USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume I > Part 8
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"The amount of the whole trade of Texas for the year 1834 may be estimated at $1,400,000.
"Money is very scarce in Texas ; not one in ten sales is made for cash. Purchases are made on credit, or by barter: which gives the country, in its trading relations, the appearance of a continued fair. Trade is daily increasing, owing to the large crops of cotton, and the internal consumption, caused by the constant influx of emigrants from the United States."
Concerning the future of Texas Almonte was almost enthusias- tic : "If we consider the extraordinary and rapid advances that indus- try has made; its advantageous geographical position, its harbors, the easy navigation of its rivers, the variety of its productions, the fertility of the soil, the climate, etc .- the conclusion is, that Texas
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must soon be the most flourishing section of the Republic. There is no difficulty in explaining the reason of this prosperity. In Texas, with the exception of some disturbers, they only think of growing the sugar-cane, cotton, maize, wheat, tobacco ; the breeding of cattle, opening of roads, and rendering the rivers navigable. Moreover, the effects of our political commotions are not felt there, and often it is only by mere chance that our dissensions are known. Situated as Texas is, some 450 leagues from the capital of the Federation, it is easy to conceive the rapidity of its progress in population and indus- try, for the reason that Texas is out of the reach of the civil wars that have unfortunately come upon us. The inhabitants of that country continue, without interruption, to devote themselves to in- dustrious occupations, giving value to the lands with which they have been favored by the munificence of the government.
"If, then, the position of Texas is so advantageous, why should not the Mexicans participate in its benefits? Are not they the owners of those valuable lands? Are they not capable of encountering dangers with firmness and courage? Let small companies be formed ; enter into contracts with agricultural laborers ; appoint to each of the companies its overseer, agent, or colonial director ; and I will be the surety that, in less than one or two years, by the concession of eleven league grants of land, which will not cost perhaps more than a trifle for the stamped paper on which the title is made out, the grants will be converted into a property worth more than $15,000 to $20,000. Let those who wish to test the worth of this assurance visit the plantations of the colonists, and they will perceive I am no dreamer." Almonte estimated the total population of Texas at 36,300-civilized inhabitants, 21,000, and Indians, 15,300. Kennedy thought this an under- statement. He says: "Although the Anglo-Texans had suffered griev- ously from cholera in 1833, their numerical strength is evidently under- rated. The scattered settlements rendered it extremely difficult to num- ber the colonists with accuracy, and it did not accord with the policy of the Mexican government to represent them as formidable in any respect. They probably amounted to about 30,000, exclusive of the 2,000 negroes."
With Almonte's report should be compared the statement that Stephen F. Austin presented to the government in 1833 as a basis for the demand of the Texans to be erected into a state. This is taken from the transcripts made by the University of Texas from the archives of the department of Fomento in Mexico City.
"STATISTICS OF TEXAS"
"NUMBER OF POPULATION. Municipality of Bexar, including the four missions of San José, San Juan, Espada, Concepción, and the Ranches upon the Bejar River .. 4,000
"Municipality of Goliad, including the towns of San Patricio and Guadalupe Victoria 2,300
"Municipality of Gonzales 1,600
"Municipality of Austin, including the towns of Bastrop, Matagorda and Harrisburg, and settlements upon the
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Colorado and San Jacinto rivers, and the new town of Tenoxtitlan 12,600
"Municipality of Liberty, including the settlements of Ana- huac, Galveston and Bevil. 4,500
"Municipality of Brazoria, including the town of Velasco ..
4,800
"Municipality of Nacogdoches, including the settlements of
the Ayish, Trinity, Neches, Attoyac, Tamija, Sabine and Pecan Point 16,700
"Total number of population. 46,500
"The wandering tribes of Indians and half-civilized persons. whose number passes 20,000. are not included in this enumeration.
"PRODUCTS. Those of Texas are: Cotton, sugar, tobacco, in- digo, edible grains and vegetables of various kinds; flocks, lumber and boards, leather goods and hides.
"MILLS. In the municipalities of Austin and Brazoria there are thirty cotton-gins, two steam sawmills and grist mills, six water- power mills, and many run by oxen and horses.
