. At 3 : 00 in the afternoon, thermometer: 6�. At 6 : 00 in the afternoon, zero and clear. tuesday, the 27th. Heavy freeze at 9 : 00 in the morning. Thermometer: -3�. We set out at 11 : 00 and made camp at 3 : 00 in the afternoon. Distance: 4 leagues. Hills along most of the route, but wide prairies between the houses. A very bright day because of the clearness that the north wind creates in the atmosphere. The one blowing all today was gentle and from the southwest, but at night it was very heavy. It brought clouds and made the temperature rise from 5� at 8 : 00 in the evening to 10� by dawn. wednesday, the 28th. We departed at 9 : 00 in a very light drizzle. We made camp at 3 : 00 in the afternoon. Day’s journey: 6 leagues, mostly through extensive prairies. On all the hillsides and riverbanks there is cedar. Strong southwest breeze until 4 : 00 in the afternoon, then calm. Thermometer at that hour: 18�. During all these days we have seen many deer. Today at different times we met four travelers, a fact worth noting in this wilderness. thursday, the 29th. Since 9 : 00 last night, a strong northwest wind with clouds. Therefore, the highest thermometer reading at 2 : 00 in the afternoon was 5�.

144 texas by tera´ n

We set out at 10 : 00 and came to Gross’s [Groce’s] house on the banks of the Brazos River at one in the afternoon. We left the road to San Felipe [de] Austin to our left, at the place we called La Virgen when we were heading for Nacodoches.277 friday, the 30th. Sublieutenant Sa´nchez left for Austin to seek provisions. Very cloudy, with a northeast wind. Adventure of the unfortunate female slave M.278 saturday, the 31st. Gross [Groce], master of the house where we are staying, is the richest property owner in the Austin colony. He has 105 slaves of all ages and both sexes, whose estimated worth is 100 thousand pesos. His main crop is cotton, of which he has 600 fardos (bales) of 500 pounds each already ginned. He transports it by canoe (chala´n) to the mouth of the river, where he ships it for storage in New Orleans, and it is sent to England. The owner says that the price of 20 reales per � [arroba] that it commands now in that city is low, and he hopes that it will rise to one real per pound. A machine has been built at the house to comb or gin this product. It consists of two moving wheels turned by horses. One of these [wheels], with its corresponding attachments, is devoted to grinding corn. The other one, by means of two other smaller wheels, sets in motion a wooden cylinder a foot or slightly less in diameter and four or five feet in length. It is set in a horizontal position and spins on its axis. Around the cylinder are inserted thin iron strips in the manner of a saw. There is one every two inches, and they stick out from the cylinder another inch. Another hollow iron cylinder, with slits for the saw blades to enter, is firmly attached by its convex side along the length of the first [cylinder], and in the concave part of the former, covered with wood in the manner of a box, they place the cotton. The teeth of the metal strips enter its fibers, which are deposited free of seeds under the cylinder.279 Gross’s extensive fields [labores] stretch along the banks of the river, whose channel at this location is very deep and up to now has not flooded the land. The cultivated fields are enclosed by wooden fences, as is the custom, and although the fields are largely cleared, around the land one still sees hundreds of tree trunks that—having been cinched [girdled]— no longer grow. All over this country they use the word cincho for a big

nacogdoches to matamoros

145

stretch of thick trunks from which they have stripped the bark, epidermis, etc., until they leave the bare wood, wherein, the tree, being deprived of the vessels through which its juices pass, dies and rots within a few years.280 Gross’s fields have a melancholy appearance because of the enormous skeletons of trees that still stand. This settler, despite the vast assets he enjoys, seeks very few comforts for himself. He lives with a young man, his son, and another white man among the huts of the negroes, whom he seems to treat well.281 At least, nowhere around the house are there cages, prisons, or any other sign that force is necessary to subordinate so many slaves. Furthermore, the latter appear well dressed, with indications that they enjoy abundance. The annual cost of each negro is set by Gros [Groce] at 75 pesos, the cost of all the different items with which he feeds and clothes them. He obtains the food from the land itself, where he grows corn and raises cattle and many hogs. On this evening the black men and women gathered at the master’s house and held a dance, which I am told is customary every Saturday night.282 [We were] at Holland’s house, where we saw the skins of tigers (ocelotl ) that they have killed in these forests.283 sunday, february 1st, 1829. At eleven o’clock Sa´nchez returned from [San Felipe de] Austin. On the other side of the river, two leagues from that town, the waters of an arroyo operate a machine for sawing wood. I did not see it. Many clouds. Breeze from the southeast and southwest. Yesterday, under bad conditions, I took a reading that gives 30�9� as the latitude of this place.284 The earth of the riverbed consists of layers of red and soft black clay, and the rocks carried in it are of sandstone de amolar. At three in the afternoon we got under way to cross the river, which was accomplished in the chala´n.285 We halted after a league, where the land usually flooded by the river’s high waters ends. This river, called the Brazos de Dios by the first Spanish explorers, is the biggest river in the Department of Tejas. Its source is unknown, and it is generally said to flow in the northwest very near the Red River of Natchitoches, the two flanking the Trinity. It is known that it has its bar in the Gulf of Mexico 30 leagues east of the villa of Austin, and that schooners can enter it. The bed along its known length is very clean and presents no obstacles whatsoever to navigation by large steamboats. This

146 texas by tera´ n

will happen within a few years, when Austin’s colony prospers and has products to export, among which—according to the settlers’ experience— cotton will be foremost, having [already] established itself in the New Orleans market, where it is valued more than [that produced in] all of Louisiana. This river can be forded only briefly throughout the year. On its banks oak forests predominate. There are some large cypresses and abundant pecan [pacana] trees. At 7 : 00 in the evening a strong northwest wind began to blow. Thermometer at 10 : 00: -2�. monday, february 2. We departed at 10 : 00, enduring a very strong icy wind. Extensive plains and prairies surrounded by small hills covered with forest. These plains generally are flooded over great areas, and today the waters were frozen an inch and a half thick. Thermometer at 10 : 00 placed in the sun: zero. At 3 : 00 in the afternoon sheltered from the wind: 3�. At 7 : 00 in the evening: -3�. Nevertheless, there was no ice because it clouded over. We halted on the slope of a hill in a very comfortable spot. Distance: 4 leagues. Direction: southwest. tuesday, the 3rd. Under way at 9 : 00 through hills. Two very swampy arroyos. Plains covered with grasses. Through them runs the Arroyo de San Bernardo in a bed of very fine white sand. Gentle northeast breeze and cloudy all day, for which reason the thermometer never rose above 3�. We made camp in a forest. Distance: 5 leagues. Direction: west. wednesday, the 4th. On the march at 10 : 00. At 12 : 00 we came to a house of North Americans from the Austin colony located on excellent farmland. We forded the Colorado River at 4 : 00 in the afternoon and, passing a house on its very banks, we followed the river’s edge for a league in order to reach the house of the settler Wedson [Beeson], whom we met on the way up.286 A clear day with a southeast wind. Thermometer at 12 : 00 [noon]: 12�. At 8 : 00 a furious northwest [wind] began. Distance: 5 leagues.

nacogdoches to matamoros

147

thursday, the 5th. The cold kept us from getting under way until 11 : 00. We halted at 2 : 00 in the afternoon. Distance: 2 leagues and a half. At 8 : 00 in the morning the thermometer read -3�. Northwest wind. Clear. At 7 : 00 in the evening the thermometer read zero. Calm. friday, the 6th. Hard freeze. Thermometer at 8 : 00: -3�. We set out at 10 : 00 through prairies. Three beautiful arroyos. Hills of muddy sand and covered with forests. We halted at 4: 00 in the afternoon. Direction: south. Distance: 5 leagues. Southeast breeze even during the night, when it was cloudy. Thermometer at 7 : 00: 11�. On all the flooded prairies, many birds of the order zancona.287 saturday, the 7th. On the march at 9 : 00 through flooded plains which were crossed with great effort by the pack mules. In six hours of travel we could advance barely 4 leagues. We were forced to halt in some hills where there was bad pasturage and a pond. Very cloudy. Southeast breeze. Thermometer at 1 : 00 in the afternoon: 13�. At 8 : 00 in the evening a furious northwest [wind] began. sunday, the 8th. Heavy freeze. The glass of water under my bed froze completely. At 9 : 00 in the morning the thermometer read -4�. Northwest breeze until sunset. We set out at 11 : 00. After a league we crossed the Arroyo de la Navidad, where there is a cabin belonging to a North American family. It is thought that this place is the midpoint on the way between the Colorado and the Guadalupe. Three leagues farther on we forded the Arroyo de la Vaca. Both streams are surrounded by much fertile land. Low hills covered with woods and a plain with no slope for the waters [to run off ]. The Arroyo de la Vaca is the southern boundary of the land assigned to the Austin colony.288 We halted at 5 : 00 in the afternoon. We met the mail and sent two privates ahead to the villa of Guadalupe (the Martı´n de Leo´n colony) to obtain pack mules, because the ones we have are of little use.289 Thermometer at 7 : 00 in the evening: -3�.

148 texas by tera´ n

figure 22 This route map is typical of those assembled by Berlandier to illustrate his travels in Texas. Note the location of the Lavaca fort and the ruins of the ‘‘old’’ mission of Espı´ritu Santo on the Guadalupe River. Courtesy of Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven.

monday, the 9th. Light freeze because it was overcast at dawn and continued so the whole day. In camp, giving the mules a rest. Water temperature of the Arroyo de la Vaca: 7.5�. The air [temperature] today at 8 : 00: zero; at 9 : 00: 1�; at 11 : 00: 5�; at 3 : 00 in the afternoon: 7.5�. Overcast and calm. tuesday, february 10th. On today’s march from 9 : 00 until 2 : 00 in the afternoon we advanced 3 leagues. We crossed the Arroyo de las Garcitas,290 which, like the Vaca, empties into the lagoons of Matagorda Bay. In the latter there is an anchorage for small ships and, according to reports, it is difficult. The rest of the territory we covered was a very muddy prairie, which exhausted the pack mules. We halted at a small stream, sheltered by a grove

nacogdoches to matamoros

149

of small trees, where we endured a heavy freeze. At 6: 00 in the afternoon the thermometer registered zero. In the afternoon we obtained a cart with oxen, sent to help us by the empresario of the nearby colony of Guadalupe [Victoria]. wednesday, the 11th. A league farther on is the Arroyo de las Garcitas, which I mistakenly listed on the previous day.291 I set out at 9 : 00 and arrived at one in the afternoon at the colony of Martı´n de Leo´n, having been received by him and the principal settlers more than a league out. Distance: 7 leagues. A very cold morning, but from 10 : 00 on, with a southeast breeze blowing, it felt warm. The colony consists of the houses of 42 families from the State of Tamaulipas. They emigrated from there through the efforts of the empresario Leo´n, who contracted in [18]22 or [18]23 with the provincial deputation of Be´jar to settle that number of families on the banks of the Guadalupe River.292 According to the principal settlers’ reports, the new revenue system of the State of Tamaulipas—which imposed exorbitant taxes on the working class—greatly enhanced Leo´n’s enterprise. They complain of intolerable assessments and of scandalous disorder in judicial administration, which forced them to immigrate to Tejas to seek those privileges granted to new colonies. This one is called Guadalupe de Jesu´s Victoria. It is situated on top of a hill, on the north bank of the beautiful Guadalupe River, surrounded by vast prairies and, unfortunately, by very little forest. Those who constitute it are well-behaved people from the decent laboring class who have brought livestock of every type to the new settlement. Since they have no notion of internal or external commerce, they do not aim their efforts at cotton, sugar, or other exportable products that have begun to appear in the Austin colony. They limit themselves to raising many cattle and tilling good fields. They also have little knowledge of the economy and settlement system of the North Americans. They lack the variety of industries which the latter usually have and which makes it so easy for them to establish themselves with no more help than what they bring with them. Among the North Americans who live in the countryside, it is rare not to find carpenters, locksmiths, blacksmiths, and bloodletters [sangradores]. Even in a gathering of a few families, artisans of this type are hardly ever lacking. In the Mexican colony, the houses show that all this is missing. One sees also that the

150 texas by tera´ n

Mexicans escape from the solitude of the country and instead devote themselves to forming a populated body, rather than establishing themselves independently on the lands they cultivate. In the Austin colony, with more than 300 families, no more than 15 to 20 are found in the town, while in the Guadalupe colony all those who constitute it are [settled] in a rectangle around a plaza with rectilinear streets. The fields are 4 and 5 leagues away, which means that a great deal of time is spent traveling. Although all the colonists at Guadalupe currently enjoy the abundance of their agricultural production, the empresario has supplied more than a hundred of them with needed corn until the new settlers raise their first crop. They are all greatly satisfied with the fertility of the land and invite other citizens of Tamaulipas to come to the settlement. As many more families as currently exist here are expected [to arrive].293 One stalk of corn in Guadalupe in 1827 had thirty-six ears. thursday, the 12th. At rest in the colony. In the afternoon the department commander, Colonel Elozu´a, Lieutenant Colonel Batres, and Mr. Berlandier arrived from La Bahı´a for the purpose of seeing us.294 At 9 : 00 in the evening a strong northwest wind began to blow, and at 10 : 00 the thermometer was at zero. friday, the 13th. The wind continued with greater strength, and the excessive cold held up our march. Thermometer at 9 : 00 in the morning: -4� at 12 : 00. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -3�

at 5 : 00 in the afternoon: -5�

During the night very little snow fell. saturday, the 14th. The bad weather continues. All day long the ground was covered with a thick crust of ice. Water froze even inside the houses. At night the wind calmed.295 Thermometer all day long: -4�

In the evening at 7 : 00: -5�

nacogdoches to matamoros

151

sunday, the 15th. The dispersal of our animals because of the bad weather these past days held up our departure. Thermometer at 1 : 00 in the afternoon: �5� at 6 : 00 same . . . . . . . . . . . zero

at 7 : 00, 8 : 00, and 9 : 00: -1�, -2�, -3�

monday, the 16th. We crossed the river in a bad canoe; a horse drowned.296 At 12 : 00 we got under way at a rapid pace, aided by better mules. The Guadalupe River on the side opposite the town floods more than two miles of land, in which there are forests. At 4 leagues we crossed the Arroyo del Coleto,297 and this same name is also given to a spacious plain that, to judge by our crossing, is 4 leagues [wide] and flooded in parts. On it were defeated and killed the North Americans who constituted Colonel Perry’s force when he separated in protest from the Mina expedition (in 1817) and attempted to retreat to the United States. Perry killed himself as the royalists were about to capture him.298 After the plain one crosses the Arroyo de Managuilla,299 in whose bed is seen for the first time part of a calcareous clay formation that seems to be the [same] material as the hills where the town of La Bahı´a is located. Two leagues beyond the arroyo we forded the Rı´o de la Bahı´a, which unites the Medina and the Rı´o de Be´jar and ends 15 leagues later at that spot in the vast lagoon where Matagorda Bar is located.300 The slope of the hill, where the town is situated 300 paces away, begins at the river. We arrived at 7 : 00 in the evening. Distance: 11 leagues. Direction: south and southwest. The town [La Bahı´a del Espı´ritu Santo] has 300 souls, and it is poorly situated on top of a barren hill; they lack even firewood.301 They grow a little corn far away, and they have to bring in everything else from other places. Beans cost 36 pesos a load [carga]. A small bundle [manojo] of tobacco that costs a peso in Nacodoches is worth ten times as much here. Coffee, which is a necessity for everyone and especially for the presidial soldiers, costs one peso per pound. Flour is totally lacking and, in a word, the new customs duties law, which prohibits the introduction of those items grown in the very soil of the central states [of Mexico], has produced terrible devastation here. It is doubtful that such a law was

152 texas by tera´ n

created for Tejas, but officials zealously enforce it for personal reasons. The inhabitants, for their part, go in search of contraband as a convenient way to obtain merchandise, thus causing a thousand vexations for the few foreign traders who land at Matagorda. The laws governing commerce lend to disputes in every case, and the sure result is deposit [lockup in a warehouse] and confiscation.302 The troops who garrison this town are reduced to abject poverty. By their calculations they have not received their salaries for almost a year. They receive corn, which is collected as a loan from the local residents. There are two missionaries from the College of Zacatecas, virtuous men of exceptional constancy. After 12 years they have not received their stipend (450 pesos per year) or the financial aid that the public treasury was contributing to their establishments. The Refugio mission, where the Tarancahuases [Karankawas] and Cujanos were settled, has been destroyed by their dispersion, occasioned by the lack of troop detachments to protect the mission. Padre Muro, its missionary, is now employed in the town school as a teacher, earning veneration for his selflessness and moderation.303 The other mission, Espı´ritu Santo, exists through the efforts of Padre Dı´az. This beneficent and enlightened man lives in the woods surrounded by his Jaraname and Coco neophytes, cultivating the land with his own hands and feeding them [the neophytes] with its produce. A neighbor has lent him a team of oxen, and another the hoes, etc. He has obtained some wild horses, which he has caught and broken himself.304 This same man spoke to me of the works of Fenelon! 305 Let those who presume that the works of missionaries are useless or fanatical come see Padre Dı´az, as I did, surrounded by his neophytes and putting into practice— despite inconceivable hardships—his own maxim that, in order to minister notions of religion to the savages, they must be approached with kindness so that they might know and enjoy the advantages of social life. This is easy to write in a book, but it takes the zeal and virtue of an apostle to carry it out. Through the efforts of this missionary the Jaranames have been delivered from the horrendous famine that has wiped out the Tancahue [Tonkawa] tribe, or from being dispersed like the Tarancahuases [Karankawas] and provoking reprisals from the North American settlers, who have exterminated them.306 La Bahı´a del Espı´ritu Santo is a large lagoon into which flow the Colorado, Guadalupe, and Be´jar Rivers, and the arroyos of San Bernardo, La Vaca, El Arenoso, Garcitas, and others lesser known. It is separated from the sea by several islets, among which are some banks such as that of Matagorda, which is the principal one where schooners enter and head

nacogdoches to matamoros

153

for La Vaca, the Sabinito, the Copano, etc. The last-mentioned is the one closest to the town of La Bahı´a, being 15 leagues distant. The anchorages are in the order I have mentioned them from north to south. The location of La Bahı´a currently gives rise to many disputes, because the law has opened the port of Matagorda, but since it is nothing more than a bar where boats enter in order to proceed to the anchorage that best suits them, doubts are raised on this last point, and opinions vary according to each interest.307 tuesday, the 17th; wednesday, the 18th; thursday, the 19th; and friday, the 20th. At La Bahı´a. ( * See addition on the 26th of the same month, page ) 308 During all these days winds blew in moisture from the south, but at nightfall of the last day we felt a strong wind from the northwest, which lowered the thermometer to zero by 10 : 00 in the evening. The following Saturday (the 21st) there began to fall what they call here gragea, which is a very fine hail [i.e., sleet], then snow began to fall from midday until nightfall, covering level ground with a 4-inch layer. The thermometer remained at -4� and -3� all day. The wind calmed during the night, and the freeze lasted until 10 : 00 the following day, when the midday temperature was �8�. Deer and beaver skins are sold in New Orleans by weight. A pound of the former this year brings 22 sueldos (the Mexican peso, like the dollar, is divided imaginarily into 100 sueldos, or cents, all over the north). A pound of beaver skins [is worth] two pesos, and those brought from the cold country to the north, three pesos. An otter skin is worth . . . [no entry made] . . . , and that of the black bear, which abounds in this country, two pesos. What the North Americans extract from New Mexico through the direct trade they conduct in Santa Fe is included in the fur trade that reaches [New] Orleans by way of the Misuri [Missouri] River. A merchant from Nacodoches, who is accompanying me, assures me that the number of deerskins exported last year from that town amounts to 35 thousand, not 80 thousand, as calculated in Nacodoches according to the data of the trader [Frost] Thorn.309 monday, february 23. 310 We left La Bahı´a at 11 : 00, halting at the small arroyo of Aguanegra [Agua Negra]. Distance: 6 leagues. Direction: south and southwest. On the route [one sees] great prairies with trees that are thickest on the

figure 23 Another Berlandier sketch showing the route south from Goliad toward Matamoros. All of these route maps trace Berlandier’s 1834 movements in Texas. Courtesy of Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven.

nacogdoches to matamoros

155

banks of the streams. The terrain consists of big plains stretching as far as the eye can see, and only at a distance of more than two leagues can one perceive by [virtue of ] variations that they are extended hills. On the upper level of these [flat elevations] running water usually has no outlet; thus the mire makes them very difficult [to travel]. Before the aforementioned arroyo is the [Arroyo de] Rositas, which is just as small. It is 5 leagues from La Bahı´a and for this reason is the first stop for travelers. The location of these arroyos is important, because aside from them there is no water.311 Breeze all day from the northeast with clouds; light drizzle during the night. The aforementioned arroyos are not permanent. tuesday, the 24th. On the march at 7 : 35. After a league and a half we crossed the Arroyo del Mugerero; 312 at 3 and a half leagues, the Arroyo Blanco; at 5 leagues that of Enmedio [literally, ‘‘middle’’ ]; a little farther on, El Conductor; and at a full 6 leagues, the Aranzazu´. At 8 [leagues] the Yezquitas, followed by the Rata, and at 10 leagues, the Papalote, where we made camp. The Blanco, the Enmedio, and the Aranzazu´ are permanent [son permanentes]. The last empties into the lagoon of La Bahı´a and forms the anchorage of the same name.313 Extensive prairies; very few oaks of a single species they call black, with heavy branches and twisted forms. Low mimosas with large thorns. Cactus opuntia is becoming frequent, though of a useless variety.314 The rest of the vegetation consists of copious grasses that cover the ground. On these plains are found the greatest concentrations of wild horses (mesten˜os). At some places on the route the plain ends as in an ocean horizon, but in most the view terminates in a shadow that looks like a thick forest, and upon arriving there one sees low trees of the kind already mentioned scattered all over. Today I saw a jackrabbit, and I am told that La Bahı´a is the [northeastern?] limit of its range. Farther on I can attest that I have not seen them.315 wednesday, the 25th. Under way at 8 : 00. At 2 leagues, the Arroyo del Aguila,316 which is not permanent, and at 6 leagues, the Nueces River, on whose banks there are some large ash trees. The riverbed is very deep with little water, but it still flows with difficulty through the mud. I noted two heavy layers of clay in the riverbed. The bottom layer contains fragments

156 texas by tera´ n

of jasper in different colors and shapes; the top layer is mixed with lime. On top of them is a layer more than 3 feet thick of soil and vegetation. The river dries up during those years of little rainfall, which, from what they say and what the land seems to show, are very frequent. Strong northwest breeze all day, although—and this is something unique that we had not seen—it still felt very warm: 23� (R.) in the shade at 2 : 00 in the afternoon; 14� at 6 : 00 and 10� at 8 : 00. We have agreed that it is exactly one year and a day since we passed this same river on the way from Laredo to Be´jar, at this same place.317 thursday, the 26th. We left at 8 : 30. At 2 leagues, the arroyo of Agua Dulce, a half league beyond it, that of Puentecitas, and two leagues farther on, that of Las Pintas, where we made camp at 2 : 00 in the afternoon. These arroyos are at the end of their flow or very near it. The water that comes from higher up loses the force of its descent on the plain and collects in small lakes or ponds that soon must dry up in times when the rain is scarce. The trees are now very scarce for long stretches, and the small and varied sizes of those that appear on the banks of the streams indicate very irregular growth.318 On Thursday, the 26th: strong southeast breeze, even during the night. Thermometer at 12 : 00 in the shade, clear skies: 23�. at 3 : 00 in the afternoon cloudy: 20� at 6 : 00 in the afternoon clear: 15�.

On the ponds, many birds of the order of webfoots [palmı´pedas]. Southern [or meridian?] elevation of Sirius: 91�35�10�. friday, the 27th. We set out at 8 : 00. At 3 leagues is the place called San Fernando, with good water and fairly good growths of oak. Here we abandoned the marked trail we had been following to head across country to Santa Gertrudis, where we halted.319 Distance: 5 and a half leagues. Direction: south-southwest to San Fernando, then south-southeast. Our encampment today is on land where there are few mimosas bristling with thorns.320 The land we crossed is a continuous plain. The few irregularities on these immense flatlands cause the rainwater to col-

nacogdoches to matamoros

157

lect at intervals according to the slopes, then to run for some distance and be deposited in the lowest spots, where they are preserved because the bottoms are of impermeable clay. These are called arroyos, though they are not really such, but tanks. Without them it would be impossible to cross this country, and this happens some years in the months of June, July, and August. At 6 : 00 in the morning a strong northwest breeze made itself felt and blew all day long. Nonetheless, this wind, which all through Tejas was causing us so much cold, here does not prevent the thermometer—at one in the afternoon, in the shade, and exposed to the current of air— from rising to 24� R. At 6 : 00 in the afternoon [it was] 18�, and at 7 : 00, 12�. Breeze scarcely perceptible. Skies clear. saturday, the 28th. At Las Motas de Don˜a Clara. Elevation of Sirius: 92�21�10�. A day’s journey of 5 leagues over plains. Water in tanks, the same as yesterday, and brackish. Our stopping place is formed by a few trees where travelers may take shelter. In these parts it is necessary to post sentries to watch the packhorses and mules to keep them from running off with the wild horses [mesten˜os], hundreds of which we have seen today.321 Wind from the northwest all day. At 1 : 00 in the afternoon, the thermometer read 15�. Calm at night. At 7 : 00, thermometer at 5�, with clear skies. I took solar elevations to learn the variations in the chronometer, and the southern [elevation] of Sirius to determine our latitude. sunday, march 1st. Under way at 8 : 30, the 4 leagues’ journey to the site of Santa Rosa seeming short to us.322 We continued and, fortunately, at five in the afternoon we found a pond with bad water, separated by a high bank from a large lake with very brackish water. At Santa Rosa the land is divided into low sandhills covered with oak. At their bases are lakes mostly of brackish water and others with bad-tasting but potable water. The ground from there onward consists of sand, with the overall appearance of a beach with dunes or sandbanks. But there are many grasses, Cacto opuncia, and another type that we found in Monterrey, noteworthy for its fecundity: its fruits grow out of one another, adhering to each other, without a peduncle. It is very spiny and similar to the type called

158 texas by tera´ n

cardo´n around Mexico City.323 The rest of the vegetation is little worth noting: some anemones, tradescancia, argemones, and very little pieris.324 Distance: 8 leagues. Direction since yesterday: south and southsoutheast. We joined the road again before [reaching] Santa Rosa. At 6 : 00 the thermometer was at zero, with little ice. At 12 : 00: 16�, with a strong southeast breeze and clouds. At 7 : 00 in the evening: 12�. We have seen many deer in herds. Some of them are of the species verrendo, as they call it here. The species Ela´n of the genus ciervo they call Bura, and they are found in the interior of Tejas where the Comanches live.325 monday, the 2nd. We set out at 9 : 00 and halted around 12 : 00 at a place called Javoncillo.326 [We went only] 3 leagues, being unable to continue farther because of the lack of water. What water there is here comes from two pits that travelers have dug to collect rainwater. We found water for the horses by accident, pooled between two hills. The ground is sandy, as are the hills. Some oaks and less herbal vegetation than in previous days. Strong southeast breeze with clouds all day. Thermometer at 12 : 00: 19�, at 6 : 00 in the afternoon: 16�. Our site last night was called Las Mugeres. tuesday, the 3rd. On the march at 8 : 00. We halted at 3 : 00 at the place called Las Animas,327 where there is a cattle ranch. Water in small lakes. Terrain: flat, sandy, and devoid of trees and streams. Most of the ponds are brackish. I purchased a cow for the soldiers, who lack provisions. Southeast winds. Thermometer from 12 : 00 to 3 : 00 in the afternoon: 24�. Direction: southeast. Distance: 7 leagues. wednesday, the 4th. A brief shower in the morning held up our departure until 9: 30. We halted at 2 : 00 in the afternoon, threatened by a heavy storm that, fortunately, held off until 4 : 00, when we had already made camp. It rained heavily, but let up by nightfall. Flat terrain, with some mesquites. Direction: southeast. Thermometer at 1 : 00 in the afternoon: 24�. Southeast breeze and cloudy. The storm was created by a reaction of the northwest wind, which is common. On these savannas there is stock of every kind. The vaqueros who tend them live without any shelter, or perhaps that

nacogdoches to matamoros

159

provided by huts [ jacales] roofed with leaves of the yucca, a plant that abounds in this land. In these dwellings there are no utensils of any kind, and these people receive the cow’s milk that nourishes them directly in the mouth or from a gourd [ guage].328 Distance: 5 leagues. thursday, the 5th. On the march from 9 : 00 until 2 : 00 in the afternoon. Distance: 41⁄2 leagues. Direction: southeast. We crossed a very large arroyo with salty water, in which no current can be seen. It empties into the sea lagoons, and is called the Colorado.329 Gentle northwest breeze all day, with clouds. Thermometer at 2 : 00 in the afternoon: 12�, at 7 : 00 in the evening under a clear sky: 7�. friday, the 6th. Day’s journey of 5 leagues. I ate at a cattle ranch.330 We halted in the open country. Heavy rains during the night, with a northwest wind. Direction: southeast. The water at our last three sites was rainwater. saturday, the 7th. A distance of 4 leagues to Matamoros, crossing the Bravo [Rio Grande] in a chala´n. A continuous plain, the same as yesterday. Some groves of mimosas, of the kind the people here call ´ebanos, and palos blancos.331 The villa [of Matamoros] has 5 to 6 thousand inhabitants. The principal homes, which are beautiful and well constructed, belong to North American merchants. It lies along the south bank of the river and an inlet [and is] threatened by flooding in very high water, during which the roads to the interior [of Mexico] become impassable and all communication is cut off. There is little or no farming. The most necessary grains and foodstuffs are exorbitantly expensive, but there is abundant beef and lamb. The people are very idle and devoted to dancing, but they dress elegantly. Education is lacking; there is only one bad school, recently set up by an individual. The town is very new: six years ago it was a rancherı´a. The church is a very dirty jacal, and hardly anyone attends it because much of the town fails to attend Mass. Nevertheless, the priests get 6 thousand pesos in emoluments.332 The ranches are for cattle raising. Flour from the north [the United States] is the only flour available, and therefore it has been impossible to enforce its prohibition.

160 texas by tera´ n

Clay ground. Flat land with no visible slope, swampy when it rains, arid for the most part, barren or covered with mesquite. Rainfall is scarce, irregular, and very rarely copious to the point of excess. The little land planted with corn preserves the moisture from the river floods. [The town] is ten leagues from the anchorages at the port— called Brazo[s] de Santiago—and eight leagues from the mouth of the river. The former [is to the] east-northeast and the other [to the] east.333 The shipping costs for the merchandise transported from the port to the villa, by the merchants’ estimate, total 16 to 18 thousand pesos. They use inferior carts pulled by oxen. The villa of Matamoros is exposed to flooding and even to destruction by the Rı´o Bravo [Rio Grande]. It courses through very unstable terrain of clay mixed with sand. Every sign indicates the power of its currents.334 The tide is barely perceptible at less than 1 league from the river’s mouth. The boats that enter the river ascend it for 4–5 leagues from its [customs] house 335 with great difficulty, even when favored by the wind. The barometric readings made in Laredo indicate that said villa is 300 varas above sea level, and the horizontal distance deduced from astronomical observations barely amounts to 35 leagues. Assuming that the tortuous course of the river is 100 leagues long, the descent is near 30 varas per league, or 1 vara [sic; it should read 10 varas] per mile, 3 times greater than that given by the readings for the Brazos River beginning at the Austin colony. It would be most useful to have reliable data on grading from the United States, where navigation of the interior is so important, in order to understand through comparison the possibility of navigating rivers where [we] lack practical experience. But there is not a great amount of such data, or, at least, I have no knowledge of them. The only one that can be used is Wolney’s report,336 which establishes that the Ohio River starting at Pittsburgh has a descent of 12 English inches per league. This is a third of the descent of the Brazos and of the Bravo. This [latter] river, whose course is of unknown length and probably will be equal to or slightly less than that of the Mississippi, is less voluminous in proportion and shows by this fact alone the dry and arid terrain through which it runs. Between the small Nueces River, whose course is passable, and the Bravo in [a space of ] 50 or more leagues there exists no other waterway, and the same occurs on the other bank as far as Camargo, where it [the Bravo] is joined by the Rı´o de San Juan. Let us consider the location of

nacogdoches to matamoros

161

the rivers of Tejas, that they all run in nearly the same direction as the Bravo, and that the sources of the latter are nearby—since we have reports that they do not extend back to the Sierra of New Mexico—that they are numerous, and that between one and another there is a continuous network of smaller streams, and we can then understand the enormous difference that must exist in the rainfall and, consequently, in the fertility of the two countries [Texas and the United States?], whose situation otherwise is so similar. Both are located on the seacoast and subject to the effects of the same winds. The lone or principal cause of such a considerable variation seems to me to lie in the configuration of the landscape. The landscape of Tejas for the most part consists of hills that furrow it in the same direction as the rivers. This formation, because of its secondary composition, is as regular and symmetrical as that of the great cordilleras [mountain ranges]: one sees large valleys and extended branches, and, as in the cordilleras, there are watersheds. Toward the Nueces River the physical shape of the terrain varies, and to the south all unevenness disappears, becoming extensive plains in which the marshes formed by the rains and the beating down of the sun’s rays destroy the seeds of the vegetation.337

S

figure 24 Detail of the country below the Nueces and the villas upriver from Matamoros, as given on the 1840 map by Colonel Jose´ Juan Sa´nchez. Courtesy of Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas at Austin.

d i a ry

S

Up the Rio Grande to Mier Excursion to the villas located on the left bank of the Rı´o Bravo, 1829 338 monday, june 8th. At 5 : 00 in the afternoon I left Matamoros, halting at 7 : 00 at the Rancho de Guadalupe.339 21⁄2 leagues northwest to Guadalupe Continuous forest of three types of mesquites, a tree they call ´ebano, cactuses, a type of estafiate [Artemisia], etc.340 A very dry clay soil. The water consumed at this place is from an inlet formed by the river when it is high. Some plantings of corn are seen in this area. Plains. tuesday, the 9th. 141⁄2 leagues west of La Mesa

On the march at 7 : 00. At 4 leagues is the Rancho de Las Crucitas off the road to the right. We learned that there was no water. At 12 : 00 we came to the Rancho de La Mesa, 10 leagues from the previous one. At 4 : 00 in the afternoon we left there, passing in succession the Ranchos de Charco Azul, Los Urestes, Rancho Nuevo, and Los Olmitos, none of them on the road.341 We made camp on the edge of a pond with the name of the last one [Los Olmitos]. Continuous treeless plain for the first two or three leagues, elsewhere, forests of the best and largest of the aforementioned trees. The pond is the remnant of a flood.

wednesday, the 10th. On the march at 7 : 00, arriving at Reynosa To Reynosa at 10 : 00. A good rain of short duration upon our arrival. Continuous plain as well as forest. The town is on a hill of lime clay, which

164 texas by tera´ n

they use for building and transport to Matamoros. It is on the bank of the Rı´o Bravo. In the hills are found layers of sandstone, and I saw some fragments of pudding stone.342 The temperature of the river water at 6 : 30 was 86�. This villa was created in 1822 with the citizens of Old Reynosa, who were forced to move their town because the river flooded them and destroyed their houses. Their fields are on the banks of the river in order to take advantage of the moisture left by the floods. From here they haul rocks and limestone to Matamoros for construction, and it is striking to note that they do not take advantage of the river current for their transport. But the inhabitants have no notion of navigating rivers, and they lack the wood to build boats, because the mesquite and ´ebano that cover the land would sink in the water.343 The maximum temperature has been 94� in the afternoon and at sunset, 86�. We remained at this villa until Saturday, the 13th. sunday, the 14th. Distance: 5 leagues west-northwest

We set out at 8 : 00 and at 11 : 00 we arrived at Old Reynosa [Reynosa Viejo]. The group of hills extends for 3 leagues. In this area there are two ranchos at 3 leagues’ distance: El Morillo and, a league from there, El Barranco.344 Closer to the banks of the river there are some others. The aforementioned trees cover the entire terrain. The road almost follows the course of the river. When the hills end, one enters the plain of Old Reynosa, which currently is a rancherı´a of 16 houses.345 Very few vestiges of the ruined buildings can be seen. The fields, as is the custom throughout this country, are on the banks of the Rı´o Bravo, and the terrain where they are situated shows signs of having been shaped continually by the water currents.

up the rio grande to mier

165

Breezes from the east and south at 3 : 00 in the afternoon. Heavy shower in the distance, but only a few drops fell here. monday, the 15th. To Camargo, on the march from 7 : 00 until 10 leagues 1 : 00 in the afternoon. Ranchos: El Desierto, on the shores of a lake; El Potrero; Las Cuevas (with a larger population); Los Valadeses; El Tepehuaje; La Laja; and Puertecitos.346 The villa [of Camargo] is on a plain on the banks of the San Juan River, which runs south to north and joins the Rı´o Bravo a league farther on. Heavy rain at 2 : 00 in the afternoon until 2 : 45. Camargo has suffered a flood of the San Juan River, which is formed by various streams in the state of Nuevo Leo´n and is the first river one encounters when coming from Matamoros. Among the most abundant vegetation covering the land from Matamoros on the entire way we have traveled, one should mention the cactus, or nopal de cochinilla. This useful insect [cochinilla] is found in abundance as a spontaneous product of the land. The cochinilla is an insect (coccus cacti L.) of the Hemiptera order that provides the best scarlet [dye] known.347 Its production, which cultivation has come to refine and propagate as much as needed in the market, creates the wealth of the state of Oajaca [Oaxaca]. As a free product of nature it is found in many parts of the Mexican federation, often in lands that are arid because of the lack of rain and that are suited to the growth of the cactus. Last year we saw the cochinilla in the vicinity of Monterrey at the Hacienda de Mamulique and the ranchos of Palo Blanco, but in less abundance than in these towns, where they derive the small benefit of employing it in dying their fabrics and domestic manufactures. Since they have no knowledge of its cultivation, they

166 texas by tera´ n

have the task of gathering it in the country and grinding it along with the white film that covers the insect in order to form cakes of one or two pounds in weight, in which state they preserve it for a long time. The most important thing in its cultivation is the continual propagation of the insect, or ‘‘preserving the seed,’’ as they say in Oajaca. This operation seems to be based on the nature of the nearly immobile female of the species, which adheres to the thick leaf of the cactus to live on its juices and carry out her purpose, propagation. After being fertilized, the female lays the eggs then dies, and her little body swells and dries, serving as shelter for the eggs. The following spring the newborns emerge alive from that cadaver. Cultivation of the cochinilla, which amounts to concentrating its production in a cactus plantation, keeping it free from many insects that attack it, knowing how to detach it from the leaf, and, finally, killing it without harming or wasting the dyeing agents would be, as I see it, the readiest strategy for bettering the lot of the inhabitants of the northern towns.348 The continual droughts and the difficulty of creating irrigation cause the majority of the land to be infertile, and what they do cultivate on the banks of the river is frequently flooded before they can harvest its fruits. Cattle raising produces little because of the diseases—unknown to the inhabitants— that decimate their herds; because they have nowhere to sell them; and because the pastures are on the other side of the river. War with the savages ruins that kind of activity, because of the rapacity of the latter as well as the fact that they force the cattle raisers to come to this [the south] side of the river, where the cattle perish because of the lack of

up the rio grande to mier

mocezuela

167

pastures. The various kinds of industry are beset by such calamities that the towns established on the banks of the Rio Grande [Bravo] can [only] aspire to remain in the poorest rank of society, but without the hope of any considerable increase in their population or wealth. Conversation with the inhabitants of the towns we are observing confirms to us that the land is unsuitable for cultivation due to the lack of rainfall, except for the banks of the river, where the floods leave moisture that relieves the excessive dryness of the land. [Yet] the fields are exposed to ruin by flooding, a frequent calamity, even when two plantings are made in a year. The sheep flocks suffer and die from an incurable disease, and it is found that the animals which die have bladders full of blood.349 Taxes have limited the sale of cattle in the state of Tamaulipas, but have increased, on the other hand, sales in Nuevo Leo´n, where such taxes do not exist. In the past, the cattle of the former state were preferred in the market for their better quality and lower price. When the planting does not suffer any setbacks, the abundance of the harvest [still] does not compensate the farmers for their losses in previous years, because the seeds decay from one year to the next and thus cannot be held in reserve. Nor can they be sold, because everyone has them and no one buys. The price of cereals is so depressed that a carga of corn sells for 1 peso and even less. When the planting is ruined, the inhabitants buy corn at 18 and 24 pesos per carga. (In all these towns they suffer from mocezuela, a cruel and violent disease that takes the lives of infants in the first days of their existence. It is said that a week after birth they are safe from

168 texas by tera´ n

attack. According to the reports I have been able to gather, it seems that this disease begins in the umbilical cord. Would this not be an inflammation so characteristic of this climate, brought on by the ignorant manner in which the umbilical cord is cut and tied and by the few resources at hand to heal the cut?) 350 In the, unfortunately, frequent years of scarcity of cereals, those who cannot afford to purchase the corn that costs as much as 36 pesos per carga eat the leguminous fruit of the ´ebano, a tree that abounds beginning at the banks of the Rio Grande and is so fertile that when it is in flower the number and color of its blossoms dominate its foliage. The lenticular seeds contained in a big legume of a nearly woody consistency provide food that, according to the inhabitants, is tasty and very nutritious.351 They use it all the time, and in combination with the fruits of the mismosas [mimosas], well known in the barren lands of Mexico under the name of mezquites, and with the prickly pear [tunas] it is the main resource for subsistence available to the small rustic [Indian] tribes that live in this villa, given up to their natural indolence and roughness.352 During this time, the temperature at 8 : 00 in the morning: 82� at 12 : 00 93� at 6 : 30 86� wednesday, the 17th. At 5 : 00 we crossed the San Juan River and at 7 : 00 we halted at the Rancho de Pen˜itas 353 on the banks of the Rı´o Bravo. Thicker forest of mimosas, etc. Level road, passing several low hills with very wide bases. On the land we see dried-up rainwater channels. The river at this place is 40 feet deep, and in its bed one sees layers of reddish and mottled sandstone and above them clusters of lime. At 9 : 00 at night, under a clear sky, the ther-

up the rio grande to mier

169

mometer read 82�. In all this land since Matamoros, even in the towns, one hears at all hours the warbling of mockingbirds, but especially at night. thursday, the 18th. On the march at 6 : 30, and we arrived at the villa of Mier at 12 : 30. The road was muddy from the rain. More dry arroyo beds are seen, and the hills are nearly continuous. The villa, whose statistics are provided, was situated previously on the bank of the little river of the same name, called the Alamo by the first settlers and said in the founding documents to begin in the Sierra de Picachos— which I assume must be next to that of the Yguana and Vallesillo mines. The town is popularly called Villa del Ca´ntaro.354 It is situated on the slope of a very low, barren hill, surrounded in the distance by greater heights. The hills are all of sandstone, hardened clay, and calcareous breaches. A bluish limestone— compacted, shell-like, and translucent on the edges—is found strewn about, and, despite its abundance, it must be extraneous to this land formation, having been washed down from the Sierra de Nuevo Leo´n by the mountain streams. The houses of this town, like those of the previous town, are solidly built by masons with the stone provided by the land. But the wood for the beams is imported from far away. The church, despite the irregularities of its construction, can be called the cathedral of these villas.355 The villa was founded in the year 1753 [March 6], with permission from Governor [Jose´ de] Escando´n, etc. The Conde de Sierra Gorda, etc., states that, being 2 leagues from the Rı´o del Norte, 8 [leagues] from Camargo—which lies to the east-quarter southeast—and 10 [leagues] from Revilla to the northwest: ‘‘I state that I am establishing

170 texas by tera´ n

june

the aforementioned site for the purpose . . . etc. I order that a new town be set up for unity and interaction with the two towns (Camargo and Revilla) and I grant permission to establish a new town to the north of the Rio Grande of this North under their protection [a su abrigo], which will facilitate the settlement of the Nueces River.’’ 356 The document goes on to recount the measures taken by Captain Garza and orders that [land] be distributed to the new volunteer settlers, but without monetary support. By virtue [of the document], 13 [actually 19] principal families were settled, who were called registrants [matriculadas] and who consisted of 138 persons of all categories. Their possessions were scrupulously inventoried, they were required to have a complete supply of weapons, and they were given an express obligation to the king to remain on the land.357 [Escando´n’s] intent to take settlers to the Nueces River merits attention; the country’s security demands it. On this [south] side of the Rı´o Bravo there are few prairies, and these towns—whose least-uncertain resource is cattle raising—have their animals spread out at great distances on the other side of the same river in empty lands. These are so open that they are the ones crossed by the savages when they make war, where they have beaten sizable detachments of troops. A line of towns that follows the course of the Nueces River, arranged to follow that of the Bravo, would provide as much cover as possible for the only prairies that these inhabitants can use.358 In this regard, it should be noted that the country people complain that the lands on the south side of the river are becoming very wooded [emphasis in original], the proof of which they offer by comparison with previous years: they say that [what were] plains 25

up the rio grande to mier

171

years ago are woods today. There seems to be little doubt of this, as abundant evidence shows that the land is improving in vegetation and that it now produces woody plants where before there were only grasses. 19th – 22nd.

In Mier.

tuesday, the 23rd. We set out at 8 : 00 in the morning and 7 leagues returned to Camargo, where we arrived at 4 : 00 in the afternoon. Ranchos on the route: Barrera, Guardado de Arriba, Guardado de Abajo, Rancherı´as, and Pen˜itas.359 Among these ranchos along the route there are so many crosses that it could be called ‘‘Via Crucis’’ [Way of the Cross]. They are devotional monuments to the spirits of those who have been murdered in these parts. In one raid the savages wiped out the inhabitants of both of the Guardado rancherı´as, and the combined citizens of both villas avenged this blow by pursuing them on the other side of the river.360 In the vicinity of Mier there are many petrified oyster shells, from which they make lime. They are distributed on hills of limestone deposits. wednesday, the 24th. In Camargo. Temperature at 7 : 00 in the morning: 84�, at 12 : 00: 94�, at 1 : 00: 96� until 3 : 00 in the afternoon. thursday, the 25th. We left Camargo at 3 : 00 in the afternoon 5 leagues SE and arrived at the Rancho de Tepehuaje at 6 : 00. This and the other ranchos are on the banks of the river, with their fields on the land that it floods. The river’s banks are one continuous field, which can be ruined by high waters. The temperature is the same as yesterday, and for 3 days the sky has remained clear without the slightest trace of clouds. friday, the 26th.

We departed at 6 : 00 in the morning and arrived at Reynosa at 5 : 00 in the afternoon,

172 texas by tera´ n

having passed by the small Rancho de Morillo, where we could find no shade to protect us from the 104� temperature that we registered on the box in the carriage. Breeze from the southeast. Clear. By exposing himself to the breeze one feels at times a sensation of more intense heat similar to that caused by a nearby flame. This happens especially after a period of calm, from which I infer that this mass of suffocating air that comes enveloped in another one of lower temperature must be the layer that was over a more reflective part of the ground during the calm, and when dragged by the air current it resists for a while—by virtue of its elasticity— division and mixture with the air that surrounds it. The circumstance that points to this explanation is that we have noticed from Reynosa onward that the ground features many stretches where the calcareous breaches, and particularly the white, hardened clay (tepetate), are exposed, and the reflection of the sun’s rays is more intense. With the plains all around clothed in vegetation, in Matamoros that sense [of dry heat] is less noticeable. The neighborhood of Reynosa was greatly disturbed because the high waters were destroying their crops; a third of it perished. The following days were nearly uniform in temperature. I observed the latitude and two transits of the satellite of [symbol for Jupiter]. I have forgotten to mention that upon leaving this place I purchased for 5 pesos a petrified bone that a boy had found in the countryside. Its covering is very thick in comparison to what is natural, but it is of the same calcareous material. It has certain protuberances and porosities similar to certain marine stones worked on by zoophytes. When this bone was found it was sawed with a tool. They cut off the end, and they say that the marrow

up the rio grande to mier

173

was still liquid. Now it appears in coagulated fragments of a coriaceous [leatherlike] consistency.361 An examination I made in this town of the ´ebano [tree] taught me with certainty that it is not of the genus Dyospyros or Ebano, strictly speaking, but, rather, it is a lovely example of the genus Mimosa, whose hard black wood has been called ´ebano because of its similarity [to ebony]. The tree called Anama, which produces edible berries, exists in the Botanical Garden.362 saturday, the 4th. We left Reynosa at 8 : 00 and arrived at the 10 leagues rancherı´a of La Mesa at 2 : 00 in the afternoon, having halted for 3⁄4 hour at Los Olmitos, whose lake has more water. Its name is taken from several trees found there, seemingly of july the species dwarf elm of Linnaeus [Olmo enano de Lineo].363 Last night it rained in the distance. Overcast day with a barely perceptible breeze from the northwest. Temperature at 3 : 00 in the afternoon: 86�. sunday, the 5th.

