USA > Texas > A pictorial history of Texas, from the earliest visits of European adventurers, to A.D. 1879. Embracing the periods of missions, colonization, the revolution the republic, and the state; also, a topographical description of the country together with its Indian tribes and their wars, and biographical sketches of hundreds of its leading historical characters. Also, a list of the countries, with historical and topical notes, and descriptions of the public institutions of the state > Part 18
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5,000 Negroes, .
Aggregate. 52,670
This last brought the President into a controversy with General T. J. Chambers, who had been commissioned by the Executive Council as Major General of the reserves, and sent into the United States with a number of staff officers. General Chambers was still absent, and he complained that the proclamation of the President was intended to revoke his commission and arrest his labors.
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MEETING OF CONGRESS.
On the 23d of July, the President issued his proclama- tion for a general election, to take place on the first Monday in September, for the election of President, Vice-President and members of Congress, under the new Constitution; which was also to be voted upon. He also ordered an elec- tion to decide whether Texas was willing to be annexed to the United States. The Constitution was adopted by an almost unanimous vote; and the vote was equally strong for annexation. Sam Houston was elected President. and Mirabeau B. Lamar, Vice-President. *
Congress convened at Columbia, on the 3d of October. President Burnet's message gave a truthful picture of the country and offered valuable suggestions for Congress. According to the reports accompanying the message, the audited debt of the country then amounted to about $250,- 000; to which was to be added nearly a half million for army supplies, and over a half million due the army and navy-making the total public debt about $1,250,000.
Among the acts of Congress considered necessary to the complete organization of Civil Government, was one appoint- ing chief justices for the different counties. +
The Constitution which had been adopted provided that the President elect should "enter on the duties of his office on the second Monday in December next succeeding his
* By the proclamation, soldiers were especially authorized to open polls at their various camps and vote. There were three candidates voted for: Sam Houston received 4,374 votes; Henry Smith 743, and Stephen F. Austin 587; total 5,704. Lamar had a majority of 2,699.
t The following is a list of the original counties and their officers: Austin, Thomas Barnnet; Brazoria, George B. Mckinstry; Bexar, Joseph Baker; Sabine, Matthew Parker; Gonzales, B. D. McClure; Goliad, W. H. McIn- tire .; Harrisburg, Andrew Briscoe; Jasper, Joseph Mott; Jefferson, Chichester Chapplin; Liberty, D. P. Coats; Matagorda, Silas Dinsmore; Mina, Andrew Rabb; Nacogdoches, Charles S. Taylor; Red River, Robert Hamilton; Victoria, John McHenry; San Augustine, Wm. McFarland; Shelby, George O. Lusk; Refugio, John Dunn ; San Patricio, John Turner; Washington, John P. Cole; Milam, Massilon Farley; Jackson, Patrick Usher ; Colorado, Wm. Menifee.
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election." But President Burnet and Vice-president Zaval- la were more than willing to lay aside their official robes, and on the 22d of October, sent in their resignations. These were accepted, and Messrs. Houston and Lamar were duly inaugurated. "Thus closes our Revolutionary period ; a period that furnishes the darkest and brightest pages in Texas history."
PART V.
THE REPUBLIC.
FROM 1837 TO 1846.
7
CHAPTER I.
HOUSTON'S ADMINISTRATION-CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS-LAND LAWS-THE NAVY-GOVERNMENT REMOVED TO HOUSTON.
T OUSTON'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION .- After having been formally installed into his new office, and having delivered his inaugural address, the new President presented to the Speaker of the House his sword, the emblem of the military authority with which he had been clothed, and said : " It now becomes my duty to make a presenta- tion of this sword, the emblem of my past office. I have worn it with some humble pretensions in defence of my country ; and should the danger of my country again call for my services, I expect to resume it and respond to that call, if needful, with my blood and my life."*
The question of disposing of Santa Anna had not been settled when Houston came into office. The distinguished prisoner, after being delivered over to Captain Patton, of the army, had been taken first to Columbia and then to Orizaba, the residence of Dr. Phelps, a few miles up the river. On the 16th of August, the Pasaic, a strange schooner, with an unusually large crew, arrived at Colum- bia, under the command of a Spaniard, who went up to Orizaba and had an interview with Santa Anna. It was
* That speech and emblematic act were characteristic of President Houston, and have been noticed by all the historians. But inasmuch as he had relin- quished the command of the army on the 5th of May, when he took his depart- ure for New Orleans, and had just been re-invested with the command of both the army and navy, the propriety of this highly symbolic act is not very apparent.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
at once suspected that an attempt would be made to rescue the prisoner and convey him to sea on this vessel. For fear an attempt of that kind would be made, Santa Anna was ironed and the guard doubled. This was done with- out the sanction of President Burnet. When Congress met a resolution was passed requesting that the irons should be removed, and it was immediately done. But Congress refused to pass a bill to set him at liberty. However, soon after that body adjourned, President Houston assumed the responsibility of setting the prisoner free. Santa Anna and Colonel Almonte, of his staff, and Colonels Bee and Patton, of the Texas army, left the Brazos on the 22d of December, and proceeded across the country on horseback to the Mississippi River, where they took a steamer on their way to Washington City.