"In Gonzales there is a water-power mill on the Guadalupe River for sawing lumber and running machinery ( mover maquinas), which is of much importance, since this mill supplies the towns of Gonzales and Goliad and the city of Bexar with boards (tablas).
"The municipalities of Liberty and Nacogdoches are very well provided with mills and gins, and there is great progress in this industry in all parts of Texas.
"GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. The planting of cotton is very gen- eral and well advanced in all parts, and the yield this year will be more than 150,000 arrobas (an arroba is about twenty-five pounds) ginned and clean, equal to 600.000 arrobas with the seed.
"The raising of cattle and hogs has increased with so much rapidity that it is difficult to form a calculation of their number. The price for which they sell will give you an idea of their abundance.
"Fat beeves of from twenty to thirty arrobas are worth from $8 to $10. Fat hogs of from eight to twelve arrobas are worth $3.50 to $5 each, and lard in proportion.
"Butter and cheese. corn, beans, and all kinds of vegetables abound.
"The sowing of wheat has not progressed so much, because the climate is not suitable for this grain in the settled region near the coast.
"The raising of horses and mules has progressed a good deal. although not in comparison to what it will do when the country is settled in the interior and the Indians subdued, who now make their raids to steal horses.
"In the Bay of Galveston there is a steamship, and a company has been formed in Austin and Brazoria for the purpose of bring- ing one to the Brazos River. There is also a plan to open a canal to join the Brazos River with the Port of Galveston. and another to join the two bays of Matagorda and Galveston.
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"The settled part of the country is provided with good roads and there are various new projects and enterprises for bettering the navigation of the rivers with oar-boats and steamboats for the pur- pose of facilitating the transport of the agricultural products of the interior of Texas to the coast.
"There are no schools or academies in Texas endowed or estab- lished by the state, but there are private schools in all parts and very good ones ; and as soon as there is a local government to give form and protection to education there will be much progress in this direction.
"The inhabitants of Texas are in general farmers who own their lands ; there are few among them who do not know how to read and write, or who do not understand very well the importance of pro- tecting their property and person by means of a local government. well organized and well supported.
"The fact ought to be presented that the resources and qualifica- tions of Texas to sustain a state government are augmented in the highest degree by the enterprising and industrious character of her inhabitants. Their progress is rapid, even in their present situation ; but with a state government to enlarge and protect industry it would be much greater, because then there would be security and confi- dence, which do not now exist.
"Proof that the inhabitants of Texas have confidence in their resources to defend themselves against the Indian savages is to be found in the fact that they have not asked troops nor companies of soldiers or money, and they do not need to."
There are no exact figures by which to check these estimates of Almonte and Austin. It is probable that the truth lies between the two. Austin undoubtedly knew more about the actual condition of Texas than anyone else, and much more than Almonte could have learned in the short time at his disposal, but he had a strong motive for exaggeration. Im- migration was very rapid during the latter part of 1834 and the first half of 1835.
Following are some historical and descriptive notes on the towns and communities mentioned in the general survey :
SAN ANTONIO
The history of San Antonio begins with the year 1718, when, in pursuance of orders from the viceroy. a priest removed the old mission of San Francisco Solano from the Rio Grande to the San Antonio River and founded the mission of San Antonio de Valero. on the right bank of the San Pedro. about three-quarters of a mile from the present cathedral of San Fernando. There it remained until 1722, when it was removed, with the presidio, to Military Plaza. In response to the petitions of the missionaries for military reenforcement in order to secure the mission and assist in the subjugation of the Indian tribes. the viceroy in 1718 sent a governor with soldiers and mechanics into the province of Texas, and thus, soon after the establishment of the mission, was founded the presidio of San Antonio de Bexar. In the
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1157721
vicinity of these two institutions, the military post and the Indian mis- sion, a number of persons located whose object was permanent settle- ment ; instead of working directly and exclusively for the welfare of the mission, or acting in the capacity of soldiers, they built themselves homes, put a certain amount of land in cultivation, raised their small flocks on the common pasture, and became bona fide colonists. It is probable that some of the soldiers, their time of service over, were sufficiently attached to the locality to remain as settlers. This civil community, which was quite distinct but existed side by side with the mission and presidio, became known as the villa of San Fernando. Originally, therefore, three independent institutions-military, polit- ical and religious-existed at San Antonio, but eventually their sepa- rate identities became merged under the one municipal title of San Antonio. In consequence of the French invasion from Louisiana along the eastern borders of Texas, a large expedition under the command of Aguayo in 1720 came up from Mexico and after restoring the authority of Spain on the eastern border, the commander restored the old East
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CHURCH OF SAN FERNANDO
Texas mission and in the course of his stay gave to San Antonio an- other mission besides the original San Antonio de Valero. San Jose de Aguayo, the most beautiful of all the missions about San Antonio. even in its present ruins, was "erected" (that is, authorized) in 1720, and was the first of the missions outside of the city to be finished. It was completed March 5, 1731, and on the same date the other three missions south of the city were begun.
