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JOF MI. BROWN.
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STE
JOHN HENRY BROWN
HISTORY OF TEXAS,
FROM 1685 TO 1892.
(IN TWO VOLUMES.)
- BY -
JOHN HENRY BROWN.
VOLUME ONE.
AUTHOR OF "TWO YEARS IN MEXICO," "EARLY LIFE IN THE SOUTHWEST," "THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HENRY SMITH, THE FIRST AMERICAN GOVERNOR OF TEXAS," " THE INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS," ETC., ETC.
L. E. DANIELL, PUBLISHER. PRINTED BY BECKTOLD & CO. ST. LOUIS.
Entered according to the Act of Congress in the year 1852, by JOHN HENRY BROWN, In the office of the Librarian, at Washington, D. C.
INTRODUCTION.
The field for historical research in Texas, covering two centuries of time, is wide and, for the most part, deeply interesting. To the present and future generations, however, its chief historic value is confined to that period of time beginning about the close of the 18th and the commencement of the 19th century. Anterior to that time, outside of feeble settlements at San Antonio, Goliad and Nacogdoches and a few straggling missions, the country remained a primeval wilderness. Nor did any real progress toward reclamation occur until an effort was made to secure an Anglo-Saxon ( chiefly North American ) population, the first fruits of which became manifest in a few families and single men from Janu- ary to December, 1822. From the latter year we trace all of Texas identified with those principles of liberty, and repre -. sentative constitutional government held, at least by all English speaking people, to be essential to the continued progress and happiness of mankind. This work is undertaken with a sincere desire to give truth absolute control; to eschew every prejudice ; to do justice to all who served their country with fidelity ; and to guard against the great injustice of withholding merit due to some and awarding merit not due to others.
Most of the numerous books on Texas, including several published in, or prior to 1836, were too early to reach much of its most important history, and before many facts touching the then past were known, or when they were but partially known. The author, at intervals, for nearly half a century, has sought to find and preserve historical data omitted in other works, or incorrectly stated by them.
Ours is not like the history of any other State of the Union, settled and fostered by a progressive people and government, (3)
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INTRODUCTION.
and aided by great interior resources and means of transport- ation of which practically Texas had nothing. Wild barbarians infested Texas, undisturbed until its settlement by Americans, and its frontiers continued subject to all the horrors, more or less extensive, of savage warfare from the beginning in 1822, to its practical cessation in 1876, a period of fifty- four years, beside the period from 1835 to 1845, inclusive, of a state of war with Mexico.
Her history, taken as a whole, is unique and unlike that of any other member of the Union. To be understood it must be correctly given and carefully read.
The author is enabled to correct many errors - some of minor and a few of material importance - heretofore pub- lished, and to embrace numerous important facts never before given in any work; and yet, much of interest, in the very nature of things, resulting from the want of official records, the absence in large part of current newspaper files, and the failing memory of many old and patriotic men, must remain untold.
Eschewing fiction and exaggeration and guided by the spirit of truth and justice this work is given to the people of Texas by her loyal son.
The Author.
CHAPTER I. DAWN OF TEXIAN HISTORY.
Spanish and French Claims to Texas- Rules of International Law - Regu- lating the Exercise of the Right of Discovery in America - The Name of Louisiana given to the Country Watered by the Mississippi and its Affluents by La Salle, in Honor of Louis XIV, and Title Thereto asserted by the Crown of France - La Salle's ill-fated Expedition - Expedition of Don Alonzo DeLeon and Fray Damien Martinez, designed to Expel Foreigners and Establish Missions - La Salle's Camps at Matagorda Bay and on the Neches visited - Men concerned in the Murder of La Salle condemned to Perpetual Servitude in the Mines of Mexico -Origin of the Names "Texas " and "Texian " - Beginning of what was Afterwards the Pres- idio de San Antonio de Bexar- De Leon Succeeded as Governor of the Province of Coahuila, by Don Domingo Teran - An Effort made Looking to the Actual Possession and Settlement of Texas - Franciscan Friars - Expedition of Don Gregorio Salinas - Abandonment of Texas -The Rio Grande Claimed by France as the Western Boundary of Louisiana - Anthony Crozat Conceives the idea of Establishing a French Colony in Texas and intrusts its Execution to St. Dennis - Expeditions, Adventures and Death of Jugereau St. Dennis - War declared Between France and Spain - Bernard de la Harpe's Invasion - Last Feeble Effort of France to Maintain her Claim to Texas.
