USA > Texas > A Twentieth century history of southwest Texas, Volume I > Part 20
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Beginning with the overthrow of the dictator, Santa Anna, by the' revolution of 1845, the Mexican government, under the leadership of President Herrera, was disposed to treat with the Republic of Texas more according to international diplomacy. But it was too late, since
States army at Jefferson Barracks, and Captain Edgar, in that city, en- tered the shop of Billings & Powers at the corner of Fourth and Wal- nut streets to learn the carriage maker's trade, being thus employed until after James K. Polk was elected president of the United States.
At that time there was strong talk of war with Mexico and Captain Edgar went to New Orleans to enlist in the navy, but finding there were no naval vessels in that port, he went on up the Red river and enlisted in the Third Infantry, February 24, 1845. In August of the same year the regiment arrived at Corpus Christi, Texas, where they were met by a body of Texas Rangers who, with some evidence of reason and authority, disputed the right of the United States soldiers to land, claim- ing that Texas was not yet a part of this republic. The difficulty, how- ever, was overcome and the soldiers remained in camp there during the winter of 1845-46. In the spring of the latter year they started for the Rio Grande with the division that was commanded by General Zachary Taylor and in April they built Fort Brown, opposite Matamoras, Mexico.
Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.
About May Ist the army under General Taylor, though its forces. were yet incomplete, marched from Fort Brown to Point Isabel, where they remained five days. Starting to return on the 7th, they were met and opposed, on the 8th, by the Mexicans under General Ampudia, at a water hole, since famous under the name Palo Alto. In a short con- flict the Mexicans were driven back by General Taylor, and at night fall retreated to Resaca de la Palma. Here the second battle of the war took place. The Mexicans ambuscaded the advancing Americans, but to no purpose, for the latter gained a complete victory and the- Mexican power was forever banished from the north side of the Rio Grande. A ten days' armistice was then agreed upon.
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the election of James K. Polk as president of the United States had de- cided the matter of annexation of Texas, and even before his induction into office in March, 1845, the measure had been signed which allowed Texas to enter the Union.
Accordingly, Mexico's hostility to Texas was now directed against the larger nation in which the republic had been absorbed. So aggrieved did Mexico become over the matter of annexation that her minister de- manded his passports as soon as the resolution passed, and returned to his country. The minister of the United States followed suit, and all diplomatic intercourse was thus broken off. Shortly afterward Presi- dent Polk appointed Alexander Slidell as minister plenipotentiary to Mexico to discuss and negotiate the subjects under dispute. On his arrival Slidell, it seems, failed to use sufficient tact in dealing with the disquieted Mexicans, and was refused recognition by the government al- together.
The subject of annexation, the disputed boundary line, the rejection of the minister, and the additional failure of Mexico to settle certain claims held by American citizens, all furnished acute aggravation to the war situation between the two countries. By dispatching Gen. Zachary
The members of Company E of the Third Regiment, to which Cap- tain Edgar belonged, were sent north in recruiting service, going first to Newport barracks, Kentucky, and later to Nashville, Tennessee. They 'were engaged in this service until the spring of 1847 when, returning to the field of operations, they arrived at Vera Cruz in June and joined General Scott's army at Pueblo, eighty-five miles from the City of Mex- ico, whence Scott made his famous entry into the Mexican capital.
Captain Edgar's written account-his personal memoirs-of this march are said to afford the best insight into this campaign that has yet been written. His keen powers of observation, his retentive memory and his love for and skill in military science, make the story of his army career, as written and related by him, of great interest and value. He was with Scott's army during its operations preceding and during the occupation of the City of Mexico and after the terms of treaty had been agreed upon and peace declared he returned with his regiment to the United States, arriving at Camp Salado, about four miles from San Antonio, Texas, in the early part of September, 1848.
