NOTES AND FRAGMENTS.
Orders for Government Supplies.—The following are printed from copies, kindly furnished by Mr. Phil C. Tucker, of Austin, of originals in his possession:
Quartermaster's Office, Houston, Dec'r 27, 1838. To Quartermaster P. Caldwell.
Sir: You will proceed to New Orleans, and purchase the following articles for % of the Government of Texas.
You are requested to purchase them of good quality and at the lowest market price in Texas promissory notes.
Forward Invoices with the goods to the Quartermaster General at this place, care of the collector of the District of Galveston, and draw on this department for the amount:
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112 saddles, short and suitable for Spanish horses with girths, etc.
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112 circingles. Very strong.
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112 Bridles double reins—with strong heavy bitts.
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112 Pr. Spurs, very heavy and strong in the shank.
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6 Plain field Bugles.
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2 Tons Pig Lead.
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50,000 musket flints, best quality.
I have the honor to be Your obt sert Wm G Cooke, Q. M. G. T. A.
Dept of State Washington Oct 4th 1843
Dear Sir: I have time only to remind you of your promise to procure for this Department a copy of Websters Dictionary—and to request that you will not delay ordering it. The work that we want is the abridgment “(large octavo) from the quarto edition of the author” and contains “a synopsis of words differently pronounced by different Ortheopists.”
I have the honor to be Yr very obt servt John Hall, Chief Clerk. To Wm Bryan Esq Galveston
The First Newspaper in Texas.—Texans who have read Yoakum and Brown have always felt a degree of pride in the statement that, as early as 1819, a newspaper was published and printed at Nacogdoches. These writers have not preserved for us the name nor the exact date of the appearance nor the characteristics of this pioneer in Texas journalism. Yet every one voluntarily accords it a place of honor and doubts not that it was creditable to its publishers and exceedingly interesting to its readers, and he silently regrets that apparently not a single copy escaped destruction. Any authentic information concerning the Texas Republican (for that was its name) will, therefore, be welcome news; the more, perhaps, since the latest writer on the subject flatly denies that it ever existed. 123
The St. Louis Enquirer of Saturday, September 25, 1819, contains the following notice of the first number of the Republican:
“THE TEXAS REPUBLICAN. 124
“We received by the last mail a newspaper under the above title, the first Number dated Nacogdoches, August 14th, 125 1819. In the first year of the Republic of Texas.
“It is principally occupied with the military and political operations going on in that quarter.
“We observe however some advertisements which display a disposition to improve the condition of the country. One which requests the citizens of the town and neighborhood to meet at the house of Mr. Cargill to choose trustees of a seminary of learning; another which shows that a Mr. Madden has engaged in building a grist and saw mill.
“These are strange things to be seen in a Spanish town; a newspaper called Republican; the citizens attending to the establishment of a school; mills building.—We wish they may go on, that the revolution may triumph, and all traces of an odious and contemptible government disappear from our continent.”
The St. Louis Enquirer for September 29, 1819, quotes the following article from the first number of the Republican:
“Nacogdoches, August 14.
“An express arrived from Colonel Robinson, 126 who commands the detachment reconnoitering on the Brazos, informing that the party were all well; that two negro men (runaways from the United States) and one white man had gone to Labadie. 127 The Indian tribes in that quarter are all friendly and warm for our cause. It is expected that the party will intercept some contraband traders from St. Antonio.
“We daily expect to hear from our friends who have gone to Galveston for the purpose of opening a port of entry, and establishing a court of admiralty, at that place. 128 As that is an excellent port, with a good harbor, and lying so near New Orleans, we promise ourselves many facilities in procuring such articles of provision, which we would find difficulty in getting transported any other way. We also hope through this channel to keep up a friendly commercial intercourse with all nations, particularly with the United States; a government to which we are all attached, and have long hoped that we would one day or other be governed by its laws; this hope having from recent evils vanished, we will now try to govern ourselves, and to have laws as nearly assimilated to them as possible.
“By the arrival of five deserters from St. Antonio, we learn that there are not more than two hundred troops in that place, and about eighty in Labadie. These deserters say that if we go in considerable force, the royalists will not fight, but, together with the inhabitants, throw themselves on our protection. Their situation at this time is truly deplorable—a person cannot venture one mile from the city without a strong guard, on account of the hostile conduct of the Indians who are continually hovering around them. We hope soon to protect them from the Indians as well as the royalists.
“We hear of large quantities of wild cattle in the vicinity of Labadie, which will support our army on its march.
“We understand that strong settlements are forming at Picond Point, on Red River. The lands there are of the best quality, and enough of provisions have been made there this year to supply four times the number of inhabitants that now reside there.
“We are authorized to state that an act has passed the Council, giving private soldiers, who serve during the war, 6400 acres of land, which is to be of good quality, and to be laid off in tracts of six hundred and forty acres. A diminution of 1280 in that bounty will take place on October next, and continue to decrease that quantity every two months, until it is reduced to 640 acres only. Besides this bounty, a private receives thirteen dollars per month, a corporal 16, and a sergeant 20. Officers will receive pay in proportion to their rank.
“It is expected that the forces will move from this place in a very short time for St. Antonio and Labadie. From intelligence received this day from the latter place, we are informed that there are not more than forty men at most, posted there. We firmly believe that by the last of October, there will not be a royal Spaniard on this side of the Rio Grande.”
E. W. Winkler.
124. Mr. Horatio Bigelow, a member of the Supreme Council of the Provisional Government, was editor of the Republican. See Comprehensive History of Texas, I 97.
125. Supposing that the paper was a weekly and issued regularly, nine or ten numbers may have appeared. Colonel Perez attacked Johnson at the Falls of the Brazos October 11th, Walker at the La Bahia crossing on the Brazos October 15th, and then advanced on David Long, who occupied a station on the upper Trinity. The news of David Long's defeat caused the abandonment of Nacogdoches. Ibid., I 98.
126. Robinson is not mentioned by Yoakum, Brown, or Thrall. Perhaps it is Capt. Andrew Robinson, member of the Magee-Guiterrez Expedition, referred to by Daniel Shipman in his Frontier Life, 21.
127. This is the interpretation the Anglo-American ear gave to the Mexican pronunciation of La Bahia, and in this instance refers to the former name of Goliad. Compare also Daniel Shipman's Frontier Life, 20, where, speaking of the La Bahia road, after having passed through Nacogdoches and arrived at Robbins's ferry on the Trinity, he says, “Here the road forked—the right hand was known as the old `San Antonio' road, and the left was called the Labahia (Laberdee) road; * * *.” Likewise, La Bahia prairie and La Bahia school and postoffice near the western boundary of Washington county are spoken of as “Labadie” prairie, school, etc., by people who have a more vivid recollection of the pronunciation than of the spelling of the name. The latter, so far as the writer has been able to ascertain, are the only places in Texas that perpetuate this name, which is so intimately connected with the beginnings of the history of our State.
128. It is interesting in this connection to note the prominence given to the port of Galveston, as well as the absence of any direct reference to Lafitte, the enlistment of whose services historians hitherto have made the sole object of this visit.
How to cite:
"NOTES AND FRAGMENTS.", Volume 006, Number 2, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 161 - 165. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v006/n2/back_7.html
[Accessed Mon Dec 1 23:48:36 CST 2008]
