Santa Fé Expedition
1841-1842
Bennett Letter |
Blackwell to Lamar | John
Henry Brown | Capt. Mathew Caldwell | Falconer Account | Kendall Account | Lamar to
Citizens | Lamar Address to Citizens | José Antonio Navarro
Letter from President M.B.
Lamar to the People of Santa Fé, 14 Apr 1840.
Republic of Texas Executive Department Austin April 14, 1840. To the Citizens of Santa Fé, Friends, and Compatriots. You have doubtless heard of the glorious Revolution by which the late Province of Texas has been emancipated from the thralldom of Mexican domination. That revolution was forced upon us by circumstances too imperative to be resisted. The Anglo American population of Texas had left the comforts and the enlightened liberty of their own country, and had immigrated to this wilderness, under the most solemn guarantees of the Constitution of 1824. We had witnessed many disastrous civil commotions in the Government of Mexico, and greatly deplored the want of harmony and the frequent convulsions which distracted our adopted country. But we still entertained an illusive hope that a dear bought experience---the lessons of many calamities---would exert harmonizing influence, and teach the authorities of Mexico that frequent political chances and domestic discords were destructive of the prosperity and character of a people, that Union and Stability were necessary to strength; and peace and harmony to happiness.
Republic of Texas Executive Department Austin April 14, 1840. To the Citizens of Santa Fé, Friends, and Compatriots. You have doubtless heard of the glorious Revolution by which the late Province of Texas has been emancipated from the thralldom of Mexican domination. That revolution was forced upon us by circumstances too imperative to be resisted. The Anglo American population of Texas had left the comforts and the enlightened liberty of their own country, and had immigrated to this wilderness, under the most solemn guarantees of the Constitution of 1824. We had witnessed many disastrous civil commotions in the Government of Mexico, and greatly deplored the want of harmony and the frequent convulsions which distracted our adopted country. But we still entertained an illusive hope that a dear bought experience---the lessons of many calamities---would exert harmonizing influence, and teach the authorities of Mexico that frequent political chances and domestic discords were destructive of the prosperity and character of a people, that Union and Stability were necessary to strength; and peace and harmony to happiness.
These hopes, so long and patiently cherished, were finally
dissolved forever, when the Federal Constitution under which we had migrated to
the Country and identified our destiny with hers, was forcibly abrogated, and a
military despotism reared in its stead. Texas then resolved to be free---to
endure no longer the vicissitudes of a fickle and corrupt influence which
controlled the powers of Mexico, subverting, all hopes of her greatness, and all
our native aspirations for tranquility at home, and national respectability
abroad. Impelled by these high considerations which a benignant Providence has
sanctioned by conferring in unexampled prosperity upon us, we have asserted and
achieved our Independence, and have entered the great family of nations as a
free and sovereign people. As such we have been formally recognized by the
illustrious Governments of the United States, and by the ancient Monarchy of
France, and other powers of Europe are ready to extend the right hand of
Fellowship. Our national resources are in a rapid progress of development; our
population increasing by numerous accessions from Europe and the United States,
and our commerce extending with a power and celerity seldom equalled in the
history of nations.
Under these auspicious circumstances we tender to you a full
participation in all our blessings. The great River of the North, which you
inhabit, is the natural and convenient boundary of our territory, and and we
shall take great, pleasure in hailing you as fellow citizens, members of our
young, Republic, and co-aspirants with us for all the glory of establishing, a
new happy and free nation. Our Constitution is is liberal as a rational and
enlightened regard to human infirmities will safely permit. It confers equal
politic privileges on all; tolerates all religions without distinction, and
guarantees an even and impartial administration of the laws. This communication,
I trust will be received by you and by your public authorities, in the same
spirit of kindness and sincerity in which it is dictated. And if nothing shall
intervene to vary my present intention, I shall despatch in time for them to
arrive in your section of the Country about the month of September proximo, one,
or more Commissioners, gentlemen of worth and confidence, to explain more
minutely the condition of our country; of the sea-board and the corelative
interests which so emphatically recommend and ought perpetually to cement the
perfect union and identity of Santa Fé and Texas. The Commissioners will be
accompanied by a military escort for the purpose of repelling any hostile
Indians that may infest the passage, and with the further view of ascertaining
and and opening a safe and convenient route of communication between the two
sections of Country which being strongly assimilated in interests, we hope to
see united in friendships and consolidated under a common Government. Until the
arrival of these Commissioners, I have empowered some of your own citizens, Capt
W. G. Dryden, Mr. W. H. Workman, and Mr. Rowland (to who the views and feelings
of this Government have been communicated) confer with you upon the subject
matter of this communication. Mirabeau B Lamar.