From La Mesa to the Rancho de Guadalupe, where it rained heavily on us all night. Here I met with the customs inspector, Don N. Nieto, who is returning to San Luis [Potosı´] after having taken very drastic measures against the customs employees at Matamoros.364

monday, the 6th. 21⁄2 leagues

It rained until near 11 : 00. I set out at that hour and took 3 hours to get to Matamoros, because everything is a lake that becomes impassable the more it rains. On the plain 11⁄2 leagues past Guadalupe an hour past midday, apparitions of moving lakes and waters— with the image of a forest in their midst — came into view: extraordinary effects of refractions when the layers of air have different temperatures. The country people are

174 texas by tera´ n

familiar with these appearances [mirages], because when I asked the sergeant accompanying me what lake that was, he replied that there was no lake, and that what seemed to be one was rays of the sun, and that the same thing was seen in other places between Matamoros and Soto la Marina. This is the second phenomenon of this type that I have seen, the first one being on the road through the valley of Zumpanga, traveling from the hacienda of Tesontlalpa to Mexico City.365

S

THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

figure 25 Tera´n’s baggage brought to Texas probably included the sort of uniform seen in Linati’s lithograph of General Vicente Filisola, but it is doubtful that he wore it except on formal occasions. From Linati, Costumes, courtesy of Joseph Musso.

Epilogue S

Upon his return to Matamoros, Tera´n received news of the Spanish invasion just south of Tampico by Gen. Isidro Barradas, which had occurred on July 28, 1829. Tera´n hastened to the scene with all regular and militia troops available, and the last eight pages of his ‘‘Diario’’ (Ms. S-314) record his trip to Tampico from August 4 to 13. Near the end of his march he reluctantly sent back to Matamoros all instruments, books, and papers associated with his scientific observations in order to devote himself exclusively to military matters.1 An impetuous and costly night attack by the young general of division Antonio Lo´pez de Santa Anna ended in a stalemate, but yellow fever and starvation were taking their toll on the Spanish soldiers. Tera´n had Barradas surrounded, and once he began a sustained cannonading of the Spanish position, Barradas agreed to honorable terms of capitulation at the end of September. Tera´n came out of this campaign with the rank of commandant general of the eastern interior states, although Santa Anna got most of the glory for preserving the republic against an attempted reconquest by Spain.2 While at Tampico, Tera´n received from Stephen F. Austin a manuscript copy of his 1829 map of Texas, a copy which now appears to be lost but which presumably was similar to another draft that Austin forwarded to the president of Mexico, Vicente Guerrero, at the same time.3 In his new role as military commandant of the northeastern states (Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leo´n, and Coahuila y Texas), Tera´n had little time for Boundary Commission affairs. But at least his new headquarters at Matamoros placed him close to the department demanding his immediate attention: Texas. During the closing months of 1829, Tera´n wrote several lengthy appeals to Mexico City in which he outlined the steps necessary to protect Texas. One of these, addressed to the War Department, contains so many of Tera´n’s ideas about Texas that it merits quoting at length.

178 texas by tera´ n

The department of Texas is contiguous to the most avid nation in the world. The North Americans have conquered whatever territory adjoins them. In less than half a century, they have become masters of extensive colonies which formerly belonged to Spain and France, and of even more spacious territories from which have disappeared the former owners, the Indian tribes. There is no power like that to the north, which by silent means has made conquests of momentous importance. Such dexterity, such constancy in their designs, such uniformity of means of execution which always are completely successful, arouses admiration. Instead of armies, battles, or invasions—which make a great noise and for the most part are unsuccessful—these men lay hand on means that, if considered one by one, would be rejected as slow, ineffective, and at times palpably absurd. They begin by assuming rights, as in Texas, which it is impossible to sustain in a serious discussion, making ridiculous pretensions based on historical incidents which no one admits—such as the voyage of La Salle, which was an absurd fiasco, but serves as a basis for their claim to Texas. Such extravagant claims as these are now being presented for the first time to the public by dissembling writers; the efforts that others make to submit proofs and reasons are by these men employed in reiterations and in enlarging upon matters of administration in order to attract the attention of their fellow countrymen, not to the justice of the claim, but to the profit to be gained from admitting it. At this stage it is alleged that there is a national demand for the step which the government mediates. In the meantime, the territory against which these machinations are directed, and which has usually remained unsettled, begins to be visited by adventurers and empresarios; some of these take up their residence in the country, pretending that their location has no bearing upon the question of their government’s claim or the boundary disputes; shortly, some of these forerunners develop an interest which complicates the political administration of the coveted territory; complaints, even threats, begin to be heard, working on the loyalty of the legitimate settlers, discrediting the efficiency of the existing authority and administration; and the matter having arrived at this stage—which is precisely that of Texas at this moment— diplomatic maneuvers begin. They incite uprisings in the territory in question and usually manifest a deep concern for the rights of the inhabitants. There follows a matter of notes in which are found equitable and moderate phrases, until with the aid of other incidents, which are never lacking in the course of diplomatic relations, finally comes the desired conclusion of a transaction as onerous for one side as advantageous for the other. They used such a method to dispossess the powers of Europe of vast territories, which under the name of colonies they once possessed in America, but which were of secondary interest [to their national security]. The question with respect to Mexico is quite different. It is a matter of attack-

epilogue

179

ing primary interests intimately tied up with the political existence of our country. Mexico, imitating the conduct of France and Spain, might alienate or cede unproductive lands in Africa or Asia. But how can it be expected to cut itself off from its own soil, give up to a rival power territory advantageously placed in the extremity of its states, which joins some of them and serves as a buffer to all? How can it be expected to alienate two hundred and fifty leagues of coast, leaving on them vast resources for the construction of boats, the shortest channels for commerce and navigation, the most fertile lands, and the most copious elements for providing means of attack and defense? If Mexico should consent to this base act, it would degenerate from the most elevated class of American powers to that of a contemptible mediocrity, reduced to the necessity of buying a precarious existence at the cost of many humiliations. In the act of ceding Texas it would have to renounce all pretensions of having its own industries with which to maintain and enrich its eight million inhabitants, who within a few years could not avoid seeing the bread and sugar, and even the corn and beans consumed in the federal district, furnished by the foreign harvest of Texas. The sale of this department would reduce the territorial property, it would reduce the value of land in all the rest of Mexico by one half of that which it now has. These assertions, which carry their own evidence, should be manifest to such an extent . . . that they will establish a conviction in every Mexican heart that he who consents to and does not oppose the loss of Texas is an execrable traitor who ought to be punished with every kind of death. . . . If war should break out [in Texas], it would be expedient to suppress it in a single campaign—a less expensive method than to be always on the defensive. But even this would be useless until a colony of one thousand Mexican families is planted there, an economical measure when it is remembered that the funds spent once in establishing a colony would be spent many times in maintaining garrisons.4 This searing indictment of the forces at work for the alienation of Texas demonstrates that Tera´n was well aware of the realities involved. It was followed by a statement of the military strength under his command, which Tera´n judged insufficient for an immediate expedition to Texas. Such an expedition was viewed as necessary in the Mexican capital due to the many reports reaching government officials that the new president of the United States, Andrew Jackson, was determined to have Texas. Northern newspapers urged the early acquisition of the territory, and large numbers of troops were said to be amassing on the Louisiana frontier. Ahead of this invasion threat, numerous bands of Cherokee and Chickasaw Indians were arriving—another problem that the Boundary Commission had recognized but had not been able to resolve.5

180 texas by tera´ n

Meanwhile, political upheavals in Mexico had finally resulted in the seating of Gen. Anastasio Bustamante as president. Bustamante, a conservative military man and former commandant general of the eastern interior states, knew the value of Texas and could be counted on to back Tera´n’s initiatives. Tera´n’s friend Jose´ Antonio Facio was minister of war in Bustamante’s cabinet (he had declined the appointment himself ), and thus Tera´n took the opportunity to prepare for Facio an elaborate and complete report on the Texas situation. Because he was unable to leave Tamaulipas just yet, Tera´n forwarded the report by two of his most trusted officers, Constantino Tarnava and Jose´ Batres, both of whom had served on the Boundary Commission during the 1828 inspection. This report reiterated the concerns expressed in Tera´n’s earlier letters and contained even more detailed recommendations for combating the imminent loss of Texas to the North Americans. Military garrisons had to be established in the department, and immediate settlement by Europeans and Mexicans (especially the latter) encouraged, or Texas would be lost. Tarnava, with Tera´n’s authority, expanded on these ideas to Facio and other officials at the capital. Among the information Tarnava imparted was Tera´n’s conclusion that colonization contracts with North Americans in Texas must be suspended and that the colonies already in operation had to be closely watched. Tera´n wrote Minister Facio that, if these safeguards could not be taken, ‘‘it is necessary to say that the province is already definitely delivered to the foreigners.’’ 6 No expedition materialized at this time— despite the extensive paper trail that attempts to generate interest for it produced—but Tera´n’s friends in Mexico City were able to deliver some of the troops and supplies he requested. Moreover, the difficult relationship between Tera´n and the former commandant general (Felipe de la Garza) was resolved in favor of Tera´n, who was given sole authority over the eastern interior states.7 Tera´n arrived at Matamoros in March 1830 and began the process of restoring order to the faction-torn city. Rumors of a military buildup on the Rio Grande naturally led to uneasiness in Texas, as no one knew how or why the government planned to deploy these troops. Austin was not certain himself, but he tried to defuse the situation by placing articles in the Texas Gazette. In these articles he said that the soldiers were being sent to protect the frontier from Indian depredations and praised Tera´n as an officer of ‘‘high military, scientific, and moral character.’’ 8 In reality, these troops were being raised for the military occupation

epilogue

181

of Texas to handle anticipated opposition to the Law of April 6, 1830, then being pushed through Congress by Minister of State Lucas Alama´n. This law—the purpose of which was to end the flood of immigration to Texas from the United States—has generally been attributed to Alama´n, but Alleine Howren demonstrated back in 1913 that ‘‘practically every provision of the decree except the radical eleventh article’’ could be traced to Tera´n’s suggestions.9 Article eleven prohibited immigration from nations bordering on Mexico’s boundaries (meaning the United States, of course) and suspended all colonization contracts not already ‘‘completed’’ or those not in ‘‘harmony’’ with the intent of the new law.10 As we have seen, however, Tera´n also wanted the government to suspend incomplete colonization contracts and he certainly believed that immigration from the United States should be stopped, or at least dramatically curtailed. Only the Anglo colonies of Austin and DeWitt were judged sufficiently established to be exempt from the freeze imposed by this legislation. Martı´n de Leo´n’s colony, which attempted to attract Mexican colonists to Texas, was, of course, exempted from consideration. To administer the provisions of the Law of April 6, 1830, Tera´n was designated as federal commissioner of colonization for Texas, in addition to his duties as commandant general for all the northeastern states. As Ohland Morton has observed, Tera´n’s reaction to the law was not altogether favorable, mainly because he foresaw enforcement problems. How could he be expected to close the border to immigration as well as prohibit the introduction of new slaves, if the government could not even field a simple military expedition to Texas as a show of force? Tera´n’s lengthy proposals notwithstanding, Alama´n’s law had clearly caught him by surprise, and it imposed on him more responsibility and work than he could realistically handle or accomplish. Tera´n knew this from his own observations of Texas in 1828 and from the reports of post commanders like Colonel Piedras at Nacogdoches, which reached him throughout 1829.11 Needless to say, the Anglo Texans bitterly resented the Law of April 6, 1830, and much of Tera´n’s time and energy over the next two years was consumed by difficulties that arose from its provisions. Many of these problems involved the establishment of new forts in Texas, which the law had mandated were to be built and garrisoned by convict soldiers normally destined for duty at pestilential Veracruz. But even Tera´n recognized that Texas could not be held by military measures alone; it must be populated by Mexican families. Article seven

182 texas by tera´ n

of the law provided for this recommendation, saying that colonists willing to emigrate from the interior of the republic to Texas would be ‘‘furnished transportation, maintained for one year, and assigned the best agricultural lands.’’ 12 Tera´n, as early as 1828, had urged that such families (especially those from Yucata´n) be relocated in Texas, but even he must have despaired of such a means for counterbalancing the influx of Anglo Americans from the north. His 1828 diary recognizes that the latter were more vigorous colonists who seemed manifestly destined to influence the future of Texas in significant ways. By March 1831 Tera´n had acknowledged to Austin that Mexican colonists could not be drawn to Texas. Considering Tera´n’s early expectations and elaborate plans for such colonization, this must have been a bitter admission indeed.13 Colonization questions necessarily dominated Tera´n’s attention once he became the federal commissioner in charge of these matters. It was a complex situation because Tera´n had to coordinate his activities with land measures being enacted in Saltillo by the state legislature and those decreed by the governor, as well as with decisions emanating from his superiors on the federal level, such as Minister Alama´n.14 Likewise, actions by Mexican officials in New Orleans, New York, and Washington sometimes complicated the picture. An example of this came when the Mexican charge´ d’affaires, Jose´ Marı´a Tornel, published a translation of the eleventh article of the law in the United States with a warning that all further settlements by Americans in Texas were absolutely prohibited. Tornel then sent orders to the Mexican consulate at New Orleans that no exceptions would be granted; people seeking permission to enter Texas were to be turned away. Such was not the wording of the law, nor was it Tera´n’s intent, for he had already instructed the consul to grant passports to those settlers destined for Austin’s and DeWitt’s colonies. These policy contradictions generated much confusion and resentment, yet the government would not—as Tera´n desired— declare all other contracts automatically suspended by law. Consequently, Tera´n had to handle colonization affairs on a case-by-case basis, and this proved to be a heavy burden.15 One such annoyance came in October, when the empresarios David Burnet, Joseph Vehlein, and Lorenzo de Zavala allowed the Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company to exploit their combined colonization contracts—for a price, of course. The New York firm made no effort to obtain the Mexican government’s approval for this scheme, which was organized and promoted along the lines of a modern real estate venture. Instead, the financiers were confident that Zavala, with the help of an-

epilogue

183

other Mexican with Texas interests, Jose´ Antonio Mexı´a, could grease the wheels in Mexico City. Tornel was disgusted with their conduct, and Tera´n refused to recognize the company or to allow its agents to operate in the territory embraced by the original contracts. Tera´n’s position was that these contracts could not be reassigned, or ‘‘flipped’’— especially not to investment firms in the United States—but because rich and powerful men who were prepared to press their case all the way to the top were involved, this speculative venture in Texas lands became a major headache for Tera´n.16 Others proved no less troublesome. Robert Leftwich’s 1825 colonization contract had been transferred to the Nashville Company, but this group did not begin to settle the grant before the Law of April 6, 1830, abrogated Leftwich’s original agreement with the Mexican government. Arthur Wavell’s 1826 contract to settle a colony of Europeans in the border reserve between the Red River and Sulphur Fork presented more problems, for its agent, Benjamin Milam, did his recruiting not in Europe but in the United States. This violated the April 1830 law, so Tera´n was obliged to issue orders for the arrest of Milam’s commissioner at Nacogdoches to stop his activities. Moreover, Wavell’s contract had international implications, because the governor of Arkansas Territory, John Pope, claimed jurisdiction over the region. Pope protested Milam’s surveys along the Red River and also took issue with an expedition Colonel Bean made to Pecan Point (on Tera´n’s orders) to keep foreign adventurers from using the south-bank settlement as a point of ingress to Texas. Acting on Pope’s complaints, Secretary of State Martin Van Buren asked Tornel to have Tera´n suspend all activities in the disputed area. Tera´n complied but with considerable irritation, evident in a letter to Tornel dated February 2, 1831: Colonel Bean, carrying out my orders, went to Pecan Point to make an examination necessary to the Mexican service, the reconnoitering of the situation of the savage tribes, and preventing the entrance of adventurers. In the execution of this commission, nothing occurred that should have gained the attention of the Governor of Arkansas Territory, or that ought to give rise to a political question, unless the mere presence of a detachment of twelve men, at points incontestably on the Mexican frontier, be assumed as a sufficient motive. The Colonel reported on his return that the commissioner, Maylan [Milam], had been notified by Governor Pope of Arkansas to suspend the formation of his colonization effort; I had already notified him to the same effect, but for different reasons. Assuming the Treaty of Limits of 1819, which in fact now governs in fixing

184 texas by tera´ n

the points of the frontier, Pecan Point is indubitably within Mexican territory; and with this supposition all discussion, for the present, may be suspended— provided that the territory remain in the same condition. But there is a settlement of North Americans forming in this territory, which will possess itself of the country unless the Mexican government intervenes. For this reason, it appears to me equitable that if the Governor of Arkansas opposes the Mexican settlement of Maylan, he should also oppose the establishment and introduction of North Americans, reserving the occupation and property of the country for that nation to which it may be declared to belong when the astronomical observations to determine the points mentioned in the treaty of limits shall have been made. I assure your Excellency with the greatest certainty, that it may govern your actions, that Pecan Point is within the territory of the Mexican republic, sixty leagues at the least, from the point at which any doubt can be rational. In the suspending, as your Excellency has done, of all discussion, the Mexican nation is the one which lays aside its rights, as an act of prudence and for the good of harmony.17 Tera´n, in this instance, was correct, but the political status of the Red River settlements in what Pope called Miller County, Arkansas, continued to be a bone of contention until the boundary between the two nations was finally established. Shortly thereafter, Texas became an independent republic and jurisdictional squabbles resumed, even though Mexico was out of the picture at that point.18 The question of slaves, and the April 1830 law’s provision that any additional slaves must be kept out of Texas, also vexed Tera´n—particularly so when legally admitted colonists expected to bring their slaves with them. Reports of slave running had to be investigated on the scene by local military men—a situation guaranteed to create friction—and all other incidents involving slaves, no matter how minor, came to Tera´n’s attention.19 To these must be added the Indian affairs of east Texas, which had only worsened after Tera´n’s 1828 inspection. The inexorable pressure of Anglo settlement made it increasingly difficult for the immigrant tribes to hold their lands, especially since they occupied these rich lands without a proper title and the white newcomers greatly coveted them. As seen, Tera´n tried to secure land for several of these tribes, but his efforts were frustrated, and more bands kept crossing the border in the meantime. When Col. Juan N. Almonte inspected Texas two years after Tera´n’s death, he was harangued by Indian delegations at Nacogdoches, just as Tera´n had been. Almonte recommended that the land claims of these immigrant Indians be recognized, but nothing came of it.20 The

epilogue

185

Texas Revolution sealed the matter, as the Senate of the new Republic of Texas refused to ratify Sam Houston’s 1836 treaty with the Cherokees and allied tribes, which promised them land in exchange for neutrality during the conflict.21 Aside from unending colonization decisions, improving the defensive posture of Texas was Tera´n’s main concern—and one which he had advocated from the beginning. The Law of April 6, 1830, even stipulated that the convict soldiers being sent to Texas be ‘‘employed’’ in the construction of their fortifications.22 As a result of Tera´n’s demands, and with Minister of War Facio’s full support, military strength in Texas was augmented during 1831. The garrisons at Be´xar, Goliad, and Nacogdoches were increased. New garrisons were installed in forts on the Brazos, twelve miles above the crossing of the upper Be´xar-Nacogdoches Road (Tenoxtitla´n), at the head of Galveston Bay (Ana´huac), on the lower Nueces near San Patricio (Lipantitla´n), on the Neches southeast of Nacogdoches (Tera´n), and on the Lavaca (built by Rafael Chovell of the Boundary Commission).23 Later, more troops were stationed at the mouth of the Brazos near Velasco. The soldiers at these posts were encouraged to bring their families, part of Tera´n’s military colonization policy. At least, soldiers could be ordered to occupy Texas, even if private citizens could not, and the soldiers were to be awarded land if they chose to stay after their tour of duty expired.24 Once he realized that it would be impossible to obtain sufficient numbers of Mexican families to settle on the borders of Texas, Tera´n opted for giving land to the Cherokees and other tribes already on the frontier, in hopes that they would serve as a buffer against further North American settlement. As noted, this plan did not materialize for reasons beyond Tera´n’s control, and the Indians were left to their fate as squatters on the land they occupied without legal basis. One reason they welcomed Colonel Almonte in 1834 was that they believed him to be Tera´n’s successor, someone who would award them the land that had earlier been promised by the Mexican government but still not received. Almonte encouraged the notion that he was a boundary and/or land commissioner so as to conceal the true character of his visit: to learn the depth of settler discontent with Mexican rule.25 The new forts, though so short-lived that they stood empty by the time of Almonte’s inspection, were placed at logical points to guard Texas against unauthorized immigration from the United States and to prevent smuggling through Texas ports. They surrounded the existing settlements and guarded the main approaches to them against infiltra-

186 texas by tera´ n

tion. Further, those posts to the south blocked the way into the Mexican states beyond, which the North Americans seemed determined to enter for purposes of trade. Tera´n at least achieved his project for the military occupation of Texas, even if none of the other goals of the controversial law were attained. His death in 1832 mercifully spared him from the spectacle of all these troops, which he had so laboriously placed in Texas, evacuating the department to combat more internal dissension in Mexico. But, as he had early recognized, a military solution was not enough to bind Texas to the Mexican federation as long as it remained preponderantly Anglo American in population and culture. In addition, the April 1830 law caused Tera´n’s chief admirer and supporter in Texas, Stephen F. Austin, to seriously doubt that the territory could ever be developed under Mexican domination. No matter how much Tera´n tried to reassure Austin on this score—and his efforts were notable—the empresario’s confidence had been shaken beyond repair. It was only a matter of time before Austin began to think of a Texas not governed from afar by an alien culture which found itself mired in constant strife.26 All these problems began to weigh on Tera´n’s mind and affect his health, both mental and physical. Never of strong constitution and always subject to bouts of depression, his workload simply wore him down. A poor choice of military commanders and customs officers for Texas aggravated the situation, although it is doubtful that any choice would have been acceptable, given the new program for Mexicanizing Texas then under way. The Anglo colonists had grown so accustomed to a benign and ineffectual Mexican presence that Tera´n’s changes —particularly those involving more soldiers and new taxes—amounted to ‘‘oppression.’’ Colonel Piedras was not popular at Nacogdoches and Colonel Bean always had his detractors, but the worst controversies arose around Col. Juan Davis Bradburn as commandant at Ana´huac and George Fisher as collector of customs at Galveston Bay. Both of these men now have their supporters,27 but trouble resulted from their every move. These disputes, of course, fell in Tera´n’s lap, and it was his unpleasant duty to resolve the mess. He could not do so, given the strong personalities at odds with one another.28 As was his habit, Austin defended his rash colonists against Bradburn’s high-handedness and Fisher’s constant meddling. Tera´n (in one of the few instances on record) finally lost his patience with Austin and reminded him that customs duties were paid from Hudson’s Bay to the Horn, and only at Brazoria were they considered cause for violence.29

epilogue

187

While the Texas situation was approaching armed insurrection, affairs in Mexico were likewise unstable. Former president Vicente Guerrero had been deposed and Vice-President Anastasio Bustamante seated in his place. Guerrero then involved himself in a revolt before being captured and executed in February of 1831. After his death a new alignment of parties began to form, and by the end of the year these dissidents were demanding the resignation of Bustamante’s cabinet. General Santa Anna assumed leadership of the movement against the centralists and organized an insurgent force. He cloaked his proposals—known as the Plan of Vera Cruz—in a liberal, federalist mantle, and soon the banner of insurrection began to sweep through Mexico. Learning of Santa Anna’s rebellion, the hotheads in Texas for a while were able to disguise their strikes against local Mexican authority as support for his plan, as opposed to open revolt against Mexican rule.30 By April 1832 Tampico had fallen to the rebels and Tera´n was obliged to meet the threat, for this port city in Tamaulipas was the base from which he drew his principal resources. Even a victory over the combined rebel forces in June afforded him no satisfaction. On the contrary, the ‘‘misfortunes of his country torn by civil strife, his failure to bring peace to the region which he commanded, and ill health continued to drive him to the depths of despair.’’ 31 Tera´n moved his headquarters to a hacienda about twenty leagues from Tampico. From there he wrote his brother Juan and his old friend Lucas Alama´n gloomy letters about his weariness with life.32 Texas, he feared, was lost and a host of other disasters continued to plague the nation. On the morning of July 3, 1832, Tera´n arose early and dressed in his finest uniform. Making sure that no one saw him, he approached a ruined wall in front of the old, roofless church of San Antonio de Padilla. There he fell upon his sword, leaving the cares of this world behind. For many years the circumstances of Gen. Manuel de Mier y Tera´n’s death were debated. Some Mexican historians, especially those who knew him, believed that suicide was incompatible with a man of his recognized bravery in battle and his high moral character, and the way he conducted himself at all levels of society. They argued that assassination by political enemies was a more reasonable explanation, but Ohland Morton has convincingly argued that Tera´n took his own life.33 Tera´n experienced attacks of melancholia on his 1828 inspection of Texas, as his diary reveals, and these spells of despondency worsened as his physical condition deteriorated with each new grueling campaign in the field. The burden of political and administrative duties that seemed only to

188 texas by tera´ n

grow heavier with no prospect of favorable resolution proved too much for his distracted state of mind. Finally, exhausted and convinced that the situation was hopeless, he killed himself. In retrospect, it seems clear that Tera´n chose the wrong line of work for a man of his sensibilities. Had he shunned Mexico’s militaristic political arena and devoted himself to the sciences—his true love—it is likely that his life would have spanned more than forty-three years. But even so, Tera´n left his mark on Texas, and his legacy in Mexico as one of the most enlightened and talented men of his time looms even larger. His early demise was a loss to Texas but a greater loss to his own country, for, without Tera´n’s knowledge and wisdom, Mexico had no chance of keeping the territory above the Rio Grande. Perhaps the realization that such a heavy responsibility rested upon his frail shoulders was what caused Tera´n to take the ‘‘easy way out’’ and kill himself. Why he had to perish, while opportunistic men like Santa Anna continued to thrive, is one of those mysteries that few of us will ever comprehend. Tera´n the intellectual brooded about the future, and his premonition that Texas was lost to Mexico was soon fulfilled. Yet today the Mexican influence on Texas culture is greater than at any time in history—certainly greater than during Tera´n’s era, when the region was a sparsely inhabited wilderness. The Mexican settlers whom Tera´n could not persuade to venture north of the Rio Grande now come in increasing numbers, seeking a better life and generally finding it. They become part of the society and, along with the earlier immigrants and older tejano citizens, contribute in many ways toward building a new Texas. Their language, food, art, music, customs, values, and unique talents have become an integral part of what the world now regards as ‘‘Texas.’’ As old prejudices die and new opportunities open to them, the Mexican people of Texas are playing an ever greater role in shaping the destinies of a region once thought lost to them forever. Had Tera´n been able to see these remarkable developments, perhaps he would not have succumbed to the despair that led him to take his own life.

S

appendix

S

Pavie’s V iew of East Texas

34

It has been about twenty years since the road was traced from Natchitoches to Nacogdoches, that is if you can give the name of ‘‘road’’ to a foot path which even in daylight is difficult to follow without running the risk of getting lost. Before that time, it was a dangerous trip. The two banks of the Sabine were then, even more than now, the refuge of thieves and murderers from the two nations, who had only to slip across the narrow river to find themselves protected from the arm of the law, that is, when the latter deigns to awaken from its profound slumber. But one must excuse the law—pursuit into the woods is so stiflingly hot! And then it is vexing to encounter the trail of the guilty party just at the moment he has put the waters of the Sabine between himself and you. Peacefully planted twenty-five steps from the border, he then mocks the law until a new offense obliges him to cross the river one more time, and he will do it fearlessly because no one would dare hold him responsible for his past actions. It so happened that we found ourselves eating at the very table of a man known throughout the country for a murder which forced him into exile in Texas. While shaking his hand in the American way, I experienced a repugnance which was almost uncontrollable: his stare, falling on me, made me shiver, and that shiny carbine mounted above the chimney seemed haughtily to proclaim the blood it had caused to flow.35 Let’s get back to the Sabine. On the Louisiana side, as we have just seen, it is low and swampy, whereas the Texas bluffs are higher, sandy, and dry with high grasses growing here and there among the scattered pines. In a word, Texas is a whole other country, with nearly new vegetation and a more arid climate, which is, consequently, healthier. Spanish moss no longer drapes the trees, and scraggly oaks, barely as tall as sassafras trees, have replaced the maples, persimmon trees, and all of those elegant shrubs from the woods of Louisiana. The Red River, already dominated by the Mississippi, then loses all of its power, and this new

190 texas by tera´ n

land, even though flat and consistent like its neighbor, anticipates the mountains of Mexico. . . . We were trotting along across the tall grasses, on a path so narrow that its tangled blades hid it from our view; herds of wild deer bounded all around us and greeted the return of dawn. They were not even thirty feet from the road, and they hardly bothered to concern themselves with the noise of our passage. The oldest shook their heads crowned with spectacular antlers, fleeing beneath the dried firs between which extended long avenues. We watched them for more than a mile, bounding freely, so rapid that their white tails looked like wings of birds. All of the pines bore traces of flames; sometimes it is the Indians who leave their fires to multiply weeks on end in the middle of the forests; other times it is the wagoneers, camped on the banks of streams, who, before they leave, burn the grasses half-eaten by their team, so that they will be able to find a fresh crop when they return a few months later. Thus each evening we discovered among the new growth of the forests a white tent around which swirled smoke; nearby wandered cows, some lying down and chewing their cud, and horses and mules with sonorous little bells which alerted us from a distance to the presence of a wagon train. The countryside was no longer the same: regular hills rolled on for mile after mile, interspersed with prairies extending as far as the eye can see on right and left, while forests again crowned the other summit. When night falls and the north wind gusts impetuously from the far side of these prairies and whistles through the channels of the woods, the cold becomes so sharp that you have to cover your ears with your coat. Horsemen stand out against the horizon like sails on the ocean. The weary eye loses itself in this endless succession of undulations which blends with the sky, hardly a distant glimmer which recalls the presence of a living being in the bosom of the desert. The heat of the day seems to intensify the horror of this infinite space, and it is with an inexpressible joy that the exhausted traveler sees the forests rise up in rounded domes, where a hospitable shade awaits him at last and a shelter for the evening. The habitation where we stopped, for several are found along the route, was a very unusual new kind of construction. It takes the form of a regular square raised up off the ground four or five feet and divided into four bedrooms separated from one another by a large corridor open to the outside; you get to the bedrooms by a catwalk, a plank used like a drawbridge, which needs only to be raised to put the house in a state of defense against animals. One of our horses injured himself by stepping on a gnarl of cypress root in the marshes of the Sabine. Our host took

pavie’s view of east texas

191

charge of getting another one, and for this purpose, he disappeared into the forest. Some moments later we heard a ringing of bells, and more than twenty horses dashed into the courtyard, bucking. At least there was a choice. Most were handsome enough, but several had been extremely disfigured by bites from wood ticks which, by gnawing on the cartilage in the horse’s ear, had caused them to sag like a dog’s. Further on one comes across the hamlet made of American farms on the Ayich-Bayou; 36 it is said that since their establishment, thieves have disappeared from the whole region. I know nothing about that, but in truth, if they have gotten rid of them, at least they should not have kept their thuggish physiognomy. These are the most wretched faces that I have seen in my life. I saw a group of these good, worthy people gathered together, mostly armed, into the middle of which group one of us ventured politely to collect a small, somewhat overdue debt. Their faces darkened so much that, on our return, we avoided crossing the settlements of the Ayich Bayou. Three weeks later, in the waters of the Bayou Toyac [Attoyac], an Indian discovered a floating corpse. A few leagues from there a rich American planter was established who is very generous towards travelers and his door is open to whoever wishes to enter, but I would never advise anyone inclined to love mankind to set foot inside. Serving at his table were nearly nude Negro men and women whose bodies present a web of wide lines which are nothing else but scars from lashes of the whip. If these things came to the attention of those who are involved, they would accuse me of having judged them too severely. But I am only speaking of the facts, and however unimportant my words may seem, I would never risk defaming for my own amusement someone completely unknown to me. It is in this region, no one knows exactly which place, where the famous assassin lives who has been nicknamed ‘‘the brigand of the Sabine.’’ I’ll omit his name, even though it’s rather poetic.37 There are no tangible proofs of his crimes, but he himself boasted, in front of a judge with whom he had to deal on a civil matter, about sinking his dagger into the heart of a man with the same amount of pleasure as into the steak of a deer. Today he’s an old man: his hair is all white; his long beard, also whitened by the years, lends him an imposing air, respectable even, but this does not disguise the fire in his eye. Seven sons, vigorous young people, lead more or less the same life as their father; they are the terror of the land. A lost traveler asked them hospitality for the night. He casually threw a bag of money at the door and dined with feigned tranquillity in the middle of this family which he recognized only too

192 texas by tera´ n

well. The house was clean and richly furnished. Whether by luck or generosity—for outlaws can be generous in New Spain just as in Castile—not only did he wrest his head from the jaws of the wolf, but they even asked no payment of him, and sent him on his way. Several years ago, the . . . . . . . . (I said I would omit their names), ‘‘the outlaws’’ I’ll say, were taking an excursion, a sentimental journey towards the Arkansas territory. Was it to admire the wild nature of these deserted forests? I don’t believe so. They had been traveling for a long time without encountering anything besides bears and waterfalls, when a cabin came into their sight. It was inhabited by some Negroes who claimed to be free, and they must have been so, certainly, because they had been established there for perhaps ten years, precisely the conditions which should have delivered them from slavery. The outlaws persuaded this family that if they wished to follow them and abandon this miserable existence, they would find with them fields to cultivate, without losing this freedom that had been purchased at so dear a price. The Negro family listened to this proposal: without firearms, without communication with anyone besides Indians, they were miserably vegetating. This life was really overwhelming, because of the solitude of which one who knows it not speaks so easily. In this frightening isolation, they were watching their children growing up half-savage, and all were threatened with slavery everywhere. This solitude oppressed the unlucky Negro. Memories of Africa tormented him endlessly in his isolated cabin; therefore, he believed just one more time in the promise of the white man. Once arrived at the habitation of the outlaws, he saw his wife sold to a neighbor, his children enslaved and scattered, and he, as man, father, African, enraged, cried bitterly and complained to the one who had robbed him of everything. ‘‘You bore me. Shut up!’’ responded the outlaw. The Negro, becoming more and more hysterical, sobbed and rolled around on the ground. Then it was the outlaw’s turn to become enraged. Snatching a heavy pistol from his belt, he shot his slave point-blank. The unfortunate man let out a scream and reddened with his blood the very earth which he should have watered with his sweat. Since then the Blacks of the region have made this outlaw into a kind of werewolf. A panicky terror seizes them as soon as someone utters his cursed name. One voice spreads the rumor that he’s coming to seek vengeance on the rest of this family free today, and the people of color flee through the forest, hide in the islands of the river, abandoning their homes. Then they hardly dare to believe their eyes the next day when

pavie’s view of east texas

193

they see their shingled roofs still standing where they expected to find nothing more than a heap of ashes. Thus it was with great joy that we arrived quite late at the home of a decent colonist where we were received cordially. The children, all dressed in deerskins, overwhelmed me with questions about their wagons that I had encountered a few miles down the road. Scarcely had they taken the time to throw our horses some rice fodder and some corn husks, than I had to accompany them to meet some wagons whose heavy axles we soon heard turning. Supper dragged on late into the night, as we tasted whiskey and tafia moonshine, spirits recently arrived. The next day, after two hours of rest, we looked forward to bridling and saddling our mounts to be able to reach the village of Nacogdoches, the destination of this journey, by the same evening. Already we were hearing Spanish spoken in homes, and instead of English saddles which hardly cover the horse’s back, instead of riding whips and narrow hats, there were dignified horsemen with large sombreros pushed forward on their heads, red-tasseled horsewhips, and enormous spurs, sonorous and shiny like those of the cavaliers of old. In a word England, imitated by all Americans, was giving way to Spain, in the form of the Republic of Mexico.38 It was night when we crossed, almost swimming, the bayou 39 on the other side of which rises the village of Nacogdoches. In the middle of the darkness, made even darker by the dirt walls of the houses, we could distinguish nothing but two immense fires whose flames leapt a great height and in front of which opaque bodies came and went, like a sail that passes in the evening across the disc of the setting sun. In the depths rose up a tall shed capped by a half-Gothic, half-Spanish steeple, strangely illuminated by a flickering light which intermittently extended long fingers of flame across its chiseled contours, or penetrated into the interior and reflected on the drums, the pavillons chinois,40 and the guns. The military barracks were there: the guardhouse, the hospital and the church. This camp was that of foot soldiers hunkered around a fire. The sentry who marched in long strides in front of the entry blocked by his regular passage the light coming from the interior and seemed from a distance to be the pendulum of a clock. The central plaza extended to the forests on the left and on the right to the barracks of the soldiers, who were standing around proudly draped in their blue coats which fell down to the rowels of their spurs. The horsemen were clustered in groups and talking in loud voices. On the side rendered inaccessible by the smoke were seated two Indians of the ancient tribe of the Delawares,

194 texas by tera´ n

which formerly occupied the banks of the river of the same name and counted its huts on the site that rich Philadelphia covers today with its hundred steeples. The savages smoked stone pipes; the cavalry, cigarettes of corn. Such was the unique sight offered me by this village of Nacogdoches, miserable outpost where a garrison is kept of a hundred foot soldiers and eighty cavalrymen of whom ten, at the most, have horses. They serve to escort the wagon trains whose trips are made as difficult as dangerous by the cannibalistic Indians of the interiors. We were lodged in a hostel kept by an American, because all of the active part of the population of Texas is foreign. It was necessary to climb a ladder to get to the sleeping room where there were spread out a dozen beds of moss covered by heavy buffalo hides, more heavy than warm during the cold nights of January. Because the attic was open all around, it froze there almost every morning, which did not keep the noonday heat from making this space unbearable during the rest of the day.41 The forty buildings which make up this village are in large part stores where English is spoken; the rest are more or less dirty huts with no other floor than the ground, on which the Spaniards stretch out skins and multicolored rugs which also serve them as coats. As for the Mexicans, they do nothing, absolutely nothing but warm themselves in the evening around the fire: the men well wrapped up in their coats, which they never take off; the women covered in their manner with a mantilla tied under the chin to permit smoking. In the summer they cultivate a little garden where they grow corn, tomatoes, peppers, and large pumpkins from which they prepare with strongly peppered eggs a reddish colored meal that only a Mexican mouth can stand to eat. This farming busies them little enough to permit them to sleep two-thirds of the day, always with the eternal cloak which, like the one of Jupiter’s statue, serves in every season. In spite of this apathetic indolence, Mexicans have in their look a Castilian fire which lends distinction to their appearance, a pride missing from the republicans of the United States. The children, dark and yellow like their fathers, also have big black eyes with wide outlines, and strong, well-shaped heads which reminded me immediately of the beggar in Murillo’s painting.42 The colonel lives in a hut just as crudely constructed as the barracks of his soldiers: a beautiful buffalo skin, the gift of some Indian, is its only decoration; however, a corporal is there to serve as orderly, and a sentry is posted outside his courtyard. The colonel is a Creole from Vera Cruz—trained, distinguished, and extremely cordial towards foreigners; each day he comes to sit on the porch of the hotel and talk with the

pavie’s view of east texas

195

travelers for whom he gladly provides an escort when it is a question of crossing Texas by the interior route.43 The cavalrymen who saw us chatting familiarly with him never hesitated to take off their hats in front of us, and on every occasion I had to be impressed with their extreme courtesy. There were three of them who each evening stationed themselves with their mandolins outside the guardhouse, and their truly melodious voices blended so harmoniously with the sound of the Moorish guitar that I expressed my admiration to them. They would have gladly continued all night. The guard changed three times a day—at morning, noon, and sunset, at which time the chaplain 44 recited the prayers to which the entire company responded in good order with arms and packs. This music was composed of various drums, fifes, trumpets; the drum majors, like the corporals and sergeants, carry in their hands long rods which they never put down and which replace the staffs of English sergeants. One evening we had gone to the main gate of the encampment. The colonel was talking with his aides, handsome horsemen, each leaning on a large, curved sword, wearing a belt of buffalo hide, spurs with a layer of silver on a red background, pants open to the calf, decorated with loops and golden buttons, and the bottom of the legs covered with a piece of well-tanned leather, tastefully stitched. The chaplain was there smoking his cigar; the guard was circling the plaza which the infantrymen swept with brooms made from branches of wild coffee bush. When they arrived in front of the colonel, they stopped and announced the playing of ‘‘Viva la Libertad,’’ the national anthem of the new Republic of Mexico. Each one stood up and removed his hat as a sign of respect. A religious silence reigned among the assembly. Suddenly a great noise of horses arose from the direction of the forest, and sharp screams pierced the plain. Then one could see marching along to the noise of the instruments, which never stopped playing, a horde of Cherokee Indians, all armed. As they advanced, they continued their noisy acclamations, repeating their military maneuvers until nightfall. They brought along with them a young bison captured on the prairie. The great chief was an old man with a long white beard and a noble and imposing face; 45 behind him came two of his wives, decorated in ribbons and necklaces, and at the head of the rest of the band, four warriors proudly carried the spoils of some Comanches killed in the latest encounter; there was a cougarskin quiver full of poisoned arrows, lances with stone tips, clubs, and one carbine whose stock was trimmed with the neckskin of a horse with its mane attached. But their most beautiful trophy, the one they displayed

196 texas by tera´ n

like a banner, was the silky, well-braided hair of enemies who had fallen in combat. The chief especially strutted about, shaking these horrible, still-bloody spoils at his knees, at his belt, and at his spear decorated with bundles of vulture feathers. Several of the savages were wounded, one of them having received an arrow in the forehead which split open his skull, leaving a scar which disfigured him completely, but which seemed too glorious to him for one to dare to pity him. So that one could see it better, his face was tattooed in blue and black, and his hair pulled back like a hoopoe’s tuft exposing the top of his head. They spent the night celebrating their victory and returned to camp in the forest; the following day they reappeared at daybreak and busied themselves with selling furs. I bought a black bearskin for four shillings. The Indians of different neighboring tribes, Shavanos [Shawnees] and Delawares, departed somewhat disgusted by the Cherokee victory celebrations in which all of these tribes indulge from time to time on similar occasions, but which displeased them coming from someone else, as they will not acknowledge the victories of others since each nation is persuaded that it should take precedence over the others. A horse race was announced for the next day. The Mexican commander [Piedras] arrived in full dress; the uniforms of the aides were dazzling. The chaps, covered with pieces of leather which had been artistically embroidered with porcupine needles, enclosed the legs of the horseman and joined together at the waist, thus protecting the lower body. When the chaps are opened, they hang down to the bend of the horse’s hind legs, and the sun glistens on their elegant decorations.46 The spurs shine so brightly that the eye is blinded. The hats are decorated with feathers, and a pair of pistols and an axe complete the equipment of the horseman whose gold or silver-handled sabre clatters against the stirrups. Officers also carry a dagger, a deadly weapon in the hand of a Spaniard. The chaplain and the surgeon accompanied the colonel; their double-bit harnesses were decorated with bells like the mules of ancient priors of monasteries. I followed the crowd and, at a distance of two miles from there, we arrived at the plain where the race was to take place. It was necessary to clear the arena of the trees which covered it; each horseman applied himself to the task with his axe, and soon, with the help of the spectators, and especially the children who screamed noisy ‘‘hurrahs!’’ the immense oaks were dragged deep into the forest. Two horses were brought in: one, a beautiful English thoroughbred, was ridden by a lithe and alert American, done up like a jockey, with top-boots

pavie’s view of east texas

197

and spurs. The other was a young Mexican steed with ardent nostrils and a long mane, vigorous like all the indomitable steeds which Texas nurtures. The rider was a Spanish corporal, six feet tall and almost naked; his athletic form responded with each stride of the animal. He had neither boots nor spurs; his black hair was covered with a Spanish scarf, and in his fist hung a horsewhip. The two antagonists started off on foot. At the signal of the colonel, the two racers plunged into the arena. Screams of the spectators rose no more quickly than the clouds of dust in which the racers seemed to fly. . . . At first the English horse had the advantage, but the Mexican steed whistled by in front of us like an arrow, leaving the other far behind and carrying the winner into the forest, his long legs responding to its furious movements with so much grace that general applause arose. On seeing the white tail of the noble steed disappear under the branches of the forest, the children cried out, jumping for joy: ‘‘el blanco caballo!’’ A distressing event caused trouble in our hotel: everyone was poisoned at supper, all with the sole exception of myself, who by chance had only a cup of milk. Around midnight, the twelve inhabitants of the attic awakened me with their frightening convulsions, cursing the cook and crying for help. The less vigorous were between life and death for two days. There was one of them about whom I haven’t heard again, and who was in a deplorable state at my departure. I fear also that the Negro cook was hanged. Among the motley crowd from all nations who met each evening around the soldiers’ campfire and spent the night sleeping under the stars, I noticed a young Indian from the Cherokee tribe. He was a handsome young man, about eighteen years of age, of a frankly savage physiognomy, though he had something graceful in his measured walk distinguishing him from his compatriots. He followed me around hoping to get cigars; tired of his pestering me, I engaged him in a conversation about the wandering life of his tribe, their beliefs, and even the topography of the region. The Cherokee suddenly took on a serious air, reflecting before responding to me about all these things which he had never before considered seriously. It seemed as though his ideas took at a stroke a direction which he was unable to account for. Then, sitting down on the sand, he made a sign to me to come sit beside him. After a silence of several minutes, the Indian took his tomahawk and, with precise gestures, began a speech in rather good English in which he elaborated, with a charming naı¨vete´, the happiness of this primitive life which he would not have left for anything in the world.

198 texas by tera´ n

I invited him to follow me to France; this proposition plunged him again into deep reflection. He seemed to weigh the idea, so much does the idea of France offer wondrous possibilities to the imagination of the sons of the desert. ‘‘Well, then,’’ he replied, ‘‘does one find deer and bison and bears in France? Does one find huts on the banks of the streams and trees to chop down to make you warm? Don’t the white men pursue the red men, our brothers? Are the forests secluded and full of game? For I don’t like it when I am sleeping on my bearskin and I hear the footsteps of the white hunter around my fire.’’ Then, as if he had been awakened from a dream, he looked straight at me and said, ‘‘The chief of the Osages did what you are proposing to me; we never saw him again; you killed him. No, I will never go! And the great lake has no shore! No! No! No!’’ And crossing his arms, he was looking at me with a melancholy air which seemed to say, ‘‘And you? What are you doing here?’’ ‘‘See,’’ he continued explaining to me and tracing with his tomahawk a twisted line representing the Sabine, ‘‘see on the left the forests; on the right, the forests, always the forests, the prairies and the great lakes where it snows. All of that belongs to the savage; everywhere he goes the forests open up in front of him, and the whites do not dare go except in troops. Here,’’ and he made dots in the sand, ‘‘here are our huts; farther, the Shavanos; there, the Comanches, who eat their enemy. Show me in the same way your country on the sand. Mark for me the villages of your nation.’’ 47 The same evening, the Cherokees who came in off the prairie went back out, as was the custom; only the priest or medicine man [ jongleur] remained, and one warrior in a state of complete drunkenness.48 These two Indians took turns following me around to get cigars; while stuffing their pipes and maneuvering me to a spot between them, they showed me a gratitude I would have gladly forfeited; they got so close to the fire that no one else in the hotel could get warm. All explanations being useless, I got up from my place and added my exhortations to those of the other travelers; but the Cherokees understood only their own language, and it became necessary to take them by the shoulders and show them to the door. I accompanied them to keep them from deciding to come find me. The medicine man joined to his declarations of friendship a gift that I was forced to accept; the bowl of a stone pipe decorated with a turtle, some fish, and some hieroglyphic characters. My intention was to lead them to the fire of the cavalrymen and escape quickly; because as soon as an Indian, excited by ideas of victory, by generosity, and a little whiskey, attaches himself to you, it is almost impossible to get rid of him

pavie’s view of east texas

199

with anything short of a rude and impolite act—that is, by shamelessly chasing him from your presence. So I crossed the plaza with my two Cherokees, catching sight of an open building with light and some glasses. They entered without ceremony and took their places at the counter of the store. The storekeeper, a rather foppish young Englishman, snatched the lighted pipe out of the mouth of the drunken old warrior; and, instead of returning it to him to pass around and smoke in turns as the Indian was expecting, he blew all of the burning embers into his eyes. The old warrior cried bitterly, and the medicine man stood up very angrily. I was quite concerned when the little Indian of whom I spoke earlier precipitated himself brusquely into the middle of us, from the far side of the plaza where he had seen everything. Seizing his shiny hatchet, he pushed me back with one hand and ordered me to stay put, and with the other hand brandished the tomahawk like lightning around the head of the Englishman. He threatened his ears and his chin so closely with the blade of the weapon that the wretched European, as pale as a corpse, trembled all over. Then, after a minute of this frightful menace, the tomahawk took aim at the skull of the poor Englishman. I cried out with fright as I envisioned his head split open down to the nose; but the Indian suspended his blow, and, with great composure, returned his tomahawk to his belt, shook my hand, cast a threatening glance at the merchant, and vanished with his two friends.49 After a few days of rest, the chief of the victorious tribe longed to return to the forest and distributed gifts to the colonel and the important people of the village. The quiver of poisoned arrows went to an old retired soldier, the preferred friend of the Cherokee. As for his spear and his scalps, the chief never wished to give, exchange, or sell them, even though his furs would not have sufficed to pay for the bracelets and firearms which he was shopping for. So he gave the merchant a note written on parchment that they provided him in which he promised, himself (here was his name), great chief, etc., . . . to pay in the moon of . . . , so many buffalo pelts, so many beaver skins, deerhides, etc. This simple sample of the writing of a Cherokee was traced in characters similar to Hebrew, without any distance between the words; beneath was the literal translation done by an interpreter from the troop. It is probable that the owner of this note will derive profit from this item only by selling it as a curiosity, because an Indian almost never bothers to pay his debts. Everyone seemed happy in the village at the departure of the Indians;

200 texas by tera´ n

their nocturnal dances and chanting disturbed the public peace. Then, not having anything left to observe there, I directed my steps towards the bayou, whose abundant and excellent tasting waters furnished the post and the rest of the population. In general the water is delicious, even though rather rare, in this part of America. Marshes are no longer found in the interior of Texas; the land is arid since it almost never rains. The climate is also healthy even though the latitude is the same as that of West Florida, so deadly in the summer. The territory around Nacogdoches is pleasant; the riverbanks are covered with lovely magnolias on which small parrots like to perch. Sometimes there are such a lot of them that the branches droop down to the ground, and they are literally more numerous than the leaves. These small parrots can be approached rather easily and, once their wings are clipped, it is easy to tame them. One finds them in almost all of the Mexican homes.50 On one of my walks, I got lost. I knocked on a door and, not getting a response, I dared to enter. A young girl was sleeping in a hammock. She woke up at the sound of my footsteps and came towards me, offering me a seat. I was rather uncomfortable, but she familiarly took the cigar that I held in my hand, lighted hers casually, and guided me back to my path. Such are the simple and naı¨ve ways of the Mexicans.