This was Captain Edgar's advent into San Antonio, with which city he has been so closely connected for many years. He remained here dur- ing the winter of 1848-1849, when the regiment to which he belonged was ordered to open a road from San Antonio to El Paso, a distance of seven hundred miles through an uninhabited country. They started upon this work in June, reaching El Paso in September, and there on the 10th of October, Company E, of which Captain Edgar was a member, was or- dered to make a scouting expedition on the Gila river in Arizona, which they did, returning to El Paso after about a month's trip. Early in the spring of 1850, Captain Edgar was discharged from his company, of which he was at that time first sergeant.
In May, 1850, he again reached San Antonio and for a short time
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Taylor with three thousand soldiers to take possession of the disputed territory and guard the Rio Grande as the boundary line on the south- west, President Polk gave the provocation to the brief war between Mexico and the United States.
The Mexican forces seeking to dislodge General Taylor from his position opposite Matamoras, there ensued the battle of Palo Alto, the initial engagement of the war. The news of this battle brought from President Polk his famous "War exists, and, nothwithstanding all our efforts to avoid it, exists by the act of Mexico herself." Congress ac- cepted the declaration that "war exists" and voted money and vol- unteers to carry the war to a satisfactory conclusion. Fifty thousand volunteers were called for. An Army of the West was directed to be formed under the command of Colonel Stephen W. Kearny, who was stationed at Fort Leavenworth, which was to capture New Mexico and proceed thence to California. An Army of the Center, under Gen. John B. Wool was ordered to assemble at San Antonio and thence pro- ceed to Coahuila and Chihuahua. General Taylor was directed to pro- ceed against the northern and eastern states of Mexico. The naval forces under Commodores Stockton and Sloat on the Pacific, and Com-
engaged in farming, but that occupation did not pay very well in those days. So he accepted a position with the United States ordnance de- partment in this city. After a few months he retired from that place and entered the employ of a commercial house, for which he carried several stocks of goods overland to El Paso. After a year thus passed he entered the employ of the mercantile house of the Devines of San Antonio, thus serving until elected first assistant city marshal. In July, 1856, he be- came city marshal, but after a little more than a month spent in that posi- tion he resigned and accepted the position of storekeeper in the United States quartermaster's department, where he remained until 1860. In November of that year there was organized in San Antonio a company called the Alamo City Guards, of which he was elected captain and his connection with that company continued until after the secession of Texas from the Union, when the guards were transferred to the Confederate service with the light battery and Captain Edgar continued with that command in the Confederate army, serving until the close of the war as its captain.
The first field service of the company was at Adams Hill, about seventeen miles west of San Antonio, under the command of General Van Dorne. Following this Captain Edgar's battery was ordered to the junction of the Ouachita and Red rivers in Northeastern Texas and thence ordered to return to Harrisburg, Texas, on Buffalo bayou by way of Dallas, remaining at that point until the end of September, 1861. The next move was to Galveston, where Captain Edgar built winter quarters and remained until the spring of 1862. It was on Galveston Island that he did some very effective work in training and instructing recruits in artillery science, conducting a sort of artillery school. His knowledge and the skill and bravery which he displayed in the artillery arm of the service brought him great personal credit during his subsequent opera-
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modore Connor on the Gulf of Mexico were ordered to co-operate with the land forces and to do all in their power to aid in the subjugation and capture of Mexican property and territory.
The Americans were victorious on all occasions, no matter how small their number might be in comparison with the enemy, and in a short time General Taylor was conqueror of all northern Mexico; Kear- ny was in possession of New Mexico; Fremont occupied California ; and General Scott completed the campaign by fighting his way from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico, which was captured in September, 1847.
In this war Governor Henderson took command of the Texan con- tingent, and altogether about eight thousand men responded for service in this conflict. The Texans displayed unexampled bravery wherever there was a difficult position to be stormed or the brunt of assault to be sustained, and the Texan rangers especially won lasting renown and respect for their dashing bravery. "The efficiency of these mounted troopers was marked wherever the army advanced. Serving equally as well on foot as on horseback, they would storm a height or charge the enemy's cavalry with the same indifference, intrepidity and success.
tions in the war and he was said by General E. Kirby Smith to be one of the best men known in that service. There was no better battery and none further advanced than his. His conscientious efforts as a soldier, however, were greatly hampered and handicapped by the petty jealousies and ambitions of officers in General Walker's division in the Trans- Mississippi department, to which his command was unfortunately at- tached during the war.
