USA > Texas > History of Texas : from 1685 to 1892, volume 1 > Part 36
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" What ought the owners of the soil, the old settlers of Texas, who have redeemed this country from the wilderness and made it what it is, think of men who will collect the sig- natures of persons on their first landing, who had not been here a day, or only a few days in the country, and attempt to impose a paper thus signed upon the world as the opinion of the people of Texas. This has been done here, and a large number of names collected to a paper for declaring independ- ence. It is time for the people of Texas to look to their true
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interest and distinguish between those who serve them in good faith and those who are mere political jugglers and base political intriguers.
" I am associated in a mission to the United States with a man that I cannot act with - a man whose conduct proves that he is destitute of political honesty, and whose attention is much more devoted to injure me than to serve the country. I mean Wharton. Dr. Archer, I believe, is governed by pure intentions, but he is very wild, as I think as to his politics, and too much inclined to precipitate this country into more difficulties than there is any necessity for. Associated with such men, what have I to expect? or what has the country to hope? The war is now taken beyond the limits of Texas. Why bring it back by adopting such a course as must and will turn all parties in Mexico against us? Will the people of this country suffer themselves to be jeopardized in this manner by a few men who attempt to assume their voice ?
" I have given my opinion on these matters in a letter to the Provisional Government, which Col. Fannin takes up, and to which I refer you. ( His letter of December 22nd. ) The fact is that Texas is now in the hands of a party, and the whole objects of this party are to retain the power and serve themselves. If they are not checked they will saddle the people with an army and a debt, and involve them in a war that will be difficult to bear. The people ought to look to their interest before it is too late. I find that I have but lit- tle to expect, that is if I am to judge of the future by the past few months, and that I can be of but little use to Texas. I go on this mission from a sense of duty. It is a bad example for any one to refuse the call of the people when the country is in difficulty. I have been called to go, and I obey the call ; but if party influence and low intrigues and cabals are to govern Texas, I wish to have as little to do with her affairs in future as possible.
Perhaps I am myself somewhat to blame. My unsuspicious
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disposition and the great importance I have always attached to union and harmony, may have led me into errors by trust -. ing and countenancing men who were unworthy of my notice or of confidence. When I arrived here last September I found the country distracted and divided. My first object was to try and unite and harmonize, and I set the example by harmonizing and acting with my personal enemies. I did it in good faith and in the firm belief that I was serving Texas by such a course. Had there been good faith in the men I thus attempted to harmonize, it would have been a service to the country, but there was not, and for this reason the course I adopted did harm. I find that parties must and will exist. I have heretofore tried to keep them down. I have never been a party man, but in future I believe the public good will be promoted by having the parties clearly and distinctly marked. Let a line be drawn between them, let the people understand that such a line is drawn and judge for themselves. Jackson's rule is a true one : ' everything for friends and nothing for enemies.'
" I beg leave to recommend my friend, Col. Fannin, to you and my friends generally as a man who is identified with the soil and interests of Texas, and as an honorable soldier.
" Farewell,
"S. F. AUSTIN."
The letter of Austin, on the eve of his departure, bears in- trinsic evidence of a disturbed imagination. That he wholly misapprehended the feelings and attitude of Col. Wharton is evidenced by twenty odd private and confidential letters (now in my possession ) written by that gentleman during this mission, in not one of which is there aught but kindly feel- ings manifested towards Gen. Austin. But Austin himself furnishes the most ample proof of what has been said. There can be no doubt in regard to his condition when he wrote the two Quintana letters. The week's sea voyage to New
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Orleans, and perhaps his direct personal association at sea with the brothers Wharton, that grandest of Texian women, Mrs. Sarah A. Wharton, and the grand old Roman, Archer, effected a happy revulsion in both his mental and physical condition. That this is true let his own words speak. Arriv- ing in New Orleans, refreshed and reinvigorated, on the fourth of January, on the 7th, he wrote the following:
" NEW ORLEANS, January 7, 1836.
" Messrs. R. R. Royall and S. Rhoads Fisher.
" DEAR SIRS : I am happy to inform you that the cause of Texas and of liberty stands very high in this city and all over the United States. The spirit of the people is aroused by the evident justice of our cause, and they will sustain us. The universal wish and expectation in this quarter is (as Governor Smith declared in a letter to Travis on the 13th of October), that Texas ought to declare herself independent at once.
