THE
SOUTHWESTERN HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Vol. XXIX OCTOBER, 1924 No. 2
The publication committee and the editors disclaim responsibility for views expressed by
contributors to The Quarterly
For every modern man the house of life has a thousand doors
and windows; his necessities, passions, ambitions, duties, pas-
times; all the arts, all the sciences, all the professions; religion,
politics. Were the light of each and all these thousand windows
and doors to beat upon us in the blinding splendor that the light
of one art, or one science, often beats upon the sharpened senses
of some one soul, either we should go blind in all our senses, or
we were geniuses. So nature is merciful. Most of the doors
and windows of our houses of life remain closed, or barely ajar.
Economic justification of our existence in this modern world
also demands that we close, and keep closed, nine hundred and
ninety-nine of the windows and doors of our house of life: one
science, or one art, or one profession, or less than that: one
division of a science or art or profession; one specialty of that
division; or even one specialty of that specialty. Such is the
price of success in our time. The price is slavery, physical, in-
tellectual, and spiritual. Great leadership is now great slavery.
rich, ethically indefensible; but we who are ethically defensible
as we play our free minds over the cosmos, since we do not
neglect our share of the necessary drudgery of civilization,--we
are the amateurs, the salt of the earth.
True, an amateur may prefer to one large house of life, his
village of a thousand huts. That is the amateur's peril. But
the real amateur builds his great house of life over his village of
a thousand huts. Each hut becomes a window or door in the
greater edifice. Which of these huts shall become the house, the
center of design, the real organic unit, depends upon the amateur,
his heredity, his environment, and upon chance.
The village of a thousand huts has been your writer's peril.
He is interested in everything in the cosmos except sport, social
functions, and the grandstand front of things. But just be-
cause he is not interested in these, ninety-nine of a hundred
can't see that he is interested in anything. Well,--music, poetry,
drama, painting, sculpture, architecture, all science, and each
science, real politics, real religion, real philosophy, real history:
what are these to the ninety and nine?
Call it chance, heredity, environment, or pure volition, his-
tory has become this amateur's house of life. That is, not merely
literal history, documented and verified; but mainly real his-
tory, the imaginative reconstruction of the past or the forecast-
ing the future through a single fine art, or better, the ensemble
use of many fine arts. But not the whole historic sum of things,
celestial and terrestrial. Even not all America, not all Texas.
Only twenty years of Texas, the pioneer and revolutionary era
from 1820 to 1840. And within these years, just one, the year
1836. And in that year just two months, March and April.
And within these months, just one night, that of March 13,
1836, when at just one place, Gonzales, Sam Houston's army
began its famous retreat, and the people of Texas began their
"Runaway Scrape."
But from this pin point in time and space, the vistas from
our house of life, through a thousand doors and windows, reach
on and on to the limits of human consciousness again, which are
the limits of the universe, too. At this time, we must close all
the doors except those appropriate to this meeting of the Texas
State Historical Association; that is, the doors to music, drama,
poetry, and so on. (Your writer is attempting a music-drama
for the centenary year 1936, upon that pin point in time and
space, Gonzales on the night of March 13, 1836.) Yet are there
not a thousand doors and windows still, each and all inviting
one far, far, and far? Gonzales on the 13th of March, 1836,
presupposes the history of the Texan colonists; it presupposes
the history of the American people, and of the English and other
races; it needs the history of Mexico and Spain, and even South
America; it requires close study of the North American Indian;
of the frontier animals and plants; the rivers, forests, prairies;
the climates and seasons; the disasters of nature and the scourges
of human life.
So I have thought it well to make my address an appeal to
the amateur historians of Texas, briefly suggesting some of the
thousand and one windows and doors not yet closed down upon
us. For be it remembered these windows and doors are closing
down about us all the time. Perhaps the main urgency to this
paper is this ceaseless closing down of windows and doors
around us.
The most usual windows and doors to this house of history
are the memories of old men and women. Their memories are
like tunnels from the present under the mountain of time inter-
vening to the clear light of early times in Texas. True, few
of these old men and women (and indeed, many of them are not
old), can remember Gonzales in March, 1836. But many of them
knew the later years of the pioneer and revolutionary heroes.
Many of them heard the stories of those terrible times from men
and women who lived through them somehow; heard them over
and over until they knew, and know, them by heart.
There are difficulties. The greatest is this, that these men
and women with memories are themselves immersed in great
affairs of their time. Men holding great executive positions have
no time for memories. All their energies of mind and body are
challenged by the duties and responsibilities of affairs, public
and private. Their reminiscent era must come after. And no
man gives way until compelled. So when we find them really
reminiscent, all too often old age and disease have set their
heavy seal upon them. Further, they are not historical scholars.
They are likely to spend their energies retelling badly what has
long been known and minutely verified and documented. Finally,
their memories may not be completely trustworthy, either from
wilful bias, or unconscious prejudice and lapses.
Now here is the usefulness of the amateur historians, far and
wide in Texas. They have heard the stories of old men and
women. They have read almost all that is written down on
Texas history, both the established facts, and the conclusions
from these facts by trained historians, and untrained. And they
have pondered over the mysteries. Let them sift the known
from the unknown. They must simply ask pertinent questions,
and if necessary, impertinent. They must find out the truth
or the half-truth, or the hundredth of the truth that these
memories of old men and women contain. They must compare
their findings with the written records, and never accept the
well-known for the unknown. All this will be opening wider
the windows and doors to our house of Texas history.
The officers and members of the Historical Association have
been very kind to me, and very appreciative and exceedingly
helpful in my Quixotic assaults upon the mysteriius windmills
of Texas history. Though, my windmills are pretty much mine
alone. It does not seem supremely important to regular his-
torians whether William Barrett Travis was red-headed or not.
Now, to the dramatist, the psychological implications of this
fact are almost endless. But the mystery of the Alamo is still
an unsolved problem to us all, professional or amateur, artist
or historian. Why did they do it? No one knows. Well, then,
the red hair of Travis, taken in connection with other estab-
lished facts, is one of the keys to Travis's character; and
Travis's character is one key, but not the only one, to the mys-
tery of the Alamo. The characters of Crockett, Bowie, and
Bonham are keys of equal or almost equal importance. And so
the recent contention that Travis was a foundling, were it estab-
lished, which I say most emphatically it was not, would recolor
my whole conception of that mighty Alamo catastrophe.
The officers of this Association, individually and severally,
have urged me to give some account of my various adventures
charging the windmill mysteries of Texas history. Perhaps
when the account is richer I may do so. But it seems to me
now more important to urge my fellow amateur historians to
open the doors and windows closing down around them in the
old towns and new towns in Texas, and in the great cities, too.
It is startling to realize that so few descendants and so few old
men and women with memories live near the scenes of the deeds
they remember. It is almost a paradox that to find what hap-
pened during the San Jacinto campaign in South Texas, one
must go to West Texas, or North Texas, or California, or Okla-
homa. Or else it is in the great cities of Texas, Houston, Dallas,
Austin, far away from the scenes remembered, and covered over
by generations of urban living, and non-pioneer experience.
Perhaps the most striking method of bringing home to Texas
amateur historians the need of exhausting local possibilities will
be to state some of these mysteries as questions. One has al-
ready been given: Why did the Alamo defenders die rather
than retreat? Oh, yes, they were brave men, they were patriots.
But that gets us nowhere. They would have been brave men and
patriots had they retreated in time. The question still stands:
Why did they do it?
It is true, neither the Alamo nor Goliad is included in the cycle
of five plays I am attempting on the San Jacinto compaign.
But their tremendous shadows cover the whole period, determin-
ing and reversing the general campaign and the individual for-
tunes of all concerned in that series of events. So it becomes
absolutely paramount that complete pictures of these two great
backgrounds of the San Jacinto campaign should be present in
the mind of the historian or artist recreating the time.
'One great way to solve a mystery is to study the lives of all
participants, both before and after the event. The Alamo had
no survivors of the first importance. So this problem requires
the study of the lives of the leaders and of the rank and file be-
fore the catastrophe. While I have by no means exhausted all
the possibilities, still from what I have studied, it seems to me
chance threw together an extraordinary number of men to whom
life was not particularly worth living longer. Certainly, this is
true of Crockett and Bowie, and most probably of Bonham. It
is probably more than half-true of Travis. And I have been
struck with the fact that little strip of light on the characters
of the Alano rank and file I have found confirms this general
mood of reckless scorn of death.
No Texas historian has given due weight to the enormous in-
fluence of the mere presence of Davy Crockett in the Alamo.
Travis and Bonham were not known to great fame till then.
Bowie was indeed famous, but the slur, perhaps unjust, of being
a mere desperado, together with his drinking and quarreling while
sick in the Alamo, weakened his influence there both as man and
commander. But Davy Crockett's fame was continental and
European, thanks to his books and the legends invented by him-
self and his friends and enemies. He was the idol of the fron-
tier. So that any solution of that momentous decision to stay
to the death in the Alamo must give the highest value to the in-
fluence of Davy Crockett. Yet I do not recall any article on
"Davy Crockett in Texas" by qualified historians.
A second question has grown in my mind from a study of the
Land Office maps of Texas counties. Why did so few of the
old settlers take part in the San Jacinto campaign? Any ama-
teur can repeat this experience. Check out on your county map
the names, the surnames, of all old settlers with headright en-
tries that are found on the rosters of the San Jacinto campaign
and the lists of the dead in the Alamo and at Goliad. There
must be allowances, of course. Sons were more likely to go to
war than fathers; many headrights were speculative and long
since sold to residents of the United States. But after all de-
ductions are made, the challenging question still stands: Why
did so few old settlers take part in the war?
A third problem has grown in my mind, partly from a study
of the Land Office maps, but also from a study of scattered facts
and documents: What was the real final fate of all the pro-
Texan Mexicans after the revolution of 1836? Many agree to
John N. Seguin's contention of a conspiracy among certain
Texans in San Antonio to ruin wealthy Mexicans. The matter
has been left untouched by historians. John N. Seguin, the
Coriolanus of Texas, did great services to the Texan cause. And
as to his father, Don Erasmo Seguin, that page in John Henry
Brown's history, where the Texans turned the old man's ox-cart
back towards San Antonio, as he told the long story of his aid
to Americans, beginning with his befriending the Austins, father
and son, twenty years before,--that story would have moved a
heart of stone.
The maps suggest a fourth question: Why so much fraud
and rascality in Texas land speculations? A good answer has
been given that these land frauds were no worse in Texas than
in the frontier states and territories of the United States. There
are many fine articles on Texas lands, but none that I have read
give names and dates, and also give a spade its proper name.
A fifth question—the Indians. I have read all the apologies
for the Texans down to date, I believe. Were the Cherokee In-
dians justly treated in 1835, 1836, 1839? For all these years
cover just one general action. My own answer is most emphati-
cally no. Their treatment was good politics but bad faith.
A sixth question: What was the effect of immigration on the
politics and economic development of Texas from 1835 to 1860?
How many times did these incoming voters reverse previous pop-
ular judgment at the polls? In what years did these waves of
immigration reach their highest crests? How many years dur-
ing various decades did it require to equal by fresh immigration
the population already present?
A seventh question: Why has no exhaustive critical biography
of Thomas Jefferson Rusk ever been published? To me, he is
a figure in Texas politics fully as important as Sam Houston or
Stephen F. Austin, and in national politics more so. His suicide
was as great a calamity for the moderates before the Civil War,
as Abraham Lincoln's assassination was after it.
An eighth question: What was the effect of the enormous
whiskey drinking of the time upon the character and duration
of life of public men between 1830 and 1860? Certainly the
study of the period changed my own views favorably to prohibition.
The great list of suicides and early deaths of able men of the
era can fairly be laid to hard, steady drinking.
And so on and on, an almost endless list of unsettled ques-
tions remains for the amateur historian's might or mite. Cer-
tainly, he can gather local facts and traditions inaccessible to
the regular historians. And as a little matter turns the balance
in a larger, and that turns the scales upon a still larger one, it
may well be that some insignificant facts yet unknown may re-
verse even time-honored historical judgments in Texas.
I devote the rest of this paper to almost unused keys and
latches to these doors and windows to the past. Enough has
been said of the memories of the old men and women. Scarcely
less important are the Land Office county maps. With these,
investigations could be started that would throw light on almost
every question raised in this paper. And this brings us to one
rich field as yet scarcely touched by historians. I refer to the
records of the General Land Office of Texas. Sometimes, I feel
that I could spend there five years with profit on the problems
that arise in connection with my cycle of Texas music-plays.
Almost equally rich are the records of the courthouses of the
old counties of Texas. Many years could be spent in them, too,
with great profit, if combined with field work among people now
living in those counties. But often the cost is prohibitive to any
but rich men. A dollar an hour is far too rich for most of us.
A much exploited field is the family papers of famous Texans.
Yet so much remains unknown as to these. Where are the
papers of McArdle, the artist? Judge Raines called him the
greatest authority known upon the topography of the San Jacinto
campaign. Where are the letters which William Fairfax Gray
wrote to his speculating employers in Kentucky and Virginia?
In these letters he elaborated fully for business purposes what
are mere memoranda in his diary. Where are the Yoakum
papers? It is said Yoakum gave them to Judge Gray, and the
Judge willed them with his own papers to the Masonic Grand
Lodge in Waco. And then, where are the Rusk papers? In-
deed, where are the Houston papers? Here is a curious situa-
tion. Two men, Houston and Rusk, dominate Texas for a gen-
eration yet there are no Houston papers, no Rusk papers, like
the Austin papers, the Lamar papers, or the Bryan papers. Yet
these papers must exist, or have existed, somewhere. And so
one might go on listing names of men who should have accumu-
lated papers, but which have not come down to us, or else are
scattered far and wide, or are held in private hands.
I admit real, professional historians were better employed for
all these tasks held out to amateur historians, but these trained
historians are few indeed; and the possible amateurs in Texas
are as the sands of the sea. The work is so great, and the doors
and windows continue closing down so ceaselessly, that nothing
but the large enlistment of the amateur historians will save this
great body of historical material from complete loss.
For instance, Henry Watterson: Not until Watterson is over
eighty does he tell us Texans casually, almost accidentally, that
in his boyhood he sat on Sam Houston's knee in Washington
City and heard the story, or stories, of the San Jacinto campaign
over and over. I write to him to tell it again and have stenog-
raphers take it down. Mr. Watterson's secretary writes me that
Mr. Watterson is; so old and feeble, the excitement of the recital
might end fatally. So one window closes down forever.
The amateur has some great advantages over the professional.
He can more often think what he pleases and say what he thinks.
The professional is limited by his public position and his repu-
tation as a scholar. Surely, he can think what he pleases, and
he does. But he cannot say what he thinks in frank striking
words. He is bound to weigh his evidence and qualify his words
to fit his facts exactly. He is also bound to respect public opin-
ion and sentiment, sectional feeling and state pride. I do not
mean that these sentiments subvert his own thinking. I mean
they limit and determine the statement of his thought into
something often innocuous and jejune. Of course, this is boldly
and frankly so in state text-books, because of the large public,
the conflicting interests, and the great financial reward. But it
is true otherwise, also. A real historian will be assailed by
trained specialists for an organized special interest. For in-
stance, no North Carolina historian has told the truth about the
Mecklenburg Declaration without suffering financial loss and
great obloquy from the pens of trained historians who are de-
scendants. Besides, the professional historian is usually fight-
ing for some concrete institutional enterprise, a state library, an
historical commission, against great odds; that is, indifference
of the public, miserly appropriations, and frequent hostile demo-
gogic movements to abolish the very institution itself, for econ-
omy or to increase the general school fund ten or twenty thou-
sand dollars. One must choose the relatively important. Why
tell of a particular fact or truth, if an infinitely greater cause
must go down in a consequent storm of senseless popular clamor?
From all these limitations the amateur should be free. But
while the amateur may tell the truth when he knows it,—that is
just the rub. How can he be sure that he knows the truth? He
is limited by his deficient training and his consequent wrong
valuations. Often, he is bound more strongly than the profes-
sional by local sentiment, state, and family pride. Alas, too
often he is merely a descendant. At his best, however, he is a
saving grace. He speaks out the unpublished thinking of the
responsible professionals, taking the burden and credit as his
own. There is no clamor, because of his lack of official signifi-
cance. Often there is none, because he fails clearly to express
himself. It amounts to the same obscurity as the professional's,
but not from the same cause. And in most cases he is in posi-
tion to tell the clamorous to clamor where it is hotter.
There is a contention that men and peoples must be judged
by the standards of their times. But a judgment is always a
two-edged blade. We judge ourselves as well as the men and
peoples when we judge them by the standards of their own times.
Such a judgment denies the reality of the science of ethics. The
true historian, amateur or professional, accepts the possibility,
indeed the reality, of final ethical valuations. Comparative his-
tory is the method of approach to ethical values. The treatment
of Cherokee Indians by the early Texans merges into the whole
story of the white American and the Indians. This in turn
merges into the larger question of the treatment of the weaker
races by the stronger since the origin of man. It passes then
into abstract questions of philosophy. What is right? What is
justice ?
But if the amateur historian, along with the professional, is
free to play his mind over the deeds of bygone eras, bringing
them to the bar of modern ethical judgments, he is not justified
in mere harsh condemnation. Too much amateur history con-
sists in hounding the villain and kissing the feet of the hero.
Too much professional history is like that, too. James Ford
Rhodes is the nearest to ideal fairness I have read. But it seems
to me the model for the amateur or professional historian is no
historian at all. At least, scholars have shown his reputed
events, his "Histories," to be almost all directly wrong. I refer
to William Shakespeare. Grant his facts are wrong; yet his fair-
ness is almost perfect. Indeed, a certain tenderness, even, hangs
over his blackest villains, Richard III, Iago, and the king in
Hamlet.
Angel, who never fails to place all deeds squarely in the Great
Record, yet reckons the ethical valuations by a Perfect Code.
The amateur or professional historian may not ever know the
system of valuation used in the Great Record, but he may rest
assured that the standards of the science of ethics are an ap-
proach thereto.
FOOTNOTES:
dodge our share of the necessary drudgery of civilization, as
parasites; or we may stop short of leadership, the real modern
slavery, and content ourselves with secondary standings in the
hierarchy of success in one specialty, and then play our fret
minds over the rest of the cosmos. The parasites are the idle
DESCRIPTIONS OF TEXAS BY STEPHEN F. AUSTIN
1
1828
CONTRIBUTED BY
EUGENE C. BARKER
Texas embraces a very extensive and valuable territory. A
single glance at the map will be sufficient to indicate the great
advantages derivable from its local position in point of climate
and commercial facilities. It bounds the territory of the United
States on two sides, the East and North, and extends as it were
like a peninsula into that Nation. The intercourse by water
along the coast is easy and safe. Three or four days' sail takes
you from the coast of Texas to the mouth of the Mississippi, or
to Vera Cruz, or the Havana; the land communication is equally
easy, being open on the whole extent of the Louisiana and Arkan-
sas frontiers, and susceptible of good roads, leading into Opelusas,
Attakapas:, Natchitoches, and the upper settlements of the Ar-
kansas or Red River, and also, to New Mexico, Chihuahua, and all
the Mexican States lying to the West. The West Indies lie in
front, and an immense extent of Mexican coast to the South, thus
affording channels of commerce in every direction. The climate
of Texas is mild, salubrious and healthy; it lies between 28, and
34, North Latitude, and is gently fanned throughout the summer
by pleasant and refreshing sea breezes. The country is intersected
by four rivers that are navigable from one hundred to four hun-
dred miles, towit: the Netchez, Trinity, Brazos, and Colorado,
besides a great number of small streams that afford good navi-
gation for a shorter distance; and the abundance of its creeks
and living springs, taken in connection with its topographical
character, probably present more extensive facilities for coloniz-
ing than can be found on the same surface in any other part of
North America. Texas forms an immense inclined plane, the
apex of which is the highlands south of Red River, in which
its rivers have their source; from this summit, to the Mexican
Gulf, the inclination is towards the southeast, and is astonish-
ingly uniform. The surface is beautifully undulating to within
about sixty miles of the sea coast, where it becomes level, and
some parts of the northwestern section is hilly, particularly on
the heads of the Colorado and Guadalupe rivers, though the gen-
eral feature of an inclined plane is observable throughout, for
the hills do not form leading ridges that impede the flowing
waters to the southeast, neither are the undulations greater than
are necessary to render the country dry, healthy and beautiful.
They gradually lessen until they lose themselves in the level
strip that borders on the coast, which is from forty to seventy or
eighty miles wide. The rivers and creeks form very deep beds
with high banks, through this level region, and the tide water
flows up them from twenty to forty miles. The whole of this
tract without exception is entirely free from marsh or lakes,
even down to the sea beach. The soil is of the first quality of
alluvian lands, the banks of the streams are heavily timbered, and
covered with immense cane brakes; between them is level, but
dry and rich prairie. The timbered bottom lands on the rivers
are from two to fifteen miles wide, a small part is subject to in-
undation, in extreme high freshets, but the floods are not fre-
quent, and owing to the comparative shortness of the rivers
soon subside. The undulating country is timbered, and prairie
land conveniently intermingled, abounding in springs of good
water, and the same may be said of the hilly country on the
Colorado and Guadalupe. The pasturage is surprisingly abund-
ant and luxuriant and is good both summer and winter.