President M.B. Lamar
Address to the People of Santa Fé 5 Jun 1841
Executive Department Austin City June 5th. 1841 To the Inhabitants of Santa Fé and of the other portion & of New Mexico, to the East of the Rio Grande FELLOW CITIZENS Very early after assuming the duties of his official station, the present executive felt it to be his obligation to assert the Jurisdiction of the Government over the inhabited portion of the Republic; and to admit its remotest citizens to an equal participation of the blessings which have been acquired by our late glorious revolution, and made secure by a wise and liberal constitution. But various circumstances having conspired to delay the execution of his purpose until the present auspicious period, be now calls the attention of the people of Santa Fé to the deep interest which they have in the proposed policy, with an earnest hope that it will not only meet their cordial approbation, but that it will, when successfully carried out be attended with all the beneficial consequences which we so fondly anticipate and desire.
Executive Department Austin City June 5th. 1841 To the Inhabitants of Santa Fé and of the other portion & of New Mexico, to the East of the Rio Grande FELLOW CITIZENS Very early after assuming the duties of his official station, the present executive felt it to be his obligation to assert the Jurisdiction of the Government over the inhabited portion of the Republic; and to admit its remotest citizens to an equal participation of the blessings which have been acquired by our late glorious revolution, and made secure by a wise and liberal constitution. But various circumstances having conspired to delay the execution of his purpose until the present auspicious period, be now calls the attention of the people of Santa Fé to the deep interest which they have in the proposed policy, with an earnest hope that it will not only meet their cordial approbation, but that it will, when successfully carried out be attended with all the beneficial consequences which we so fondly anticipate and desire.
In accordance with this policy and from a sincere wish to
promote your welfare the president addressed you a letter dated the 14th of
April 1840 in which you were invited to more intimate Union and a political
co-operation with the people of this section of the Republic, giving you at the
same time every assurance that all the rights and protection guaranteed by our
free institutions should be extended to you as fully as to any other of our
fellow citizens. Your attention is again respectfully invited to the subject
matter of that letter, (a copy of which is hereto annexed) and after a due
consideration of the proposition it contains, if you should deem it to be your
interest, as we think you will, to accede to the views of the government, you
rest assured that all the pledges which it makes will be most faithfully
fulfilled.
Knowing, that you have been long subjected to like injuries
with those which impelled us to take up arms against the authorities of Mexico,
we do not doubt but that you duly appreciate the spirit, that animated our
patriots, and sympathized with them in the progress of our struggle in which you
were not able to participate---as you probably desired to do---in consequence of
your remote and isolated situation. That struggle was brief, bloody and
decisive; and terminated in the total discomfiture and expulsion of our foe, and
in the establishment of a free, happy, and independent, Republic, extending from
the Sabine to the Rio del Norte, and from the Gulf to the Pacific; embracing,
within its limits a vast and varied Country, unrivalled in beauty, salubrity,
and fertility; and capable of sustaining a population as dense prosperous and
powerful as any people on the earth. The boundaries which were thus marked by
the sword, and which have been confirmed to us, by the recognition of the most
enlightened and influential nations, it is the resolve of this Government, at
all hazards to maintain the country has been won by our valor, and is
consecrated to civil and religious liberty; and in no portion of it will the
enemy who provoked our resentment and received our chastisement, ever be
permitted to continue its authority or perpetuate its domination. Knowing such
to be the feelings of our people, it is due to candor to apprise You of the fact
and to let you know that the position which you now occupy towards this
government is temporary only and will have to give way to a more enlarged and
liberal policy. Although residing within our established limits you are at
present paying tribute to our enemies, professing allegiance to them and
receiving Laws from their hands a state of things utterly incompatible with our
right of sovereignty, and which certainly cannot be permitted to be of long
continuance. We do not use this language in any spirit of unkindness to you; and
although it plain and unequivocal it proceeds from no design or desire on our
part to extend the jurisdiction of government over the country you occupy in
opposition to your wishes. Our purpose is simply to place before you the rights
which we claim, and to admonish you of the change in your condition which the
force or circumstances will inevitably bring about at no distant period, either
with or without your consent; for no one can be, blind to the truth, who
reflects a moment on the subject, that constituting as you do, a portion of the
civilized population of this Republic, yon cannot upon any principles of
justice, or consideration of policy be allowed to exist as a separate and
independent people, but must be finally compelled to unite with us under the
same constitution and laws, and share our destiny as an undivided Nation. That
which you will have to do ultimately, we invite you to do now, not from any
desire to promote our own interest at the sacrifice of yours, but for the
exalted Purpose of diffusing the blessings of our institutions, and of giving to
all who reside within our territory the freedom we enjoy. Actuated by this
spirit of Philanthropy alone, we now throw wide the doors of the Temple which we
have erected to Liberty, and ask you to enter as members of the same family.