A radical change was effected in the judicial system of the country. Heretofore, no Supreme Court had been organized. During the government ad interim, one court with admiralty jurisdiction had been created and B. C. Franklin appointed judge. The Republic was, at the session of the first Congress, divided into four districts. The Supreme Court was formed by having one chief justice, while the district judges acted as associate justices in the higher court. These judges were elected by joint ballot of both houses of Congress and held their offices for four years. Provision was also made for county and magistrate's courts.
The financial question occupied a large share of attention. An ad valorum tax was placed upon property, and to raise a revenue by imposts an act was passed, December 20th, imposing ad valorum duties of various rates, from one to fifty per cent., and a tonnage duty of $1.25 per ton. Other acts authorized the President to borrow various amounts ; but as he received no propositions which he deemed it advisable to accept, these brought no relief to the exhausted treasury.
Destitute as the country was of available means, Congress
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OLD CAPITOL, HOUSTON.
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HOUSTON'S ADMINISTRATION.
was very liberal in its appropriations. On the 15th of December, a bill passed appropriating $150,000 for the use of the navy; $700,000 for the army; and $150,000 for the executive and civil departments. This bill still left the support of the diplomatic agents of the government to be provided for.
As General Rusk had taken a place in the Cabinet, the command of the army was given to General Felix Huston. Huston reported to the Secretary of War on the 16th of December, that the army consisted of about seven hundred enlisted men for the period of the war, and eighty who had six months longer to serve. The troops had neither flour nor bread ; beef-cattle were in abundance on the prairies, but they had no horses to drive them up. They had likewise a good supply of ammunition, but were without flints. By resolution of the Congress, General James Hamilton, of South Carolina, was invited to take command of the army ; but he respectfully declined the office.
In the early part of 1837, Filisola was stationed on the Rio Grande to organize another expedition for the invasion of Texas ; but fortunately the revolution under Moctezuma furnished employment for Mexican troops at home. Texas being in no immediate danger of invasion from Mexico, by order of Houston the soldiers were permitted to go home on furlough ; and the country was saved the expense of keeping so large a body of men unemployed in the field.
As we have seen, one of the first acts of the Executive Council at San Felipe in 1835, was to close the land office and suspend the issuance of land titles. The new consti- tution directed that the public land should be "sectionized," instead of being laid off in leagues and labors, after the Spanish land system. The old Texans, whose tracts were in leagues, opposed the new plan, and it was not adopted- Congress, however, passed a general land law, requiring the land office to be opened on the 1st of June, 1837, and remain open six months for the special benefit of citizens
18
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
who had not obtained their land under the colonization laws, and for volunteers who had served a term in the army. It further provided "that every free white person, head of a family, who should arrive in the Republic from and after January 1, 1837, should be entitled to 1,280 acres of land, and every single free white man, 640 acres, to be increased to 1,280 acres in case of marriage; but patents not to be granted till after they had been three years resident. This bill was vetoed by the President, but promptly passed over the veto by the constitutional ma- jority.