" I have always been cautious and unwilling to involve the pioneers and actual settlers of Texas in anything like precip- itation. As to the right of Texas to declare herself absolutely independent, I have no doubt; none can possibly exist ; but, when I left home, I was not fully satisfied that we should be sufficiently sustained. Information received here has satis- fied me on this subject. The people of Texas in future need not hesitate to declare independence, from any doubts about being sustained; and, as for myself, I am willing to go into the measure, and believe we ought to do it without delay.
" At the last accounts Santa Anna had left Mexico and was rapidly marching on to Texas. He had reached San Luis Potosi. " Yours respectfully,
"S. F. AUSTIN."
Here are two pictures ; one on the 25th of December, Austin sick, morbid and suspicious, writing to Royall of low intrigues and personal animosities towards himself, and on the 7th of
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January, only thirteen days later, after a sea voyage, with renovated health, rejuvenated spirits and the gangrene of sus- picion, previously fostered by intriguers, washed away, Austin, himself again, writing to the same Royall in favor of uncon- ditional independence. Ten days before he wrote the first letter, the people of Brazoria, with but one dissenting voice, had declared for independence. On the very day he wrote it the people of Columbia, in the same municipality, passed unanimously and signed resolutions in favor of independence. Five days before, ninety-two gallant soldiers and prominent citizens had signed and proclaimed a declaration of independ- ence at Goliad; and on the 15th of November, forty-five days before, Nacogdoches had boldly declared for independence.
Yet, in the face of these manifestations from the people of the country, enfeebled in health and misled (it is firmly believed ), by ambitious intriguers and a few who were wolves in sheep's clothing, Austin penned his two Quintana letters. Partial biographers have unwisely tried to explain in part and in part have withheld these antagonistic facts. The truth and the whole truth is due the children of Texas, yet to be born, who, properly informed, will ever hail the name of Austin, as that of the father of Americanism in Texas, and revere his memory as such. But they will never regard him as the father of Texian independence, for to do so would be an un- pardonable distortion of the truth. He was a recruit to that cause, according to his own declarations, from and after the 7th day of January, 1836.
Gen. Austin did not confine the knowledge of his conver- sion to the cause of independence to Messrs. Royall and Fisher; but, on the same day, wrote the following letter to the commander-in-chief of the army :
" NEW ORLEANS, January 7, 1836. " Gen. Sam Houston :
" DEAR SIR: In all our Texas affairs, as you are well ap- prised, I have felt it my duty to be cautious in involving the
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pioneers and actual settlers of the country by any act of mine until I was fairly and fully convinced of the necessity and capabilities of our country to sustain it. Hence it is that I have been censured by some as being over cautious. Where the fate of a whole people is in question, it is difficult to be over cautious or too prudent. Besides these general consid- erations, there are others which ought to have weight with me individually. I have been either directly or indirectly the cause of drawing many families to Texas ; also the situation and circumstances in which I have been placed have given considerable weight to my opinions. This has thrown a heavy responsibility upon me ; so much so that I have considered it my duty to be prudent, and even to control my own impulses and feelings. These have long been impatient under the state of things which has existed in Texas and in favor of a speedy and radical change. But I have never approved of the course of forestalling public opinion by party or partial meetings, or by management of any kind. The true course is to lay facts before the people and let them judge for themselves. I have endeavored to pursue this course.
" A question of vital importance is yet to be decided by Texas, which is a declaration of independence. When I left Texas I thought it was premature to stir this question and that we ought to be very cautious of taking any step that would make the Texas war purely a national war, which would unite all parties against us, instead of it being a party war, which would secure us the aid of the Federal party. In this I acted contrary to my own impulses, for I wish to see Texas free from religious intolerance, and other anti-republican restrictions, and independent at once ; and, as an individual, have always been ready to risk my all to obtain it; but I could not feel justifiable in precipitating and involving others until I was fully satisfied that they would be sustained. Since my arrival here I have received information which has satisfied me on that subject. I have no doubt we can obtain all and even much more help than we need. I now think the
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time has come for Texas to assert her natural rights, and were I in the convention I would urge an immediate declara- tion of independence. I form this opinion from the infor- mation now before me. I have not heard of any movement in the interior by the Federal party in favor of Texas, or of the constitution. On the contrary, the information from Mexico is, that all parties are against us, owing to what has already been said and done in Texas in favor of independence and that we have nothing to expect from that quarter but hostil- ity. I am acting on this information. If it be true, and I have no reason to doubt it, our present position in favor of the republican principles of the constitution of 1824 can do us no good, and it is doing us harm by deterring that kind of men from joining us that are most useful.