And do you enquire, "what are the advantages to be gained
by the change you propose?" Our answer is, "You will find them in the
Constitution we present you." The distance which separates us, and other
causes have prevented your acquiring all accurate knowledge of the character of
our Institutions, and the entire protection our laws afford to all the just
rights of the citizen; but on a careful perusal of the documents which we
herewith send you, you will find that our views are as liberal as our principles
are just, and that our Bill of Rights embraces a wide field or liberty, upon
which the oppressed of all Nations can meet in peace and harmony. Perhaps no
Government on earth combines freedom and security in a more eminent degree than
that which we have established. It circumscribes the liberty of none; but leaves
every individual to pursue happiness in his own way with no other restrictions
on his conduct than such as are essential to the maintenance of justice and the
preservation of the public morals. The only abridgment which our liberty knows
is the restraint thrown upon vice, restraints which give no inconvenience to a
virtuous community and are worn as garlands rather than as fetters. By a
reference to our constitution, you will find that all power resides in, and
emanates from, the people; that they have reserved to themselves the right of
Peaceably assembling in any numbers for the purpose of discussing the affairs of
the Nation; that they are unrestricted in the liberty of speaking, writing and
publishing their opinions on all subjects, and can make such alterations and
improvements of their Government, as experience and the progress of knowledge
may suggest. Equal privileges are guaranteed to every individual; none can claim
exclusive immunities; and the same protection is offered to all. No one can be
punished, except by the verdict of his fellow citizens; nor can any one be taxed
for file support of ecclesiastical establishments. The people are left free to
worship God according to the dictates of their consciences, and the Government
itself, being nothing more, than the executor of their will, it can impose no
exactions without their consent or inflict any wrongs upon them which they
cannot readily redress.
Such fellow citizens are the prominent features of a government
which we offer to your acceptance in a spirit of kindness and which we would
earnest1y pursude you to make a fair and just comparison of the advantages it
offers with those which you now enjoy under the Mexican Authorities: we disclaim
any disposition to dictate to you in the choice which you shall make between
them, or to influence your understanding by any other means than by argument and
reason. Knowing that men of correct principles and enlightened minds can
acknowledge no force but the force of truth, we address you, not in the voice of
our artillery but in the language of affection; and would gladly make it
apparent to your minds, that the course which we advise you-to pursue although
attended with mutual benefits, is designed for your good and cannot fail to
conduct you to all individual and a national happiness which you never have
enjoyed, and can never hope to do, so long as you continue your connection with
a power which cherishes no respect for your rights, and holds no interest in
common with You. And shurely when freedom and despotism are fairly laid before a
brave and intelligent people, the cannot long hesitate which to choose. And this
we apprehend is your present situation. You are called upon fellow citizens, to
make your election between two governments, the very antithesis of each other;
the one being based upon the affections of the people, and administered with a
single eye to their good while the other, as you know from experience, is
founded in corruption, sustained by fraud and force, and is wielded for the
cupidity of those in authority, without the slightest reference whatever to the
interests of the Governed. Which of the two will you select? Will you shelter
yourselves under the broad banner of the Single Star, which sheds luster where
ever it floats, and lights the brave to victory and glory; or will you prefer
still to cling to the unsightly Cactus which gives you no sustenance but
thorns you as you embrace it. If you choose the latter, then is your deplorable
condition too justly represented in your National emblem; for what can we esteem
you but the unfortunate reptile that writhes in the beak of your voracious
bird?
We cannot believe that you will be influenced in your
deliberations by an lingering attachment to the Mexican Authorities. What claim
can the Government of Mexico possibly have upon your affections? She has
certainly never sought to elicit your confidence and gratitude by fostering your
interests, protecting your persons, or opening to you any of the sourses of
useful knowledge; but on the contrary, has she not despoiled you of your
property, exposed you unarmed to the savages, stripped you of almost every
vestige of civil and political liberty, shut you out from the career of
honorable ambition, and erected every possible impediment to your advancement in
character and power? Indeed it seems to have been her particular policy to
destroy your manly energies and degrade you in your own estimation, to keep you
blind, that you might not assert your rights, and weak that you might not resist
your wrongs; and to allow you only latitude enough to accumulate wrath by your
industry, that she might wrest it from to gratify her insatiate rapacity. Such
has been and is still her conduct towards you, and such it ever will be so long
you give your allegiance to her or permit her to exercise dominion over you. She
has weighed like an incubus upon your faculties and your brightest hopes and
most pleasing prospects have all perished beneath her baleful influence, as the
spring flowers wither in the shades of the Upas. You never have received and
need not expect from her any of the tenderness of maternal regard for she is an
unnatural parent, a monstrous mother who turns with a phrenzied appetite to prey
upon her offspring! She is even more cruel than the blood sucking vampier! for
it drains its arteries; but the Government of Mexico still more obdurate offers
no soothing to her prey, but seem as much delighted with the torture she
inflicts as the blood she drinks. Has she not made you the slaves of her slaves?
And are you not now the tributary vassals of the voracious plunderers whom she
has ordained to rule over you; governed by laws which you have no voice in
enacting; and impoverished by the most unrighteous exactions, extorted for the
aggrandizement of those who give you no thanks for the bounty and feel no
commisseration for your sufferings? and now fellow citizens I would ask you is
it possible that a virtuous and chivalrous people can receive these indignities
and outrages and feel no resentment ? Have the citizens of Santa Fé been so
bowed down and disunited by their long continued and accumulated wrongs, that
they have lost all sense of shame, and deem it their duty to repay oppression
and insult, with fealty and affection? We cannoi think it; we will not
believe:for it is not the nature of man to be enamored by degradation, and
Spainial like to lick the foot that spurns him.