In the spring of 1862, Captain Edgar's battery became a part of General T. N. Waul's legion, in which capacity he reported by order of General Waul to Little Rock. Later he lined up with General H. E. McCulloch's Texas troops at Austin, Arkansas, thirty miles from Little Rock and from there returned to Little Rock and then down to Pine Bluff and the operations at Arkansas Post on the Arkansas river. From that point he proceeded to Alexandria, Louisiana, where he joined Gen- eral Taylor and from this time forward for a considerable period his bat- tery was actively engaged on and near the Mississippi river in the vicin- ity of Vicksburg, making diversions in an effort to attract Grant away from Vicksburg. Captain Edgar was engaged in such operations until the 4th of July, 1863, when Vicksburg surrendered. During the winter of 1864-1865 he remained in Louisiana and engaged in operations that opposed General Banks of the Federal army on his expedition up the Red river.
When the war was over Captain Edgar returned to civil life and purchased a half interest in a freighting outfit of twenty-six ten-mule wagons, with which he took a contract for hauling supplies for the Fed- eral government from Brazos de Santiago to the mouth of the Rio Grande on the Mexican border, in the operations that were begun by General Steele against the efforts of Maximillian to establish an empire in Mex- ico. Captain Edgar prospered in this venture, but afterward lost much
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On the road they were the terror of the guerilla bands, and in the towns objects of dread to antagonists, and of awe to non-combatants. Their uncouth, wild and fierce appearance, their strange garb, and their repu- tation for contempt of every form of danger, gained for them in Mexico the belief that they were more than human-that they were beings intermediate between man and devil."
General Wool's Campaign.
The campaign of General Wool was described by George W. Hughes, chief of the topographical staff. The book is seldom seen, but is an excellent reference volume for that period of Texas history. It contains much excellent description, and its maps and drawings alone should attract the Texas antiquarian to its pages. The following ex- tracts from the work are selected because of their special reference to San Antonio and vicinity at that interesting period of the American occupation, just about the time the tide of immigration from other sources than Mexican began flowing strongly to this center.
Immediately after the breaking out of hostilities with the Republic of Mexico, the government of the United States, for the purpose of bringing the war to a speedy conclusion by "conquering a peace" from the enemy, determined to invade her adjacent territories in several directions; and simultaneously with the movement of General Taylor into Tamaulipas and New Leon from the lower Rio Grande, and of General Kearny into New Mexico and California, General Wool was directed to organize an expedition against the state of Chihuahua.
The division under General Wool was concentrated at San Antonio de Bexar, in Texas, and consisted of one battery of field artillery of six guns, to
of his money through the dishonesty of his partner. During the latter days of February, 1866, being still in the freight contracting business, he started with his wagons and mules across the plains to El Paso on a freight hauling expedition that proved to be one of the most thrilling events of a life that has been fraught with many dangerous adventures. After discharging the freight at El Paso and starting on the homeward journey, Captain Edgar and his party of twenty-four men were attacked by Indians in Limpeo Canyon in the Limpeo mountains about twelve miles north of Fort Davis, in what is now Jeff Davis county in Western Texas. Captain Edgar being cut off from his train was attacked by sixty- five Indians who, approaching within twenty yards, rained both bullets and arrows at him, but he fought them off with only a six-shooter and that he managed to escape without a single wound can be attributed only to the fact, as often stated by his friends, that all during his fighting days he led a charmed life. Those sixty-five Indians were part of a band of two hundred and fifty-one red men who, soon after the sixty-five were repulsed, began a siege against Captain Edgar and his twenty-four men. Behind their temporary barricade formed by the encircling wagons, they were penned up without food or water for four days and three nights, succeeding at the end of that time, after several unsuccessful attempts to bring about a truce, in scaring the Indians away. In this fight Captain Edgar lost twenty mules but no men. It seemed impossible for the white men to escape, but their courage and bravery and the stout fight which they put up for their lives at length resulted in victory.
