USA > Texas > A history of central and western Texas > Part 15
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was a not unprofitable transaction for the original owners. By the terms of the act the capital was to be knowns as the city of Austin, a name henceforth substituted for the original Waterloo.
Edwin Waller was the government agent appointed to lay off the new city and provide buildings for the government. He arrived on the site in May, and the following August the first sale of lots was held, the aggregate sales amounting to $300,000, a sum that was applied to the construction of the first houses of government. Mr. Waller dis- played such energy in laying out the city and providing accommodations that the capital was ready for the reception of the government by the following October, and his enterprise checkmated all the plans of the opposition to prevent the removal to Austin. An act supplementary to the act providing for the permanent location of the capital directed that the government should be transferred to the new site before October I, 1839, and congress was to assemble there in the following November. The removal of the archives from Houston took place in the latter part of September, and President Lamar and cabinet reached Austin October 17th. At the close of the year a bill was introduced to reopen the ques- tion of capital location, but was decisively defeated, thus confirming Austin as the permanent capital.
General Houston was one of the active opponents of the location at Austin, and in 1842, during his second term as president, and when an invasion from Mexico was threatened, he called the special session of congress in June to meet at the town of Houston. The regular session of December following met at Washington on the Brazos. The citizens of Austin were very much exasperated at this action, and determined that wherever the government might go the archives should remain at the place officially designated as the capital. This gave rise to what was known as the Archive war. In December Houston sent a company of soldiers to bring the most necessary state papers to Washington. The captain in command succeeded in loading three wagons with documents . and conducted them out of town, where the guard camped for the night. On the following morning a loaded cannon barred the way and the reso- lute citizens of Austin compelled the return of the archives to their proper home. During the remaining years of the republic's existence the congress met at Washington-without the archives-, but the con- vention to consider annexation to the United States assembled in Austin, which has since been the capital of Texas.
At the general election of September, 1841, Sam Houston once more
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was the favorite of the people, receiving twice as many votes as his op- ponent, David G. Burnet. Edward Burleson was elected vice president. On his entrance to the presidential office Houston at once showed a dispo- sition to administer the affairs of the republic very differently from his predecessor. His policy in dealing with the Indians was to make treaties which should be strictly observed by the whites, and to establish trading posts all along the frontier, each with a small garrison, to prevent en- croachment on the territory of the settlers and to maintain strict neu- trality.
Houston introduced a system of severe economy in the management of the republic. As mentioned in his first message, the nation was "not only without money, but without credit, and, for want of punctuality, with- out character." The exchequer bills, which were issued, as fiat money, at the beginning of his term, in the course of a year depreciated to twenty- five cents on the dollar, as had been the case with the former treasury notes. Further borrowing was hardly possible, and the only resource in this financial crisis was to cut down expenses. Accordingly, retrenchment was not only the policy but a necessity for this administration. With a white population in the republic of something like one hundred thousand, the salaries paid, in 1840, to the officers of the government amounted to $174,000, nearly two dollars per capita in a country whose resources were just beginning to be developed, and already taxed to the utmost by rev- olution and Indian wars. What a scaling down of salaries and elimination of officers were effected during Houston's term may be imagined by the amount of the government pay roll in 1842, which showed an aggregate expenditure of less than $33,000. While Lamar's administration cost five million dollars, Houston's three years made a total of barely half a million. The result, while in the main wholesome, necessarily weakened the effectiveness of the government especially in frontier defense. The Ranger service was seriously crippled during these years, and the advance guard of settlement at some points, noticeably along the Brazos in Milam and adjoining counties, was compelled to withdraw, and development in these sections was not resumed until after annexation.
In this period Texas had her war of the Regulators and Moderators, which began in 1842. The scene of this was the old Neutral Ground in East Texas, which was still the abode of many ill-assorted characters. The war was really a contest between rival land claimants, and was due to land frauds. Forged headright certificates were in the hands of many, and the character of the men on both sides was such that the settlement
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of differences was more often through force and armed display than bv court process. Finally a defeated candidate for congress expressed his disappointment by exposing the land frauds, and then gathered a party of Regulators for the purpose of regulating the troubles according to his own prejudices. Their regulation was naturally often irregular, and an opposition society sprang up with the name Moderators. This brought on a kind of vendetta warfare, which lasted several years, until a serious civil war was threatened and the two parties drew up in battle array. Before that juncture, however, President Houston had interfered and sent General Smith with five hundred troops to put an end to the affair. By his mediation the factions composed their immediate differences, and the thunder of actual war died away in echoes of feudism and scattered murders.
The most serious foreign complications of this period were with Mexico. That country was employing all its political craft as well as its feeble military forces to regain dominion in Texas. Although nearly six years passed after the battle of San Jacinto without effective effort to in- vade Texas, that government continually refused any sign of recognition of independence, an attitude that served to delay formal recognition on the part of other foreign countries.