" I know not what information you may have in Texas as to the movements of the Federal party in our favor, nor what influence they ought to have on the decision of this question, this being a matter on which the convention alone can deter- mine. I can only say, that with the information now before me, I am in favor of an immediate declaration of independ- ence. Santa Anna was at San Luis Potosi at last accounts marching rapidly with a large force against Texas. We must be united and firm and look well to the month of March,and be ready. I shall try to be at home by that time.
" Yours respectfully, " S. F. AUSTIN."
THE GEORGIANS TO COL. FANNIN.
On their arrival at Velasco, the Georgians addressed Col. Fannin as follows :
" To Col. J. W. Fannin :
SIR: In compliance with a resolution adopted at a meeting of the commissioned and non-commissioned officers of the Georgia battalion, we beg leave, in the name of that meeting, to tender its unfeigned and heartfelt gratitude for the kind- ness and cordiality with which you have been pleased to greet
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us and our companions in arms upon the shores of Texas. Be assured, sir, that a welcome from any other source, how- ever kind or respectable, could not have given rise to prouder feelings. As Americans we hail you as the champion of Lib- erty ! As Georgians we hail you as a brother, and recur with pleasing sensations to the home of your and our nativity. When first we knew and admired you, actuated by that in- born love of liberty and detestation of tyranny, peculiar to the American character, and recently so eminently developed in you, we paused not to calculate the cost, but with arms in hands, at once resolved to unite with our brethren of Texas, and share their destiny. And although, sir, it constituted the zenith of our ambition, as the sons of Georgia, to add to that bright star in the American confederacy, the honor of having acted a companion's part in the cause of suffering Texas, yet we were unconscious of the fact, until since we left home, that our wishes in that regard, were in a great measure realized, and that Georgia's honor and chivalry stood proudly vindicated in your person. The intelligence met us, and, like a beacon of light, at once cheered our hopes and illuminated our pathway. But, without being unnecessarily tedious, the undersigned beg leave in conclusion to assure you not only in behalf of the meeting we represent, but of the " Georgia battalion " generally, that it is deeply sensible to the kind partiality which you have exhibited for the State we claim to represent, in the advancement which you have been pleased to make of their brethren in arms, to posts of honor and preferment. Accept, dear sir, our sincere and heartfelt regard.
WILLIAM WARD, Major. WARREN J. MITCHELL, M. D., Regimental Surgeon. W. A. O. WADSWORTH, Captain. DAVID I. HOLT, Quartermaster. HENDERSON COHART, Assistant. JAMES C. WYNN, Captain. URICH J. BULLOCK, Captain.
December 23, 1885."
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To which on Christmas day, 1835, Colonel Fannin made the following reply :
" To Messrs. Wm. Ward and others, members of the Com- mittee of the Georgia Battalion:
GENTLEMEN: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of yours conveying to me; in the kindest and most flattering manner, the sentiments of the Georgia battalion.
The welcome I have extended towards you, was one of duty, but I must add, also, one of proud satisfaction. My heart must cease its pulsations, ere I forget myself a " Georgian " or neglect her warm-hearted sons, in whatever clime we may meet.
The love of liberty, with them, is an innate principle, and " grows with their growth, and strengthens with their strength." Born, raised and educated in the school of liberal principles and free institutions, and recognizing no other sys- tem of political economy, save that bequeathed to posterity by Washington, and more recently inculcated by Jefferson, you have promptly and nobly met my own expectations, in marching to their "rescue " in this western wilderness of promise.
In the name and in behalf of the people of Texas I greet you as brothers in arms, thrice welcome because strangers to most of her inhabitants, and, owing to your geographical situation, unacquainted with the many advantages it really so eminently possesses. You have left " home and its many endearments " to embark in their cause and make it your own.