Texas possesses many beds of good iron and lead ore, and it is
said that copper, silver, and gold have been found in small quan-
tities in the high, region of the Colorado, but no experiments in
mining have been made, for two reasons, one is, the supposed
mines of the precious metal are in the Indian country, and an-
other, the want of population and capital.
Nature seems to have formed Texas for a great agricultural,
grazing, manufacturing, and commercial country. It combines
in an eminent degree all the elements necessary for those differ-
ent branches of industry. It possesses at least 70,000 square
miles of sugar lands, south of latitude 30 and east of the river
Nueces, which is the western boundary of Texas. This river is
about 80 miles east of the Rio Grande, or Bravo del Norte. The
northern and high parts of the country are well adapted to wheat
and small grain, and the situation of the streams affords great
facilities for waterworks and irrigation. The whole country pro-
duces cotton of the best quality, acknowledged in New Orleans
to be superior to Louisiana cotton. The tobacco and indigo is
also of superior quality, the latter is spontaneous growth of the
country. In addition to these, the soil and climate are well
adapted to the culture of the vine, the olive, and other fruits
and productions of a temperate Southern latitude. The coun-
try on the Sabine, Nechez and Trinity rivers abounds in good
pine timber, and some cypress, and cedar, though the two latter'are
not abundant, and live, and the other species of oak, and the
North American timber is sufficiently abundant in every part of
the country, except the southwestern section on the Nueces, which
is thinly wooded.
The Mexican government with a degree of liberality un-
equaled have opened this fine and truly desirable country to the
enterprising and industrious of all nations: lands are granted to
emigrants for almost nothing. The principal requisite to ob-
tain them is actual removal and settlement, and unquestionable
evidence of good character, and steady, moral and industrious
habits; indeed, without such evidence, no one is permitted to re-
ceive land as a settler.
In the winter of 1820-21 Moses Austin of Missouri visited
Texas, and obtained from the Spanish authorities permission to
introduce and settle 300 families from the United States in
Texas. This gentleman died on his return to Missouri, and the
enterprise was taken up by his son, Stephen F. Austin, who
visited and explored the country in the summer of 1821, and
made the necessary arrangements with the governor of the prov-
ince. He returned to Louisiana, and in December of the same
year arrived on the Brazos river, with a part of the families he
was authorized to colonize. After the independent government
was established, and organized, he visited the City of Mexico,
and obtained a full confirmation of his grant to settle the col-
ony from the National Mexican Congress, and has subsequently
obtained a large extension of the same. Texas, at the time he
entered it, was entire wilderness with the exception of the old
Spanish posts of San Antonio de Bexar and La Bahia, and they
were poor and inconsiderable villages reduced to wretchedness
and misery by the arbitrary and cruel measures of the Spanish
general in 1813 after the defeat of the Republicans on the
Medina; and by the subsequent Indian war, with the Comanches,
and other savages. Between the Sabine and San Antonio, a dis-
tance of 400 miles there was not twenty souls of civilized inhabi-
tants, and the country was occupied in every direction by wan-
dering bands of the Comanches, Lipans,, Tancawas, Wacos, Tawa-
canys, Karankaways and other Indians. The government at this
period (the winter of 1821-22) was unsettled, all Mexico was in
revolution. The Spanish power was prostrated, but much doubt
and uncertainty prevailed as to the final result--public opinion,
and parties vacillated between monarchy, aristocracy and Repub-
licanism; and it would seem that even these flattering hopes
could have offered few inducements to enter Texas with families
of women and children, under such circumstances. Col. S. F.
Austin, and the families who embarked with him, in the arduous
effort of settling this wilderness, knew and fully understood their
situation, and the risk, perils, and hardships they must neces-
sarily be exposed to. They had confidence in themselves, and
relied upon that confidence alone for safety, and protection and
success. The alarming and exaggerated rumors that went abroad
relative to the sufferings of the first settlers greatly impeded the
progress of the new settlements, and increased Col. Austin's diffi-
culties in procuring emigrants. True it is, the first adventurers
suffered greatly. They did not taste bread for six months; their only
hope for subsistence was the game of the forests until they raised
a crop; and they were constantly harrassed by Indian depreda-
tions. The vessels sent round from New Orleans by Austin with
provisions and supplies were lost on the coast and plundered by
the Indians, and many other casualties occurred; but great as
the obstacles were that opposed their settlements in this wilder-
ness, their fortitude and perseverance was still greater, and suc-
cess has fully rewarded their toils.
Austin's colony at this time (August, 1828) contains about
3000 inhabitants and is flourishing, the settlers are beginning to
reap the fruits of their labors; they have opened extensive farms,
and the produce of the soil far exceeds their most sanguine ex-
pectations. A number of cotton gins and mills are in operation
and several more are building; about six hundred bales of cotton
and eighty hogsheads of sugar will be made this season. Com-
merce begins to enliven the shores of the river, and peace and
plenty everywhere prevails.
There probably is not at this time such an opening on the
globe for industry and enterprise as in Austin's colony. Land of
good quality may be had in large tracts by emigrants of good
character, which will enable a man of large family to settle all
his children around him; the cost will not exceed four cents per
acre, including surveying, office fees, and all other charges, and
five and six years are allowed to pay a part of that in. Those
who emigrate now will have none of the difficulties of the first
settlers. Provisions are abundant and cheap, roads are opened.
The Indians are subdued, and driven back and are all at peace--
the country is known, and an experiment of six years has proved
its healthfulness and value. At this time no one comes on an
uncertainty--the government is settled on the basis of true Re-
publicanism. The new settlers are represented and enjoy every
civil privilege that reasonable men need ask. Those who are
here are content, and say that this is the easiest and most favor-
able and munificent government they ever lived under.
Slavery is prohibited by the Constitution, but contracts made
with servants or hirelings in a foreign country are guaranteed
by a special act of the Legislature, as valid in this State.
The general character of the settlers of Austin's colony is that
of moral, industrious and good citizens. The local government
has been administered without the aid or necessity of one, soldier
to enforce obedience. Crimes, rioting, and those disorders inci-
dent to all new countries are almost unknown, and impartial men
will say that no new settlement on any frontier of the United
States can boast of more good order, morality, and subordination
to the laws than Austin's colony. It has been a rule with Colonel
Austin from the beginning to receive none but good men and to
drive away bad ones, and he will now receive none who do not
present evidence of good character from the local authorities of
the place where they remove from.
Men of large families and small or no capital cannot do bet-
ter than to emigrate to this country. Austin is authorized to
settle a large number of families, and his well known and estab-
lished character with the Mexican government--his experiences
in colonization, and his uniform devotion to the interest of the
settlers, to the accommodation of honest poor men, and to the
general prosperity of the country probably qualifies him as well
to succeed as any other now engaged in enterprises of this kind.
He was the first who attempted to colonize in Texas, he opened
the way, and has devoted seven years of the prime of his life to
this object, his present poverty as to monied capital or disposable
means affords an unquestionable and honorable proof that he has
been influenced more by the general good and prosperity of the
settlers than by views of individual profit, for had the reverse of
this been his object, he has had abundant opportunities of specu-
lating, but he could not embrace them without neglecting what
he deemed to be his duty to his settlers, and therefore he did not.
The success of Austin's colony in the wilderness of Texas,
under the disadvantages and difficulties that opposed such an
enterprise, affords a most striking and highly honorable example
of North American enterprise, perseverance and fortitude, and it
has paved the way for the settlement of the whole of this fine
and heretofore uninhabited country.
The encouragement given by the Mexican government and by the
state of Coahuila and Texas to emigrants to Texas from Europe
merits the popular attention of those who have a desire to bet-
ter their fortunes by a removal to America. It is believed that
the advantages which may be secured by a removal to that de-
sirable country, Texas, are much greater than have ever before
been offered by any government of either hemisphere.
Texas at present forms a part of the state of Coahuila and
Texas, to which it is provisionally annexed until its population
and resources are sufficient to form a separate state distinct from
Coahuila.
It is situated on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico to the west
of Louisiana, from which it is separated by the Sabine river. The
latitude is from 28° to 34° 30' north. It is bounded on the east
by Louisiana, on the north by Red River which separates it from
Arkansas, on the west by the Nueces river which divides it from
Tamaulipas and Coahuila, and on the south by the Gulf of Mex-
ico. The climate is salubrious, temperate, and pleasant. The
soil is of superior quality and remarkably fertile and productive.
The natural pasturage for horses, cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, etc.,
etc., is beyond description luxuriant and sufficient to support
large droves of those animals winter and summer without any
other expense than herding, so as to prevent their scattering.
The staple articles of Texas will be long and short staple cot-
tons of fine silky texture and very superior quality, sugar, indigo,
tobacco, wine, olives, wheat, flour, maize, rice, beans, peas, pota-
toes and vegetables of various kinds, beef, pork, bacon, butter,
cheese, horses, mules, hides, tallow, fine and coarse wool, and
lumber. Some experiments have been made of hemp, flax, wheat,
rye, oats and barley, which have succeeded very well in the un-
dulating country back from the coast. The fruits will be
peaches, oranges, limes, lemons, figs, etc., near the coast, and
apples, peaches, pears, grapes, etc., in the interior.
The mineral wealth of Texas has never been carefully ex-
amined or explored. It is, however, well known that iron ore of
good quality is very abundant in many places on the headwaters
of the Sabine river, and also not more than one hundred miles
from the coast on the Brazos, Colorado and Guadalupe rivers.
Lead ore (galina) has also been found in various places. Sul-
phur is very abundant on Trinity river. Stone or bituminous
coal has been found in quantities on the Trinity, Brazos and Colo-
rado rivers, and no doubt abounds. A silver mine is known on
the San Saba river, a western branch of the Colorado. Salt is
easily made on the coast, and salt springs are very numerous in
various places in the interior.
New Orleans, which is within three days' sail of the mouth
of the Brazos or a short journey by land, the West Indies, and
the cities of Matamoras, Tampico, Vera Cruz, Campiche, etc.,
on the Gulf of Mexico, will always afford a profitable market for
some of the articles of Texas produce, particularly horses, mules,
oxen, and beeves for the New Orleans market and all kinds of
provisions), stock, and lumber for the Mexican and West Indies.
The interior of Mexico will also afford a market for many articles
of Texas produce and manufacture.
Galveston, Matagorda, Aranzaso, and the Nueces Bays, and
the mouth of the Brazos river are all good inlets. The two first
have twelve feet of water over the bar, the other two bays have
eight feet and the mouth of the Brazos has six feet. Custom
houses are established in Galveston and Matagorda bays, and at
Brazoria near the mouth of the Brazos river. The other two
bays are not regular ports of entry, owing to the wilderness state
of the country round them, but will no doubt be opened as soon
as the Irish colonies are filled up which have been commenced
on that part of the coast of Texas, and which are now prosper-
ous, considering the newness of their establishment.
The rivers of Texas are the Sabine, Neches, Trinity, Brazos,
and Colorado, all navigable a considerable distance into the in-
terior, also the San Jacinto, Buffalo Bayou, San Bernard, La
Baca, Guadalupe, San Antonio, Aransaso, and Nueces all navi-
gable a short distance. Of all the rivers of Texas, the Brazos
and Colorado are the largest. The Guadalupe and San Antonio
are very beautiful rivers of pure fountain water, and afford a
great many eligible situations for water mills, as also do the in-,
numerable creeks and branches of the other rivers.
Texas is divided into three distinct tracts or regions of coun-
try, whose characteristics are, in many respects, entirely different.
These are the level, the undulating, and the mountainous regions.
The whole coast of Texas, from the Sabine to the Nueces, is
rather low and very level, but is entirely free from marsh, so
much so that in most places a loaded wagon may be driven down
to the sea beach or shore of the bays without any difficulty.
There is a belt of prairie along the coast which extends back
eight or ten miles and is timberless except for the skirts on the
rivers and creeks, which reach to the beach.
The level region extends back from the coast in a northwest-
erly direction about seventy or eighty miles as far west as to the
vicinity of the Guadalupe river, west of which to the Nueces the
undulating lands reach to within twenty or thirty miles of the
coast.
The country on the Sabine, Neches, Trinity, and San Jacinto
is heavily timbered and wooded with thick groves of good pine,
cypress, oak, ash, and other timber. The level region extends
back about seventy miles from the coast in this section of Texas
(east of San Jacinto). Above that to the north and northwest
the country is gently undulating to Red River, there being no
part of it mountainous or even sufficiently broken to be called
hilly. The thickly wooded lands continue quite to Red River
north of the heads of the Sabine and Neches, and pretty high
up on Trinity, above this and west of the headwaters of the
Sabine there is a considerable belt of gentle undulating prairie
country extending up and down Red River which is thinly tim-
bered, the groves being confined to the margins of the streams.
The whole of this eastern and wooded region is very abund-
antly supplied with living streams of pure water, which afford
many favorable sites for saw and other mills, either water or
steam. The lumber business from this quarter will be very val-
uable so soon as mills are put in extensive operation. There is
now one steam saw mill completed on the Buffalo Bayou, and
another is building on the east bank of San Jacinto near its
mouth. The soil in this wooded section is generally well adapted
to agriculture, though it is greatly inferior in fertility and in
pasturage to the country on the Brazos, Colorado, and Guadalupe
rivers.
The old Spanish military post and village of Nacogdoches is
situated in the center of this section of Texas, about sixty miles
west of the Sabine. In 1819-20 it was totally broken up by the
revolution and abandoned and so remained until S. F. Austin
commenced the settlement of his colony on the Brazos river in
1821. It is now a respectable village, and has a garrison of
Mexican troops. The adjoining country, and between there and
Sabine has a considerable population of respectable farmers. A
military post and town was established in 1830 by order of his
excellency General Teran, on the northeast bank of Galveston
Bay, opposite the mouth of Trinity, and called Anahuac. The
country on Trinity river in the neighborhood of this place is
pretty well settled with Americans and there is also a consider-
able settlement of them low down on the Neches.
Anahuac will no doubt become an important place, as it will
command the trade of the Trinity river, and a considerable por-
tion of the San Jacinto and Neches.
That section of the level region of the coast situated between
the San Jacinto and the Guadalupe rivers, including the lower
parts of the Brazos, San Bernard, Colorado, and La Baca rivers,
extends into the interior a northwesterly direction about eighty
miles from the coast. The soil over the whole of this extensive
section is of the first quality, and probably is exceeded in fer-
tility by no other tract of country on earth of equal size. The
land is sufficiently elevated to drain easily and rapidly after
heavy floods of rain, and the supply of permanent water and
timber is quite abundant.
The alluvial or bottom lands of the Brazos, San Bernard, and
Colorado are from four to fifteen miles wide, heavily timbered,
covered with immense and almost impenetrable cane brakes, free
from all injurious overflows from the rivers, and entirely clear of
large lakes, wet swamps or marsh. The Guadalupe, La Baca,
Navidad, and a number of creeks that intersect this level region
also afford large bottoms or tracts of alluvian soil on their mar-
gins, and are well timbered. The intervening country between
the rivers and creeks is open, level, rich, and elevated prairie,
clothed with a very thick and luxuriant growth of grass of a
good quality for pasturage. Very pure and palatable water is
found in wells from twelve to twenty feet deep all over this level
region, and the water of the rivers and creeks is also good and
wholesome. Near the mouth of the Brazos a town has been
founded by S. F. Austin called Brazoria, which is the commer-
cial depot of that river, and of the adjoining country on the
San Bernard river. It is improving and flourishing very rapidly
and must become a large and very important place in a few years.
A town has also been laid off at the mouth of the Colorado river
on the Bay of Matagorda, which is called Matagorda. This
place will become the depot of the Colorado river and of a very
rich and extensive country.
The town of San Felipe de Austin, founded in 1824 by S. F.
Austin and the commissioner of the government, Baron de Bas-
trop, as the capital of Austin's colony, is situated on the west
bank of the Brazos river about eighty miles by land and two
hundred by water from its mouth, and at the upper or northern
limits of the level region. It is the residence of the empresario,
S. F. Austin, and the state and municipal officers of the juris-
diction, and all the land and judicial business is transacted there.
Above, and to the northwest of the level region last noticed,
the country is beautifully and gently undulating. This descrip-
tion of land extends up the Brazos, Colorado, and Guadalupe
rivers one hundred and fifty to two hundred miles above the
upper limits of the level region and reaches to the mountain
ranges of Texas. This undulating region is probably as desir-
able a country for all the wants and necessities of man as any
other on earth. The soil is generally of first quality. The cli-
mate is much more wholesome and pleasant than in the level
region. There are no mosquitoes or horse flies of any conse-
quence. The surface is beautifully and very fancifully diversi-
fied and checkered off into small prairies and woodland tracts,
thus presenting to the farmer large fields of rich lands cleared
by the hand of nature and ready for the plough. The surround-
ing groves of woods afford the best of oak, cedar, and other tim-
ber at a convenient distance for building and fencing. This whole
tract of undulating country is very well watered, and abounds
in permanent running springs and creeks which all have more
or less bottom lands, and are very beautifully lined with the
lofty forest trees of the rich alluvial soils. The undulations are
in many places quite elevated, but rise gently and a long dis-
tance before you reach the summit. There are but very few
steep or abrupt breaks or cliffs, and nothing that would be called
hilly. From the summits of these elevations the landscape is
very richly and agreeably diversified by the gentle and extended
slopes. The round tops of the elevations here crowned with a
grove and there presenting a bald surface of grass, the rich pale
yellowish green of the small prairies or natural lawns, the dark
foliage of the cedars, lofty woods that fringe the banks of the
creeks and drains which wind their serpentine course through the
small valleys and natural meadows at the feet of the undula-
tions, all combined present a landscape at once pleasing to the
eye, and cheering to the imagination, which in its fancy fills the
scene under view with fine forms, the abode of health, plenty,
cheerfulness, and happiness.
A military post and village have been established on the west
bank of the Brazos above the upper road and about twelve miles
below the mouth of the San Andress river, and about one hun-
dred miles above San Felipe de Austin. This post is called
Tenoxticlan [Tenoxtitlan] and is beautifully situated and abund-
antly supplied with large and pure fountains of water. It is
understood to be the intention of government to keep up a con-
siderable garrison at this place to protect the northern frontier
of the colony from the Indians, and also to promote the settle-
ment of the interior country on the Brazos. Tenoxticlan bids
fair to become a considerable inland town. The country round
it is very fertile and pleasant, and the Brazos river is navigable
above this in time of freshets.
The level region lying to the west of Guadalupe and between
that river and the Nueces differs from the other parts of the
coast in being much more scarce of timbers, in fact almost desti-
tute except on the San Antonio and Aransaso rivers where there
is a sufficiency, though not an extensive body. The soil is very
rich and fertile, the water good. The climate is more pleasant
and wholesome than farther east, and the pasturage much better,
being composed of a different kind of grass called the Muskite
grass. It is fine, seldom exceeds six inches in height, resembles
the blue grass, and is the most nutritious pasturage in the coun-
try--it also has the advantage of being green all winter.
Two Irish colonies have been contracted with the government
by four gentlemen of that nation, on the Nueces and between
that river and the Guadalupe. These colonies have been com-
menced, and are in a state of favourable advancement and offer
a very fine opening to Irish emigrants.
The country back and to the northwest of the level region last
mentioned (between the Guadalupe and Nueces) is undulating,
moderately so at first, and rising higher by degrees to the moun-
tain range about two hundred miles distant. The whole of this
section affords the best of pasturage, being principally of Mus-
quite grass and is probably better adapted to graze in than any
other part of Texas, the soil in general is good--timber and
water are scarce, the Nopal, or prickly pear grows here in great
quantities and very large. Limestone is abundant, to within fif-
teen or twenty miles of the coast. There is a low tree belonging
to the locust family, called the Muskite,
which is very abundant
all over this section. It seldom grows larger or taller than a
very large peach tree, which it resembles very much in its gen-
eral appearance. The leaves are those of the honey locust, only
smaller, it has a small thorn, it bears a bean pod about the size
and shape of the common snap bean, which is very sweet, is used
by the Indians in time of scarcity of food, and is equal to corn
to fatten horses, cattle or hogs. The wood of this tree is very
lasting, fully as much so as cedar, and is very valuable for posts
in making post and rail fences. It is also better for fire wood
than ash or hickory. The leaves of the Muskite are thought to
be the best food that can be obtained for goats, and as those
trees are low and in many places are only shrubs the goats keep
fat by browsing on them when there is no grass. The tender
leaves and fruit of the prickly pear is very nutritious food for
horses and horned cattle, particularly the latter, which fatten on
them.
The town of San Antonio, or San Fernando de Bexar, is situ-
ated in this region on the San Antonio river in latitude 29° 25'
north, longitude 99° 30' west. This place is the capital of
Texas, and contains 2500 inhabitants. The village of Goliad
(formerly La Bahia) is situated on the same river in latitude
28° 55' at the upper extremity of the level region and about
twenty-five miles from the coast.
