Slike strani
PDF
ePub

Alvaro de Zavaleta and other religious. The arrangements were probably completed by October 20, when Otermín wrote to the viceroy: "I am bivouacked and fortified on this Rio del Norte, waiting Your Excellency's order as to what ought to be done."1

(3) Provision of a Presidio.-As far as the documents now available indicate, the paramount interest of Otermín and the Cabildo, during the next twelve months, was the question of a presidio of El Paso. In compliance with the recommendations of the governor, the central authorities took the matter under advisement in January, 1681, and in the same month decided to grant it, empowering the governor to carry out the plans. Whether or not Otermín attempted to found the presidio is not clear from the documents, but he appears to have formed some kind of guard to protect the citizens during his absence on the entrada made in November, 1681, with the intention of reconquering New Mexico.

While it is not purposed at the present time to continue the history of the El Paso settlements further than the departure of Otermín's army from El Paso for New Mexico on November 5, 1681, a few words will not be out of place here on subsequent events there. As has already been noted the presidio and the settlement at El Paso were not meant to be permanent. However, when Otermín returned in the winter of 1681-2 from his unsuccessful attempt to reconquer the province, it was realized by the authorities that several expeditions might have to be made before. the people at El Paso could re-enter New Mexico. Accordingly, the Spaniards were required to settle in several pueblos and to make preparations for planting crops to maintain themselves there. indefinitely. In this way the plans for settlements were given a sort of permanence. Events of the next few years, as will be shown later, served to make them entirely permanent.2

Letter of Otermín, in Auttos tocantes, 102.

The summary given above is based on material gathered from the four expedientes: Auttos tocantes, Autos Pertenecientes, Auttos sobre los Socorros, and an expediente without a title. For aid in the revision of the last few paragraphs of this paper, acknowledgments are due to Miss Anne Hughes.

VIRGINIA AND THE INDEPENDENCE OF TEXAS

JAMES E. WINSTON

Virginians have ever been prone to seek distinction and fortune beyond the bounds of their native state. What the New England states have been by way of a nursery from which home-seekers have gone to settle the middle West, that Virginia has been to the states of the South and the Southwest. The best blood of the Old Dominion has gone forth to enrich the citizenship of many a sister-state. It would require several volumes to narrate the history of all those Virginians whose enterprise, bravery, and skill have contributed to the upbuilding and prosperity of their adopted homes. In every war in which the national honor has been at stake, the sons of Virginia have given their services with readiness and loyalty, and have acquitted themselves upon the field of battle with honor to themselves and credit to their native state. It is not the purpose of this paper, however, to vaunt the deeds of Virginians in the wars in which this country has been engaged. Without attempting a task so pretentious, the writer has confined himself to the effort of recording the names and services of those Virginians who had a part in accomplishing the separation of Texas from Mexico, and who helped to erect a stable government within the bounds of the mighty state whose limits are the Sabine and the Rio Grande. The story is not a long one, for Virginia was too remote from the scene of hostilities for the struggle between the Texans and their oppressors to arouse the same degree of interest and enthusiasm that was felt by the citizens south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi. Then, too, the ardor of the Virginians may have been dampened somewhat by the unfavorable accounts of Texas which appeared in the Virginia newspapers.1

'See Richmond Enquirer, July 4, 1837. The Virginia Herald for March 23, 1836, quoting the Randolph (Tenn.) Recorder of March, has this to say: "Volunteers are returning and reporting very discouragingly of the inhabitants of Texas. The inhabitants are poor, and care not a fig under what government they live. The principal object of the majority of the inhabitants that fight is plunder and pillage." It was, moreover, stated that armed emigrants going from the United States for the purpose of interfering in the war would not be permitted to enter Texas. Virginia Herald, April 30, 1836.

Be this as it may, however, what Virginians lacked in the way of numbers, they made up for by the high quality of the service rendered the young republic. No braver or more loyal spirit gave his life in behalf of Texas independence than John Sowers Brooks,1 of Augusta county, Virginia; another Virginian who rendered the cause of Texas distinguished services as a soldier was Colonel William G. Cooke,2 of Fredericksburg. Among the more conspicuous builders of the new state the names of Branch T. Archer and Peter Hansborough Bell deservedly have a high place. Another Virginian who rendered his adopted home valuable services both as a civilian and as a soldier was Judge Edwin Waller. Both Austin and Houston were natives of Virginia, while among the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence, eleven were either natives or former residents of Virginia.

Rumblings of the storm about to break in Texas reached Virginia in the summer of 1835. In July and August the Richmond papers printed reports of the projected invasion of Texas by the Mexicans and of the determination of the colonists to resist. The Richmond Enquirer of July 17, 1835, copied from the New York Courier the following extract which correctly summed up the situation at this time:

Each succeeding day is rendering Texas of more importance to the United States from the fact that it is rapidly being settled by our own people, and the very probable supposition that in a few years it will constitute a portion of our Union. In settling the boundary line between Texas and the United States, the Rio Grande should be, and in all probability, will be fixed upon as the dividing line, and thus the thousands of American citizens who are now settling what is yet a foreign country, will once more find themselves enjoying the blessings and protection of our liberal laws.

1See THE QUARTERLY, IX, 157-209, for an account of this gallant though ill-fated young officer.

2 Ibid., IX, 210-219.

'See Coyner's article on "Peter Hansborough Bell' in THE QUARTERLY, III, 49-53. Governor Bell, at the age of twenty-six, left his native state to engage in the war of Texas independence, and rendered valiant service on the field of San Jacinto as a member of the cavalry corps.