In this matter, fellow citizens, we sincerely hope that you
will take no counsel of your fears. When tyranny lords it over the land, and the
liberties of tile people are trampled in the dust, it is no time to shrink from
danger, or to think of consequences. It becomes the duty of every individual to
draw his sword and vindicate his rights, or give his life to vengeance. And if
you, fellow citizens, have any desire to break the manacles that despotism has
rivited upon you; and unite with us in the enjoyment of that freedom which our
valor has established, You too may have to draw the sword as we have done, and
trust the issue to the God of justice. We are ready to unite with you in the
contest, and make the destiny a common one, and if it be will of HIM who,
decides the fate of Nations that we should seal our devotions to the cause of
liberty with the blood of Martyrdom---be it so---We are prepared for the
sacrafice; for it is better to die like heroes than to live like slaves. But we
will never go down in darkness. Each faithful sabre glowing with the wrath, and
brightening with the fame of its wearer will throw upon the pathway to death a
gleam of its burning fires and lightnings. And who would not rather march to the
grave by the light of his sword than sigh out a degraded existence in the
darkness of slavery? The recreant minion of power may wear his masters collar as
a lady does her lovers wreath of roses; and he may clank his chains and dance
delighted to the music that they make; but the free born patriot, who is
conscious of the nobility of his nature will never acknowledge any master but
God, and will wear no bonds but death.
After all, however, it is due to you, to ourselves, and to the
sacred cause in which we are engaged to state unreservedly that the propriety of
the step which we advise you to take must depend entirely upon the moral
condition of your population, and the degree of patriotic sentiment that
prevails amongst you and of this you must be yourselves the judges. If with one
accord, you all detest oppression above any earthly bane, and unanimously regard
liberty as the mot precious gift which heaven has bestowed on man; and fell that
you are capable of drawing a fearless weapon against the things you hate, and
for the things you love then we can have no possible misgiving as to the
propriety of the course we recommend, or any distrust of the beneficial
consequences that will flow from it. But on the other hand, if it should turn
out, in opposition to the high confidence which we have in your firmness and
patriotism, that you are an effeminate people who would rather surrender a right
than encounter the danger of defending it; or that you have indeed worn the
chains of tyranny so long that the flesh and the heart have become assified and
calous, and can no longer fester with the iron and the shame of slavery, then do
we feel constrained to say, that you are not only unworthy the blessings of
liberty but that you are incapable of either achieving or enjoying them; and
that the Union to which you are invited could be neither profitable to you nor
to us; for it would be an Union of uncongenial elements like the linking of the
living to the dead.
But the latter is not our appreciation. The estimate in which
you are held by this Government, may be known by the overtures she makes you.
And surely you can desire no higher testimony of our entire confidence in your
valor and your virtue, than the fact that we are willing to share our fortunes
with you. We have been told by those who have long residded among you, that you
are a brave an industrious and an honest people---simple in your manners,
generous in temper, and inflexible in your principles; and it is precisely on
this opinion of your worth that we predicate our friendship for you and are
ready to receive you in a common government. A proposition which we could
certainly never think of making to a people whose integrity and chivalry we had
any reason to suspect. And here we will take the liberty of remarking, in
vindication of our own National character, that the North Americans are not now,
and never have been prejudiced and embittered against the Mexican people there
recent and most righteous resentments have been directed exclusively against the
pointed power which has misguided that Nation; and have never extended to the
citizens themselves. In proof of this we could furnish abundant testimony, if
time would permit, in the history of the past and the present. That the Mexicans
have found a friend in the American people, at a time when they needed friends,
will be seen in the spirit stirring times of the Mexican Revolution, when five
hundred of that gallant race slew five thousand of the foe. And that we who are
a portion of the same people, have not subsequently been animated by any
improper passions towards them is strongly confirmed by the mild spirit of
benevolence and humanity which has guided us in our late revolutionary struggle,
under the strongest possible provocations to vindictive retaliation.
The Battles at La Bahia, and those of the Salado, the Alisan,
and Medina, will stand as enduring monuments, not only of the valor of the
American people, but of their devotion to Mexican liberty; while the magnanimous
forbearance of our heroes and patriots at San Jacinto, when contrasted with the
cold blooded butcheries of the Alimo and Goliad, will live in the applauding
memory of man as long as a vestige of virtue remains to appreciate exalted
conduct. And now in the full recollection of the ingratitude of Mexico for the
assistance afforded her in 1812 and 1813 and of the atrocities committed by her
Army in the campaign of 1836 why do we not devastate the Mexican coast from
Metamoras to Campeachy; and send our destroying forces to sweep like a
desolating whirlwind over the valley of the Rio Grande? We have a Navy that can
lay in ruins every city on the Gulf; and we have stout hearts and sharp swords
that could make a war upon our western boundar would make the border river roll
like a flood of fire. And why do we not do these things? simply because we have
no disposition, simply because we have no disposition to despoil the property or
shed the blood of an unoffending people, quietly engaged in the peaceful
pursuits of private life; for it is not against them we war but against the
unhallowed dynasty that rules the nation with a rod of iron and walks alike over
the liberties of man and laws of God.