The mountain range extends from the mouth of Rio Puerco,
a branch of Rio Bravo, in a northeasterly direction, and enters
Texas at the sources of the Nueces river, thence continuing its
northeasterly direction to the head of the San Saba, a branch of
Colorado, it bends more to the east down the San Saba and
crosses the Colorado below the mouth of that river, and is finally
lost in the undulating country on the west of the Brazos near the
mouth of the San Andress, a considerable tributary of that river,
about two hundred miles above the town of San Felipe de Austin.
The mountain range does not cross the Brazos river, and the coun-
try east of that river and up the Trinity is gentle, undulating,
and in some places quite level.
High up on the Brazos river there is a large mass of metal
which it is said is worshiped by the Comanche Indians. It is
of several tons weight--is bright--has no rust or oxide of any
kind on its surface and is perfectly malleable. A large piece of
this metal was taken at a great expense to New York by way
of Natchitoches many years since, under the belief that it was
platina, but it is said that the experiments made by Dr. Mitchel
and other chemists in that city proved that it was pure iron in
a malleable state. The existence of such a mass of metal is be-
yond all doubt and can be attested by many persons in Natchi-
toches and in Texas who have been to the place.
2
Spurs of the mountain range extend southwardly down the
rivers Medina and Guadalupe to the vicinity of Bexar and within
sight of the road leading from that place to Nacogdoches called
the upper road, and also down the rivers Llano and Pedernales,
branches of the Colorado. Similar spurs also stretch up the
Colorado above the mouth of San Saba and round the head-
waters of the San Andres between the Colorado and Brazos.
These mountains are of third and fourth magnitude in point of
elevation. Those of San Saba are the highest. They are in
many places thickly covered with scrubby cedar, live oak, and
other trees. Granite, limestone, quartz, and other species of
mountain rock usually found in mountains are very common,
and it is believed they abound in mineral wealth, particularly
on the San Saba, where traditions say a rich silver mine was suc-
cessfully wrought many years since, until the Comanche Indians
cut oil the workmen. Very large and fertile valleys of rich
arable alluvial land are found all through this range, particu-
larly on the San Saba, Llano, Pedernales, Conchos and Pecan
Bayou, branches of the Colorado, on the San Andress and
Bosque, a branch of the Brazos, on the Guadalupe, Medina, and
Nueces. The sides and tops of the mountains are also in most
places susceptible of cultivation. The soil is generally rich and
well adapted to wheat and other small grains, and to the vine
and northern fruits. The pasturage for horses, cattle, sheep and
goats is very good all over these mountains, particularly for the
two latter, and there is no doubt this section of Texas will afford
very large quantities of wool for home manufacture, or for ex-
portation. This range of high land is no doubt of very great
advantage to Texas. It renders the air more pure, and abounds
in large fountains of pure water, which flow off with a rapid
current and uniting form the large rivers of the central and
western parts of Texas--all of which are much more wholesome
and limpid than those to the east of the Brazos.
This mountain region will also at some future time supply all
Texas with good wheat flour, and afford a considerable surplus
for exportation also with rye, hemp, flax, and northern fruits and
wine. Iron, lead, and several other valuable metals will be sup-
plied from this section, and also stone coal. It will be a very
favourable country for raising fine horses; the climate and pas-
turage will suit them better than in the level and hot regions
near the coast.
North of this mountain range and on the extreme head of the
Brazos and Colorado the country becomes level and forms high
and interminable prairies, which stretch to the north and north-
west beyond the Red and the Arkansas rivers and are lost in the
vast ocean of prairies which extends to the heads of Missouri
and to the Rocky Mountains.
Texas, as an extensive country, is probably the most desireable
part of North America--its climate is diversified, salubrious, and
pleasant--it affords every species of soil which can be found in
level, alluvial, undulating, or mountainous countries, embracing
all the varieties of clayey, sandy, pebley, rockey, alluvial, and all
their intermixtures. It is sufficiently supplied with good timber
and wood lands--also with the most useful metals. Its rivers
and harbors are abundantly sufficient for all the purposes of com-
merce, and it is conveniently situated on the coast of the
Mexican Gulf to trade with the United States of the North, the
Mexican ports, the West Indies or with Europe. It is suscepti-
ble of great internal improvements by rail or turnpike roads and
canalling.
The question may be asked why has this very desireable coun-
try never been heard of or settled before? The answer is plain.
The Spanish government locked up Texas, as it did all its Ameri-
can possessions, and even excluded visitors and travellers. In
consequence of this policy Texas remained unknown and an en-
tire and howling wilderness filled with uncivilized Indians, from
the limits of Louisiana to the villages of La Bahia (now Goliad)
and San Antonio de Bexar, until the year 1821, when Mr. Moses
Austin of Missouri obtained permission to settle a colony of
three hundred families in Texas. He died in June of that year,
and his son S. F. Austin explored the country during that sum-
mer and in the following winter he commenced the settlement
of Austin's colony on the Brazos and Colorado rivers. After ten
years of most untiring perseverance he has fully succeeded in
redeeming from the wilderness all that part of the coast of
Texas lying between and around Galveston and Matagorda bays,
and as far into the interior as to the upper or San Antonio
road. Austin's colony has now (1831) upwards of six thousand
inhabitants, principally North Americans, and some English,
Irish, and Germans. Very rigid rules were adopted by Austin,
under the orders of government, to exclude all men of bad char-
acter and dissolute habits from his colony, which is composed of
farmers of great respectability and industry. The most conclu-
sive evidence that can be presented of Austin's fidelity and care
in the discharge of his duties and of the high standing and re-
spectability of his colony, is the fact that both himself and the
colony possess the full confidence of the Mexican government,
and have uniformly received the protection and cordial appro-
bation of all the superior Federal and State officers.
This colony contains many large and productive farms, and
the crop of cotton in 1831 was upwards of one thousand bales
(of five hundred pounds of clean cotton each bale) and in 1832
it will greatly exceed that amount. Considerable quantities of
provisions are raised of all kinds which might be plenty and
cheap, and besides this, the introduction of provisions, frame
houses, and lumber from foreign countries is permitted by law
for the present free of duty which will allow emigrants to bring
supplies with them.
tages are given to them over North Americans from the United
States. There cannot be a doubt but that industrious farmers
and capitalists would materially benefit themselves by a removal
to Texas. The industrious and economical of the former would
soon advance their fortunes and make them independent by agri-
culture, and the capital of the latter invested in manufactories,
agriculture or commerce would yield them an immense interest.
The quantity of land that is granted to settlers is of itself a
handsome fortune. Agreeably to the existing colonization laws
a family gets one league of land and a single man the quarter
of a league. A Mexican league is equal to four thousand four
hundred and twenty-eight acres, English measure. The whole
cost of a league will in no case exceed four cents pr. acre, in-
cluding the surveying, establishing the corners, office and com-
missioner's and government fees and charges, and all other ex-
penses whatever. For a considerable portion of this small sum
a long credit of from one to four, five, and six years is given.
S. F. Austin, who has been successfully engaged in colonizing
for the last ten years, and whose character for good faith and
integrity, and high standing with the government are well estab-
lished, has authority to settle European families on the vacant
lands remaining within the limits of his old colony and in a
new addition which includes all the undulating and a part of
the mountain regions on and between the Brazos and Colorado
rivers. Emigrants are not confined to Austin's colony, the whole
of Texas is open to them and they can settle in any part of it
by applying to the proper authority for permission, and comply-
ing with all the legal requisites. The colony, however, clearly
presents more advantages than any other part of the country,
owing to its advanced state--the good moral character of its in-
habitants--the organization of its local government--and the
facilities of procuring accommodations immediately on landing,
provisions, and the means of transportation (horses, wagons,
etc.) into the interior of the country. Also in the colony all
the business of the settler, writing petitions, translating, and
interpreting is done for him and information is given as to what
land is vacant and what is not, and its situation and quality,
the charges for all which are included in the before mentioned
sum of four cents pr. acre. Austin's object never has been a
mere speculation, on the contrary, he has always complied
rigidly and scrupulously with his contracts and obligations as
a colonizing agent, and as an officer of this government and
labored to settle this country with moral, and industrious farm-
ers. No money is required by him of the settler until he has
first examined the land, or is satisfied as to its quality and has
received the legal title for it in due form from the government
commissioner appointed, to issue land titles or patents.
None but emigrants of the best class as to moral industrious
and sober habits and respectable character and standing in the
country where they remove from will be received by Austin,
and each one will be required to accredit his character by evi-
dence from the civil or judicial authority of the place of gov-
ernment he removes from, and no one need apply for admission
into this colony without such evidence properly authenticated to
avoid fraud or impositions. Also, none need apply or expect to
get a title for land in the colony or in any other part of Texas
until after he has actually removed his family and settled him-
self permanently in the country. The idea which seems to have
prevailed in New York and other parts of the United States
that land can be held in Texas by foreigners who live in a for-
eign country, or who are not legally naturalized, is totally in-
correct and in direct opposition to all the land laws, regulations,
or even customs of the Mexican government. An actual removal
to the country is therefore necessary before any title can issue;
and an actual occupation and cultivation of the land granted,
within the time prescribed by law, are indispensable requisites
to perfect the title, after it is issued. Those who have any idea
of removing to Texas would do well to keep these facts in re-
membrance.
The political constitution of the state of Coahuila and Texas
prohibits slavery forever within its territory, so that after the
slaves are dead who were introduced before the constitution was
published, Texas will be entirely clear of that worst of re-
proaches against a free and enlightened people. The exclusion
of slavery opens a vast field in Texas for the enterprise and
profitable employ of white laborers. Experience has clearly
proved for ten years past that white men can labor in Texas as
well and as safely to their health as anywhere else. They must
use some precautions it is true the first year until they are some-
what acclimated, and there never is any urgent necessity for
hard labor on a farm, or exposure to the heat of the sun after
the month of July. All the heavy part of the labor on a farm
is done during the winter, spring, and autumn months. In the
winter the land is cleared, fenced, ploughed and prepared for
planting. In February and March it is planted. Before July
the crops are all worked and weeded and finally laid by, as the
farmers term it. In October and November the crops are gath-
ered. Wheat, rye, and other small grains ripen and are reaped
the last of May, before the hot weather comes on. English,
Irish, German, Dutch, French, etc., farmers, and capitalists who
emigrate to Texas, would do well to bring a number of families
with them as laborers, bound under written contract to serve for
a term of years for certain fixed and specified wages. Such con-
tracts would be binding and could be enforced by the existing
laws. It is confidently believed by the writer of this that if
Texas were to be explored by an English, German, Dutch, or
French gentleman of such known respectability and character in
his own country, as would give full credit to his statements and
representations after he returned, it would be the means of bene-
fitting himself and a large number of his countrymen by induc-
ing them to emigrate.
Many erroneous opinions and false and unjust impressions
prevailed in England some time ago, in consequence of the state-
ments made in the English parliament by several distinguished
members, in the debate relative to Mexican affairs. Sir Robert
Wilson and others thought proper to state, in that debate, that
the colonists of Texas had rebelled, that they were composed of
fugitives and turbulent persons, squatters, etc., and that the
Mexican government had sent a force of 4,000 men to expel
them from the country, etc., etc. Now the fact is, such state-
ments never had the least foundation in truth, and evidently must
have been made from erroneous information. The colonists of
Texas were invited into the country by the colonization laws of
the Mexican government, and did not intrude themselves into
it by force and illegally. The settlers of Austin's colony so far
from rebelling or manifesting anything like discontent, have on
various occasions repelled the inroads of hostile Indians, and
maintained good order and the authority of the government
whenever it was disturbed. This colony, the first that was un-
dertaken, the only one that has fully succeeded, has sustained
itself and the authority of government in the midst of a distant
and isolated wilderness, without the aid of one soldier or of one
dollar from the Mexican government. It is well known that the
settlers of Austin's colony are not illegal intruders or squat-
ters. The single fact that the founder of this colony is a mem-
ber of the legislature or Congress of the State of Coahuila and
Texas, and was elected to that office by the votes of his settlers,
ought to be sufficient and conclusive evidence as to this point,
for had he, or his colonists intruded themselves illegally into the
country, the Legislature would certainly never have permitted
him to take his seat, neither would the right of suffrage have
been recognized in the colonists, a right which can only be ex-
ercised by naturalized citizens. The motto adopted by Austin
when he began his colony was "Fidelity and gratitude to Mexico,
and to be true and faithful to her interests, and also to the just
rights and interests of his colonists." This motto has been and
is the great governing principle of the settlers. They will no
doubt continue to be, as they ever have been, true and faithful
to the government of their adoption, and also true to them-
selves. Should their adopted country and government be un-
justly and wantonly assailed by the United States of the North
(as the British orators most erroneously and without any rea-
son unjustly supposed it would be) or by any other power what-
ever, they would be amongst the first to take up arms in its
defence and risk their property and lives to sustain the inde-
pendence and constitution of Mexico; and on the other hand
should they be unjustly and arbitrarily oppressed and their
rights of property or of persons be wantonly trampled upon,
they will of course resist, and defend their property and persons to
the utmost of their power, as Englishmen, and as the Parliament
orators themselves would do under similar circumstances. But
on this subject, there have prevailed in the United States of the
North as many and as gross and utterly unfounded errors as
those above alluded to in England. The colonists of Texas up
to the present time have not been oppressed by the government.
They are satisfied and have full confidence in the justice and
iberality of their adopted government. It is truly unfortunate
that any erroneous opinions should prevail on these subjects,
in Europe or in the United States, or amongst the Mexican peo-
ple, for such errors tend to prevent the emigration of many good
men who would benefit themselves greatly by a settlement in
Texas; and also they cause remarks and illiberal reflections
against the colonists of Texas on the one hand, or against the
Mexican government on the other which do great harm, and
foment jealousies, ill will, and want of confidence where there is
no just foundation for anything of the kind.
It is not the object of the writer of the foregoing remarks to
induce any person to emigrate to Texas without first satisfying
himself as to every particular connected with the subject. He
wishes no one to leap in the dark. On the contrary his object
is to induce inquiry and a full investigation of the matter.
Europeans who feel any interest about Texas can no doubt ob-
tain correct and authentic information by applying direct to the
diplomatic agents of their respective governments at the City of
Mexico, who can procure copies of the national colonization law
of 18 August, 1824, and of the law on the same subject of the
State of Coahuila and Texas of 24 March, 1825. Should a num-
ber of persons, a whole village of Germans or Dutch, for instance,
wish to emigrate, it would be a good plan to send a special
agent to examine the country and make all the necessary arrange-
ments, and then present a detailed report of his observations
to those who sent him.
Europeans wishing to settle in Austin's colony can procure
every necessary information by applying or writing to S. F. Aus-
tin, or to Samuel M. Williams, who has been taken in by Austin
as a partner in the last contract with government. Letters to
those persons must be directed to the Town of San Felipe de
Austin, Texas, and could be sent through some commercial house
in New Orleans.
December, 1831
Number of Population. Municipality of Bexar, including
the four missions of San Jose, San Juan, Espada, Con-
cepcion, and the Ranches upon the Bejar River 4,000
Municipality of Goliad, including the towns of San
Patricio and Guadalupe Victoria 2,300
Municipality of Gonzales 1,600
Municipality of Austin, including the towns of Bastrop,
Matagorda and Harrisburg, and settlements upon the
Colorado and San Jacinto Rivers, and the new town
of Tenoxtitlan 12,600
Municipality of Liberty, including the settlements of
Anahuac, Galveston and Bevil 4,500
Municipality of Brazoria, including the town of Velasco. 4,800
Municipality of Nacogdoches, including the settlements of
the Ayish, Trinity, Neches, Attoyac, Tenaha, Sabine and
Pecan Point 16,700
Total number of population 46,500
The wandering tribes of Indians and half civilized persons,
whose number passes twenty thousand, are not included in this
enumeration.
Products.
Those of Texas are: Cotton, sugar, tobacco, in-
digo, edible grains and vegetables of various kinds; flocks, lum-
ber and boards, leather goods and hides.
Mills.
In the municipalities of Austin and Brazoria there
are thirty cotton-gins:, two steam sawmills and grist mills, six
water-power mills, and many run by oxen and horses.
In Gonzales there is a water-power mill on the Guadalupe river
for sawing lumber and running machinery (mover
maquinas),
which is of much importance, since this mill supplies the towns
of Gonzales and Goliad and the city of Bexar with boards
(tablas).
The municipalities of Liberty and Nacogdoches are very well
provided with mills and gins, and there is great progress in
this industry in all parts of Texas.
General
Observations.
The planting of cotton is very general
and well advanced in all parts, and the yield this year will be
more than one hundred and fifty thousand arrobas
ginned and
clean, equal to six hundred thousand arrobas
with the seed.
3
The raising of cattle and hogs has increased with so much
rapidity that it is difficult to form a calculation of their num-
ber. The price for which they sell will give you an idea of
their abundance.
Fat beeves of from twenty to thirty arrobas
are worth from
eight to ten dollars. Fat hogs of from eight to twelve arrobas
are worth three and a half to five dollars each, and lard in pro-
portion.
Butter and cheese, corn, beans, and all kinds of vegetables
abound.
The sowing of wheat has not progressed so much, because the
climate is not suitable for this grain in the settled region near
the coast.
The raising of horses and mules has progressed a good deal,
although not in comparison to what it will do when the country
is settled in the interior and the Indians subdued, who now make
their raids; to steal horses.
In the Bay of Galveston there is a steamship, and a company
has been formed in Austin and Brazoria for the purpose of bring-
ing one to the Brazos River.
There is also a plan to open a
canal to join the Brazos River with the Port of Galveston, and
another to join the two Bays of Matagorda and Galveston.
The settled part of the country is provided with good roads
and there are various new projects and enterprises for bettering
the navigation of the rivers with oar-boats and steamboats for
the purpose of facilitating the transport of the agricultural
products of the interior of Texas to the coast.
There are no schools or academies in Texas endowed or estab-
lished by the state, but there are private schools in all parts
and very good ones; and as soon as there is a local government
to give form and protection to education there will be much
progress in this direction.
The inhabitants of Texas are in general farmers who own their
lands; there are few among them who do not know how to read
and write, or who do not understand very well the importance
of protecting their property and person by means of a local gov-
ernment, well organized and well supported.
The fact ought to be presented that the resources and qualifi-
cations of Texas to sustain a state government are augmented in
the highest degree by the enterprising and industrious character
of her inhabitants. Their progress is rapid, even in their present
situation; but with a state government to enlarge and protect
industry it would be much greater, because then there would be
security and confidence, which do not exist.
Proof that the inhabitants of Texas have confidence in their
resources to defend themselves against the Indian savages is to
be found in the fact that they have not asked troops nor com-
panies of soldiers or money, and they do not need to.
FOOTNOTES:
accompaniment to Austin's map of Texas. It is taken from an undated
clipping from the Galveston News in the Austin Papers of the Univer-
sity of Texas. The second was apparently intended for publication in
pamphlet form to be circulated in Europe. The federal law of April
6, 1830, closed Texas to emigrants from the United States, except in the
existing colonization contracts of Austin and Green DeWitt. Austin
and Samuel M. Williams obtained a contract in February, 1831, to settle
eight hundred families of Mexicans and Europeans, and this pamphlet
was intended to promote emigration from Europe. It seems not to have
been printed. The original manuscript is in the Austin Papers. The
third was written in August, 1833, to support the application of the
convention of that year for the erection of a state government in Texas
separate from that of Coahuila. In it Austin certainly exaggerates the
population, and, possibly, the economic development of Texas in order
to strengthen the claim for State organization. The document is from
the University of Texas transcripts from department of fomento, Mexico.
It should be compared with Austin's Exposición Sobre los Asuntos de
Tejas written in January, 1835 (translation by Ethel Zivley Rather,
The Quarterly, VIII, 232-258), and with J. N. Almonte's Noticia Esta -
distica sobre Tejas, a translation of which will be published in The
Quarterly in January, 1925.--E. C. B.
place on the second page."
THE EXPEDITION OF PANFILO DE NARVAEZ
HARBERT DAVENPORT
1. The House of Captain Andrés Dorantes de Carranza
By His Son, Báltasar Dorantes de Carranza
1
Because he is my father, I shall be as brief as possible touch-
ing the merits and services of Captain Andrés Dorantes de Car-
ranza. But I confess to your Excellency that while those of the
Conquistadores
were great; those of my father were miraculous,
as is shown by the proofs and by his history, which was printed
and published with the license and by the authority of His Royal
Majesty the Emperor, our Lord Charles V, of glorious memory.
This I have in my possession, as something that touches me very
nearly; and since the volume is not very large, if Your Excellency
deigns to permit, I shall some day bring it before your eyes. And
I know that because of your most merciful heart, you will feel
pity rather than weariness, on learning the great hardships and
pilgrimages that man suffered, shipwrecked by sea and by land,
until God delivered him to the promised land with many miracles
and marvellous works, curing the sick and raising the dead.
After long captivity and slavery, God took him, and delivered
him, and brought him out through unknown lands, opening roads,
and providing people where none had been seen before; who
came, because of his fame, from the uttermost parts of the earth,
calling him "Son of the Sun," and of God.
through many parts where he summoned the Indians, and gath-
ered them from among the forests and thickets, and founded
communities with them; making them set up crosses and adore
them. And they obeyed him willingly, because of the fearless-
ness with which he moved about among them, and the marvellous
things they saw him do.