S

Notes S

S

Introduction 1. Jose´ Manuel Rafael Simeo´n de Mier y Tera´n was born in Mexico City on February 18, 1789. Although it is more proper to use his full surname, Mier y Tera´n, we have elected to call him Tera´n (as did most of his contemporaries). The painting of Tera´n that we reproduce as our frontispiece is from a private collection in Mexico, and we were obliged to use a black-and-white negative of it that is on deposit at the Museo Nacional de Historia. This portrait was evidently the source for at least six different pictures of Tera´n published in the nineteenth century, most of them poor likenesses if compared to the original painting. See especially the unflattering version that appeared first in Album Me´jicano (1843), reproduced in Andreas V. Reichstein, Rise of the Lone Star: The Making of Texas, 54. Another was published that year with a biographical tribute in the periodical El Museo Mexicano. Lorenzo de Zavala included a variant in the 1845 edition of his Ensayo histo´rico de las revoluciones de Me´xico, and five years later a slightly better version appeared as the frontispiece in Berlandier and Chovel, Diario de viage (see n6 below). These were all lithographs, but perhaps the closest portrait to the original painting was the engraving used in the 1880s in vol. 3 of Vicente Riva Palacio’s monumental Me´xico a´ trave´s de los siglos, which was the source for Ohland Morton’s frontispiece in Tera´n and Texas: A Chapter in Texas Mexican Relations. Our frontispiece is the same Tera´n portrait used in Berlandier, The Indians of Texas in 1830 as Figure 3, but editor John C. Ewers cropped the artist’s name: Thomas. We do not know whether he was related to Julio Michaud y Thomas, who had a print shop in the capital and produced the Album pintoresco de la Repu´blica Mexicana in 1850. Oddly, Thomas is also credited as the engraver on many of the plates in Riva Palacio’s vol. 3, including the one of Tera´n; thus, there is some question of how early this work was completed and by whom, because another name is also on the engraving: E. Gimeno. Tera´n appears to be in his mid-thirties, so the painting was probably done just prior to his Texas inspection. 2. Perhaps the best study of Tera´n and the Boundary Commission is Morton, Tera´n and Texas. Eugene C. Barker, in his introduction, calls it ‘‘probably the best that will ever be written,’’ and we are inclined to agree. It was Morton’s 1939 Ph.D.

202 notes to pages 5 – 13 dissertation at the University of Texas at Austin, and was subsequently published in installments by the Southwestern Historical Quarterly (SWHQ) between 1942 and 1945 before it was published in book form by the Texas State Historical Association in 1948. 3. Jose´ Marı´a Sa´nchez, ‘‘A Trip to Texas in 1828,’’ SWHQ XXIX (April 1926): 249–288; Jean-Louis Berlandier, Journey to Mexico during the Years 1826 to 1834. 4. Nettie Lee Benson, ‘‘Texas as Viewed from Mexico, 1820 –1834,’’ SWHQ XC ( January 1987): 281. 5. This rare imprint is reproduced in facsimile as Appendix A in vol. 2 of Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 595– 614. 6. Luis Berlandier and Rafael Chovel, Diario de viage de la Comisio´n de Lı´mites que puso el gobierno de la repu´blica, bajo la direccio´n del exmo. sr. general de divisio´n d. Manuel de Mier y Tera´n. In addition to these published sources, there is a Spanish edition of the Sa´nchez diary: Jorge Flores D., intro., Viaje a Texas en 1828: Diario del Teniente D. Jose´ Marı´a Sa´nchez, miembro de la Comisio´n de Lı´mites. See also Mauricio Molina, ed., Cro´nica de Tejas: Diario de viaje de la Comisio´n de Lı´mites, for a collection of documents pertaining to the inspection, among them Sa´nchez’s diary and Tera´n’s report on the Indians of Texas: ‘‘Noticia de las tribus de salvajes conocidos que habitan en el Departamento de Tejas, y del nu´mero de familias de que consta cada tribu, puntos en que habitan y terrenos en que acampan.’’ It was originally published in the Boletı´n de la Sociedad Mexicana de Geografı´a y Estadı´stica in 1870, and can be found in Molina, ed., Cro´nica de Tejas, 129–139; see Diary n124 below for details 7. It would take a handwriting expert to determine who drafted all these copies (few bear signatures) and a wizard to say exactly when the copies were made, as well as which commission member was responsible for the observations therein. Chovell signed his name ‘‘Chowell,’’ but it is also given as Chovel in many of these documents. Although several sources (Flores D. and Ewers as editor of Berlandier, Indians) cite an unpublished diary by Chovell housed at Tulane University, we have not been able to confirm its existence. 8. On this law, see Alleine Howren, ‘‘Causes and Origin of the Decree of April 6, 1830,’’ SWHQ XVI (April 1913): 378– 422. 9. ‘‘J. C. Clopper’s Journal and Book of Memoranda for 1828,’’ QTSHA XIII ( July 1909): 44–80, and The´odore Pavie, ‘‘Atlantic Memories,’’ trans. Betje [Black] Klier, SHR LXXIV (October 1970): 223–254—both used with permission. 10. For example, see the Carta del Estado de Tamaulipas. Not published until seventeen years after Tera´n’s death, this map is still credited to his observations. On the 1850 publication of Berlandier and Chovell’s account of his expedition, see n6 above. Even today, Tera´n’s scientific accomplishments are recognized by Mexican scholars; see Martı´n Reyes Vayssade et al., Cartografı´a Histo´rica de Tamaulipas, 23, 31, 76–77. 11. On Austin’s 1830 map and its various editions by publisher Henry S. Tanner of Philadelphia, see Thomas W. Streeter, Bibliography of Texas, 1795–1845, item 1115. For a discussion of Tera´n and how the findings of his Boundary Com-

notes to pages 13 – 18

203

mission helped Austin complete his map, see Chapter 13 of Jack Jackson, Shooting the Sun: Cartographic Results of Military Activities in Texas, 1689–1829. 12. Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 428– 438, 588–591. This part of our translation comes from Tera´n’s ‘‘Diario,’’ Ms. S-314, Yale University. 13. The particulars of this acquisition are outlined by editor John C. Ewers in Berlandier, Indians, 18–21. 14. Berlandier was a great admirer of Humboldt; see Journey to Mexico, xiii. After Tera´n’s death, the Mexican government wrote to Sa´nchez, Berlandier, Chovell, and other members of the Boundary Commission in an attempt to reclaim the results of his work. Some of this correspondence is found in expediente 18-29-137 at the archive of the Secretarı´a de Relaciones Exteriores, Mexico City, including an inventory of all materials in Sa´nchez’s possession dated May 27, 1833. 15. Berlandier, Indians, 18–21. 16. John C. Ewers, ed., Jose´ Francisco Ruiz: Report on the Indian Tribes of Texas in 1828. 17. Reproduced in Berlandier, Indians. See also Richard E. Ahlborn, ‘‘European Dress in Texas, 1830: As Rendered by Lino Sa´nchez y Tapia,’’ American Scene (1972): 1–20, which reproduces the non-Indian subjects. 18. ‘‘Voyage au Mexique: Itine´raires, ports, coˆtes, baies, etc.,’’ Ms. S-302, Yale University (in two parts); see also the maps in Mss. S-303, S-304, and S-309, all connected with the Boundary Commission or gathered by Berlandier. A number of the botanical illustrations are reproduced in Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, but the editors were seemingly unaware of the maps and plans at Yale. 19. Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 257. 20. Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 293. 21. Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 259. On the secularization process at Be´xar, see Fe´lix D. Almara´z, Jr., The San Antonio Missions and Their System of Land Tenure. 22. Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 292–293. It is now generally recognized that the Alamo got its name from this military company, not from the avenue of cottonwood trees (a´lamos) nearby. 23. Berlandier probably added this comment later than 1828, as the state law denying retail trade to foreigners was not passed until April 2, 1829 (Decree No. 83). It was enacted because of the ‘‘declining state of its [the state’s] internal trade, occasioned in a great measure by the influx of foreigners in the market.’’ The law was intended to save from ruin those citizens of Coahuila y Texas who followed this pursuit and found their business ‘‘paralyzed’’ by the glut of goods. Foreigners were allowed to sell wholesale only, and the penalties were steep (H. P. N. Gammel, The Laws of Texas, 1822–1897 I: 227). Other remarks—such as those concerning the abundance of livestock in the Anglo-American colonies (which he had not yet seen) and Austin’s map (not published until 1830)—suggest that Berlandier went back and ‘‘edited’’ his manuscript heavily after revisiting Texas in 1834. At what point he stopped this process is unknown. 24. Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 290 –291, 297–298, 300. On the idea of silver

204 notes to pages 18 – 21 mines existing in Texas, which dates from the mid-eighteenth century, see Roderick B. Patten, trans. and ed., ‘‘Miranda’s Inspection of Los Almagres: His Journal, Report, and Petition,’’ SWHQ LXXIV (October 1970): 223–254. Austin kept the notion alive with a reference to silver mines in the neighborhood of San Saba´ on his 1830 map. 25. On Elosu´a, see Ron Tyler et al., eds., The New Handbook of Texas (NHOT) 2: 844. 26. Monthly report on the troops of Texas. February 1, 1828, Be´xar Archives (henceforth BA), Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin (CAH). 27. On Flores, see Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 2: 1037. 28. Monthly military report of the National Militia, October 7, 1827; Military report of Be´xar Civil Militia, April 4, 1832, BA. The regulations for the national militia of the State of Coahuila y Texas, signed into law on May 14, 1828, by Gov. Jose´ Marı´a Viesca, are translated in Texas Military History 7 (Autumn 1968): 195– 220. See also Chapter 5 in Andre´s Tijerina, Tejanos and Texas under the Mexican Flag, 1821–1836, which discusses the military reorganization going on at this time and traces the history of such citizen militias well before the 1820s. 29. Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 257–258. Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 293, gives the same census figure, calling it ‘‘the total population of Be´xar and the Alamo,’’ but no doubt for the barrio and not the garrison itself. He also provides livestock figures: cattle, 1,322; sheep and goats, 2,480; horses and mares, 150. All three of these categories seem drastically understated— especially the figure for horses. 30. On Veramendi (who signed his name ‘‘Beramendi’’), see Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 6: 722; Frederick C. Chabot, With the Makers of San Antonio, 243–244. 31. Be´xar municipal election returns, December 3, 4, and 9, 1827, BA, with thanks to John O. Leal. The race for alcalde was close: Veramendi received 26 votes to 24 for Angel Navarro and 21 for Clemente Delgado. Manuel Flores far outstripped his nearest competitor for regidor with 28 votes, but see ‘‘Quaderno borrador de oficios del alcalde . . . ,’’ January 18, 1828, where he and Jose´ Manuel de la Garza sign as regidores instead of Navarro and Ca´rdenas for most of 1828. 32. It was Mu´squiz who wrote Austin on May 15, advising him that General Tera´n planned to make a map of Texas and asking that Austin help Tera´n with this project, as he knew more about the subject than anyone else in Texas (Eugene C. Barker, ed., The Austin Papers II: 39). On Mu´squiz, see Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 4: 911. 33. Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 260. Actually, it was rather common for congressional representatives to write their constituents asking for news. In 1828 Sa´nchez must have been referring to Jose´ Antonio Navarro, noted for his sympathy to the needs of the Anglo colonists. This was reason enough for Sa´nchez to ridicule him, considering the sublieutenant’s bias against foreigners. 34. Source: This extract was originally published in QTSHA XIII ( July 1909): 69–76, as ‘‘J. C. Clopper’s Journal and Book of Memoranda for 1828.’’ We have

notes to pages 21 – 24

205

added punctuation for readability. At the time Joseph Chambers Clopper visited San Antonio, he was a 26-year-old single man, traveling with his father, Nicholas, and several other individuals from Louisville, Kentucky, who had joined the elder Clopper in forming a ‘‘Texas trading association.’’ They crossed paths with the Boundary Commission at San Felipe de Austin and then proceeded to Be´xar with trade goods over the same road used by Tera´n a few months earlier. Everyone in the party was sick except for our diarist. 35. On the garita, see Diary n1 below, where Seth Eastman’s 1848 sketch of the town from this spot is cited. There is also a distant view of San Antonio from the north in the Berlandier collection at Yale (Ms. S-303, ‘‘Voyage au Mexique: Vues’’) by Lino Sa´nchez after a Berlandier original, but it is less pleasing than the oftenreproduced view of Goliad in this same folio. 36. The Alameda was one of Gov. Antonio Cordero’s beautification projects at the capital and was commenced about twenty years earlier. It appears on the 1836 map by Col. Ygnacio Labastida reproduced in color on pp. 82–83 of The Texans, by David Nevin and the editors of Time-Life Books; the original is at the CAH. What was left of this stately cottonwood-flanked avenue in the 1850s can be seen in a painting by Hermann Lunkwitz, Plate 40, in Pauline A. Pinckney, Painting in Texas: The Nineteenth Century. It is now East Commerce Street. 37. For a useful pictorial study, see Susan Prendergast Schoelwer, Alamo Images: Changing Perceptions of a Texas Experience. Clopper’s account of damage to the structure by ‘‘Patriot’’ cannon during the Hidalgo Revolution is garbled. The old, neverfinished mission of San Antonio de Valero was simply in ruins from neglect, as was the mission compound itself. 38. La Villita, the ‘‘across the tracks’’ village where poor married soldiers stationed at the Alamo lived with their families, and where the usual military hangerson were concentrated. It also shows on the Labastida map and is now an arts and crafts district near the River Walk frequented by tourists. 39. Perhaps the best pictorial record of the various Mexican architectural styles of old San Antonio was that left by Theodore Gentilz beginning in the 1840s. See Dorothy Steinbomer Kendall and Carmen Perry, Gentilz: Artist of the Old Southwest, especially Plates 2, 3, 31, 33, 35, 39, and 43. These paintings feature everything from humble jacales (huts) on the outskirts of town to substantial stone houses on the main plaza. 40. Clopper’s remarks about women are typical of those registered by North American males on their first contact with Mexican culture. Diaries and letters from the Mexican War abound with references to dark-haired Latin beauties encountered by soldiers far from home, as well as disparaging assessments of the Mexican males who stood in passion’s way. See Chapter 4 in Arnoldo De Leo´n, They Called Them Greasers: Anglo Attitudes toward Mexicans in Texas, 1821–1900, and Chapter 9 in Richard Bruce Winders, Mr. Polk’s War: The American Military Experience in the Mexican War. 41. The orator was probably Refugio de la Garza or perhaps Jose´ Antonio Valdez, both of whom were native San Antonio priests. The former was politically active and thus more likely to be giving patriotic speeches. Evidently, a less-

206 notes to pages 25 – 29 elaborate version of this national holiday was also celebrated in Nacogdoches, with Lt. Jose´ Marı´a Sa´nchez delivering the oration. Tera´n, in a letter to San Antonio, says that two Mexican fiddlers had been hired for the evening festivities. Tera´n to Batres (?), August 19, 1828, Ms. S-325, f. 67v, Yale University. 42. Clopper’s detailed description of tortilla making was likely stimulated by the fact that Mexican women grinding corn on the metate usually loosened their bodice (or sometimes opened it entirely) for comfort. See Gentilz’s ‘‘La Cocina’’ (Kendall and Perry, Gentilz, Plate 41). Claudio Linati and Carl Nebel did variants of this ‘‘topless’’ tortilla-maker theme; see the ‘‘Tortilleras’’ plate in Linati, Costumes civils, militaires et religieux du Mexique (1828) and Nebel’s ‘‘Las Tortilleras’’ in Voyage pittoresque et arche´ologique . . . du Mexique (1836)—the former being Figure 12 herein and the latter reproduced as Figure 12 in Colin M. MacLachlan and Jaime E. Rodrı´guez O., The Forging of the Cosmic Race: A Reinterpretation of Colonial Mexico. These kitchen scenes are handled ‘‘tastefully’’ in most cases, but Linati’s original watercolor for the lithograph has two soldiers obviously interested in a young woman’s completely exposed breasts as she grinds corn on the street. It is reproduced as our Figure 11, and can be seen in color in Jose´ N. Iturriaga de la Fuente, intro., Claudio Linati: Acuarelas y litografı´as, 37, 39. Sam Chamberlain, as one might expect, also did an illustration of this sort; see William H. Goetzmann, ed., My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue, 112. 43. See nn 26 and 28, above. 44. The Lipan Apaches, of course, were a separate tribe from the Comanches and were their bitter enemies. Clopper’s haughty Comanches were possibly the same band led by ‘‘Barbakista,’’ whom Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 343) said was ‘‘the most celebrated and most valiant [Comanche chief] of all.’’ For Berlandier’s month-long hunting trip at the end of 1828 with a large band, led by ‘‘Keiuna,’’ see ibid., pp. 344–365. This experience gave Berlandier firsthand knowledge of Comanche customs, and he published this section of his diary several times in Mexico for its anthropological value; see Indians, 16. 45. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 294–295) described the two springs that gushed from ‘‘clayey’’ limestone ledges to feed the San Antonio River, one of which is pictured in Kendall and Perry, Gentilz, Plate 37. Both the San Antonio springs and the San Pedro springs have virtually ceased to flow, because of unrestricted pumping of groundwater from the Edwards Aquifer, and San Antonio’s River Walk is artificially maintained now by two wells in Brackenridge Park. 46. Source: Tera´n letter book, Ms. S-325, ff. 24–35, Beinecke Library, Yale University, with thanks to Gregg Cantrell. 47. The Hispanic population of Texas in 1828 consisted of about 2,500 people, broken down as follows: Be´xar, 1,330; Goliad, 570; and Nacogdoches, 576. Perhaps another 500 should be added for Victoria and isolated, smaller settlements. Tera´n’s estimate was too high (Tijerina, Tejanos and Texas, 12, 20). Berlandier, as seen, reckoned the population of Be´xar and the Alamo barrio at 1,425. The March 31, 1828, census of Austin’s settlements totaled 2,021, and their numbers increased rapidly; by August he gave a figure of 3,000. Austin, in his August 1833

notes to pages 29 – 32

207

memorial on separate status for Texas as a state, presented a probably exaggerated population chart to boost the concept. It recorded 46,500 inhabitants, with a note saying that the figure did not include the more than 20,000 wild and semicivilized Indians of Texas. The two major Hispanic centers, Be´xar and Goliad/Victoria, had 4,000 and 2,300 inhabitants, respectively, for a total of 6,300. The five other municipalities—mostly Anglo dominated—made up the remaining 40,200, meaning that five years after Tera´n’s visit the newcomers enjoyed at least a six-to-one numerical advantage (Biblioteca Nacional de Antropologı´a e Historia [BNAH], paquete 51-2-4, documents 70 –77; Eugene C. Barker, ed., ‘‘Descriptions of Texas by Stephen F. Austin, 1828 [1831, and 1833],’’ SWHQ XXVIII [October 1924]:98–121). This rapid demographic shift is addressed in Chapter 9 of David J. Weber, The Mexican Frontier, 1821–1846: The American Southwest under Mexico. Estimates for the Indian population always vary, but one source for the period breaks them down by tribe for a total of 22,900, a figure reached considering five persons per family for an estimated 4,580 families. Applying this formula to the 34 tribes enumerated in Tera´n’s Noticia, his 4,192 to 4,712 families, gives a total Indian population of 20,960 to 23,560 —not out of line with Austin’s 1833 figure (Molina, ed., Cro´nica de Tejas, 137, 139, 144). 48. Tera´n’s source on the Comanches and related Plains tribes was no doubt Col. Jose´ Francisco Ruiz. Compare Tera´n’s account with those given by Sa´nchez at Be´xar (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 261–265) and by Berlandier during his later bear and bison hunt with them ( Journey to Mexico, 343–366); see also the latter’s Indians, which contains a great deal of information on these feared warriors of the northern plains, depicted in Plates 2– 4. Ruiz’s Report has a lengthy description of the Comanches (8–16), estimating them at 1,000 to 1,500 families and providing members of the Boundary Commission an account of their customs based on personal experience over an extended period of time. 49. Virtually all that is known of this tribe comes from Ruiz and his sojourn among them, information he passed on to the Boundary Commission. John C. Ewers, editor of both Berlandier’s and Ruiz’s Indian reports, identifies them as the Arapaho—seemingly on the basis of the Comanches’ reference to them as ‘‘dogeaters’’ (Berlandier, Indians, 109–111; Ruiz, Report, 16–17; Tera´n, Noticia [in Molina, ed., Cro´nica de Tejas, 131]). This interpretation, in view of a lack of other sources on the Chariticas in Texas, seems to warrant a bit of skepticism. 50. On the Sonsores (Shoshonis) and the Huasa´s (Osages), see Berlandier, Indians, 139–141, 142–143. 51. Article 4 of the General Law of Colonization, enacted August 18, 1824, reads: ‘‘No lands lying within 20 leagues of the boundaries with any foreign nation, nor within 10 leagues of the coast, can be occupied by settlers, without the previous approbation of the Supreme Executive Power.’’ The State Colonization Law of March 24, 1825, article 7, sets forth the same limits and says that the authorities will forward all petitions on the occupancy of said lands to the federal government. See the translations of both laws in Malcolm D. McLean, ed., Papers Concerning Robertson’s Colony in Texas II: 214–217, 269–288. Various private individuals, as well

208 notes to pages 32 – 36 as those who wanted to function as empresarios, were constantly soliciting permission to settle in these reserves. Meanwhile, Anglo squatters and immigrant tribes occupied the boundary and coastal strips in increasing numbers. 52. An exaggeration, of course, as Tera´n would soon find out. Not only were vast tracts of land still available, but the Nacogdoches jurisdiction contained many old Spanish-Mexican settlers, some of them living in isolated ranchos. They were not in the majority, however, especially between the Attoyac and the Sabine Rivers in the 20-league boundary reserve. 53. On Austin and his colony, see Eugene C. Barker’s seminal The Life of Stephen F. Austin, Founder of Texas, 1793–1836, first published in 1925. Gregg Cantrell is at present writing a reevaluation of Austin. Of great help in understanding Austin’s original grant, and where the families admitted to it were located, is a large map at the Texas General Land Office (GLO) titled ‘‘Connected Map of Austin’s Colony. Commenced by S. F. Austin in 1833, Completed by J. F. Perry 1837, Projected by John P., Thomas H., and Gail Borden [1837].’’ The original is not extant, but a draft by F. G. Blau survives in fragile condition. For study purposes, the GLO has available a photostat in four parts; the entire map measures 79 by 90 inches. 54. Jared E. Groce; see Diary n78 below. 55. On the Karankawas, see Berlandier, Indians (147–149 and Plate 15); also Diary n72 below. 56. Haden Edwards filed various petitions soliciting empresarial status in Texas as early as 1822; see BNAH, paquete 51-3-5 for these items, many of which were submitted with a small map showing the lands desired. He met with success on April 15, 1825, receiving permission to introduce 800 families on a grant that covered most of east Texas. His dictatorial attitude toward the old settlers around Nacogdoches led to frequent complaints of high-handedness and eventually to what was known as the Fredonian Rebellion, after the government canceled his grant and ordered his eviction in mid-1826. Sources for the rebellion are given in Diary n110 below. Consult also Jordon Holt, ‘‘The Edwards Empresarial Grant and the Fredonian Rebellion,’’ M.A. thesis, Stephen F. Austin State University, 1977; Robert B. Blake, Transcripts vol. 11 and Supplement vol. 11. BNAH, paquete 51-14-1 contains the documentation pertaining to the loss of Edwards’s grant. He fled to Louisiana to avoid the Mexican army on its way east to quell his insurrection, but returned to Nacogdoches during the Texas Revolution and lived there until his death in 1849. See the entries on him and his brother Benjamin in Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 2: 796, 798–799. 57. On the short-lived settlement at Palafox, see Carmen Perry, trans. and ed., The Impossible Dream by the Rio Grande: A Documented Chronicle of the Establishment and Annihilation of San Jose´ de Palafox. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 265) mentions a side trip taken from Laredo to Palafox because the government had determined that it should serve as headquarters for the eastern interior states, and General Bustamante ‘‘did not wish to bury himself in an uninhabited spot.’’ 58. On Col. Ignacio Elizondo, see Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 2: 824.

notes to pages 36 – 43

209

59. These events are described in Ted Schwarz and Robert H. Thonhoff, Forgotten Battlefield of the First Texas Revolution: The Battle of Medina, August 18, 1813; reference is to Gen. Joaquı´n de Arredondo, who crushed the revolt in Texas with great cruelty. 60. Tera´n, in these paragraphs, shows his awareness that a conflict is brewing in Texas and that it will likely result in Mexico’s loss of the land unless definite steps are taken. He proceeds to outline four necessary measures. 61. On the Edwards brothers, see n56 above. ‘‘That revolutionary doctor’’ is probably a reference to James Long, leader of the Long expedition. He was shot by a guard while under house arrest in Mexico City on April 8, 1822, but many persisted in believing he was still alive—Tera´n included, for he first wrote ‘‘no es verdad que murio´’’ (it’s not true that he died) and then scratched it out. 62. In light of centralist strongman Bustamante’s later presidency, Tera´n’s assessment of him as a ‘‘person whom the foreigners respect’’ is interesting. Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 1: 865 has a brief entry on Bustamante. 63. Note that Tera´n as early as March 1828 believed that shutting off Anglo immigration was necessary and desirable, except to those colonies already ‘‘established.’’ This was the most objectionable article of the Law of April 6, 1830, and supposedly the one article enacted without Tera´n’s advice; see our Epilogue. 64. In February 1824 Tera´n married Marı´a Josefa Velasco de Teruel, the daughter of a wealthy hacendado, and they made their home in Mexico City. Their twoyear-old son died only three days before Tera´n’s expedition departed the capital for Texas. One can imagine Tera´n’s state of mind, not only at this loss but at having to leave his wife under such difficult circumstances. From the record it does not appear that he was able to spend much time with his family thereafter; affairs in Texas and Tamaulipas demanded his full attention (Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 37, 55; Stanley C. Green, The Mexican Republic: The First Decade, 1823–1832, 34). 65. The need to populate Texas with Mexican settlers was an idea which Tera´n labored until his death to make a reality. A number of his evolving proposals on this subject are noted in the Epilogue. 66. Over the years, Tera´n advanced increasingly demanding and expensive proposals for the military occupation of Texas, some of which finally resulted in the establishment of new forts.

S

The Diary: ‘‘Texas by Tera´n, His Journey, 1828’’ diary: be´ xar to nacogdoches 1. Work on the garita, a sentry post intended also for use as a powder house, began in the first decade of the nineteenth century once the Alamo was converted to a garrison for soldiers from Alamo de Parras, Coahuila (in 1803). The edifice was never finished but still served as a watchtower for detachments of soldiers. As Clopper’s description tells us, it was located beyond the Alameda (now East Commerce Street, next to the cemetery). It is marked ‘‘magazine’’ at the end of this

210 notes to page 43 avenue on William Grattan’s 1836 map of San Antonio collected by William Bollaert and now with Bollaert’s papers at the Newberry Library. See Plate 13 in Jack Jackson, Manuscript Maps Concerning the Gulf Coast, Texas, and the Southwest, 1519–1836. In 1848 Seth Eastman sketched the structure—still fairly substantial looking—and a view of the town from its heights (Lois Burkhalter, intro., A Seth Eastman Sketchbook, 1848–1849, 45– 46). 2. This may refer to one of several Gaura species in central Texas, including Gaura lindheimeri, G. parviflora, and G. brachycarpa. Native verbenas found in the region include V. pumila (pink vervain), V. canescens (gray vervain), and V. bracteata (prostrate vervain). Three European species of narcissus have escaped in Texas, and one or all may have been growing here by the time of Tera´n’s travels. Narcissus tazetta (polyanthus narcissus) is native to southern France and has clusters of small, fragrant white flowers. N. jonquilla ( jonquil) has yellow flowers and is native to southern Europe and Spain; N. pseudo-narcissus (daffodil) also has yellow flowers and is native to France. We are indebted to Scooter Cheatham and Lynn Marshall, for their botanical observations, hereafter credited as sc&lm. 3. Candidates for these trees include several species of Quercus (oak), Carya illinoinensis (pecan), one or more species of Prunus (plum), Ulmus crassifolia or U. americana (elm), and Populus deltoides (cottonwood) — sc&lm. 4. The Salado joins the San Antonio River below Mission Espada, not above it. 5. According to Del Weniger (personal communication dated January 1998, hereafter given as dw), three species of cuckoos live in Texas. The one to which Tera´n refers here could have been the black-billed cuckoo, Cocyzus erthropthalmus (Wilson), which often utters its strange sounds at night. 6. The Old Gonzales Road (running from San Antonio de Be´xar to San Felipe de Austin) was surveyed by Byrd Lockhart and completed by the end of 1827. His petition to the government for payment (GLO, box 119, folder 6) states that it was 65 leagues (169 miles) long and wide enough for large wagons. Lockhart figured that his expenses for the job were 400 pesos, not to mention the 1,000-peso fee that he would normally charge. In lieu of the latter he asked for four leagues of land, the price of a league (4,428 acres) being 100 pesos, and his request was granted. Although no plat of the road survey exists, it shows on many county land grant maps at the GLO, e.g., those of Gonzales County, by W. C. Walsh, 1880; Wilson County, anon., n.d.; and Bexar County, F. H. Arlitt, 1868. See also the maps of these counties reproduced in Joe B. Frantz and Mike Cox, Lure of the Land: Texas County Maps and the History of Settlement, 40, 90, 109 (the Arlitt map of Bexar County). Our thanks to Galen Greaser of the GLO and to Dorcas Baumgartner and Thomas Ricks Lindley for sharing their research on the Old Gonzales Road. Here we should note that during the Spanish colonial period (extending into the Mexican years) a league of distance equaled 2.6 miles. To give distance traveled in his diary, Tera´n uses both legua (league) and milla. For lack of a better word, we have translated milla as mile, but the conversion was 3 to 1, not 2.6 to 1; thus, Tera´n’s milla was a little shorter than our mile.

notes to pages 43 – 44

211

7. Species of all three genera occur in the region referred to in the text. There are three native perennial species of Delphinium on the Edwards Plateau, including D. virescens (plains larkspur), D. carolinianum (blue larkspur), and D. vimineum. Two naturalized European species also grow on the Edwards Plateau and in central Texas: D. ajacis (rocket larkspur, espuela de caballero) and D. orientale (common larkspur). Several species of Tradescantia (spiderwort), including T. edwardsiana, T. ohioensis, T. humilis, T. subaucaulis, T. pedicellata, and T. occidentalis, are native to the Edwards Plateau and central Texas, T. ohioensis being the most common to that region— sc&lm. 8. The reference to a malvaceous plant could fit several species of the genera of the Malvaceae (mallow family), including Abutilon, Allowissadula, Pavonia, and Malvaviscus — sc&lm. 9. Despite Tera´n’s reference to Berlandier’s ‘‘great harvest’’ of specimens between the Salado and the Cibolo, the latter’s journal entry for the 14th mentions none of these plants—some of which we cannot identify from the names given. 10. Tera´n’s ‘‘mimosa inga’’ is possibly Prosopis glandulosa (mesquite). In this area the mesquites grow into trees with large trunks and, in contrast to smaller mesquite brush, tend to have only a few thorns on new growth at the end of the branches. Inga is a tropical American genus with no species in Texas. It is in the Leguminosae (legume family), along with mesquite and mimosa. On the other trees, see n3 above— sc&lm. 11. Reference is to the junction of Cibolo Creek with the San Antonio River and to the San Bartolo Ranch on the lower Cibolo. A vara is 32.909 inches, or slightly less than a yard. For a stream that carries so little water, the banks of the Cibolo are very steep in places— especially in the vicinity of Sutherland Springs going south toward Karnes County. 12. Tera´n’s party crossed the Cibolo just above La Vernia, approaching it along the general line but north of State Hwy. 87, probably in the survey made for Erastus ‘‘Deaf ’’ Smith in 1833. The survey notes (GLO, box 120, folder 7) state that Smith’s league was on the ‘‘N.E. side of the sebola above and below the road leading to Gonzales, at least twenty eight miles from Bejar.’’ Clopper’s party spent two days at the ‘‘Seawully,’’ and he described the road to San Antonio for ten miles as going through ‘‘a lovely country abounding with deer, bear, mustang, etc.’’ The next five or six miles he called barren and broken country until they entered ‘‘Musquite prairie.’’ He noted that the mesquite prairie’s thin soil produced a ‘‘short delicate nutritious grass’’ (Clopper, ‘‘J. C. Clopper’s Journal,’’ 68– 69). See also Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 302–303, and Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 266; the latter said that the rolling hills, woods, and small valleys were ‘‘bedecked with beautiful flowers where numerous butterflies flitted about, making the solitary regions all the more charming.’’ 13. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 303–304) called the stopping point Charcos de Encinal and described very aptly the ‘‘Sand Hills’’ or the post oak belt that runs east-west midway between Stockdale and Seguin. Their camp was at Forty-Mile

212 notes to pages 44 – 46 Hole on a branch of the Ecleto, now in Wilson County about a quarter of a mile south of the Guadalupe County line in the vicinity of Hwy. 123. The waterhole is shown on A. M. Erskine’s survey of July 24, 1874, found in Guadalupe County Record Book M, p. 556, a copy kindly provided by local historian Karon Mac Smith. Clopper (‘‘J. C. Clopper’s Journal,’’ 67– 68) noted in August 1828 that he was gladly leaving this stretch of country, a ‘‘dreary region’’ of ‘‘fluid earth’’ comparable to the ‘‘burning wastes of Africa.’’ Between the Guadalupe and the Cibolo ‘‘the country is high and mostly sandy and thinly wooded. There is one stretch of 8 or 9 miles which seems to be one immense hill of the finest unmixed sand . . . and the Sun’s powerfully reflected heat was preserved unchanged in temperature by the stinted growth of post oak, blackjack, and hickory that stands low, bushy, but thinly over this great scorching sandbank.’’ Despite its early use, no modern highway follows the Old Gonzales Road through this inhospitable and ruggedly haunting terrain. 14. The root of Lithospermum incisum (puccoon), found in this region, has been used as a dye. Reference to lantana is probably Lantana horrida — sc&lm. 15. Meaning Gonzales, according to Berlandier. 16. Ms. S-314, Yale University, says 8 : 00 in the morning, not 2 : 00. 17. ‘‘Salvia’’ probably refers to Salvia farinacea, the mealy blue sage. ‘‘Phalaris’’ is a genus in the Gramineae (grass family); P. canariensis grows in the area. ‘‘Ramunculus’’ probably refers to Ranunculus micranthus, or another member of this genus growing in the area. ‘‘Viccia’’ is most likely one of several species of Vicia native to the area. Several species also were introduced from Europe and were well known as fodder. ‘‘Viccia’’ may refer to the word ‘‘paturage,’’ as the genus is widely planted for fodder. Chelone (turtlehead) is a member of the Scrophulariaceae family, which grows in the eastern United States, though not in Texas. It is closely allied to Penstemon. It is possible that the plant being referred to is Penstemon cobaea, commonly known as beardtongue or foxglove (true foxglove, from which digitalis is derived, is Digitalis purpurea)— sc&lm. 18. There are three major species of oaks in this area: Quercus marilandica (blackjack oak), Q. stellata (post oak), and Q. fusiformis (live oak). ‘‘Populus’’ is probably Populus deltoides (cottonwood). The phrase that appears in Ms. S-313 but not in the Ms. S-314 copy, ‘‘a mimosa prostrata efflorescent in buds and yellow flowers,’’ may have been added by the copyist, who was looking at a specimen. Neptunia lutea (yellow-puff ) and N. pubescens are prostrate perennial plants with ‘‘mimosalike’’ yellow flowers. They are in the legume family (Leguminosae), subfamily Mimosoideae, as are Prosopis, Acacia, Mimosa, Calliandra, and Desmanthus. The common salix, Salix nigra (black willow), is found along the waterways in the area. ‘‘Carpulus’’ does not appear in our references—sc&lm. 19. The buildings that Tera´n saw at Gonzales had been constructed only in the past year. Indian attacks— or threats of them—had so frightened DeWitt’s handful of colonists that they returned to Old Station on the Lavaca and did not dare to

notes to page 46

213

return to Gonzales until a fort was erected in 1827. Byrd Lockhart was placed in charge of the blockhouse, and it is odd that Tera´n does not mention it. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 304–306) gave a detailed description of Gonzales and the approach thereto, but he did not note a fort—as we usually construe one. According to him, the six cabins were surrounded by ‘‘a sort of barricade,’’ which was ‘‘quite similar to the chalets of Switzerland, especially to those of the valley of Ormonds in the canton of Vaud.’’ Tera´n mentioned no fences around the individual houses, nor did he say that they were collectively placed within a barricade, so we must suppose that Lockhart’s ‘‘fort’’ was located elsewhere on the river or that it wasn’t much of an actual fort. A useful study is Edward A. Lukes, The DeWitt Colony of Texas. 20. For an easy conversion of temperature between Re´aumur (which Tera´n usually gives) and Fahrenheit, see Figure 6, p. 46, showing all three scales: Re´aumur (R.), Centigrade (C.), and Fahrenheit (F.). The unknown copyist of the diary added a few conversions to Centigrade within parentheses, but was sometimes uncertain himself whether Tera´n’s readings were in Re´aumur or Centigrade, although he assumed the former. 21. The Colombian was Joseph Marı´a Briuno, shown as a single man on the 1828 census, ‘‘Lista de los habitantes de la colonia Dewitt en el Departamento de Texas.’’ See Ethel Zivley Rather, ‘‘De Witt’s Colony,’’ QTSHA VIII (October 1904): 191. The empresario seems to have been absent during Tera´n’s one-day visit, but young Clopper (‘‘J. C. Clopper’s Journal,’’ 67) left a rather unflattering picture of him: ‘‘This Colony contains but few settlers, nor can it be expected to flourish under its present Empresario, Col. De Witt. This man has been raised among the pioneers of the western states [and] is well acquainted with Indian manners, customs, and modes of warfare. His has ever been an unrestrained life with regard to morals and religion; his situations have necessarily exposed and, as it were, compelled him to class [himself] and associate with those bold, independent . . . but too loose and dissipated tho’ brave and dauntless Sons of Liberty—introductors of civilization. Yet has the Col. been much in refined society; his education is considerable and his natural powers of intellect strong and vigorous, sufficiently so to render him well qualified for his station. But alas dissipation [and] neglectful indolence have destroyed his energies and are rendering in a great measure abortive the efforts of his colonizing assistants. He is tho’ much of a gentleman and, like his most excellent Lady, is very kind and hospitable to strangers.’’ 22. In Ms. S-314 the word is spelled ‘‘Tahuayaces’’ (Taovayas, or Tawehash, as they were later known), but the Comanche expedition more likely was against the local Tonkawas, usually spelled ‘‘Tancahues.’’ Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 306) connects the Comanche theft of the two horses at Gonzales to a raid against the latter tribe. 23. The 1828 census (cited in n21 above) shows 11 families and 27 single men, for a total of 75 persons living in DeWitt’s colony. Of these, according to local

214 notes to pages 46 – 49 historian Dorcas Baumgartner, probably only the families of Green DeWitt and his wife, Sarah, Francis Berry and his wife, Elizabeth, plus two grown children by Elizabeth’s first marriage, were residing at Gonzales in 1828—along with Briuno, the Colombian. Sa´nchez (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 267) was touched by the beauty and kindness of a 10-year-old girl at the settlement. She was likely Evaline, daughter of the empresario. Despite the smallness of the colony’s capital, Tera´n recorded its latitude in the marginal notes of the Galli printed map he carried with him— 29�30�23�—and also placed the location of ‘‘Gonzalez’’ on the map itself. 24. ‘‘Trifoliund’’ could be Trifolium with a fancy tail on the ‘‘m.’’ Trifolium is a botanical name applied to a type of clover—sc&lm. It was probably added in the copying process, as Ms. S-314 does not carry this reference. 25. ‘‘Yedra’’ is Toxicodendron radicans (Rhus toxicodendron), poison ivy. ‘‘Ortiga’’ is Spanish for Urtica (stinging nettle, several species in Texas and very similar ones in Europe). ‘‘Ortiguilla’’ probably indicates a diminutive form of ortiga, which could be Tragia (noseburn). Cnidoscolus texana (bull nettle, mala mujer) also has stinging hairs, but is a much larger and more robust plant— sc&lm. 26. Modern Peach Creek was first named Tejocotes; see Austin’s 1829 map drawn for the president of Mexico, which also shows the Old Gonzales Road and its link to San Felipe. At the same time, however, Clopper (‘‘J. C. Clopper’s Journal,’’ 66) referred to it as Peach Creek. See also Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 306– 308; Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 267–268. 27. The storm at the San Miguel campsite is described in Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 254, and Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 279–280. 28. Not so. Peach Creek is a relatively short branch of the Guadalupe River and was crossed by Tera´n’s party going due east from Gonzales toward modern-day Columbus. Standley says that ‘‘tejocotes’’ in some regions of Mexico applies to Crataegus crus-galli. The name has also been applied by others to the sloe, which is referred to in Hortus as the fruit of Prunus alleghaniensis and P. americanus. The name Tejocote Creek, then, could derive from the fruits of either the hawthorn or the wild plum, both of which are very common in this area— sc&lm. 29. In his diary Tera´n uses the Spanish word harnes (more properly, arne´s) to refer to horse gear as well as to a wide range of Indian clothing, camp equipment, and lodge furnishings. Here his keen eye noticed that the English-derived hornless saddles used by Americans were not as suited to working cattle as were the vaqueros’ horned rigs, nor were the Anglos’ whips as effective as the vaqueros’ lassos in dealing with runaways on the trail. 30. This paragraph was overlooked by the copyist and placed at the end of Tera´n’s entry for the 21st; we have moved it to its proper day, as in Ms. S-314. 31. Many notations were made on the margins of Tera´n’s Galli map to correct the flow of rivers shown thereon; sometimes he changed these features in ink. For a translation of the map’s notes, see McLean, ed., Papers Concerning Robertson’s Colony II: 458– 464. The site of the Spanish post at San Marcos has recently been located,

notes to pages 49 – 50

215

as set forth in Nancy Kenmotsu, Sergio Iruegas, Mark Denton, and Timothy K. Perttula, Searching for San Marcos de Neve: An Archaeological Reconnaissance in Hays and Caldwell Counties, Texas. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 341) passed near the site on his return to San Antonio and noted that ‘‘not even a trace can be found now.’’ 32. They are in the hilly section of Gonzales County near the Lavaca County line. Locals still call one prominence ‘‘Big Hill’’ and enjoy the sweeping vistas for miles around. See Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 268, and Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 309, the latter of which mentions soldiers lassoing wild turkeys on the march. 33. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 308) describes in detail the symptoms of close exposure to poison ivy in this same area. Thus, Tera´n’s reference seemingly is to the vines that infested trees where travelers sought shade. On occasion, poison ivy can completely choke off and kill a healthy host tree and use the tree’s skeleton as a support to allow the vine to proliferate into a ‘‘tree’’ itself—sc&lm. Andre´ Michaux (1746–1802) was a French botanist sent by his government to North America in 1785. His residence of over a decade allowed him to compile information for two important books: Histoire des cheˆnes de l’Ame´rique septentrionale (Paris, 1801) and Flora boreali-americana (2 vols.; Paris, 1803). Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 277) states that they were using the latter publication for their references to Texas plants. More information is needed to identify the grass visquillo (spelled ‘‘triguillo’’ in Ms. S-314). 34. This may or may not be walnut ( Juglans nigra), as it is uncertain here whether Tera´n knew how to distinguish between Juglans and Carya illinoinensis. After using nueces (nut) and nogal (walnut) to describe pecan trees, Tera´n later called them pacana in an effort to be more specific. 35. The Lavaca crossing is in Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 309, and Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 268. This ford, also the junction of the La Bahı´a Road to Nacogdoches, was deserted when Tera´n came through, but Williamson Daniels shortly thereafter settled on it; Almonte’s 1834 itinerary notes Daniels’s presence on the Lavaca. Returning from San Antonio in October, Clopper (‘‘J. C. Clopper’s Journal,’’ 77) possibly referred to Daniels’s occupation of the crossing: ‘‘[We] reach that branch of the La Vaca which forms the dividing line of Austin’s and De Witt’s Colonies—find a house erecting [and] pitch our camps for the night.’’ On his trip down to Be´xar, Clopper (65– 66) raved about the natural beauty of the surrounding area, near present-day Moulton. 36. Several species of ‘‘oak’’ occur in the area and are possible candidates for the wagon wheel repair job, including Quercus fusiformis, Q. virginiana, Q. stellata, and Q. macrocarpa — sc&lm. 37. The word ‘‘esculus’’ is lacking in Ms. S-314. This reference is probably to Aesculus pavia, the common, or red, buckeye— sc&lm. 38. Tera´n’s party is negotiating the headwater tributaries of the Navidad in the area where Lavaca, Fayette, and Colorado Counties meet—just below Schulenburg. It is difficult to match El Metate and Cedros with the maze of feeder streams in the region, as neither place name has survived on modern maps like USGS Seguin,

216 notes to pages 51 – 53 NH 14-9 (1 : 250,000, the scale of all USGS maps cited). See Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 310; Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 268. 39. We can give only a long-shot interpretation of ‘‘poligamia necesaria.’’ The term ‘‘poligamia’’ can refer to a class of plants as designated by Linnaeus. It may also be a misspelling of a name referring to plants of the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae. If that is the case, the plant could be Eriogonum multiflorum, a species of buckwheat which grows in the same plant community as Erythrina herbacea (coral bean, colorı´n). E. herbacea is found in Texas in the sandy woods of the coastal plain and inland to Travis, Bastrop, Gonzales, and Washington Counties, east through the coastal states to North Carolina and Vermont, and south inland to San Luis Potosı´. It is also cultivated outside its native range. In Louisiana it is called ‘‘mamou bean,’’ or ‘‘big mamou’’ — sc&lm. 40. Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 269; Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 310 –311. The latter describes the afternoon visit that he, Batres, and Chovell made to the nearby Tonkawa camp. 41. It is possible that the reference to te´ del indio is the renowned ‘‘black drink’’ (Ilex vomitoria, yaupon) often used regionally by Native Americans of the time for its very high caffeine content. The description of the drink, however, does not give sufficient detail for a confirmation. Yaupon is one of the commonest understory plants in the region described here—sc&lm. It is identified as Ilex vomitoria Ait., or yaupon, in the Mullers’ annotation of Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 311). 42. Compare with the detailed accounts of the Tonkawa camp by Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 269, and Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 311–313; also Berlandier’s Indians, 146–147, heavily drawn from this encounter and the negative impressions received. Plate 5 shows two ‘‘Tancahues’’ males and a female with a tattooed torso and is based on a sketch by Sa´nchez. 43. Two ‘‘bits,’’ or a quarter of a peso (a peso at the time was roughly equivalent to a dollar). 44. Tera´n’s party was at the house of Benjamin Beeson and his wife, Elizabeth (maiden name unknown). The daughter was likely Nepsey, born around 1811. Beeson (sometimes spelled Beason) was one of the earliest settlers of Colorado County, obtaining a league of land on the west side of the Colorado just south of presentday Columbus on August 7, 1824. His home was located near the southern perimeter of his league at a crossing frequently used by travelers between 1825 and 1835. Here Beeson, his wife (Tera´n’s ‘‘Madame’’), and six children, helped by a hired hand and seven slaves, grew relatively prosperous. Besides maintaining a ferry for travelers, the Beesons ran what amounted to an inn at their house. Our thanks to Bill Stein for sharing his research on this family; see also his articles in the Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, especially vol. 2, no. 2: 79–81, and vol. 6, no. 1: 5– 6, 10, 48 (map of the three crossings near Columbus). 45. Ms. S-314, p. 19, has ‘‘Weedson,’’ not ‘‘Weln.’’ This is clearly Tera´n’s phonetic rendering of Beeson, despite the fact that Sa´nchez (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 270) identified the owner of the house as ‘‘Mr. Wis’’—which would suggest William B.