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which were added two small pieces captured from the Mexicans bv the Texans. and manned with volunteers; one squadron of first and one second squadron of second dragoons ; one regiment of Arkansas horse : three companies of sixth infan- try, with which was incorporated one independent company of Kentucky foot and two regiments of Illinois infantry, making in all about three thousand four hun- dred men. To this corps was also attached the usual allowance of officers of the general staff and of the staff corps. The battery had marched from Carlisle barracks, Pennsylvania, nearly the whole distance by land; the first dragoons, Arkansas mounted men, and sixth infantry from posts in Arkansas; and the Illinois volunteers from Lavaca, Texas, by land.
On the 17th of July, the general (Wool) left Alton, and proceeded down the Mississippi. The Illinois regiments followed. On the 26th, he reached New Orleans, where he remained no longer than to give orders to procure whatever wagons, horses, mules, munitions, and other supplies necessary for the column, of which he was to take command. He then proceeded to Lavaca in Texas, where the Illinois volunteers, ordered to the rendezvous at San Antonio, were to disen bark, and arrived on the first of August, where he remained until the 8th, superintending the disembarkation of the troops, and on his departure left instruc- tions to promptly forward the supplies as fast as they should arrive. When he reached Placedorus creek, he reviewed the Illinois regiments. They had been delayed in their encampment by the incessant rains, which had inundated the whole country and rendered it impassable. The general, who was deprived of the services of Lieutenant McDowell, his active and efficient aide-de-camp, who had been so seriously injured by a fall from his horse as to prevent him from leav- ing Lavaca, proceeded with only two staff officers, a paymaster and ordnance officer, and arrived at San Antonio on the 14th of August. On the next day (15th), he wrote to General Taylor. "I find," said he, "neither men, munition, nor means of transportation, which to a certain extent it was confidently believed would have preceded me. If the troops under Colonel Harney had been here it was my intention to have proceeded at once to the Rio Grande, to select a point near the Presidio for the establishment of a depot."
General Wool found himself compelled, for the want of staff officers, to perform the duties of quartermaster, and to collect supplies from the surround-
After returning from this El Paso trip Captain Edgar accepted a position with Adams & Wickes, government contractors, with whom he remained for six years in charge of their outdoor business, such as buy- ing mules, organizing trains, etc. In 1873 he was employed by the Indian commissioners, who were charged with the removal of a roving band of Kickapoo Indians who had gone into Mexico and then returned to their reservation in the United States. In 1875, Captain Edgar was made one of these commissioners to fill the place vacated by H. M. Atkinson, who had been appointed commissioner of pensions. It was in 1876 that he added some diplomatic successes to his other laurels by making an arrangement with the government of Mexico for the disposition of the Indians.
During the three years which succeeded this service Captain Edgar was engaged in merchandising at Lavernia, Texas, and on selling out there returned to San Antonio, where he was elected city market master, filling the office until 1884. In May, 1886, he was appointed superin- tendent of the American cemetery in the City of Mexico and after reach- ing there he was also appointed by Secretary Bayard to fill the position of vice and deputy consul of the United States in the City of Mexico, filling both positions until 1894.
Captain Edgar was married in San Antonio in 1852 to Miss Mary Frances Smith, a native of New York, who died in 1901. There were
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ing country for the troops, whose arrival was daily expected, and to make pro- vision for the protection of the frontier of Texas, which was sorely suffering from the incursions and depredations of the Indians. His measures to protect the Mexicans, as well as Texans, living within the limits of Texas, now under the protection of the United States, were prompt and efficient. He compelled the Indians to surrender all whom they had seized and carried into captivity, includ- ing women and children. By this course, he reconciled the Mexicans to the American rule ; and when they ascertained that the general was not only willing. but able to protect them, their gratitude was unbounded.