He arrived, with his companions, at Jalisco, where they were
well received by the Governor, Nuño de Guzman. In Mexico the
Illustrious Viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza, in opposition to
the Marquis del Valle, Conquistador,
brought him and his com-
panions to his house, where he kept them, and honored them, and
even married them richly.
And because of their marvellous entry, naked, excepting only
they covered their loins with deer skins, they had bullfights and
tournaments.
In Spain, His Majesty, the Emperor, took their reappearance
for a miracle; and they came to look upon these men as mirac-
ulous people.
With only this relation, I pass on to that which I cannot re-
lieve myself from saying, since it conforms to the plan [of my
book] and is said only in order that I may write of my father
as I write of the others.
My father, Captain Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, was a native
of Bexar del Castañar, in Old Castilla, or Estramadura, which
is generally believed and said to be ten leagues from Salamanca,
and ten from Plasencia. His nobility and knighthood were at-
tested, in litigation at Granada, through letters patent of nobility,
by the Dorantes, Arias, and Carranzas, nobles, and people of qual-
ity and many entailed estates.
Through the Carranzas, he was descended from Castro de
Hurdiales y Montañas, of the valley of Carranza and Tower of
Molina, where their freehold is proof of their ancient lineage.
And through the Dorantes, the same, with relationship to the
Marquis Dávila Fuente very clear and well known. In respect
to this, the Viceroy of this New Spain, Villa Manrique, honored
and esteemed my person, as well in words as in benefits I re-
ceived from his hand. Knowing my worth, he honored me with
words and letters, because I was of his house, and of those of the
Marquis de Ayamonte, and of the Duchess of Bexar, which, as
will be seen, has to do with this proposition.
My said father had come from Bexar to Sevilla, to the house
of the Duke of Bexar, Don Alvaro de Zuñiga, the Good, who
was then Lord of Plasencia and Arevalo, on which occasion there
offered the military expedition that the Adelantado,
Panfilo de
Narváez, made to the provinces of La
Florida,
and the Duke
solicited from His Majesty's bounty a commission for my said
father, in said expedition, as Captain of Infantry. So he crossed
with that Adelantado
in the year 1527; to where all that army
perished, so that of six hundred men that he brought, there re-
mained only my said father, the Captain Alonso del Castillo
Maldonado, the Treasurer Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, and Este-
banico, an Arab Moor of Azamor, slave of my said father, as was
evidenced by certain proofs, who died afterward when he went
with Fray Marcos of Niza, and was assaulted like St. Sebastian,
in His Majesty's service.
My father gave him to the Illustrious Viceroy, Don Antonio
de Mendoza, in order that he might go as guide for the friars;
and the Indians, like people of little faith and constancy, when
they saw him with new people, took him for a spy, and for this
suspicion killed him.
The said companions were in the land ten years, six in which
they were enslaved by the Indians, and four that God worked
with them the said miracles and marvels.
They arrived in Mexico in the year thirty-seven, and Alvar
Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca afterward returned to Castilla, where our
Lord, the Emperor, granted him of his bounty the Adelanta
-
miento
and Governorship of Rio de La Plata, province of Perú,
and he ended with more shipwrecks than he had in La
Florida.
The Illustrious Don Antonio de Mendoza married my father
and Captain Castillo Maldonado with widows, mistresses [señoras]
of pueblos,
of which that which I came to inherit was worth,
when taken from me, five thousand pesos
in rents, and I was
stripped, and remained as naked as they left my father in
Florida.
I have found no succession of Castillo Maldonado, for it re-
mained in daughters, and I have been unable to discover what
became of them; so of this generation there remains no other
progeny than mine.
My father afterward served in this New Spain, for he arrived
in ample time to be able to employ himself here, in all that
offered of peace and of war. He served in Jalisco and Tierra
Nueva,
in the company of the Viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza,
who honored him and made much capital of his person, and not-
withstanding that he had Indians, and good ones, conferred on
him offices in His Majesty's service, in one or the other of which
he employed his person and assisted in settling the land, which
until then was not inhabited by communities of Spaniards who
had come to make homes, but was very full of Indians, of whom
much was then feared.
[1] Doña Beatriz de Carranza, of whose family more will be
said in the paragraph concerning Constantino Bravo de Laguna,
her husband.
[2] Doña Ana Dorantes, who married Melchior Pacheco, son
of the Captain Gaspar Pacheco, Conquistador,
Captain of the
province of Yucatan; who had from their marriage,
[a] Gaspar Pacheco, who inherited from his father the
encomienda
of the pueblos
of Ocava, a province of much impor-
tance and good rents. He married the daughter of the Governor,
Francisco de Solis.
[b] Melchior Pacheco, who married the daughter of the Sec-
retary Hernando de Castro Polanco, Clerk of that government,
who has an encomienda
of Indians and very good rents.
[3] Baltasar Dorantes¡, who has Indians.
[4] Doña Mariana Dorantes, who married Diego de Magaña,
lord [señor] of pueblos.
[5] Doña Agustina Dorantes, who married Agustin de
Magaña.
[6] Doña Ana Dorantes, the younger, damsel, who desires
to become a nun.
[7] Doña Catalina Dorantes, who married His Majesty's
auditor for this province, Gil Carrillo de Albornoz [their
progeny] are all wealthy and prominent people, of recognized
nobility. They live in the city of Merida, capital of the province
of Yucatan, and are among the most intelligent and influential
people they have in that kingdom.
[8] My father had also Doña Maria de la Torre, who was the
wife of Francisco de Valdez, both deceased. There remain three
daughters: Doña Catalina and Doña Beatriz, maidens, [and]
Doña Petronilla, who married Juan Bamirez de Escobar, grand-
son of Juan de Burgos, Conquistador.
[9] My father had also Doña Paula Dorantes, who married
Antonio Gomez Corona, both deceased. There remains one daugh-
ter, named Doña Mayor Corona, wife of Don Andrés de Tapia
Carbajal, grandson of two captains and Conquistadores
of this
New Spain, Andrés de Tápia and Antonio de Carbajal.
I, Báltasar Dorantes de Carranza, who was His Majesty's
Treasurer in the city and port of Vera Cruz, and who served in
other offices of importance and distinction in this kingdom, and
who was chosen by the nobility of the Conquistadores
and First
Settlers, to go to Castilla as Procurador
Generâl
[Solicitor Gen-
eral] to His Majesty the King, our Lord, had, by my first mar-
riage the following children:
(1) Don Andrés Dorantes Bravo, who is in His Majesty's
court, en
pretension
[as a suitor].
(2)
Don Sancho de Carranza, who has been employed by
some of your Excellency's predecessors in office.
(3) Captain Don Geronimo Dorantes, who has served his
Majesty as Captain in Nueva
Vizcaya
with commendable zeal,
although he is still young.
(4) Doña Aldonza Dorantes, a widow.
(5) Doña Magdalena Dorantes Bravo de Lagunas, wife of
the Treasurer, Francisco de, a judge of works of Tlascala.
From my second marriage with Mariana Ladron de Guevara,
I have a son, who is yet a babe in arms, who bears my name.
From both of my marriages I have daughters, of whom I make
no relation to your Excellency.
Constantino Bravo de Lagunas came to New Spain in 1527;
served with Mendoza in the conquest of Jalisco; married Doña
Beatriz de Carranza, eldest daughter of Captain Andrés Dbrantes
de Carranza, and had by her the following children:
1. Constantino Bravo de Lagunas, who married Doña Leonor
de Terrazas.
4. Doña Bernardina Alderete de Carranza, who married
Alvaro de Azevedo.
In July and August, 1613, Sancho Dorantes de Carranza,
second son of Baltasar Dorantes, and grandson of Captain
Andrés Dorantes, took, before Juan de Paz Vallecillo, Fiscal
of
the Real
Audiencia,
of New Spain, the sworn testimony of sev-
eral elderly residents of the City of Mexico, as to "The merits
and services of his grandfathers, the Captain Andrés Dorantes
and Juan Bravo Lagunas, and of his father, Baltasar Dorantes,"
in support of a claim for a grant from the king in recompense
for his father's losses in a law suit with his half sister, Antonia
de Benavides, and in consideration of the services of his father
and grandfathers. This testimony, which was taken in the form
of answers to written interrogatories propounded to all the wit-
nesses, is printed as an addendum to the Museo
Nacional
publi-
cation of Baltasar Dorantes' book, pp. 459-491.
That portion of the testimony of the witnesses which relates
to the Dorantes family is in substance as follows:
Diego Valadés testified that he was about seventy-six years of
age, and the son of Diego Valadés, Conquistador
of New Spain.
He had known Captain Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, and Maria
de la Torre, his legitimate wife, and the Treasurer Baltasar
Dorantes de Carranza, who were all deceased. Captain Andrés
Dorantes was married to said Maria de la Torre, Encomendera,
according to the rites of the church; and they lived together,
and were commonly and publicly known as, acknowledged and
received as lawful husband and wife in New Spain. The Treas-
urer, Baltasar Dorantes de Carranza, was their legitimate son
and they so reared and nourished him.
rantes de Carranza came from the kingdom of Castilla as Cap-
tain in the armada organized for the conquest of Florida, of
which Panfilo de Narváez was Captain General; and in the same
way the witness knew and had heard that Captain Andrés Do-
rantes de Carranza had been a captive among the Indians of
Florida; and that he had there undergone great hardships, hun-
ger and nakedness, and had been in danger of death many times.
Captain Andrés Dorantes de Carranza was much esteemed by the
Conquistadores and principal gentlemen of this New Spain;
who showed him great respect.
Of his own knowledge this witness knew that Captain Andrés
Dorantes was a principal personage and man of importance in
New Spain; that by reason of his having served His Majesty in
the conquest of Florida, the viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza, hon-
ored him much, esteeming him as a most meritorious gentleman.
It was a public and notorious fact that the said viceroy married
him to said Maria de la Torre; and after his marriage employed
him in very responsible offices in the Administration of Justice in
New Spain; all of which this witness knew of his own knowl-
edge; and that he gave good and praiseworthy account of all of
his duties to the satisfaction of the viceroy.
The witness also knew of his own knowledge that said Andrés
Dorantes had, in encomienda,,
the pueblos
of Asala and Jalazintgo
and that said Báltasar, as his male child, succeeded him, accord-
ing to the practice in New Spain, but the witness understood
that after the death of said Andrés Dorantes said pueblos
were
adjudicated, in the Royal Council of the Indies, to Doña Antonia
de Benavides, his elder sister; who held and possessed them until
her death.
Martin Nuñez testified that he was 79 years of age, and had
known the Treasurer Baltasar Dorantes de Carranza, but did not
remember having known Captain Andrés Dorantes de Carranza
and Maria de la Torre, his wife, but had much knowledge of
the matters inquired about through having heard the Conquista
-
dores,
first settlers and other elderly persons of New Spain say
publicly that when said Andrés Dorantes arrived in this city of
Mexico, after his long pilgrimage in Florida, the viceroy, Don
Antonio de Mendoza, who then governed New Spain, extended
him hospitality and honored him greatly, esteeming him accord-
ing to his merits, which, he said publicly, were those of a very
worthy gentleman of known character, and as such he married
him to said Maria de la Torre. As a matter of absolute cer-
tainty by reason of its very public nature, the witness knew that
the viceroys had always employed Captain Andrés Dorantes in
responsible offices in the administration of justice in New Spain;
of all of which he gave good and satisfactory account; in proof
of which the witness cited the records of said offices, and the
residencias
[final accounting] that he gave of them. During his
life Andrés Dorantes held the towns of Asala and Jalazintgo in
encomienda;
and according to the practice in New Spain his son,
Baltasar, as his male issue, succeeded him at his death, but they
were subsequently adjudicated to his sister, Antonia de Bena-
vides, by the Royal Council of the Indies.
Alonso de Solis testified that he was 50 years of age, and the
son of Miguel Solis, who was a son of Francisco de Solis, Con
-
quistador
of New Spain. He had known Baltasar Dorantes de
Carranza, but had known Captain Andrés Dorantes de Carranza
and Maria de la Torre, his wife, by hearsay only. But from his
grandfather, and other elderly persons, he had heard that Cap-
tain Andrés Dorantes de Carranza and Maria de la Torre were
lawfully married according to the rites of the church; and of
his own knowledge that Doña Antonia de Benavides, wife of
Antonio Ruiz de Castañeda, held in encomienda
the cities of
Asala and Jalazintgo, through decision of the Royal Council of
the Indies, and said pueblos
did not pass to said Baltasar
Dorantes.
Pedro Flores testified that he was more than 80 years of age,
and had known personally Captain Andrés Dorantes de Carranza
and Maria de la Torre, his wife, and their son, Baltasar Dorantes
de Carranza. The two former were lawfully married according
to the rites of the church, and lived in lawful wedlock and were
recognized as legitimate husband and wife, by all who knew them.
When Captain Andrés Dorantes de Carranza arrived in New
Spain, this witness was a child of tender years, and thereafter
learned of Captain Dorantes' experiences in Florida because his
parents were friends of said Andrés Dorantes, and visited him,
and on such occasions the witness heard said Andrés Dorantes,
and his parents, and other elderly persons, discuss the conquest
of Florida, particularly because Gonzalo de Malpasso, a relative
of this witness, had taken part in the conquest of Florida and
had suffered there the same hardships as the said Captain Andrés
Dorantes de Carranza; besides having heard of said Andrés Do-
rantes' experiences there many and divers times, from many of
the Conquistadores
of New Spain.
This witness saw that Don Antonio de Mendoza much esteemed
and honored the said Andrés Dorantes de Carranza as a worthy
and meritorious gentleman.
Two other witnesses, Francisco Pacheco de Figueroa, aged 50
years, and Luis Lopes Vejerano, aged 64 years, testified, prin-
cipally from hearsay and common notoriety, to substantially the
same facts as did the four quoted.
Nine years later, on July 3, 1622, on the basis of this evi-
dence, "as to the merits, qualities and services of his father and
grandfathers, who were among the first and most important Con
-
quistadores
of New Spain," a royal cédula
directed the viceroy
of New Spain to employ Don Sancho Dorantes de Carranza in
office in Yucatan, Jalapa, Colima, Tlascala or Vera Cruz.
3
Andrés Dorantes died some time prior to June 24, 1573, since
a Royal Cédula of that date recites that "A lawsuit having been
brought in our Council of the Indies between Antonio Ruis de
Castañeda, as husband and partner of Doña Antonia de Bena--
vides, his wife, and Maria de la Torre, widow and former wife
of Andrés de Dorantes, deceased, resident of this city, in regard
to the apportionment of the Indians of Mexcalcingo, by the de-
cisions resulting from the examination and re-examination, let it
be ordered that the half of the town of Teguacán which had
been apportioned to the said Antonio Ruis de Castañeda be added
to and incorporated in our royal crown, as the other half was."
3a
Prior to the discovery of Baltasar Dorantes' manuscript, all
that was known of the family history of Andrés Dorantes and his
life subsequent to his arrival in New Spain was told in Naufragios
and in letters of the Viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza.
On February 11, 1537, Mendoza wrote to the Empress:
4
"Cabeza de Vaca and Francisco [Andrés] Dorantes, who are
of those that survived from the expedition of Panfilo de Narváez,
and who gave me a relation of what happened on it, which, as
your Majesty had commanded, I sent for you to see; have de-
cided to go in person to make it to your Majesty, that they may
be able to tell all the particulars, and represent to your Majesty
that, having regard for all that in this land they have labored
and suffered, and their willingness to continue here and yonder,
wherever they may be ordered, they should receive some bounty.
"And since their recompense seems to me a just thing, they
being persons so honorable and capable, I write this to entreat
Your Majesty to order that they should be offered in recompense
the dignities that they would have; as others who have also
merited these have been given them; and that still others may be
inspired to acquire the same rewards."
Cabeza de Vaca says
5 that after their return to civilization
"When we had rested two months in Mexico, I desired to return
to these Kingdoms; and being about to embark in the month of
October, a storm came on, capsizing the ship and she was lost.
In consequence I resolved to remain through the winter; because
in those parts it is a boisterous season for navigation. After that
had gone by, Dorantes and I left Mexico, about Lent, to take
shipping at Vera Cruz. We remained waiting for a wind until
Palm Sunday, when we went on board, and were detained fifteen
days longer for a wind. The ship leaked so much that I quitted
her, and went to one of two others, vessels that were ready to
sail, but Dorantes remained in her.
"On the tenth day of April, the three ships left the port and
sailed one hundred and fifty leagues. Two of them leaked a great
deal and one night the vessel I was in lost their company. Their
pilots and masters, as afterward appeared, dared not proceed with
the other vessels; so, without telling us of their intention, or let-
ting us know ought of them, they put back to the port they had
left. We pursued our voyage, and on the fourth day of May
entered the harbor of Havana, in the Island of Cuba. We re-
mained waiting for the other vessels, believing them to be on
their way, until the second of June."
On December 10, 1537, Mendoza wrote to the King :6 "Cabeza
de Vaca and Dorantes, who are those who, as I wrote to your
Majesty, arrived in this land unexpectedly from the expedition
of Panfilo de Narvaez, decided, after they arrived here, to go
to Spain, and seeing that if Your Majesty was to be served by
sending people to this land to learn certainly what it is, no one
remained who could go with them and none to guide them, I ac-
quired from Dorantes for this purpose a negro who came from
there, and who was with them through all, who is called Esteban,
to
be the person to guide them. It afterward happened that the
ship on which Dorantes was sailing returned to port, and learn-
ing this, I wrote to him at Vera Cruz requesting him to come
here; and when he arrived in this city I talked with him, telling
him
that he should do well to return to that land with some
religious, and some horsemen that I should give him, to ride
through it and find for certain what there is in it. Seeing my
good will and the service I was putting before him to do for
God and Your Majesty, he replied that he would do so. And
so it was decided that I should send him there with the religious
and the horsemen that I mentioned, believing that this will re-
dound greatly to the service of God and Your Majesty.
"In fitting out Dorantes and these people who are to go with
him, I expect that I shall expend up to thirty-five hundred or
four thousand pesos, which amount I shall take from Your
Majesty's Treasury."
But in 1539, after Friar Marcos had returned to Culiacan,
Mendoza again wrote the King:
7
"Having here in my company Andrés Dorantes, who is one of
those who were in the voyage of Panfilo de Narvaez, I was often
in hand with him, supposing that he was able to do your Majesty
great service, to employ him with forty or fifty horsemen to
search out the secret of those parts; and having provided all
things necessary for his journey, and spent much money in that
behalf, the matter was broken off, I know not how, and that en-
terprise was given over.
"Yet of the things which were provided for that purpose, there
was left to me a negro who returned with Dorantes from the said
voyage of Narvaez, certain slaves that I had bought, and certain
Indians whom I had gathered together who were born in those
northern lands. These I sent with Friar Marcos of Niza."
The Narrative of the Gentleman of Elvas
8 sheds a little ad-
ditional light on the plans of Cabeza de Vaca and Dorantes, and
perhaps explains, by implication, why Dorantes did not make the
expedition projected for him by Mendoza. The De Soto chron-
icler says:
"After Don Hernando had obtained the concession, an
hidalgo arrived at court from the Indias, Cabeza de Vaca by
name, who had been in Florida with Narvaez; and he stated how
he and four others had escaped, taking the way to New Spain;
that the Governor had been lost in the sea, and the rest were all
dead. He brought with him a written relation of adventures,
which said in some places: here I have seen this; and the rest
which I saw I leave to confer of with his Majesty; generally,
however, he described the poverty of the country, and spoke of
the hardships he had undergone. Some of his kinfolks, desirous
of going to the Indias, strongly urged him to tell them whether
he had seen any rich country in Florida or not; but he told them
he could not do so; because he and another, (By name Orantes,
[Dorantes] who had remained in New Spain with the purpose
of returning into Florida, had sworn not to divulge certain
things which they had seen lest some one might beg the govern-
ment in advance of them, for which he had come to Spain.
. . . Don Hernando de Soto was desirous that Cabeza de
Vaca should go with him, and made him favorable proposals;
but after they had come upon terms they disagreed, because the
Adelantado
would not give the money requisite to pay for a
ship that the other had bought. Baltasar de Gallegos and Cris-
tobal de Espindola told Cabeza de Vaca, their kinsman, that as
they had made up their minds to go to Florida, in consequence
of what he had told them; they besought him to counsel them;
to which he replied, that the reason he did not go was because
he hoped to receive another government, being reluctant to
march under the standard of another; that he had himself come
to solicit the conquest of Florida, and though he found it had
already been granted to Hernando de Soto, yet, on account of
his oath, he could not divulge what they desired to know. . . .
As soon as Cabeza de Vaca had an opportunity he spoke with
the Emperor; and gave him. an account of all that he had gone
through with, seen and could by any means ascertain."