In the meantime, as the attempts to colonize Texas had been at- tended with little success, Spain undertook to introduce settlers from the Canary Islands, and in 1729 a company of fifty or sixty persons left the Canary Islands, in response to the Royal order, arrived at Vera Cruz in 1730, and after a long journey northward arrived at San Antonio de Bexar on March 9, 1731. These colonists became the "Canary Island" settlers of San Fernando, whose members and de- scendants have since occupied so prominent a place in San Antonio
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history. The Villa of San Fernando, containing the settlers who had previously located and also the Canary Islanders, was located between the San Antonio and the San Pedro Rivers, the building lots being grouped for the most part around the Plaza just east of the presidio or military plaza ; in other words, the "main plaza," as known today, was the central point of old Fernando Villa. Besides a lot assigned for residence to each family, there was common pasture land and a labor for cultivation, irrigated from the waters of the San Antonio or San Pedro. The pasture land lay both north and south of the villa. between the two streams. While the missions at the Alamo and also at San Jose were located conveniently to the villa, the settlers had demanded a parish church of their own, and in response to these de- mands the cornerstone of the San Fernando Church was laid May 8, 1744.
As a result of an official inspection made in 1727, it was found that the old missions among the Indians of Northeast Texas were without warrant for existence, so few were their Indian converts. In conse- quence the three missions were ordered removed to the vicinity of San Antonio, and this removal brought the three remaining missions whose ruins still form such a picturesque feature of the country about San Antonio. Actual work of construction on these began in March. 1731, as previously mentioned. These various missions, and also the presidial establishments and colonies, for many years inaugurated and supported directly by the Spanish Government, were primarily for the purpose of maintaining the authority of Spain in the Texas country. But after the treaty of 1763 had removed the source of friction between the French and Spanish settlements along the Sabine, and the Louisi- ana country had been surrendered to Spain, the chief reason for colo- nizing Texas was removed. and for this and other causes the mission- ary work among the Indians was turned over to the secular clergy in 1793, resulting in the distribution of the mission lands, the dispersion of the Indians and the end of the labors of the Franciscan friars. At that time there were only four or five hundred Indians grouped about the dozen missions in Texas, while the families of soldiers and settlers in 1782 were estimated at about 2,500. A brief note as to the economic conditions of the people at San Fernando in 1778 is supplied from the testimony of De Croix, who said of the settlers that they "live miser- ably because of their laziness, captiousness and lack of means of sub- sistence, which defects show themselves at first sight." Much was due to the environment and to the conditions under which the settlement had been founded. There were no attempts at public education. and there were no representatives of the learned professions, not even a physician.
In 1805 San Antonio, which with Goliad and Nacogdoches was one of the three important centers of Spanish civilization in Texas, had a population estimated at about 2,000. After the United States had acquired the Louisiana Territory in 1803, Spain's former fears of territorial aggression from the Northeast were renewed, and from that time forward San Antonio occupied a conspicuous position as the military headquarters for the forces engaged in the occupation of
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HISTORY OF TEXAS
Texas, and also as the seat of the civil government for this province. The American explorer, Zebulon Pike, visited San Antonio in 1807, and describes the city as containing "perhaps 2,000 souls, most of whom reside in miserable mud wall houses, covered with thatched grass roofs. The town is laid out on a very grand plan. To the east of it on the other side of the river, is the station of the troops." (Alamo.)
