GENERAL ARTHUR GOODALL WAVELL
AND WAVELL'S COLONY IN TEXAS
A NOTE
In Indian
Information,
July 1, 1943, Field Marshal Sir Archi-
bald Wavell mentions his grandfather's connection with the
colonization of Texas. Letters and documents in the manuscript
collections of the University of Texas, the Texas State Library,
and the General Land Office disclose this chapter of General
Wavell's career in considerable detail. The story begins in
Chile—or, perhaps, in Spain, where General Wavell served with
distinction in the Peninsular War against the French. In 1820,
at the age of thirty-five, he was second in command of the Chilean
national army with the rank of major general. The Chilean
government sent him to Mexico on a semi-diplomatic mission,
and there he met Stephen F. Austin and began his connection
with Texas. On July 4, 1822, he and Austin signed a partner-
ship agreement looking to the development of Austin's colony,
approval of which by the Mexican government seemed to them
then to be only a matter of days. Wavell was to enlist capital
and form a company in England to promote colonization, de-
velop mines, and carry on an extensive commercial business.
Lending Austin an unspecified amount of money to enable him
to remain in Mexico until his grant should be confirmed, Wavell
sailed from Vera Cruz in the French brig, L'Azema,
about the
middle of August, 1822, expecting toreach Bordeaux in fifty
days. A pirate sacked his ship on September 3, and robbed
Wavell of $1700 and all his property. L'Azema
then sailed to
Charleston, from which port Wavell continued his voyage on
the British ship London.
He arrived at Liverpool, November
11, and between that date and May 22, 1823, wrote Austin
seven letters, the burden of which was that he could not make
financial arrangements without documentary evidence that Aus-
tin's grant was confirmed. Actually, it was not confirmed until
mid-April, 1823, and Austin seems to have replied to none of
Waveil's letters. In 1824, Wavell returned to Mexico, still in
the service of the government, and there was an exchange of
letters, in which Austin said he was now ready to pay his in-
debtedness ; but Wavell declared many years later that he never
did.
in March, 1826, Wavell received from the State of Coahuila
and Texas a contract, approved also by the Mexican Federal
government, to settle five hundred families on a grant south of
Red River, which included all of the territory of our present
Lamar, Red River, and Bowie counties, parts of Fannin and
Hunt counties, and Miller County, Arkansas, which Mexico
claimed under an erroneous interpretation of the Florida Treaty
of 1819-21. Wavell employed Ben Milam to manage the settle-
ment of his colony. Just what Milam accomplished is uncertain;
according to Wavell, he introduced a considerable number of
colonists and might have fulfilled the contract for five hundred
families but for interference, first by the Mexican federal gov-
ernment, and, second, by Governor Polk of Arkansas, who
claimed nearly all of the territory for the United States. As a
result of the confusion, no titles were issued to actual settlers
down to the time of the Texas Revolution. Technically, there-
fore, Wavell fulfilled no part of his contract and was legally
entitled to no premium land for his service as empresario.
He believed, however, that he had a strong moral claim
against the government of Texas. In 1843, he recited his claims
in a memorial to the Senate of the Republic of Texas, and in
May, 1844, urged the British Government to exert diplomatic
pressure upon the Republic for its payment, but the Foreign
Office--after an opinion from the Crown law officer--told him
frankly that he had no claim on the government of Texas. He
took this rebuff philosophically, but continued to argue the
moral weight of his claim. He evidently formed a cordial friend-
ship with Dr. Ashbel Smith while Smith was representing
Texas in England, and perhaps with Smith's encouragement
continued to hope that Texas would recognize and compensate
his services. He died in 1860 at the age of seventy-five. He was
the father of ten children, of whom the youngest became the
father of General Archibald Wavell.
Mr. Sam Acheson published in the Dallas
News
of September
21, 1941, an interesting article, covering the substance of this
note. In it, he refers to Wavell documents placed in the Hall
of State by the Dallas Historical Society. Miss Harriet Smither,
State Archivist, has recently received, through the assistance of
Lord Halifax and General Archibald Wavell, a list of all the
family papers concerning General Arthur G. Wavell's American
connections and is assured that copies of them will be given
to the State Library.
How to cite:
Eugene C. Barker, "General Arthur Goodall Wavell and Wavell's Colony in Texas", Volume 47, Number 3, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v047/n3/contrib_DIVL4447.html
[Accessed Sat Mar 20 6:35:24 CDT 2010]
