the tyrant's lash, or exalting themselves to the attributes of
freemen. They chose the latter. To chastise them for their presumption
induced your advance upon Texas, with your boasted veteran army,
mustering a force nearly equal to the whole population of this country
at that time. You besieged and took the Alamo: but under what
circumstances? Not those, surely, which should characterize a general
of the nineteenth century. You assailed one hundred and fifty men,
destitute of every supply requisite for the defence of that place. Its
brave defenders, worn by vigilance and duty beyond the power of human
nature to sustain, were at length overwhelmed by a force of nine
thousand men, and the place taken. I ask you, sir, what scenes
followed? Were they such as should characterize an able general, a
magnanimous warrior, and the President of a great nation numbering
eight millions of souls? No. Manliness and generosity would sicken at
the recital of the scenes incident to your success, and humanity
itself would blush to class you among the chivalric spirits of the age
of vandalism.[10] This you have been pleased to class as in the
"succession of your victories;" and I presume you would next include
the massacre at Goliad.
Your triumph there, if such you are pleased to term it, was not the
triumph of arms--it was the success of perfidy. Fannin and his brave
companions had beaten back and defied your veteran soldiers. Although
outnumbered more than seven to one, their valiant, hearty, and
indomitable courage, with holy devotion to the cause of freedom,
foiled every effort directed by your general to insure his success by
arms. He had recourse to a flag of truce; and when the surrender of
the little patriot band was secured by the most solemn treaty
stipulations, what were the tragic scenes that ensued to Mexican
perfidy? The conditions of surrender were submitted to you; and,
though you have denied the facts, instead of restoring them to
liberty, according to the capitulation, you ordered them to be
executed contrary to every pledge given them, contrary to the rules of
war, and contrary to every principle of humanity.
BATTLE OF SAN JACINTO.
(_From General Houston's Report to Hon. D. G. Burnet, Provisional
President of the Republic of Texas, April 25, 1836._)
I have the honor to inform you that on the evening of the eighteenth
instant, after a forced march of fifty-five miles, which was effected
in two days and a half, the army arrived opposite Harrisburg. That
evening a courier of the enemy was taken, from whom I learned that
General Santa Anna, with one division of his choice troops, had
marched in the direction of Lynch's Ferry, on the San Jacinto, burning
Harrisburg as he passed down. The army was ordered to be in readiness
to march early on the next morning. The main body effected a crossing
over Buffalo Bayou, below Harrisburg, on the morning of the 19th,
having left the baggage, the sick, and a sufficient camp guard in the
rear. We continued the march throughout the night, making but one halt
in the prairie for a short time, and without refreshment.
At daylight we resumed the line of march, and in a short distance our
scouts encountered those of the enemy, and we received information
that General Santa Anna was at New Washington, and would that day take
up the line of march for Anahuac, crossing at Lynch's Ferry. The Texan
army halted within half a mile of the ferry in some timber, and were
engaged in slaughtering beeves, when the army of Santa Anna was
discovered to be approaching in battle array, having been encamped at
Clopper's Point, eight miles below. Disposition was immediately made
of our forces, and preparation for his reception. He took a position
with his infantry and artillery in the centre, occupying an island of
timber, his cavalry covering the left flank.
The artillery, consisting of one double fortified medium brass
twelve-pounder, then opened on our encampment. The infantry in column
advanced with the design of charging our lines, but were repulsed by a
discharge of grape and canister from our artillery, consisting of two
six-pounders, [called "The Twin Sisters."] The enemy had occupied a
piece of timber within rifle-shot of the left wing of our army, from
which an occasional interchange of small arms took place between the
troops, until the enemy withdrew to a position on the bank of the San
Jacinto, about three-quarters of a mile from our encampment, and
commenced fortification. . . . . . .
About nine o'clock on the morning of the 21st, the enemy were
reinforced by 500 choice troops, under the command of General Cos,
increasing their effective force to upwards of 1,500 men, whilst our
aggregate force for the field numbered 783. At half-past three o'clock
in the evening, I ordered the officers of the Texan army to parade
their respective commands, having in the meantime ordered the bridge
on the only road communicating with the Brazos, distant eight miles
from our encampment, to be destroyed, thus cutting off all possibility
of escape. Our troops paraded with alacrity and spirit, and were
anxious for the conflict. Their conscious disparity in numbers seemed
only to increase their enthusiasm and confidence, and heightened their
anxiety for the conflict. . . . . . .
Col. Sherman, with his regiment, having commenced the action upon our
left wing, the whole line, at the centre and on the right, advancing
in double-quick time, rung the war-cry, "_Remember the Alamo!_"
received the enemy's fire, and advanced within point-blank shot before
a piece was fired from our lines. Our line advanced without a halt,
until they were in possession of the woodland and the enemy's
breastwork, the right wing of Burleson's and the left wing of
Millard's taking possession of the breastwork; our Artillery having
gallantly charged up within seventy yards of the enemy's cannon, when
it was taken by our troops.
The conflict lasted about eighteen minutes from the time of close
action until we were in possession of the enemy's encampment, taking
one piece of cannon (loaded), four stands of colors, all their camp
equipage, stores, and baggage. Our cavalry had charged and routed that
of the enemy upon the right, and given pursuit to the fugitives, which
did not cease until they arrived at the bridge which I have mentioned
before--Captain Karnes, always among the foremost in danger,
commanding the pursuers. The conflict in the breastwork lasted but a
few moments; many of the troops encountered hand to hand, and not
having the advantage of bayonets on our side, our riflemen used their
pieces as war-clubs, breaking many of them off at the breech. The rout
commenced at half-past four, and the pursuit by the main army
continued until twilight. . . .