notes to pages 53 – 56

217

Dewees. Although the latter settled on the Colorado where Columbus now stands and married Beeson’s daughter Lydia, Bill Stein’s research satisfies us that neither event had taken place at the time Tera´n visited. Dewees’s Letters from an Early Settler of Texas establishes that he was a single resident of San Antonio in 1828; see especially pp. 71, 112, 118–119. 46. ‘‘Tobacco’’ here probably refers to the cultivated Nicotiana tabacum rather than to any of the wild species found in Texas—sc&lm. 47. On the prohibition against the raising of tobacco and the government’s monopoly on its sale, which dated from the colonial era, see Decree No. 15, enacted February 19, 1825; on the smuggling of tobacco, see Decree No. 28, enacted November 2, 1827—both in Gammel, Laws of Texas I: 14–15, 194–195. Chapter 8 of Susan Deans-Smith, Bureaucrats, Planters, and Workers: The Making of the Tobacco Monopoly in Bourbon Mexico, provides information on this monopoly during the 1820s. 48. At San Felipe de Austin, Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 319) expressed similar views on the government’s tobacco monopoly; on p. 392 the smuggling of tobacco from the United States to avoid this monopoly is noted. 49. Here is confirmation that the name left blank and ‘‘Mr. Weln’’ should be Weedson, or Beeson. The stopover on the Colorado is in Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 270, and Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 314–315. The latter repeats the story of the family’s capture by Wacos, but no other record of such an incident exists to confirm it. See also Clopper (‘‘J. C. Clopper’s Journal,’’ 64), who reported ‘‘a large company of Tonkaway Indians at Beeson’s, a friendly small tribe’’—possibly the same band that Tera´n’s party visited west of the river. 50. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 315) described the Colorado in some detail. Many of the notations on the margins of the Galli map involve needed corrections to the Colorado. Example: ‘‘The Colorado River empties into Matagorda Bay’’; it doesn’t on the map. 51. Here again is firm evidence that Tera´n brought the sole surviving imprint of the 1826 Galli map with him to Texas, for it has the note: ‘‘The creek bearing the name of Austin is simply called San Bernardo. Across its headwaters passes the Lower Road [to Nacogdoches].’’ On the Galli map this stream is labeled ‘‘R. Austin.’’ Although there is no conclusive documentation available, Fiorenzo or Florencio Galli’s map (lithographed by fellow Italian Claudio Linati) was probably copied from the manuscript map of Texas that British charge´ d’affaires H. G. Ward presented to President Victoria in November 1825. It showed ‘‘all the American settlements,’’ and along with it went a detailed report meant to stir the Mexican president to action regarding the rapid American takeover of Texas. This map, which was then given to Tera´n, was no doubt based on the model that Stephen F. Austin circulated at the capital in 1822–1823 to further his colonization scheme (Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 48). We reproduce the Galli map (but not its marginal notes) as Figure 7. 52. Samuel May Williams, as mentioned by Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 270 –271. 53. Another translation is given in Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 61– 64, uncited but

218 notes to pages 56 – 59 presumably the Tera´n ‘‘Diario’’ at Yale University, Ms. S-314. It was available to Morton on the microfilm reel obtained from Yale by the University of Texas in 1938, while our document (Ms. S-313) was not. The stay at San Felipe de Austin is described by Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 270 –272, and Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 316–322. For another view of the settlement at this time, by a resident, see Noah Smithwick, The Evolution of a State, or Recollections of Old Texas Days, 39– 60. 54. An arroba was 25 pounds, hence, each bale weighed 400 pounds. See Berlandier’s remarks on the colony’s cotton production ( Journey to Mexico, 319). 55. The Spanish is verano (summer); a farmer Tera´n obviously wasn’t. 56. Spelled ‘‘Huagin’’ in Ms. S-314, Tera´n’s phonetic approximation of wagon. Vehicles in his expedition were of three types: a carro (instrument wagon); a carruaje (baggage/supply wagon); and a coche (Tera´n’s coach), collectively referred to as los carruajes. For Clopper’s description of the general’s elaborate coach, see n75 below. 57. The burning issue of slavery at this time is discussed in Barker, Life of Stephen F. Austin, 129, 201–218; Tijerina, Tejanos and Texas, 115–116; Randolph B. Campbell, An Empire for Slavery: The Peculiar Institution in Texas, Chapter One. 58. The question of Texas ports is noted in Benson, ‘‘Texas as Viewed from Mexico,’’ 246–248, 251, 259; Jesu´s F. de la Teja and John Wheat, ‘‘Be´xar: Profile of a Tejano Community, 1820 –1832,’’ SWHQ LXXXIX ( July 1985): 30 –33. 59. Land Commissioner Gaspar Flores (captain of the national militia at Be´xar) arrived in Austin’s colony in March 1828 and had finished issuing titles by May (Barker, ed., Austin Papers II: 26–27). Evidently he was still in San Felipe and bent Tera´n’s ear about the problems of collecting his fees. For the laws regulating land fees, see Barker, Life of Stephen F. Austin, 121, 132–133, 136, 138–139. 60. On the San Felipe ayuntamiento, see Barker, Life of Stephen F. Austin, 184–187. 61. Morton’s translation (cited in n53 above) gives this figure as 4,000, but both Mss. S-313 and S-314 show 40 and the symbol for a thousand. A fanega was equivalent to slightly more than 1.6 bushels, for an annual crop of 64,000 bushels of corn—according to these figures. 62. One of the many possibilities for the grass thatching described here is Andropogon gerardi (big bluestem), a wide-ranging species that has had some use as a source of roofing straw— sc&lm. 63. A note in the text says: ‘‘Doubtless he meant to say 70 varas square, which is 4,900 square varas, because the acre is. . . .’’ This note indicates that the copyist felt obliged to correct Tera´n in places. Tera´n’s ‘‘Diario’’ (Ms. S-314) does not have this note, or the conversions of temperature sometimes added to our document Ms. S-313. See n154 below on the number of square varas to an acre, which the copyist left blank in his ‘‘correction.’’ 64. Compare with Sa´nchez’s description of the Wacos and Tawakonis (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 265–266), given at San Antonio and with Berlandier’s in Indians (125–126, 143–144, and Plate 13), as well as the latter’s general remarks about them. See also Tera´n’s Noticia (131–133) and his notes on the Galli map concerning their location

notes to pages 59 – 61

219

on the Brazos, as translated by McLean (Papers Concerning Robertson’s Colony II: 463). Tera´n’s source for his information (‘‘the American who saw them’’) is uncertain, possibly one of the settlers who had recently visited their villages in an attempt to obtain a peace treaty. In Ms. S-314 both this section and the one following on the Cherokees are set off with headings on the left margin of the page. 65. The Cherokee 86-character syllabary invented by Sequoyah (also known as George Guess or Gist) about 1821 spread quickly among his people. These unusual characters, rather resembling early cattle brands, were set in type, and the first issue of the Cherokee-English Cherokee Phoenix was printed February 21, 1828, at New Echota, Georgia. Many more publications followed, including a primer, a hymnal, the Cherokee constitution, and eventually the Bible translated into Cherokee (Marion L. Starkey, The Cherokee Nation, 83– 99). At the time Tera´n was in Texas, Sequoyah was in Washington, D.C., with a delegation of Cherokees from Arkansas. He had his portrait painted by Charles Bird King and signed a treaty with the John Quincy Adams administration whereby the western Cherokees agreed to leave Arkansas in exchange for lands in Indian Territory, now the state of Oklahoma (Grant Foreman, Indians & Pioneers: The Story of the American Southwest before 1830, 223–231). 66. These excessive transportation costs were part of the reason why Texans obtained their goods from the United States, whether they had to be smuggled in as prohibited merchandise or not. The carga, or measure of weight seemingly intended here, differed according to the type of mule load being transported and its relative bulk. A carga of corn was about 304 pounds; tobacco or cotton, 203 pounds; wheat or flour, 330 pounds. See Thomas C. Barnes, Thomas H. Naylor, and Charles W. Polzer, Northern New Spain: A Research Guide, 73–74. 67. Today’s Irons and Bessies Creeks (formerly called Spring and Haddy’s Creeks), which lay on the opposite bank of the Brazos from old San Felipe, would indeed have formed a morass for early travelers in the rainy season as Tera´n’s diary reveals. See the 1838 Austin County map in Frantz and Cox, Lure of the Land, 179. 68. This conversion to Mexican feet does not appear in Ms. S-314. A pie was right at eleven inches. Although Tera´n sometimes used the terms chala´n and canoa interchangeably, here it is clear that his chala´n is a flatboat or large raft, not a dugout canoe. 69. The storm that prompted Tera´n’s remarks on Texas weather is described in more immediate terms by Sa´nchez (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 272), who thanked the Almighty that he came out of it unharmed. 70. Tera´n became fixated on the Bidais’ claim of being the most ancient tribe in Texas; he mentions it several times in his diary. Berlandier repeats it in Indians (105–106), saying that they were ‘‘undoubtedly the oldest of the native peoples of Texas.’’ He does not repeat Tera´n’s mistaken idea that the Karankawas had only recently come over from Louisiana (146–149), but see p. 106, where this information is attributed to the ‘‘ancestral tradition’’ of the Bidais.

220 notes to page 61 71. This is one of Tera´n’s first diary references to the problem of unauthorized immigration by displaced tribes from the United States. Perhaps Tera´n was influenced by Austin’s views on the subject, for Austin emphasized this influx of Indians—and the threat it posed to ‘‘the precious jewel’’ of Texas within the Mexican federation—in the notes (Barker, ed., Austin Papers II: 236–240) he sent the next year to the president of Mexico with his latest map of Texas: ‘‘But in spite of this [population increase since 1821], Texas and the boundary of the bordering states is more exposed to the Indians today than ever. There has been a great emigration, over [the past] two years, of the Kicapu[s,] (Sabano) Shawnee[s,] Delues [Delawares], Quapas [Quapaws], and others from the north, and it is to be fundamentally feared that the majority of the millions of savages that the policy of the government of the north [the United States] is forcing into the unsettled areas of Arkansas will cross over to Texas, invited by its lands, waters, and climate which are so much preferable to the dry and sterile plains of Arkansas. . . . The migration of Eastern Indians west of the Mississippi is not supposed nor theoretical; it is definite. Of this anyone may satisfy himself upon examining the official acts of the government of the north, published in the Gazettes; and the coming autumn [of 1829] will see the borders of Texas covered with them. . . . The declared policy of the [U.S.] government is to move all the Eastern Indians to the west of the Mississippi, from Michigan to the Gulf of Mexico. The Kicapu are from the margins of Lake Michigan in the northern part of the state of Illinois. The Sabano (Shawnee) are from Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. The Chactas [Choctaws] and Chicosas [Chickasaws] are from the state of Mississippi. The Moscogues [Muskogees], including the tribes of Creeks and Seminoles, are from Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. The idea that they can be contained [within their western reserves] is an illusion, or [that they can be] made useful citizens, in the case of their incursion within Mexican territory, nor is it to be hoped that they will remain quiet in their new homes; and if they enter Texas in their present state, the country will be lost to civilization for centuries and its inhabitants given up to the knife.’’ These are fairly strong anti-Indian sentiments from Austin and reveal an aspect of his personality that has received little attention— except from Richard Drinnon in White Savage: The Case of John Dunn Hunter, 212–216, 225–226. Austin (as well as empresario Burnet) had sent alarming reports to the government on this migration in 1827, enumerating the tribes involved; see Barker, ed., Austin Papers I, part 2: 1667–1671, 1721–1722. Empresario Frost Thorn complained to Austin on July 22, 1828, that his grant was ‘‘at this time totally occupied by the Indians,’’ but unlike the other empresarios he felt that ‘‘it would improve their condition to Colonise them’’ (ibid. II: 74–75). No fewer than fifteen tribal locations in east Texas are set forth on Austin’s 1829 manuscript ‘‘Mapa original de Texas,’’ whereas only four appeared when the map was printed at Philadelphia in 1830. Thus, it would seem that Austin wanted Mexico to worry about these Indians while he downplayed their presence to prospective white colonists from the United States. His 1822 map shows only eight tribes in the same region, but there can be little doubt that their

notes to pages 61 – 62

221

numbers were increasing at the end of the decade, as Indian removal became the U.S. government’s official policy. 72. No record of this militia outing appears in Barker, ed., Austin Papers, but the colony’s policy toward the Karankawas was hostile from the beginning, and vice versa. During Austin’s initial reconnaissance of the lower Colorado River he encountered some Cocos and recognized them as little different from the Karankawas, whom he thought would have to be exterminated before ports on the coast could be developed (Eugene C. Barker, ed., ‘‘Journal of Stephen F. Austin on His First Trip to Texas, 1821,’’ QTSHA VII [April 1904]: 305). Trouble with the Karankawas continued, and even though Austin signed a treaty with them in 1824, depredations of one sort or another necessitated more campaigns against them. After a crushing defeat by the colonists and troops under Gen. Anastasio Bustamante, the surviving Karankawas sought shelter with the priests at La Bahı´a. On May 27, 1827, a peace treaty was signed, fixing the Karankawas’ eastern limit as the Lavaca River. See Barker, Life of Stephen F. Austin, 142, 145–146; W. W. Newcomb, Jr., The Indians of Texas, 341. Any infraction of the recent treaty brought instant reprisals against the remnants of this fierce coastal tribe. 73. ‘‘Black cottonwoods [a´lamos negros]’’ is probably a reference to Populus nigra, a native of Europe and Asia which spreads easily from seeds and shoots; Lombardy poplar is sterile, a horticultural form. If it was actually P. nigra and not the native P. deltoides (eastern cottonwood, a´lamo), then it was introduced to North America by European colonists. In the Spanish text the word used is ‘‘sauces,’’ a vernacular name for P. nigra, where sauz is the term given for Salix (willow). Although the spelling in both Mss. S-313 and S-314 appears to be pla´tanos (bananas), reference is likely to Platanus occidentalis (common sycamore). ‘‘[Plant] that bears samara’’ probably refers either to the two-winged fruits (samaras) of the genus Acer (maples, including A. negundo, the box elder) or the one-winged fruits of Fraxinus (ash) — sc&lm. 74. Unlike Tera´n, Sa´nchez found the ‘‘confusing singsong not in the least pleasant’’ and claimed that the Negroes were drunk (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 272). Berlandier ( Journey to Texas, 322) also commented on their ‘‘expressive song,’’ remarkable for its ‘‘rusticity, accompanied by expressive gestures.’’ 75. Somewhere in this ‘‘mire,’’ J. C. Clopper met several members of Tera´n’s party and wrote an interesting description of the latter’s personal coach (‘‘J. C. Clopper’s Journal,’’ 60 – 61): ‘‘This Genl.’s escort consisted of 35 soldiers and a number of attendant mechanics and servants, also a botanist and astronomer. They were several weeks at Sanfelipe. The Genl.’s coach was a remarkably curious construction, after the fashion of the capital city, [but] what that fashion is or was can not be understood without a view of the indescribable machine. Suffice it to say that the long vista which discovers to the mind’s eye the gradual advancement of civilization, arts, and sciences show’d me the unseemly vehicle standing in its proper place: a splendid specimen of the ingenuity and cunning workmanship of man when the last shades of the dark ages were vanishing from before the dawning of the

222 notes to pages 62 – 65 intellectual world. It was of a prodigious size, two or three feet wider than ours— constructed of huge pieces of timber much carved, inlaid, and plated with silver. The hinder wheels [were] larger than those of Cin[cinnati] and those before little superior to that of a wheel-barrow.’’ Less elaborate examples of early-nineteenthcentury carriages are on display at the Guadalajara Museum, and the front wheels are as Clopper described. Though Clopper could not resist expressing his culture’s technological bias, even Tera´n noted the superior construction of wagons used by the settlers at San Felipe, compared to the Mexican carts seen and described by Berlandier at Be´xar. 76. Both Sa´nchez and Berlandier noted the plague of mosquitoes at this spot near the Brazos. 77. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 323) said that Tera´n took a reading of latitude ‘‘to remind us of this bayou,’’ which they named Arroyo Hondo, or ‘‘Deep Creek.’’ They headed up the east (left) bank of the Brazos until they reached the road that ran between La Bahı´a and Nacogdoches. This route appears on Austin’s 1830 printed map but is not seen on the large manuscript ‘‘Connected Map’’ of Austin’s colony, completed after his death, now housed at the GLO. 78. On Jared Ellison Groce (1782–1839), see Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 3: 348– 349. He built his Bernardo plantation on the east bank of the Brazos four miles south of present-day Hempstead, having received a grant of ten leagues of land on July 29, 1824. Groce’s ferry or ‘‘landing’’ was operated by his son Leonard at the Madelina (Magdalena), or Coushatta, crossing of the Brazos. Sa´nchez and Chovell were sent on the 12th to obtain supplies from Groce’s plantation; their amusing account of the attempt is found in Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 273–274. 79. Reference is to Alexander von Humboldt’s Relation historique du voyage aux regions equinoxiales du nouveau continent . . . , first published at Paris in 1809. It was translated into English and published in seven volumes at London between 1814 and 1829 as Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent during the Years 1799–1804. 80. Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 274; Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 324. Unfortunately, none of the three accounts contains the coordinates determined from Tera´n’s observations; see, however, the miscellaneous materials in the Berlandier collection at Yale University, especially Ms. S-311. Austin had asked for these observations to correct his in-progress map of Texas, and Tera´n forwarded readings to him from various points; for example, see Barker, ed., Austin Papers II: 37, 40, 42, 51–54, 181–182. 81. Possibly where Groce’s Retreat was later built. See Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 3: 34, for this site in present-day Grimes County. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 325) also noted the location, saying that the Negroes’ dwellings were nearby, but he mistakenly placed it east of the road. See also Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 275. 82. If Tera´n considered 82� excessive, one can only assume that humidity was a factor— coupled with their laborious passage, scanty food, and poor health.

notes to pages 65 – 68

223

83. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 325) said that a fearsome storm flooded the camp and they went to bed supperless. 84. Berlandier (ibid., 325) and Sa´nchez (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 275) both commented on this difficult stretch of road. 85. Although all three diarists called him Nolland or Noland, this was the dwelling of one of the Hollands—Francis, James, and/or William; see Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 3: 661, 664– 665. Francis Holland settled in present-day Grimes County in 1822 after buying Andrew Millican’s land. His brother William was one of Austin’s Old Three Hundred and secured his grant in 1824. Their grants, plus that of James, were located together near Anderson on what is now Holland Creek, a tributary of the Navasota River. Tera´n wrote Austin from this house on May 17, the day they arrived (Barker, ed., Austin Papers II: 40). 86. We have not located sources to help identify this plant, spelled ‘‘Hoitsia’’ in Ms. S-314. 87. The following paragraph has been moved here from the entry of February 1, 1829, where it is found in Ms. S-313 as an addition. 88. Washington-on-the-Brazos was not laid out until 1833, but Andrew Robinson settled there a decade earlier; it was a mile southwest of the junction of the Brazos and Navasota Rivers, where the La Bahı´a Road crossed (Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 6: 833). From there most travelers to Nacogdoches (including Tera´n) took the northeastern shortcut to the Trinity, rather than continuing northward to the ‘‘Old San Antonio Road’’ and turning right. Both options are shown on Austin’s 1830 map; they meet at the same crossing of the Trinity. 89. On this 1826 smallpox epidemic at Santa Rosa, Coahuila, see the James Hewetson letters cited in Ada´n Benavides, Jr., comp., The Be´xar Archives (1717– 1836): A Name Guide, 502. Blanco was an interim governor and then was elected vice-governor of Coahuila y Texas in 1826. He also supplied Austin with several sketch maps of Coahuila, which are now in the Austin Papers at CAH. 90. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 326) stated that Tera´n on this occasion determined latitude by the meridian height of Spica and longitude by the transit of the first satellite of Jupiter. Once they fixed the position of their camp, it was necessary to name it: Campo de los Enfermos (Camp of the Sick). 91. The reference to ‘‘elm’’ here may be Ulmus americana (American elm). While U. crassifolia has sufficiently large trunks and limbs for building purposes, it is lower in quality than U. americana and is now used only as a last resort. ‘‘Quercus’’ is the genus name for oak. They are traveling in the post oak belt, in which Q. stellata (post oak) is the most common oak. We presume the term ‘‘conifers’’ is a reference to coniferous (cone-bearing) plants in the region, including Pinus, Taxodium, and Juniperus. Asclepias viridis is the most common milkweed in this area, but it is not particularly attractive. A. tuberosa, however, is dramatically beautiful (orange flowers) and blooms at this time, but it is not common in this area. ‘‘Mimosa postrata’’ (‘‘postrata’’ is probably a misspelling of ‘‘prostrata’’): there are two pros-

224 notes to pages 68 – 71 trate genera of ‘‘mimosalike plants’’ that grow in the area. Schrankia has pink flowers; Neptunia has yellow flowers. The leaflets and leaves of both fold rapidly when touched— sc&lm. 92. This ‘‘deep’’ arroyo was called the Jaranames by both Sa´nchez and Berlandier. It appears on Austin’s 1829 and 1830 maps as a tributary of the Navasota River but had disappeared as a place name by the time of DeCordova’s 1849 Map of the State of Texas. It was either Rocky or Gibbons Creek, both tributaries of the Navasota above Holland Creek. The La Bahı´a Road is shown crossing upper Gibbons Creek on the 1881 map of Grimes County (reproduced in Frantz and Cox, Lure of the Land, 91). Evidently, the creek was named for the apostate Aranama Indians, who fled from the La Bahı´a missions to the area along this stream and pilfered horses from travelers in the eighteenth century, for example, the Rubı´ expedition. 93. ‘‘Oak,’’ again, is presumably a species of the genus Quercus. Juniperus virginiana (Virginia juniper, eastern red cedar) appears in this area and is probably what Tera´n meant by ‘‘cedar.’’ There are also ‘‘cypress’’ (Taxodium distichum, bald cypress, southern cypress) trees along the waterways of this region— sc&lm. 94. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 327) also commented on this petrified wood, adding remarks about its phosphorescent qualities. 95. The date and departure time for this entry are lacking in S-313; we have added them from Ms. S-314. 96. On the 23rd Berlandier was still so feeble that he could not write; he later quoted Tera´n’s diary as his own entry for this date ( Journey to Mexico, 327–328). The six streams crossed with such hard work were those forming the headwaters of the San Jacinto River in Walker County and quite possibly some of the numerous feeder streams, such as ‘‘Bedias’’ (Bidais) Creek, of the Trinity River just northwest of Huntsville. These streams all originate in Madison County, and an 1858 map found at the GLO shows the entire course of the La Bahı´a Road across Madison County, ending at Robbins Ferry on the Trinity; see Frantz and Cox, Lure of the Land, 98, and USGS Beaumont, NH 14-4. 97. A long shot for the pasturage of ‘‘a very fuzzy type’’ would be Andropogon glomeratus (bushy beard grass), a common grass that has ‘‘fuzzy’’ heads— sc&lm. 98. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 328) wrote that Batres and Chovell went ahead to the Trinity, because provisions were exhausted. 99. In Ms. S-313 there is a parenthetical query, asking if the man was ‘‘of the ranch already mentioned, or of the Mohawk family?’’ It seems that the latter individual was Tera´n’s informant, but the copyist was unsure. 100. The ordeal at the Trinity is described in Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 328–330) and Sa´nchez (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 277–279). As previously noted, most maps from the 1820s and 1830s show the La Bahı´a Road and the latest variant of the Camino Real (Old San Antonio Road) meeting at the Trinity River to form a single road toward Nacogdoches; examples are Austin’s 1829 map for the president of Mexico and his 1830 printed map. Even more convincing is the plat map made by surveyor Jose´ Marı´a Carvajal in 1831, which shows the junction of the roads on

notes to page 71

225

the boundary of the Robbins survey just below the Trinity at the place called ‘‘Loma del Toro’’ (in the National Archives, RG 76, box 27, brought to our attention by Galen Greaser). A plat map for the Robbins tract based on an 1830 survey also shows the two roads meeting here and proceeding to the river crossing (GLO, box 104, folder 10). When Robbins perfected his title in 1834, this spot was called ‘‘Boat Landing’’ (GLO, Field Notes Book WR3, p. 6); it is now where State Hwy. 21 crosses the Trinity. The Camino Real crossing of the Trinity River has recently been addressed by James E. Corbin, ‘‘Retracing the Camino de los Tejas from the Trinity River to los Adaes,’’ in A. Joachim McGraw, John W. Clark, Jr., and Elizabeth A. Robbins, eds., A Texas Legacy. The Old San Antonio Road and the Caminos Reales: A Tricentennial History, 1691–1991, 191–219. Although Corbin argues in this chapter that the original Camino Real crossed the Trinity about where Hwy. 7 runs, well above what became the Old San Antonio Road along State Hwy. 21, by Tera´n’s time both the crossing and the road were established at the latter place (Corbin, comments and notes on this section of Tera´n’s diary, personal communication, October 17, 1997). It was called Robbins Ferry after Nathaniel Robbins acquired the ferry and adjoining land in the 1830s (Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 5 : 605– 606). But the history of the crossing dates earlier, certainly to the operation of the post of Trinidad de Salcedo between 1806 and 1813 at some still-undetermined spot on the east side several miles away. Also, it is thought by some that Joel Leakey (sometimes spelled Lakey or Laky) operated a ferry at Paso Toma´s on the Trinity River on the Old San Antonio Road by 1821 (Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 4 : 132; 5: 606). This may be too early for him, as Leakey had been living in the Neutral Ground until 1825, thereafter appearing with his family on the 1826 census for Austin’s colony. Even so, a Mexican named Ignacio ‘‘Sartucho’’ (Zertuche) claimed that he had resided on the west bank of the Trinity, with rights to operate the ferry, from 1822. When empresario Haden Edwards sold a league of land, half on either side of the crossing, to Nathaniel Trammell on November 26, 1825, the sale prompted a protest from Zertuche early in 1826. His claim of prior occupancy as a native Mexican became a political football in the ensuing controversy over how the Edwards brothers were running their colony. The disagreement degenerated by year’s end into the brief Fredonian Rebellion. On February 15, 1826, political chief Jose´ Antonio Saucedo upheld Zertuche’s claim and ordered the alcalde of Nacogdoches to put him in possession of the Trinity crossing. Alcalde Samuel Norris (of the ‘‘old settler’’ faction) on September 29 ordered young Trammell and his father, Nicholas, to quit the Zertuche plantation within two weeks and threatened to send the militia to evict them at their own expense. The elder Trammell was considered a troublemaker and a newcomer by the anti-Edwards faction, even though he had blazed a trace bearing his name from the Great Bend of the Red River to Nacogdoches a decade earlier. Evidently, Trammell did not leave, and Norris marched to the crossing on October 24 with Capt. Jose´ Antonio Sepu´lveda and ten militiamen to arrest him.

226 notes to page 71 Finding that Trammell had fled to Pecan Point with two other ‘‘bad men,’’ Norris proceeded to place Zertuche in possession. At the same time Zertuche granted to Juan Tovar the field that the foreigner Trammell had sowed, and he relinquished to Tovar the ferryboat for three years but retained a third of the fees. When the Edwards faction overthrew Norris in November, Frost Thorn (who was married to one of Haden Edwards’s daughters) testified that the Trammells had supplied Zertuche with provisions and permitted him to remain in his old residence. Nonetheless, they were driven off, and ‘‘Judge’’ James Tate (who had provided the Trammells a character reference for the land purchase) thereafter took their part— or rather his own. He and Zertuche went before the alcalde on March 13, 1827, and agreed on their respective boundaries at the crossing. Thus, the ferry landing subsequently named for Nathaniel Robbins was in the possession of James Tate and Ignacio Zertuche by the time Tera´n reached the Trinity River at the end of May a year later. Because Nathaniel Trammell late in 1828 signed over to Tate his rights received from Haden Edwards, Tate may have been the head of the family noted by Sa´nchez as being there less than two years and as having ‘‘established themselves without permission from the authorities.’’ But Nathaniel Robbins also claimed that his residence on the Trinity at the crossing dated from 1828 (GLO, box 104, folder 10), so he may have been the North American mentioned. How Leakey fits into this puzzle is yet to be determined. Supporting documentation will be found in Robert B. Blake, Transcripts, vols. 11 and 61, and Barker, ed., Austin Papers II, some of it duplicated in Zertuche’s incomplete title record at GLO, box 114, folder 9. 101. That is, the Old San Antonio Road. A recent (1991) attempt at defining this road, or ‘‘corridor’’ of roads, is McGraw, Clark, and Robbins, eds., A Texas Legacy. The National Park Service, however, has been working on a broader study of the caminos reales in Texas, and a report is now available: El Camino Real de los Tejas: National Historic Trail Feasibility Study and Environmental Assessment, released in two versions by the NPS, United States Department of the Interior, in April and July 1998. Berlandier’s interesting account of the return to San Antonio over this ‘‘upper’’ route is found in his diary ( Journey to Mexico, 331–342). Austin’s 1829 map labels it the ‘‘Camino Arriba.’’ 102. ‘‘Nogales’’ usually refers to Juglans species (walnuts); however, ‘‘pacana’’ is one of the common names for pecan, Carya illinoinensis — sc&lm. 103. According to Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 279, and confirmed by Tera´n on May 31, this Mexican ranch was owned by a Sen˜or Galindo, not home at the time, but they nonetheless were ‘‘well received’’ in his absence by Gaspar Flores’s sister. Nacogdoches records indicate the ranch owner to be Andre´s Galindo, born ca. 1794 and married to Concepcio´n Carmona. He appears on the 1828 Nacogdoches census and filed a claim in the 1824 Neutral Ground land hearings for Bayou Secie lands settled in 1817 (Carolyn Reeves Ericson, comp., Nacogdoches—Gateway to Texas: A Biographical Dictionary, 1773–1849 I: 5). 104. They continued to Nacogdoches with only the ‘‘most essential baggage’’ and an eight-man escort. The instruments carried are listed in the Guerra transcripts

notes to pages 72 – 73

227

at CAH, box 2Q171, vol. 327, p. 48, at the beginning of a duplicate of Tera´n’s diary of the trip from the Trinity River to Nacogdoches with ‘‘needed corrections.’’ These changes were few and will be noted herein. Seemingly, this fragment is the only portion of Tera´n’s diary that made its way into the Mexican archives; it is included in Molina, ed., Cro´nica de Tejas, 119–128. 105. Sa´nchez (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 279–280) provided details of Tera´n’s council with representatives of several of the tribes native to east Texas: ‘‘In the afternoon three chiefs of the Ais, Tejas, and Nadacos came to see him. All of them expressed great vexation at the admission into this territory of tribes coming from the North, and stated that if they had more men in their tribes, they would . . . declare war upon them, so great is the jealousy they feel towards the newcomers.’’ Evidently, the Ais and Tejas chiefs were visiting a village of 29 Nadaco (Anadarko) families not far from Galindo’s house. Austin’s 1829 map locates these tribes on the Neches and Angelina Rivers above the road to Nacogdoches, but they no doubt ranged widely between these streams and the Trinity. 106. The genus Rudbeckia, a member of the Compositae (composite family), has prominent cone-shaped disks. Possible candidates are R. maxima, R. nitida var. texana, and R. filgida var. palustris. R. maxima has large heads, grows three to nine feet tall, and is found in moist open places in east Texas north to Arkansas and Oklahoma and east to Louisiana. It flowers in spring and summer. R. nitida var. texana grows two to four feet tall, with a conical to conical-cylindrical disk 3⁄4 to 13⁄4 inches long, and is infrequent in southeast Texas and rare in east Texas. It flowers spring through fall and is also found in Louisiana. R. fulgida var. palustris flowers in the summer and is infrequent in east and north-central Texas and rare in moist places west to the Edwards Plateau, and also north to Missouri and Oklahoma— sc&lm. 107. Sa´nchez (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 280) gave additional information on the Kickapoos, noting that Tera´n was so sick he could barely sit his horse. They stopped to rest, and ‘‘his face was so disfigured that I thought the end of his life had come.’’ But Tera´n was revived by sips of rum that Sa´nchez had purchased from three Nacogdoches merchants who visited their camp about sunset and felt ‘‘much relieved of the trouble that oppressed him.’’ Even in poor health, Tera´n was favorably impressed with the Kickapoos, saying in his Noticia (316) that they were well armed and well mounted and, despite their ferocious appearance, were quite pacific. On Austin’s 1829 map, ‘‘The Wandering Kicapus’’ is boldly lettered in Spanish between the headwaters of the Trinity and the Sabine Rivers. 108. Daniel McLean received a land grant on the San Pedro in 1835 (Houston County Abstract #57, box 116, folder 23, GLO). 109. Because of the numerous men in Texas at this time with the name John Williams, it is difficult to sort them out. This was probably the John (‘‘Cherokee’’) Williams described in Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 6: 983– 984, and not the John A. Williams (ibid., 984) who was briefly involved in the Fredonian Rebellion and drew the 1827 map for Austin’s younger brother that we reproduce as Figure 20. Though not a Cherokee, John ‘‘Cherokee’’ Williams spoke the language and

228 notes to page 74 was closely involved with them and other tribes of the region. He was likely a squatter on the Neches, but he obtained a grant in 1829 near the Old San Antonio Road crossing of the Brazos. 110. On the Fredonian Rebellion of late 1826– early 1827, see the following sources: Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 2: 1163–1164; Chapter 7 in Barker, Life of Stephen F. Austin; Carlos E. Castan˜eda, Our Catholic Heritage in Texas VI: 205–212; Ernest W. Winkler, ‘‘The Cherokee Indians in Texas,’’ QTSHA VII (October 1903): 134–151; Edmund M. Parsons, ‘‘The Fredonian Rebellion,’’ Texana 21 (Spring 1967): 11–52. Vol. 11 of the Blake Transcripts also contains much documentation on this ‘‘Fredonian War.’’ McLean’s involvement is not mentioned, but the participation of John A. Williams (not ‘‘Cherokee’’ John) on both sides is well documented in the Be´xar and Nacogdoches Archives. Few adherents of the rebellion would have been willing to own up to it after the trouble was over— especially not to a visiting Mexican officer like General Tera´n, in charge of his nation’s Boundary Commission and with the power to expel undesirables. 111. This is now Caddoan Mounds State Historic Site and was noted by most travelers on the Nacogdoches Road. It is shown on the 1806 Walker map (reproduced in McGraw, Clark, and Robbins, eds., A Texas Legacy, 189), and appears on the 1829 Austin map as a ‘‘cerrito’’ (little hill) north of the road just across the Neches. Walker, however, has these three ‘‘Monuments Indigenes’’ south of the road. The mound complex is currently known as the George C. Davis Site, and Hwy. 21 runs through the middle of it. Tera´n’s basis for attributing these mounds to the Bidais is unknown, except for his belief that they were the most ‘‘ancient’’ Texas tribe. Upon leaving Nacogdoches, Tera´n visited and described these mounds in greater detail; see n270 below. 112. Sa´nchez (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 281) said that they arrived at three in the afternoon ‘‘at the house of a poor American who treated us with considerable courtesy, a very rare thing among individuals of his nationality.’’ McLean and Williams had also received them well, as Sa´nchez admitted. 113. ‘‘Bignonia arborescente’’ is presumably Catalpa bignonioides or Catalpa speciosa — sc&lm. 114. On the crossings of the Neches and Angelina Rivers en route to Nacogdoches, see Corbin’s remarks in McGraw, Clark, and Robbins, eds., A Texas Legacy, 209–216. As the reader may judge, the matter of early routes is a complex subject— even between these two streams. 115. The ‘‘sugar tree’’ here is probably Acer saccharum (northern sugar maple), rather than A. saccharinum (silver maple), which barely reaches northeast Texas and is much more common in the northeastern United States. While A. saccharum is not common to this part of east Texas, it is locally common along the Angelina River. It is also a mainstay of the maple sugar industry. ‘‘Other species’’ of this genus: A. rubrum was used by the Native Americans for sugar and is much more common in east Texas. A. barbatum is uncommon in east Texas, and we have found no reports of its use for sugar under that name, though it is closely related to A. saccharum.

notes to pages 74 – 75

229

Correll and Johnston (p. 1003) say ‘‘it might be considered as a small edition of A. saccharum since the two are undoubtedly closely related.’’ The sap of A. negundo (box elder), which is found in east Texas, has also been tapped for syrup and sugar— sc&lm. This section on the ‘‘sugar tree’’ differs in the Guerra transcripts at CAH, box 2Q171, vol. 327, which reads: ‘‘Warden, in the introduction to his work on the United States, affirms that the quantity of sugar extracted from this tree in the year 1810 amounted to one million, nine hundred thousand ps. [pesos, meaning dollars]. On the Mexican frontier its value is unknown, and some inhabitants are even convinced that [the climate] is not cold enough to extract sugar. With the knowledge I already possessed about the sugar tree (acer saccharinus), and from the indications of the North American who speaks no Spanish, I perceived that there are many [such trees] and other species of the genus acer at the Angelina River. If this tree exists before [below?] the Trinity River, it must be rare.’’ The reference ‘‘Warden’’ is to David B. Warden, A Statistical, Political, and Historical Account of the United States of America (3 vols: Edinburgh, 1819). A French edition was published in Paris in 1820. Tera´n’s interest in this ‘‘sugar tree’’ may have originated in Padilla’s 1819 report: ‘‘In the woods of Nacogdoches there is a tree from whose sap is secured sugar as good as that from the cane’’ (Mattie Austin Hatcher, trans., ‘‘Texas in 1820: Report on the Barbarous Indians of the Province of Texas by Juan Antonio Padilla,’’ SWHQ XXIII [July 1919]: 58, hereafter cited as Padilla, ‘‘Report’’). The Chovell-attributed ‘‘General Considerations’’ manuscript at Yale University (Ms. S-317) also has a lengthy section on the ‘‘sugar tree’’ and mentions Warden’s statistics. 116. Tera´n is here gathering more information on river courses in order to correct his Galli map. At Yale University, Ms. S-315A contains a very dim, rough sketch of east Texas in which these observations on rivers were laid down and eight Indian groups located. It is reproduced as Plate 98 in Jackson, Shooting the Sun. 117. Sa´nchez (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 282) remarked on this Indian camp and another Tejas village seen near the Loco. The latter stream is well known for its connection to the Hasinais, especially to the De Shazo site, excavated in 1974–1976. See Dee Ann Story, The De Shazo Site, Nacogdoches County, Texas. 118. Sa´nchez (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 282) mentioned several houses belonging to Mexicans ‘‘in a beautiful location’’ called El Moral. On the original owners of these ranchos, see Jack Jackson, Los Mesten˜os: Spanish Ranching in Texas, 1721–1821, 492– 497; see also Corbin, in McGraw, Clark, and Robbins, eds., A Texas Legacy, 217– 219. As Tera´n noted, North Americans were moving in, some having purchased land from the Spanish grantees and others simply having built their cabins where it suited them. 119. Ms. S-314 does not have the words ‘‘and west’’; they were evidently added here by the copyist. The west side stream was called El Ban˜ito (the Little Bath) by Sa´nchez. He wrote that La Nana (the Nanny) was fed by two springs of cold, clear water, giving the spelling as ‘‘Margil.’’ Reference, of course, is to Father Antonio Margil, who was president of the College of Zacatecas when the mission of Nues-

230 notes to pages 75 – 76 tra Sen˜ora de Guadalupe was founded at Nacogdoches in 1716. Early the next year he founded missions for the Ais and Adaes Indians at San Augustine and Robeline, respectively. 120. Plums in the Nacogdoches area include Prunus umbellata (flatwoods plum), P. rivularis (creek plum, hog plum), and P. angustifolia (Chickasaw plum). The black cherry (P. serotina) is also found in the area. Plums and black cherries ripen in May and June— sc&lm. 121. Salix babilonica is the weeping willow, which was introduced into America very early; however, the native black willow, S. nigra, can develop long and weeping branches— sc&lm. 122. The four species of pines in the Nacogdoches area are Pinus taeda (loblolly pine), P. palustris (longleaf pine), P. echinata (shortleaf pine), and P. elliottii (slash pine) — sc&lm. 123. ‘‘Species of Ampelidaceae’’ is presumably a reference to some species of Vitis, or wild grape. The commonest grape in the area and across the region is Vitis mustangensis, but there are several other species of grape in the region, including V. lincecumii and V. rotundifolia — sc&lm. 124. This is Tera´n’s ‘‘Noticia de las tribus de salvajes conocidos que habitan en el Departamento de Tejas, y del nu´mero de familias de que consta cada tribu, puntos en que habitan y terrenos en que acampan.’’ It was originally published in the Boletı´n de la Sociedad Mexicana de Geografı´a y Estadı´stica, vol. 2, in 1870, now very hard to find, but it has since been made available in Molina, ed., Cro´nica de Tejas, 129–139. The Noticia consists of two reports given at Nacogdoches, the longer dated June 9 and the shorter (covering only the Iguane´s and Caddos), July 5. Tera´n did not date the remarks in his diary during the seven-month stay at Nacogdoches, but we know from this reference that he was writing later than the submitted report. Berlandier must have obtained a copy, because he used most of its information in Indians, along with Tera´n’s diary itself. 125. Here Tera´n expresses ‘‘environmental’’ concerns about the rapid thinning of nature’s bounty, a theme well covered in Del Weniger, The Explorers’ Texas: Volume 2, The Animals They Found. Between 1798 and 1812 most of the fur exports out of Nacogdoches (those secured from the Indians, at least) were handled by the House of Barr and Davenport; on this formidable trade combination see J. Villasana Haggard, ‘‘The House of Barr and Davenport,’’ SWHQ XLIX ( July 1945): 66–88, and his longer study, ‘‘The Neutral Ground between Louisiana and Texas, 1806– 1821,’’ Louisiana Historical Quarterly 28 (October 1945). Unfortunately, information is sketchy on just how big the traffic in deerskins, furs, and pelts was for this period and the fifteen years following, but subsequent accounts seem to agree that several fur-bearing species were all but eliminated from the woodlands. The John Sibley letters from Natchitoches published in the SWHQ mostly deal with political matters and goods given to the Trans-Sabine Indians, not with products of the hunt received from them. In comparison to Tera´n’s Nacogdoches figures—which varied from 40,000 to 80,000 during his stay—we might note that Capt. John Fowler operated a government ‘‘factory’’ (trading house) ten years earlier at the junction of Sulphur

notes to pages 76 – 78

231

Fork and the Red River. Over a two-year period he shipped 30,000 deerskins, 691 bear pelts, 455 beaver, and 1,183 otter, fox, raccoon, and wildcat pelages to New Orleans and complained that whiskey traders were making inroads into his Indian supply network (Skipper Steely, Six Months from Tennessee, 111–114). Berlandier (Indians, 47) indicated the importance of the fur trade for Nacogdoches but failed to provide figures. There is no detailed study on the early east Texas hide and pelt trade. 126. Reference is to the 1759 campaign against the Taovayas and other northern tribes by Col. Diego Ortiz Parrilla in retaliation for their destruction of the mission at San Saba´. The Spanish defeat on the upper Red River is treated in Herbert E. Bolton, Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century: Studies in Spanish Colonial History and Administration, 89– 91; see also Henry E. Allen, ‘‘The Parrilla Expedition to the Red River in 1759,’’ SWHQ XLIII ( July 1939): 53–71. This tribe (spelled ‘‘Tahuaiases’’) is discussed in Berlandier, Indians, 144–146, and pictured in Plate 14. 127. Doubtless, more ‘‘bragging’’ by some Bidai leader who was anxious for Tera´n to recognize his tribe’s rights over those being pressed by the numerous foreign intruders into traditional Bidai territory. Only two Indian groups are shown on the Galli map in east Texas: the ‘‘Bodis’’ between the San Jacinto and the Trinity, and the ‘‘Cosballies’’ (Coushattas?) on the lower Trinity. On the map’s margin Tera´n wrote, ‘‘The Bodis Indians are unknown. Perhaps they meant to say Bidaes,’’ going on to point out that the tribe was located farther up in the interior, away from the coast. ‘‘They are a relic of an ancient tribe in the country, whose language is completely different from the other languages existing in Texas.’’ It should be noted that the spelling of tribal names, as with rivers such as the Neches, varies between Mss. S-313 and S-314; we have stayed with Ms. S-313, even though the spellings in Ms. S-314 are often closer to current usage. 128. At this point Sa´nchez incorporates Tera´n’s description into his own diary (283–286). In Ms. S-314 this section is headed ‘‘Visits of the Savages.’’ 129. Comparison with Berlandier’s section on the Caddos in Indians (106–108) reveals his reliance on Tera´n’s diary and Noticia (138–139). Plate 7 in Indians shows a Caddo man and woman in the most Europeanized costume of any Indian group in Texas, though the man wears a small nose pendant. 130. Strands of white beads symbolized peace and were offered as tokens of friendship in keeping with ancient Cherokee custom. See the various works of James Mooney on this ceremonial usage, mentioned below and again during Colonel Bean’s July talks with the Indians. 131. The governor of Arkansas Territory at this time was George Izard. On the Pecan Point difficulties involving the Delawares, Shawnees, Kickapoos, and other tribes that had crossed into Mexican Texas but whose presence still annoyed the north bank settlers, see Foreman, Indians & Pioneers, 214–219; Steely, Six Months from Tennessee, 144, 150. Plate 10 in Berlandier, Indians, shows a stately Delaware, probably sketched by Sa´nchez at Nacogdoches on one of these visits. We have not found the letter in English Tera´n mentioned. 132. Sa´nchez ceases to quote from Tera´n’s diary at this point, going on to offer