The first actual renewal of hostilities from Mexico was in 1842. In March General Vasquez suddenly appeared at San Antonio with five hun- dred men, and, with no opposition from the small Texas force stationed there, took possession of the city, declared the authority of Mexico, and two days later departed. Goliad and Refugio were served in the same manner by other Mexican troops, but the entire invasion was a mere demonstration on the part of Mexico. In Texas the result was to arouse the old fears that had been almost allayed by six years of peace. President Houston issued a proclamation for the people to hold themselves ready to repel invasion, while congress passed a bill for the prosecution of an of- fensive war. This was for the time a popular measure, and the presi- dent's veto aroused much indignation. In July there was a severe en- gagement on the Nueces in which a large force of Mexicans was re- pulsed by two hundred volunteers.
Then, on September 11th, General Woll led a second expedition into San Antonio. District court was in session, all the activities of this frontier town on such a day were in progress, and no thought of an enemy's approach was entertained by anyone. It was a complete sur- prise. Nevertheless, the citizens did not surrender without a valiant re-
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sistance. Some of them took refuge on a roof overlooking Main plaza and defended themselves for a number of hours. Finally realizing the pres- ence of overpowering numbers, they surrendered. The number of pris- oners was fifty-two, including the district judge, several lawyers, physi- cians and other prominent citizens.
News of the capture of San Antonio soon spread to the surrounding country. Col. Matthew Caldwell, with a force of over two hundred, col- lected largely from Gonzales, took up a position in the Salado bottom about six miles east of town. By a ruse he succeded in drawing out the Mexi- cans to his well protected position, and in the battle that followed the latter lost heavily. But at the same time a reinforcement, consisting of fifty-three men raised in Fayette county and commanded by Captain Dawson, in attempting to join the main body under Caldwell, were sur- rounded by the enemy and after two-thirds of them were slain the rest were cut down in pursuit, only two succeeding in making their escape. On September 20, General Woll, after having been in possession of San Antonio a little more than a week, again withdrew beyond the Rio Grande, sending his prisoners on foot to the City of Mexico.
This second invasion, following so closely upon the first, threw Texas into a ferment of military preparation. Volunteers were ordered to rendezvous at San Antonio for an invasion of Mexico, and General Som- ervell was directed to take command. But as the Santa Fe expedition and other previous attempts had proved, Texas was unable to carry on a successful war beyond her borders. The government only reluctantly yielded to the popular clamor for war. The army was badly equipped, and the whole affair degenerated into nothing more than a retaliatory raid across the Rio Grande. The volunteers wanted General Burleson as their commander instead of Somervell, and this contention also contributed to defeat the undertaking. Somervell, on arriving at Columbus on the Col- orado and finding some two or three hundred men collected and awaiting Burleson, disbanded them and himself returned to Matagorda. In October he was again ordered to take command of the army assembled at San Antonio, and when he arrived he found about twelve hundred volunteers, ill disciplined and poorly equipped, but most of them eager to cross the frontier and carry war into Mexico. Somervell displayed no enthusiasm and, perhaps acting under orders from Houston, made little progress toward actual invasion. Consequently many deserted at San Antonio, while the remainder, about seven hundred and fifty in number, set out and reached Laredo on the Rio Grande early in December.
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A few days later, permission was granted to those who desired to return home, and about two hundred left and returned to the settlements. Somervell then continued down the Texas side of the river to a point opposite the town of Guerrero, when he crossed and occupied that place. The following day, the command having been brought back to the east side of the river, Somervell ordered his troops to set out on the return to Gonzales. Two hundred chose to obey their commander, but the re- maining three hundred were not content with such an ending to the cam- paign. Refusing to follow, they proceeded to organize an independent expedition against Mexico, William S. Fisher being elected their colonel.
These three hundred composed what is known as the Mier expedition, which, though in a sense a branch of the army of invasion ordered against Mexico by the Texas government, was in fact a self-constituted organiza- tion, similar to the Santa Fe expedition.
They descended the river to Mier, and after making a requisition on the alcalde for provisions and wating in the vicinity several days, a large Mexican force came up and entered the town. On the 25th of December the Americans crossed the river and engaged them. The enemy were several times more numerous, but were well matched by the intrepid at- tack of the invaders. During the night the Texans occupied the outskirts of the town, and in the morning advanced toward the plaza, which was protected by artillery. For several hours the battle was waged, then there was a parley. The Texans were promised the consideration due to pris- oners of war on condition that they surrender, and owing to their dan- gerous position and small supply of ammunition the majority voted to ac- cept the terms. Two hundred and sixty-one Texans had engaged against more than two thousand Mexicans. The wounded were left at Mier, and the rest, about two hundred, were started to Mexico, being joined at Saltillo by a few of the prisoners taken by Woll at the capture of San Antonio.
