event, it is now plain, was not merely the result of the La Salle expedition, but was the logical culmination of the long series of expeditions made to the eastward from New Mexico and of the expansion of the Nuevo León-Coahuila frontier, and more especially of the quest, begun as far back as the time of Castillo and Martín, for the "great kingdom of the Texas." This is the principal explanation to be offered for the fact that the first Spanish outpost in eastern Texas was placed, not on the Bay of Espíritu Santo, where the French menace had occured, but several hundred miles to the eastward. It was put among the Indians whom the Spaniards so long had hoped to reach.

KENTUCKY AND THE INDEPENDENCE OF TEXAS1

JAMES E. WINSTON

In all the wars in which their country has been engaged, Kentuckians have ever been found in the vanguard of those who have gone forth when the call to arms has sounded. They have been prodigal of their blood on many a hard-fought field since the time. when Kentucky was first numbered among the states of the Union. In the wars waged with the Indians, both within and beyond the borders of their state; in the war of 1812; in the Mexican war; and, above all, in the four years' strife when Kentuckian was arrayed against Kentuckian, the men of Kentucky have never failed to respond to the call of duty and of honor. In one struggle, however, in which thousands of their fellow-countrymen were engaged, the achievements of Kentuckians and their share in the movement which led to the wresting of a fair domain from the control of the Spaniard, have not been sufficiently emphasized,namely, the war of Texas independence which resulted in the establishment of the republic of Texas in 1836.

In this paper an attempt will be made to record some of the names and, so far as possible, the deeds of those Kentuckians who shared in the glorious exploits associated with the names of San Antonio de Béxar, Goliad, and San Jacinto. Necessarily the record is an incomplete one; and for that reason the names of many men have in all probability been omitted whose deeds and sacrifices a more detailed knowledge of the period might richly entitle to

'The main sources which have been relied upon in the preparation of this article are contemporary newspapers, and the Muster Rolls in the Land Office at Austin, which are not the original rolls, however. Owing to the fact that natives of other States enlisted in companies commanded by Kentuckians, while Kentucky volunteers joined companies raised in different States, it will be seen that it is impossible to make a roster of the volunteers of any one State that will be entirely accurate and complete. Inaccuracies and omissions can, in a measure, be eliminated as the history of the movement in the successive States is examined. This investigation it is the intention of the writer to make; but owing to the widely scattered nature of the material, the process will necessarily be a slow and tedious one. Corrections and additions will be thankfully received.

honorable mention. At any rate, what we know of Kentucky's share in the liberation of Texas from the tyranny of Mexico is worth narrating.

One of the most interesting things in connection with the Texan struggle for independence is the large number, comparatively speaking, of states and foreign countries from which volunteers flocked. to Texas.1 On the one hand the province of Texas was invaded by bands of Mexicans bent upon establishing a centralized despotism; upon the other, it was invaded from one motive or another by those of a dozen different nationalities equally determined to expel the enemies of the country. As an illustration of this fact it is interesting to note the composition of Company E, First Regiment of Texas Infantry, Permanent Volunteers. This company comprised some sixty-odd members from the following regions: fourteen from Pennsylvania; four from Kentucky; two from Maine; eight from Virginia; three from Indiana; one from Mississippi; one from Delaware; three from Tennessee; one from North Carolina; one from Missouri; two from Germany; four from England; one from Scotland; one from South Carolina; and three from Maryland. In the company of Captain Pettus, the

1For the different states and climes represented by the early colonists of Texas, see Fulmore, "Annexation of Texas and Mexican War," in THE QUARTERLY, V, 32-33.

The Anglo-Americans who settled Texas were of the same stock as those who a generation before had crossed the Alleghanies and planted new settlements in what are now the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. Further south and west flowed the tide of emigrants, winning from the wilderness new areas destined to become powerful states of the American Union. Says one who should have known: "The people of Texas were generally unpretending farmers and planters from the middle walks of life.” (Wharton to Austin, December 11, 1836; Garrison, Dip. Cor. Tex., I, 152.) Says another: "The society to be found there is composed of men of intelligence and republican habits, and if men of different description are to be found there, they bear as small a proportion to the whole number as bad men do in any other part of the globe." (The Evening Post [New York], November 6, 1835.) Cf. also Benton, Thirty Years' View, I, 674,; Smith, The Annexation of Texas, 24, and Kennedy, Texas, I, 333, as to the character of the early colonists of Texas. To dispose of them, as some writers do, by branding the settlers as "lawless adventurers" or "criminal outcasts" is entirely without warrant. Schouler, History of the United States, IV, 253, refers, not entirely with justification, to the "covert process of colonization." See Garrison, Texas, 148. Austin considered the stipulation imposed upon the colonists of becoming Roman Catholics merely a “formal and unessential requisition." (Austin to Wharton, November 18, 1836, Garrison, Dip. Cor. Tex., I, 134.) Kennedy (Texas, I, 339) says this requirement of the colonization law was unscrupulously evaded.