Mexico belonged to Spain by right of conquest, until, by a revolution, begun in 1810, she won her independence from that country, after a destructive and bloody warfare of eleven years.
In the meantime, Texas, after her first exploration, from 1685 to 1692, remained in its primeval state, owing to want of care on the part of Spain. Feeble claims, by right of dis- covery, were during this period advanced by France.
The aboriginal Mexicans, subjects of the Montezumas, sub- jugated by Cortez in 1521, were able to gratify the avarice of their conquerors by their great mineral wealth, and the enslave- ment of a people in many respects little less advanced in the
(5)
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
aggregate of civilized life than the Spaniards themselves. Texas, on the contrary, had little to offer, and, being vast in territory and at a great distance (as distance was then com- puted) from the city of Mexico, nothing was done for its de- velopment, until those in power were stimulated to exertion by jealousy of the French, who claimed the Rio Grande as the southwestern frontier of Louisiana.
Although an occasional Spanish adventurer had set foot on Texas soil and had visited some of the Indian villages, and while the ever vigilant Roman Catholic missionaries ( of whom Spain had established two colleges in Mexico, one at Quere- taro and another in Zacatecas ) had commenced their labors on the Rio Grande, the first formal claim of the Spanish crown to Texas was made in 1540 by Coronado, at the Indian village of Ysleta on the Rio Grande, now in El Paso County, Texas.
Texas is remotely indebted to the Indians then occupying the country around the Great Northern Lakes, and bordering on Canada which belonged to France, for the first attempt by the French to establish a colony within her territory. They first conveyed to the French the knowledge that a great river with many spreading branches, ran far into the south, through magnificent forests, and that the solitudes of the vast valley through which it meandered had never echoed to the footsteps of a white man.
In 1683 a few adventurers explored the Mississippi as far as the mouth of the Arkansas. Their report to the French Governor of Canada resulted in an undertaking in 1679, under a royal commission from France, to extend their explorations down that stream and take possession of the country in the name of the French King, Louis XIV. The rules of the international law established by the governments of Europe in regard to their American discoveries were :
" 1. That when any European nation takes possession of an extent of sea-coast, that possession is understood as
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
extending into the interior country to the sources of the rivers emptying into the sea along that coast, and to all their branches and the country they cover, such right to be enjoyed in exclusion of all other nations.
" 2. That whenever one European nation makes a discov- ery, and takes possession of any portion of the continent, and another afterwards discovers and takes possession of contig- uous territory, a line midway between them is to be consid- ered such boundary where the rights of dominion are not determined by an application of the principle first enumerated.
" 3. That whenever any European nation thus acquires a right to any portion of territory on this continent that right can never be diminished or affected by any other power, by virtue of purchase from, grants by or conquests of, the natives within the limits thereof."
In 1682, the Sieur Robert de La Salle, who had been con- nected with the second French expedition from Canada, suc- ceeded in reaching the Gulf of Mexico, giving the name Louisiana, in honor of his King, Louis XIV, to all the country. bordering on the Mississippi and its branches. Returning to Canada he went to France, where he was furnished by his government with four vessels, fitted out with 100 soldiers, 180 persons for laborers and artisans and seven Roman Catholic missionaries, for the purpose of settling a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi, and the additional purpose of converting such Indians as might be within reach of the colony .
On the 24th of July, 1684, he left France with full instruc- tions for settling a colony in Louisiana, at the mouth of the Mississippi.
The sea was then as pathless as the western wild. There was little, if any, knowledge of the trade winds, or of the currents of the Gulf Stream which, to the navigators of to-day, are as a highway plainly laid out. So, miscalculating his distance, he sailed too far south, passed the mouth of the
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
Mississippi, and entered what is now known as Matagorda Bay.