II. Sketch of Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, First Official
Chronicler of the New World
9
Like so many other strong men of his race, Gonzalo Fernandez
de Oviedo y Valdez came of Asturian stock. His father, Gonzalo
Fernandez de Oviedo, was "in quality an hidalgo," and was em-
ployed in various positions of trust and confidence about the
court of Ferdinand and Isabella, and the son was born at that
court, then at Madrid, in August, 1478. The Prince, Don Juan,
son of Ferdinand and Isabella, and heir apparent to the thrones
of Castilla and Aragon, was two months his senior, and at the
age of thirteen young Oviedo was appointed Mozo
de
Câmara,
or Chamberlain to this young prince. In this capacity he was
present with the royal family at the siege of Granada, saw Colum-
bus as a suitor at Isabella's court, and witnessed his return in
triumph from his first voyage to the New World. It was then,
he says, with his youthful imagination fired by stories of the
new found land beyond the Ocean Sea, that he determined to
become its historian, and began a correspondence with Vicente
Yañez Pinzon with that end in view.
The untimely death of his young prince, in his sixteenth year,
however, for the time turned Oviedo's thoughts into other chan-
nels; he became a soldier in Italy, where he met and knew some
of the greatest artists and intellectuals of that day, visited Rome,
and finally entered the service of Fadrique, King of Naples,
whose close friend he became. An expedition to Sicily under
Inigo Lopez de Ayala, in which he took part afforded him the
opportunity to cultivate and win the friendship of Gonzalo Fer-
nandez de Córdoba, the "Great Captain," a friendship which con-
tinued until Cordoba's death in 1516.
In 1502 Oviedo returned to Spain and married Margarita de
Vergara, one of the beauties of Toledo, whose death a few months
later sent him once more to the army, on the frontier, where he
served under the "Great Captain," in the campaign of 1503.
His life work, however, really began in 1505, when he was
assigned the duty of compiling the chronicles of the early Span-
ish kings, a duty in which he was engaged until 1512, when, in
anticipation of another war with Italy, he became secretary to
Gonzalo Fernandez de Córdoba, but he soon returned to court,
where the expedition of Pedrarias Davila to the Caribbean Main-
land (Castilla del Oro) was under preparation, and to this he
was assignd, with the office of Veedor,
or Inspector, of the settle-
ments to be founded on the mainland. He sailed with this ex-
pedition, which was the true beginning of Spanish colonization
of the mainland of America, from San Lucar de Barrameda, the
port at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, April 11, 1514. Once
in America, his duties as Inspector soon brought him into con-
flict with the cruel, arbitrary and tyrannical, but singularly effi-
cient, Pedrarias, who would brook no check, even by royal au-
thority, upon his despotic sway in Castilla del Oro. Helpless in
the power of Pedrarias in America, Oviedo returned to Spain,
in 1515, to lay his case before the King, but Pedrarias' agents
were before him. He was unable to obtain a hearing, and the
death of the "Great Captain" in 1516 deprived him of his great
advocate at court. Worn out by useless following of the court,
Oviedo resigned his commission as Inspector and went home to
his family, resolved never to return to America.
Continual complaints of Pedrarias' cruelty and despotism, how-
ever, led the Royal Council of the Indies to call Oviedo from
retirement, with a proposition to divide the government of Cas-
tilla del Oro, and make Oviedo governor of the newly created
province of Santa Maria, stipulating, however, that he should
first return to his former duties as Inspector, for the purpose of
righting the many complaints against Pedrarias. Oviedo accepted
with the condition that the council should require all the Gov-
ernors and official Explorers of the Indies to supply him with
accounts of their activities as a basis for his projected Historia
General
y
Natural
de
las
Indias.
By this arrangement Oviedo
became the first official chronicler of the New World.
Returning to America in 1520 with renewed powers, and
assurance of the support of the Council of the Indies, Oviedo
brought his family to America, and established it at Santo Do-
mingo, and then sailed for Castilla del Oro to renew the contest
with Pedrarias Davila. Being outrageously persecuted and with
his authority flouted by that obstinate old tyrant, Oviedo gathered
the necessary evidence, and in 1523 returned to Spain "To seek
in the Old World the justice denied him in the New." This
time Oviedo's good standing with the Council and the irrefutable
proof he was able to offer brought about a residencia,
or official
inquiry into the official conduct and misconduct of Pedrarias
Davila, which finally broke the power of that vicious and cruel
but tremendously able old tyrant.
Pending the Residencia,
to avoid the bitter prosecution which
Pedrarias was preparing to inflict upon him, Oviedo, from 1526
to 1528, visited the various Central American settlements in his
capacity as Inspector, gathering material for his Historia
Gen
-
eral.
Only in 1529, after the residencia
had finally drawn Pedra-
rias' fangs, was he able to return to Santo Domingo to his family,
whom he had not seen for six years. But in the last days of
September, 1530, he again sailed for Spain, in behalf of the cities
of Panama and Santo Domingo. His mission was successful and
Charles V, in the autumn of 1532, designated him officially as
Cronista
General
de
Indias.
In 1533 he was commissioned as Warden [Alcaide]
of Santo
Domingo, and in May of the same year he remitted to the Royal
Council of the Indies the first part of his Historia
General
for its
examination and approval. He returned to Spain in person
with the second part in the summer of 1534, and the first edi-
tion of it was published, under the author's supervision, and
with the approbation of the Council of the Indies, in 1535.
Late in the same year he returned to Santo Domingo, where
the pirates who for three centuries were to infest the "Spanish
Main" were beginning to appear, and spent the next two years in
fortifying the ports of the Indies against their visitations. This
done, he retired to his estate three leagues from Santo Domingo,
and spent the next twenty years pleasantly and profitably for
himself, the world and his king, managing his estate; discharg-
ing his duties as warden of the fortress of Santo Domingo, and
gathering materials for and writing his Historia
General
y
Nat
-
ural
de
las
Indias,
the second edition of which was published at
Salamanca in 1547. Oviedo returned to Spain for the fifth time
to supervise its publication, and while at Sevilla incorporated
into his manuscript the relations given him by Alvar Nuñez
Cabeza de Vaca concerning his experiences in Florida and on the
Rio de la Plata. He was now appointed Regidor
perpetuo
(per-
manent alderman) of Santo Domingo, to which city he returned
early in 1549.
In 1556, notwithstanding his seventy-five years, he again sailed
for Spain, at the behest of his fellow citizens of Santo Domingo
to prosecute an appeal on their behalf before the Royal Council
of the Indies, and while there, says his biographer:
"Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, Chamberlain of the Prince Don
Juan; soldier in Italy and intimate of the King Don Fadrique;
Secretary in Spain to the 'Great Captain,' Gonzalo Fernandez de
Cordoba; Inspector of the settlements of Castilla del Oro; first
Adelante
Regidor
and Lieutenant of Darien and Tierra
Firma;
Governor-elect of the province of Cartagena; First Chronicler of
the Indies; Warden of the fortress and Regidor of Santo Do-
mingo; passed from this life in Valladolid in the year 1557, after
having completed seventy-nine years.
"Neither the confidence of his compatriots in the New World
nor the favor of the court were sufficient to engender bastard
ambitions in his breast. He was contented always with the mid-
dle station in which chance had placed him, aspiring only to con-
tribute with his courage and labor to the happiness of the land
which had awakened in him from his infancy hopes of peaceful
glory. Twelve times with this in mind, Oviedo crossed the ocean.
The cities of Darien, Panama and Santo Domingo looked upon
him as their liberator, relying constantly on his loyalty and
drawing upon it in their great conflicts. The Royal Chancellory
of the Isle of Espanola, first Audencia
of the Indies, never dis-
dained to clothe him with its authority and powers, always crown-
ing his going as most favorable for the hopes of all; and in all
of these, as well as those more difficult charges which brought un-
ease of mind and dangerous journeys, he put to proof the su-
perior temper of his soul. Death came to surprise him with his
pen in hand. He was equally untiring in public business and in
his colossal literary tasks."
His biographer justly adds that Oviedo was no stylist, and that
his writings are not models for the study of the Castilian lan-
guage, although he was better educated than was common among
the popular writers of his day, but the great importance of his
histories lies in his own character and experience, his spirit of in-
vestigation and penetrating vision; his incorruptible honesty, in-
tegrity and truth; his long life in contact with the most illus-
trious and authoritative minds of the Spanish Court; his inti-
mate acquaintance on equal terms with the most valiant captains
of the New World conquests.
III. Study of the Route of Cabeza de Vaca from the First
Permanent Houses to the River Discovered
Diego de Guzman
Since the publication of the study by Mr. Joseph K. Wells
and the present writer of the adventures of the Narváez surviv-
ors in Texas, and the route of their subsequent journey to their
final crossing of the Rio Grande, near El
Paso,
in The Quar-
terly for October, 1918, and January, 1919, the writer has care-
fully studied all available evidence, as to the route of the final
stages of their journey from the river crossing near El Paso to
their crossing of the river which had been discovered by Nuno
de Guzman, at the village where they heard of the slave hunt-
ing Spaniards beyond.
This study, unfortunately, has not been based, as was the
other, on intimate personal knowledge of the regions studied.
The evidence at hand, nevertheless, is sufficient to convince the
writer that the final crossing of the Rio Grande was below, and
near, San Elizario, some twenty miles below El Paso, thence via
Samalayuca and Rio Santa Maria to Rio San Miguel (Casas
Grandes),
above Janos, thence across the Sierra Madre, and the
continental divide to Babisbe on the upper Yaqui (which here
flows toward the north); up the Yaqui to Guachinera; thence
westward to Guasavas, on the same river, where it flows south;
thence to Batuco on Rio Oposura, or Moctezuma., a south-
ward flowing branch of the Yaqui; from Batuco westward to
Ures, on Rio Sonora; this being the settlement which they called
Corazones, because they were here given six hundred dried deer
hearts; thence to Matape; and from Matape to a village then called
Yaquimi on the lower Yaqui, where Diego de Guzman arrived at
that river several years before. Some of these locations are not
definitive; but as to the more important, the evidence at hand
does not admit of a different conclusion.
When Cabeza de Vaca, Dorantes, Castillo and the negro Este-
ban arrived at the Jumano settlements on the Rio Grande, near
its junction with the Conchos, they were seeking, primarily, a
land where food was plentiful, but, incidentally the country near
the "South Sea," whence had come, as they understood the givers,
the brass rattle given them by Indians near Monclova, and they
hoped to achieve both goals by marching "toward sunset."
These Jumanos near the Conchos junction were suffering from
the effects of a drouth, which still continued; they had lost their
crops for two years past, and dared not plant again until blessed
with abundant rains. In the meantime they had to bring their
seed, and such maize as they ate, from a settled region, "toward
sunset," but also "toward the north," the road to which lay first
"up that river toward the north," for seventeen days' journeys--
to where the river was crossed, and from there for as many more
days' journeys toward the west. All the people on this route
were friends, and of one tongue, although enemies, it seems, of
these first Jumanos; and were all short of food, but possessed
of cotton blankets and buffalo hides in abundance.
Acting on this information, these pilgrims "went by that river
upward" the seventeen days journey, always sleeping in houses,
and travelling such long days that, if we read Oviedo correctly,
they accomplished the seventeen days' journey up the river in
fifteen days. The people along this river were buffalo hunters,
but were then short of food., as the Spaniards had been warned
that they would be.
seventeen days' journey (Oviedo says more than twenty, with
several rests) to "where there was much maize." In the course
of this westward journey, "at sunset, on a plain between very
high Sierras," they found a people who, "for a third of the year
eat but powdered straw," and as they passed at that season, "were
somewhat hungered, but not for long, for they fed on this
"powder of grass" and on jack rabbits, of which these Indians
killed many, until they arrived at the first village "where there
was much maize."
Details of this journey up the Rio Grande are made clear by
comparing them with the narratives of Espejo's journey up the
Rio Grande, in December, 1582, in the course of which he was
told by the Indians of this region of the visit of Cabeza de Vaca,
Dorantes, Castillo and the negro, a generation before.
Luxan, one of Espejo's men,
10 says that from a settlement of
Jumanos, who called themselves Otomacos, five leagues above the
Conchos junction, Espejo's party marched up stream forty-five
leagues among Otomacos, and there met the Caguates who were
related to the Otomacos and spoke nearly the same language.
Eleven leagues farther up they encountered large marshes and
pools, and in another three leagues met the Tampachoas, people
similar to the Otomacos. These were the last people met before
coming to the first pueblo,
thirteen days of actual travel farther
up the river.
Espejo's own account of the same journey, is that on the banks
of the Rio Grande, they found the people who remembered
Cabeza de Vaca, Dorantes, Castillo and the negro settled for a
distance of twelve days' journey. Those of the first settlement
accompanied him in large numbers, "up that river to the north"
four days' journey--which must have been twenty-two leagues.
Four days after these Indians stopped, continuing up the river,
he found a great number of people living near some lagoons,
through which the Rio del Norte flows. A Conchos Indian,
found among these people, told him that fifteen days' journey
to the west there was a very large lake, where there were many
settlements, and houses of many stories. They then travelled
fifteen days, and a distance of eighty leagues continuing up the
river before they found another people. From the time they first
came to it they followed this river, with a mountain chain on
on either side of it.
These facts all parallel so accurately those stated in the Cabeza
de Vaca narratives concerning this journey up the Rio Grande
that we cannot doubt that the routes of the two journeys were
the same to the point where Espejo's party met the Tampachoas,
which was, according to Luxan's reckoning, sixty-four leagues
above the mouth of the Conchos. This would place Espejo's
lagoons and marshes at or below modern San Elizario, and "La
Isla." We have a check on this location in the statements made
to Espejo here by the Conchos Indian, concerning a large lake
fifteen days' journey to the west; and settlements and many
storied houses, in that direction, in which we recognize Lake Guz-
man; the Casas Grandes ruins, and the well settled margins of
Rio Casas Grandes, or San Miguel.
The journey of the Cabeza de Vaca party up the Rio Grande
did not, of course, continue beyond the last Jumano settlements,
on that stream, since, while on this river they always travelled
among people speaking the same tongue, and stopped in houses
every night. Besides, their destination lay "toward sunset," and
their only purpose in journeying up that river was to find an
available route to the west. Hence we may safely assume that
they crossed the Rio Grande "to the west" at some point near,
and below, San Elizario.
Between 1851 and 1853, the International Boundary Commis-
sion explored thoroughly the region on both sides of the inter-
national boundary, west of El Paso, and found only two avail-
able routes from El Paso to the frontier settlements in Sonora—
a circuitous northern one up the Rio Grande to Las Cruces,
across to the Mimbres, thence southerly to the Janos-Agua Prieta
road at the eastern end of Guadalupe Pass; and a more southerly
route via watering places at Samalayuca, Rio Santa Maria, Cor-
relitos, Janos, and across Guadalupe Pass to Agua Prieta.
11
ble for hundreds of miles. 12 Since the sole purpose of Cabeza de
Vaca's journey up the Rio Grande was to find an available route
to the maize region beyond the mountain barrier; it is certain
that this route lay through one or the other of these two moun-
tain passes.
Following a drouth of two years' duration we know that the
Casas Grandes River, and its tributaries, and Rio Carmen and
Rio Santa Maria, and the lakes', or "sinks" in which these rivers
disembogue, were all diminished to the vanishing point,
13 and
that all journeys through this region were regulated by the
water supply. Necessarily, then, the first objective after cross-
ing the Rio Grande, would be the famous oasis of Samalayuca,,
twenty miles west of the Rio Grande at San Elizario. And be-
cause the distance from the Rio Grande to Samalayuca is less
at and just below San Elizario than elsewhere, the "river cross-
ing" was, most likely, in that vicinity. We also know that the
region for which these wanderers were searching when they
started westward from the Rio Grande, was to be found only in
the fertile valleys of the Yaqui, and its tributaries, and on other
Sonoran rivers farther west.
Notwithstanding the terrors of Apache warfare, during the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the native population and
the original settlements have probably changed less in Sonora in
the past four hundred years than in any other portion of the
North American Continent. Kino, and his associates, and pre-
decessors built missions where they found settlements. In this
region the Indian settlements were found where the mountain
streams and valleys afforded facilities for irrigation. Natural
advantages of this character change little with the passing years,
and, where irrigation is essential, a desirable site for settlement
in the early sixteenth century is generally equally desirable in
the twentieth.
The necessary intercourse between such settlements creates
roads, in every age, along the lines of least resistance, and rail-
ways are so recent in all this western region, speaking compara-
tively, that it is still possible to trace the lines of communication
between these Opata villages, much as they were when Cabeza
de Vaca and Dorantes knew them.
The villages where maize was abundant, at which these pil-
grims arrived at the end of their journey westward from the
Rio Grande, was an Opata settlement; so much is proved beyond
question by the descriptions of the people, their language, hab-
its, customs, houses, weapons, food, and agriculture, contained in
both the Oviedo and Cabeza de Vaca narratives. Therefore, be-
fore reaching it, the wanderers had crossed the continental divide
-and were on the western slopes of the Sierra Madre, and the
first Opata village found was at the -western end of one of the
two practicable trails which crossed this mountain barrier in the
region west of El Paso. If they followed the northerly trail
through Guadalupe Pass from Janos to Fronteras (Corodeguachi)
this first maize village was Corodeguachi.
If they crossed by the
more southerly pass in this region, the maize country was en-
tered at Babisbe. The location of either of these villages, there-
fore, satisfies the requirements for the journey westward from
the Rio Grande, as described in both narratives, but facts stated
later both by Oviedo and by Cabeza de Vaca, considered in the
light of the topography of northern Sonora, eliminate Corade-
guachi from consideration and force the conclusion that the first
maize village was found at or near Babisbe.
From this first maize village our pilgrims journeyed by easy
stages, for eighty leagues, says Oviedo, or a hundred leagues,
according to Cabeza de Vaca to a village on the plain, towards
the sea shore, which they called Corazones, because its people
gave them six hundred dried deer hearts. The indisputable tes-
timony of the Coronado chroniclers locates Corazones in the
lower Sonora valley, at or near the present site of Ures. From
Corodeguachi the natural and most feasible route to Ures; one
that travelers guided willingly by natives and rendering service
as "healers" could not have missed, was via Quiquiarachi, Bar-
babi, Bacuachi, Chinapi, Arispe, Sinoquipe, Huepaca and neigh-
boring villages in "Valle de Sonora," Aconchi and Babiacora;
passing at least one important settlement in the course of each
day's journey. Instead of such a journey through a settled and
fertile region, Oviedo describes a journey among mountains,
where they found a pueblo only every two or three days, and
rested a day or two in each, "until they arrived at the plains,
near the coast . . . after crossing the mountains," where
they came to three small pueblos, of some twenty houses each, in
the same neighborhood, where they were visited by people from
the sea shore. This was the settlement which they called Cora-
zones.
This village of Corazones became an important point of sup-
port for the Coronado expedition to Cíbola, four years later, and
is positively located by Coronado himself, by Jaramillo and by
Castañeda, in the valley of Kio Sonora, some ten leagues, or
twenty-five miles below the fertile "valley of Sonora"--Coro-
nado's (or Melchior Diaz') name for the fertile valley watered
by Eio Sonora, which extends from Sinoquipe on the north to
Aconchi at the south, the later "Valley of Sonora," which is
many times mentioned by Kino in positive terms as centering
at Huepaca.
Oviedo mentions no change in direction after crossing the Rio
Grande and before reaching Corazones, yet, elsewhere, at least
after Dorantes becomes the narrator, he notes each important
alteration in the course of the journey. Their destination, as
they believed, lay "toward sunset," and, difficulties of food,
water, terrain, and population aside, the natural course of a
journey from Babisbe to Ures, or Corazones, was in that direc-
tion, or, at least, such a journey trends only as much to the
Left of a westward course as a journey up the Rio Grande from
the Conchos junction trends westward from true north.
The topography of the upper Yaqui region, as described by
Bandelier,
14 fits accurately the terrain indicated by Oviedo. He
says: "The Opatas on the Upper Yaqui River, where the latter
is called Rio
de
Babisbe,
Rio
de
Huassavas,
and Rio
de
Sahuaripa,
were more distant from each other than those on the Sonora
River. This was a consequence of the topography. There is but
one considerable valley in that part of Sonora which is irrigated
directly by the large stream. This is the valley where Babisbe
and Baserac
are situated. The other valleys are much smaller.
The Opatas
at Tampichopa,
at Quitamac,
and at Huassavas,
still
more those of Babisbe
were divided into independent communi-
ties. ... To reach the Yaqui
from Matape
entailed difficult,
long and dangerous journeys over desolate, frequently waterless
mountains. The Opatas
on the upper Yaqui were cut up into
small communities, at war with one another, and with other
tribes." Kino's memoirs
15 show that in the later seventeenth
and early eighteenth centuries the Jesuits had a well travelled
road from Babisbe, up the northward flowing upper Yaqui,
through Bazeraca, to Guachinera; thence across the hills in an
almost due southwest direction to Guasavas (Huassavas) on the
upper Yaqui where it flows south, and continuing in the same
direction to Batuco on Rio Oposura or Moctezuma, a southward
flowing tributary of the Yaqui. From Guasavas another road
led directly west to Rio Oposura, at Oposura (now Moctezuma),
but its outlet was into the "Valley of Sonora" at Guepaca, and
the information given the Oabeza de Vaca party at Corazones,
conclusively negatives any suggestion that they arrived at that
place via the Sonora valley.