When they arrived at the hacienda del Salado, they were placed in a large corral. Their plan having been carefully matured, by a sudden rush they overpowered their guards, seized the arms stacked in the court-yard, and with a fierce charge scattered the cavalry and other guards at the gates, and in a few minutes were masters of the situation. Leaving the wounded to be cared for according to mutual agreement, the Texans be- gan their retreat. Some days later, fearing capture, they left the regular roads and entered the mountains. For a number of days they endured the toil of mountain travel. Their only food was such as could be found
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in the uninhabited region they were traversing. Weakened by hunger and worn out by their fruitless wanderings, they surrendered without re- sistance to a cavalry force that came across their way, and were taken back to Salado.
Here occurred the famous bean lottery. Santa Anna had issued an order for decimation of the prisoners, and the order was carried out in characteristic Mexican fashion. In the bottom of a jar were placed 159 white beans, seventeen black beans being thrown on top without shaking. An officer held the jar up so that the beans could not be seen. The prisoners stepped forward one after another, each drawing one bean. The white bean was life and the black bean was death. The prisoners calmly performed this lottery of life and death, those who drew the fatal prize even joking over their fate. At sunset of the same day the seventeen were seated upon a log, with their backs to the file of soldiers, and volley after volley poured upon them until all were dead. Those who drew the white beans had no joy in their fortune. They were sent on to Mexico, where they endured untold sufferings in the castle of Perote. Several effected their escape by tunneling out, and those who had not in the meantime died were released in September, 1844.
The remaining troubles with Mexico were complicated with the causes leading up to annexation. In 1843 England used her influence with Santa Anna so successfully that a cessation of hostilities was agreed upon, and commissioners from Mexico and Texas were to arrange terms of peace. As result, in February, 1844, an armistice was agreed upon until a permanent peace could be made. Houston refused to accept the armistice because it referred to Texas as a department of Mexico. On June 16th Santa Anna declared a renewal of hostilities, though without any actual consequences of war. Thus, at the close of the republic's existence, it was in a nominal state of war with Mexico.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE ANNEXATION OF TEXAS
The interests and natural sympathies of Texas, after American colonization had become the predominant factor in her growth, were closely akin to, if not identical with, those of the United States. If the republic of Texas had existed to the present time, the two nations would have been so united in spirit that the bonds between them would be hardly less binding than those of to-day. During the early years of the republic, the Texans celebrated the independence day of the United States with hardly less enthusiasm than their own, and in all essential respects manifested the same qualities of Americanism that characterized the citizens of the "states." Texas was an outgrowth of the United States, an extension of its people upon foreign territory, a colonization just as much as the settlement of New England was two centuries before. Independence established, it was natural that the colony would prefer the protection and federal benefits of the older government rather than the isolation of an independent nation. Annexation, therefore, was a natural, if not inevitable, sequence of independence. The achievement of this end was delayed by many causes, some of them of practical and detail nature, others complicated with some of the large problems of na- tional and international politics.
American sympathy with the cause of the revolutionists had proved indispensable, both in the moral and material assistance extended, during 1835 and 1836. The Texan commissioners aroused interest wherever they went, and the contributions of money and supplies and volunteer companies proved the strongest assurance to the Texas cause.
One of the first acts of the Texas government after the battle of San Jacinto was to send commissioners to Washington to obtain recognition of independence. Nothing in this direction was immediately accom- plished, although President Jackson and other officials expressed them- selves in favor of such recognition as soon as possible. Though the government moved in this matter with becoming dignity, the popular
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feeling for the infant republic was so strongly manifested as to give grounds for Mexico to protest a violation of the laws of neutrality, and in October, 1836, diplomatic relations were broken off between the United States and Mexico on this account. The facts of this matter were that General Gaines, of the United States army, had been stationed at the Sabine with instructions to preserve neutrality and to guard against the incursions of Indians or Mexicans into Louisiana. In May, 1836, an attack by Indians on a small settlement at the headquarters of the Navasota, and also news of another invasion from Mexico, in- duced Gaines to send a detachment of his troops to occupy Nacogdoches. This invasion was afterwards justified as an exercise of police powers in restraining the Indians and guarding the American borders, but in a strict sense it was a violation of neutrality and was so regarded by Mexico. But the latter's protest seems disingenuous. It is evidence that Mexico was grasping, while in the whirlpool of political ruin, at every straw for retaining her weakened hold on Texas.