'See Peareson, "Reminiscences of Judge Edwin Waller," in THE QUARTERLY, IV, 39-53. See Thrall, 540, 570, for accounts of James Gaines and Frank W. Johnson, who filled important civil and military positions. Richmond Enquirer, July 17, 1835; August 4, 1835.

Among those who took part in the storming of San Antonio, in December, 1835, was Nathaniel R. Brister of the "New Orleans Greys," commanded by Captain Samuel O. Pettus, himself a Virginian. Brister was promoted from the position of sergeantmajor to that of adjutant in this company about the middle of February, 1836.1 According to one account a Captain Blair of Conway county and a Dr. Mitcherson, both from Virginia, were killed in the storming of San Antonio.2

Virginia had her representatives at the Alamo, the following Virginians being killed there: John J. Baugh, first lieutenant in Captain Thomas H. Breece's company of Texas Volunteers, and later a captain; and a soldier by the name of R. L. Stockton, who arrived at San Antonio about the same time as Crockett. Other Virginians who were members of Captain Pettus' company were Allen O'Kinney (or Kenney) and William L. Hunter; the former is said to have been massacred at Goliad, while the latter is one of the few who effected a thrilling escape after being left there for dead upon the field of slaughter. Other Virginians killed at the time of Fannin's massacre were Henry W. Downman, James Batts, and James Kemp, all of Duval's company.

In the Zanesville Volunteer Rifle Company were the following Virginians: James Perry, first sergeant, from Norfolk; Henry Sikes, of the same place; John Fisher, of Shenandoah; John A. Davis, of Surrey county; and John Snelling, of Augusta county. Company E, First Regiment of Texas Infantry, Permanent Vol

'Muster Rolls, General Land Office of Texas, pages 25, 37. Colonel William G. Cooke was also at one time captain of the same company.

'Arkansas Gazette, April 12, 1836.

Muster Rolls, page 37. See THE QUARTERLY, IX, 237.

"THE QUARTERLY, IX, 4, 117, and XIV, 321-322. The Virginia Herald of May 4, 1836, contains a list of the names of those who fell at the capture of San Antonio.

'See Duval, Early Times in Texas, 59.

"Kentucky Gazette, July 7, 1836. The Virginia Herald of June 1, 1836, copies from the New Orleans Bee, March 25, 1836, an account of Fannin's massacre written by a Mexican general. In the Herald of June 18, 1836, is a detailed account of the massacre of Goliad by Z. S. Brooks, one of those who escaped. The same issue contains a list of the "Red Rovers" who were put to death on this occasion. In the same journal for August 6, 1836, is what purports to be an account of an eye-witness of the death of Fannin, written by Joseph H. Sphon, of New Orleans, who escaped.

'Muster Rolls, page 230. Perry and Davis were shoemakers; Fisher, a chair-maker; and Snelling, a paper-maker.

unteers, contained these soldiers from Virginia: David Balfour, of Norfolk; John H. P. Brent, of Fauquier county; James Dunn, of Wheeling; Silas A. Gordon, of Augusta county; John M. Hooper, of Hanover; John T. Morehead, of Rockbridge county; Benjamin Smith, of Frederick; and L. C. Toneray, of Washington. With General Houston at San Jacinto were Oscar Farish, of Fredericksburg, a private in Captain McIntyre's company;2 Washington Anderson, a member of Company C, First Regiment, Texas Volunteers, who was wounded; James Montgomery, and Crittenden. In addition these Virginians saw service in the Texan cause: John Claiborne, John O. Knox, J. C. Osburn, M. D., R. R. Goodloe, J. W. Massey, Hugh G. Pannell, Lemuel Smith, A. M. Tandey, Peter C. Ragsdale, Nicholas Herron, Dr. A. M. Levy, John P. T. Fitzhugh, T. R. Striff, and Jesse Benton, the last-named hailing, it is believed, from Richmond.3

In the Richmond Whig of April 15, 1836, is found this letter from him:

Near Nacogdoches
22d Feb. 1836

Dear Sir:Official information has just reached us that Santa Anna has crossed the Rio Grande and is marching against us with a large army for the purpose of exterminating us. I will place myself in the Infantry as a private soldier, and if he pass our bayonets, I will be deceived. Nearly all our troops are riflemen; no body of infantry to lodge on to form squares or rush on with and crush the enemy. We will die hard, for it will be truly victory or death with us. Our volunteers have consumed our provisions and a great many have left us-just what I expected. General Cos and his troops we are informed have broken their parole and are returning against us. The country on the Rio Grande is given up to a brutal soldiery. If we cannot

defend the country in any other way, we can do it effectually by adopting the Russian mode of defence against Napoleon in 1812.

A Virginian who rendered the new republic of Texas substan

Muster Rolls, pages 237, 239. A Virginian by the name of R. S. Neighbors is said to have joined the Texan army in 1837.

"Virginia Herald, June 15, 1836. In the issue of June 1 of this paper is an account of the battle of San Jacinto, copied from the Mobile (Ala.) Advertiser, May 13, 1836.

Lexington Intelligencer, September 13, 1836; Richmond Enquirer, November 6, 1836; and Muster Rolls, page 115. Herron, Levy, and Strif are said to have been members of the "New Orleans Greys."

« PrejšnjaNaprej »