On the 16th of December, a bill was passed " to incorpo- rate the Texas Railroad, Navigation and Banking Com- pany," with a capital stock of five millions of dollars, to be increased if desirable to ten millions. This company was authorized to connect the waters of the Sabine and Rio Grande rivers by means of internal navigation, with the privilege of constructing branch canals and branch railroads in every direction, and to an unlimited extent; and if the ‘ company could have carried out their grand programme, the whole public domain of the State would have passed into their hands .*
The general land law, which was to have gone into opera- tion June 1, 1837, was suspended first until October 1, and was subsequently indefinitely suspended. Finally, on the 14th of December, a general land law was adopted. Under this law "a Commissioner of the general land office was provided for; also, a Board of Commissioners for each
* Mr. Gouge, in his official history of Texas, says the whole amount of stock was subscribed by eight individuals and firms, and though none of them paid anything in, some made money out of the charter. One of the stockholders sold out his interest to a gentleman of New York for thirty thousand dollars, and received his pay in store goods. The successful salesman bought out the interest of another for ten thousand dollars, and another disposed of his interest for three leagues of land, which he subsequently sold for two dollars and a half an acre.
297
FRAUDS IN THE LAND OFFICE.
county, to take proof and issue headrights ; and a surveyor for each county, to survey, and make out and record field notes. These field notes, with the certificate, to be returned to the General Land Office, examined, located on the map of lands, and, if found correct, on vacant lands, a grant of patent, signed by the Governor and countersigned by the Commissioner, passing under both their seals, issues to the party in the name of the State. Should the party's claim be for military services, he obtained his warrant from the War office, and proceeded to locate as a headright certifi- cate. So, likewise, in regard to land scrip, the same course was to be pursued." By this bill, which was vetoed by the President, and passed over the veto, the Land Office was to be opened for old settlers and soldiers on the first Thursday in February, 1838, and for other parties, six months later .*
When Houston was inaugurated, the navy was in no condition to render valuable service to the Government, either in protecting the coast or conducting offensive war- fare. The Invincible and the Brutus were in New York for repairs, and would probably have shared the fate of the
* Under this law, fraudulent claims were successfully passed through the formalities necessary to secure titles, and no little criticism was indulged in as to its provisions. Anson Jones, who was a member of the Senate, says: " The law, though objectionable, was the best that could have been passed, under the circumstances, at that time, without conflicting with equitable rights that had grown up under former legislation. * Everybody of * ordinary sagacity knew there would be frauds committed the moment a Land Office was opened in Texas. It took no prophet to tell that. It would have taken all the Prophets, and the Apostles to boot, to tell us how fraud was to be prevented in Texas land matters. The greatest fault, after all, that can be found with this bill is that it did not prevent "perjury," for, aside from perjury, which no law can stop, few evils have grown out of it." Commenting upon the same law, D. G. Burnet says: "The acquisition of land has ever constituted a too prominent feature in the Anglo-American settlement of Texas. Iniquitous frauds have been resorted to in gratifica- tion of this inordinate passion. It is difficult, by legislation, to circumscribe the chicane of land speculators. Their ingenious avidity will find means to circumvent the most stringent enactments." Our readers will bear in mind that these strictures were passed before the railroad system of Texas had been fully developed.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
Liberty, in New Orleans, and been sold to defray their expenses, but Henry Swartwout, the Collector of the Port, generously stepped forward and furnished the means out of his private purse, to refit the ships, and prepare them for a cruise. When they arrived in Galveston Captain H. L. Thompson was placed in command of the Invincible, and Captain I. D. Boylan of the Brutus. During the administra- tion of President Burnet, another vessel, the Independence, Captain Charles E. Hawkins, commander, had been pur- chased and put in commission. In 1837, Captain George W. Wheelwright became commander of the Independence. During the month of April, the Invincible and the Brutus, accompanied by Hon. S. Rhodes Fisher, Secretary of the Navy, started for a cruise in the Gulf of Mexico.
During this month, April, 1837, Yoakum, in his history of Texas, pages 212 and 213, volume 2, says :
" The appearance of the Mexican fleet in the Gulf was followed by some damage to Texas. The Champion, freighted with provisions, etc., for the army, was taken by the enemy; and also on the 12th of April the Julis Cæsar, whose cargo was valned at $30,000. President Houston had pre- viously issued an order for the release of the Mexican prisoners; but, learning that those on board the captured vessels had been taken into Mat- amoras and confined, he revoked the order of release.