He landed on the 18th of February, 1685, at the head of the bay, which he named San Bernardo and took formal pos- session of the country in the name of Louis XIV, and estab- lished a small garrison and a mission on the Lavaca river. This expedition terminated disastrously. One of his vessels was captured by the Spaniards; one was wrecked in the breakers on entering the bay ; the largest, the Joliet, a frigate of forty guns, was taken by her commander and with her crew and stores of ammunition, carried back to France; and the Belle, a gift to La Salle by the King, was lost on the bay dur- ing the summer. Two of his men were killed by the Indians.
Still, determined to carry out his instructions, he left his little colony in charge of a trusty officer (Joutel) January, 1686, and with twenty men started on foot to cross the country in search of the Mississippi River. After various disasters, he returned from the Brazos River, having lost five men.
He had previously instructed one of his lieutenants (De Tonti ) to proceed from Canada to the mouth of the Arkansas, establish a garrison and make it a depot of supplies for the colony which it was his intention to bring from France. Hoping now to find De Tonti at that point, he started in April of that year with twenty men, traveling across the country and crossing swollen streams as best he could. They had reached the Neches River, when he was prostrated with a slow fever. After his recovery he, with only eight men remaining, returned to the fort to procure fresh supplies of ammunition, the friendly Ascenas Indians furnishing them with five horses for the journey.1
1 Mexico was the only source of supply for horses, and as these were found as far east as the Neches, and as these Indians were at that time agriculturists, and had flocks and herds to some extent, it must be con- cluded that there was commerce between them and Coahuila, which province extended across the Rio Grande to the Medina.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
The fort on the Lavaca, which they reached in August, was almost deserted. Remaining there until the following Jan- uary, 1687, he again set out, taking with him a majority of those whom he had found in the fort - leaving seventeen persons, including women and children.
The preparations made for this journey, the solemnity of the parting ( he caused mass to be celebrated and the sacra- ment of the Lord's supper to be administered), and the amount of treasures in silver, packages of merchandise. and other stores, and the portable boat of buffalo hides he pre- pared for transportation on horses, indicated a final farewell.
Among his companions were his brother (a priest), a nephew, the Reverend Father Anastasia, Nika, an Indian whom he had brought from Canada as a hunter, Dehaut, DeMarne, Heines, Lietot, his servant Saget, and others whose names will occur hereafter.
They halted near their former camping ground on the Neches to procure and dry buffalo meat. A quarrel between Morag- net, La Salle's nephew, and Dehaut, a turbulent man, culmin- ated in a conspiracy to secure revenge for grievances, imaginary or real. The next night when Moragnet, Saget, and Nika, the hunter, were asleep, Lietot knocked them in the head with a hatchet, killing them.
La Salle, becoming uneasy on account of the prolonged ab- sence of these men, whom he had sent out to bring in part of the meat, took Father Anastasia and two Indians for guides and went in search of them, leaving Joutel in command of the camp. Dehaut concealed himself in the grass and shot LaSalle in the head. The latter fell and expired without speak- ing. Father Anastasia, whose hand LaSalle pressed in dying, dug his grave and buried him, and erected a cross upon the spot.
The peaceable Indians were shocked at the murders, and naturally enough thought these people were abandoned by the great spirit to self-destruction.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
Dehaut took possession of the treasure, over the division of which he and Heines quarreled. He was shot in the head by Heines and killed. Rutel, a man whom La Salle had found among the Indians, and who had joined the party at the Neches, then fired on Lietot, killing him.
Heines now assumed command, and, dressing himself in LaSalle's scarlet uniform, proposed to lead the peaceable Indians in a war upon neighboring tribes, and, having posses- sion of the treasure, may have had much to do with corrupting them, changing their industrious habits and leading finally to their dispersion as a nation.
Heines consented for the remainder of the men to return to the fort on the Illinois and furnished them horses, food, and ammunition for the journey. Seven only remained behind. Of those who continued forward DeMarne was drowned in Red River. His companions arrived at the mouth of the Arkansas, found DeTonti and his men and were gladdened by the sight of the French flag floating over the little fort. One of the men remained there, and only five returned to France, by way of Illinois and Quebec.
The fate of those remaining in the little fort at the head of the bay is not certainly known. They were dispersed or killed by the Indians. A few made their way to the Indian villages farther east where, it is said, they were afterwards found by the Spanish Governor, DeLeon, and restored to their friends.
This is a sufficient history of the first European attempt at settlement in Texas.