The days of chivalry are past, but not their recollection. Many a bold knight performed wondrous deeds of arms in the cause of the holy cross and under the most sacred banner. Many were the lances shivered, and rich the blood shed, sim- ply to gratify some proud beauty, and obtain a crown from her fair hand, or some other token of favor.
The conservation of the Georgia battalion, in the cause of
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Texas, is a striking proof and carries with it infallible evi- dence of their legitimate descent from the true stock of 1776.
The same love of liberty and detestation of tyranny, so, boldly exemplified in the sires, is now to be found, and, I hope soon to be acted out, in the sons. No longer can the questions. be asked of me, " Where are your friends? What are they doing for the cause of Liberty ? Where are your Georgia volunteers?" The answer is made by the shrill sound of the fife, the soul-stirring beat of the drum, and the flash of the- bright sun on your brighter arms ..
As a Texian, devoted to the cause, all hail ! As a Georgian,. reared in the midst of you, and recurring to the days of " Auld lang syne," with a proud and swelling heart, all hail !
Let me say to you, go on in the good work, prospering and to prosper. Prepare yourselves by suitable discipline to with- stand the onset of an enemy, and to command respect and admiration for the Georgia battalion.
What small distinction I have obtained for myself, and the brave men I have had the honor to command, and to which you so kindly refer, was the result of discipline. It gives. confidence and will insure success. Let me entreat you, as one who feels a deep and abiding interest in each and every one of you, to bear in mind this charge and then you will be always ready. Let me exhort you to look to the past and re- member the " Brazos Guards," and first division of the army of the people, which I have had the honor and good fortune to lead to victory, and profit thereby. [At Concepcion, October 28,1835.] Assuring you that, in whatever situation in life I may be cast, this day, with its connecting circum- stances, will ever be cherished by your friend and fellow- citizen.
J. W. FANNIN, JR.
Velasco, Dec. 25th, 1835."
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On the 8th of January, 1836, Col. Fannin issued the fol- lowing address :
" ATTENTION, VOLUNTEERS !
An expedition to the west has been ordered by the general council, and the volunteers from Bexar, Goliad, Velasco, and elsewhere are ordered to rendezvous at San Patricio between the 24th and 27th instants, and report to the officer in com- mand. The fleet convoy will sail from Velasco, under my charge, on or about the 18th, and all who feel disposed to join it, and aid in keeping the war out of Texas, and at the same time cripple the enemy in their resources at home, are invited to enter the ranks forthwith.
J. W. FANNIN, JR."
It is but justice to Col. Fannin to copy from his corre- spondence with the Lieut .- Governor such extracts as bear most prominently upon his peculiar attitude, and the responsibilities growing out of it.
From the mission of Refugio he addressed the Lieut .- Governor on the 17th of February, 1836, saying:
" Not the least doubt should any longer be entertained, by any friend of Texas, of the design of Santa Anna to overrun the country and overrun or exterminate every white man within its borders. May I be permitted to ask of them in sober earnestness, ' Why halt ye . between two opinions?' Your soil is again to be polluted by the footsteps of the hire- lings of an unprincipled despot. Will the freemen of Texas calmly fold their arms, and wait until the approach of their deadly enemy compels them to protect their own fire- sides ? *
It is useless to controvert the fact that our true strength and geographical situation are well known to Santa Anna.
This expedition against Texas has long since been deter- mined by Santa Anna ; and Colonel Almonte was sent to
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Texas for the express purpose of ascertaining these facts, which, you will see from his report, he faithfully exe- cuted. * * *
In conclusion, let me implore you to lose no time and spare no expense in spreading these tidings throughout Texas, and ordering out the militia ' IN MASS.' Spare us, in God's name, from elections in camp. Organize at home, and march forward in order and good may result from it.
I have barely time to say that an election was holden on yesterday for Colonel and Lieut .- Colonel and that myself and Maj. Ward received nearly a unanimous vote. * *
In haste, I have the honor to subscribe myself with senti- ments of high consideration.
Your obedient servant,
J. W. FANNIN, JR., Col. Commanding."
Yet in all this Col. Fannin was acting under an illegal agency, utterly ignoring the rightful Governor and the right- ful commander-in-chief.
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CHAPTER XLII.