"This blockading navy of the enemy necessarily came in contact with the commerce of the United States, and the Mexican brig of war Urrea, having captured some American vessels and property, was taken by the United States sloop-of-war Natchez and sent into Pensacola as a pirate. On the 17th of April, the Texan schooner Independence, having a crew of thirty-one men, besides several passengers, among whom was William H. Wharton, on his return from his mission to the United States, was met about thirty miles from Velasco by two Mexican brigs-of-war, the Libertador, having sixteen eighteen-pounders and one hundred and forty men, and the Vincedor del Alamo carrying six twelves and one long eighteen-pounder and one hundred men. After a severe fight, in which the Texans behaved most gallantly, the Independence was overpowered and taken into Brazos San- tiago, whence the crew and passengers were transferred to Matamoras and confined. In this engagement, Captain Wheelwright, of the Independence, was severely wounded. The Texan navy, on leaving Galveston in May, proceeded to the mouth of the Mississippi, but failing to find any of the enemy there after a cruise of seven or eight days, turned to the coast of Mexico. The Texans made some small prizes ab ut the island of Mugeres, and thence proceeded to Yucatan, where they cannonaded the town of Sisal
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299
NAVAL AFFAIRS.
for some three hours, but with little effect. The Texan schooner Invincible. took and sent into port as a prize the Mexican schooner Obispo, of eighty tons; and the Brutus captured and sent in the schooner Telegraph. The Texans also made repeated landings along the coast, and burnt eight or nine towns. This, though sufficiently annoying to the enemy, and in accordance with their mode of warfare, has not been considered, in modern times, as the most humane way of conducting a war. Another vessel, the Eliza Russel, of one hundred and eighty tons, belonging to English subjects, which was taken by the Invincible off the Alicranes and brought into Gal- veston, not being freighted with a contraband cargo, was afterwards properly restored, with damages, by the Republic."
Page 216, volume 2, the same historian says :
" Colonel John H. Wharton, desirous of making an effort to release his brother from the prison of Matamoras, obtained permission and a flag, and proceeded with thirty Mexican prisoners to that town to make an exchange, but on landing he was made a prisoner and confined in a dungeon. After an imprisonment of six days he made his escape and returned to Texas. In the meantime his brother, William H. Wharton, through the aid of the well- known Captain Thompson of the Mexican navy, also escaped and reached home. It was intended that Thompson should desert the enemy's service and leave with him; but Thompson's departure was precipitated by some information given to the Mexican authorities, and he arrived in Texas before either of the Whartons. This barbarous conduct on the part of the enemy induced the President of Texas to readmit the granting of letters of marque and reprisal against them, which he had suspended on his entrance into office.
" On the 25th of August, the Brutus and the Invincible arrived off the bar at Galveston, having in tow a Mexican armed schooner, which they had captured near the banks of Campeachy. On the same evening the Brutus and the prize entered the harbor, but the Invincible could not get in. On the following morning the latter was attacked by two of the enemy's armed brigs. The Brutus, in attempting to go out to her aid, ran aground; so the Invincible was obliged to continue the unequal contest alone during the day ; towards evening she attempted a retreat, but struck on the breakers near the south-east channel. The crew landed in safety, but during the night. the vessel went to pieces. The Invincible was a favorite craft in the Texan navy, and her loss much regretted."
The last remaining vessel of the old navy, the Brutus, was lost during the equinoctial gale of 1867, in the harbor of Galveston; at which time fourteen or fifteen vessels then in port were destroyed or seriously injured, and nearly the entire city flooded by the water of the bay in its exit before
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
a sudden norther, just after having been filled by a strong south-east gale of several days continuance.
After a three-months' laborious session at Columbia, the first session of the Congress of Texas adjourned to meet at the newly laid out city of Houston, on the 5th of May.
On the 2d of March, 1837, the Congress of the United States passed the bill recognizing the independence of Texas ; and during the next year commercial treaties were negotiated with France and Great Britain, though the latter insisted upon considering Texas as a part of the Mexican Republic.
Notwithstanding the Mexican invasion in 1836, and the absence of so many farmers in the army, the season was favorable, and good crops were made. The year 1837 was also a good crop year. It was estimated that the cotton crop amounted to fifty thousand bales. A heavy tide of immigration was setting towards Texas, and a profitable commerce carried on at its principal seaports. There was regular steam communication with New Orleans, and a fine class of sail vessels between New York and the Texas coast .. . Towns were multiplying with great rapidity, and the prospect was encouraging for the future.
Under the Constitution, the first President held office only two years; though after the first term the Presidential term was three years. At the election held September 3d, 1838, Mirabeau B. Lamar was elected President, and David G. Burnet Vice President .*
*During the summer, two of the gentlemen most prominent as candidates for President took themselves out of the canvass by suicide. (See James Collinsworth and Peter W. Grayson). The following were the votes cast at the election : For President, Lamar, 6,995 ; for Robert Wilson, 252; total 7,247. For Vice President, D. G. Burnet, 3,952; A. C. Horton, 1,917; Joseph Rowe, 1,215.