232 notes to pages 78 – 79 almost verbatim Bean’s letter concerning a council held with immigrant tribes early in July; see our translation, Letter 8, in the next section. 133. Compare with Sa´nchez, ‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 286, and Tera´n, Noticia, 135– 136, used by Berlandier in Indians, 111–113. On the leadership of the Texas Cherokees at this time, see n159 below. 134. Lifted almost word for word by Berlandier for the ‘‘Cutchate or Conchates’’ (Coushattas) in Indians, 124; see also Plate 11 for the dress of two warriors. 135. Berlandier (Indians, 141) repeats this Kichai chief ’s bear-claw necklace story. 136. Tillandsia usneoides (Spanish moss, pastle) is an epiphyte of the Bromeliaceae, or bromeliad, family. It has long been gathered in quantity for use in stuffing upholstery and mattresses— sc&lm. More environmental concerns by Tera´n, this time on the flora of the region. 137. Headed ‘‘Population of the Frontier’’ in Ms. S-314. On this subject Sa´nchez (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 283) stated that the ‘‘population does not exceed seven hundred persons, including the troops of the garrison, and all live in very good houses of lumber, well built and forming straight streets, which make the place more agreeable. The women do not number one hundred.’’ Colonel Piedras on June 21 submitted a summary of mounted soldiers at the post, totaling 101 men (BA); in fact, he had 210 men altogether—150 infantrymen and 60 dragoons (Piedras to Elosu´a, in Blake, Supplement 12: 26–28). The 1830 Nacogdoches census, encompassing not only the pueblo but also the district between the Trinity and the ‘‘Atoyaque’’ Rivers, totaled 774 men, women, and children; however, a number of known residents do not appear, nor does it seem to include the troops under Piedras’s command (Gifford White, comp., 1830 Citizens of Texas, 113–131). 138. Pavie’s account of his trip between the Sabine River and Nacogdoches gives the opposite side and portrays Africans as victims of this turbulence, no doubt a legacy from the Neutral Ground; see our Appendix. 139. On September 15, 1828, Juan Martı´n de Veramendi replied to the Nacogdoches ayuntamiento’s complaint that it had ‘‘exhausted’’ all resources for opening a school. He reminded the council members that it was their duty to support a teacher, even if they had to pay his salary from personal contributions, but he felt that the municipality’s taxing power was the solution (Blake, Supplement 11: 305). 140. The merchants of Nacogdoches obtained their goods at New Orleans, rather than from sources in Mexico. That this was a zealously guarded undertaking may be inferred from store owner Thomas McKinney’s complaint to the political chief at Be´xar on September 28. The military payroll had just arrived, but Colonel Piedras—instead of paying his debts—had ‘‘clubbed together’’ with the other officers and sent Juan Mora directly to New Orleans to obtain things they needed. McKinney charged Piedras with ‘‘plotting my destruction, with no other motive but that of appropriating to himself what belongs to me.’’ The alcalde (at that time, Jose´ Marı´a Mora) was, McKinney claimed, ‘‘weak-minded’’ and unwilling to oppose Piedras’s ‘‘cold despotism’’ (Blake, Transcripts 12: 57–59). Even Tera´n ad-

notes to page 80

233

mitted that the troops under Piedras had to sustain themselves by almost forcibly taking over the shops of the town. Nonetheless, Tera´n’s companion Sa´nchez, acting as an attorney, defended agent Mora against McKinney in connection with the officers’ shipment of goods received from New Orleans (Blake, Supplement 11: 313– 315). Sa´nchez was a busy man that month, also giving a speech that commemorated the national holiday Diez y Seis de Septiembre (Tera´n to Batres [?], August 19, 1828, Ms. S-325, f. 67v, Yale University). 141. Sa´nchez (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 283) makes similar remarks, and Tera´n expands on his impression of Nacogdoches in his June 30 letter to President Guadalupe Victoria, translated herein as Letter 5. Nacogdoches, a settlement dating to 1779, finally obtained its ayuntamiento in June 1827, only a year before Tera´n’s visit. Samuel Norris was the first constitutional alcalde; his three regidores were local Mexicans, and Norris was of the ‘‘old settler’’ stripe, that is, opposed to newcomers like empresario Haden Edwards. Col. Jose´ de las Piedras had arrived that same summer with 200 men of the Twelfth Permanent Battalion to garrison the town in the wake of the Fredonian Rebellion. As there was no better building available, he converted the church (which Pavie, in his fictionalized tale ‘‘Le Lazo,’’ described as a ‘‘hangar’’) into a barracks. This did not please the newly arrived secular priest, Father Jose´ Ignacio Galindo, who was an energetic pastor, despite the charge that he was openly living with a woman and had fathered a child by her (Castan˜eda, Our Catholic Heritage in Texas VI: 331–334). The military payroll was slow in coming, as Tera´n often reminded government officials in Mexico City. See his letter to the minister of war, July 24, 1829, quoted in n190 below. 142. Besides being disrupted by the War of Independence, when Gen. Joaquı´n de Arredondo sent troops in 1813 to clear all rebels and foreigners out of east Texas, Nacogdoches was also plagued by the Long expedition of 1819 and the Fredonian Rebellion of late 1826. This turmoil left the northeastern frontier in a shambles, and many of the longtime citizens had only recently returned from exile in the Neutral Ground. This is demonstrated by the number of Nacogdoches district residents who filed Neutral Ground land claims in 1824; see House Document 49 (24th Congress, 1st Session, 1836, ser. 287), ‘‘Land Claims between the Rio Hondo and the Sabine.’’ 143. Berlandier (Indians, 106–107) repeats much of this; see editor John C. Ewers’s n130 there, where the editor says, ‘‘The Bidai were Atakapan, not Caddoanspeaking Indians.’’ Such is also the opinion of authorities like W. W. Newcomb, Jr. (The Indians of Texas, 315–329), who links them to the Orcoquiza (Akokisas) and other tribes of the southeastern Gulf Coast extending into Louisiana. But, as T. N. Campbell says in Tyler et al., eds., NHOT (1: 523–524), ‘‘conclusive evidence concerning their culture is not known.’’ 144. No doubt Dehahuit, the Grand Caddo; on his life under a succession of flags, see Cecile Elkins Carter, Caddo Indians: Where We Come From, 222–265; F. Todd Smith, The Caddo Indians: Tribes at the Convergence of Empires, 1542–1854, 85–117; also Dan L. Flores, ed., Jefferson & Southwestern Exploration: The Freeman &

234 notes to pages 80 – 91 Custis Accounts of the Red River Expedition of 1806, 160n3. Dehahuit died in 1833, shortly after Capt. Henry Shreve started clearing away the great raft, which lay as a protective barrier between Caddo lands and intruding Anglos. Two years later these lands were signed away to the U.S. government, and the Caddos moved westward into Mexican Texas. 145. ‘‘Hibiscus esculentus’’ is an old name for Abelmoschus esculentus (okra), and ‘‘gombeau’’ is an early form of the more familiar ‘‘gumbo’’— sc&lm. 146. Drunken disorderliness was indeed a problem at Nacogdoches, and even Colonel Piedras complained to the ayuntamiento about it. See his April 17, 1830, letter in Blake, Supplement 12: 129–136. These impressions, of course, did nothing to make Tera´n change his mind about keeping such unruly people out of Texas. 147. The quote is from Virgil’s Aeneid I, line 661: ‘‘To be sure, she is afraid of the ambiguous house and the two-tongued Phoenicians.’’ Tera´n’s is an interesting description of the sign language gestures for ‘‘He speaks with a forked tongue,’’ meaning he says one thing but does another. By this time, the Indians had ample proof of the forked-tongued, or double-talk, truism from their dealings with the white man. Tera´n’s letters from Nacogdoches, which follow in the next section, add considerably to this body of information about Indians along the Texas frontier in 1828.

tera´ n’s letters from nacogdoches 148. Source: CAH transcripts, box 2Q171, vol. 327, p. 111, from the Archivo General de la Secretarı´a de Guerra y Marina, Mexico City, Fraccio´n 1, Legajo 7, Operaciones Militares, 1836. On this collection, see Herbert E. Bolton, Guide to Materials for the History of the United States in the Principal Archives of Mexico, 269–315. Although Ohland Morton, in his excellent work (Tera´n and Texas, 52), cites these documents as being copied from the Archivo General de la Nacio´n (AGN), Mexico, they actually are housed at the archive of Mexico’s War Department (Defensa Nacional), but we do not know the current call numbers for each item. See, however, Guı´a del Archivo Histo´rico Militar de Me´xico, 155–157, which lists numerous expedientes pertaining to the Boundary Commission, some of which are on microfilm at the Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley. According to Morton (Tera´n and Texas, 72, 92) the ‘‘new’’ minister of foreign relations at this time was Jose´ Marı´a Bocanegra; however, the Memoria de Hacienda y Cre´dito Pu´blico (1870), 1027, states that Juan de Dios Can˜edo held this post between March 8, 1828, and January 25, 1829, followed by Bocanegra. Judging from Tera´n’s comment to the president (see Letter 1), the ministry was in some disarray, and Bocanegra may have recently taken it over on an interim basis. 149. Source: Same as n148 above, pp. 111–116, also directed to Minister of Foreign Relations Bocanegra. 150. Sa´nchez (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 286) identified the Cherokee political chief as ‘‘Musch,’’ or Big Mush, but see n159 below.

notes to page 93

235

151. Tera´n in his Noticia (135–136) gives the ‘‘Cheroquees’’ as 80 families and speaks highly of them. Berlandier (Indians, 111–113) estimates them at 90 –100 families and provides a physical description. Taken with Sa´nchez’s Plate 9 of a Cherokee couple and the numerous paintings of the period by King, Catlin, and other artists, we have a very good idea of how these Indians looked. The Texas Cherokees have also been the subject of perhaps more studies than any other immigrant tribe, possibly because they were driven from Texas in such a shameful manner and Sam Houston was their lifelong defender. See John H. Reagan, ‘‘The Expulsion of the Cherokees from East Texas,’’ QTSHA I (1897): 38– 46; Winkler, ‘‘The Cherokee Indians in Texas’’; Albert Woldert, ‘‘The Last of the Cherokees in Texas and the Life and Death of Chief Bowles,’’ Chronicles of Oklahoma 1 ( June 1923): 179–226; Dorman Winfrey, ‘‘Chief Bowles of the Texas Cherokee,’’ Chronicles of Oklahoma 32 (Spring 1954): 29– 41; Jack Gregory and Rennard Strickland, Sam Houston with the Cherokees, 1829–1833; and Mary Whatley Clarke, Chief Bowles and the Texas Cherokees. The most recent work is Dianna Everett, The Texas Cherokees: A People between Two Fires, 1819–1840, a very useful summation of the foregoing studies. 152. On April 15, 1825, Frost Thorn received an empresarial contract for 400 families. His grant lay above that of Haden Edwards and was bounded on the west by the Navasota River and on the north and east by the 20-league boundary reserve. Thorn married Edwards’s daughter Susan and was a merchant at Nacogdoches; earlier he had been associated with the firm of Barr and Davenport. After the Fredonian Rebellion, he had to justify his conduct during the episode in order to keep his grant. Although he was a prosperous businessman and acquired considerable landholdings, he was unable to fulfill his contract with the government. On October 15, 1831, this tract was awarded to Gen. Vicente Filisola (Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 6: 478; Mary Virginia Henderson, ‘‘Minor Empresario Contracts for the Colonization of Texas,’’ SWHQ XXXI (April 1928): 299, 301. 153. On the 1826 Galli map, which Tera´n almost certainly brought to Texas on his inspection, three east Texas grants are indicated as ‘‘otorgado al’’ (granted or given to) Edwards, Thorn, and Bean. The fact that Edwards’s grant is shown indicates that the map was drawn by Galli and printed by Linati later than April 1825 but prior to mid-1826, at which time his grant was canceled by the Mexican government. Thorn’s grant lies above it in a narrow strip extending west to east from the headwaters of the Navasota to those of the upper Sabine. Peter Ellis Bean’s grant lies to the east of Nacogdoches, all the way to the Sabine, and its north-south limits are not indicated. In fact, Bean never received a contract for these lands (see nn 156 and 161 below). At Be´xar Sa´nchez (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 260) made reference to a government report given to the Boundary Commission concerning lands granted to empresarios in Texas. Comparing this information ‘‘with the map’’ (probably Galli’s) showed that grants of the same land ‘‘had been made over and over again’’— an indication to Sa´nchez that the state government at Saltillo had no grasp of Texas affairs and that these lands would soon be ‘‘stolen by foreign hands.’’

236 notes to pages 93 – 94 154. Tera´n’s measurement of an acre as a square running 15 varas (yards) on each side is so badly mistaken that one suspects the transcriber read a ‘‘1’’ for what was really a ‘‘7.’’ An acre contains 5,642 square varas, or approximately 75 varas per side, not 15. 155. Tera´n’s Noticia (136–137) lists the Shawnees at 300 families and the Delawares at 115 families, adding another 75 families for the ‘‘Deluas’’; Berlandier’s Indians (125, 142) gives comparable figures and also considers the Delawares and ‘‘Delaas’’ as distinct groups. This may have been Austin’s usage, passed on to the commissioners, as he estimated the Deluas in Texas at 200 families in 1827 and placed the ‘‘Indios Delas’’ east of Pecan Point on his 1829 map, with the ‘‘Indios Shaune’’ to the west of them. Austin and Burnet put the Shawnees at 550 – 600 families in 1827 and regarded them as the most populous immigrant tribe, followed closely by the Kickapoos (Barker, ed., Austin Papers I, pt. 2: 1667–1671, 1721– 1722). Plate 12 in Berlandier, Indians, shows a tastefully attired Shawnee couple, the man wearing a turban topped by plumes in the fashion usually associated with tribes of the Southeast such as the Creeks and Seminoles. Compare Sa´nchez’s watercolor with the paintings of these tribesmen by Charles Bird King as they streamed through Washington, D.C., at this time, many reproduced in James D. Horan, The McKenney-Hall Portrait Gallery of American Indians. For a more recent study, see H. Allen Anderson, ‘‘The Delaware and Shawnee Indians and the Republic of Texas,’’ SWHQ XCIV (October 1990): 231–260. 156. Reference is to the empresarial grant for which Bean had petitioned the national government on May 3, 1826. He wished to introduce 300 – 400 families to an area bounded on the east by the Sabine, on the west by the Trinity, on the north by the Sulphur Fork of the Red, and on the south by the Gulf of Mexico. These lands were in the boundary and coastal reserves (and overlapped the grant that Haden Edwards was in the process of losing), but Bean argued that he could bring order to the region and claimed to have eight or nine Indian nations at his disposition for conquering the Comanches. Because of his personal relationship with President Victoria and many other revolutionary figures then in power, Bean was confident of securing this grant, but it bogged down when officials learned that he had a wife in Texas and another one in Mexico; see nn 161 and 180 below. The documentation is in CAH, box 2Q167, vol. 309, pp. 81–102 (transcripts from the old Fomento archive; most of the originals are now at the Biblioteca Nacional de Antropologı´a e Historia). Quite a bit of this material is also found in the Be´xar Archives, as cited in Benavides, comp., The Be´xar Archives, 96– 98. Bean had earlier signed his name as Ellis P., but about this time started using Peter Ellis; the Mexicans knew him as ‘‘Pedro Elı´as.’’ 157. On the Kickapoos, see Berlandier, Indians (127–128 and Plate 6). Both he and Tera´n estimated them at 110 families. Austin and Burnet, however, listed the Kickapoos at 500 families in 1827; this figure may have been exaggerated, as neither empresario favored their admission to Texas and probably tried to influence Tera´n’s views accordingly. As an interesting comparison with these tribal estimates, as well

notes to page 95

237

as a reflection of the rapid pattern of migration, see Samuel Davenport, ‘‘Report on the Indian Nations of the Province of Texas,’’ April 24, 1809 (NA). A translation is found in Blake, Supplement 15: 181–184, and the Kickapoos are not among the tribes counted. In fact, only immigrant Indians coming across the Mississippi from the Southeast had made their appearance in Texas by this date. A summation of the 1809 report is found in Castan˜eda, Our Catholic Heritage in Texas V: 403– 405. Tera´n may have been mistaken in reporting that Comanche raids below the Rio Grande were masterminded by Lipan Apaches. More likely, the Comanches pursued their Apache enemies as they relocated themselves into Coahuila and Tamaulipas, raiding towns that offered tempting prizes. Berlandier (Indians, 131–133), however, also states that the Lipanes and Comanches were allied against the Spanish settlements early in the nineteenth century. A comprehensive history of Texas Indian alliances and raiding patterns for this period (such as Elizabeth A. H. John’s masterpiece on the earlier era, Storms Brewed in Other Men’s Worlds) has yet to be written; it is badly needed. 158. On this ‘‘great number of small tribes’’ in east Texas and the vicinity of Nacogdoches, see the entries in Berlandier, Indians, for Addaizes and Ainais (103); Ay or Aizes (104); Nacodochitos, Nadacos, and Navadachos (138); Quichas or Kichaes (141); San Pedros (141–142); and Texas (149–151). Perhaps as an indicator of their insignificance (or the extent to which they had become Hispanicized), none are depicted in plates. Whether Jose´ Marı´a Sa´nchez drew preliminary sketches of any of these natives remains unknown, as his original artwork has never surfaced— only the finished watercolors by Lino Sa´nchez based on them and a few by Berlandier (whose originals are also missing). For details, see Ahlborn, ‘‘European Dress in Texas, 1830.’’ Of great help in understanding the relationship of all these tribes is Herbert E. Bolton, The Hasinais: Southern Caddoans as Seen by the Earliest Europeans. About Tera´n’s attached summary, his Noticia, see n124 above; it bears the same date as this letter, June 9. 159. There is some confusion in the literature concerning the roles of the two principal Cherokee chiefs at this time. Everett (The Texas Cherokees, 26) draws a distinction between a ‘‘white’’ (political) and ‘‘red’’ (war) leader, saying that Duwali (Bowl or Bowles) functioned as the primary civil chief ‘‘during the Cherokees’ entire period of residence in Texas’’ and that Gatunwali—known as Big Mush or ‘‘Hard’’ Mush—assumed the post of war chief and diplomat after Richard Fields was put to death (57). Yet, she does not clearly define the duties of these respective chiefs. She claims that negotiations for peace, war, and diplomatic matters were handled by the ‘‘red,’’ or war, chief, but we know that Duwali was doing most of the negotiating and talking to President Mirabeau B. Lamar’s spokesmen prior to the Cherokee War. Other writers (Woldert, ‘‘The Last of the Cherokees,’’ 192, 200; Winfrey, ‘‘Chief Bowles,’’ 33; Clarke, Chief Bowles, 52) state that after the death of Fields, Bowl became war chief and Big Mush, civil chief. Sa´nchez’s diary (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 286) states that the Cherokees were ‘‘governed by a chief called Wols [Bowl], and a political chief, Musch.’’ Unfortunately, the CAH typescript we

238 notes to pages 95 – 96 used does not help clarify the situation, because Mush/Mosh appear as variant spellings of the name that Sa´nchez gives as Musch. Tera´n in his Noticia (135) names neither Cherokee chief, saying only that they had one for military matters and ‘‘another’’ for political affairs; Berlandier (Indians, 39) repeats this. Perhaps the most conclusive evidence comes in the March 11, 1827, letter of Lt. Col. Mateo Ahumada to General Bustamante in which he refers to ‘‘Mohs and Buls— civil and military chiefs’’ (cited in Winkler, ‘‘The Cherokee Indians in Texas,’’ 149–150). This is a fairly obvious rendering of Big Mush as civil and Bowl, or Bowles, as war chief. Whichever, Bowl was recognized by the Mexican government as principal chief of the Cherokees in July 1827 and so he remained until his death at the hands of Lamar’s jubilant army in 1839. Tera´n seems to be saying here that Big Mush should also be awarded tokens befitting his importance; see also n183 below. 160. Source: Guerra transcripts at CAH, box 2Q171, vol. 327, pp. 90 – 91. The letter was directed to the governor of Coahuila y Texas, Jose´ Marı´a Viesca. On him and the liberal faction in power at this time see Tijerina, Tejanos and Texas, 114–118. 161. Not everyone thought so highly of Bean. In the investigation of his character and morals that was ordered in Texas when the bigamy charge arose, some of Austin’s colonists spoke harshly of the former Mexican revolutionary who had been with Philip Nolan on his last expedition; see Bennett Lay, The Lives of Ellis P. Bean, 116–119. Also, John Sprowl, alcalde of Ayish Bayou, offered the following assessment of Bean in 1826: ‘‘Ellis Been, during his temporary residence in this District, uniformly associated with men of the worst character and particularly those who have been driven out of the country [as undesirables] by the [local] companies of Militia . . . and [he] lived with them on a footing of the most familiar friendship. I also certify that since the rumour has circulated through the country that Colonel Been has obtained authority from the Government to colonize this Section of the Province [State], the most infamous characters in it have exhibited an indecent exultation and triumph over the peaceable and honest citizens, who have hitherto been able, by persevering exertions, to keep them under some restraint and subordination. They have boasted that ‘Now they have an Empresario! Now they are fixed,’ as if they had now no longer any obstacle to surmount in the commission of the worse of crimes’’ (Blake, Transcripts 11: 88, undated). Such ‘‘certificates’’ only caused the investigation of Bean’s suitability as an empresario to drag on, notwithstanding the fact that he claimed that his Texas wife (Candace Midkiff ) was merely his ‘‘concubine’’ and hauled her before the alcalde on December 28, 1826, to state that they had never been married back in Tennessee (Blake, Supplement 11: 93– 94). A few Mexican officials bought his mistress story, but it did not help Bean in the long run. Even so, one gets the impression that morals were a lot looser in the old days than most people recognize, or are willing to admit. 162. Besides exhibiting his disdain for Mexican civil officials at Nacogdoches,

notes to pages 96 – 99

239

Tera´n is here suggesting a way in which indigent squatters might obtain title to their land in a regulated manner—as well as expressing his belief that a square league (4,428 acres) was too much land for ordinary colonists, especially those who had entered Texas illegally. On how he pursued the issue of title recognition for squatter land claims during his years as commissioner of colonization for Texas, see Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 139–145. 163. Source: Vito Alessio Robles, Coahuila y Texas desde la consumacio´n de la independencia hasta el tratado de paz de Guadalupe Hidalgo I: 297–302, cited as being from the Archivo Central de la Secretarı´a de la Defensa Nacional. A translation is given in Howren, ‘‘Causes and Origin of the Decree of April 6, 1830,’’ 395–398. A copy of this letter, missing parts found in the versions cited above, is also in the Guerra transcripts at CAH, box 2Q171, vol. 327, pp. 208–213. 164. On the 1819 Adams-Onı´s Treaty, and the steps taken toward its final ratification by the United States and Mexico in 1832, see Benson, ‘‘Texas as Viewed from Mexico,’’ 219, 227–228, 240, 248–250, 283. It was a protracted process, delayed by mutual suspicion. Tera´n argued in 1830 that a military buildup would convince the United States that Mexico meant to keep Texas, and thereby induce the North Americans to sign the treaty. 165. Reference is to the survey of the 31st parallel by Andrew Ellicott as a boundary between the United States and Spanish possessions in the Floridas specified by the Treaty of San Lorenzo, signed in 1795. 166. Sa´nchez (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 283) expressed similar views of the Mexican citizens of Nacogdoches, saying that their constant contact with North Americans had altered their customs, habits, and mastery of the Spanish language to the extent that they were ‘‘not Mexicans except by birth.’’ 167. James Gaines and others had protested the election of Jose´ Marı´a Mora as alcalde prior to Tera´n’s arrival, but the protest was overruled by the new political chief, Ramo´n Mu´squiz, in June 1828. Jose´ Antonio Sepu´lveda lodged another protest against Mora in September, claiming that he was totally incompetent and that ‘‘there is no longer any possibility of obtaining justice from this alcalde’’ (Blake, Transcripts 12: 60, and Supplement 11: 288–295; see also Supplement 16 for the record book that Mora kept as alcalde in 1828). 168. Tera´n was to repeat many times this warning as to the future security of Texas—along with the measures he considered necessary to protect it. See our Epilogue. 169. Robert B. Blake’s Transcripts and Supplement series (93 volumes) are replete with land squabbles of this nature, too numerous to cite here. 170. Tera´n’s remarks on these fugitives in the Trans-Sabine region are in agreement with most other sources—and especially with Pavie’s description of the folks around Ayish Bayou; see our Appendix. 171. On the slavery laws in effect at this time, see n57 above. Tera´n’s reference is likely to Decree No. 56, enacted by the state congress on May 5, 1828, at the

240 notes to pages 100 – 105 instigation of Deputy Jose´ Antonio Navarro. It allowed Anglos to bring slaves to Texas as permanently indentured servants, a legal subterfuge much applauded by the slaveholding class. 172. These separatist sentiments were to gain widespread acceptance in the early 1830s as the Anglo population of Texas skyrocketed. Eventually, of course, they culminated in revolution, but what is often overlooked is that educated and prominent tejanos held similar ideas about the need for separate statehood, going back to the union of Texas and Coahuila (which they had vigorously protested). See Tijerina, Tejanos and Texas, 93–102. 173. Tera´n’s appeal for a stronger hand in east Texas did not amount to much, even with the placement of small forts on the Brazos, Trinity, and Neches Rivers to guard against the Anglo onslaught. These, plus Piedras’s troops at Nacogdoches, were obliged to leave Texas in the so-called disturbances of 1832. 174. Source: Tera´n’s letter book, S-325, ff. 68– 69v, at Yale University. This letter is of a rather personal nature and shows Tera´n’s warm regard for Batres, as well as detailing movements of various commission members, recounting the problems of money exchange, delays expected, and so forth. According to Jose´ Enrique de la Pen˜a, Batres came back to Texas with the army of Gen. Antonio Lo´pez de Santa Anna and was a casualty at the battle of San Jacinto (With Santa Anna in Texas: A Personal Narrative of the Revolution, 93, 124, 132). For another account of his death see Stephen L. Hardin, Texian Iliad: A Military History of the Texas Revolution, 213–214. 175. On Antonio Elosu´a (or Elozu´a), see the excellent entry by Ada´n Benavides, Jr., in Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 2: 844–845. Elosu´a assumed command of the troops in Texas during December 1827 and died at Be´xar in 1833, shortly after his retirement. He served 31 years in the military and participated in the momentous Battle of Medina under General Arredondo. Compensador (used later in same paragraph in text): clock pendulum whose rod is replaced by a structure of small rods of variably expanding metals, combined in such a way that the total length does not vary whatever the temperature. Here, apparently used figuratively, making comparison of clock feature and human organism under conditions of extreme heat. 176. Tera´n planned to visit Natchitoches but, because of poor health, sent Colonel Piedras instead (Piedras to Elosu´a, June 21, 1828 [BA]). John Sibley reported Piedras’s ten-day stay and other matters touching on the Boundary Commission to Stephen F. Austin at the end of July (Barker, ed., Austin Papers II: 81–85). 177. Source: Guerra transcripts, CAH, box 2Q171, vol. 327, pp. 180 –181, partly quoted in Alessio Robles, Coahuila y Texas I: 303, and partly translated in Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 72–73. This letter, another missive on the problem of illegal immigrants, was directed to Minister of Foreign Relations Bocanegra. 178. On the anticipated Creek relocation, see Foreman, Indians & Pioneers, 252– 260. In fact, the Creeks attempted to gain admission to Texas as late as 1835, when

notes to page 106

241

28,000 of them were said to be ready to cross the border. Even Sam Houston was involved in an 1834 plan to secure Texas lands for the Creeks. Much of this documentation is at BNAH; see especially paquetes 51-9-68 and 51-9-70-8. 179. Source: Guerra transcripts, CAH, box 2Q171, vol. 329, pp. 301–306 (bound out of order), for Bean’s letter of July 11 and his attached report of the Indian council held on July 2. The latter was the basis of Sa´nchez’s final diary entries (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 287–288). 180. See the brief sketch of Peter Ellis Bean in Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 1: 437, and Lay’s longer study of his ‘‘lives.’’ After moving to Texas from Arkansas in 1823, Bean settled on Mound Prairie, 28 miles west of Nacogdoches near the Neches River. In 1825 he went to Mexico, secured a colonel’s commission in the army for his past services, was appointed Indian agent to the east Texas tribes, and submitted his petition to colonize lands in the boundary reserve (as cited in n156 above). In this petition Bean immediately made the mistake of mentioning that he had a Mexican wife in Jalapa. This was an unfortunate admission because he also had a wife in Texas, whom he’d married in Tennessee. Word of Bean’s bigamy got back to officials in Mexico and an investigation was ordered, even though the president had already given the nod to Bean’s proposal. The delicate matter was still pending when Tera´n came to Texas, but it seems clear that he thought highly of Bean and considered him fit for the position of empresario in this sensitive boundary zone. Bean was a leading contender for the grant (especially because of his role in keeping the Indians out of the Edwards revolt), but in March 1829 Lorenzo de Zavala was chosen as empresario for the tract both had solicited—partly because of Bean’s ‘‘personal difficulties’’ but also because of Zavala’s political connections. Documentation for this contest is at BNAH, paquete 51-6-4. The Edwards grant had been canceled in mid-1826, but Edwards’s son-in-law Frost Thorn was still struggling to complete his grant. With the contracts already given in December 1826 to David Burnet and Joseph Vehlein, plus Zavala’s in 1829, east Texas to the Sabine and southeastward to the coast was virtually sewn up. The governor of Coahuila y Texas, Jose´ Marı´a Viesca (the same to whom Tera´n had written favorably about Bean in June), recommended that Bean—because of his many services to Mexico—be awarded land elsewhere, but nothing came of it. The limits of these three empresarial grants are set forth on the ca. 1833 lithographed map by Edward Mesier, Map of the Southern Part of Texas, a copy at CAH. By that time Burnet, Vehlein, and Zavala had turned over their grants to the Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company (Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 3: 53–54). The map indicates the vast tract in yellow. Despite his disappointment, Bean continued to serve Mexico along the border, though he was not completely trusted by the government or the Anglo colonists. The only known picture of him painted from life (the basis for the much-reproduced engraving) is seen in Maurine T. Wilson and Jack Jackson, Philip Nolan and Texas: Expeditions to the Unknown Land, 1791–1801, 107. 181. Meaning, since November 1826, when Bean began wooing the Cherokees

242 notes to pages 107 – 109 away from the leadership of Richard Fields and John Dunn Hunter by securing the opposition of Bowl and Big Mush to the Fredonian Rebellion. The Cherokee political chief also gives this ‘‘date’’ of twenty moons ago in his speech. 182. See McLean, ed., Papers Concerning Robertson’s Colony III: 250 –256, for Bean’s peacemaking with the Wacos and Tawakonis in mid-1827. Colonel Ruiz also played a major role, but General Bustamante claimed most of the credit for the treaty that resulted from their talks. 183. Sa´nchez (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 286–287) named the political chief at this ceremony as ‘‘Musch,’’ but Everett in The Texas Cherokees maintains that Sa´nchez’s ‘‘lack of familiarity with Cherokee diplomatic methods’’ caused him to mistakenly give Gatunwali (Big Mush) this title when he was actually the ‘‘war chief in charge of diplomacy’’ (57, 60). She says, without any basis, that Duwali (Bowl) as civil/ political chief ‘‘remained quietly in the background.’’ It will be noted that Bean’s letter (which was Sa´nchez’s only source for his account, as far as we know) does not name the political chief representing the Cherokees at this ceremony. In any case, Everett, unaware of Bean’s report to Tera´n, is probably mistaken in saying that Sa´nchez ‘‘and other representatives of Tera´n’s expedition’’ attended this conference (53, 57, 61). Tera´n sent Indian agent Bean to do the talking and he submitted his report; Sa´nchez then wrote up the results as if it were his first-person description of the conference. See Tera´n to Minister of [Foreign] Relations, July 5, 1828, CAH transcripts, box 2Q171, vol. 327, p. 220. 184. Everett (The Texas Cherokees, 60) gives this chief’s name as Nekolakeh, who was also known as Black Leg or John Negro Legs. 185. Tera´n actually did attempt to secure lands for the Cherokees, as well as for the Alabamas and Coushattas, but his efforts were circumvented by petty officials and those with a vested interest in these lands who were on the scene in Texas (Winkler, ‘‘The Cherokee Indians in Texas,’’ 154–156). 186. Sa´nchez (‘‘Trip to Texas,’’ 288) added to this the following: ‘‘Many others spoke, their speeches consisting, in short, of manifestations of love for the Mexicans and of their desire to form one people with them to exterminate the Tahuacanos and Wacos, who had broken the peace after they had established agreements with the Mexicans that should have been lasting. It was the Cherokees that showed the greatest uniformity in their arguments and the best judgement in their proposals, the remainder agreeing or pretending to agree with them. ‘‘The greater part of these Indians [the Cherokees?] are fair, and one does not see shell or feather ornaments among them as among the others, though they are all alike in their filth [emphasis added; see below]. They wear no paint on their faces [and] they hold no dances except in their pueblos, never in the settlements of the Mexicans. They never ask for food, though they may be in need, but they accept anything that is given to them. They trade with skins and fruits [of their labor], are good workmen, and are the best of all the Indians I have known. They are located, at present, to the east [west] of the Sabine on lands granted [assigned] to Thorn’s colony, and they hope that the Supreme Government will grant them these lands.’’

notes to pages 109 – 111

243

McLean’s translated extract (Papers Concerning Robertson’s Colony III: 352–357) of Sa´nchez’s diary from the published 1939 Mexican edition does not have Castan˜eda’s passage ‘‘though they are all alike in their filth.’’ Neither is it in the Guerra typescript copy of Sa´nchez’s diary (CAH, 2Q171, vol. 328). Instead, the original Spanish reads as McLean has translated it: ‘‘on the contrary, they exercise neatness in their dress.’’ How this unfortunate mistake crept into Castan˜eda’s translation is unknown; he cites his source as the same document noted above. It is now filed as expediente XI, 481.3, 1193, at the Defensa Nacional’s Archivo Histo´rico Militar Mexicano; see their Guı´a, 158. 187. Source: Guerra transcripts, CAH, box 2Q171, vol. 327, pp. 218–219, directed to Minister of Foreign Relations Bocanegra. 188. About 270 Shawnee warriors settled below the Red River near Pecan Point in 1824. They immediately petitioned for a square mile of land per family, saying that if the government would grant them these lands several thousand of their friends and allies would join them in Texas. On December 14, 1824, they secured a temporary contract from Gov. Rafael Gonza´lez for their lands and the rush was on. A year later the Cherokee chief Richard Fields reported to the Nacogdoches alcalde that 5,000 Shawnees were en route to Texas, and he continued to alarm the authorities with such reports until they gained credibility (Winkler, ‘‘The Cherokee Indians in Texas,’’ 129–132). Actually, their numbers were much smaller, but because of the Shawnees’ valiant struggle against the whites for possession of their eastern homeland, they were greatly feared by the settlers around Pecan Point; see n155 above. 189. Source: Guerra transcripts, CAH, box 2Q171, vol. 327, p. 206. The letter was directed to Manuel Go´mez Pedraza, minister of war. On the struggle for the presidency between him and Vicente Guerrero at this time, see Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 77–78. This letter is also translated in ibid., 75–76. Three days after writing it Tera´n set out on his trip into the boundary zone. 190. As evidence that this state of affairs was not an isolated incident, but, rather, an ongoing problem, see Piedras to Elosu´a, June 26, 1829, in Blake, Supplement 12: 26–28. The 210 troops at Nacogdoches were ‘‘poorly mounted, [experiencing a] great scarcity of munitions, [and] without money, since it is eleven months that they have not been paid.’’ Tera´n wrote the new minister of war, Francisco Moctezuma, on July 24 of that year in a similar vein: ‘‘It seems opportune for me to tell Your Excellency that there is no means of resistance in Nacodoches [to an invasion by North American troops gathered on the frontier]. The garrison, which has fewer than two hundred men, is out of supplies, and, singularly, also out of munitions, since the ship which left Vera Cruz with them over a year ago was wrecked. The cavalry is without horses and has a very small number of men; there is not one piece of artillery. The rivers, deserts, and forests between this country and there make access difficult from the Mexican side. To regain it, once it is lost, would be a very costly and arduous undertaking. Therefore, it is necessary to provide defense, but this cannot be attempted unless [we] immediately send two thou-

244 notes to page 113 sand men with four light pieces to Nacodoches, and, in particular, money necessary for the construction of barracks. That presidio is surrounded by thirty well-trained tribes of savages, at peace with us, and they will even help us in war if adequate defense measures are taken; if not, they will work against us, just as the majority of North Americans will. Since the latter number no fewer than fifteen hundred families, I believe it is my duty to inform you of these matters that you may acquaint the President with them’’ (Guerra transcripts, CAH, box 2Q171, vol. 327, p. 207). Tera´n also wrote President Guerrero the day before, saying that the soldiers at Nacogdoches were ‘‘reduced to the utmost misery’’ (letter book, Ms. S-325, f. 15, Yale University).

diary: trip to the red river 191. Section title as given in Ms. S-314, Yale University. Although there is no list of personnel for this trip, Tera´n was accompanied by Peter Ellis Bean, Pierre Roubleau, and, presumably, an escort of seven or eight men. According to Morton (Tera´n and Texas, 76), Sa´nchez also went, but Tera´n’s diary does not mention him and Sa´nchez himself left no extant account of the journey. Pierre Roubleau (variously spelled Robleau, Roubelot, Rublo, Roblo), who served as Tera´n’s guide on this expedition and the one down the Trinity at year’s end, was an interesting frontier character and merits some notice. He was born in 1769, the son of Guillaume ‘‘Roblo’’ and Antonia Isidora Zepeda. He married Magdeleine Prudhomme in 1800 at the Natchitoches post; she was the daughter of Bastien Prudhomme and Naillois, a metive Indian. The couple moved immediately to Texas, establishing themselves on a ranch near Nacogdoches, where they commenced to rear children and raise livestock. They also had property in the Neutral Ground, and he appears several times on Spanish census lists of ‘‘foreigners’’ living east of the Sabine in the Bayou Pierre district. Citizenship was conferred on Pierre, 58 years old, in November 1827 at Nacogdoches. At that time, he expressed the desire to bring ten members of his family and six slaves to Texas. He and ‘‘Magdalene’’ are listed on the 1828 census with five children still at home, ranging from 17 to 5 years of age, five slaves (evidently a family unit), and several tenants. Two married children lived nearby: Pierre (‘‘Pedro’’), Jr., and his wife, Marı´a Bacilla Grande, and daughter Josefa with her husband, Felipe Flores. As birth records at Natchitoches show, Pierre had many relatives scattered in the jurisdiction—all intermarried with the old melting-pot families originally at the posts of Natchitoches and Los Adaes. See the various Natchitoches vital records compiled and published by Elizabeth Shown Mills. See also Carolyn Reeves Ericson, comp., Citizens and Foreigners of the Nacogdoches District, 1809–1836, 23, 45– 46; Blake, Transcripts 18: 331–342 (for the 1828 Nacogdoches census); White, comp., 1830 Citizens of Texas, 123 (for the 1830 Nacogdoches census). We extend special thanks to Linda Flores for sharing this information. 192. Guajolote (Turkey) Ranch was possibly near Waffelow Creek in the vi-

notes to pages 113 – 115

245

cinity of Pisgah. Its owner in 1828 is unknown, but Matı´as Pen˜a occupied a ranch at this location in 1810. Tera´n’s route may be tracked east-northeast from Nacogdoches on USGS Palestine, NH 15-1. He was traveling to the Sabine River above the more established Camino Real, described by Pavie a year later in our Appendix. 193. ‘‘Copalı´’’ may be a reference to the sweet gum tree, Liquidambar styraciflua. Copal (from the Nahuatl copalli, or resin) is a resin from various tropical trees. L. styraciflua secretes a resin that was used as a medicinal agent—sc&lm. 194. ‘‘Lobelia Refulgens’’ is probably an early and outdated name for Lobelia fulgens, which has been superseded by the name Lobelia cardinalis ssp. graminea var. propinqua, a variety of the beautiful cardinal flower. Several other species of Lobelia occur in this area as well, including L. appendiculata and L. floridana. Stipa is the genus called speargrass. Estebia is a common name for a European thistle (Microlonchus salmanticus), which looks a lot like Cirsium and Carduus. The word is spelled ‘‘estevia’’ in Ms. S-314 and, while a long shot, could refer to the genus Stevia, which are plants of Mexico and the Trans-Pecos and are allied to Eupatorium (in eastern and central Texas) and Ageratum. Zinnia is a genus of the sunflower family (Compositae), although it is confined to the western parts of Texas. ‘‘Zinna’’ may be a corruption of Senna, a genus of medicinal plants of the legume family. One of the genus common names for the Eupatorium species is boneset. Ricinus is an introduction naturalized throughout the state and commonly referred to as castor bean— sc&lm. 195. Convolvulus batatas is an old name for Ipomoea batatas, the cultivated sweet potato— sc&lm. 196. Juan Jose´ Alvarado appears on the 1828 Nacogdoches census (Attoyac and Ayish Bayou) as a 47-year-old native of Be´xar married to Ygnacia (Garcı´a); see also the 1830 census in White, comp., 1830 Citizens of Texas. In a later power of attorney to merchant Adolphus Sterne, Alvarado claimed that he had occupied this ranch at the ‘‘Plazetas [Clearings] de Atoyacque’’ since 1827, but the title is incomplete (GLO, box 84, folder 16). Five leagues (15 miles as Tera´n calculated them) would have put the stopping place well across the Attoyac into Shelby County. 197. Salvia lyrata (lyre leaf sage) is common in east Texas in early to late spring. In reference to the ‘‘rarity,’’ he may be seeing isolated plants blooming out of season as early as mid-October. The ‘‘sage’’ may also be something entirely different— sc&lm. 198. With remarks such as these it should not surprise us that Tera´n has coauthor status with Berlandier on the botanical pamphlet published at Matamoros in 1832. Tera´n sent Berlandier to New Orleans in the spring of 1829 so their plant collection could be safely shipped to Mexico (Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 384). 199. The location of Chicho´ Ranch is unknown, probably in the vicinity of Center or north of it. 200. Now Tenaha, but the crossing was likely on its upper branch (Flat Fork Creek), considering Tera´n’s trajectory and stopping point the next day. 201. Jean Palvado and his wife, Leonor (or Eleonor) Tessier, must have lived

246 notes to page 116 on the Sabine near what later became Logan’s Ferry and then Logansport, named after William Logan. Earlier they were residents of the Arroyo Hondo between Los Adaes (Robeline) and Natchitoches. On the 1805 Spanish census of ‘‘foreigners’’ east of the Sabine, Jean’s age is given as 40, his wife’s as 41. ‘‘John Palvadore’’ claimed 640 acres on Bayou la Bonne Chasse during the 1824 hearings by U.S. commissioners of the Neutral Ground land claims; Pierre ‘‘Roblot’’ claimed land on the same bayou, and they were no doubt longtime friends (House Document 49 [1836], 90, 97). 202. Austin credited Tera´n’s observations of the ‘‘Point where the boundary line leaves the Sabine’’ on his 1830 Map of Texas, published by Henry S. Tanner of Philadelphia. Locating this point, of course, was a main goal of Tera´n’s Comisio´n de Lı´mites; the line was thence to run due north to the Red River. Another observer had preceded Tera´n into this area with the same purpose in mind. He was William Darby, whose influential Map of the State of Louisiana was published by John Melish in 1816 and thereafter reissued by James Olmstead, Aaron Arrowsmith, and Henry S. Tanner. In a letter dated November 28, 1812, to the secretary of war, U.S. Indian agent John Sibley reported the mapmaker’s field activities from Natchitoches: ‘‘Mr Darby found the 32� [latitude point] on the Sabine a few miles below the Nandaco Village Near a Large Bayou called Nassosette, & in Running the North Line [to 33�, which was the northwest corner of the state] both the Nandaco and Caddo Towns are left out of this State, the line passing about Six or Eight Miles to the Eastward of them both, greatly to the disappointment of the Indians. . . . Should the Caddos turn from us Near Twenty Other Tribes will go with them’’ ( John Sibley, ‘‘Dr. John Sibley and the Louisiana-Texas Frontier, 1803–1814,’’ SWHQ XLIX [January 1946]: 417– 418). Sibley dedicated his considerable energy to making sure this didn’t happen. Despite Darby’s and Tera´n’s observation efforts, the boundary between Louisiana and Texas was not fully surveyed until 1840 –1841, by a joint commission from the United States and the Republic of Texas. The manuscript documentation is at the Texas State Archives in boxes 2-23/995 and 2-9/25, much of it published in Senate Executive Document 199, ‘‘Message from the President of the United States communicating . . . copies of the proceedings of the commissioner [John H. Overton] appointed to run the boundary line between the United States and the Republic of Texas.’’ This report was accompanied by a series of large-scale maps of the survey, showing ferries, houses, roads, place names, and the lay of the land fifteen years after Tera´n’s visit. The survey was begun in May 1840 at the mouth of the Sabine and was finished in June 1841 on the Red River, 106 miles due north from the point of 32� on the Sabine near Logan’s Ferry. In contrast with these precise published maps, Tera´n had to be satisfied with drawing simple sketches of the point on the Sabine and extending the boundary north to some unknown location on the Red. Our Figure 19, found in Ms. S-328, is an example; others from Yale University are seen in Berlandier, Indians, 17, and Jackson, Shooting the Sun, Plate 98. All are inaccurate because the upper course of the Red River was problematic, and Tera´n’s line north hit it much too low.

notes to pages 116 – 117

247

203. Jean-Baptiste, born in 1801 at Bayou Pierre, was the son of Jean Palvado and Leonor Tessier. When Jean-Baptiste’s sister Marie was born two years later, paternal grandparents were listed as Franc¸ois Palvados and Jeanne Bernard (Elizabeth Shown Mills, comp., Natchitoches, 1800 –1826 3: 13). He married Marı´a Brigitta Santos Coy at Nacogdoches in 1824. 204. Tera´n is aware that he should be traveling due north and gives his reason for the meandering course taken to reach the Red River. In reality, his guide, Pierre Roubleau, probably chose his own route, and Tera´n was content to ‘‘sightsee’’ in foreign territory. Father Puelles’s 1808 map of the Neutral Ground (Figure 2 in Jack Jackson, ‘‘Father Jose´ Marı´a de Jesu´s Puelles and the Maps of Pichardo’s Document 74,’’ SWHQ XCI [ January 1988]: 317–347) shows a road connecting Bayou Pierre to Nacogdoches but none running above it. Later maps label this route as Laithum’s Trace, named for either Louis or Jim Laithum. 205. Likely the residence of Ce´saire Lafitte, born 1787 the son of Paul Bou¨ette Lafitte, who was one of the first settlers of the region. This is suggested by the fact that two of guide Roubleau’s children had weddings at this house on February 3, 1827. His daughter Marie Celine married Ce´saire’s son Joseph (called Ce´sar when he moved to Texas with his bride). Then Pierre Lafitte, Ce´saire’s half-brother, served as witness to the union of Edouard Lestang ‘‘Roubelot’’ and Marie Rose Soligny in what appears to have been a double wedding. Tera´n’s guide no doubt wanted to look in and see how they were doing (Elizabeth Shown Mills, comp., Natchitoches Church Marriages, 1818–1850, 27, 29, with thanks to Linda Flores and Patricia R. Leme´e). Ce´saire Lafitte and his younger brother Louis said that in 1796 they had received the huge Las Hormigas grant of 52,390 acres (House Document 49 [1836], 80 –81); it was defined as situated between the Sabine and the Bayou ‘‘St. Patrick’’— San Patricio, on the Sabine–De Soto Parish line. Samuel Davenport, however, also claimed this ranch and eventually gained title to it (207,360 acres!) by virtue of a purchase from the 1795 grantee, a nephew of Antonio Gil Ybarbo. As Davenport died in 1824, perhaps his estate was the ‘‘owner’’ living in Natchitoches while Ce´saire stayed on the land and managed the livestock. His kinsmen, Pierre Lafitte among them, had land nearby. For Pierre’s grant of 11,393 acres see ibid., 32–33. Few of the old French settlers were able to retain possession of such sizable grants in the years following Anglo domination, a situation similar to that faced by the Mexicans at Nacogdoches under the Republic of Texas. 206. Bayou Castor (Beaver) still exists; see USGS Shreveport, NI 15-11. 207. The description of Negrillo as a single-seeded (‘‘monospermous’’) fruit in clusters fits Prunus serotina (black cherry), since it is a single-seeded black fruit that is produced in racemes. The true medlar is Mespilus (not found in North America). Reference here is almost certainly to the Virginia persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), which is a large fruit, up to 11⁄2 inches in diameter, and which has superior hard wood. See also n213 below— sc&lm. 208. The ‘‘meridian’’ ran near 94� west longitude, the present boundary between Louisiana and Texas. It sounds as if Tera´n may have left De Soto Parish and wandered into Panola County or thereabouts. In any case, the unnamed owner of