The Indians at Corazones told them, says Oviedo, that all
along that shore "from south to north" the people were numer-
ous, had plenty of food and much cotton; large houses, and
plenty of turquoises. These the Corazones people obtained as
ransoms, but they did not know whether there was any gold or
mining there. From this information our travelers believed that
this populated region was that from which had come the cascabel
de ratón, or brass rattle, that had been given them by the In-
dians near Monclova.
Cabeza de Vaca says
16 that the people of Corazones told him
that the five "emeralds" given them here came from some very
high mountains toward the north, where there were villages with
many people and very high houses, where they traded plumes
and parrot feathers for them. Through this pueblo
of Corazones
led the path into many provinces near the South Seas; and any
one who should attempt to get there by any other route, must
surely be lost, as there was no maize on the coast, and the peo-
ple there ate nothing but powdered fox tail grass, straw and fish.
From what they learned at Corazones they believed that near
the coast, "in a line with the villages which we followed," there
were more than a thousand leagues of inhabited land where they
raised three crops of maize and beans each year, and food was
plentiful.
There can be no doubt that Cabeza de Vaca's "thousand leagues
of inhabited land" near that coast, and Oviedo's numerous people
"from south to north along that shore," referred to the accounts
given them by the people of Corazones of the Opata villages
that bordered Rio Sonora; the Sobaipuri villages in the valley
of Rio San Pedro of Arizona, and the Pima and Coco Maricopa
villages of the Grila beyond; while the vague references to vil-
lages of tall houses far to the north represented the Corazones
people's knowledge of the pueblo
region of Arizona and New
Mexico. It follows that had these travellers come to Corazones
from the valley of Sonora, or from the north, they would have
had first hand knowledge of that "thousand leagues of inhabited
land" from "south to north along that shore"; and the vague
hints of the many storied villages would have come to them, in
greater detail and sharper outline, not at the end of their eighty
or a hundred leagues journey from the first maize village to
Corazones, but at or near its beginning, as they did come to Friar
Marcos and Melchior Diaz in the same villages a few years later.
And a comparison with Jaramillo's narratives shows that by his
reference to the pass that led through Corazones to these "many
provinces by the South Sea" Cabeza de Vaca had in mind Jara-
millo's "gateway" between Corazones, or Ures, and the "Valley
of Señora," which, it is evident, the Cabeza de Vaca party did
not enter. The principal village on Rio Oposfura, southwest of
Guasavas and east of Ures, was Batuco. Here the friendly In-
dians from Corazones met Coronado's army retreating from
Cíbola in 1541.
Considering the Cabeza de Vaca party's manner of travelling,
escorted by the inhabitants of each village visited until delivered
to the people of the next in line, the inference is reasonable, from
this hint as to the friendly relations between the two settle-
ments, the geography of the region, and Oviedo's account of the
journey, that its two final stages were from Guasavas to Batuco,
and from Batuco to Corazones, or Ures.
From their final crossing of the Rio Grande, a westward jour-
ney to the region of settled villages beyond the Sierra Madre,
was bound to lead them into the first village of this region at
Corodeguachi, or some village in its vicinity, or Babisbe, depend-
ing on which of the only two practicable trails through the
Sierra Madre in that region they elected to follow. The nature
of their subsequent journey; the general direction of their line
of march; and the fact that they learned of the settled region
from "south to north" along that coast, and the villages of tall
houses toward the north, at the end of the next stage of their
journey, instead of near its beginning, as they would have been
bound to do had they followed the more northerly route, afford
convincing proof that the first Opata settlement they entered
was at or near Babisbe.
Any definite location of the route of the Narváez pilgrims
through Sonora, depends on correctly identifying the town and
valley which they called Corazones. Most students are agreed
that this pueblo,
which become a station of much importance dur-
ing the ensuing expedition of Coronado, was at or near the site
of Ures, where Rio Sonora emerges from its mountain gorges
onto the coastal plain.
17
The lone note of dissent is that of Dr. Herbert E. Bolton,
the great authority, on Spain in the Southwest, who is especially
familiar with the explorations of Kino in the same region a
hundred and fifty yeears later. Dr. Bolton locates Corazones at
or near Sahuaripa, in the upper Yaqui valley.
18 In his published
maps of this region Dr. Bolton concedes the Cabeza de Vaca party
but one point in common with the route of Coronado, and that
not at his suggested site of Corazones, but at or near the cross-
ing of the lower Yaqui.
We shall therefore restate, in summary form, the evidence as
to Corazones to be found in the narratives of the Narváez pil-
grims, and in the available accounts of the subsequent expedi-
tions of Friar Marcos of Niza, Melchior Diaz, and Coronado
through this region in search of the villages of high houses
toward the north of which Cabeza de Vaca and Dorantes had
heard.
(a)
Oviedo:
(1) Corazones was reached after crossing the
mountains and was situated on the plain near the seashore, after
a journey of eighty leagues from the first maize village, which
was more than two hundred leagues from Culiacan. Corazones
consisted of three small pueblos,
near together, with some twenty
houses each.
(2) There they received people from the seashore, which was
ten or twelve leagues away, as these seemed to explain.
(3) This group of pueblos
was called Corazones because here
they were given more than six hundred dried deer hearts.
(4) The Corazones Indians told them that all along that
shore, from south to north, the people were numerous, had plenty
of food and much cotton, and their houses were large. The Cora-
zones people traded there for turquoises.
(5) From Corazones they marched thirty leagues up to a river
discovered by Nuño de Guzman, where they were detained fifteen
days by rain. Here they heard of the slave hunting Spaniards
to the south.
(6) Prom Corazones onward they kept along the shore ten
or twelve leagues inland, for a hundred leagues, to Rio Petlatlan.
(&) Cabeza
de
Vaca:
19 (1) Corazones was a hundred leagues
from the first settlement where they found maize and permanent
houses after leaving the Rio Grande.
(2) At Corazones the Indians gave Dorantes five emeralds,
shaped as arrow points, also six hundred hearts of deer, for which
latter reason the Spaniards called their settlement "Villa
de
los
Corazones."
(3) These Indians told them that the "emeralds" and tur-
quoises, which they gave them came from some very high moun-
tains toward the north, where they trafficked for them, where
there were villages of many people and very big houses.
(4) Through Corazones led the pass into many provinces near
the South Sea, and any one who should attempt to go there by
another route must surely be lost, for lack of food along the coast.
(5) From the river Petlatlan, to the river which Diego de
Guzman reached, where the Cabeza de Vaca party first heard
of the Spaniards, there are eighty leagues; thence back to the
village where the rain overtook them [which we identify as
Matape], twelve leagues; from there to the South Sea twelve
leagues, and back to Corazones one day's journey.
(a)
Letter
of
Mendoza
to
the
King:
When Cabeza de Vaca
returned to Spain, early in 1537, to solicit the governorship of
Florida for Andrés Dorantes and himself, Dorantes remained in
Mexico planning with Antonio de Mendoza, the viceroy, to con-
duct an exploring party in search of the land of tall houses to
the northward of Sonora, of which they had heard at Corazones.
This plan was not carried out, but Mendoza undertook this ex-
ploration in modified form by sending Friar Marcos of Niza, with
the negro Esteban, and certain Indians of this region, who had
been gathered together for the proposed Dorantes expedition as
guides and interpreters, to make this search. Francisco Vasquez
de Coronado was appointed Governor of Nueva
Galicia,
and sent
on to Culiacan to supervise the expedition under Friar Marcos.
He was also instructed to search for some rich mines of which
Mendoza had heard at Topira [Durango].
Coronado instructed Friar Marcos and his guides to proceed
forward on his journey while the Governor proceeded to Du
-
rango,
intending to recross the mountains and join with Friar
Marcos, "In a certain valley called Valle
de
los
Corazones,
being
120 leagues distant from Culiacan."
Coronado was unable to find passage through the mountains,
and so did not then reach Corazones.
20
(6) Narrative
of
Friar
Marcos:
21 Friar Marcos has left us
the following itinerary of his journey:
(1) Friar Marcos left Culiacan March 7, 1539, having with
him Estebanico, the negro who had been with Dorantes and Cabeza
de Vaca, and some north country Indians whom Coronado had set
at liberty, and went first to Rio Petlatlan. For twenty-five or
thirty leagues beyond this river he saw nothing of interest. It
had not rained there for three years. Thence he travelled
through a "desert" for four days' journey, and found some In-
dians who had never before encountered Spaniards, and travelled
for three days through their pueblos
and came to a pueblo
of
moderate size called Vacapa,
22 which had a great store of food,
because the soil there was fruitful and could be watered. Vacapa
was forty leagues distant from the sea. Friar Marcos sent some
Indians toward the sea coast, to bring some coastal Indians,
while he directed "Esteban Dorantes," the negro, to go directly
northward for fifty or sixty leagues to make inquiries as to the
villages of high houses for which they were searching. Four
days later the negro sent him word that he had heard of Cíbola,
answering to the villages sought, which was thirty days' dis-
tant from where Esteban then was. Upon receiving this mes-
sage, Friar Marcos departed from Vacapa, and travelled three
days in the direction that Esteban had gone, and was there told
that he was thirty days' distant from Cíbola. The next day he
found another village, from which people had gone forward
three or four days' journey with the negro, and a message from
Esteban saying he would await him at the end of the "first
desert." Marcos continued thus for five days, always finding in-
habited places, and then learned that after two additional days'
journey, he would come to a "desert," but that Esteban and the
Indians had made provision for his crossing it. Before reaching
this desert he found a very pleasant town, "by reason of great
store of waters conveyed thither to water same." The next day
he entered into the desert and crossed it in four days, dining
the first day "by a rivers' [arroyo] side," and at the end of
the four days entered into a well peopled valley, where the peo-
ple knew of Cíbola. Here he understood that the coast of the
sea trended much toward the west. He travelled five days in
this valley, which was all well watered and like a garden, the
villages from a quarter to half a mile long, with food, as he
thought, sufficient for three thousand horsemen. The inhabi-
tants told him that from there, there were four days journey
into another desert, and from the entrance into this second
"desert" fifteen "long days journey" to Cíbola. He entered this
second desert on the ninth of May.
(c) Castañeda's account
of
the
Journey
of
Marcos:
(1)
Castañeda explains that the negro was sent on ahead because he
did not get on well with the friars; besides the Indians in those
places through which they went got along with the negro better,
"because they had seen him before." This was why he was sent
on ahead to open up the way and pacify the Indians.
(2) Castañeda also says that it was two hundred and twenty
leagues from Culiacan to the edge of the wilderness [Marcos'
second "desert"] at Chichilticalli, and eighty leagues from there
to Cíbola, or three hundred in all, allowing ten leagues more or
less.
(a)
Mendoza'
s
letter
to
the
King,
April
17,
1540:
Mendoza
was far too prudent to permit Coronado's expensive armada to
venture forward, on the strength of Friar Marcos' report alone,
without proper investigation, so he sent Melchior Diaz, who had
received Cabeza de Vaca and his companions as Mayor of Culia-
can three and a half years before, with fifteen horsemen, to verify
the report of Friar Marcos. Diaz left Culiacan November 17,
1539, and pressed forward to the settlements on Rio San Pedro,
in modern Arizona, where he was stopped by snows and cold,
but brought back a correct description of Cíbola, as the Span-
iards afterward found it to be.
He reported that it had been a bad year, the Indians said
they had suffered much from hunger, and food and forage
for the horses was scarce, but after crossing Rio Petlatlan
he was everywhere well received by the Indians, because he
sent forward a large cross to the place where he intended to
stop, a sign received by the Indians with deep veneration. The
only important settlement he found was in a valley one hundred
and fifty leagues from Culiacan, which was well settled and had
houses with lofts. This was evidently the valley later called
"Señora."
By reason of Melchior Diaz' report of the scarcity of food
along the way, Coronado divided his army at Culiacan, and
pushed ahead with an advance party of fifty horsemen; a few
foot soldiers, most of the Indian allies, and the friars, includ-
ing Friar Marcos of Niza, leaving Tristan de Arrellano to fol-
low with the main body a fortnight later. Coronado crossed
the country without trouble, because the Indians knew Friar
Marcos, and some of the others who had been with Melchior
Diaz. The best accounts of this journey of Coronado's advance
guard are those contained in his own letter to Mendoza and the
narrative of Jaramillo.
(a)
Coronado:
(1) Coronado says he reached Corazones
May 26, 1540, and rested there a number of days. The people
there were more numerous than in any settlement between there
and Culiacan, and had a large extent of tilled ground.
(2) The people of Corazones had no corn for food, but he
heard of some at another valley called Señora and Melchior Diaz
was sent there and obtained a supply by barter.
(3) He was told there that the valley of Corazones is a long
five days' journey from the western sea. He sent to the coast
to summon Indians, and Indians came from the sea during the
four days he remained there.
(4) When he set out from Corazones for Cíbola, he kept near
the sea coast as well as he could judge, but in fact found himself
continually farther away, because the sea turns to the west, for
twelve or fifteen leagues, directly opposite Corazones.
(b) Jar
amillo:
(1) After leaving Culiacan the advance
guard with Coronado crossed Rio Petlatlan, about four days'
journey distant; the Rio
Sinaloa three days' journey further on;
thence in about five days more they arrived at Arroyo
de
los
Cedros
[northern tributary of Rio
Mayo]. From there they went
to the river called Yaquimi which took about three days; and
after marching three days more they reached another stream,
with settled Indians and storehouses of corn, beans and melons
[apparently Matape].
From there they went to the stream and
village which is called Corazones, the name wich was given to it
by Cabeza de Vaca, Dorantes, Castillo and the negro.
(2) There was an irrigation stream at Corazones, and the
country was warm.
(3) They went on from Corazones, passing through a sort of
gateway to another valley, very near this stream, which was
called Señora. It was also irrigated. The Indians were like
those at Corazones, and had the same sort of settlements and
food. This valley continued for six or seven leagues. There
were mountains; on both sides, which were very fertile. At first
the Indians at Señora were friendly but eventually they, and
"those they were able to summon thither," were their worst
enemies.
(4) From Señora they went along near this stream, crossing
it where it makes a bend, to another Indian settlement like the
others, and one day beyond, to the last of them, called Ispa
[Arizpe]. From there they went for about four days through
deserted country, to another river, called Nexpa and continued
down this stream two days, and thence turned toward the right
to the foot of the mountain chain.
Castañeda, the principal chronicler of Coronado's expedition,
advanced with the main army under Tristan de Arrellano, and
his narrative is our most important source of information, as to
its journey forward, and of the founding of the town of San
Hieronymo de los Corazones, first begun at the pueblo
so called;
then transferred to the valley of Señora, and finally removed
forty leagues forward, toward Cíbola, to the valley of Suya or
San Pedro, where it was destroyed by the Indians. Some of the
facts, particularly as to the journey forward, are also related,
somewhat more concisely, by the anonymous Relación
del
Suceso.
(a)
Relación
del
Suceso:
(1) The valley of Corazones is
one hundred and fifty leagues from the valley of Culiacan, and
the same distance from Cíbola.
(2) The best settlement between Culiacan and Cíbola is a
valley called Señora, ten leagues beyond Corazones, where a town
was afterward settled. When Coronado passed there was no corn
at any point between Culiacan and Cíbola, except in this valley
of Señora.
(3) Coronado divided his army at Culiacan because Melchior
Diaz, who had just been over the road, reported that the food
supply was small. He went ahead with the advance guard, and
directed Tristan de Arrellano to follow with the main army
twenty days later to Corazones, and there establish a base and
await orders.
(b) Castañeda:
(1) The main army reached a province
which Cabeza de Vaca had named Corazones. Here Tristan de
Arrellano founded a town, and named it San Hieronimo de los
Corazones but after it had been started saw that it could not be
maintained there, so it was transferred to a valley which had
been called Señora, by the Spaniards.
(2) From Corazones a force went down the river to the sea
coast.
(3) After the rains ceased, the army went on to where the
town of Señora was afterward located, because there were pro-
visions in that region.
(4) Petlatlan is twenty leagues from Culiacan and one hun-
dred and thirty leagues from the valley of Señora. There are
many rivers between the two, also settlements of the same kind
of people for example Sinaloa, Bayoma, Teacoma, Yaquimi and
other smaller ones. There is also the Corazones, down the valley
of Señora.
Señora is a river and valley thickly settled by able bodied peo-
ple. All about this province, toward the mountains, there is a
large population, in separate villages; little provinces each con-
taining ten or twelve villages. Seven or eight of them, of which
Castañeda knew the names, were Comupatrico, Mochilagua, Arispa
and Vallecillo. There were others which they did not see.
(6) It was forty leagues from Señora to the valley of Suya.
The town of San Hieronimo was established in this valley, where
there was a rebellion later. The people were the same as those
in Señora, and had the same dress and language, habits and
customs.
(7) In September, 1540, Melchior Diaz was assigned to com-
mand the garrison at the new town of Hearts [Corazones] in
the valley of Señora, under orders to take the best men and
go to the coast in search of the ships. He left Diego Alcaraz
in command, at San Hieronimo, and proceeded to the coast by
the north and west. He made his way beyond the Colorado,
where he was accidentally killed. His men returned in good
order to Señora, where Alcaraz, in the meantime, had had sev-
eral mutinies. When informed of this, Coronado sent Pedro
Tovar to San Hieronimo to take charge and sift out the vicious
men. On his arrival Tovar learned that a soldier had been
killed by natives of the province, with a poisoned arrow, and that
the soldiers sent to investigate had not been well received.
(8) Tovar sent Diego Alcaraz with a force to seize the chiefs
and principal men of a village in the hills, called Valle
de
los
Vellacos
[Valley of Knaves]. Alcaraz went there and seized his
prisoners, but decided to ransom them, in exchange for cloth,
thread, and other things his men needed. Free again, these chiefs
renewed the war with utmost venom. Seventeen of Alcaraz' men
were killed with poisoned arrows, and his detachment was saved
only by his Indian allies from Corazones.
(9) After Alcaraz' disaster at Valle de los Vellacos, Tovar
felt that could no longer sustain himself at Señora, and so
moved forty leagues toward Cíbola into the valley of Suya. He
then took all of the best and most experienced men and marched
to rejoin Coronado. The worthless men left behind became im-
bued with the idea that they were to be abandoned, as their post
was not quite on the direct route from Cíbola to Culiacan, and
half of them mutinied and returned to Culiacan, under one Pedro
de Avila, whom they had chosen as their captain. Diego de Al-
caraz remained in command of San Hieronymo, or Suya, with a
small force. The town was situated on a little river; Alcaraz'
men were warned by unusual fires that danger was about, and
doubled their guard, but relaxed their precautions toward morn-
ing, and the enemy surprised them, killing Alcaraz and two of
his soldiers, many Indian servants and nearly all the horses and
cattle. The survivors fled toward Culiacan, on foot, keeping
away from the road "and did not find any food until they reached
Corazones, where the Indians, like the good friends they have
always been, provided them with food," and they continued on
to Culiacan.
(10) On his final retreat to Culiacan, Coronado's army was
harassed by the Indians, and at one place, several days before
reaching Señora, a Spaniard was wounded with a poisoned arrow,
but was treated with the juice of the quince and did not die.
Some horses were killed before reaching Batuco, "where the
friendly Indians from Corazones carne to meet the army and see
the general. They were always friendly and had treated the
Spaniards! well, furnishing them with what food they needed,
and men, if they needed these. Our men had always treated
them well, and repaid them for these things."
Any question as to the identity and location of Coronado's
valley of Señora, is set at rest by Father Kino, who identifies it
many times over, as, for example:
"In August of this year 1702, the governor of San Marcelo
. . . came ... to Nuestra-
Benora
de
los
Dolores;
and
all asked me for the necessary fathers and holy baptism for
themselves, for the Yuma and Qniquima nations, and for others
near by. And when I said to the governor . . . that it
would be well for them to go to the Valley
of
Sonora
to ask
Father Visitor Antonio Leal for that great boon for their souls
. . . they insinuated to me that they would be glad if I could
go with them.
"Thereupon, leaving other tasks;, I set out with those poor
souls, and in three days we arrived at the pueblo
of
Guepaca
after passing throug the valley and pueblo
of Real de Opodepe.
.
. . Arriving at the Valley
of
Sonora,
and its pueblo
of
Guepaca,
we were welcomed with all kindness by the father
visitor, Antonio Leal."
23
Oviedo says positively that from Corazones onward the Narváez
survivors kept along the shore of the South Sea, ten or twelve
leagues inland, by which we know, from his other allusions, that
they were travelling from north to south, and parallel with the
coast. The distance from the coast was much greater than they
supposed, since their estimate of distance was hearsay, and from
Indians whom they had difficulty in understanding. At the end
of thirty leagues this journey brought them to the river discov-
ered by Nuño de Guzman.
Cabeza de Vaca says that at the end of a day's journey from
Corazones on this route there was another village, where rain
overtook them, and the river rose so high they could not cross
it, and so they remained there fifteen days. Oviedo places this
fifteen days' detention at the river discovered by Nuño de Guz-
man. Cabeza de Vaca clears this apparent discrepancy later by
explaining that from the river which Diego de Guzman reached
to the village where the rain overtook them there were twelve
leagues, from which we may infer that while the rain overtook
them at this first village south of Corazones, the fifteen days
waiting for the river to fall took place on the banks of the
stream in question. "The village where the rain overtook them,"
for several reasons, is thought to have been identical with Friar
Marcos' Vacapa; and the village mentioned by Jaramillo, as
where he found maize and melons; hence Matape.