One of the questions submitted to the people at the first general election after the winning of independence was whether annexation to the United States was desirable. An almost unanimous vote was cast in favor of such a result. Houston referred to its early execution in his inaugural address. November 16, 1836, William H. Wharton was appointed by the president, under congressional authority, as commis- sioner to negotiate with the government at Washington for the recogni- tion of independence and also for annexation. In his message to congress of the following December, President Jackson said: "Prudence, there- fore, seems to dictate that we should stand aloof and maintain our pres- ent attitude, if not until Mexico itself or one of the great foreign powers shall recognize the· independence of the new government, at least until the lapse of time or the course of events shall have proved, beyond cavil or dispute, the ability of the people of that country to maintain their separate sovereignty and to uphold the government constituted by them." In the following March the independence of Texas was formally recog- nized by the senate. Yet on the subject of annexation the secretary of state replied to the proposals of the Texas envoy as follows: "Although all you say may be true, and all the advantages to be derived from the annexation of Texas to the United States certain to follow, yet this government will not further listen to or consider the subject." After being thus rejected, Texas did not ardently press her suit again, and
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awaited the deliberate action of public opinion in the United States to accomplish the result. ·
At Washington the annexation question was seldom discussed on its own merits, but as a phase of one or both of the two great problems then absorbing the attention of the American nation. On one side, annexation was regarded in its probable effects on the doctrine of pro- tection and free trade, and also on the then recent Monroe doctrine of non-interference in America by foreign powers. From the other point of view, annexation involved the issue between the antagonists and pro- tagonists of slavery. These questions were then vital among the Amer- ican people, and were comprehensive enough to involve the matter of annexation.
However, the solution of the larger issues which hindered or pro- moted annexation only remotely concerned the Texans themselves. Dur- ing these years they were busied with their industrial and political prob- lems ; the representatives were endeavoring to constitute a self-sustaining and self-protecting state, while the citizens were bending every effort to repairing the wastes caused by war, to making homes in the wilder- ness, and to building up trade and industry and the social community. Nearly all desired the security and prestige and opportunity that would result from closer relations with the United States, but were little con- cerned about what commercial or political advantage would result to one or another party in the United States from annexation. Texas was working out her own destiny as best she could, and when, through a combination of circumstances, the opportunity came for admission to the Union that lot was gladly accepted.
When the annexation question was brought before the people of the United States the lines of difference on the slavery problem were already tightly drawn, and the struggle which culminated in civil war was already being waged in the houses of Congress and by the press and public opinion. The policy had been established of balancing free state against slave state, and thus keeping both sides equally represented in the national senate. This rivalry resulted in a determined struggle on each side for new territory, and the application of Texas for admis- sion to the Union was considered most opportune to the southern party. At the same time the antagonists of slavery were aligned against Texas. As all treaties, according to precedent, had to be approved by a two- thirds vote of the senate, and as the balance of power was so carefully preserved in the upper house, it seemed doubtful if Texas could be ad-
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mitted as long as this situation continued. While, on other grounds, Texas might have been admitted soon after the recognition of inde- pendence, the movement was checked until arguments from another point of view pushed the slavery question to the background and allowed the annexationists to have their will.
The republic of Texas was committed to the principle of free trade. At that time the United States was building its tariff wall, and the policy of protecting home industries had made considerable progress. As an independent nation, Texas promised a large market to foreign, and especially English, manufactures, which were kept out of the United States by the high import duties. The conclusion seemed to be that Texas, notwithstanding the close affiliation with the United States, would establish trade relations with those nations that could offer reciprocal advantages. England especially coveted the cotton crops of Texas, and under free trade the Texas product would have an obvious advantage over the cotton of the United States. This commercial reason proved a strong argument for the annexationists. On the other hand it was seen that, if Texas was admitted, the anti-tariff party would thereby be aug- mented so that the protective policy would be in danger. Thus the Texas question was involved in the economic as well as the social problems of the United States.
When President Lamar delivered his inaugural address in 1838 he declared himself averse to annexation, which he believed would ruin the republic's hopes of greatness. But in the course of his term many reasons appeared to modify the enthusiasm for an independent national existence. The subject, however, did not assume much importance dur- ing this term since the people were so busy with more immediate con- cerns. Then, too, the Van Buren administration was reluctant to inter- fere in the situation as long as Mexico refused to recognize the new republic and kept up a show of war for its recovery.
During the greater part of Houston's second term active hostilities were in progress between Texas and Mexico, so that the cause of an- nexation halted. But in the mediation between Santa Anna and the republic, which was brought about largely by England's influence in 1843, the annexation movement entered upon its final stage. England saw in Texas a great field for the exploitation of her own manufactures, for which she would gain an almost unlimited supply of raw material, especi- ally cotton. Mainly for this reason England readily extended assistance in obtaining recognition from Mexico. The activity of the British and
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