248 notes to pages 117 – 119 the house where Tera´n lodged for the night paid his taxes in Louisiana; a breakdown of those taxes follows in the diary. 209. Not only did Juglans nigra (black walnut) produce edible nuts, but Native Americans also used the bark for lashing and rope and the wood for tool manufacture and building construction. We cannot assume that Tera´n knew all the reasons for the felling of these trees, but there is substantial ethnobotanical documentation of aborigines throughout the world chopping down trees for utilitarian purposes— sc&lm. 210. ‘‘Bayou Sapin’’ is difficult to identify with certainty, because of the erratic course the expedition was taking, but Tera´n is headed in the general direction of Shreveport. 211. Probably James Coat, or Coates, based on Tera´n’s entry for the 29th; see n219 below. 212. The region of the great raft on Darby’s map bears the legend: ‘‘This space is intersected with innumerable water courses, the ground low and annually overflown. Various kinds of timber natural to inundated lands grow here, such as Cypress, Thorn, Elm, etc.’’ A copy is at the Historic New Orleans Collection, later editions at the Newberry Library Chicago. 213. Judging from Tera´n’s description, Cass Lake was likely what is now called Cross Lake, adjoining Shreveport. In 1824 Ce´zare Wallace claimed 640 acres on a small branch of Cass Lake, which he occupied prior to 1819 (House Document 49 [1836], 16). It is also possible that Cass Lake later became Wallace Lake, named for the clan discussed in n222 below. Louis Rafael Nardini (My Historic Natchitoches, Louisiana, & Its Environment, 152), however, identifies Cass Lake as being near present-day Evelyn. That location is not consistent with Tera´n’s other evidence, which tells us that he was in the vicinity of modern-day Shreveport and suggests that Cross Lake was what he intended. Tera´n wrote that the name for the lake in the Caddo language was equivalent to the Spanish nı´spero, or medlar (Mespilus germanica); on it and the persimmon—with which it was often confused—see Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 296n17, and n207 above. 214. No doubt Tera´n’s phonetic spelling of what was the extensive Tso’to, Sodo, Soder, or Soda Lake, which once covered much of Caddo Parish west of the Red River above Shreveport (Flores, ed., Jefferson & Southwestern Exploration, 145n35 and maps on 137, 152–153). 215. Lake Bistineau still exists. ‘‘Nacke’’ is harder to specify, but it is spelled ‘‘Backe’’ in Ms. S-314, which means it was probably Bayou Bodcau. This lake was formerly extensive, as shown on Darby’s 1816 map. Tera´n saw neither lake/bayou, and his information came from his host, with Tera´n attempting to spell in Spanish what he heard in either French or English. 216. Reference is to the March 13, 1826, letter which Col. James B. Many sent to the president and the Courier des Natchitoches concerning the two-month exploration that Captain Birch and Lieutenant Lee conducted of the raft. Upon their return to Fort Jesup they reported that the river was jammed with logs for a hun-

notes to pages 120 – 121

249

dred miles above Natchitoches. Colonel Many thought the Sabine might permit steamboat navigation as an alternative and suggested an ‘‘excursion’’ to scout the possibilities. 217. For the Pecan Point settlement and neighborhood during these years, see Steely, Six Months from Tennessee, 99–157. 218. Taxodium distichum (bald cypress, southern cypress) grows along waterways from the Edwards Plateau eastward to Illinois and Delaware and Florida. It is highly likely that Taxodiums, not the trees known in the United States as ‘‘cedars,’’ were felled by flooding and caused the dams of the great raft. Juniperus virginiana is a dry land tree and does not typically grow in masses along bodies of water—sc&lm. 219. James Coat (Coats, Coates) was an early resident of the Shreveport area, his house being in what became the Stoner Hill section. ‘‘Coates Bluff’’ appears on Henry Shreve’s 1833 map of the great raft ( J. Fair Hardin, ‘‘An Outline of Shreveport and Caddo Parish History,’’ Louisiana Historical Quarterly 18 [October 1935]: 768, 788–789). It seems clear that he was the cultured Indian trader Tera´n first mentions on October 28, staying at his house until November 1. 220. Probably either the McLeod-Carr trading post or the house of Larkin Edwards nearby (ibid.). 221. It is difficult to say who this ‘‘alcalde’’ of Bayou Pierre was in 1828. More than likely he was a local justice of the peace, such as A. C. Kimball or Hugh McGuffin. Haden Edwards’s son-in-law Chichester Chaplin also functioned briefly in this capacity for Natchitoches Parish, as did one ‘‘Buvard Soaman,’’ who received his appointment as justice of the peace in 1823 from Natchitoches Parish Judge John C. Carr. Soaman was especially authorized to ‘‘celebrate’’ marriages (Blake, Transcripts 11: 170, 384; 12: 157, and Supplement 11: 172). During the Neutral Ground period (1806–1821), civil affairs for the Bayou Pierre jurisdiction were handled by Marcel (‘‘Manuel’’) de Soto, who as alcalde or sı´ndico regularly reported to Spanish officials at Nacogdoches. Once the Adams-Onı´s Treaty was ratified by Spain and the United States (1821) and Fort Jesup was established to preserve law and order between the Red and Sabine Rivers (1822), Americans began to take control of these matters. For outlying areas like Bayou Pierre, this transition was slow, and Natchitoches remained the administrative center for the entire district, or parish. Soto, 70 years old in 1828, may still have been considered the alcalde by old-timers (for marriages at least), but it is odd that Tera´n would neither mention his advanced age nor his Hispanic origin. Thus, Kimball and McGuffin seem better candidates for the alcalde of Bayou Pierre who was tending to matrimonial affairs in the absence of a priest. 222. ‘‘Wales’’ in Ms. S-314. The presence of the Wallace family in this area dates back at least to the 1790s, when ‘‘Sam the Englishman’’ (Santiago, or James, Wallace) was noted as living on the Arroyo de San Juan. This James (also called Jacques) married Marie Hyacinthe Gagne in 1795, and they were living at ‘‘Nabancha.’’ His parents were Joseph Wallace and Dene´e Bertrand, said to be residents of the ‘‘Cotedoche’’ (Cadodacho?) post. James and Marie had the following children:

250 notes to page 121 Etienne Ce´zar, Pierre Neuville, James (who married Mary Glass), Maximillian Etienne, and Belize (who married Marcel de Soto, Jr.). It appears that there were several family groups of Wallaces living along the Red River during this era, because in 1805 Jose´ Marı´a Guadiana recorded five American families living to the east of the Sabine, one of which was headed by Elena Wallace, a widow with three sons: Jacob (aged 35), Thomas (25), and Benjamin (23). When Thomas married in 1813 en (illegible) and stated he listed his parents as Jose´ ‘‘Wales’’ and Line´e Bals that he was a native of Opelousas. Line´e was most likely the Elena noted as a widow on the 1805 census, but the marriage and baptismal records at Natchitoches tend to be confusing for this family because of similar names with different spellings that extend over several generations. All of these individuals appear on the April 1810 Spanish censuses of foreigners in the Nacogdoches jurisdiction living at Bayou Pierre. Santiago ( James) ‘‘Guales’’ is shown as an Englishman, aged 56, at ‘‘Mabancha’’ on San Juan Creek (in the area known today as Wallace Lake in Caddo Parish). Another 1810 list of ranchers has Santiago Wales ‘‘and his brothers’’ living in the ‘‘English section’’ 40 leagues north of the settlement of Bayou Pierre. Jacob and Thomas evidently lived with their mother (Helena), who had four slaves. When Tera´n came through eighteen years later, only three Wallaces appear on the Neutral Ground land records: Maximillian, Caesar, and Thomas. ‘‘Ce´zare’’ in 1824 claimed 640 acres bought at the estate sale of Pierre Wallace (probably his brother). The tract lay on a small bayou which emptied into Te´rre Noir Lake, bounded on the east by Thomas’s lands; another tract was on a small branch of Cass Lake. Thomas Wallace, son of Jose´ or Joseph, filed for two tracts on Te´rre Noir. From Tera´n’s description, which follows in the text, he was probably at the home of Thomas, for whom Wallace Lake below Shreveport is said to be named. A decade later this residence served as the first seat of justice for Caddo Parish. From the available records it is evident that this was an old, large, and influential family in the Bayou Pierre district and was scattered all the way from present-day Wallace Lake south to Te´rre Noir Lake (now Sibley Lake, just west of Natchitoches). Some Wallace descendant would have fertile ground to plow in writing a history of this notable clan. Sources: Natchitoches birth and marriage records; personal communications from Patricia R. Leme´e and Linda Flores; House Document (1836) 16, 23, 74–75; Hardin, ‘‘An Outline of Shreveport and Caddo Parish History,’’ 764; Jackson, Los Mesten˜os, 440, 625, 628; Catherine Vines Davis, ‘‘Anglo American Settlers in the Neutral Strip,’’ Nachitoches Genealogist X (October 1985): 1–3. 223. The identity of this teacher is unknown, but the Wallaces were also of Scottish origin, despite being called English or American by Spanish census takers, so he may have been a kinsman. 224. For the bitter 1828 election between Adams and Jackson, see Robert V. Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Freedom, 1822–1832, 116–147. 225. The interpreter for the Caddos was Larkin (or Larken) Edwards, a long-

notes to pages 122 – 123

251

time resident of the region, probably before the government factory (trading post) operated on the Sulphur Fork, 1818–1822. His wife was a Caddo, and his son John W. Edwards served as the Quapaw interpreter. Living with them were sonsin-law James Shenich and Jacob Irwin, the latter also on the government payroll as the agency’s gunsmith and blacksmith (Carter, Caddo Indians, 263; Hardin, ‘‘An Outline of Shreveport and Caddo Parish History,’’ 764, 788–789). Guapanaquı´s (spelled ‘‘Guapanaquees’’ in Ms. S-314) possibly refers to the Quapaws; see n229 below. 226. At this time, in the final year of the John Q. Adams administration, Thomas L. McKenney was superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, answering to Secretary of War James Barbour. McKenney served during the period when Indian removal became openly sanctioned national policy, and though he came to believe that removal was the Indians’ only salvation, his views were not radical enough to suit the incoming president, Andrew Jackson, who replaced him rather abruptly in October 1830 (Horan, McKenney-Hall, 93–104). 227. ‘‘Grees’’ was George Gray, who died shortly after Tera´n visited. He moved the Caddo agency from Natchitoches to the Sulphur Fork in 1821, and moved it again four years later back down to Caddo Prairie across Tso’to (Soda) Lake from Dehahuit’s village. His successor, Jeheil Brooks, moved it yet again in 1830 (Foreman, Indians & Pioneers, 263; Carter, Caddo Indians, 258–259, 386 [who spells it ‘‘Grey’’ ]; Smith, The Caddo Indians, 109, 113–115). 228. Edwards’s son-in-law Jacob Irwin; see n225 above. 229. Dehahuit had requested this annuity for allowing dispersed Louisiana tribes and the Quapaws to settle on Caddo lands. When the Quapaws arrived en masse from their ceded Arkansas lands in 1826, difficulties arose and the Quapaws were soon petitioning the governor of Arkansas to allow them to return home (Carter, Caddo Indians, 258–259; Smith, The Caddo Indians, 112–114). 230. An exaggeration, of course, if one considers the untamed tribes of the northern plains, but fairly accurate concerning the tribes east of the Mississippi. Removal took place throughout the 1820s, culminating with Jackson’s Indian Removal Bill of 1830. By the end of that decade even the relatively civilized, peaceful, and prosperous eastern Cherokees were driven into Oklahoma along their tragic ‘‘Trail of Tears.’’ On Jackson’s role in forming and executing this policy, both before and after he became president, see Michael P. Rogin, Fathers and Children: Andrew Jackson and the Subjugation of the American Indian. 231. For the missions among the ‘‘Wasas’’ (Osages)—which also attempted to serve other tribes in Indian Territory—see Foreman, Indians & Pioneers, 123–126. 232. Thomas Wallace married Marı´a Hortense Bertrand on August 9, 1813 (Mills, comp., Natchitoches, 1800 –1826, 169, entry #1030). If Tera´n was at Thomas’s house, she was the wife who impressed him as so courteous to travelers in the Cajun tradition. 233. The annual budget for the Indian Bureau under McKenney between 1825

252 notes to page 124 and 1830 ranged from $150,000 to $156,000. Tera´n, an abstemious man, would have been shocked to know that the cost for Indian delegations visiting Washington, D.C., sometimes ran as high as $12,000, the bar bill alone running into thousands of dollars (Horan, McKenney-Hall, 82, 84, 159). By contrast, the Mexican Congress appropriated only 15,000 pesos for Tera´n’s entire inspection (Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 49–50). 234. They are probably in the neighborhood of Carmel, or slightly to the southwest, around Mansfield. Historians have long differed about exactly where the old villa (town) of Bayou Pierre was in the early years of the nineteenth century. A claim has been made for Carmel, in De Soto Parish, but this development did not come until the 1880s, when Carmelite priests arrived and began serving the district’s Catholics. See Blaise C. D’Antoni, ‘‘Bayou Pierre, Land of Yesteryear,’’ De Soto Plume (1980): 245–251, reference kindly provided by Linda Flores. Nardini (My Historic Natchitoches, 120), however, places it considerably closer to the stream on Hwy. 174, three miles southwest of Lake End in the King Hill area along the Natchitoches–Red River Parish line. Although Nardini’s book contains many transcription errors of documents used (which are rarely cited) and is scoffed at by academic historians, he knew the area around Natchitoches upward into the Bayou Pierre district ‘‘like the back of his hand.’’ Consequently, his comments and maps can be helpful, especially concerning place names no longer in use. Maps of the period show the upriver road from Natchitoches to the Caddos (which ran through the settlement of Bayou Pierre) a good way east of Carmel—around where Nardini locates it. For example, see the Puelles 1808 manuscript map (in Jackson, ‘‘Father Jose´ Marı´a de Jesu´s Puelles and the Maps of Pichardo’s Document 74’’) and the Darby 1816 published map, both of which name district settlers and place their houses along the road. Furthermore, the Puelles map marks the 1806 encampment of Simo´n de Herrera’s troops while at Bayou Pierre, showing it very near the houses of Soto and Lafitte. 235. Tera´n must mean southwest on this (and possibly the preceding) entry, as the Wallace home was most likely near Wallace Lake. Palvado’s house on the Sabine, as noted, was only a mile from the 32� point, near what would later be Logansport. Overall, the journey from the Shreveport vicinity to the Sabine crossing is on a south-southwest slant, but as Tera´n recorded 37 miles from Wallace’s house to Palvado’s, he did not follow a direct course as the crow flies. Going southeast on both days would have taken him down the Bayou Pierre (stream) toward Natchitoches, not southwestward toward the Sabine at 32� latitude. 236. This is Tera´n’s first reference to Col. Peter Ellis Bean’s presence on the expedition. 237. On guide Roubleau, see n191 above. From the following day’s entry it is clear that Tera´n did not visit the villa of Bayou Pierre and that he was west of the trail that ran from the Caddos to Natchitoches and passed through the settlement. The men who were responsible for the baggage probably took the known route down to Bayou Pierre and then got lost trying to find a way to meet Tera´n at

notes to pages 125 – 128

253

Palvado’s, which was well above the usual road that connected Bayou Pierre to the Camino Real going back to Nacogdoches (modern-day Hwy. 21). 238. This is probably Catalpa bignonioides, or C. speciosa — sc&lm.

diary: trip down the trinity 239. Judging from this, the house of Tera´n’s guide was near the Angelina River in the vicinity of modern-day Kurth Lake. For reference to an October 1827 sale to ‘‘Pierre Robleau’’ of a league of land on the ‘‘Salinas bank of the Angelina River,’’ see Blake, Transcripts 21: 27. This sale, for 200 pesos received, evidently hit some snags, as it was not later acknowledged in state-level land records; we have not searched county records to determine whether the transaction appears, or where Roubleau’s league might have been located. Bean also accompanied the expedition, but it is uncertain whether Sa´nchez went along. We are indebted to Timothy K. Perttula for his comments on this section of Tera´n’s diary. 240. West of Lufkin, or below it, in Angelina County. 241. A Choctaw, if he was the ‘‘Ponche Mishe’’ who complained to Lowery Hampton about a white man who gave him a counterfeit $100 bank bill. Hampton thought this fellow’s hair would be in danger the next time he ran into the duped Indian (Blake, Transcripts 11: 94). Tera´n’s longer report in his Noticia estimates the ‘‘Chactas’’ at only 10 dispersed families, but his second report includes the ‘‘Iguane´s’’ (Yowani Choctaws), for another 40 families scattered along the Attoyac, Neches, and Angelina Rivers. See also Berlandier, Indians (109, 127), and his Plate 8 for a finished drawing of an ‘‘Ygane´s’’ couple based on a missing sketch by Jose´ Marı´a Sa´nchez. The Choctaw reserve in Indian Territory lay just above the Red River, but they were slow to move into it. Superintendent McKenney, trying to speed things up, visited them in October 1827. During the closing months of 1828, Choctaw and Chickasaw delegations inspected the new lands to determine their suitability, but a number of tribesmen were already living along the Red River in Louisiana and others had drifted across the Sabine into Texas (Foreman, Indians & Pioneers, 262–272). 242. Concerning the linguistic link to the Chickasaws, Tera´n may have intended to say Choctaws rather than Alabamas, but see n244 below. The 1827 John A. Williams map, reproduced as our Figure 20, is very helpful in locating the Indian villages between the Neches and Trinity Rivers mentioned in Tera´n’s account; trails like the Alabama Trace are also indicated. A ‘‘Beluxy’’ village appears on the east bank of the Neches. About this tribe see Berlandier, Indians, 105. 243. Tera´n was probably at the Alabama village marked on the Williams map as being on the Neches River, downstream from the ‘‘Beluxy’’ village mentioned in n242. Considerable work has been done on the Alabamas (and their relatives, the Coushattas), possibly because they were able to avoid Lamar’s expulsion policy, stay in Texas, and even keep their reservation. See the excellent entry in Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 1: 77–81, and the survey of sources for these tribes by Daniel J. Gelo

254 notes to pages 129 – 130 and Tammy J. Morales, ‘‘The Alabama-Coushatta Indians: An Annotated Bibliography,’’ East Texas Historical Journal 33 (1995): 35– 63, supplemented by Timothy K. Perttula, ‘‘Alabama-Coushatta Indian Ethnographic, Historical, and Archeological References,’’ East Texas Historical Journal 35 (1997): 11–16. The most recent study is Jonathan B. Hook, The Alabama-Coushatta Indians, which concentrates more on exploring modern-day ‘‘personal and communal ethnic identity’’ (99) than archival sources. 244. Tera´n is correct. See James M. Crawford, The Mobilian Trade Language. 245. Berlandier (Indians, 104) estimated the Alabamas at 60 –100 families numbering 600 persons; Tera´n’s Noticia put them at only 35 families. In 1819 Juan Antonio Padilla (‘‘Report,’’ 50) listed them as 600 in three pueblos near the Bidais on the Trinity River, but their main population centers were closer to the Neches and its tributaries to the southwest; at one time these streams bore the names Big and Little Alabama Creeks. Seemingly the most accurate census was that taken in April 1831 by Land Commissioner Jose´ Francisco Madero. His report (GLO, box 127, folder 35) says that they numbered 370, broken down into 103 families, 100 single men, and 64 single women. They were situated on the west bank of the Neches in three small villages (all appear on Williams’s map, plus an ‘‘old’’ village no longer inhabited) in what are now northern Tyler and adjoining Polk Counties. These villages had 69 well-constructed houses, and the Alabamas were considered a prosperous people. Their chiefs were Talajtah (also called Tallustah, or Valiant) and Oppaya. The 4,351-acre Alabama-Coushatta Reservation is in Polk County, east of Livingston along Hwy. 190. No plate of the Alabamas illustrates Berlandier’s Indians, but presumably they dressed much like their Coushatta kin. 246. ‘‘Long-needled pines’’ is probably a reference to trees of Pinus palustris — sc&lm. 247. Tera´n is probably describing the effects of high-velocity winds such as those that struck east Texas forestlands on February 10, 1998, knocking down trees in a northeasterly swath 100 miles long; for lack of a better explanation, it has been termed the ‘‘Texas Blowdown Incident.’’ Approximately 103,000 acres were flattened, and of the four national forests in Texas, only Davy Crockett National Forest lay out of the storm’s path. See the article in the Austin American-Statesman, June 21, 1998. While thankfully rare, it would appear that such winds strike the Texas pine forests more than commonly supposed. During the 1767 inspection of the Marque´s de Rubı´, damage to trees in the Angelina River area from ‘‘hurricanes’’ was also noted ( Jack Jackson, ed., and William C. Foster, annot., Imaginary Kingdom: Texas as Seen by the Rivera and Rubı´ Military Expeditions, 1727 and 1767, 131). Even today there are a number of Hurricane Creeks and Hurricane Bayous in the Piney Woods, including one south of Lufkin that drains into the Neches River. 248. Possibly Caney Creek in Tyler County around Chester. If so, they were planning to take the Alabama Trace southwest to the Trinity River. See Williams’s 1827 map for this route to the Lower Coushatta village.

notes to pages 130 – 133

255

249. Tera´n’s ‘‘reeds’’ (carrizo) are probably Arundinaria gigantea, the giant cane that formed the famed canebreaks of the southeastern region. Until the 1930s this cane was widely used as a source of pasturage, and it once covered thousands of acres in east Texas and the coastal plains as far south as Wharton. Because it does provide such excellent pasturage, Arundinaria has almost been obliterated in its native habitat— sc&lm. 250. This is a mountain lion (Felis concolor Linnaeus), and cuguar is one of the Spanish names for that species. It appears that either Bean or Roubleau recognized the distinction between the two forms of this cat described by many explorers as the cougar and the panther. See Weniger, The Explorers’ Texas 2: 84– 94. 251. This ‘‘large arroyo’’ is indicated on the Williams map as Cypress Creek. It could be any one of a number of streams that run through the Big Thicket National Preserve, possibly the headwaters of what is now Menard Creek. On bears in Texas, see ibid., 55– 62. According to Weniger’s analysis, this was probably the Louisiana black bear (Ursus americanus luteolus Griffith). 252. Presumably an evergreen, since it is being observed in December. The laurel to which he refers would probably be the true laurel, Laurus nobilis (bay tree), which is not found in Texas. It is possible that Tera´n saw Persea borbonia (red bay), another member of the laurel family, which has leaves that have been used for seasoning foods and beverages. Another possibility would be the Ilex opaca (American holly), of the Aquifoliaceae (holly) family, whose evergreen leaves superficially resemble those of laurel— sc&lm. 253. Although difficult to determine because of Tera´n’s failure to mention consistently the distance and/or direction being taken on his approach to the Trinity River, this appears to be the Lower Coushatta village of which Calita was chief. It was located on the Logan league in a horseshoe bend of the Trinity in present-day San Jacinto County (Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 1: 78). According to Madero’s 1831 census, it had 30 or 40 detached houses containing 56 families, 57 single men, and 64 single women. One must exercise caution in identifying various Coushatta villages on the Trinity because they shifted, as did county lines. For example, a GLO map of Liberty County drawn in 1840 has ‘‘Colita’s’’ village in the extreme northeastern corner of the county. There are also problems of distance from other known locations, as will be mentioned when Tera´n returns upriver to this village. 254. Spelled the usual way, ‘‘Bahı´a de Galveston,’’ in Ms. S-314. Use of the variant ‘‘Galveztown’’ suggests that the copyist was aware of the printed map of the bay issued by the Spanish Hydrographic Service in 1809; that map compounded the error by spelling it ‘‘Galvez-towm.’’ The maritime atlas containing this chart and many others was reissued by an independent Mexico in 1825. 255. No doubt Amos Green, who on the 1826 Atascosito census is shown as a 44-year-old native of Georgia married to Sarah Hunt and with four children. They came to Texas from Mississippi, and he listed his occupation as millwright, farmer, and stock raiser. His 1831 land grant appears on the east bank of the Trinity River

256 notes to pages 133 – 135 around present-day Knights Forest, Liberty County. See the rear endpapers map in Miriam Partlow, Liberty, Liberty County, and the Atascosito District and p. 330 for the census entry. 256. See ibid., 66, for a summary of the 1826 Atascosito census showing 407 persons, counting 76 slaves. As seen by the following day’s entry, Tera´n stayed at Green’s house while Bean traveled down to Atascosito for supplies. 257. Reference is possibly to alcalde George Orr of Atascosito, who (like most settlers) had a small craft for transporting goods on Galveston Bay ( Jean L. Epperson, Lost Spanish Towns: Atascosito and Trinidad de Salcedo, 80 – 91). 258. This trail appears on the 1827 Williams map, connecting Atascosito with the Lower Coushatta village. Note that Tera´n says they were having to take another route, probably why his distance estimate varies 9 miles from the trip down. Oddly, he recorded 39 miles from the village to Green’s plantation but only 30 miles on the return, when flooded conditions necessitated using the ‘‘very narrow trail’’ instead of the normal road. 259. These remarks, despite the difference in distance traveled, make it clear that Tera´n was back at the Coushatta village first seen on December 9. 260. Ms. S-314 does not contain an entry for the 23rd, but our document, Ms. S-313 does. This indicates that Ms. S-314 is not Tera´n’s original diary but a later copy in which the copyist (either Tera´n or someone else) skipped this day’s entry. Neither diary bears a signature. 261. Long King’s village was near the confluence of Tempe and Long King’s Creeks, several miles north of the Lake Livingston Dam on the Trinity River. Although Tyler et al. (eds., NHOT 1: 78) say that there were three Coushatta villages on the Trinity at this time, Long King’s being the ‘‘middle’’ site, most maps of the day, e.g., the Williams 1827 map and draft stages of Austin’s 1830 published map, show only two: an upper and a lower. Also helpful in locating these two villages (the upper specified as Long King’s) is a map at the National Archives, RG 76, box 17, claim #205, brought to our attention by Galen Greaser. It covers the same area as the 1827 Williams map and shows surveys made for the Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company just before the Revolution. This manuscript map served as the basis for the Trinity River portion of the map that appears in David Woodman’s Guide to Texas Emigrants (1835). Padilla’s ‘‘Report’’ (50) in 1819 gives the ‘‘Conchate’’ population at 500. Tera´n’s Noticia (134) lists them as 50 families, while Berlandier (Indians, 124) puts them as 50 – 60 families, for a population of 400. Madero’s 1831 census counts only two east-bank villages, for a total population of 426. If his ‘‘upper’’ village was where Tera´n’s party stopped long enough for a snack, it had 25 houses of wood and others of inferior material, home to 64 families, 31 single men, and 40 single women. Long King was the principal chief of the tribe, along with two subchiefs: Nekimaja (also called Nekima) and Keleite, known to the whites as Kalita or Calita (Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 4: 281, and Madero’s report in GLO, box 127, folder 35). See

notes to pages 136 – 139

257

Plate 11 in Berlandier, Indians, for a finished sketch of two ‘‘Cutchate’’ men, based on a preliminary drawing by Jose´ Marı´a Sa´nchez. 262. Although not so indicated, Tera´n’s party is probably using one of the Indian trails that linked the Coushatta villages on the Trinity to the Alabama settlements on the Neches. On these ‘‘traces,’’ see Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 1: 81; 2: 373–374; 4: 281, and the 1827 Williams map (our Figure 20). But Tera´n seems to have followed a more north-northeastward trajectory between Lake Livingston and the Neches than the map shows and likely used part of ‘‘Long King’s Trace.’’ He arrived the next day at the Alabama village described earlier. He records 45 miles without giving the directions taken between the two points. 263. This parenthetical remark concerning a notebook is not in Ms. S-314 and was evidently added by the copyist. We are unaware of its contents and do not know even if it exists. 264. ‘‘Poncho-Michi’’ in Ms. S-314, spelled the same way at Tera´n’s first encounter on November 30; see n241 above. 265. Interestingly, Tera´n’s guide, ‘‘Pedro Rublo,’’ merchant Thomas McKinney, and several other individuals filed petitions on April 27, 1829 (BA), concerning navigation rights to the Attoyac, Angelina, Neches, and Sabine Rivers. It is uncertain how this matter was decided, but Roubleau obviously felt his warm relationship with Tera´n would advance the scheme. McKinney later transferred his energy to developing Galveston as a port city, among other endeavors (Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 4: 420). 266. Tera´n’s frustration is reflected in a map of the Trans-Sabine region associated with the Boundary Commission and said to be by him (CAH); it is reproduced in Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 81. Morton (140n9) mentions another such map, submitted with a Tera´n letter to Lucas Alama´n dated March 15, 1830, but contrary to what Morton says, no ‘‘photostatic copy’’ of it is now with the Guerra transcripts at CAH (box 2Q171, vol. 327). On p. 185 of the transcript a map title is given, however, the same as cited for a missing Tera´n map that Bolton saw in the Relaciones Exteriores archive early in the twentieth century (Guide, 224). The fate of this map ‘‘based upon Mier y Tera´n’s expeditions of 1828’’ is uncertain, but from the title it would appear to depict lands in the boundary reserve where Tera´n wished to congregate all the illegal squatters in east Texas, both Anglo and Indian. Further, the notes indicate that it showed Tera´n’s trip down the Trinity River, and we must hope that this map will someday be found in the Mexican archives. See Map List entry 80N in Jackson, Shooting the Sun.

diary: nacogdoches to matamoros 267. Not in Ms. S-314; seemingly added to Ms. S-313 by the copyist. 268. On the political upheavals in Mexico that necessitated Tera´n’s return, see Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 77–80.

258 notes to pages 140 – 143 269. This tributary of the Angelina River currently bears the name Bayou Loco; see n117 above for Sa´nchez’s reference to it. 270. On these mounds, see Dee Ann Story, A Preliminary Report of the 1968, 1969, and 1970 Excavations at the George C. Davis Site, Cherokee County, Texas, and her ‘‘1968–1970 Archeological Investigations at the George C. Davis Site, Cherokee County, Texas,’’ Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 68 (1997): 1–113. 271. On Father Puelles’s 1807 map (in Jackson, ‘‘Father Jose´ Marı´a de Jesu´s Puelles and the Maps of Pichardo’s Document 74’’) an east-bank tributary of the Trinity River is named San Nicola´s. No doubt the stream was in the vicinity of Tera´n’s paraje. See Map 9 in Wilson and Jackson, Philip Nolan and Texas; another version appears in Robert S. Martin, ‘‘Maps of an Empresario: Austin’s Contribution to the Cartography of Texas,’’ SWHQ LXXXV (April 1982): 376–377. 272. We have no information on the Llano de las Mesten˜as paraje, except that it was probably in the neighborhood of Trinidad de Salcedo—marked ‘‘Old Town’’ on several of the maps cited in n261 above. 273. They are back at the same crossing of the Trinity used on the trip east. As Tera´n originally predicted, Zertuche didn’t live long; he died on May 31, 1831. James Cochran, on behalf of the latter’s minor son (not grandson) Jose´ Candelario, took action to secure what amounted to a floating land certificate for the headright league to which Zertuche was entitled. Cochran, for reasons unknown, was named administrator of the estate and tutor for the child. Unfortunately, 10-year-old Jose´ died in 1835, and Cochran, on November 28 of that year, published notice that the Zertuche league and about 100 head of cattle would be auctioned at his store in San Felipe to settle the estate. Cochran (or the buyer) must have located this land certificate elsewhere, because Zertuche’s old place at the Trinity crossing had already been acquired from the Mexican government by Nathaniel Robbins in 1834. Four years later his son Joshua secured the adjoining west-bank riverfront property; John Durst had received a large grant on the opposite (east) bank in 1834. Neither Leakey nor Tate was mentioned in these proceedings; see n100 above. Sources: Collection Two of Probate Files, Austin County; Kevin Ladd, comp., Gone to Texas: Genealogical Abstracts from the Telegraph and Texas Register, 1835–1841, 2; Gifford White, comp., The First Settlers of Austin County, Texas, 111—with thanks to Jean L. Epperson for the references. The Nacogdoches ayuntamiento charged ferryboat operators in the jurisdiction fees for the privilege of doing business. As the annual tax for the Trinity crossing of the Camino Real was only 20 pesos, small wonder that Tera´n complained about his 6 peso toll (Blake, Supplement 16: 121–122). 274. The genus Turdus does not include the crows, which are in the genus Corvus. The turkey vulture is Corvus auras, now Cathartes aura Linnaeus—dw. On Corvus mexicanus, see Flores, ed., Jefferson & Southwestern Exploration, 223n69. The nocturnal hooting of owls was noticed by many Texas travelers, but we will not speculate on the ones Tera´n likened to ‘‘human laughter.’’ 275. Sandstone de amolar is of the whetstone variety.

notes to pages 143 – 145

259

276. See nn 85 and 92 above. He spells Holland’s name right but gives Jaranames with the variant ‘‘X.’’ Ms. S-314 has the departure time as 7 : 00. 277. See n80 above (La Virgen). Leaving the road ‘‘to our left’’ indicates that it ran east of Groce’s house and that the house was not on the road but west of it. 278. This sentence is not in Ms. S-314 and was probably added by the ‘‘editor’’ of Tera´n’s diary. We are unaware of the incident referred to, unless it was the notorious case that came before the Nacogdoches alcalde in mid-1828 involving Elijah Lloyd, an Attoyac settler, who set his dogs on a slave named Jennie. She was seriously injured and was later found hiding in the riverbottom. Despite having John Durst as his attorney, Lloyd was pronounced guilty and ordered to set the woman free. The testimony is found in Blake, Supplement 16: 86– 96, 107, 132. Perhaps Sa´nchez(?), when drafting this copy, remembered Jennie’s ‘‘adventure’’ and made a note to himself to include it later, but this is only a guess and does not account for the ‘‘M.’’ 279. Tera´n’s description shows his interest in useful machinery, which was often lacking on the haciendas of Mexico. The gin he described sounds like a modification of Eli Whitney’s 1793 invention, which revolutionized the cotton industry in the South and made slavery essential to the wealthy planter class. Groce’s son Leonard brought the first gin in Austin’s colony to Texas from Georgia (Karen Britton, Bale O’ Cotton, 23). 280. Anglo Americans were so accustomed to this method of clearing land that they seldom mentioned it. See George Harvey’s 1840 watercolor of a settler amidst girdled, dead trees, the effect indeed being ‘‘melancholy’’ (Tera´n’s description). The picture is reproduced in The Pioneer Spirit, by the editors of American Heritage (New York, 1959), 137. 281. See n78 above (Groce). 282. Considering the rabid antislavery views of most of the influential, progressive Mexican politicos at the time, this is a rather benign assessment of the largest slaveholder in Texas, Jared E. Groce. It contrasts with young Pavie’s view of slavery and slaves encountered in east Texas, as well as with Tera´n’s earlier remarks on the subject. 283. Weniger (The Explorers’ Texas 2: 94– 96) describes the ocelot (Felis pardalis Linnaeus) and reproduces two prints of this small animal, prized for its ‘‘most beautifully spotted’’ skin by both Anglo and Indian hunters. There were no actual tigers in Texas; animals described as such were either jaguars or ocelots. 284. Given as 30�1� in Ms. S-314, a less-accurate reading than the one given here. 285. Tera´n is using the ferry at Groce’s Landing rather than the one farther down the Brazos River at San Felipe. Consequently, he follows a slightly more northern route to reach the Colorado. It was known as the ‘‘Magdalena Road’’ because of the crossing of the same name at Groce’s plantation, and it connected to the Old Gonzales Road near Beeson’s. In 1993 the Texas General Land Office pub-

260 notes to pages 146 – 150 lished a map called Austin’s Colony, 1821–1836, which is very useful for its carefully researched depiction of these roads, based on documentation at the GLO. 286. The Colorado crossing appears to have been made at modern Columbus, meaning that Tera´n had to go downriver a bit to reach Beeson’s house; see n44 above. This ford—if Tera´n crossed the Colorado above the site used on his earlier trip, instead of downriver from Beeson’s at the Atascosito crossing—was later known as Dewees crossing. In either case, from Beeson’s Tera´n strikes a route southward to reach Victoria and Goliad, rather than proceeding westward to Gonzales over his earlier route. 287. Zancona, meaning ‘‘long-legged,’’ probably refers to aquatic birds. 288. Clopper (‘‘J. C. Clopper’s Journal,’’ 65, 77) also noted the Lavaca as the lower limit of Austin’s colony, though he saw it on the Old Gonzales Road—the same road earlier traveled by Tera´n; see n35. 289. Meeting the mail suggests that Tera´n was on the so-called Atascosito Road rather than traveling across country without benefit of a beaten path. The Atascosito Road linked the settlements of Goliad and Victoria to Louisiana, via San Felipe and Atascosito on the lower Trinity, hence, its name. This route should not be confused with the La Bahı´a Road, which connected Goliad to Nacogdoches and ran above the Atascosito Road. As seen, Tera´n used the La Bahı´a Road between the Brazos River and Nacogdoches, but did not travel its lower segment on any of his journeys. 290. This was not the Garcitas but the Arenoso, as the entry for the following day reveals. There is a marginal note in Ms. S-313 that corrects the mistake. 291. Modern-day Garcitas Creek. The recent discovery of eight iron cannon buried on its banks has established the Garcitas as the location of La Salle’s fort and has finally put to rest the protracted controversy on this subject. 292. Martı´n de Leo´n’s original petition was dated April 8, 1824, and was favorably acted on by the provincial delegation five days later. On this colony, see A. B. J. Hammett, The Empresario Martı´n de Leo´n; Ana Carolina Castillo Crimm, ‘‘Finding Their Way’’ in Gerald E. Poyo, ed., Tejano Journey, 1770 –1850, 111–132; and her ‘‘Success in Adversity: The Mexican Americans of Victoria County, Texas, 1800 –1880’’ (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, 1994). 293. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 382–384) came to see Tera´n at Victoria and wrote an interesting description of Leo´n’s colony along with population figures. In 1826 the ethnically ‘‘mixed colony’’ had 88 residents, counting only 3 slaves. In 1828 the number dropped to around 70 inhabitants (7 of whom were farmers) but rose again in 1829 to 47 families, for a total of 100 individuals. He also gives stock figures and a disparaging picture of the colony’s founder: ‘‘He was a capricious man who imperiously commanded everyone. He sometimes intrigued unscrupulously to make a family abandon lands which it had cleared and which that great man coveted, either for himself or for others.’’ Martı´n de Leo´n’s ‘‘dishonesty,’’ judged Berlandier (ibid., 384), was ‘‘one of the great obstacles to the prosperity of that colony.’’

notes to pages 150 – 151

261

Nonetheless, Leo´n’s colony was considered a success by standards of the day, and it survived the founder’s death in 1833 during the cholera epidemic that ravaged the settlements of Texas, especially those near the coast. 294. Berlandier (ibid., 382) notes that Martı´n de Leo´n gathered his small colony and honored Tera´n with a ball at which ‘‘the general danced for the first time . . . never had we seen him give himself over to that amusement.’’ Balls were also given on the following nights, despite the freezing weather (or maybe because of it). 295. Berlandier (ibid., 382–383) describes their accommodations during this terrible cold spell as a ‘‘plank cabin [where] we lived practically on top of each other’’: Tera´n, Elosu´a, Batres, Father Dı´az, Sa´nchez, himself, and ‘‘some other friends.’’ Even with so many people in such a small space, ‘‘we felt a very bitter cold’’; the soldiers of Tera´n’s escort fared even worse, for they were obliged to huddle together outside against the wall opposite the north wind. 296. Berlandier (ibid., 383) says that the Tonkawas promptly jumped into the freezing water, fished out the horse, and ate it, because of their ‘‘wretchedness,’’ i.e., starving condition. He also describes an elderly Tonkawa woman who was so emaciated that she reminded him of a walking Egyptian mummy. 297. Still called the Coleto; for the route taken between Victoria and Goliad, see Berlandier’s map ‘‘Ruta de Goliad a Guadalupe [Victoria] y la Vaca’’ in Ms. S302 (part 2), item 4, Yale University, reproduced as our Figure 22. 298. On this expedition see Castan˜eda, Our Catholic Heritage in Texas VI: 144– 147; Harris G. Warren, The Sword Was Their Passport: A History of American Filibustering in the Mexican Revolution, 146–172. 299. Present-day Manahuilla Creek, a tributary of the San Antonio River that flows just north of Goliad. On how this arroyo received its unusual name, see Father Solı´s’s 1768 diary in SWHQ XXXV ( July 1931): 44, 73. 300. Tera´n’s ‘‘Rı´o de la Bahı´a’’ is the San Antonio River, earlier referred to as the ‘‘Rı´o de Be´jar’’ to distinguish it from the Medina. 301. Berlandier visited La Bahı´a several times, leaving us a detailed description of the town, its missions, its Indians, and a sketch of its environs drawn in 1834 from Mission Espı´ritu Santo across the river. See Journey to Mexico, 369–376, 550 – 552; the sketch is reproduced in Indians, 14, and Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 4: 691. He called the town ‘‘nothing but a pile of houses and huts . . . gathered in disorder around a bulwark which serves as a fortification.’’ It consisted of 650 inhabitants, ‘‘the greater part quite lazy [and] practically without industry,’’ whose only occupation was carting goods from the anchorages on the coast. Remarks such as these, typically made on every Spanish and Mexican inspection conducted in Texas (see ‘‘cautionary’’ note in our Introduction), cause many modern scholars of Texas history to grind their teeth. Tera´n made such remarks, but he also observed how proficient the Mexican soldier-frontiersmen were at overcoming the daily obstacles to travel—hardly lazy behavior, nor was farming with primitive tools, carting goods, or handling wild livestock.

262 notes to pages 152 – 153 302. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 374–375) also comments on how legislation intended to stimulate industry by opening the port of Matagorda had degenerated into the routine confiscation of prohibited goods by local authorities. 303. On the Karankawas and Cujanos (Cujanes) formerly at Mission Refugio, see ibid., 379–382; Berlandier, Indians, 123, 147–149, and Plate 15. 304. Berlandier’s Indians has drawings of both the Aranamas and the Cocos (Figure 16 and Plate 16) as well as a description of the latter tribe (114). Judging from the illustration of a ‘‘Jaraname’’ couple, they were considerably more Hispanicized than the other coastal tribes—possibly why Berlandier did not enumerate them as an Indian group in 1830, even though he showed how they looked. 305. Reference is probably to Franc¸ois de Salignac de La Mothe-Fe´nelon (1651–1715), a much-published French writer on the subject of education. His Telemachus is considered a French classic. 306. The futile labors of Fathers Miguel Muro and Jose´ Antonio Dı´az de Leo´n on behalf of their Indian charges at La Bahı´a and Refugio are outlined by Castan˜eda, Our Catholic Heritage in Texas VI: 321–327, in his chapter ‘‘The Agony of the Church in Texas, 1821–1836.’’ Shortly after Tera´n left La Bahı´a (its name was changed to Goliad on February 4, 1829, by Decree No. 73), Governor Viesca ordered political chief Mu´squiz to carry out the immediate secularization of Missions Espı´ritu Santo and Refugio. Protests by the two missionaries delayed this process until February 1830, at which time the mission lands fell into the possession of the eager citizens (most of them politicians) who had led the effort toward final secularization. 307. Berlandier caught a boat to New Orleans after Tera´n’s departure and described the Copano anchorage in his journal ( Journey to Mexico, 390 –395, 407– 410). Eugenio Navarro ( Jose´ Antonio’s brother) in 1832 drew a plan of Aransas Bay, seen as a foldout opposite p. 110 in William H. Oberste, Texas Irish Empresarios and Their Colonies. Col. Juan N. Almonte, on his 1834 inspection of Texas, obtained a copy of this manuscript map and carried it to Mexico with his ‘‘Secret Report.’’ See BNAH, paquete 51-8-64, document 7/7; another copy of this report, with a variant of Navarro’s map, is at Yale University in Ms. S-326. 308. The copyist neglected to include here some coordinates, placing them instead with Tera´n’s entry of the 26th: ‘‘Solar elevations taken at La Bahı´a at its midday passage. Feb. 17, 1828, Tera´n: 98�26�30�. Feb. 19, Batres: 98�52�0�.’’ In the margin of Ms. S-314 also appears a calculation of latitude: 28�38�15�. 309. See n125 above. Almonte in 1834 recorded that 90,000 furs (at one peso each) were annually exported from the jurisdiction of Nacogdoches. He said that beaver and otter were still abundant, but there were so many hunters that, unless some measure was taken to limit the hunting season, ‘‘the most valuable fur bearing animals will be exterminated’’ (Carlos E. Castan˜eda, trans., ‘‘Statistical Report on Texas [1835] by Juan N. Almonte,’’ SWHQ XXVIII [ January 1925]: 212, 214–215). As seen in Weniger (The Explorers’ Texas 2: 122–123 and 132–134), this process of extermination in east Texas did not take long. The Nacogdoches merchant traveling

notes to pages 153 – 156

263

with Tera´n is unknown, although Thomas McKinney later made trading trips to Mexico and this may have been a ‘‘feeler’’ excursion, taken under the protective wing of Tera´n’s escort. 310. In Ms. S-314 this section is titled ‘‘La Bahı´a to Matamoros.’’ See Berlandier’s 1834 ‘‘Ruta de Matamoros a Goliad,’’ Ms. S-302 (part 2), items 1–3, at Yale University. This map, in three sections, shows the same route taken by Tera´n in 1829 and names all the stops along the way; see our Figure 23 for the approach to Goliad from the south. Tera´n recorded 70.5 leagues (211.5 miles at his 3 per league) between the two towns. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 541–549) described the country in a general fashion instead of giving a strict itinerary. 311. Now Salitre and Rositas Creeks. Tera´n’s southward march on the first leg of his journey can be tracked on USGS Beeville, NH 14-2. 312. Mugerero (‘‘ladies’ man’’ or ‘‘woman chaser’’) is now called Mucorrera Creek. 313. Most of these creeks have retained their Spanish names. Mention of them indicates that Tera´n passed to the west of modern-day Refugio, hitting these tributaries of the Aransas River (‘‘Aranzazu´’’) in lower Bee County. Papalote (creek and community) still bears its original name. 314. This description and region fit the black oak, Quercus marilandica. ‘‘Low mimosas with large thorns’’ may refer to Acacia rigidula (blackbrush acacia), which is low-growing and has significant thorns. Opuntia engelmannii (which has replaced the name O. lindheimeri Engelm.) is the most abundant species of Opuntia in the region— sc&lm. On the prickly pear and other cacti observed in Texas, see the Mullers’ annotation in Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 86, 310, 415, 423, 590. 315. The range of jackrabbits (liebres, or Lepus californicus Gray) is discussed in Weniger, The Explorers’ Texas 2: 148–155. Tera´n seems to be saying that he had not seen them above La Bahı´a on his trip. 316. Probably a tributary of Chiltipin Creek, west of Sinton. 317. Ms. S-314 does not have the ending phrase, which is incorrect and should not have been added by the copyist. They were far east of the Nueces crossing used on the trip between Laredo and San Antonio. By the time Berlandier visited Tera´n’s 1829 crossing place, it had become the settlement of San Patricio ( Journey to Mexico, 547–548). 318. These streams are tributaries of Petronila Creek, which drains into Alazan Bay. They have their same names today, except that Puentecitas is now called Rositas. See USGS Corpus Christi, 27096-A1-TB-250, for tracking Tera´n’s movements in this portion of the diary. 319. San Fernando and Santa Gertrudis both survive as place names, the latter identified with the King Ranch, its breed of cattle, and the city of Kingsville. For the original Santa Gertrudis grant, see the Nueces County map reproduced in Frantz and Cox, Lure of the Land, 34. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 543–544) called the Santa Gertrudis ranch ‘‘a miserable dwelling of shepherds’’ situated on the stream

264 notes to pages 156 – 158 of this name, whose waters were bad-tasting ‘‘when it has not rained’’ and most disagreeable to drink. Ms. S-314 gives a latitude reading in the margin: 27�43�9�. 320. This may be one of several species of Acacia, but the description is insufficiently detailed to make a positive identification—sc&lm. 321. On both this and the following day’s entries, Ms. S-314 has the direction as south and south-southeast. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 545–546) gives one of the best descriptions on record of how mesten˜eros caught and broke these herds of wild horses in what was later called the ‘‘Wild Horse Desert’’ of south Texas. On this subject it is unlikely that anyone will surpass J. Frank Dobie’s classic, The Mustangs. Austin’s 1830 Map of Texas carries the legend ‘‘Droves of Wild Horses’’ in this region, his 1829 manuscript version adding ‘‘in great numbers.’’ 322. Berlandier’s map (‘‘Ruta de Matamoros a Goliad,’’ Ms. S-302 [part 2], item 2, at Yale University) shows the ‘‘Lomas de Santa Rosa’’ between the Mugerero paraje to the south and the Arroyo de la Pita to the north. Nearby was an abandoned ranch. 323. See n314 above. Concerning the type noteworthy for its fecundity, there are two possibilities. If Tera´n was mistakenly interpreting prickly pear pads as fruits instead of stem joints, this would be a logical but erroneous description of their growth. Otherwise, on some chollas a seed germinates and grows when still within the fruit, to produce a second fruit attached to the first, all still on the original plant. The cardo´n is the cactus Pachycereuspringlei Britten & Rose—dw. 324. Reference is to the species Anemone, Tradescantia, and Argemone. The genus Pieris is in the heath family (Ericaceae) and is not found in Texas. Texas members of the family include Monotropa, Pterospora, Arbutus (west Texas), Arctostaphylos (west Texas), Vaccinium (east Texas), Rhododendron (east Texas), Leucothoe, and Lyonia — sc&lm. 325. See Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 545n6) on these deer and pronghorn antelope herds. The latter were usually found on the northern plains, but they were also plentiful in south Texas at this time (Weniger, The Explorers’ Texas 2: 39– 45; William C. Foster, Spanish Expeditions into Texas, 1689–1768, 242–243). The stopping place on the 1st is named the following day as Las Mugeres, which Berlandier’s map calls Mugerero (different from the creek cited in n312 above). 326. Javoncillo, it seems, is now called Jaboncillos; it was a relatively common name in the area, referring to a shrub whose fruit was used to make soap. See Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 418. If this is present-day Jaboncillos Creek, it and the other aforementioned streams all flow into Baffin Bay. They drain into it from southern Kleberg County. 327. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 543), coming from the south, called Las Animas ‘‘the last dwelling until Santa Gertrudis.’’ Evidently, it was the main ranch house in the huge San Juan de Carricitos grant, where several of the roads going to the Rio Grande met and parted again, as shown on the map of Cameron County drawn in 1880 by A. B. Langermann and reproduced in Frantz and Cox, Lure of the

notes to pages 159 – 160

265

Land, 24. The series of maps in Agnes G. Grimm, Llanos Mesten˜as: Mustang Plains, is very useful for understanding how these county lines shifted in the nineteenth century as new, ‘‘smaller,’’ counties were created out of old ones of vast extent. 328. The only bayonet-type yucca in this region large enough to fit the description is Yucca treculeana (Spanish dagger) — sc&lm. Tera´n does not give his campsite’s name, but several parajes are shown on Berlandier’s map in what appears to be the general vicinity of Raymondville, Willacy County. They are Tajito, Carrizitos, and Mulatos, with ranchos at all three places. See also his description of the country between the Nueces River and Matamoros ( Journey to Mexico, 542–549), wherein he notes that in 1834 these isolated ranches belonged to the inhabitants of Camargo and suffered much from Indian depredations. None of them were quite as grand as depicted in Jovita Gonza´lez and Eve Raleigh, Caballero: A Historical Novel; still, these rancheros were pioneers in the true sense of the word, no matter how humble their circumstances. A new study on the subject is Armando C. Alonzo, Tejano Legacy: Rancheros and Settlers in South Texas, 1734–1900. Alonzo agrees that these ranching enclaves were modest affairs and nothing like the great haciendas of Mexico. 329. It is still called the Arroyo Colorado; see USGS Port Isabel, NG 14-6. 330. Probably ‘‘Rancho Viejo’’ or one farther north called ‘‘Tina.’’ Both appear on Berlandier’s map #1 (‘‘Ruta de Matamoros a Goliad’’) and are listed in the accompanying ‘‘Itine´raire du port de Matamoros a la villa de Goliat,’’ all in his ‘‘Voyage au Mexique: Itine´raires, ports, coˆtes, baies, etc.,’’ Ms. S-302 (part 2), Yale University, and based on Berlandier’s 1834 trip through south Texas over the same route Tera´n used in 1829. This itinerary greatly supplements the maps, as it provides detailed information on the country between each camping place. Its inclusion in manuscript form was possibly why Berlandier gave only a general description in his journal, his intention being that all the pieces be used (and published?) together. 331. On ´ebanos see n351 below; Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 578) mentioned the palo blanco higher up the Rio Grande, but he was probably referring to Celtis laevigata, or hackberry— sc&lm. 332. Compare with Berlandier’s description of Matamoros ( Journey to Mexico, 433– 438), formerly the ‘‘hamlet named Congregacio´n del Refugio.’’ He cites a census of early 1829 noting 6,700 inhabitants, with about 10,000 in the entire municipality, and adds a lengthy discourse on the diseases of the region. 333. On these anchorages see ibid., 439– 446. 334. Here abruptly ends Ms. S-313, with no copyist’s signature. Our continuation is taken from Tera´n’s longer diary at Yale University, Ms. S-314, which he kept until the campaign against the Spanish invaders of Tampico in late summer of 1829. 335. Reference is to Boca Chica, which Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 440) described as ‘‘nothing but a cabin of customsmen and sometimes a detachment of the coast guard.’’ 336. No information; evidently Tera´n is repeating something he read in a newspaper from the United States received at Matamoros.