In March, 1813, San Antonio was surrendered to the American forces comprising what is known as the Gutierrez-Magee expedition, and the revolutionists were in possession of the city several months. During the subsequent advance of American settlement over Eastern and South Central Texas, San Antonio's population remained almost entirely Mexican, and the city was occupied by a large garrison of Mexican troops. It was for this reason that San Antonio became the objective point in the revolutionary campaign of 1835, ending with the storming and capture of the city in December of that year.
GOLIAD
In 1722 Marquis de Aguayo established the presidio of La Bahia. and "established near by" the Mission of Espiritu Santo, "on the same site where Roberto Cavalier de la Sala had put his post," that is, near the Espiritu Santo Bay on the banks of the Guadalupe River. In 1749 Escandon had this presidio removed from the Guadalupe to the south bank of the San Antonio River. The troops, settlers, priests, Indians, and even the bell and door of the chapel were taken to the new site at Santa Dorotea, but the original name of the mission and presidio was retained.
La Bahia remained a garrison town and outpost of Spanish settle- ment throughout the eighteenth century. In 1809 the population of La Bahia and its jurisdiction was estimated at 405. In 1813 La Bahia was captured by the Gutierrez-Magee expedition: in October, 1835, it fell into the hands of the Texans under Captain Collingsworth at the beginning of the revolution ; and in the following year was the scene of the massacre of Fannin's men. The Legislature of Coahuila-Texas in February, 1829, decreed: "The fortress of La Bahia del Espiritu Santo, in the department of Texas, may be called the town of Goliad." During the republic the two names Goliad and La Bahia were used almost interchangeably, but in modern usage La Bahia has become obsolete.
The municipality of Goliad, like Bexar, being a Mexican settlement and garrison town, took only a minor part in the events connected with the development of the Texas revolution. Goliad's delegates to the convention in 1832 were chosen too late to participate, though they endorsed the proceedings. The American residents of the municipal- ity, however, were aggressive actors in the independence movement. On December 20, 1835, ninety-one of these citizens, including one or two Mexicans, issued the "Goliad declaration of independence," in which they declared the Province of Texas a free, sovereign and inde- pendent state. This action was considered premature at the time, but
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less than three months later independence was declared in the con- vention at Washington. The municipality of Goliad was represented at the convention of 1836, and the municipality subsequently was organized as a county government.
The modern town of Goliad is on the north side of the river, but the old presidio, mission and Mexican settlement of La Bahia were on the south side. Only the ruins of the latter remain. An early account of the old town of La Bahia was written in December, 1833, by Doctor Beales, who was head of a colonization enterprise: "La Bahia or Goliad is a wretched village situated on the right bank of the San Antonio River, about forty miles from the Copano. It contains 800 souls. It is most beautifully placed, having the old ruined church of the mission on a rising ground in front, and backed by woods on the opposite side of the river. This, with common industry, might be made a very pretty village, as they have an abundance of soft lime- stone, easily worked, and the soil is very fertile; but from the negli- gence and idleness of the Mexican inhabitants, the streets are com- plete ravines, they have no gardens, and the houses are built partly of logs and partly of mud. The inhabitants are, almost without an exception, gamblers and smugglers, and gain their subsistence by those two occupations, and the more honorable one of carting the goods brought to the port by foreign vessels."
GONZALES
Gonzales was the principal center of settlement for the DeWitt Colony, and was on the western frontier of early American settle- ment. The grant to DeWitt was approved in 1825, and the first set- tlers under the auspices of this colony came shortly afterwards. Among them was Erastus (Deaf) Smith, a historic character in Texas. Two miles east of the fork of the Guadalupe and San Marcos rivers this party founded the town of Gonzales, but their settlement was broken up by an Indian attack in July, 1826. In the following year DeWitt's colonists returned to Gonzales, and the complement of the first hun- dred families was completed by 1830. The site of the capital town was re-surveyed in 1832.