In 1688 the Missionary Fray Damien Martinez, of Coa- huila, learned from Indians that people resembling the Span- iards in color had landed on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, not far from the Rio Grande. He conveyed the information to Don Alonzo De Leon, then Governor of the Province of Coahuila, who made the report known to the Count de Mon- clova, the Spanish Viceroy of Mexico.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
In obedience to a decree of Philip of Spain that no for- eigner should enter the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, on pain of death, orders were immediately given to De Leon to penetrate the country with such troops as he could gather from the garrisons of Monclova and Saltillo, drive out what- ever foreigners he might find, and take with him Fray Damien Martinez to establish missions among the friendly Indians.
They left Monclova March 23d, 1689, and, accompanied by friendly Indians as guides, on the 22d of April reached the point where La Salle had attempted to plant his colony.
There they found the wreck of his vessel, La Belle, the remains of his fort and a building with the inscription, 1685. The Carancahuas were accused of putting to death the few French who had remained to hold the fort.
De Leon extended his travels as far as the camp of La Salle, among the Indians on the Neches river, where, it is said, he caused the arrest of two of La Salle's men, whom he believed were implicated in the assassination of their leader, and condemned them to perpetual servitude in the mines of Mexico. He caused those remaining to be sent to their friends.
Returning to Coahuila from this expedition De Leon changed his route, following the course of the San Antonio River from the coast about 120 miles, when, meeting with a party of Indians who made great professions of friendship, it was proposed to establish a mission and garrison at a point on that river. These Indians, strangers to the Spaniards and to the Mexican Indians who accompanied De Leon, welcomed the Spaniards with the exclamation, "Texia !" " Texia ! " (Friends ! Friends !) They signified their willingness to be- come Catholics if the good Father would accompany them to their homes far into the interior of the country.
De Leon left a small garrison at this place, which was the beginning of what afterwards became the Presidio de San Antonio de Bexar.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
In 1690 De Leon again visited Texas, and, still leaving a small garrison at San Antonio, revisited the ruins of La Salle's fort on the San Bernardo ( Matagorda ) Bay, where he projected a fort and a mission, which he named San Francisco, at which he caused mass to be celebrated on the 25th of May, 1690, under orders of the new Viceroy of Mexico.
De Leon was succeeded as Governor of the Province of Coahuila by Don Domingo de Teran. This new Governor left Monclova May 16th, 1691, with an expedition having for its purpose the actual possession and settlement of Texas, with officers, civil and military, soldiers, laborers and artisans. They brought seeds to plant crops, and domestic animals, with which the Spaniards had stocked Mexico; and, for the conver- sion of the Indians, whom they proposed to domesticate, they brought nine Franciscan friars. The names of these devoted missionaries were Francisco Hidalgo, Nicolas Recio, Miguel Estelles, Pedro Fortuny, Pedro Garcia, Ildefonso Monge, Jose Saldana, Antonio Miranda, and Juan de Garayuschea. They extended their operations as far as Red River, baptizing many thousand Indians.
On the third of May, 1693, Don Gregorio Salinas headed an expedition into Texas; but, finding that the Indians had rebelled against the rigorous military and religious discipline of the missions and that drouth had destroyed crops and cattle, advised the abandonment of the country, a movement sanctioned by King Philip II, who authorized abandonment " until such time as circumstances should offer more hope of success."
The French did not, however, relinquish their claims to Texas until after several abortive attempts to enforce them were made under the pretext that the Rio Grande was the southwestern boundary of Louisiana - an undefined extent of country.
In 1699, Iberville, the French Governor of Louisiana, was sent to found a French colony on the Mississippi. He also nominally re-asserted the claims of France to Texas.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
In 1712 Louis XIV granted " all the territory watered by the Mississippi and its branches," to Anthony Crozat, an en- terprising French merchant, who hoped, under this grant, to plant colonies in Texas and to establish commercial inter- course with Mexico and obtain an interest in her mines.
The expedition of Jugereau St. Dennis into Texas, in 1714, which Cadilac, the French Governor of Louisiana, styled a " piece of insanity," while at the same time he gave his con- sent to it, was undertaken with a view of consummating the schemes of Anthony Crozat, in which he hoped, of course, to enrich himself.