266 notes to pages 161 – 164 337. This discourse seems directed at navigation possibilities for the Rio Grande, a subject which Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 441– 443) also discussed in regard to steamboat traffic and how far upriver they were capable of going.

diary: up the rio grande to mier 338. The towns Tera´n visited were on the right bank of the river, as the term is usually understood, meaning south, or below the Rio Grande (‘‘Bravo’’) in the state of Tamaulipas. This round trip went as far upriver as Mier. Berlandier made two trips downriver to Matamoros on the same road, the first during August of 1829 ( Journey to Mexico, 428– 432) and the second during July of 1834 (ibid., 583– 590). Comparison reveals that he utilized some of Tera´n’s diary remarks to pad his own description of the country. Useful in locating many of the ranches and settlements mentioned by both diarists is the 1840 map by Col. Jose´ Juan Sa´nchez at the Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas at Austin, which is discussed and reproduced in Jack Jackson, ‘‘General Taylor’s ‘Astonishing’ Map of Northeastern Mexico,’’ SWHQ CI (October 1997): 142–172; our Figure 24 shows the south Texas portion. Also of help in understanding the route and flora along it is the annotation provided by editor Joseph E. Chance in Mexico under Fire: Being the Diary of Samuel Ryan Custis . . . 1846–1847. Finally, see Mario L. Sa´nchez, ed., A Shared Experience: The History, Architecture, and Historic Designations of the Lower Rio Grande Heritage Corridor, 2nd ed., which contains many historical maps of the lower Rio Grande and photographs of old structures in this ‘‘heritage corridor.’’ We have preserved the page arrangement of Ms. S-314, which differs from that of Ms. S-313 (the latter having no margins). 339. Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 432, 590; Chance, ed., Mexico under Fire, 256n8. The rancho appears on Sa´nchez’s map. 340. Tera´n may be referring to Prosopis glandulosa, the true mesquite, along with species of acacia such as Acacia berlandieri and A. greggii. ‘‘Artemisia’’ is possibly Artemisia ludoviciana (estafiate) — sc&lm. 341. On these ranchos between Matamoros and Reynosa, see Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 432, 590). Two of them, La Mesa and Charco Azul, appear on the Sa´nchez 1840 map. 342. Pudinga is pudding stone, a conglomerate. 343. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 431– 432, 589–590) describes ‘‘old’’ Reynosa and the new town, giving its population as about 4,000. Both locations are on the Sa´nchez map; see also Chance, ed., Mexico under Fire, 243n113, 256n13. 344. Of these two ranchos, Berlandier mentions only Morillo ( Journey to Mexico, 431, 589–590), noting that peyote grew in the rocky hills east of it and that the Indians along the river ‘‘never celebrate any fiesta without drinking the intoxicating decoction of that singular plant.’’ Morillo is on the Sa´nchez map; about the plant,

notes to pages 164 – 170

267

see George R. Morgan and Omer C. Steward, ‘‘Peyote Trade in South Texas,’’ SWHQ LXXXVI ( January 1984): 269–296. 345. ‘‘Old Reynosa’’ was founded on March 14, 1749, nine days after the founding of Camargo. Capt. Carlos Cantu´ picked the site and brought 40 families from Nuevo Leo´n to get things going (Hubert J. Miller, Jose´ de Escando´n: Colonizer of Nuevo Santander, 18). 346. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 431, 589) mentions most of these ranches, and Chance (ed., Mexico under Fire, 256n14) states that Tepehuaje was probably named for a tree native to the area. 347. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 459– 460) offers more information on cochineal, citing General Tera´n’s ‘‘notes.’’ Tera´n is describing a small, bright red, cactus-feeding scale insect (Cactus cocci or Dactylopius coccus), the females of which are the source of cochineal, a valuable red dye. 348. Mary Austin Holley, having obtained her information from a Mr. Savage, was also enthusiastic about the commercial prospects for cochineal; see the description of the production process in Texas, 69, 81–86. 349. No information. 350. Infantile tetanus; see Berlandier, Journey to Mexico, 437. 351. The word ´ebano is used in Mexico to refer to any one of an assortment of leguminous trees commonly known as poincianas. There are several poincianas native to south Texas, but these do not produce edible fruits or seeds, so they cannot be the plants Tera´n is talking about. Here the ´ebano usually refers to the Texas ebony, Pithecellobium flexicaule (Benth.) Coult. This is the only leguminous tree in Texas besides the mesquite that provides food for humans—dw. 352. Tera´n’s ‘‘small rustic tribes’’ in the vicinity of Camargo, and the town itself, are described in Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 429– 430, 589). Its 1829 population was 2,587. See also Chance, ed., Mexico under Fire, 256n16, and, for its founding on March 5, 1749, Miller, Jose´ de Escando´n, 16. 353. Pen˜itas appears on the 1840 Sa´nchez map. 354. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 428– 429, 588) said that Mier had 2,831 inhabitants in 1828. Sa´nchez’s map shows it in a horseshoe bend of the Rı´o del Alamo, which is also known as the Rı´o Alcantro, closer to Mier (Chance, ed., Mexico under Fire, 265n3). Several census recap sheets are attached to Ms. S-314, no doubt the ‘‘statistics’’ to which Tera´n refers. 355. Perhaps comparing it to the cathedrals of his homeland, Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 588) disagreed, saying that the church was ‘‘of an ordinary construction.’’ Later descriptions of the church by American soldiers confirm that it was an impressive structure and furnished rather sumptuously ( Joseph Milton Nance, DareDevils All: The Texan Mier Expedition, 1842–1844, 50 –51). A photograph of its modern fac¸ade is in Sa´nchez, ed., A Shared Experience, 132; older photos appear in the work cited in n356 below. 356. On the founding of Mier, see Antonio Marı´a Guerra, Mier in History,

268 notes to pages 170 – 173 wherein the documents concerning the establishment of the town are translated. Several studies give the year as 1752, but 1753 is correct. Tera´n seems to be abstracting passages from these documents, which he saw during his visit; the ‘‘etc.’’ no doubt refers to Escando´n’s string of titles, always given at length in documents of this nature. 357. Although the founder of Camargo (Blas Marı´a de la Garza Falco´n) played a role at Mier, its actual founder was Jose´ Florencio de Chapa; see ibid. Berlandier repeats most of what Tera´n says here. 358. No viable towns, only scattered ranches, were established by the Spaniards or Mexicans along the Nueces River, despite recognition of the need for them dating to Escando´n’s era. Tera´n, however, did place a short-lived military post on the Nueces at Lipantitla´n, near the Irish settlement of San Patricio; see Berlandier’s comments on the locale in 1834 ( Journey to Mexico, 548). 359. Of these ranchos, Berlandier (ibid., 588) mentions only Guardado de Arriba. It and Guardado de Abajo are shown on the Sa´nchez map as ‘‘No. 1’’ and ‘‘No. 2,’’ along with Pen˜itas. 360. Berlandier (ibid., 429) counted ‘‘more than 30’’ crosses along the road and attributed the murders to Comanche raiders. This custom of placing roadside crosses along highways to mark the loss of loved ones is still widely used by Hispanics throughout the border region. 361. We will not speculate on this ‘‘fossil.’’ 362. Berlandier (ibid., 67, 449– 450) reached similar conclusions about the ´ebano of the Rio Grande region; see n351 above. The East Indian ebony that Tera´n may be comparing this tree to is Diospyros ebenum. The two botanical gardens in Mexico City are mentioned by Berlandier (ibid., 116–117, 136–137). Tera´n probably intended to deliver seeds gathered by his Commission members to these gardens, and by 1830 he was making plans to establish a museum of natural history in the capital, where specimens from Texas and other parts of the republic under his command would be displayed (Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 163). In the original Spanish text (Ms. S-314) ‘‘Anama’’ could be Anacua. If so, anacua was and still is an established name for the small tree that was given the botanical name Ehretia anacua. The early summer ripening time of the fruits also corresponds to Tera´n’s observations. E. anacua (anacua, sugarberry, knock-away) produces sweet edible fruits that ripen from May through July— sc&lm. 363. The smallest elm native to Texas likely is Ulmus crassifolia Nutt., the cedar elm. It is questionable whether this term, ‘‘dwarf elm of Linnaeus,’’ should be applied to any tree in Texas, for the smallest elm which he described was probably Ulmus pulmila, an Asiatic species—dw. 364. Matamoros was not opened as a port, by law, until 1828, but some commerce was already going on, as evidenced by the foreign merchants who built houses there. Berlandier commented on both those merchants and the scandalous abuses that customs officers committed against each arriving ship ( Journey to Mexico, 433– 434, 438, 445– 446).

notes to pages 174 – 180

269

365. Ms. S-314 goes on but we have made the editorial decision to cut off our translation at the end of Tera´n’s upriver trip.

S

Epilogue and Appendix epilogue 1. Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 83–85. Morton’s study contains greater detail on the events summarized here. Several other studies should also be consulted on the inspection and the three-year interval until Tera´n’s death. Chapter 8 of Luis Cha´vez Orozco’s Historia de Me´xico (1948), reprinted in Molina, ed., Cro´nica de Tejas, 171– 200, traces Tera´n’s post-inspection involvement with Texas. Also useful is the summation of Tera´n’s activities presented in Alessio Robles, Coahuila y Texas I: 271–307 (the inspection) and 343– 418 (covering the period 1829–1832). Because Alessio Robles had direct access to Tera´n documents in the War Department and other Mexican archives (as well as access to Morton’s study), his analysis of events is especially valuable. Before leaving for Tampico, Tera´n wrote President Guerrero a letter on the situation in Texas, stressing the department’s vulnerability and the need for more Mexican settlers (Tera´n to Guerrero, July 23, 1829, Ms. S-325, Yale University.) The next day he wrote Minister of War Moctezuma along the same lines (quoted in Diary n190 above); both were probably prompted by Piedras’s letter to Elosu´a of June 26 (NA), translated in Blake, Supplement 12: 26–28. 2. Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 86– 91. 3. On Tera´n’s receipt of this map, see Tera´n to Austin, September 28, 1829, in Barker, ed., Austin Papers II: 260 –261. The copy Austin sent to the president is reproduced as Plate 106 in Jackson, Shooting the Sun. 4. Tera´n to Minister of War [Moctezuma], November 24, 1829, translation from Morton (Tera´n and Texas, 99–103); also in Howren, ‘‘Causes and Origin of the Decree of April 6, 1830,’’ 400 – 402. Both sources add Tera´n’s breakdown of troops available to him, an attachment marked ‘‘very private.’’ 5. Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 102–104. 6. For a translation of Tarnava’s letter to Facio dated January 6, 1830, outlining Tera´n’s ideas, see Howren, ‘‘Causes and Origin of the Decree of April 6, 1830,’’ 407– 413; another translation appears in McLean, ed., Papers Concerning Robertson’s Colony III: 467– 469. An almost identical letter dated January 7 is found in Tera´n’s letter book at Yale University, Ms. S-325. See also Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 105– 106, where another Tarnava letter to Alama´n (dated January 14) is cited, and Benson, ‘‘Texas as Viewed from Mexico,’’ 268–269, where Tera´n’s efforts to save Texas by presenting such proposals are traced. 7. Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 107–110. Documentation for this unsuccessful attempt in early 1830 to raise 3,000 troops from adjacent states is found in the Relaciones Exteriores transcripts at CAH, box 2Q223, vol. 562. 8. As cited in Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 112–113.

270 notes to pages 181 – 185 9. Howren, ‘‘Causes and Origin of the Decree of April 6, 1830,’’ 406. 10. Ibid., 415– 417, where the entire decree is translated. Another translation is found in McLean, ed., Papers Concerning Robertson’s Colony III: 494–501. 11. Howren, ‘‘Causes and Origin of the Decree of April 6, 1830,’’ 417– 422; Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 116–120. 12. As translated in Howren, ‘‘Causes and Origin of the Decree of April 6, 1830,’’ 416. The reaction in Texas to the Law of April 6, 1830, is the subject of Chapter 10 in Barker, Life of Stephen F. Austin. 13. Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 131–133. Despite this admission to Austin, Tera´n kept working on the project of Mexican colonization until February 1832, as Morton notes. For efforts to recruit and send Mexican settlers to Texas, see BNAH, paquete 51-6-51. Benson (‘‘Texas as Viewed from Mexico,’’ 282–283, 289–290) follows actions taken on the federal and state levels toward the same end, none of which met with much success. 14. Morton (Tera´n and Texas, 138) describes Tera´n’s working relationship with Alama´n on colonization matters. 15. Ibid., 124–125. These difficulties are also traced in Barker, Life of Stephen F. Austin, Chapter 10. 16. Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 125–126, 129–130. See also Chapters 4 and 7 of Reichstein, Rise of the Lone Star, for more on this murky subject of land speculation as it relates to the Revolution, a subject first addressed by Eugene C. Barker in QTSHA X ( July 1906). 17. As given and cited in Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 128–129; Tera´n’s original letter is unknown. For the associated expediente, see BNAH, paquete 51-6-50. 18. On this dispute, see Steely, Six Months from Tennessee, 129–133, 151–153. 19. Much of this post-1830 correspondence on slavery is in BNAH, paquete 517-56 (50 documents). 20. Records concerning the 1834 Almonte inspection are housed at BNAH in paquetes 51-8-64 and 51-8-65, the latter packet containing 88 documents. A number of these relate to land for the Indians, especially the Cherokees. See also Helen Willits Harris, ‘‘Almonte’s Inspection of Texas in 1834,’’ SWHQ XLI ( January 1938): 203–205. Peter Ellis Bean organized a large Indian council north of Nacogdoches for Almonte, who told his superiors that only Colonel Bean’s ‘‘good offices and prestige’’ had maintained order in this part of Texas ‘‘in which a [Mexican] soldier has not been seen for almost two years.’’ 21. Everett, The Texas Cherokees, 70 –74, 86–88. 22. Howren, ‘‘Causes and Origin of the Decree of April 6, 1830,’’ 415. 23. There are entries for most of these forts in Tyler et al., eds., NHOT, vol. 2. The fort named Tera´n on the Neches River was established by Colonel Bean, while Colonel Ruiz was put in charge of the one on the Brazos. Berlandier’s map ‘‘Ruta de Goliad a Guadalupe [Victoria] y la Vaca’’ in Ms. S-302 (part 2), item 4, Yale University (our Figure 22) offers a clue to where Chovell located the Lavaca fort, which was simply called ‘‘Lavaca’’ instead of having one of Tera´n’s Aztec-sounding names.

notes to pages 185 – 189

271

24. The correspondence presented in vols. IV and V of Malcolm McLean’s epic compilation is essential to an understanding of Tera´n’s military buildup in Texas at this time, even if the focus is on Tenoxtitla´n. The practical implications of the April 1830 law are likewise followed in detail. 25. Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 133–135; Harris, ‘‘Almonte’s Inspection of Texas in 1834,’’ 202–205. 26. Eugene C. Barker, Mexico and Texas, 1821–1835, 80 –82, 101. 27. As examples of how both men were demonized by early Texas historians, see Margaret Swett Henson, Juan Davis Bradburn: A Reappraisal of the Mexican Commander of Anahuac, and Mary Fisher Parmenter, Walter Russell Fisher, and Lawrence Edward Malette, The Life of George Fisher, 1795–1873. 28. Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 141–156. 29. On these ‘‘disturbances,’’ see Chapter 12 in Barker, Life of Stephen F. Austin; Tera´n’s exasperation with Austin is mentioned on pp. 329–330 and, judging from a letter Tera´n wrote Alama´n on December 22, 1831, it damaged their good relationship. Austin gave proof each day, Tera´n told the minister of state, that he was a ‘‘solemn scoundrel, occupying himself in nothing more than conspiracies against Mexico’’ (Green, The Mexican Republic, 223, 282). 30. These events are detailed in Morton, Tera´n and Texas, 157–166. 31. Ibid., 172. 32. Morton (ibid., 182–183) gives a translation of the letter that Tera´n wrote to Alama´n on July 2, the day before he killed himself. This letter’s eloquence qualifies it as a classic expression of the thinking man’s despair. 33. Ibid., 160 –181. The way Morton presents his documentary evidence leaves little doubt that Tera´n had lost the will to live and fell by his own hand.

appendix: pavie’s view of east texas 34. Source: The´odore Pavie, ‘‘Atlantic Memories’’; excerpts used with the permission of Dan Latimer, editor of Southern Humanities Review at Auburn University, and Betje Klier, the translator, who has published one book on The´odore Pavie and has another currently in press; see also her entry in Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 5: 98– 99. Pavie, born in 1811, was still a teenager when he visited Texas in the early part of 1830, but his observations ring true and have a powerful literary quality found in few other travel accounts of the era. In Pavie’s Souvenirs atlantiques (1832) this excerpt is Chapter XXVII, titled ‘‘The Coushattas’’ because of an encounter— either fictional or secondhand—between them and several traders on the banks of the Sabine. We have omitted this incident (‘‘Atlantic Memories,’’ 215–218) and resume the narrative with Pavie’s Chapter XXVIII, ‘‘Texas.’’ Tera´n, making his way back to Texas from Louisiana a year earlier, probably witnessed similar scenes on the trail and upon arriving at Nacogdoches. 35. Pavie is mistaken about the road, in use since the 1720s, when it was a link between the French post of Natchitoches and the string of Spanish missions reaching from Adaes (Robeline), Ais (San Augustine), and Nacogdoches westward to those

272 notes to pages 191 – 195 along the Neches River. He is right, however, about the danger in using the road. There were many lawless individuals—who often banded together in gangs— swarming the frontier at this time, and the environs of the Sabine River were called ‘‘The Devil’s Playground.’’ The U.S. military presence in Louisiana drove some of these bandit gangs west of the Sabine into Texas, where the arm of the law was not so long. On these Neutral Ground desperados, see Nardini’s My Historic Natchitoches and his No Man’s Land: A History of El Camino Real, 83– 91. 36. Ayish, the first site of the mission for the Ais Indians, later developed into the settlement of San Augustine. The area had its own militia and alcalde ( John Sprowl, followed by Benjamin Lindsey) and was shaping up, even if desperate characters were still to be found in the neighborhood. See Blake, Transcripts, vols. 11 and 12, for documentation on the affairs of Ayish Bayou in this period. 37. It is difficult to identify with certainty the owners of the houses Pavie mentions. In this instance, reference is perhaps to the notorious Yocum clan, a rather ‘‘poetic’’ name if its implications are taken literally vis `a vis treatment of slaves and stolen stock. Thomas, John, and Matthias Yocum were residents of the Neutral Ground as early as 1805. The Trammells would be another possibility, but it seems that Nicholas and his sons moved back to Arkansas after losing their league on the Trinity River to Zertuche et al. Peter Parker and his four brothers operated a tavern/inn near Fort Jesup called the Midway or Halfway House, a noted rendezvous for smugglers and outlaws. Another bad man, known as the king of the bandits or the ‘‘Reverend Devil,’’ was John A. Murrell. Needless to say, few historians were brave enough to chronicle their evil doings on either side of the Sabine—and still don’t, lest they offend well-to-do descendants. 38. Here begins Pavie’s Chapter XXIX, ‘‘Nacogdoches.’’ 39. La Nana arroyo or ‘‘bayou.’’ 40. Translator Klier (222) notes this as a military percussion instrument consisting of a staff with bells that jingled when the staff was struck against the ground, also called a ‘‘Turkish crescent’’ or ‘‘jingling Johnny.’’ 41. Possibly John Durst’s Old Stone Fort, the only two-story building in town. On it, and its evolving ownership from Antonio Gil Ybarbo’s day, see Archie P. McDonald, The Old Stone Fort. 42. Reference is to Spanish artist Bartolome´ Esteban Murillo (1617–1682), a contemporary of Diego Vela´zquez. Murillo was known for his gentle and deft touch with the faces of children, particularly street urchins. 43. On Col. Jose´ de las Piedras, see Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 5: 193. Pavie wrote a story called ‘‘Le Lazo,’’ set in Nacogdoches, in which Piedras plays the part of the evil creole commandant and meets an entirely fictionalized death at the hands of a brave and heroic horse soldier serving under him. The hero, young Antonio, thereby saves his true love from Piedras’s lecherous intentions. See Betje Black Klier, ed., Tales of the Sabine Borderlands: Early Louisiana and Texas Fiction by The´odore Pavie, 16–25. 44. Father Jose´ Ignacio Galindo, mentioned in Diary n141 above. The June

notes to pages 195 – 198

273

1829 hearing about the scandal involving his personal life is translated in Blake, Supplement 12: 1–20. 45. Perhaps Duwali, known as Chief Bowl or Bowles. He would have been about 75 in 1830 and was later described as an impressive man of distinct Caucasian features. On him, see Clarke, Chief Bowles, and the other sources cited in Diary n151 above. Many mixed-blood Indians wore beards or sideburns, including the Cherokee chief John Jolly, Sam Houston’s adopted father. 46. These ‘‘chaps’’ are depicted in several of the plates that Berlandier had Lino Sa´nchez prepare for his ‘‘Indigenes de Mexique’’ portfolio, now deposited at the Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa. More correctly, they are a nineteenth-century refinement of armas, large leather covers that hung from the saddle horn and could be pulled over the rider’s legs and secured behind the cantle. In Lino Sa´nchez’s pictures of a Mexican presidial soldier (our Figure 13), Texas rancher (Figure 14), and Tamaulipas/Nuevo Leo´n rancher, these covers consist of smaller decorated flaps reaching only to the knee. More like modern-day chaps are the leg coverings worn by Sa´nchez’s caporal of hacienda and charro, both of them elegantly attired compared to the northeastern horsemen. Figures 5 and 18 by Linati are other examples. As a contrast to Sa´nchez’s Texas rancher, see our Figure 15 for Linati’s treatment of the ‘‘working cowboy’’ in Mexico at the time—although this one is herding goats instead of cows. The ‘‘dazzling’’ uniforms Pavie saw at Nacogdoches were probably closer to those depicted by Linati in Costumes civils, militaires et religieux du Mexique (Brussels, 1828) than to the utilitarian costume worn by Sa´nchez’s presidial soldier. This album was eventually reprinted in Mexico and is generally cited under the title Trajes civiles, militares y religiosas de Me´xico. Our Figures 1, 8–10, 21, and 25 represent a sampling of uniforms at the time of Tera´n’s inspection, all of which are reproduced in color in Iturriaga de la Fuente, intro., Claudio Linati. Linati’s Plate 17 (our Figure 17) and Plate 21 (our Figure 16) also show typical armas used by nonmilitary horsemen of the period, as opposed to the smaller ‘‘flaps’’ in Sa´nchez’s illustrations. Unfortunately, no specimens of Texas saddles dating from this era survive to verify such representations, nor do we have examples of horse tack used on ranchos in eighteenth-century Texas. 47. Berlandier ( Journey to Mexico, 334–335), on his way back to Be´xar, described a Cherokee ‘‘drunkard’’ who drew ‘‘a sort of map of the courses of some rivers in Texas.’’ This was evidently a different individual from the young brave Pavie saw at Nacogdoches a year and a half later. In 1827 some Osages were tricked into going to France, where they were put on exhibit for several years as ‘‘Savages from the American Wilderness.’’ Before the hoodwinked Indians made their way back across the Atlantic in early 1830, several died from smallpox (Horan, McKenney-Hall, 85, 334). It is likely that Pavie knew about the visit, learned its tragic outcome, and—admiring the novels of James Fenimore Cooper— could not resist putting words in the mouth of his idealized Cherokee mapmaker. To be sure, the death of an Osage ‘‘chief ’’ would have been no great tragedy to any Cherokee. The two tribes became mortal enemies once they were forced to be neighbors west

274 notes to pages 198 – 200 of the Mississippi, partly because the U.S. government put the Cherokees on land that the Osages regarded as their hunting grounds. 48. Tera´n noted several times that the Cherokees drank too much: ‘‘The only vice that is noted in them is that of drunkenness, common to all the tribes that live around Nacogdoches . . .’’ (Noticia, 135). This statement is repeated by Berlandier (Indians, 113). Colonel Piedras, mentioning the Indians in particular, complained to the new alcalde of the drunkenness and public disorder at Nacogdoches: ‘‘Among the things . . . that will give us a day of reckoning is [our] tolerance in the drunkenness of the Indians. These, who by their customs and habits are barbarous, have no respect [for] nor do they know authority [and consequently] commit all kinds of excesses. In vain I worried myself with your predecessors to cut off this abuse. Well, it is true that they posted proclamations prohibiting that they [the Indians] be sold liquors and imposing a fine on those who did so. But what was the use, if they [the merchants] only placed it in ridicule, without [the alcalde’s] making them comply with the ordinances given? . . . Three years I have resided in this post, within which time the day is unusual that I have not seen drunken Indians in the stores and streets . . . since the merchants—who do not see any more than their own particular interest— elude with a thousand pretexts that provision of good government in order to sell their liquors, and the consequences will be dismal’’ (Piedras to Vicente Co´rdova, April 17, 1830, in Blake, Supplement 12: 134–136). 49. It is tempting to identify this ‘‘foppish’’ young English storekeeper as Charles Stanfield Taylor, but he apparently did not come to Nacogdoches until the following year, when he went into business with Adolphus Sterne. He married Sterne’s sister-in-law in May 1831 (Tyler et al., eds., NHOT 6: 215). He is not on the 1830 list of Nacogdoches merchants but appears on the 1831 list (Blake, Transcripts 12: 206–207). 50. Probably the western Carolina parakeet (Conuropsis carolinesis), once plentiful in northeast Texas but now extinct (Flores, ed., Jefferson & Southwestern Exploration, 222n58).

Bibliography S

Ahlborn, Richard E. ‘‘European Dress in Texas, 1830: As Rendered by Lino Sa´nchez y Tapia.’’ American Scene (1972): 1–20. Alessio Robles, Vito. Coahuila y Texas desde la consumacio´n de la independencia hasta el tratado de paz de Guadalupe Hidalgo. 2 vols. Mexico City: n.p., 1979. Allen, Henry E. ‘‘The Parrilla Expedition to the Red River in 1759.’’ Southwestern Historical Quarterly XLIII ( July 1939): 53–71. Almara´z, Fe´lix D., Jr. The San Antonio Missions and Their System of Land Tenure. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1989. Alonzo, Armando C. Tejano Legacy: Rancheros and Settlers in South Texas, 1734–1900. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998. Anderson, H. Allen. ‘‘The Delaware and Shawnee Indians and the Republic of Texas.’’ Southwestern Historical Quarterly XCIV (October 1990): 231–260. Barker, Eugene C. The Life of Stephen F. Austin, Founder of Texas, 1793–1836. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980. ———. Mexico and Texas, 1821–1835. Dallas: P. L. Turner Co., 1928. ———, ed. The Austin Papers. Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1919. 2 vols. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1924. ———, ed. ‘‘Descriptions of Texas by Stephen F. Austin, 1828 [1831, and 1833].’’ Southwestern Historical Quarterly XXVIII (October 1924): 98–121. ———, ed. ‘‘Journal of Stephen F. Austin on His First Trip to Texas, 1821.’’ Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association VII (April 1904): 286–307. Barnes, Thomas C., Thomas H. Naylor, and Charles W. Polzer. Northern New Spain: A Research Guide. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1981. Benavides, Ada´n, Jr., comp. The Be´xar Archives (1717–1836): A Name Guide. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1989. Benson, Nettie Lee. ‘‘Texas as Viewed from Mexico, 1820 –1834.’’ Southwestern Historical Quarterly XC ( January 1987): 219–291. Berlandier, Jean-Louis. The Indians of Texas in 1830 by Jean Louis Berlandier. Edited by John C. Ewers; translated by Patricia Reading Leclercq. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1969. ———. Journey to Mexico during the Years 1826 to 1834 by Jean Louis Berlandier.

276 texas by tera´ n Edited by C. H. Muller and Katherine K. Muller; translated by Shelia Ohlendorf, Josette M. Bigelow, and Mary M. Standifer. 2 vols. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1980. Berlandier, Luis [Jean-Louis], and Rafael Chovel. Diario de viage de la Comisio´n de Lı´mites que puso el gobierno de la repu´blica, bajo la direccio´n del exmo. sr. general de divisio´n d. Manuel de Mier y Tera´n. Mexico City: Tipografı´a de Juan R. Navarro, 1850. Blake, Robert B. Transcripts. An unpublished research collection of 75 vols., with Supplement series of 18 vols. Center for American History, University of Texas, Austin. Bolton, Herbert E. Guide to Materials for the History of the United States in the Principal Archives of Mexico. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution, 1913. ———. The Hasinais: Southern Caddoans as Seen by the Earliest Europeans. Edited by Russell M. Magnaghi. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987. ———. Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century: Studies in Spanish Colonial History and Administration. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1970. Britton, Karen. Bale O’ Cotton. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1993. Burkhalter, Lois, intro. A Seth Eastman Sketchbook, 1848–1849. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1961. Campbell, Randolph B. An Empire for Slavery: The Peculiar Institution in Texas. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1989. Carter, Cecile Elkins. Caddo Indians: Where We Come From. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. Castan˜eda, Carlos E. Our Catholic Heritage in Texas. 7 vols. Austin: Von Boeckmann– Jones, 1936–1958. ———, trans. ‘‘Statistical Report on Texas [1835] by Juan N. Almonte.’’ Southwestern Historical Quarterly XXVIII ( January 1925): 177–222. ———, trans. ‘‘A Trip to Texas in 1828 [by Jose´ Marı´a Sa´nchez y Tapia].’’ Southwestern Historical Quarterly XXIX (April 1926): 249–288. Chabot, Frederick C. With the Makers of San Antonio. San Antonio: Graphic Arts, 1970. Chamberlain, Samuel. My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue. Edited by William H. Goetzmann. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1996. Chance, Joseph E., ed. Mexico under Fire: Being the Diary of Samuel Ryan Custis . . . 1846–1847. Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1994. Clarke, Mary Whatley. Chief Bowles and the Texas Cherokees. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971. Clopper, Joseph Chambers. ‘‘J. C. Clopper’s Journal and Book of Memoranda for 1828.’’ Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association XIII ( July 1909): 44–80. Crawford, James M. The Mobilian Trade Language. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1978. Crimm, Ana Carolina Castillo. ‘‘Finding Their Way.’’ In Gerald E. Poyo, ed., Tejano Journey, 1770 –1850, 111–132. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996.

bibliography

277

———. ‘‘Success in Adversity: The Mexican Americans of Victoria County, Texas.’’ Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, Austin, 1994. D’Antoni, Blaise C. ‘‘Bayou Pierre, Land of Yesteryear.’’ De Soto Plume (1980): 245–251. Davis, Catherine Vines. ‘‘Anglo American Settlers in the Neutral Strip.’’ Natchitoches Genealogist X (October 1985): 1–12. Deans-Smith, Susan. Bureaucrats, Planters, and Workers: The Making of the Tobacco Monopoly in Bourbon Mexico. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992. De Leo´n, Arnoldo. They Called Them Greasers: Anglo Attitudes toward Mexicans in Texas, 1821–1900. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1983. Dewees, William B. Letters from an Early Settler of Texas. Waco: Texian Press, 1968. Dobie, J. Frank. The Mustangs. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1952. Drinnon, Richard. White Savage: The Case of John Dunn Hunter. New York: Schocken Books, 1972. El Camino Real de los Tejas: National Historic Trail Feasibility Study and Environmental Assessment. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1998. Epperson, Jean L. Lost Spanish Towns: Atascosito and Trinidad de Salcedo. Woodville, Tex.: Dogwood Press, 1996. Ericson, Carolyn Reeves, comp. Citizens and Foreigners of the Nacogdoches District, 1809–1836. St. Louis: F. T. Ingmire, 1981. ———, comp. Nacogdoches—Gateway to Texas: A Biographical Dictionary, 1773– 1849. 2 vols. Fort Worth: Arrow/Curbis, 1974. Everett, Dianna. The Texas Cherokees: A People between Two Fires, 1819–1840. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990. Ewers, John C., ed. The Indians of Texas in 1830 by Jean Louis Berlandier. Translated by Patricia Reading Leclercq. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1969. ———, ed. Jose´ Francisco Ruiz: Report on the Indian Tribes of Texas in 1828. Translated by Georgette Dorn. New Haven: Yale University Library, 1972. Flores, Dan L., ed. Jefferson & Southwestern Exploration: The Freeman & Custis Accounts of the Red River Expedition of 1806. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985. Foreman, Grant. Indians & Pioneers: The Story of the American Southwest before 1830. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1936. Foster, William C. Spanish Expeditions into Texas, 1689–1768. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995. Frantz, Joe B., and Mike Cox. Lure of the Land: Texas County Maps and the History of Settlement. Edited by Roger A. Griffin. College Station: Texas A&M University Press for the Texas General Land Office, 1988. Gammel, H. P. N., comp. The Laws of Texas, 1822–1897. 10 vols. Austin: Gammel Book Co., 1898. Gelo, Daniel J., and Tammy J. Morales. ‘‘The Alabama-Coushatta Indians: An Annotated Bibliography.’’ East Texas Historical Journal XXXIII (1995): 35– 63.

278 texas by tera´ n Goetzmann, William H., ed. My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue. By Samuel Chamberlain. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1996. Gonza´lez, Jovita, and Eve Raleigh. Caballero: A Historical Novel. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1996. Green, Stanley C. The Mexican Republic: The First Decade, 1823–1832. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1987. Gregory, Jack, and Rennard Strickland. Sam Houston with the Cherokees, 1829–1833. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967. Grimm, Agnes G. Llanos Mesten˜as: Mustang Plains. Waco: Texian Press, 1968. Guerra, Antonio Marı´a. Mier in History. Translated by Jose´ Marı´a Escobar and Edna Garza Brown. San Antonio: Munguı´a Printers, 1996. Guı´a del Archivo Histo´rico Militar de Me´xico. Mexico City: Taller Autogra´fico, 1949. Haggard, J. Villasana. ‘‘The House of Barr and Davenport.’’ Southwestern Historical Quarterly XLIX ( July 1945): 66–88. ———. ‘‘The Neutral Ground between Louisiana and Texas, 1806–1821.’’ Louisiana Historical Quarterly 28 (October 1945): 1001–1128. Hammett, A. B. J. The Empresario Martı´n de Leo´n. Waco: Texian Press, 1973. Hardin, J. Fair. ‘‘An Outline of Shreveport and Caddo Parish History.’’ Louisiana Historical Quarterly 18 (October 1935): 759–871. Hardin, Stephen L. Texian Iliad: A Military History of the Texas Revolution. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994. Harris, Helen Willits. ‘‘Almonte’s Inspection of Texas in 1834.’’ Southwestern Historical Quarterly XLI ( January 1938): 195–211. Hatcher, Mattie Austin, trans. ‘‘Texas in 1820: Report on the Barbarous Indians of the Province of Texas by Juan Antonio Padilla.’’ Southwestern Historical Quarterly XXIII ( July 1919): 46– 68. Henderson, Mary Virginia. ‘‘Minor Empresario Contracts for the Colonization of Texas.’’ Southwestern Historical Quarterly XXXI (April 1928): 295–324; XXXII ( July 1928): 1–28. Henson, Margaret Swett. Juan Davis Bradburn: A Reappraisal of the Mexican Commander of Anahuac. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1982. Holley, Mary Austin. Texas. Introduction by Marilyn McAdams Sibley. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1990. Holt, Jordon. ‘‘The Edwards Empresarial Grant and the Fredonian Rebellion.’’ M.A. thesis, Stephen F. Austin State University, 1977. Hook, Jonathan B. The Alabama-Coushatta Indians. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1997. Horan, James D. The McKenney-Hall Portrait Gallery of American Indians. New York: Bramhall House, 1986. House Document 49. ‘‘Land Claims between the Rio Hondo and the Sabine.’’ 24th Congress, 1st Session, 1836, ser. 287. Howren, Alleine. ‘‘Causes and Origin of the Decree of April 6, 1830.’’ Southwestern Historical Quarterly XVI (April 1913): 378– 422.

bibliography

279

Iturriaga de la Fuente, Jose´ N., intro. Claudio Linati: Acuarelas y litografı´as. Mexico City: Inversora Bursa´til, 1993. Jackson, Jack. ‘‘Father Jose´ Marı´a de Jesu´s Puelles and the Maps of Pichardo’s Document 74.’’ Southwestern Historical Quarterly XCI ( January 1988): 317–347. ———. ‘‘General Taylor’s ‘Astonishing’ Map of Northeastern Mexico.’’ Southwestern Historical Quarterly CI (October 1997): 142–172. ———. Los Mesten˜os: Spanish Ranching in Texas, 1721–1821. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1986. ———. Shooting the Sun: Cartographic Results of Military Activities in Texas, 1689– 1829. 2 vols. Austin: Book Club of Texas, 1998. ———, comp. Manuscript Maps Concerning the Gulf Coast, Texas, and the Southwest, 1519–1836: An Annotated Guide to the Karpinski Series of Photographs at the Newberry Library, Chicago, with Notice of Related Cartographic Materials. Chicago: Newberry Library, 1995. Jackson, Jack, ed., and William C. Foster, annot. Imaginary Kingdom: Texas as Seen by the Rivera and Rubı´ Military Expeditions, 1727 and 1767. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1995. Kendall, Dorothy Steinbomer, and Carmen Perry. Gentilz: Artist of the Old Southwest. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1974. Kenmotsu, Nancy, Sergio Iruegas, Mark Denton, and Timothy K. Perttula. Searching for San Marcos de Neve: An Archaeological Reconnaissance in Hays and Caldwell Counties, Texas. Austin: Texas Historical Commission, 1995. Klier, Betje Black, ed. Tales of the Sabine Borderlands: Early Louisiana and Texas Fiction by The´odore Pavie. Translated by Betje Black Klier, Anne C. Marsh, Philip Stewart, and Alexandra K. Wettlaufer. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1998. Ladd, Kevin, comp. Gone to Texas: Genealogical Abstracts from the Telegraph and Texas Register, 1835–1841. Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, 1994. Lay, Bennett. The Lives of Ellis P. Bean. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1960. Linati, Claudio. Costumes civils, militaires y religieux du Mexique. Brussels: Charles Sattanino, 1828. ———. Trajes civiles, militares y religiosas de Me´xico (1828). Introduction by Justino Ferna´ndez. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Auto´noma de Me´xico, 1956. Lukes, Edward A. The DeWitt Colony of Texas. Austin: Jenkins Publishing Co., 1976. McDonald, Archie P. The Old Stone Fort. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1981. McGraw, A. Joachim, John W. Clark, Jr., and Elizabeth A. Robbins, eds. A Texas Legacy. The Old San Antonio Road and the Caminos Reales: A Tricentennial History, 1691–1991. Austin: Texas State Department of Highways and Public Transportation, 1991. MacLachlan, Colin M., and Jaime E. Rodrı´guez O. The Forging of the Cosmic Race: A Reinterpretation of Colonial Mexico. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980.

280 texas by tera´ n McLean, Malcolm D., ed. Papers Concerning Robertson’s Colony in Texas. Vols. II, III, IV, and V. Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1975–1978. Martin, Robert S. ‘‘Maps of an Empresario: Austin’s Contribution to the Cartography of Texas.’’ Southwestern Historical Quarterly LXXXV (April 1982): 371– 400. Miller, Hubert J. Jose´ de Escando´n: Colonizer of Nuevo Santander. Edinburg, Tex.: New Santander Press, 1980. Mills, Elizabeth Shown, comp. Natchitoches, 1800 –1826. New Orleans: Polyanthos, 1980. ———, comp. Natchitoches Church Marriages, 1818–1850. Tuscaloosa, Ala.: Mills Historical Press, 1985. Molina, Mauricio, ed. Cro´nica de Tejas: Diario de viaje de la Comisio´n de Lı´mites. Mexico City: Gobierno del Estado de Tamaulipas, 1988. Morgan, George R., and Omer C. Steward. ‘‘Peyote Trade in South Texas.’’ Southwestern Historical Quarterly LXXXVI ( January 1984): 269–296. Morton, Ohland. Tera´n and Texas: A Chapter in Texas-Mexican Relations. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1948. Nance, Joseph Milton. Dare-Devils All: The Texan Mier Expedition, 1842–1844. Edited by Archie P. McDonald. Austin: Eakin Press, 1998. Nardini, Louis Rafael. My Historic Natchitoches, Louisiana, & Its Environment. Natchitoches, La.: Nardini Publishing Co., 1963. ———. No Man’s Land: A History of El Camino Real. New Orleans: Pelican Publishing Co., 1961. Nevin, David, and the Editors of Time-Life Books. The Texans. New York: TimeLife Books, 1975. Newcomb, W. W., Jr. The Indians of Texas. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993. Oberste, William H. Texas Irish Empresarios and Their Colonies. Austin: Von Boeckmann–Jones, 1973. Padilla, Juan Antonio. ‘‘Texas in 1820: Report on the Barbarous Indians of the Province of Texas.’’ Translated by Mattie Austin Hatcher. Southwestern Historical Quarterly XXIII ( July 1919): 46– 68. Parmenter, Mary Fisher, Walter Russell Fisher, and Lawrence Edward Malette. The Life of George Fisher, 1795–1873. Jacksonville, Fla.: H. and D. W. Drew Co., 1959. Parsons, Edmund M. ‘‘The Fredonian Rebellion.’’ Texana 21 (Spring 1967): 11–52. Partlow, Miriam. Liberty, Liberty County, and the Atascosito District. Austin: Pemberton Press, 1974. Patten, Roderick B., trans. and ed. ‘‘Miranda’s Inspection of Los Almagres: His Journal, Report, and Petition.’’ Southwestern Historical Quarterly LXXIV (October 1970): 223–254. Pavie, The´odore. ‘‘Atlantic Memories.’’ Translated by Betje [Black] Klier. Southern Humanities Review XXVI (Summer 1992): 215–228. Pen˜a, Jose´ Enrique de la. With Santa Anna in Texas: A Personal Narrative of the Revolu-

bibliography

281

tion. Edited and translated by Carmen Perry. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1997. Perry, Carmen, trans. and ed. The Impossible Dream by the Rio Grande: A Documented Chronicle of the Establishment and Annihilation of San Jose´ de Palafox. San Antonio: St. Mary’s University Press, 1971. Perttula, Timothy K. ‘‘Alabama-Coushatta Indian Ethnographic, Historical, and Archeological References.’’ East Texas Historical Journal XXXV (1997): 11–16. Pinckney, Pauline A. Painting in Texas: The Nineteenth Century. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967. Poyo, Gerald E., ed. Tejano Journey, 1770 –1850. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996. Rather, Ethel Zivley. ‘‘De Witt’s Colony.’’ Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association VIII (October 1904): 95–191. Reagan, John H. ‘‘The Expulsion of the Cherokees from East Texas.’’ Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association I (1897): 38– 46. Reichstein, Andreas V. Rise of the Lone Star: The Making of Texas. Translated by Jeanne R. Willson. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1989. Remini, Robert V. Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Freedom, 1822–1832. New York: Harper and Row, 1981. Reyes Vayssade, Martı´n, et al. Cartografı´a Histo´rica de Tamaulipas. Mexico City: Instituto Tamaulipeco de Cultura, 1990. Rogin, Michael P. Fathers and Children: Andrew Jackson and the Subjugation of the American Indian. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1975. Ruiz, Jose´ Francisco. Jose´ Francisco Ruiz: Report on the Indian Tribes of Texas in 1828. Edited by John C. Ewers; translated by Georgette Dorn. New Haven: Yale University Library, 1972. Sa´nchez, Mario L., ed. A Shared Experience: The History, Architecture, and Historic Designations of the Lower Rio Grande Heritage Corridor. 2nd ed. Austin: Texas Historical Commission, 1994. Sa´nchez y Tapia, Jose´ Marı´a. ‘‘A Trip to Texas in 1828.’’ Translated by Carlos E. Castan˜eda. Southwestern Historical Quarterly XXIX (April 1926): 249–288. ———. Viaje a Texas en 1828: Diario del Teniente D. Jose´ Marı´a Sa´nchez, miembro de la Comisio´n de Lı´mites. Introduction by Jorge Flores D. Mexico City: n.p., 1939. Schoelwer, Susan Prendergast. Alamo Images: Changing Perceptions of a Texas Experience. Dallas: Southern Methodist University for the DeGolyer Library, 1985. Schwarz, Ted, and Robert H. Thonhoff. Forgotten Battlefield of the First Texas Revolution: The Battle of Medina, August 18, 1813. Austin: Eakin Press, 1985. Sibley, John. ‘‘Dr. John Sibley and the Louisiana-Texas Frontier, 1803–1814.’’ Edited by Julia Kathryn Garrett. Southwestern Historical Quarterly XLIX ( January 1946): 399– 431. Smith, F. Todd. The Caddo Indians: Tribes at the Convergence of Empires, 1542–1854. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1995.