Behold that dynasty, even now, trampling on every principle of
freedom, humanity and Justice---destroying all tranquility and
order---dethroning the supremacy of the laws---gathering taxes by the sword
filling the nation with robbers, and giving to the injured and exposed no
redress or protection---and then becoming alarmed at the consequences, behold
them stripping the people of their arms, and turning upon them with merciless
violence to silence their complaints or quell the resistance which such
oppression could not fail to provoke. People of Santa Fé, do you not feel and
see these things ? And how do you expect to escape from them? do not flatter
yourselves with the delusive hope that you will soon be relieved from the grasp
of despotism by the final triumph of liberty in Mexico. This can never happen
there is no redeeming spirit in that country to save her from the anarchy and
ruin to which the vices of her rulers have doomed her. The sanguinary strife
which is now going on, and which has been bloodying the land for the last few
years, like all the proceeding, struggles is nothing, more than an unhallowed
contention between ambitious aspirants, who are seeking their own elevation only
and are animated by no other feelings than the love of rapine and murder. It
matters not which succeeds, whether the Federal or the Central party, the
consequences will be the same---the plundering of the people, and tho defilement
of the nation. Mexico has now existed more than twenty years as an independent
nation, and during that period, what has been her history? It has been one of
slaughter, desolation and depravity instead of assuming as she was capable of
doing an honorable rank among the civilized nations, she plunged, from the very
hour of her emancipation, into civil broils of the most ferocious character; and
has been doing the work of destruction and death, upon her own people from the
days of Iterbide, down to the present period. The only cessation from blood, has
been the necessary pauses for refitting the veins of the victims. Wearied and
disheartened at these interminable strifes and equally deploring the universal
infamy which they have brought upon the character of the country, the genuine
patriots of the land are now looking to the establishment of a regulated
despotism, as the only escape from the all horrible reign of faction, whose
spirit has so long directed the destinies of the country, and which still
presides like a demon monarch enthroned upon the liberties of the people, with
the sword for his minister and his motto---"havoc and spoils, and ruin are
my gain."
Slight not, then, fellow citizens, the overtures which Texas
now makes to you, you are not invited to amalgamate with a Nation of doubtful
stability or declining fortunes; but on the contrary, to unite with a well
organized and energetic Government which posses the willingness and the ability
to vindicate its right---and protect its citizens. You are not called upon to
make a. change of masters, but to become, freemen; and by identifying yourselves
with an invincible people, to enter at once upon a brilliant career of national
happiness and glory. Wherever Texas has planted her banner, her foes have
disappeared---order has arisen; villages have sprung up, and the wilderness has
waved with luxurient fields. And now in the pride of her strength and the
fullness of prosperity---knowing no wants; feeling no feebleness and fearing no
perils, she offers to receive you into her bosom, and share with you her
affections, her hopes, her fortunes; in a word she invokes you to withdraw from
the domination of corruption and injustice, and uniting with her under the same
Government, to climb together that lofty eminence to which she is rapidly
ascending.
Believing that you are the friends of liberty, and will duly
appreciate the motives by which we are actuated, we have appointed commissioners
to make known to you in a distinct and definite manner, the general desire of
the citizens of this Republic to receive the people of Santa Fé, as a portion of
the national family, and to give to them all the protection which they
themselves enjoy. This union, however, to make it agreeable to this Government,
must be altogether voluntary on your part; and based on mutual interest,
confidence and affection. Should you, therefore, in view of the whole matter be
willing to avail yourselves of this opportunity to secure your own prosperity,
as well as that of your descendents, by a prompt, cheerful and unanimous
adherence to the Government of this republic we invite you to a full and
unreserved intercourse and communication with our commissioners, who are
instructed to extend to you every assistance and co-operation to effectuate the
object desired; and, at the same time, to assure you that your religion will in
no wise be interfered with by this Government. The only change we desire to
effect in your affairs, is such as we wrought in our own when we broke our
fetters and established our freedom; a.change which was well worth the price we
paid; and the blessings of which we are ready now to extend to you at the
sacrafice of our own lives and fortunes, if you are ready to receive them; and
if not we have ordered our commissioners, not to interrupt you in any of your
rights, nor to disturb your tranquility, but to establish with you, if possible
such commercial relations as you may deem conducive to your own interests and
then peacibly retire from your city. MIRABEAU B. LAMAR
Thomas Blackwell to Pres.