The following were the principal officers during this Presidential term: S. F. Austin, R. A. Irwin, and J. Pinckney Henderson, Secretaries of State; Thomas J. Rusk, William S. Fisher, Barnard E. Bee, George W. Hockley, Secretaries of War; Henry Smith, Secretary of the Treasury; S. Rhodes Fisher, William M. Shepperd, Secretaries of the Navy ; J. Pinckney
301
LIST OF OFFICERS.
Henderson, Peter W. Grayson, John Birdsall, A. S. Thurston, Attorney Generals; Robert Burr, Post Master General; E. M. Pease, Francis R. Lubbock, Comptrollers ; John W. Moody, First Auditor ; J. G. Welshinger, Second Auditor; William G. Cooke, Stock Commissioner; William H. Wharton, Memucan Hunt, Anson Jones, Ministers to the United States; J. Pinckney Henderson, Minister to Great Britain and France; W. F. Catlett, Secretary of Legation to the United States; George S. McIntosh, Secretary . of Legation to Great Britain and France.
CHAPTER II.
LAMAR'S ADMINISTRATION-TROUBLE AT NACOGDOCHES-A NEW NAVY-AUSTIN SELECTED AS THE PERMANENT CAPITOL-NEW COLONIES-REPUBLIC OF THE RIO GRANDE-SANTA FE EXPEDITION-ITS MISCARRIAGE, AND THE CAUSES.
L AMAR'S ADMINISTRATION .- General Lamar was formal- ly inaugurated on the 10th of December, 1838. The ceremonies occurred in front of the Capitol, Houston, in the presence of an immense concourse of people, who were delighted with the sentiments expressed by the incoming Executive. In his inaugural he said: "The character of my administration may be anticipated in the domestic nature of our government and the peaceful habits of the people, Looking upon agriculture, commerce, and the useful arts, as the true basis of all National strength and glory, it will be my leading policy to awaken into vigorous activity the wealth, talent, and enterprise of the country ; and, at the same time, to lay the foundation of those higher institutions for moral and mental culture without which no government on democratic principles can prosper, nor the people long preserve their liberties."
The President took ground against the annexation of Texas to the United States, and in his regular message strongly advocated a National bank, and a system of pop- ular and liberal education. It was during his administra- tion that Congress laid the foundation of our school fund, by setting aside fifty leagues of land for a university, and three leagues for each county in the Republic.
In the summer of 1838, a considerable number of the Mexican citizens of Nacogdoches-Captain Antonio Man- chaca, who visited them, said 125 and a few Biloxi Indians
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LAMAR'S ADMINISTRATION.
-being dissatisfied with the government of Texas, went into camp on the Angelina river, without any very well defined purpose. On the assembling of a small military force these Mexicans dispersed. Some of them returned to their homes; but Vincente Cordova, the leader, fled westward with a few followers, and entered into a cor- respondence with Filisola, the Mexican commander on the Rio Grande. Early in 1839, Canalizo succeeded Filisola in command at Matamoras. He immediately dispatched Manuel Flores to co-operate with Cordova in rousing the prairie Indians to hostilities against the Texans. These Indians were exhorted not to cease to harass the Texans for a single day; to burn their habitations and lay waste their fields ; and by rapid and well-concerted movements, to draw their attention in every direction ; and the Indians were informed that Mexico would soon be in a condition to re-establish her authority over Texas ; and then they should have their lands ; but assuring them that they need expect nothing from these greedy adventurers for land, who wish- ed to deprive the Indians of the sun that warms and vivifies them, and who would not cease to injure them while the grass grows and water runs." The Texans having heard of Cordova's movements, General Burleson, in March, raised a small company of volunteers, and found and defeat- ed him on the Guadalupe river, near Seguin. Cordova escaped, but left his usual haunts, and Flores failed to find him. Flores went east, in hopes of finding Cordova, and when near the present city of Austin he was discovered by Lieutenant James O. Rice, with a party of Rangers. Flores and two of his companions were killed, and his instructions captured. This broke up the Indio-Mexican league, that seriously threatened at one time to do much mischief to the country.
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