Commissioners to treat with the Cherokees - Membership of the General Council - Governor Smith's Denunciatory Message to the Council - Col. Joseph C. Neill in Temporary Command at San Antonio - Attempt to Depose Governor Smith.
Santa Anna's advanced division appeared at San Antonio on the 23d of February.
Austin was detained in the United States, laboriously co- operating with Messrs. Wharton and Archer, till in June. His zeal and success were all that his most ardent friends could desire, and did great good to the cause of Texas.
Under the ordinance of December 22d, previously intro- duced by Mr. Kerr, of Jackson, on the 25th, Governor Smith commissioned Gen. Sam Houston, Col. John Forbes and Dr. John Cameron, as commissioners to treat with the ยท Cherokees and their twelve associate bands.
Two troubles confronted the country and interfered. with harmonious action. The membership of the council fre- quently changed, and it so happened that a few who remained all or the greater part of the time were men who had no proper conception of the difference between executive, legis- lative and military functions, and these men led the council into a series of reactionary measures and usurpations which led to the destruction of the Johnson and Grant parties on and west of the Nueces and the defeat and perfidious slaughter of Fannin and the noble band of men under his command. Had these law-givers - some of them accidental men of the hour - understood the horn-book of representative government and ;its admirable distribution of powers, and governed themselves
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accordingly, neither the Grant nor Johnson party, nor the men under King, Ward, or Fannin (chief of the whole), need to have perished as they did.
The changing characteristic of the council seems to have escaped the attention of writers ; but in justice to many who had no lot or part in its anarchical proceedings and to others who left in disgust, it should be borne in mind. To illustrate this. John J. Linn 1 of Victoria, only sat in the council from Decem- ber 11th to the 28th, a period of only seventeen days. James Kerr only sat from November 30th to January 7th, thirty- nine days. Jesse Burnham, Henry Millard, William Menefee, McMullen, Randall Jones, Jesse Grimes, Wilson, Asa Mitchell, Dr. Asa Hoxey, Collard, John A. Wharton, Fuqua, and, indeed, a large majority of those who served in the body were only there for fractional portions of the session. Those who served most continuously and for the longest period were D. C. Barrett, J. D. Clements, Wyatt Hanks, Alexander Thompson and two or three others; and those who served longest, including Robinson, the Lieutenant-Governor and President of the body, were most deeply concerned in those glaring usurpations which brought dire disasters upon the country .
1 The official journals of the 27th say : " Mr. Linn presented a resolution providing for the erection of a monument to the memory of Benjamin R. Milam, at San Antonio de Bexar, which was adopted; and his Excellency, Governor Henry Smith, James Cockran, John Rice Jones, Gail Borden and John H. Money were appointed a central committee to carry into effect the objects of the resolution." Mr. Linn died in the house in which he had lived in Victoria since 1831, on the 27th of October, 1885. He long sur- vived the five gentlemen named in the committee. He lived fifty years, less two months, and yet failed to see his memorial raised to the grand and peerless Milam " by grateful hands," for it was not erected. Texas had but one Milam! Milam had neither wife nor child; but he had a home in every Texian breast. He was one man, physically, morally and intellectually grand, of whom evil was never thought or spoken. Will the grandchildren of his day and time live and die without leaving a shaft to his memory?
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Lieut .- Col. Joseph C. Neill, a tried old soldier in the Indian wars of the United States, duly appointed by the Provisional . Government, assumed command at San Antonio of the hand- ful of newly and regularly enrolled soldiers at that place. But there were perhaps three hundred men there, after the fall of the place, who did not return home nor remain under any competent authority. Among them was Dr. James Grant, a Scotchman, but a naturalized citizen of Mexico, married in and long a resident of that country, and owning or claiming large mining and landed interests in the western part of Coahuila. He had acquired the ill-will of the Mexican authorities and hence fled into Texas. Personally he was a gallant man and was severely wounded in the siege of San Antonio. But he was a bitter enemy to Texian independence and opposed to the separation of Texas from Coahuila. His personal interests infatuated him with the idea of maintaining them as one State in defiance of the centralized Government of Mexico. To this end he conceived the idea of capturing and holding Matamoros. He not only seduced the unorgan- ized element at San Antonio into organizing for that purpose, but others farther east and some newly arrived volunteers at San Antonio and on the coast, and found advocates in the council.
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