There can be no mistake in identifying this river "discovered
by Nuño de Guzman" as the lower Yaqui, for Jaramillo, revers-
ing the calls of Dorantes and Cabeza de Vaca, says that from the
river called Yaquimi, Coronado's advance party marched three
days to another stream, with settled Indians who had stored sup-
plies of corn, beans and melons [Matape]; and from there to
the stream and village called Corazones, by Cabeza de Vaca,
Dorantes, Castillo and the negro, thence passing through a sort
of gateway to another valley, very near this same stream, which
was called Señora, and which continued for six or seven leagues.
Relacion
del
Suceso
places the valley of Señora 10 leagues
beyond Corazones, toward Cíbola; Coronado intimates that it
was near Cabeza de Vaca's Corazones; and toward Cíbola, and
Melchior Diaz that it was midway from Culiacan to Cíbola;
while Castañeda states positively that Corazones was beyond the
Yaquimi, and down the valley of Señora; and that Señora is a
river and thickly settled valley. He mentions Arispe as one of
its settlements, and Arispe still stands in the Sonora valley, hav-
ing been known to the Spaniards without change of name since
Coronado's day. We may therefore safely infer that the route
of the Cabeza de Vaca party, and of Coronado's advance, were
practically the same from Corazones to the river Yaqui, or
Yaquimi; although, of course, their directions were reversed.
This long array of clear and positive testimony certainly locates
the Corazones of Coronado's narratives at the present site of
Ures; and as certainly identifies it with the settlement so called
by Cabeza de Vaca and Dorantes; for it should be borne in mind
that each of the expeditions mentioned followed naturally after
the others; Friar Marcos was guided by Esteban, who had been
there with Cabeza de Vaca and Dorantes; Melchior Diiaz acted
on information had from the Cabeza de Vaca party and from
Friar Marcos, and was guided, doubtless, by Indians who had
accompanied the Friar; Coronado was guided both by Friar
Marcos and by Melchior Diaz.
FOOTNOTES:
de los descendientos legitimos de los conquistadores y primeros pobla-
dores españoles por Baltasar Dorantes de Carranza, pp. 264-275. Baltasar
wrote in 1604, and though the first pages of his manuscript are missing,
it was evidently addressed to the viceroy.
ico, Nueva Vizcaya and approaches thereto, to 1773, Vol. I, p. 83.
Colección de Varios Documentos para la Historia de la Florida, 136.
lier from Hakluyt.
in Southern United States, 1528-1543, pp. 136-137.
call Texas is condensed from that contained in the introduction to the
Madrid edition of his Historia General y Natural de las Indias, Tomo I,
pp. IX-CVII, written by Don José Amador de los Rios, of the Royal
Academy of History, at Madrid, and entitled Vida y Escritores de Gon -
zalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes.
notes.
in Texas, New Mexico, etc. (London and New York, 1854), I, 141-142;
II, 214-400.
A graphic picture of the valley of Rio de Sonora and adjacent regions
may be had from Bartlett's Personal Narrative and Bandelier's Contri -
butions to the History of the Southwestern united States. More than
thirty years elapsed between Bartlett's explorations and Bandelier's, yet
together their descriptions read almost like the narrative of a continuous
journey.
1. From Guadalupe Pass to Arispe (Bartlett, I, 243-287)
Leaving Ojo de Vaca, New Mexico, on May 17, 1851, Bartlett travelled
south and southwest, over plains, and through easy defiles, but amid
high mountains, until May 20, when, he says, "Our course lay direct
for the mountains, which gradually closed in upon us until we arrived
by an easy ascent at the summit. Here we struck the old road leading
in a southeasterly course to Janos; and here our real difficulties seemed
to begin. We had reached what appeared from the plain below to be
the apex of the ridge; but we found ourselves all at once surrounded by
steep hills, steeper and higher mountains, ravines, gullies and frightful
canons. A wide and discouraging prospect was open before us. First
came an ocean of mountain peaks, if I may so term them; for, from
the eminence on which we stood, we overtopped the whole, looking down
upon them as in a bird's-eye view. Beyond these, looking to the west,
arose other mountains, which gradually receded from the view, until in
the dim distance the horizon was bounded by a point blue outline of
some range a hundred miles distant. . . . The first descent is down
a long hill, where the wheels have to be locked. Next the road passes
down a chalky cliff . . . after this it winds over peaks, the declinity
always greater than the ascent, until at length the valley is reached.
. . . But the most dangerous portions were when we had a sidelong
inclination to contend with; for here the wagons had to be supported
on one side, as well as held back. According to Col. Cooke the descent
here is a thousand feet. . . . After four or five hours hard tugging
we reached a small stream, where the road took a sudden turn to the
south, leading to a frightful canon. . . . I had walked the whole dis-
tance through this defile, which is known as the Guadalupe Pass. . . .
Our day's journey could hardly have exceeded twelve miles. . . . The
little stream on which we are now camped flows west; so that it is now
evidence we have crossed the great dividing ridge, or central plateau,
which extends from north to south across the whole continent of North
America. . . . Our route continued along the canon for five or six
miles, directly in or near, the bed of the stream. . . . On emerging
from the cañon our road led up a high hill where there was a level
plateau, of a desert like character, about eight miles across, with an ex-
cellent road, which brought us to the rich valley of San Bernardino.
Here was stretched out before us a level patch of green, resembling a
luxuriant meadow, some eight or ten miles long by one broad; and di-
rectly beyond, on a little spur of the pleateau, lay the ruins of the
hacienda of San Bernardino. Crossing this valley we stopped on the
banks of a little stream, a tributary of one of the sources of the Huaqui
[Yaqui], which passes within a few rods of the ruins. . . . We re-
sumed our journey, taking a westerly direction. The road first entered
a thick chaparral of mesquite, through which it continued four or five
miles; when we struck for three mountains, in a line with each other
from east to west; the last of a conical form, crowned by a perpendicu-
lar mass of reddish rock, covered with green or yellow moss. Here the
country was exceedingly hilly and barren. For two or three miles the
vegetation was limited to a perfect forest of fouquieras. . . . I ex-
pected to find water at the base of these hills . . . but all was dried
up, and there was no alternative but to push on some twelve or fourteen
miles to Black Water Creek, the Agua Prieta of the Mexicans. Emerg-
ing from these hills we came upon an open plain with an excellent road
and very steep hill . . . continuing on the plateau for six or eight
miles, we again descended into a pleasant valley called Barbabi, thickly
covered with oaks. As we were moving along through these, a block of
wild turkey flew up. . . . Having now made twenty miles, and find-
ing ourselves in one of the most romantic spots, we had yet seen . . .
we rested for the night . . . we were in a complete amphitheater of
low rounded hills, all covered with trees, with a high and rugged moun-
tain on the south. . . . This valley, owing to its seclusion is con-
sidered one of the most dangerous places in the country.
"May 29th. . . . By daybreak . . . we were under way and
soon entered a mountain or cañon . . . the valleys and mountain
sides were covered with oaks, while the summits, so far as I could judge,
were covered with pines. . . . These mountains are said to contain
gold, and we were told that 'lumps,' in comparison with which those of
California are but gravel stones, could be had for the picking up . . .
and we afterwards learned that the placers had really been worked with
good results, but the frequent inroads of the Apaches caused them to be
abandoned. After leaving the cañon our course lay southeast, over a
pleasant and well wooded country of oak, ash and mesquite . . .
[we] reached a small running stream, when a beautiful valley a mile in
width opened on us, with luxuriant fields of wheat, corn and peas. It
was intersected by a broad acequia, the course of which was marked
for a mile or more by a line of cottonwoods and willows. At the west-
ern extremity of this valley, on a spur of the plateau, stood the village
of Bacuachi. This is a peculiarity of all Mexican towns on the frontier.
Farmers . . . congregate on the desert table land, elevated from
thirty to a hundred feet above the adjacent valley from which they de-
rive their subsistence. The great end of security is thus attained at
the sacrifice of all comfort and convenience. . . . Indeed these peo-
ple at present know not what comfort is; but with their rich soil and
the advantages of irrigation, a few years only of peace and safety would
be required to make these beautiful valleys the most charming abodes
imaginable.
"May 30th.--Soon after leaving Bacuachi we turned from the valley
and took the bed of the Sonora River. The mountains here approach so
close together that the river has barely washed its passage through, and
no valley or bottom is again seen for many miles. We entered this canon
by the bed of the river, which is but a few inches deep, crossing and re-
crossing it a hundred times during the day's journey. Sometimes for
miles we were so closely hemmed in by the perpendicular sides of this
extraordinary defile, which arose six or eight hundred feet above us on
either hand, that we could not see a hundred yards before or behind us;
and at other places, the dense foliage, which sung up from little islands,
hung like a canopy over our heads. The whole course of the river,
through this cañon affords a series of most delightful scenes; and the
first few miles of the rider through it will long be remembered. . . .
The rocks through which the stream has forced its way exhibited the
most picturesque and fantastic forms. Columns, turrets, towers and
pyramids, as nature made them, decked with brilliant flowers, or bear-
ing strange cacti, appeared at every turn . . . the air was filled
with a delicious perfume from grape and millilat; and birds of brilliant
plumage and sweetest song flitted across our path. . . . There is no
wagon road here, nor have we seen one since we left the California road
at Agua Prieta. The country admits of nothing but mule paths; and
what little transportation there is, is carried on the backs of mules.
Yet, with a guide, we managed to push our way with carriage and six
mule wagons through this defile by cutting away the bushes and follow-
ably well in the bottom lands, and is cultivated in sufficient quantities
to supply a small sugar mill . . . The plain on which the town
stands is intersected with many arroyos which after heavy rains become
filled, inundate the country, and endanger the town. Several extrensive
haciendas are situated in the vicinity. . . . There are a few wheeled
vehicles here, and among them some very fine private carriages, which
are used between Ures and Hermosillo, where the road is good; but they
can not be employed except with difficulty, in traversing other parts of
the country, owing to continuous mountain chains which intersect the
state on north, east and south. . . . The road from Ures [to Hermo -
sillo] is excellent for several miles extending along the bottom land of
the Sonora River, which is one continuous corn field, to the village of
Guadalupe, six miles distant; after that, still keeping in or near the
valley and often crossing the stream, the road becomes more hilly, and
in many places there are bad gullies. It is then hard and smooth to
Tapahui, twenty-seven miles from Ures. . . . The natural road con-
tinued down the valley, hard and smooth, past several haciendas and
ranchos, with extensive and highly cultivated grounds. . . . [We]
reached Hermosillo, distant 27 miles [from Tapahui]. . . . Hermo-
sillo . . . is thirty leagues distant from the nearest point of the
shores of the California Gulf. . . . The town lies in a valley almost
ten miles in length by four in width. It is closely hemmed in on the
east by a mountain or rugged file of rocks, . . . called La Sierra de
la Campana . . . several small ranges of mountains, known as the
Colorado and Chanati Sierras, encompass the valley through which flows;
the Sonora river, furnishing sufficient water to irrigate the lands ad-
jacent. This river . . . has two great branches. The eastern or
Ures branch, generally bears the name of Sonora River. The western
branch has several appellations, but it is usually called the San Miguel.
They unite near Hermosillo, and, after flowing half way to the gulf, lose
themselves in a cienega or swamp."
bottom of the valley, with a line of bushes which I supposed to mark
the stream we were in search of. ... I found only a dry ravine,
without a drop of water. ... A few miles in advance, following
the road, I also perceived a line of large cotton woods. . . . [again]
no water was found. . . . We had now come about twenty-two miles
without water, and nearly forty from our last camping place, in Guada-
lupe Pass. ... As soon as it was light, Col. Craig, Mr. Thurber and
others set off in search of water; and after . . . about two miles
they struck a fine spring, . . . known to the Mexicans by the name
of Aqua Prieta or Black Water. . . .
California road; our destination being Fronteras, the nearest town in
Sonora . . . laid down on Cook's map as about fourteen miles to the
south. . . . May 23d ... we were off by 10 o'clock, our course
lay south, towards the western point of a high mountain. Our guides
led us along a valley through which ran the stream called Black Water
creek (Agua Prieta)--that is to say, when there was water enough in
it to run. We found it here and there in pools. The country was flat,
and covered with luxuriant grass, resembling a meadow. Our course was
slow being much impeded by deep gullies. . . . As we proceeded, the
valley become more picturesque, being covered at intervals with mezquite
trees, larger than any we had seen. . . . As we approached the moun-
tain, we found ourselves in a valley still more luxuriant, having a beau-
tiful stream winding through it, overhung with walnut, ash, and cotton
wood trees. . . . We stopped at five o'clock near a fine grove on the
banks of the stream.
lowing the stream which led around the western extremity of the moun-
tain called Covayan. Our course still continuing south, we struck across
an elevation and entered the valley beyond, here covered with large cot-
ton wood trees. The road now continued level, and after a ride of four
hours, we reached Fronteras. . . . Fronteras is supported by a val-
ley two miles in width, which we entered about six miles from the town.
This space of arable land, limited as it is, is said to be one of the largest
and best in Sonora. The soil is exceedingly rich, and is capable of pro-
ducing abundant crops of maize and wheat, (the only cereals cultivated)
fruits of every sort, and with pains, every kind of vegetables. But here,
as in all parts of Mexico that I have seen, this species of culture is but
little attended to. Beans, pumpkins, and onions are raised, it is true,
but all other vegetables are unknown.
would scarcely be characterized as a creek in the United States; but all
the streams here are very small. This river winds its way through moun-
tains, and occasionally expands, forming a valley or bottom covered with
rank grass and luxuriant foliage. It is here called Fronteras River,
and like many other streams in the country, changes its name with the
towns it passes. . . . [Bartlett mistook this river, a branch of the
Yaqui, for Rio Sonora.]
miles from Fronteras we passed a small stream running through a little
valley, on the opposite side of which, on the edge of the plateau, stood
the deserted village of Cocuiarachi [Quiquiarachi]. The fields that skirted
the roads, the rows of pomegranate trees in full bloom, and the orchards
of pear, peach, and mulberry, all betokened a high state of cultivation,
. . . it was indeed sad to see desolation where a few years ago there
had been so much happiness. On leaving this place we ascended a long
was very gentle, creating only a ripple here and there . . . after
leaving the cañon a valley opened upon us; this we followed about nine
miles, and encamped near a cluster of adobe house which bears the name
of Chinapi; distance travelled about twenty-two miles.
"May 31st.--Our route continued along the bed of the river for about
ten miles, the valley widening as we advanced, and becoming more cul-
tivated, and at length we reached Arispe, and encamped in the alameda.
. . . Arispe was formerly the capital of the State of Sonora, but
. . . the seat of government was in 1832 removed to Ures."
Ramirez, who with the redoubtable Kino travelled over a part of this
same region in October, 1706. (Bolton, Kino's Historical Memoir of
Pimería Alta, 1683-1711, II, 197-198.)
Fronteras on the thirteenth of October, we arrived at Quiquiarachi.
at the pueblo of Bacuachi, whence I sent two companions as your grace
had ordered. On the fifteenth, after a ten leagues journey we arrived
at the Real de Bacanuche. On the sixteenth, after a twenty leagues
journey, we arrived at nightfall at the pueblo of Nuestra Señora de Los
Dolores" [Cosari, on Rio Ban Miguel], the eastern main branch of Rio
Sonora.] In notes to this diary, Dr. Bolton explains, "Santa Rosa de
Corodeguachi [Fronteras] is on the Nacozari railroad about thirty-five
miles south of Douglas, Arizona. Cuquarichi [Quiquiarachi] is about
ten miles southwest of Fronteras. Bacoachi is on the Rio Sonora, about
twenty-five miles north of Arizpe."
tributions to History of the Southwestern United States) incorporates
a pleasing account of his own journey northward through the valley of
Rio de Sonora:
Vacapa [identified by Bandelier with Matape] . . . and followed the
track of the negro in a northerly direction. After three days' march he
reached the village where Esteban had received the first intelligence of
Cíbola. In three days march from Matape, going north, he must have
reached the valley of the Sonora River, near Babiacora . . . the In-
dians there were Opatas.
cession. . . . Beyond doubt he was now marching up the Sonora
River, through the picturesque and fairly populous valley that extends
at intervals on both banks. . . . It is indeed a beautiful vale . . .
combining the grandeur of picturesque mountain gorges with the soft-
ness of extremely fertile expanses. Nothing is more striking than the
contrast between the rich vale, extending from Aconchi to Sinoquipe,
and the gigantic cleft, bordered by towering cliffs, which extends from
Sinoquipe, as far north as Arizpe. The lonely traveller who is compelled
to cross and recross the Sonora River innumerable times, as the bed of
it occupies nearly the entire bottom of the gorge, is in doubt as to what
he shall most admire, whether the height and form of the crags and
pinnacles, or the vivid hues of their strata, or the strange vegetation
that often clings to the most precipitous walls. . . . From Matape
the most direct, and in point of safety and comfort the most convenient
about Babiacora, the river bed afforded an easy, and almost a direct,
road to the north. In northern Sonora the water courses indicate the
routes of travel. There are two main streams which run almost parallel
with each other in a southerly direction, the Sonora and the Yaqui;
although the latter, taking its origin under the 29th degree of latitude,
flows to the north first, approaching the line of the United States to
within seventy miles. From Matape the Sonora was by far the most
accessible. It also afforded advantages in the nature of its population.
To reach the Yaqui from Matape entailed difficult long and dangerous
journeys over desolate, frequently waterless mountains. The Opatas on
the upper Yaqui were cut up into small communities, at war with one
another and with other tribes . . . and where the (Upper Yaqui)
is called Rio de Babisbe, Rio de Huassavas, and Rio de Sahuarira.
[communities] were more distant from each other than those on the
Sonora River. There is but one considerable valley in that part of
Sonora which is irrigated directly by the large stream. This the valley
where Babisbe and Bazerac are situated. The other vales are much
smaller. The Opatas at Tamichopa, at Quitamac, and at Huassavas,
and still more those at Babisbe, were divided into independent communi-
ties and are mentioned as distinct tribes in 1645 by Ribas. . . .
Alone the Sonora, however, none of these obstacles arose.
cribes as lying in a country well irrigated and fertile. This would agree
either with the situation of Bacuachi, or with that of Mututicachi, on
the upper course of the Sonora River. Remains of Indian villages are
still visible higher up, as far as 'Los Fresnos,' ten miles south of where
the stream rises, but they lie in a gorge. At either of the two places
first mentioned, however, a broad sunny valley expands, and especially
at Bacuachi the water supply is ample. Remains of older settlements
are found around and near the present village. . . . Beyond Mututi-
cachi, and as high up as Janoverachi and Los Fresnos, the river flows
through a gorge, or to say the least, through a narrow valley, where
there is but little room for cultivation, and only in a few sites. On
the whole stretch of thirty miles to Los Fresnos I heard only of burial
places. At Los Fresnos there are ruins but the valley is a mere bay
of small extent. . . .
of four days' march. . . . Such is, indeed, the expanse between the
northern end of the valley of Bacuachi and the upper course of the San
Pedro River of Southern Arizona. Mountain fastnesses, not treeless,
but wild and rugged, separate the site of Mututicachi from the present
Palominas or Ochoaville on the San Pedro. . . . The most direct
route is a 'short cut,' following the Sonora River to its source (the Ojo
de Agua del Valle) and thence along the eastern base of the Sierra de
San José, to the upper course of the Arizonian San Pedro. The dis-
tance . . . on this trail, is quite eighty miles, to the vicinity of the
present settlement of Fairbanks, near where vestiges of farmer villages
of the Sobay Puris begin to appear."
Ures: "Hard by runs the Sonora River, the bottom land of which, ex
tending for more than a mile on either side, is exceedingly fertile. Its
use, however, is almost wholly confined to the production of corn, wheat
beans, pumpkins and chile. . . . Oranges, lemons, quinces, pome-
granates and peaches abound. . . . The sugar cane grows remark-
of the United States, 137, note.
Vol. II, opposite page 235, and supporting text.
1543; George Parker Winship, Journey of Coronado, map, page XXVI;
Bandelier, Journey of Cabeza de Vaca, 161; James Newton Baskett, "A
Study of the Route of Cabeza de Vaca," The Quarterly, I, 312; W.
Lowery, Spanish Settlements Within the Present Limits of the United
States, 1513-1561, page 196.
States, 106-178.
ton adds, in a note, that "Huepaca (Guepaca) is on Rio de Sonora,
about thirty miles south of Arispe." It is in fact in the midst of the
beautiful valley described by Bandelier as extending from Sinoquipe to
Aconchi, which is identified with Coronado's valley of Señora.
THE BRYAN-HAYES CORRESPONDENCE
EDITED BY
E. W. WINKLER
Galveston, Nov. 7th, 1879.
I send you engravings of the faces of Stephen F. Austin and
myself, gotten up for a book of men of Texas.