M.B. Lamar 23 Jul 1841
Brazoria 23 July 1841 M. B. Lamar, Dear Sir, I received a letter a few days ago from Win. G. Dryden, be was in Santa Fé when be wrote, he stated he had writen to you, but requested me to write to you, as you might not get his letter, and inform you that all was right in Santa Fé; he said he had conversed with the Govenor of Santa Fé, and that he as well as the people were willing that Texas might establish her law and hold her Government over that country, to use his words "all is right then for a project of that Kind." One other piece of information of his is that the Comanches have gon[e] North to make a treaty with the northern tribes, and those that attempt to make the trip to Santa Fé will be in no danger from them, this is fortunate for those that have started; be speeks highly of the country, and its prosperous condition as well as the advantages that might result to Texas by such a union; his letter was dated the 10 March 1841; he got to Santa Fé in September last. I write you this, that if you should not have received the letter be wrote to you, that you may know tbe kind of reseption the party you have dispached to that country will meet with on their arrival. Yours respectfully &c Thomas Blackwell
Brazoria 23 July 1841 M. B. Lamar, Dear Sir, I received a letter a few days ago from Win. G. Dryden, be was in Santa Fé when be wrote, he stated he had writen to you, but requested me to write to you, as you might not get his letter, and inform you that all was right in Santa Fé; he said he had conversed with the Govenor of Santa Fé, and that he as well as the people were willing that Texas might establish her law and hold her Government over that country, to use his words "all is right then for a project of that Kind." One other piece of information of his is that the Comanches have gon[e] North to make a treaty with the northern tribes, and those that attempt to make the trip to Santa Fé will be in no danger from them, this is fortunate for those that have started; be speeks highly of the country, and its prosperous condition as well as the advantages that might result to Texas by such a union; his letter was dated the 10 March 1841; he got to Santa Fé in September last. I write you this, that if you should not have received the letter be wrote to you, that you may know tbe kind of reseption the party you have dispached to that country will meet with on their arrival. Yours respectfully &c Thomas Blackwell
During this session of Congress [Fifth Congress of the
Republic, 1841 in which the value of currency and trade was a major
issue] President Lamar very earnestly recommended an appropriation
and the adoption of measures, peaceful and commercial, to extend the
jurisdiction of Texas over Santa Fé and so much of New Mexico as lay east of the
Rio Grande. This was a part of Texas as, defined by the law of 1836, fixing her
boundaries as previously advocated by General Houston, and embraced a
considerable population, isolated by twelve hundred miles from the Mexican
capital and by four hundred miles, partly across a desert, from El Paso del
Norte, the nearest settlement of any consequence in the direction of the
capital. Santa Fé, ever since 1823, had afforded a rich Mexican trade, through
caravans of wagons making annual trips, from St. Louis, Missouri traders
receiving gold and silver in return for their goods. This trade if diverted to
Texas it was thought would supply the precious metals, relieve the financial
embarrassments of the country, and speedily lead to a line of posts through the
Indian country, thereby diverting the hostile tribes from the Texas frontier.
New Mexico, in her isolation, was largely independent of Mexico, and was ruled
with despotic severity by a few families, who successively furnished the
governors and other functionaries and consumed the substance of the people. Two
or three American residents of that place visited President Lamar in the spring
of 1840, urged a measure of this kind and furnished evidence showing that it
would be hailed by the mass of the people as a deliverance from a grievous
thraldom.
Looking over the field in all its aspects and taking into
consideration the deplorable financial condition of Texas, it was certainly an
alluring proposition. Congress failed to provide for the expedition. The
President, however, had become so persuaded of its wisdom and utility that he
resolved to undertake its execution upon his own responsibility. Early in the
spring he began the necessary preparation. Commercial men were invited to join
the proposed expedition with stocks of goods. A sufficient number of troops were
to act as an escort to protect the party against Indians. Circulars and
proclamations (printed in the Spanish language), assuring them that the
expedition was peaceful, disclaiming all design of asserting jurisdiction by
force and stating that the only wish entertained was to open peaceful
trade-relations and give the New Mexicans an opportunity to live under the
liberal laws of Texas, were to be taken along by three civil commissioners and
distributed among the people. If they acquiesced, it was promised that only the
general laws of Texas would be extended over New Mexico and that their local
laws and customs should continue in force until altered by themselves. The
commissioners were instructed to use no force unless to repel attack, and
generally to act in accordance with the peace proclamation.
The expedition having been organized, left Brushy Creek fifteen
miles north of Austin, on the 21st of June, 1841. The commander was Brevet
Brigadier- General Hugh McLeod. The number of soldiers was 270, organized into
companies, among the captains of which were Matthew Caldwell, the
old veteran of Gonzales, Houghton, William P. Lewis, of the artillery, and
others. The commissioners were, Don Jose
Antonio Navarro, (a native of San Antonio), as true a man as
was ever born on or trod the soil of Texas; Col. William G. Cooke, a man of
experience, honor and courage; and Dr. Richard F. Brenham, as gallant a
gentleman as was ever born on the soil of Kentucky. Their secretary was George
Van Ness, a younger brother of the orator and legislator, Cornelius Van Ness,
and a young man of great worth. There were a number of amateurs along, for the
novelty and pleasure of the trip, among whom were George Wilkins Kendall, editor
of the New Orleans Picayune, who afterwards published an admirable
history of the expedition, and Frank, a son of General Leslie Coombes, of
Lexington, Ky.