Located on the frontier of American settlement, DeWitt's colony was the first to suffer from the invasion of Santa Anna. There was a strong sentiment at Gonzales in favor of continuing Texas as a Mexi- can state, but the town was represented in the conventions of 1832 and 1833, in the consultation of 1835 and the independence conven- tion of 1836. The formal beginning of active hostilities in the Texas revolution was at Gonzales, and that town was the headquarters of the Texan army before the march upon San Antonio in the fall of 1835. At Gonzales, Houston took command of his army in March, 1836, and there began the "runaway scrape" after the fall of the Alamo. Gon- zales was burned as the Texas army retreated eastward, and as a num ber of volunteers from that section had met death in the Alamo and many others did not return after the war, Gonzales began practically a new existence after the revolution.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS
MATAGORDA
The municipality of Matagorda was created during the Mexican regime in 1834, and its territory comprised the southeast corner of the original Austin grants. The western portion was taken in December, 1835, to form the municipality of Jackson. The municipality was or- ganized as a county after the establishment of the Republic, and the Town of Matagorda, which was incorporated in 1837, became the county seat. A custom house had been established at Matagorda about 1831, and it seems to have been maintained throughout the troubled period leading to the revolution, the collections of the port being the chief reliance of the Mexican garrisons at Goliad and San
OLD CAPITOL BUILDING AT COLUMBIA
Antonio. Matagorda is at the mouth of the Colorado, thirty miles from Pass Cavallo, the entrance to Matagorda Bay.
FORT BEND
In 1821 a company of fifteen or twenty persons, headed by William Little and members of the Austin Colony, were directed to enter the Brazos River and commence a settlement at some eligible place on its banks. They stopped where Richmond now is. The double log house which they built was named the Fort, a small cannon having been mounted on wheels and stationed in the passage connecting the two rooms. This "Fort" and the circumstance of its location on a wide bend of the river, was the origin of the name "Fort Settlement," or . "Fort Bend Settlement." by which the locality was known up to the revolution. It was here that Santa Anna transported his army over the Brazos on his way to San Jacinto. Another point to which settlers
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came before the revolution was Stafford's Point, where some promi- nent families located.
BRAZORIA
The municipality of Brazoria was created from the southern por- tion of the municipality of Austin by act of May 1, 1832, with the town of Brazoria as the capital. Some of its extensive territory went to the municipality of Matagorda in 1834, and in the same year other legislation directed the removal of the capital to Columbia and a change of name to municipality of Columbia. The provisional govern- ment of 1835 restored the old name and changed the capital to Brazoria. The climax of Columbia's greatness came when the first Texas Congress held its sessions there in the closing months of 1836. As the first capital it will always have an interest for Texans.
Of the three original towns, Velasco came into nominal existence with the establishment of the Mexican port and custom house in 1831 ; in 1832 it was the scene of a battle which opened the war between Texas and Mexico; it was a rendezvous for Texas troops during the revolution, and was made a port of entry by the provisional govern- ment ; Santa Anna signed the treaties of May, 1836, there, and the old town has many other associations with early history.
SAN PATRICIO
San Patricio, on the north bank of the Nueces River, was the capital of McMullen and McGloin's Irish colony. Near it was Fort Lipantitlan, garrisoned by Mexican soldiers at the beginning of the revolution. A company of settlers from San Patricio and neighboring . colonies attacked and forced the surrender of this post in October, 1835, this following close on the battle of Gonzales. In consequence of these hostilities and the frontier position, the three delegates chosen by the municipality for the general consultation of 1835 did not arrive until the provisional government was in operation, and one of their number was chosen to a seat in the general council. The municipality had a representative in the convention of March, 1836.
REFUGIO
The center of the Hewitson and Power colony was the old Refugio Mission, which was the seat of a small Mexican population before the Irish colonists came. The mission was loopholed for a fort by the soldiers under Colonel Ward, who withstood an attack from General Urrea on March 14, 1836, but were compelled to abandon the church fort and vainly sought safety in retreat. The old mission was described in December, 1833, by Doctor Beales, the leader of an English colony, as follows: The Mission Del Refugio "is prettily situated," but "has gone to ruin. * * * The missions have now become desolate. The present one was destroyed by the Comanches a few years since. There are at present five or six miserable huts, built and inhabited by as many Irish families, brought to this country by the Empresario, Mr. Power, who could not properly locate them in consequence of his disputes with respect to the boundaries of his lands. They obtained
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