St. Dennis had brought with him from Canada a company of hunters and trappers, hardy, adventurous men, well suited to his undertaking. Leaving some of the Canadians at Natchi- toches, to hold a fort which he had established there, he crossed the Sabine with about twelve men and a number of Indian guides. Traveling west he reached the Neches at the Indian village of the Cenis, who treated him with hospitality, on account of the good will which they still cherished for the unfortunate La Salle.
Traveling west, following his Indian guides through un- known wastes and over mysterious trails, he reached San Juan Bautista, the Presidio of the Rio Grande, in August, and made known his mission to Villesecas, the commanding officer at that post. His object was ostensibly to purchase beeves, horses and commodities with which the mission was supposed to be abundantly furnished.
St. Dennis improved the delay incident to awaiting an answer from the Governor of Coahuila, by falling in love with Maria, the beautiful daughter of the hospitable Ville- secas. Unfortunately the messenger was charged with the double errand of asking a privilege for St. Dennis, and bear- ing for the father of the lady a letter, informing the Governor (also a suitor for her hand) of the fact that she was indulg- ing a tender passion for the handsome Frenchman, and adding
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
his suspicion that St. Dennis' visit had political significance. When the messenger returned he was accompanied by an armed guard of twenty-five men, with instructions to send St. Dennis to Monclova, without delay, under escort. Arriv- ing at Monclova, St. Dennis was heavily ironed and thrown into prison. The Governor, Gaspardo de Anaya, visited him in prison and offered freedom if he would renounce his claim to the heart and hand of the young lady. This proposal was rejected with scorn. The Governor then sent a message to the Donna Maria saying that if she did not consent to marry him, St. Dennis would be immediately put to death. The reply was a positive refusal, coupled with the threat that if St. Dennis was executed by his order, or died in prison from harsh treatment, " You may tell him that by my own hand or that of a trusted friend, a dagger shall be planted in his cowardly heart."
It appears that in St. Dennis Villesecas had encountered no ordinary antagonist. To a majestic figure, trained in its movements in the French military schools, as well as in the polite circles of that polite nation, was added a strength of character, a warmth of heart, an eloquence of tongue, that won to him all with whom he came in contact. Villesecas increased the severities of his imprisonment, until at the expiration of six months, he would not have been recognized by his nearest friends. His long matted hair and beard, emaciated body and haggard face, told only too plainly his sufferings, which if prolonged would undoubtedly soon have terminated his life. An unexpected change was at hand. To the surprise of Villesecas and himself, a courier from the city of Mexico brought from the Viceroy, the Duke of Lin- ares, a command for the prisoner to be sent immediately to that city. Some one had evidently appealed to him.
Still loaded with chains, St. Dennis was mounted on horse- back, and with a guard of twenty armed men, started on a journey, the object and termination of which were alike a
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
mystery. At the expiration of about three weeks, his prison door was opened, and a young French officer entered. After a hasty examination of the cell, he said to the almost expir- ing prisoner : " Who are you, and why are you here?"
" My name," he replied, " is Jugereau St. Dennis; I am a gentleman by birth, a prisoner by treason, and I am waiting for justice to be rendered to me."
" Were you not born in Canada ? "
" Yes. "
" Raised in France ?"
" Yes."
" And you went to Louisiana to make a fortune? "
" Yes."
St. Dennis, blinded by the darkness of his cell, could not see his questioner, and believed himself dreamning as he heard the jailer ordered to strike off his shackles, and found himself in the embrace of a friend.
" Who are you?" he asked faintly.
It was the Marquis of Larnage, a school-mate and intimate friend, who, like many of the young noblemen of France at that day, had taken service in the Spanish army. He had been ordered by the Viceroy to make an inspection of the Mexican prisons in search of " a man who," some unknown person had written, " is unjustly detained, and as to whose good character the good faith of your excellency has been betrayed. Before God you will be accountable for his death now that you are notified."
It is not difficult to imagine to whose intelligence and con- stancy St. Dennis was indebted for his release, and the country for the services he was spared to render.
Neither the charms of that gay society, which availed itself of the conquered wealth of a rich country and was brilliant in display, the company of his best friend nor the tempting offers of the Viceroy, could make St. Dennis forget his mission, or his fidelity to the woman who had saved him.
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