After innumerable hardships and much suffering---having
traveled without the anticipated Lipan Indian guides---on the 11th of August,
they thought themselves to be within about eighty miles of San Miguel, a
frontier village on the Rio Pecos, east of Santa Fé. They had been almost
constantly annoyed by parties of Indians seeking to kill their hunters, pickets
and guards, and to steal their cattle (work oxen and beeves), and had become not
only worn down with fatigue and watching, but were reduced to the necessity of
eating, snails and lizards to prevent starvation. For want of proper guides they
had traveled nearly three hundred miles farther than was necessary. Thus
situated, Messrs. Howland, Baker and Rosenberry, were dispatched to San Miguel
in search of provisions and to ascertain in what spirit the expedition would be
received by the New Mexicans. The main body wearily followed on over a broken
country until the 10th of September, "devouring," says Mr. Kendall,
"every tortoise and snake, every living, and creeping thing….with a rapacity
that nothing but the direst hunger could induce." A few days afterwards
their advance party met a small party of Mexican traders, who could give them no
provisions and who told them they were still seventy or eighty miles from San
Miguel; but that at Anton Chico, a nearer hamlet, they could procure mutton from
flocks in that vicinity. Some of the Mexicans returned to those in the rear to
guide them by a shorter route. The advance party continued on to the Rio
Gallinas and found the flocks, where (says Kendall), "a scene of feasting
ensued which beggars description."
On the next morning the advance party sent forward Capt.
William P. Lewis, of the artillery (who understood the Spanish language), with
Messrs. George Van Ness, Howard, Fitzgerald and Kendall. The bore a letter to
the Alcalde, informing him of the approach of the party; that it was a
commercial enterprise, peaceful in character, and that the mission of the
gentlemen sent forward was to buy and send back provisions to the main body.
They also carried numerous copies of President Lamar's proclamation, declaring
the objects of the movement, and that, if the inhabitants of New Mexico did not
desire peaceably to come under the jurisdiction and flag of Texas, the
expedition would immediately return home. Lewis and party, on the 14th of
September, left the Gallinas for San Miguel. The shepherds on the Gallinas had
informed them that the country was in arms against them and that Howland, Baker
and Rosenberry had been seized and imprisoned at Santa Fé. Strangely enough, the
advance party failed to send this startling intelligence back to Gen. McLeod,
with the main body. It was a suicidal omission of both duty and prudence. Mr.
Howland attempted to escape from prison and convey the news to General McLeod,
but was recaptured, and for this effort to save his country men, was shot in San
Miguel, under the orders of Armijo, Governor of New Mexico.
On the afternoon of their departure, Lewis and party overtook
two muleteers from whom they received confirmation of the imprisonment of
Howland and party, and were advised of the intense excitement prevailing in the
country, caused by Governor Armijo informing the people that it was the
intention of the Texians to "burn, slay and destroy" as they marched.
This information was sent back to the party on the Gallinas; but those in
command of that body again failed to send it back to General McLeod. On the
night of that day Lewis and party slept at Anton Chico, where they were informed
that they would be arrested and shot next day. Still they proceeded toward San
Miguel; but on the way were surrounded by a force under Salazar, dismounted and
started on foot for San Miguel. From San Miguel they were hastened on toward
Santa Fé, tied together in pairs and driven as cattle on the way to a slaughter
house. About sunset they met Governor Armijo, in command of near six hundred men
on the march to meet and attack the Texians. Armijo saluted them as friends and
inquired who they were. The traitor, William P. Lewis, then gave the first
evidence of his hitherto latent villainy. He replied to Armijo that they were
merchants from the United States. The chivalrous young George Van Ness
indignantly interposed, saying they were all Texians, excepting, Mr. Kendall,
who was an editor from the United States, and who was acting on a trip of
pleasure and observation. Armijo pointed to the star and the word--"Texas" on
the uniform of Lewis, and said "You need not think to deceive me. United
States merchants do not wear Texian uniforms!" Still, as Lewis spoke
Spanish well, Armijo took him as interpreter. His companions, on foot, were
taken back to San Miguel, where, on the next day, they witnessed the murder of
Howland and Baker. Col. William G. Cooke, one of the commissioners, with
ninety-four men, had moved from Gallina to Anton Chico. Salazar informed him
that Lewis and party had been kindly received and sent on to Santa Fé. On the
17th, notwithstanding protestations of friendship by Salazar, Col. Cooke found
himself surrounded by a large force under the Governor. Cooke was about to open
fire, when Lewis and the Governor's nephew advanced with a white flag. Lewis
informed Cooke that there were six hundred men around him and that he had seen
four thousand more, well equipped, who would be on the ground in a few hours,
and that there were five thousand more on the march from Chillualitia (the two
last statements false), but that Governor Armijo had authorized him to say that
if the Texians would give up their arms, they would have permission to come in
and trade and, after eight days, their arms would be returned to them.
Notwithstanding the treachery of Urrea to Fannin and Ward, Col.