During the month of August, the two Illinois regiments arrived, and also Colonel Churchill (the inspector general). Captain Fraser of the Corps of Engineers, Captain Cross (assistant quartermaster), Colonel Harney, with a squadron of dragoons, two companies of the first dragoon, commanded bv Can- tains Steen and Eustis, and two companies of the 6th U. S. Infantry, under the command of Major Bonneville. The last four companies marched 700 miles in six weeks, and arrived in fine order. Colonel Yell, with the Arkansas cavalry, arrived on the 28th of August. The troops, with the exception of the dragoons, were encamped at a beautiful and delightful spot, three miles above the Alamo. which was called Camp Crockett. The pure and limpid waters of the stream of San Antonio, which gushed from rocks at a short distance from the camp, ran along its front. The hills were covered with a fine growth of muskeet (live oak) and oak trees. The country was a rolling prairie, abounding in grass, from which sufficient feed for the horses, cattle, etc., was obtained. The general spared no pains to make his army efficient. He rose early and retired late ; he indulged in no amusements, but devoted every hour, except the few in which he sought some rest by sleep, to the service; and by incessant exertion, he began by degrees to form the excellent but inchoate materials of the column which he was to lead into Mexico, into shape and consistency.
In making reconnaisances through the surrounding country, the general discovered some magnificent traces of the labor of the Jesuits. In a letter to a friend he says: "The country is exceedingly beautiful. Most of it. however, is prairie, with live oak trees scattered over it, and an abundance of the prickly pear. The city of Antonio has the appearance of a fortified town. Most of the houses are built of stone, or with mud plastered with a lime cement, which gives it the appearance of stone."
five children in their family: Mrs. Emma Bryant, Mrs. Mary F. Cotton, Mrs. Lottie L. Burt, Edward and James.
Captain Edgar has had a most interesting experience and his life record reads like a tale of fiction in its many thrilling adventures. Be- side his various narrow escapes in the war and from the Indians while living on the frontier he has also escaped unharmed through several ravaging epidemics of cholera, yellow fever, smallpox and typhus. In returning from the Mexican war, shortly after embarking at Vera Cruz with some of the troops on a sailing vessel from New Orleans, yellow fever broke out on board and many deaths occurred. He also went through three sieges of cholera, notably the one at San Antonio in 1849. Surely he seems to bear, as his friends say, a "charmed life." He has been spared for a career of great usefulness and activity and now at the age of seventy-seven years is enjoying a well earned rest. He has aided in subduing the wilderness and extending the frontier and has borne his part in civilizing processes which have converted Texas from a largely uninhabited district into a center of great agricultural development where commerce and manufacture also hold sway in large measure in the more important cities.
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Missions.
He also visited two ancient churches, one at a distance of two, the other six miles from the city. On the buildings, immense sums had been expended, and near the last a town with a population of 10,000 souls had once existed, but all was now desolate and without inhabitants, excepting a very few, living in mud huts. "The San Antonio river," says one of the engineers, "has its source in a large spring about five miles north of the town. It becomes almost at once, gushing from the rocks, a noble river, clear, full, and rapid in its course."
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The appearance of the country and the ruins, after the long march through the uninhabited wilderness between Lavaca and San Antonio, made a deep impres- sion on the minds of the officers. The Jesuits had established themselves in this once beautiful but now desolate country ; but their magnificent churches, mon- asteries, and nunneries, "once the out-posts of Christianity, were now moss- covered ruins." After the expulsion of the Jesuits everything went to decay. Agriculture, learning, and mechanic arts shared the common fate, and when the banners of the United States were unfurled in these distant and desolate places, the descendants of the noble and chivalric Castilians had sunk to the level, perhaps beneath it, of the aboriginal savages; but it is to be hoped that the advent of the Saxo-Norman may brighten, in some degree, the faded splendor of the race which has fallen. "Yet this country," says one of the engineers, "bears evidence of having been at one period in a high state of cultivation and fertility, supporting a large and concentrated population. The stately and melancholy ruins of the missions of the Alamo, Conception, San Juan, Espada. and San Jose monastic fortress attest their former magnificence and grandeur."
The country around San Antonio, notwithstanding the general decay of agriculture, produced grass in great abundance, on which immense herds of cat- tle were feeding, and the Americans found no difficulty in obtaining supplies of forage and beef.
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