282 texas by tera´ n Smithwick, Noah. The Evolution of a State, or Recollections of Old Texas Days. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990. Starkey, Marion L. The Cherokee Nation. North Dighton, Mass.: J. G. Press, 1995. Steely, Skipper. Six Months from Tennessee. Wolfe City. Tex.: Henington Publishing Co., 1983. Stein, Bill. ‘‘Beyond Boosterism.’’ Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal 2 (May 1992): 79–81. ———. ‘‘Consider the Lily.’’ Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal 6 ( January 1996): 5– 48. Story, Dee Ann. The De Shazo Site, Nacogdoches County, Texas. Austin: Texas Antiquities Committee, 1982. ———. ‘‘1968–1970 Archeological Investigations at the George C. Davis Site, Cherokee County, Texas.’’ Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 68 (1997): 1–113. ———. A Preliminary Report of the 1968, 1969, and 1970 Excavations at the George C. Davis Site, Cherokee County, Texas. Austin: Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas, 1972. Streeter, Thomas W. Bibliography of Texas, 1795–1845. Woodbridge, Mass.: Research Publications, Inc., 1983. Teja, Jesu´s F. de la, and John Wheat. ‘‘Be´xar: Profile of a Tejano Community, 1820 –1832.’’ Southwestern Historical Quarterly LXXXIX ( July 1985): 7–34. Tijerina, Andre´s. Tejanos and Texas under the Mexican Flag, 1821–1836. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1994. Tyler, Ron, et al., eds. The New Handbook of Texas. 6 vols. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1996. Warren, Harris G. The Sword Was Their Passport: A History of American Filibustering in the Mexican Revolution. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1943. Weber, David J. The Mexican Frontier, 1821–1846: The American Southwest under Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1982. Weniger, Del. The Explorers’ Texas: Volume 2, The Animals They Found. Austin: Eakin Press, 1997. White, Gifford, comp. 1830 Citizens of Texas. Austin: Eakin Press, 1983. ———. The First Settlers of Austin County, Texas. St. Louis: F. T. Ingmire, 1972. Wilson, Maurine T., and Jack Jackson. Philip Nolan and Texas: Expeditions to the Unknown Land, 1791–1801. Waco: Texian Press, 1987. Winders, Richard Bruce. Mr. Polk’s War: The American Military Experience in the Mexican War. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1997. Winfrey, Dorman. ‘‘Chief Bowles of the Texas Cherokee.’’ Chronicles of Oklahoma 32 (Spring 1954): 29– 41. Winkler, Ernest W. ‘‘The Cherokee Indians in Texas.’’ Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association VII (October 1903): 95–165. Woldert, Albert. ‘‘The Last of the Cherokees in Texas and the Life and Death of Chief Bowles.’’ Chronicles of Oklahoma 1 ( June 1923): 179–226.

bibliography

S

283

Libraries, Museums, and Archives Archivo General de la Nacio´n (AGN), Mexico City Archivo Histo´rico Militar Mexicano, Defensa Nacional, Mexico City Archivo de la Secretarı´a de Relaciones Exteriores, Mexico City Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas at Austin Be´xar Archives (BA), Center for American History (CAH), University of Texas at Austin Biblioteca Nacional de Antropologı´a e Historia (BNAH), Mexico City Center for American History (CAH), University of Texas at Austin Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa Historic New Orleans Collection, New Orleans Nacogdoches Archives (NA), Texas State Archives, Austin National Archives, Washington, D.C. Newberry Library, Chicago Probate Files, Austin County Courthouse, Bellville Texas General Land Office (GLO), Austin

THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

Index S

acacia trees, 155–156, 168, 266 acorns, 80 Adams-Onı´s Treaty, 4, 239, 249 agriculture. See horticulture Ais Indians, 72, 227 Alabama Indians, 107, 128–132, 136, 253–254, 257 Alamo (Mission San Antonio de Valero), 15, 203, 205 alcohol, 59, 60, 79–81, 193, 198– 199, 221, 227, 231, 234, 252, 273–274 Alvarado, Juan Jose´, 245 anacua, 268 Anadaco Indians, 58 Angelina River, 74–75, 93, 113, 127, 137, 140, 228–229, 253–254 Anglo Americans attitudes toward Indians, 31, 33– 34, 37, 78, 92, 94, 109, 152, 184, 220 –221, 231, 237–238, 243, 253 concern over, 2, 31–33, 35–38, 104–105, 133, 180 –182, 184, 209, 225–226, 234 as legal colonists, 46, 52–54, 56– 58, 63, 65, 67, 143, 146, 216, 222–223, 258 population figures for, 29, 33, 93, 97, 133, 150, 206–207, 213– 214, 244, 256 separatist sentiments of, 12, 35–37

as squatters, 2, 11, 31–32, 36–37, 70, 73, 79, 95– 96, 99–101, 104, 140 –141, 257, 272 traits described, 1, 8, 20, 34, 44– 48, 56–57, 73–74, 79–81, 97–101, 103, 105–106, 118, 121–123, 132–133, 135, 142, 144–145, 149–150, 159, 178, 182, 189, 191–194, 213–214, 227–228, 236, 238–239, 244, 250, 255, 259 animals domestic, 34, 52–53, 56, 80, 91, 93, 106, 108, 145 wild, 43– 44, 58, 75–76, 94, 101, 109, 130, 142–143, 145, 155, 157–158, 190, 211, 230 –231, 255, 262–264 Aranama Indians, 152, 224, 262 Aranzazu´ (Aransas), port of, 57, 262 Aranzazu´ River, 155, 263 architectural styles of Anglos, 34, 45– 46, 78, 113, 123, 128, 159, 190, 193–194, 213, 232, 254–255 along Rio Grande, 159, 169, 267 of tejanos, 16, 21–22, 24, 149, 158, 194, 205, 261, 262, 272 Arciniega, Miguel, 20 Arkansas River, 59, 61 Arkansas Territory, 78, 110, 183–184, 220, 231

286 texas by tera´ n Arredondo, Joaquı´n de, 14, 36, 233 Arroyo Atascoso, 63 Arroyo Blanco, 155 Arroyo Colorado, 159 Arroyo de Agua Dulce, 156 Arroyo de Agua Negra, 153 Arroyo de Enmedio, 155 Arroyo del Aguila, 155 Arroyo de la Nana, 75, 113, 127, 229 Arroyo de la Navidad, 147 Arroyo de la Rata, 155 Arroyo de las Garcitas, 148–149, 260 Arroyo de las Pintas, 156 Arroyo de la Vaca, 49, 147–148, 215 Arroyo del Carrizal, 135 Arroyo del Carrizo, 113, 130 Arroyo del Castor, 116 Arroyo del Coleto, 151 Arroyo del Loco, 75, 140, 229, 258 Arroyo del Metate, 50 Arroyo del Mugerero, 155 Arroyo de los Cedros, 50 –51 Arroyo de los Jaranames, 143, 224 Arroyo de los Tejocotes, 47– 49, 214 Arroyo del Papalote, 155 Arroyo de Managuilla, 151, 261 Arroyo de Puentecitas, 156 Arroyo de Rositas, 155 Arroyo de San Bernardo, 55, 146, 217 Arroyo de San Jacinto, 69 Arroyo de San Pedro, 73 Arroyo de Yezquitas, 155 Arroyo Grande, 114 Arroyo Tenaha, 115 ash trees, 137, 155 Atascosito Road, 260 Atascosito settlement, 5, 133, 256 Atoyaque River, 113–114 Austin, Stephen F., 1, 4, 11–13, 33– 34, 59– 61, 96, 177, 180, 182, 186, 217, 222, 246, 269, 271 views on Indians, 220 –221

Austin Colony, 48, 92– 93, 97, 99, 144, 146–147, 150, 181, 208, 260 description of, 56–58 Ayish Bayou, 272 ayuntamiento of Austin’s colony, 57, 218 at Be´xar, 20, 204 at Nacogdoches, 79, 96, 98, 225– 226, 232–234, 238–239, 249, 258–259, 274 at San Augustine, 238, 272 Barr and Davenport, trading house of, 230, 235 Batres, Jose´, 3, 72, 102, 150, 180, 240 Bayou Bodcau, 248 Bayou Pierre, Louisiana, 4, 119–121, 124, 244, 249, 252–253 Bayou Sapin, 118 Bean, Peter Ellis, 4, 12, 94– 95, 106, 108–109, 124, 130, 133, 183, 186, 231, 235–236, 238, 241–242, 244, 252–253, 255–256, 270 beans, 53, 58, 79, 151, 179 bears, 9, 75, 94, 131, 153, 196, 211, 231, 255 beaver, 75–76, 153, 199, 231, 262 bees, 125 Beeson, Benjamin, 4, 53–54, 146, 216–217, 259–260 Be´jar River, 44, 48 Berlandier, Jean-Louis, 3– 4, 20, 43– 44, 47, 61, 150, 211, 213, 221– 223, 245 on Anglo colonists, 17–18 artwork/maps of, 14, 112, 148, 154, 203, 205, 237, 261, 263, 265 description of Be´xar by, 14–18, 203–204, 206 description of La Bahı´a by, 261–262 description of Victoria by, 260 –261

index illness of, 9, 66–71, 91, 224 on Indians, 14, 202, 207, 213, 216–217, 230 –233, 235, 237, 261–262, 266, 273 journal of, 5, 9–10, 14, 202, 215, 224, 264–266 later career of, 13 on military, 16–19 on tejanos, 8, 16–19, 204, 260 – 261, 263 Be´xar. See San Antonio de Be´xar Bidai Indians, 61, 67, 74, 76, 80, 140, 219, 228, 231, 233 Biloxi Indians, 128 birds, 43– 44, 94, 130, 136, 142, 147, 156, 169, 200, 210, 215, 258, 260, 274 bison, 9, 30, 46, 51–52, 58, 61, 107, 109, 195, 199 Blacks, 8, 11, 56–57, 62– 63, 79–80, 100 –101, 121, 145, 184, 191–192, 197, 221, 232, 256, 259 Blanco, Vı´ctor, 67, 223 Boca Chica, 265 Boundary Commission (Comisio´n de Lı´mites) formation of, 1–2, 252 purpose of, 1–2, 10, 97, 102–103, 179, 240 shutting down of, 14, 177, 203 boundary reserve as defined by Mexican law, 32–33, 207, 235–236 illegal immigration into, 31, 79– 81, 104–105, 183–184, 208, 231, 236, 241, 257, 272 Tera´n’s travel through, 45, 91, 113–115, 133, 137 Bowie, James, 20 Bowl (Cherokee leader), 237–238, 242 Brazos de Santiago, port of, 160 Brazos River, 4, 25, 29, 34, 59– 60,

287 62– 63, 68, 75, 144–145, 160, 185, 259 bread, 25, 34, 48, 52, 59, 67– 68, 79, 102, 110, 123, 151, 159, 179, 206 buckeye trees, 50, 215 Bustamante, Anastasio, 3, 18, 38, 103–104, 180, 187, 209 cacti, 155, 157, 163, 165–166, 168, 263–264, 266–267 Caddo Indians, 77, 80, 114, 118, 121– 122, 228, 231, 246, 250 –251, 258 Caihua Indians, 92 Camargo, 160, 165, 169–171, 265, 267–268 Campeche, 18 cane, 255 canoes, 4, 45, 53–54, 60, 71, 136, 144, 151, 219 Ca´rdenas, Jose´ Marı´a, 20 carts, 17, 44, 149, 160, 222, 261. See also wagons Cass Lake. See Cross Lake cedar trees, 68, 75, 143, 173, 224, 249, 268 ceremonies (Indian), 76–78, 106–108, 195–196, 216, 231, 242, 266 Charcos de Encinal, 211 Charitica Indians, 30 –31, 92, 207 Cherokee Indians, 59, 72, 76–78, 91– 93, 95, 105, 107, 179, 185, 195– 199, 219, 231–232, 235, 237–238, 241–242, 270, 273–274 Chickasaw Indians, 128–129, 179, 220 Choctaw Indians, 80, 129, 220, 253 Chovell, Rafael, 3, 9, 44, 71, 104, 270 churches, 19, 22, 36, 159, 169, 187, 193, 233, 267 Cı´bolo Creek, 43– 44, 211 Clopper, Joseph Chambers description of Be´xar and environs by, 10, 14, 21–27, 204–205, 209, 211

288 texas by tera´ n description of San Antonio by, 10, 14, 21, 205, 211–213, 215, 221–222 on DeWitt’s colony, 213, 215 on Indians, 22, 25, 217 on tejanos, 21–26 on Tera´n’s coach, 221–222 Coahuila y Texas, 29 governor of, 20, 67, 95– 96, 109, 241 laws of, 16, 57, 96, 99, 105, 182, 203–204, 207, 217, 239–240 separatist sentiments from, 57, 99– 101, 207, 240 state of, 14, 100, 235 Coat, James, 120, 248–249 cochineal, 165–166, 267 Cochran, James, 258 Coco Indians, 152, 221, 262 colonization by empresarios, 32–34, 56–57, 61, 63, 74, 99, 178, 183, 208, 218, 235–236, 238, 241–242 laws re, 12, 32–33, 57, 133, 181– 182, 207. See also Law of April 6, 1830 by Mexicans, 38–39, 149–150, 180 –182, 185, 209, 225–226, 260, 267–268, 270 squatter problems, 11, 36–37, 70, 73, 79, 95– 96, 99–100, 104– 106, 133, 178, 184, 228–229, 239–240, 257 by U.S. Indians, 2, 92– 94, 106– 109, 184–185, 220, 240 –243, 257 Colorado River, 4, 29, 48, 52, 54, 61, 75, 146, 217 Columbus, Texas, 4, 216 Comanche Indians, 9, 14, 25, 29–31, 46, 51, 61, 92, 94, 122, 158, 195, 198, 206–207, 236–237, 268

commerce by Anglo colonists, 17–19, 34, 56– 57, 63, 144, 146, 230 at Be´xar, 16–19, 23, 26, 205 with Indians, 25, 59, 75–76, 101, 118, 122, 128, 199, 230 –231 at La Bahı´a/Victoria, 149–150, 262 laws on, 16, 33–34, 53, 151–152, 159, 203 with Louisiana, 56, 63, 75, 79, 102, 119–120, 144, 146, 153, 232–233 at Matamoros, 159, 164, 167, 173, 268 with Mexico, 34, 53, 56, 59, 186, 219 at Nacogdoches, 75, 79, 101, 110, 128, 153, 196, 199, 230 –233, 235, 262, 274 prohibited, 53, 151, 159, 217 Concepcio´n, mission of, 15 corn, 16, 35, 46, 52–53, 58, 63, 68, 70, 78–79, 106, 108–109, 128, 145, 150 –152, 163, 167–168, 179, 194, 206, 218–219 Corpus Christi, 57 Correo de Natchitoches, 110 cotton, 34, 46, 53, 56, 63, 144–145, 218–219, 259 cottonwood trees, 43, 61, 119, 203, 205, 221 cougar, 130, 195, 255 Coushatta Indians, 5, 76–78, 107, 131–135, 231–232, 255–257 Creek Indians, 105, 134, 236, 240 – 241 Cross Lake, 119, 248 Cujane Indians, 152, 262 customs duties, 151, 173, 186, 265, 268. See also taxes cypress trees, 68, 119, 146, 224, 248– 249

index dancing, 16, 20, 23–24, 159, 200, 242, 261 Davenport, Samuel, 247 deer as food, 48, 51, 61, 73, 118, 124, 131, 135 scarcity of, 94, 101, 108 sightings of, 143, 158, 190, 211, 264 skin trade, 75, 79, 101, 153, 199, 230 –231, 242, 262 Dehahuit (Caddo leader), 233–234, 251 Delaware Indians, 76–78, 93, 107, 193, 196, 220, 231, 236 DeWitt, Green, 213–214 Dı´az de Leo´n, Jose´ Antonio, 152, 262 Diez y Seis (Mexican Independence Day), 24, 205–206, 233 disease. See illness drinking water, 44, 49, 50, 54, 75, 114, 155, 157–158, 163, 200, 206, 212, 229, 262 eastern interior states, 3, 10, 17–18, 177, 180 –181, 208 ebony trees, 159, 163–164, 168, 173, 265, 267–268 education. See schools Edwards, Haden, 34, 38, 74, 208, 226, 233, 235, 241 Edwards, Larkin, 250 –251 Elizondo, Ignacio, 36, 208 Ellicott, Andrew, 97, 239 elm trees, 43, 68, 173, 223, 248, 268 Elozu´a, Antonio, 18, 102, 150, 240 empresarios described individually, 34, 56–58, 94, 149–150, 208, 223, 235– 236, 241, 260 grants to,11, 32–33, 92– 93, 95, 256

289 problems of, 2, 32–34, 57–58, 74, 99, 218 Escando´n, Jose´ de, 169–170, 268 Espada, mission of, 15, 43 Espı´ritu Santo, mission of, 152, 262 Facio, Jose´ Antonio, 180, 185 ferries, 4, 45, 53, 60 – 62, 71, 74, 140 –142, 144–145, 159, 216, 219, 222, 225–226, 246, 258–259 fish, 136 floods damage to crops, 35, 159–160, 164–165, 167, 171–172 effects on roads, 4–5, 60, 64– 65, 68– 69, 71, 74, 91, 111, 114, 132–135, 142, 147, 151, 223, 256 Flores, Gaspar, 18, 218 Flores, Manuel, 20, 204 food, 24–25, 34, 52–53, 58, 63, 65, 67– 68, 70, 73, 78–80, 103, 110, 113, 116, 118, 123, 128, 131, 135–136, 145, 151–152, 159, 167–168, 179, 188, 194, 197, 206, 224, 234, 248, 261, 267 forests damage to, 73, 78–79, 116–117, 129–130, 144–145, 190, 196, 232, 254, 259 of eastern Texas, 61–114, 189–190 below Nacogdoches, 127–137 of western Louisiana, 116–125 fossils, 18, 45, 59, 142, 171–173 Fredonian Rebellion, 1, 34, 73–74, 95, 208, 225, 227–228, 233, 235, 241 French in Louisiana, 115–124, 246–250 in Texas, 80 –81, 137, 178, 244– 246 frogs, 43– 44, 142 fruits, 26, 116, 214, 247, 268

290 texas by tera´ n Galindo, Andre´s, 71–72, 226 Galveston Bay, 57, 133, 185–186, 255, 257 garita (powder magazine at Be´xar), 21, 205, 209–210 Garza Falco´n, Blas Marı´a de la, 170, 268 geology, 43– 45, 48, 50, 54, 59, 65– 66, 68– 69, 72–73, 75, 113, 120, 135–136, 140, 142, 145, 155, 157, 161, 164, 168– 69, 171–172, 206, 212 Gilcrease Museum, manuscripts at, 9, 13, 273 Goliad, 17–19. See also La Bahı´a Gonzales, town of, 4, 45– 46, 212–214 grapevines, 50, 70, 75, 230 Gray, George, 122, 251 Gray Herbarium (Harvard), manuscripts at, 13 Great Lakes, 11 Great Raft, 119–120, 234, 248–249 Green, Amos, 133, 255–256 Grees (Anglo settler). See Gray, George Groce, Jared, 4, 11, 33, 63, 65, 144– 145, 222, 259 Guadalupe River, 20, 45– 46, 48– 49, 54, 135, 149, 151, 214 Guadalupe [Victoria], villa of, 147, 149–150 Guapanaquı´ Indians, 121 Guardado de Abajo (rancho), 171 Guardado de Arriba (rancho), 171

of Indians, 17, 31, 58–59, 107, 128 seen by Pavie, 190 –191, 194, 196– 197 taxes on, 117 wild, 152, 155, 157, 211, 264 horticulture by Anglos, 17–18, 32, 35, 46, 52– 53, 56–58, 63, 73, 133, 144– 146, 179, 217–218 by Indians, 29, 58, 61, 75, 78, 93– 94, 106, 108–109, 122, 128– 129, 152, 242 along Rio Grande, 159–160, 164– 174 by soldiers, 16, 35 by tejanos, 15–19, 21, 26, 36, 79– 80, 114, 149–150, 194 Huasa´s. See Osage Indians Humboldt, Alexander von, 13, 64, 203, 222 hunting to excess, 75, 94, 101, 108, 230, 262 for food, 16, 48, 118, 124, 130 – 131 by Indians, 9, 29–30, 46, 51–52, 58, 61, 73, 75–76, 118, 131, 135, 206, 231 huts of Indians, 51, 58, 128, 136, 218, 254, 256 of tejanos ( jacales), 16, 22, 159, 194, 263

hackberry trees, 265 Hasinai Indians, 229 hawthorn trees, 214 hickory trees, 212 Holland (Anglo settler), 4, 66, 143, 145, 223 horses with Boundary Commission, 91, 124, 140, 151, 157–158, 261

illness among Commission members, 4, 66–71, 91, 102 on frontier, 63, 67, 71, 76, 80, 133, 167–168, 197, 205, 223, 258, 261, 265, 267 of Tera´n, 27, 67, 70, 72, 91, 103– 104, 114, 134–135, 139, 186– 188

index immigration by Anglos, 11, 37, 56, 99, 105, 133, 179 attempts to curtail, 38, 181, 183, 185–186, 209 illegal, 36–37, 95– 96, 98– 99, 104–105, 133, 135, 208, 229, 238, 240 by Indians, 2, 31, 37, 59, 61, 70, 72, 80, 92– 94, 100, 105, 109, 134, 220, 227, 234, 236–237, 240 –241, 243, 253 by Mexicans, 38–39, 149–150, 180 –182, 185, 188, 209, 225– 226, 260, 267–268, 270 Tera´n’s ideas on, 92– 96, 105, 109, 178–181, 239 Indians adornment of, 51–52, 76–77, 128–129, 195–196, 216, 231, 236, 242 and alcohol, 59– 60, 198–199, 231, 252, 273–274 Austin’s views on, 220 –221, 236 Berlandier’s study of, 14, 202, 206, 233, 237 ceremonies of, 52, 76, 78, 106– 108, 195–196, 216, 231, 266 councils with, 4, 72, 76–78, 106– 108, 242, 270 depredations of, 15–17, 19, 33– 34, 46, 53, 61, 78, 94, 100, 105, 107, 166, 170 –171, 212– 213, 221, 237, 268 dwellings of, 51, 58, 128, 136, 218, 254–256 horses of, 25, 30 –31, 59, 107 horticulture by, 29, 58, 75, 78, 93– 94, 106, 108–109, 122, 128–129, 152, 242 hunting by, 29–30, 51–52, 58, 75–76, 94, 101, 108–109, 128, 131, 135–136, 230 –231, 259

291 immigration by, 2, 11, 30 –31, 37, 59, 61, 70, 72, 80, 92– 94, 100, 105, 106–109, 134, 220 –221, 227, 231, 234, 236–237, 240 – 241, 251, 253 land requests by, 78, 91– 93, 107– 109, 184–185, 242, 270 language of, 59, 73, 76–77, 80 –81, 119, 128–129, 132, 197–199, 219, 231, 233–234, 248, 254 leadership of, 58–59, 78, 91, 95, 105, 195, 206, 234, 237–238, 242, 256 Mexico’s policy toward, 11, 92, 184–185, 227, 238, 242, 270 and missions, 15–18, 36, 122–123, 152, 224, 251, 262 population figures for, 29, 58, 79, 93, 202, 207, 235–236, 243, 253–256 religious views of, 31, 72, 77, 108, 122, 129 Tera´n’s comments on, 51–52, 58– 59, 73, 76–78, 92– 95, 100, 109–110, 128–129, 135, 152, 168, 228, 230 trade with, 25, 59, 75–76, 101, 118, 122, 128, 199, 230 –231, 242, 251 traits described, 8, 25, 51–52, 58– 59, 61, 72–73, 76–78, 80, 92– 95, 105–110, 117, 128–129, 135–136, 152, 195–199, 207, 242–243, 273–274 treaties with, 59, 61, 106–108, 185, 219, 221, 242 U.S. policy toward, 11, 31, 59, 61, 70, 78, 92, 94, 110, 121–123, 219–221, 234, 246, 251, 253, 274 warfare of, 30 –31, 33–34, 46, 58–59, 122, 152, 171, 195– 196, 221, 237 women, role of, 51, 58, 75–76, 78, 94, 123, 195

292 texas by tera´ n Jaboncillos (travel stop), 158, 264 jackrabbits, 155, 263 Jackson, Andrew, 105, 179 Jamaica, markets in, 56 Jaranames. See Aranama Indians Juan, expedition cook, 66, 103 Karankawa Indians, 34, 61, 152, 221, 262 Kichai Indians, 78 Kickapoo Indians, 72–73, 76–77, 93– 94, 107, 220, 227, 231, 236–237 Kiowa Indians, 30 La Bahı´a (Goliad), 19, 33–35, 151, 153, 261–262 La Bahı´a del Espı´ritu Santo (bay), 49, 57, 152 La Bahı´a Road, 4, 62, 67, 222, 224 Lafitte, Ce´saire, 116, 123, 247 Lake Bistineau, 119, 248 Lake Nacke, 119, 248 lakes, 70, 119–120, 248, 250 –252 land empresarial grants of, 11–12, 32– 34, 57, 93, 147, 182–183, 208, 218, 220, 235–236, 238, 241, 260 Indian petitions for, 2, 61, 78, 91– 95, 106–109, 184–185, 242– 243, 270 individual grants of, 29, 95, 207– 208, 216, 222, 227, 247, 253, 258, 262 measurements of, 44, 58, 93, 96, 236, 239 preferred for Mexican colonists, 38–39, 180, 182, 262, 270 squatters on, 32, 37, 79, 98– 99, 104, 228–229, 239–240, 257, 272 Laredo, 3, 5, 9, 18, 35, 49, 160 Las Animas (travel stop), 158, 264

Las Motas de Don˜a Clara, 157 Las Mugeres (travel stop), 158 La Villita (at Be´xar), 15, 21–22, 205 Law of April 6, 1830, 10, 181–186, 202, 270 –271 Leftwich, Robert, 183 Leo´n, Martı´n de, colony of, 147, 149, 181, 260 –261 Library of Congress, manuscripts at, 9, 13 Lipan-Apache Indians, 25, 51, 61, 67, 92, 94, 122, 206, 237 livestock Anglo raisers of, 17, 34, 46, 48, 52–53, 56, 80, 133, 145, 190 Indian raisers of, 93, 106, 108– 109, 128, 136 in Louisiana, 116–117, 247 in Nueces Strip, 158–159, 166– 167, 170, 263–264 on Rio Grande, 158–159, 163– 174, 266–268 tejano raisers of, 17–18, 23, 86–88, 149–150, 158–159, 204 Llano de las Mesten˜as, 141 Loma Grande, 49 Lomas del Hierro, 48 Long, James, 38, 209, 233 Louisiana, 17, 34, 57, 61 boundary with, 1, 4–5, 97, 102– 104, 109, 115–116, 118, 178, 183–184, 245–246, 252. See also Mier y Tera´n, on U.S. boundary French settlers in, 115–124, 247 government of, 117, 121, 249 Indians in, 118, 121–123, 234, 251 marriage in, 120 –121, 247, 249– 251 taxes in, 117 trade with, 56, 63, 75, 79, 102, 119–120, 144, 146, 153, 230 – 233

index Magdalena Road, 63 mail, 50, 71, 102, 140, 147, 260 maple trees, 74–75, 189, 228–229 maps, 93, 198, 210, 216, 219, 224, 228, 246, 249, 252, 255–256, 258, 260, 262, 264–265, 273 by Austin, 13, 177, 202–204, 208, 214, 217, 220, 222–224, 226– 228, 236, 246, 256, 264, 289 by Berlandier, 112, 148, 154, 203, 261, 263–265 by Darby, 246, 248, 252 by Galli, 55, 214, 217–218, 229, 231, 235 by Mesier, 241 by Puelles, 247, 252, 258 reproduced, 55, 112, 126, 148, 154, 162 by Sa´nchez, Jose´ Juan, 162, 266– 268 by Tera´n, 13, 112, 202, 204, 246, 257 by Williams, 126, 227, 254–257 Margil, Antonio, 229 marriage, 103, 120 –121, 123, 204, 217, 233, 235–236, 238, 241, 244–245, 247, 249–250, 251 Matagorda Bay, 148, 151–153, 262 Matamoros, 5, 10, 13, 139, 159–160, 164, 172, 174, 177, 180, 265, 268 McLean, Daniel, 73–74, 227 measures acre, 58, 236 arroba (weight), 56, 144, 218 carga (weight), 59, 167, 219 fanega (weight), 218 fardo (weight), 144 league (distance), 43, 210 league (of land), 93, 96, 210 milla (mile), 210 peso (money), 153, 216 pie (distance), 219 quintal (weight), 56

293 real (money), 52, 216 sueldo (money), 56, 153 vara (distance), 44, 93, 211, 218, 236 Medina, battle of, 36 Medina River, 3 ‘‘medlar’’ trees, 116, 119, 247–248 melons, 26, 58 mesquite trees, 22, 158, 160, 163– 164, 168, 211, 266 Mexico boundary concerns, 1, 105, 109, 115–116, 183–184, 231, 247 colonization concerns, 2, 10 –12, 27, 32–39, 99–101, 105, 133, 179, 204–209, 235–236, 240 – 241, 270 –271 policy toward Indians, 2, 31, 33, 61, 92– 95, 109, 238, 242 turmoil within, 12–13, 139, 180, 187–188, 257 Michaux, Andre´, 49, 50 –51, 215 Mier, 13, 169, 171, 267–268 Mier y Tera´n, Manuel de, 3–5, 8–14, 108–109, 209 on Anglos, 8, 11, 31–33, 36–37, 44, 46– 48, 52–53, 56– 60, 63–74, 79, 83, 95– 96, 97– 101, 103–105, 110, 118–124, 132–133, 144–145, 149–150, 159, 178, 182 and Austin, 11–12, 33–34, 56– 60, 92, 96, 99, 182, 186, 271 botanical observations of, 43, 45, 61, 68, 72, 75, 78–80, 113– 114, 127, 155, 157, 163, 165– 166, 168, 170 –171, 173, 210 – 212, 215–216, 221, 223, 227, 245, 255, 264, 267–268 celestial observations of, 44, 49– 50, 53–54, 63– 64, 66– 67, 115–117, 120, 124, 137, 172, 214, 222–223, 246, 259, 262,

294 texas by tera´ n 264 as commissioner of colonization, 12, 181–184, 239, 242, 257, 270 death of, 13, 187–188, 271 description of Indian visitors by, 76–79 diary of, ix, 5–8, 10, 13–14, 213, 224, 226–227, 230 –231, 256– 257, 263, 265, 269 early career of, 3 efforts to keep Texas, 11, 27, 32, 37–39, 100 –101, 178–182, 209, 239, 243–244, 269, 271 escort of, 50, 62, 64, 68–70, 91, 124, 136, 141, 158, 226, 252, 261 family of, 39, 187, 209 on geology, 43– 44, 48, 50, 54, 59, 65– 66, 68– 69, 73, 75, 113, 120, 135–136, 140, 142, 145, 157, 161, 168–169, 171, 258 health problems of, 4, 62, 67, 70, 72, 91, 103, 114, 134–135, 186, 227, 240 on Indians, 8, 11, 14, 29–31, 33– 34, 37, 46, 51–52, 58–59, 61, 67, 73–74, 76–78, 80 –81, 91– 95, 105, 108–110, 116–118, 128–129, 135–136, 152, 184– 185, 202, 219–220, 228, 230, 238, 242, 254, 297 letters of: mentioned, 4, 11, 27, 234; translated, 27–39, 91– 106, 109–111, 178–179, 183– 184, 243–244 maps of, 13, 112, 202, 204, 257 on Mexicans, 38–39, 96, 164, 173, 209 military duties of, 3, 110 –111, 139, 177, 180 –181, 185–187, 240, 269

personality of, 12, 52, 102–103, 180, 187, 261 portrait of, 2 (reproduced), 10, 210 on slavery, 8, 56, 62, 79, 99–101, 123, 145, 184, 259 on tejanos, 8, 29, 34–36, 70 –71, 80, 96– 98, 103, 142, 149–153, 158–159, 238, 261 on Texas animals, 44, 75–76, 142, 145, 153, 155, 157–158, 230, 255, 258–259, 263–264 on Texas weather, 47– 48, 60 – 61, 63– 64, 72–73, 129–131, 143, 146–147, 150, 172–174, 254 on U.S. boundary, 4–5, 10, 31, 37, 80, 95– 97, 104–105, 109, 115–118, 137, 183–184, 246– 248, 252, 257 Milam, Benjamin, 183–184 military at Be´xar, 15–19, 25, 35, 205, 209 buildup in Texas, 38, 180 –181, 185–186, 209, 269–271 costumes/uniforms of (illustrated), 12, 82–84, 86, 138, 176, 193, 195–196, 273 at La Bahı´a, 151–152 at Nacogdoches, 79, 103, 110 –111, 193–197, 232–233, 243, 272– 274 organization of, 10, 16–19, 35, 74, 179, 184, 187, 204, 208, 240, 265 posts in Texas, 49, 102, 111, 185, 208, 214, 240, 268, 270 soldiers: as colonists, 39, 185, 209; as farmers, 16–17, 35; as Indian fighters, 16, 170, 231; lack of pay for, 16–17, 19, 110 –111, 152, 233, 243; in Tera´n’s escort, 3, 50, 54, 62, 64, 68– 69, 124, 136, 140 –141, 158, 261 Mina Expedition, 151

index mining, 18, 169, 203–204 missions at Be´xar, 15–18, 36 in east Texas, 229–230, 271 at La Bahı´a, 152, 224, 262 secularization of, 15, 203, 262 for U.S. Indians, 122–123, 251 Mohawk Indians, 70 Monclova, 103 Monterrey, 36 Mora, Jose´ Marı´a, 239 Mosh (Cherokee leader), 95 mosquitoes, 62, 64, 68, 70, 73, 222 mounds (Indian), 74, 76, 140 –141, 228, 258 mules, 56, 59, 66, 69, 91, 103, 107, 147–148, 157, 190 Muro, Miguel, 152, 262 Mush (Cherokee leader), 95, 234, 237–238, 242 music, 23–24, 62, 72, 188, 195, 200, 206, 221 Muskogee Indians, 134, 220 Mu´squiz, Ramo´n, 20, 104, 204 Nacodochito Indians, 75–76, 80 Nacogdoches, 4–5, 8, 10 –11, 19–20, 34–35, 37, 51, 74–76, 78–80, 98, 100, 103, 105, 110, 125, 139, 181, 193–200, 230, 233, 237, 239, 243–244, 262, 274 Nadaco Indians, 72, 76, 227 Natchez, 103 Natchitoches, 75–76, 102–104, 116, 244, 249 Navadacho Indians, 58, 76, 80, 107 Navarro, Jose´ Antonio, 20, 204 Navarro, Luciano, 20 Navasota River, 235 Navidad River, 50, 215 Neches River, 73–75, 135–137, 140 – 141, 241, 253, 257 nettles, 47, 214

295 Neutral Ground, 80, 189–190, 225– 226, 232–233, 244, 246–247, 249–250, 252, 272 New Orleans, 56, 63, 79, 102–103, 114, 144, 146, 153, 231–232, 245, 262 Nolland. See Holland (Anglo settler) Nueces River, 57, 155, 160 –161, 170, 265, 268 Nuestra Sen˜ora de la Purı´sima Concepcio´n de Acun˜a, mission of, 15 Nuestra Sen˜ora del Espı´ritu Santo de Zu´n˜iga, mission of, 152, 262 Nuestra Sen˜ora del Refugio, mission of, 152, 262 oak trees, 43, 49, 50, 64, 68, 71–72, 75, 113, 119, 127, 136, 141, 146, 155–158, 189, 212, 215, 223–224 ocelot, 145, 259 okra, 80, 234 Old Reynosa, 164, 266–267 opossum, 73 Ortiz Parilla, Diego, 76, 231 Osage Indians, 31, 122, 251, 273–274 otter, 75–76, 153, 262 Palafox, villa of, 35 Palbadeau. See Palvado Palvado, Jean, 115, 124, 245–246, 252 Palvado, Jean-Baptiste, 116, 247 Pavie, The´odore, 10, 232, 239, 259, 271 on Anglo colonists, 189, 191–194, 196–197, 199 on Blacks and slavery, 191–193, 197 on Camino Real to Nacogdoches, 189–193 description of east Texas by, 189– 200 description of Nacogdoches by, 10, 193–200

296 texas by tera´ n on Indians, 193–200 on military, 193–197 on tejanos, 194, 197, 200 Peach Creek. See Arroyo de los Tejocotes Pecan Point, 109, 119, 183–184, 231, 243, 249 pecan trees, 43– 44, 49, 71, 146, 215, 226 Perry, Henry, 151 persimmon trees, 116, 189, 247–248 petrified wood, 68– 69, 142, 224 peyote, 266–267 Piedras, Jose´ de las, 102, 181, 186, 194–196, 199, 232–234, 240, 269, 272, 274 pine trees, 65, 72–73, 75, 113, 127, 129, 134–135, 190, 223, 230, 254 plants, 43– 45, 47, 49, 61, 66, 68, 72, 75, 113–114, 130, 155, 158–159, 170 –171, 173, 189, 210 –212, 215–216, 223, 227, 267–268 plum trees, 43, 75, 116, 214, 230 poison ivy, 47, 49, 214–215 Poncho-Mahı´. See Poncho-Michi Poncho-Michi (Alabama Indian), 128, 136, 257 population statistics Anglos, 29, 33, 47, 93, 133, 150, 206–207, 213, 232, 244, 256 Indians, 29, 58, 61, 79, 93, 207, 235–236, 243, 253–256 ports, 56–57, 100, 148, 153, 160, 185, 218, 257, 262, 265, 268 Rio Grande towns, 159, 265–267 soldiers, 18–19, 25, 232 tejanos, 20, 25, 29, 34, 149, 151, 204, 206, 232, 260 –261 pronghorn antelope, 158, 264 pumpkin, 194 Quapaw Indians, 251

Rancherı´as (rancho), 171 ranching by Anglos, 17, 52, 133, 203 in east Texas, 245 by French in Louisiana, 116, 247, 250 along Rio Grande, 158–159, 163– 174, 264, 266–268 by tejanos, 17–18, 149–150, 229, 263–265, 273 Rancho de Alvarado, 114, 124 Rancho de Charco Azul, 163 Rancho de Chicho´, 114, 124, 245 Rancho de Guadalupe, 163, 172 Rancho de la Barrera, 171 Rancho de la Laja, 165 Rancho de la Mesa, 163, 172 Rancho de las Crucitas, 163 Rancho de las Cuevas, 165 Rancho del Barranco, 164 Rancho del Desierto, 165 Rancho del Guajolote, 113, 125, 244 Rancho del Morillo, 164, 172, 266 Rancho de los Olmitos, 163, 172 Rancho de los Urestes, 163 Rancho de los Valadeses, 165 Rancho del Potrero, 165 Rancho del Tepehuaje, 165, 171 Rancho de Pen˜itas, 168, 171 Rancho de Puertecitos, 165 Rancho Nuevo, 163 rebellion Fredonian, 34, 73–74, 95, 208, 227–228, 233 within Mexico, 180, 187–88 prevention of, 185 sentiments toward, 32–37, 98, 101, 187 from Spanish rule, 8, 14, 21, 24, 36, 80, 151, 205, 209, 233, 240 Red River, 4, 61, 78, 92, 109, 116, 118, 145, 183–184, 189, 243, 246–247

index reeds, 22, 130, 141, 255 Refugio, mission of, 152, 262 religion government’s role in, 120 –121, 152, 159, 195 of Hispanics, 21, 23, 26, 120 –121, 159, 171, 205, 233, 268, 272– 273 of Indians, 72, 129 as taught by missionaries, 122–123, 152, 262 Revilla, 169–170 Rey Largo (‘‘Long King’’), Coushatta leader, 135, 256 Reynosa, 163, 171–172, 266 Rı´o Bravo del Norte. See Rio Grande Rio Grande, 5, 25, 29, 35, 159–160, 164, 167–168, 170, 188, 266 Rivera, Pedro de, inspection tour of, 9 rivers courses of, 26, 44, 48– 49, 54, 59, 74, 113, 116, 119, 127, 135– 136, 145, 151–152, 155, 159– 161, 165, 169, 214, 217, 229, 261 crossings of, 4, 45, 47, 53, 60 – 61, 69–71, 74, 115, 128, 132, 134, 136, 140 –141, 145–146, 151, 159, 216, 224–226, 228, 245– 246, 259, 260, 263 flooding of, 4, 60 – 62, 132–136, 141 navigation of, 46, 54, 63, 115, 119–120, 136, 144–145, 164, 257, 266 road system Atascosito Road, 146–151, 260 La Bahı´a Road, 67–71, 139–144, 217, 223–224, 228, 260 La Bahı´a to Matamoros, 153–159, 263 Matamoros to Mier, 163–174, 264

297 Nacogdoches to Atascosito (Liberty), 127–137, 254, 256–257 Nacogdoches to future Shreveport, 113–125, 245, 247 Old Gonzales Road, 43– 62, 210 – 212, 214, 259 Old San Antonio Road (Camino Real), 71, 189–193, 223–226, 245, 253, 271–272 San Felipe to La Bahı´a Road, 61– 66, 222–223, 259 Robbins, Nathaniel, 225–226, 258 Roubleau, Pierre, 124, 127, 130, 137, 244, 247, 252–253, 255, 257 Rubı´, Marque´s de, inspection tour of, 9 Ruiz, Jose´ Francisco, 9, 14, 270 Sabine River, 4, 32, 79, 93– 94, 97, 99, 115–116, 124, 129, 189, 235, 242, 249, 272 saddles (illustrated), 48, 82–84, 86– 90, 193, 214, 273 Salado Creek, 21, 43– 44, 210 salt, 58–59, 79–80 Saltillo (Leona Vicario), 20, 59, 71 San Antonio de Be´xar, 3–5, 9–10, 14–15, 28, 34–36, 39, 43, 47, 57, 64, 71, 77, 205, 209–210 description of, 16–27 San Antonio de Valero, mission of, 15, 21, 205–206 San Antonio River, 21, 26, 206, 211 San Bartolo, 44, 211 Sa´nchez Estrada, Jose´ Juan (map of ), 266–268 Sa´nchez y Tapia, Jose´ Marı´a, 13, 71, 91, 103, 233 on Anglo colonists, 4–5, 8, 20, 228, 235 description of Be´xar by, 14–15, 19, 211 description of Nacogdoches by, 232

298 texas by tera´ n diary of, 5, 9, 215, 219, 222, 231– 232, 242–243 on Indians, 216, 227, 232, 234, 237, 242–243 lost artwork by, 3, 14, 31, 235– 237, 253, 257, 262 on military, 19, 215 role of, 3, 10, 103, 140, 144–145, 203, 227 on tejanos, 8, 15, 19–20, 204, 239 Sa´nchez y Tapia, Lino, 14, 237, 273 San Felipe de Austin, 4, 9, 11, 19, 26, 58, 60, 63, 144–145 San Fernando (travel stop), 156, 263 San Fernando de Be´xar, 15 San Francisco de la Espada, mission of, 15, 43 San Jacinto River, 224 San Jose´ y San Miguel de Aguayo, mission of, 15 San Juan Bautista del Rı´o Grande, 18, 35 San Juan Capistrano, mission of, 15 San Juan de Ulu´a, fortress of, 35 San Juan River, 160, 165, 168 San Luis Potosı´, 39, 49 San Marcos de Neve, 214–215 San Marcos River, 49 San Nicola´s (travel stop), 141 Santa Fe, 25, 153 Santa Gertrudis (travel stop), 156, 263 Santa Rosa, Coahuila, 67, 223 Santa Rosa (travel stop), 157–158 Sartucho (Mexican settler). See Zertuche, Ignacio Saucedo, Jose´ Antonio, 20 scalps, 128, 196, 253 schools, 78–79, 97– 98, 110, 118, 121, 159, 232, 250 Sciodo Lake, 119 Seguı´n, Erasmo, 104 Seguı´n, Juan Angel, 20 Shawnee Indians, 76, 93, 107, 109–

110, 135, 196, 198, 220, 231, 236, 243 Shreveport, Louisiana, 4 slavery, 1, 8, 11, 29, 33–34, 63, 73, 117–118, 133, 144, 184, 222, 232, 244, 250, 256, 260, 270 laws about, 38, 56–57, 99, 239– 240 Tera´n’s comments on, 38, 56, 62, 79, 99, 145, 259 treatment of slaves, 101, 121, 123, 145, 191–192, 259 smallpox, 67, 80, 273 Smithsonian Institution, manuscripts at, 13 smuggling, 53, 152, 159, 185, 217, 219 Soda Lake, 248 Sonsores, 31 Spaniards, 2, 8– 9, 14, 16, 23, 36, 76, 80, 97, 102, 151, 177, 214, 231, 233, 265, 268 Spanish moss, 78, 232 squash, 58, 79 squatters concern over, 2, 11, 36–37, 70, 95– 96, 98– 99, 104–105, 184, 208, 228, 236, 240, 272 nature of, 70, 79–81, 104–105, 132, 178, 185, 189, 229, 238 Tera´n’s plans for, 95– 96, 105, 239, 257 steamboats, 46, 54, 115, 119, 145, 266 sugar, 79, 133, 179, 229 sugarcane, 18, 53, 133, 229 ‘‘sugar trees,’’ 74–75, 113, 127, 228– 229 swamps, 49, 54, 146, 219 sweet gum tree (copalli), 245 sweet potatoes, 53, 113, 123, 128, 135, 245 sycamore trees, 61, 221

index Tamaulipas, state of, 5 Taovaya Indians, 46, 76, 92, 213, 231 Tarnava, Constantino, 3, 102–103, 180, 269 Tawakoni Indians, 51, 58, 61, 78, 92, 107–108, 218 Tawehash. See Taovaya Indians taxes in Louisiana, 56, 117, 121 in Tamaulipas, 149, 167, 265 in Texas, 53, 57, 98, 151–152, 186, 258 tejanos descriptions of, 8, 16–17, 20 –26, 34–37, 70 –71, 79–80, 96– 98, 103, 117, 123, 136, 149–152, 193–194, 200, 205, 232–233, 239, 244, 258, 260 –261 as farmers, 15, 17–19, 21, 26, 36, 79–80, 114, 149–150, 194 as landowners, 72, 225–226, 245, 247, 258 as politicians, 20, 27, 96, 98, 204, 225, 232–233, 239–240, 262 population figures for, 20, 25, 29, 34, 97, 149, 204, 206–207, 232, 260 –261 as stockmen, 17–18, 23, 86–88, 149–150, 158–159, 214, 245, 263, 265, 273 Tejas Indians, 72, 76, 80, 227, 229 Tera´n, Manuel de Mier y. See Mier y Tera´n, Manuel de tetanus (infantile), 167–168, 267 Texas Republic, 184–185, 235, 237– 238, 246–247, 253 Texas Revolution, 185, 240, 256, 270 Thorn, Frost, 93, 153, 220, 226, 235, 241–242 Tlaxcala, Indians from, 36, 39 tobacco laws about, 34, 53, 217

raising of, 53, 217

299 use of, 51–52, 76–77, 106–108, 151, 195, 197–200, 219 Tonkawa Indians, 51, 52, 152, 213, 216, 261 Tornel, Jose´ Marı´a, 182–183 tortillas, 25, 53, 84–85, 206 trade. See commerce trading posts, 122, 230 –231, 249– 250 Trammell, Nathaniel, 225–226 treaties Adams-Onı´s Treaty, 1, 4, 97, 102, 183, 239, 249 on Florida boundary (U.S. and Spain), 97, 239 with Indians, 59, 61, 106–108, 185, 219, 221, 242, 251, 274 on Mexico-U.S. boundary, 1, *, 97, 102, 115–116, 183–184, 239 Trinity River, 4–5, 9–10, 32, 36, 38, 61, 70, 72, 75, 78, 91, 109, 131– 134, 141–142, 145, 224–225, 253–255, 257 turkey, 44, 57, 61, 130, 215 United States boundary with Mexico,1, 97, 102– 104, 109, 115–116, 118, 178, 183–184, 239, 248–249 desire for Texas, 2–3, 178–179 Indian policy, 11, 31, 59, 61, 70, 78, 92, 94, 110, 121–123, 219–221, 234, 246, 251–253, 274 politics within, 97, 121–123, 250 – 251 Veracruz, 35 Veramendi, Juan Martı´n de, 20, 204, 232 Victoria, Guadalupe, president of Mexico, 4, 27–28

300 texas by tera´ n Victoria, Texas, 19 Viesca, Jose´ Marı´a, 20, 241 Waco Indians, 51, 53, 58, 61, 92, 107, 217–218 wagons, 4, 9, 17, 36, 43, 45, 47, 49, 52, 54, 56, 60, 62, 65– 69, 71, 103, 193–194, 215, 218, 221–222 Wallace (Anglo settler), 121, 249– 250, 252 walnut trees, 64, 72, 75, 113, 117, 136, 140 –141, 215, 226, 248 Warden, David B., 229 Wasas. See Osage Indians weather (extreme changes in), 47– 48, 58, 60 – 61, 63– 64, 66, 72, 131, 140, 143, 146–147, 150, 153, 158, 172–174, 200, 261 Weedson (Anglo settler). See Beeson, Benjamin White River, 93 wildflowers, 21 Williams, John ‘‘Cherokee,’’ 73, 227 willow trees, 61, 75, 212, 221, 230

women Anglo, 53, 103, 120 –121, 214, 216–217, 238, 241 Black, 118, 144, 259 French, 121, 123, 244–245, 249– 251 Indian, 51, 58, 75–76, 78, 94, 123, 195, 216, 251, 261 tejano, 17, 23–26, 71, 84–85, 103, 123, 194, 200, 205–206, 226, 233, 245, 247, 272 Yale University, manuscripts at, 5–7, 9, 13–14, 28 yaupon, 52, 216 Yguani Indians, 76 Yoakum clan, 272 Yucata´n, 34, 38–39, 182 yucca, 159, 265 Zavala, Lorenzo de, 241 Zertuche, Ignacio, 70 –71, 142, 225– 226, 258