Cooke and the Texians acted on the statements of Lewis, and surrendered. They
could not conceive of villainy so base as would be betrayal by Lewis. The
bravest and most unselfish men are ever the least suspicious. But this creature
was at that moment a purchased and perjured traitor to his kith and kin, his
country and his God. He was ever after an object of aversion and detestation
wherever he resided, even in Mexico. He was regarded, even by the humblest
classes of the Mexican population, as a moral leper and shunned accordingly.
Armijo had all the prisoners bound as felons, and, without permitting them to
see their friends who had been previously betrayed and captured, started them
off to the city of Mexico, twelve hundred miles distant, via Santa Fé. Armijo
then set forth to meet Gen. McLeod, and the main body, which, in a starving,
condition, had reached the Laguna Colorado (Red Lake), about thirty miles from
the Rio Gallinas. There Armijo met him. Absolutely without the physical strength
or means of defense, and under promise of good treatment and respect for all
their private property, Gen. McLeod and his men surrendered. Immediately upon
this they were searched, robbed of everything, bound in pairs and marched to San
Miguel, arriving, there on the 12th of October; three months and twenty-one days
after starting from the vicinity of Austin. The goods captured were disposed of
by Armijo, who reserved to himself whatever his avarice coveted. He gave Lewis a
large amount as a reward for his treachery, and wrote to Garcia Conde, Governor
of Chihuahua: "In consideration of the great services rendered by Capt. William
P. Lewis, in assisting, me to capture the Texians, I have given him his liberty
and his goods and earnestly recommend him to the notice of the Central
Government."
On the 17th of October, bound in pairs, the prisoners were
started to the city of Mexico, by way of Santa Fé, in charge of the brutal
ruffian, Salazar. Their treatment, while under his charge, as far as El Paso del
Norte, was barbarous. Some died on the way and their ears were cut off as
trophies and as proof that they had not escaped. At El Paso they fell under the
charge of a humane officer and thenceforward received better treatment. At
Chihuahua the citizens and foreigners gave them clothing and other supplies. In
due time the prisoners reached the city of Mexico and were imprisoned till about
July, 1842, when, at the intercession of General Waddy Thompson, of South
Carolina, then American minister, they were released and returned home---some of
them in time to visit retribution in the battle of
Salado, on the 18th or September. Capt. Matthew Caldwell, one of their
number, with the rank of colonel, commanded in the latter victorious conflict.
Mr. Thomas W. Hunt, another of their number, did fearful execution on that
occasion by the deliberate use of an unerring long range rifle. As a
sharpshooter, in front of the Texian line, it is doubtful if a single one of
more than a dozen balls from his rifle missed its intended destination. (He died
in Bosque, County, in 1892.)
Before dismissing the subject, it is reasonable to say that if
the party under Col. Cooke, among, the sheep on the Gallinas had sent a flock
back to meet Gen. McLeod and had remained till they arrived, thus uniting over
two hundred and fifty effective men, they could have defied Armijo and safety
retreated down the Pecos, driving sheep before them for subsistence. Gen. McLeod
was an enlightened and gallant man, quick in perception and prompt in action,
and enjoyed the fullest confidence of his men. Col. Cooke and Capt. Caldwell
were and a large per cent of veteran officers and approved soldiers, the men
were experienced fighters. After a few shots from such men, Armijo and his five
or six hundred Mexicans, armed with old muskets and escopetas, would have kept
at as safe a distance as Vasquez did when opposed by Jordan just one year
before. Fate decreed otherwise. The expedition was not without fruit for Texas.
The treacherv and barbarism practiced awakened anew, throughout the United
States a determined feeling in favor of Texas and against Mexico.
Had the expedition succeeded the name of Lamar would have
received additional luster. It failed. But Mr. Kendall, a highly competent
authority, after stating the unexpected difficulties and untoward circumstances
encountered, says
President Lamar's estimation of the views and feelings of the people of Santa Fé and vicinity, was perfectly correct. Not a doubt can exist that they all were, and are (1843), anxious to throw off the oppressive yoke of Armijo, and come under the liberal institutions of Texas; but the Governor found us divided into small parties, broken down by long marches and want of food; discovered too, a traitor among us; and, taking advantage of these circumstances, his course was plain and his conquest easy."
Trivial events sometimes determine the fate of men, of cities
and of nations. Had Houston been crushed at San Jacinto and had the victorious
banner of Mexico been planted on the Sabine, the patriots who fought under his
banner would have occupied a place in history similar to that of Walker and his
followers in Nicaragua. They would have appeared as mere adventurers attempting
revolution in a foreign State. By the erratic judgment of the hour, so often
merciless and unreasoning, failure brought on Lamar pitiless criticism for
trying in good faith to extend the voice of Texas over her whole territory and
thereby strengthen her power and resources as an independent nation. His
judgment may have been at fault; but his patriotism cannot be questioned. The
fact that in 1850 the United States paid Texas ten millions of dollars for the
New Mexican territory, is a sufficient attestation of the wisdom of Lamar in his
attempt to peacefully unite it with the destinies of Texas.
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