"New Orleans Greys," were representatives of six foreign countries, besides volunteers who came from states as widely separated as Connecticut and Louisiana. As showing the character of the men who helped to achieve the independence of Texas, it may be observed that the above companies were composed of carpenters, tailors, painters, masons, clerks, farmers, school-teachers, physicians, cotton-spinners, stone-cutters, and the like. That is, the independence of Texas was wrought in part by men who came from the plough, the counting-room, the shop, by those from the humbler walks of life. The foundations of the new state were thus laid on a democratic basis which has endured to this day. The struggles of the Texans appealed to those of a wide range of sympathies, professional soldiers being conspicuous by their absence.

The chief recruiting stations for these and other volunteers were Louisville, Cincinnati, and New Orleans. Most of the company referred to above enlisted in the summer and fall of 1835, arriving in Texas in November of the same year. The mere recital of the different sections of the United States and of the different foreign countries from which Texas emigrants came, shows conclusively that the slavery question in regard to Texas had not arisen at this time. It was to be expected that the struggle going on in Texas should have appealed most strongly to that section of our country most closely allied by ties of blood and interest to those who had settled Texas; but, as we have seen, interest in the region between the Sabine and the Rio Grande was by no means confined to any single group of states or section.2

From 1803 to the treaty of De Onis, in 1819, both Spain and

'See Muster Rolls, pp. 238-239. Of course it is not intended to convey the impression that in every instance companies were as heterogeneous in character as this one. At the same time it is a well-known fact that those who were instrumental in shaping the destinies of the new republic came from widely separated sections of the United States.

Says the New Orleans Bee, January 4, 1835: "Volunteers are rushing into Texas from every section of this Union." In June, 1836, Judge Catron wrote to Webster from Tennessee that the spirit was abroad through the whole Mississippi Valley to march to Texas. Another observer predicted that "numerous Kentuckians-young men, ambitious of fame and seeking fortune will even go from Illinois, where they had previously emigrated" (Lundy, War in Texas, 51). Wherever the Texas commissioners to the United States stopped, they found evidence of the deepest interest among all classes in regard to the affairs of Texas.

the United States claimed the territory known as Texas. The above treaty settled the controversy by making the Sabine the boundary. But many of the citizens of the United States were dissatisfied with this arrangement. For instance, an editorial in the New Orleans Bee of July 3, 1835, pronounced the treaty of 1819 unconstitutional in that it alienated the acquired purchase or possession of Texas. In the issue of July 20th of the same year this paper asserted that the claims of Spain as against those of France were based on perfidy.

It was perfectly natural that the rumor of war in Texas should have aroused the keenest interest in Kentucky. The enterprise was such a one as would naturally appeal to a high-spirited people, accustomed to the use of arms. In a letter of General Houston to General Dunlap, Houston concludes with these words: "The path of fame and wealth in Texas is open to the patriot and chivalrous."2 Just as adventurers flocked to the standard of William of Normandy, impelled by motives of adventure and the desire of gain, so the news of the struggle going on in Texas drew thither thousands actuated by various motives.3 The eagerness to take up arms is shown by the readiness with which the call for volunteers to re-enforce General Gaines on the Sabine was responded to, and great was the chagrin of young Kentuckians when the call was countermanded by the President. As the Texan war progressed and it was learned what atrocities the Anglo-Americans were suffering at the hands of the relentless Mexicans, the war assumed something of the aspect of a crusade, and men felt it to be their Christian duty to drive the Mexican from the land desecrated by his presence. In addition to this, rich rewards in the way of land were offered to those who risked life and limb in such a worthy enterprise. At the advice of Dr. Archer, the Consultation, at the very outset, provided for rewarding volunteers with grants of land. Indeed it was recognized by the leaders of

Professor Ficklen has shown that the State of Texas can not be regarded as a part of the territory purchased from France in 1803. See his article, "The Louisiana Purchase vs. Texas," in Publications of the Southern History Association for September, 1901. Cf. Smith, The Annexation of Texas, 5-7.

'Kentucky Gazette, July 18, 1836.

See Smith, The Annexation of Texas, 29, as to the reason for the interest felt by the South in Texas.

"THE QUARTERLY, IX, 242-43.