45 I thought you
would like to have them among the faces of your friends.
I have written you that my niece Miss Betty Ballinger will be
in Washington soon on a visit to her Uncle Judge Miller, and
her cousin Mrs. Stocking. I will give her letters to you and
Mrs. Hayes. You will both like her.
I have just finished a letter to Geo. Jones in reply to a long
one from him.
I think you have it in your power to do good in shaping to
some extent future political feeling. I trust that you have lost
none of your conservative feeling and will work in that direction.
Your sincere friend,
Guy M. Bryan.
P. S. I expected Ohio to go Republican. Jones is greatly
gratified at the result.
Private.
Galveston, Dec. 25th, 1879.
This is Christmas day--all around me is festivity and joy. My
-children (Hally and Guy) with those of Ballingers and Col.
Jack's are having a merry time. I have laughed with them long
enough and I am glad to see them happy, but I have now with-
drawn to my own room where I am very sad. These holidays of the
year, which bring so much of happiness to others, are reminders to
me of my great calamity, for eight years ago, on Jan. 1, 1872, my
beloved wife died, and with her went out much of the light of
my life. I recall with melancholy pleasure the words of sym-
pathy and affection you and your uncle then addressed to me.
You said that you felt like one of your own relations had been
taken away and that you were solicitous about the effect on me.
These words come back to me with every new year and naturally
excite my tender emotions; these and the time of year carry me
back to the past--to Columbus, to you, your sister, mother, Uncle
and Mt. Platt. Columbus to me in college days was a dear
place, for it was your home, and the home of your sister who
treated me like I was a brother.
It always seemed to me in those days that we in our college
friendships were first to each other. I shall never forget as I have
never forgotten this. We may sometimes differ on questions of
statesmanship, but we will never differ as to our
friendship
for
each other.
I am sorry that the "boom for Grant" should not be a "boom
for Hayes." You have done more for pacification and if re-
elected could in my opinion do more for the destruction of sec-
tionalism, and benefit for the Country and especially the South
than any other Republican or any other person. My confidence
in your adherence to your patriotic purposes, and to your mis-
sion of uprooting sectionalism is the same it was when I left
you. In my intercourse with others I always sustain or excuse
you when I think it necessary. There are some things you have
done I regret, but you have done more for the South than a Demo-
ocrat in your position could have done. I regret that men from
the South in Congress did not understand you as I did; had they,
it Would have been better for the country. I speak from my
standpoint. I wish you would be reelected. I believe it would
be a good thing for the country and the South. I wish this from
my knowledge of your views as expressed to me, from my friend-
ship for you and my section.
I gave letters to my niece (Miss Ballinger) to you and Mrs.
Hayes. I hope you will give her the opportunity of knowing
you. She expresses herself as much pleased with Mrs. Hayes'
manners, etc., at her reception. I am particularly anxious that
she should return to Texas thinking of you as I have told her
she would, when she knew you.
With affectionate regards to Mrs. Hayes and your children,
I am as ever
Your friend,
Guy M. Bryan.
P. S. Hally sends love and a Merry Christmas, and happy
New Year greeting to Fanny. Laura is still in Va. at school.
I have not seen her for more than a year. Willie is still on the
Brazos in Perry Bryan's store; he
is
well.
Galveston, March 10th, 1880.
I understand there is some doubt about the confirmation of
Phillips for marshal of this District. Should he be withdrawn
or rejected, I take pleasure in stating to you that Mr. I. C. Ogle
of this city, a Republican of influence and good standing with
his party and the community of Galveston, sensible and efficient
as a man, a deacon of the Baptist Church, industrious and a use-
ful and respected member of society, would make a good officer as
Marshal if appointed. His appointment would be acceptable to
good men of both parties. Mr. Ogle has been a resident of
Texas for twenty-one years. He was a Whig, and a Union man
during the war, and a Republican since. He was the first man
I heard say that he was for you for President; he said this to
me directly after the publication of my letter to Norton, and
adhered to it throughout. His family was originally from Penn-
sylvania, but he is I believe a native of West Va. I do not
think you can make any mistake in nominating him. I thank
you sincerely for your and Mrs. Hayes kind attentions to my
niece Betty. She is greatly pleased with you and Mrs. Hayes,
and you have the heartfelt thanks of her parents for the same.
Write me.
Yours as ever,
Guy M. Bryan.
P. S. Griffin is a Carpetbagger, and has been in office ever
since he came to Texas.
Private & confidential
Executive Mansion,
Washington,
28 March, 1880
My dear Guy:
I don't write many letters except on compulsion. My writ-
ing is enormous in an office way. I neglect my friends from
sheer weariness.
We have enjoyed, ever so much, the visit with us of your niece
Miss Betty. For the last twelve or fifteen years we have been
in the habit of enlivening our home by filling it at certain sea-
sons with young people--especially with young ladies. Miss
Betty won our hearts and heads completely. With all desirable
qualities which gain confidence and respect she unites also what-
ever wins friendship and affection. We are greatly obliged to
you for the opportunity to know her.
I am now in my last year of the Presidency and look forward
to its close as a school boy longs for the coming vacation. I am
not without pride in results obtained. In so extensive a sphere
of duty, it is impossible not to leave large tracts of territory un-
attended to. But here in W. the Government I am confident
was never better served. The Foreign service was probably
never
more creditable nor more useful; this I say with some doubt.
The appointments to Judgeships, as a whole, I can stand by.
We, I think have at last begun the final solution of the Indian
question, viz., citizenship & an abandonment of tribal relations.
I need not speak of Financial Success, or The Southern ques-
tion. (By the by, I have appointed in the last four months over
forty Southern Democrats.--notably Trescott of South Carolina
to China.) As to foreign affairs, has not something been done
to inaugurate a strong foreign policy?
There now! Am I not capable of bragging?
Alas! nobody knows the shortcomings better than I do. But
I leave them out of this letter to my oldest and nearest friend
of the better days.
As ever
Sincerely
R. B. Hayes
Dear Rud:
Galveston, April 19th, 1880.
On my return to the city three days since I found yours of
the 28th ult. I am very much obliged to you for your kind let-
ter. I know that your duties are very onerous and that you have
much writing to do, and had you not been so good a correspond-
ent in the past I should not have looked for an occasional letter
from you. lam not willing to give up the expectation of a let-
ter now and then even if you have to neglect others.
I knew that you would like Betty, and I knew that she would
like you and Mrs. Hayes when you knew each other. I am grate-
ful to you for the cordial hospitality and friendly attentions shown
her by you and Mrs. Hayes. Her letters home show that she
appreciates all your kindness, and that you and Mrs. Hayes have
her friendship, admiration and esteem. She is now with my
daughter at Hollins Institute, Va., where she will remain a week,
and then return home. Her parents are most grateful to you
for your kindness to their daughter, and should you ever visit
Galveston will be most happy to show to you their appreciation
of your treatment of her. Although you say you look forward
to the close of your term with feelings of "a school boy longing
for the coming vacation," I wish you could remain in office four
years longer to carry into effect your
real
views
and feelings in
regard to the whole
country. For I believe then you would boldly
consummate what you began, and from the force of circumstances
have been constrained to somewhat vary or suspend. My great
desire, and I know it to be yours, is to see sectionalism
as dis-
tinguished by "the bloody shirt" extirpated. Believing this (un-
less driven off by yourself and platform of your party) if you
should be nominated I would support you. I fully agree with
you. You have much in your administration that you can look
at with pride. And I think you can to your "oldest and warm-
est friends" speak your mind freely without being considered by
him as "bragging."
The Texas Delegation to Chicago Convention will be for Grant.
The latter made capital in Texas by his visit.
46 A good many
Democrats would not be averse to his election, for they are in-
clined to believe he would give "peace."
46General Grant's visit to Texas occurred during the latter part of
March, 1880.
Sherman by some of his bloody shirt declarations has not the
moral support of Democrats that Grant has. I did not see Grant
nor have I ever seen him. I was not in Galveston when he was
here. I hope he has learned much by his eight years of civil
service and travels. If he has not improved sufficiently to rise
far above his surroundings when in the White House, it will be
a calamity to the country to have him again as President. I
believe you and Mrs. Hayes have purified the White House, and
I trust whoever succeeds you will follow your example.
I want to visit my daughter in Va., but I am so poor I fear
that I may not be able to do so. Should I go on, I may call to
see you a little while. I learn "Old Trow/ warm-hearted Old
Trow, is Commissioner of Indian Affairs. God bless the old fel-
low! I would like to see him. I see him now as he rolled in
the Nu Pi Kappa Hall that night when he brought us rein-
forcements. He is one of the men that I knew at College that
has always had a warm spot in my heart. I liked
many but few
that my heart bounded to. I wrote you about Geo. Williamson.
I hope you may be able to help him. He is poor and has a large
family and lost his law business by accepting service under gov-
ernment. lam glad that you will still appoint some Democrats.
I thought that you had yielded to the requirements of party
and given up that idea which at one time I know you enter-
tained. And with all deference, had you followed it, it would
have made you very strong in the South. How much injury it
would have done you in your party I do not know. I regret
deeply that you could not have carried out your original policy,
and that Southern Congressmen had not the confidence in you
that I had and that you were entitled to. Had they met you
(as I think they ought to have done) you would have had a
party of your own. a
party
for
the
sake
of
country
that would
have placed you in the second term without difficulty. I did not
mean to say this, but I have written my real feelings and opin-
ions, and if they do not please know that they were not meant to
offend, but came from a friend.
Present me most kindly to your wife and children. As ever
your
Sincere friend,
Guy M. Bryan.
P. S. In reply I am decidedly in favor of the Monroe Doc-
trine in regard to the Canal across Istmus and your foreign
policy as I understand it.
Private
Executive Mansion,
Washington,
23rd Ap./80
My dear Guy
We are all in good health, and enjoying the lovely weather of
our opening spring. When you come North we hope you will
make us a good long visit, and that your daughter will come
with you.
In politics there is little that you do not know as well as the
wise men here. It is thought by most talkers here on both sides
that Tilden will capture the nomination at Cincinnati, and at
the same time most of them think that he will be beaten by any
body the Chicago Convention may name. If Tilden fails and
Bayard or Hancock is taken at Cincinnati many Republicans
think either of the leading candidates of their side will find it
hard sledding. This is about all on that topic.
I notice with gratification what you say of me personally. No
doubt my position has improved, and is improving.
Webb has been getting our home ready at Fremont. We shall
return to it with the greatest satisfaction. On the topic you are
most interested in our politics, I hear on all sides the confession
that after all conciliation has conciliated. This is the meaning
of Gen. Grant's recent speeches.
As ever
Sincerely,
R. B. Hayes
Private
Galveston, April 27th/8C
I have yours of the 23rd inst. I thank you for your kind in-
vitation to visit your family with my daughter Laura. It would
give me pleasure to see you, & to introduce to you & Mrs Hayes
& family my daughter. Her cousin Betty spent several days with
her, & she (Betty) speaks well of her. Laura writing me while
her cousin was with her says, "Cousin Betty's account of Mr &
Mrs Hayes made me love them, & want to see them very much."
Betty's visit to you & Mrs Hayes was a delightful one to her,
You have a strong friend in her; so strong I believe if you were
a candidate again she would support you. The Southern people
would prefer you to any one in your party, and prefer Grant to
any one of those (in your party) spoken of for President. His
tour through the South impressed many with the belief he was
sincere in his utterances of good will & desire for reconciliation,
as they certainly were in their expressions of loyalty to the gov-
ernment of the Stars & Stripes. The truth is Rud, the South
now needs
the Union and its perpetuation more than the North,
& she
knows
it.
As a people we want peace & good government
to enable us not to recuperate only but to live.
We are slowly
recovering from the great conflict in civil war that made the
North prosperous, & the South a changed & ruined people.
I do not think Tilden can be nominated; should he be, I thmk
with you he would be defeated. I think Texas prefers Hancock
or Bayard to any of the names spoken of. Had Sherman let the
bloody shirt alone he would have had strong sympathisers from
the South among hard money men. The Delegates from Texas
to Cin: Convention go uninstructed, but the State Convention ex-
pressed its confidence in Hancock. I agree with you that Grant's
utterances here & since his return show that your original policy
toward the South was wise & patriotic, & that if you had been
permitted to carry it out would have been eminently successful,
& even crippled as your efforts were they have succeeded. Your
friends (judiciously) should push this idea. There are some
things that weigh against you--notably "Appointments in La"
& "troops at the polls." I mention these not to criticise but to
inform
you. When you come before the people again, whether
in next
May
or four
years
hence,
I hope your administration will
be referred to South & North as having been at least the foun-
dation of peace, good will &
perfect reconcilation among our peo-
ple; this now
should be your strong card. Grant has given it to
you & you have a right to it against him. How can Grant's
opinions & those of Conkling, Boutwell, Logan & others of his
friends be reconciled! I have heard some of Sherman's friends
say of your policy towards the South, that your course of removal
of troops, &c, was Grant's policy & that you could not do other-
wise than act as you did. This is said to radicals as an excuse
for Sherman (who is one of your cabinet). Again, I hear
Grant's
friends say that he inaugurated the policy of reconcilia-
tion, & you only carried out what he
began, & would have done
had he been elected. Of course I
know differently.
I gave a letter to the widow of a U S officer while at San
Antonio a few days ago. You will see (if it even reaches you)
I only make a statement. I frankly told her I doubted whether
it would do her any good, but she was urgent & I gave it. You
can always tell from my letters given on application for office
whether I endorse or not. I have refused many, occasionally I
give a letter; sometimes because I can't get out of it, & again
because I want the applicant to succeed for the public good. I
did not intend to write.so long a letter. I hope you will find
it of sufficient interest to wade through it.
Yours as ever
Guy M Bryan
P. S. I met Gen'l John Mason Inspector Gen'l of this Dept
at San Antonio. We had a long talk over old Kenyon days.
Gen'l Ord I hope you will keep in Texas; he is the right man
& in the right place. Texians like him for his good sense &
fitness in every respect for his position. The Texas Veterans
held their annual reunion in San Antonio, "the Alamo City/
on San
Jacinto
Day,
21st of this month. Gen'l Ord won the
hearts of the Veterans by his courtesy & kindness to them. Such
Soldiers
never awake fears in the minds of civilians.
FOOTNOTES:
Texas, 1881.) A copper plate engraving of Stephen F. Austin is frontis-
piece to this volume. The engraving of Colonel Bryan has not been
located.
NEWS ITEMS
The Fanthorp hotel, a pioneer hostelry at Anderson, is de-
scribed and illustrated by Frank E. Roberts in Houston
Post,
July 20, 1924.
The "Ancient Splendors of Round Top" is the title of a paper
by Helen Rummel in Houston
Chronicle,
August 10, 1924.
A biographical sketch of Captain Henry Schwethelm of Kerr-
ville, a survivor of the battle on the Nueces, was written by
Albert Schutze and published in San
Antonio
Express,
August
31, 1924.
The
Bailey
Controversy
in
Texas
Politics
is the title of a dis-
sertation submitted to the University of Chicago for the master
of arts degree by Jesse Guy Smith of San Marcos, Texas. A
manuscript copy of this dissertation was presented by the author
to the University of Texas Library.
The Texas
Review,
founded nine years ago by the University
of Texas, has been taken over by Southern Methodist University
and will be published hereafter in Dallas under the name of the
Southwest
Review.
It will be issued quarterly, and the following-
announcement is made by the publisher: "The Southwest
Re
-
view,
being the only magazine of its kind in this section of the
country, intends to make its pages a forum for the expression,
of the mind of the Southwest and will try to encourage those
writers who are bringing into literature the rich background of
Texas and adjacent states. To a large extent, the history, land-
scape, folk-lore and peculiarities of the Southwest have never been
adequately treated. The Review
will be especially hospitable to
those writers who in the best sense really represent the South-
west. As in the past, it will print the best available verse, read-
able prose articles on literary, social and political topics, and in-
telligent surveys of current books. It will have high standards
and will be only as popular as these standards permit. Variety,
timeliness, and the achievement of a Southwestern flavor will be
the aims of the magazine.
Frederick
Law
Olmsted,
a
Critic
of
the
Old
South,
by Broadus
Mitchell, is the title of No. 2, Series XLII, Johns Hopkins
Studies in Historical and Political Science. The volume con-
tains three chapters: 1. The man, pp. 17-67. 2. The critic
of the ante-bellum South, pp. 68-113. 3. The economic effects
of slavery, pp. 114-156. While the study is based on Olmsted's
writings--Journey
in
the
Seaboard
Slave
States;
Journey
in
Texas,
Journey
in
the
Back
Country
--the author calls attention
to the writings of other travelers and economists, who deal with
the Old South.
Recent publications relating to Texas: Peregrinusings.
By
Harry Yandell Benedict. Austin: The Ex-Students' Associa-
tion of the University of Texas, 1924. Pp. 234. Illustrated.
Geology
of
the
Coastal
Plain
of
Texas
West
of
the
Brazos
River.
By Alexander Deussen. Washington: Government Printing Office,
1924. (Professional Paper 126, U. S. Geological Survey.) The
Men
Who
Made
Texas
Free.
The Signers of the Texas Declara-
tion of Independence--Sketches of their lives and patriotic serv-
ices. By Sam Houston Dixon. Houston: Texas Historical Pub-
lishing Co., 1924. Pp. 345. Illustrated. Romance
and
Tragedy
of
Texas
History,
being a record of many thrilling events in Texas
history under Spanish, Mexican and Anglo-Saxon rule. By Sam
Houston Dixon. Houston: Texas Historical Publishing Co.,
1924. Pp. 335. Illustrated. Heel-Fly
Time
in
Texas,
a
Story
of
the
Civil
War
Period.
By John Warren Hunter. Bandera:
Frontier Times, 1924. Pp. 47. Eeprinted from Frontier
Times.
The
Texas
Colonists
and
Religion,
1821-1836.
A centennial
tribute to the Texas patriots who shed their blood that we might
enjoy civil and religious: liberty. By William Stuart Eed. Aus-
tin: E. L. Shettles, 1924. Pp. 149. Illustrated. A
History
of
Texas
from
Wilderness
to
Commonwealth.
By Louis J.
Wortham. Fort Worth: Wortham-Molyneaux Co., 1924. 5 vols.
Illustrated. Seventy
Years
in
Texas,
Memoirs
of
the
Pioneer
Days,
Indian
Depredations
and
the
Northwest
Cattle
Trail.
By
J. M. Franks. Gatesville, Texas: The Author, 1924. Pp. 134.
Economic
Aspects
of
Southern
Sectionalism,
1841-1861.
By
Robert Royall Russell. Urbana: The University of Illinois, 1923.
Pp. 325.
The Georgia
Historical
Quarterly
for September, 1924, con-
tains "The French on the Savannah, 1605," by Mary Ross; the
"Burning of Columbia," by Madame S. Sosnowski; a translation
of a "Letter of Gonzalo Menéndez de Congo, Governor of Florida,
to Philip II of Spain, June 28, 1600," by Katherine Reding;
and the "Journal of James A. Tait for the year 1813."
The Tennessee
Historical
Magazine
for April, 1924, contains
"Knoxville's Old Educational Institutions," by Kate White; "The
Cavalry at Spring Hill," by Thomas Bobson Hay; and "The
Economic and Social Beginnings of Tennessee," by Albery C.
Holt.
Americana,
October, 1924, prints "A Virginian's [Edward Car-
ter Turner of Kinloch] Diary in Civil War Days" [August 17 to
December 31, 1862].
The Essex
Institute
Historical
Collections
for October, 1924,
contain "Alabama-Kearsarge Battle," by William B. Robinson,
Jr.; is a continuation of "Blockade Bunning During the Civil
War," by Francis B. C. Bradlee.
A biographical sketch and portrait of Thomas Smith Grimke,
by C. B. Galbreath, appeared in the Ohio
Archaeological
and
His
-
torical
Quarterly,
July, 1924, XXXIII, 301-312.
In an article entitled "The Northwestern Career of Jefferson
Davis," published in Journal
of
the
Illinois
State
Historical
So
-
ciety,
XVI, 1-19, M. M. Quaife calls attention to numerous errors
that mark that period of Davis's life, 1828-1833.
"The Papers of James J. Webb, Santa Fé Merchant, 1844-
1861," is the title of an article by Ralph Paul Bieber, printed in
Washington
University
Studies,
April, 1924, XI, 255-305. A
portrait of Mr. Webb, a biographical sketch, and a brief account
of his merchandizing supplement the description of his papers.
Deaths of prominent Texans: Judge A. C. Allen, of Houston.
July 13, 1924; Francis M. Bralley, President of the College of
Industrial Arts, at Dallas, August 23, 1924; Jefferson Johnson,
formerly Commissioner of Insurance, at Austin, September 28,
1924; William G. Sterrett, journalist, at Dallas, October 7, 1924;
W. C. Tyrrell, capitalist, at Beaumont, September 8, 1924; Wil-
liam C. Walsh, formerly Commissioner of the General Land Office,
at Austin, August 30, 1924.
How to cite:
Volume 28, Number 2, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v028/n2/issue.html
[Accessed Tue Feb 9 17:56:43 CST 2010]