[In this battle General Houston himself was severely
wounded, one ball shattering his ankle. After this, "the
battalion of Texan infantry was gallantly charged by a
Mexican division of infantry, composed of more than five
hundred men. . . . The Commander-in-Chief, observing the
peril, dashed between the Texan and Mexican infantry,
and exclaimed, 'Come on, my brave fellows, your General
leads you.' . . . The order to fire was given by Gen.
Houston, . . . a single discharge, a rush through the
smoke, cleaving blows of rifles uplifted struck down
those whom the bullets had not slain. Only thirty-two of
the five hundred Mexicans survived to surrender as
prisoners of war. Gen. Houston's wound in the ankle,
meanwhile was bleeding profusely. His horse was dying,
and with difficulty could stagger over the slain. Still
the Commander-in-Chief witnessed every movement of his
army, and as it rolled victoriously over the field, saw
the tide of battle crowning his brave soldiers with
unparalleled success."--See Crane's Life of Sam
Houston.]
HOW TO DEAL WITH THE INDIANS.
(_From a speech on the Indian Policy of the Government, in the Senate,
January, 1855._)
Sir, if the agent appointed by Mr. Polk, who has been restored by the
present Executive--it is a bright spot in his Administration, and I
commend him for it--had never been removed, there would have been
peace to this day on the borders of Texas; but as soon as the Indian
agent who was appointed to succeed him went there, he must forsooth
establish a ranche; he must have a farm. The Indians who had been
settled there from 1843 up to 1849, had been furnished by the
Government of Texas with implements of husbandry, with seeds of every
description, and they were cultivating their little farms. They were
comfortable and independent. They were living in perfect peace. If you
can get Indians located, and place their wives and children within
your cognizance, you need never expect aggression from them. It is the
Indian who has his wife in security beyond your reach, who, like the
felon wolf, goes to a distance to prey on some flock, far removed from
his den; or like the eagle, who seeks his prey from the distance, and
never from the flocks about his eyrie.
The agent to whom I have referred lost two oxen from his ranche where
he kept his cattle. He went to the officer in command of Fort Belknap,
got a force from him, and then marched to those Indians, sixty miles
from there, and told them they must pay for the oxen. They said, "We
know nothing about your oxen; our people are here; here are our women
and children; we have not killed them; we have not stolen them; we
have enough to eat; we are happy; we have raised corn; we have sold
corn; we have corn to sell; we have sold it to your people, and they
have paid us for it, and we are happy." The agent and the military
gentlemen scared off the Indians from the limits of Texas, and drove
them across the Red River to the Wichita Mountains, taking every horse
and animal they had to pay for the two oxen. This was done by an
accredited agent of the Government, and by an officer who deserved but
little credit. Are such things tolerable, and to be tolerated in the
present age and condition of our Government?
What was the consequence? Those Indians felt themselves aggrieved.
They saw that a new _régime_ had come; they had had the era of peace
and plenty, and now they were expelled by a different influence. They
felt grateful for the benign effects of the first policy toward them,
and that only exasperated them to a greater extent against the second;
and they began to make incursions, ready to take vengeance on any
white man they might meet in their neighborhood, and slay whoever they
might find. They made their forays from the opposite side of the Red
River, from the Wichita Mountains, and came like an avalanche upon our
unprotected citizens. There is one fact showing how your interference
with the Indians within her limits has injured Texas. . . . . .
Well, sir, there is a remedy for all this, and it is very easy to
apply it; but how are we circumstanced there? Is it supposed by some
that we are deriving great aid from the army, and that the greatest
portion of the disposable forces of the United States is in Texas, and
protecting it? How can they protect us against the Indians when the
cavalry have not horses which can trot faster than active oxen, and
the infantry dare not go out in any hostile manner for fear of being
shot and scalped! Can they pursue a party who pounce down on a
settlement and take property, and reclaim that property? Have they
ever done it? Did the old rangers of Texas ever fail to do it, when
they were seated on their Texas ponies? They were men of intelligence
and adroitness in regard to the Indian character and Indian warfare.
Do you think a man fit for such service who has been educated at West
Point Academy, furnished with rich stores of learning; more educated
in the science of war than any general who fought through the
Revolution, and assisted in achieving our independence? Are you going
to take such gentlemen, and suppose that by intuition they will
understand the Indian character? Or do you suppose they can track a
turkey, or a deer, in the grass of Texas, or could they track an
Indian, or would they know whether they were tracking a wagon or a
carriage? Not at all, sir.
We wish, in the first place, to have men suited to the circumstances.
Give us agents who are capable of following out their instructions,
and who understand the Indian character. Give us an army, gentlemen,
who understand not only the science of command, but have some notions
of extending justice and protection to the Indian, against the
aggression of the whites, while they protect the whites against the
aggressions from the Indians. Then, and not till then, will you have
peace.
How is this to be done? Withdraw your army. Have five hundred
cavalry, if you will; but I would rather have two hundred and fifty
Texas rangers (such as I could raise), than five hundred of the best
cavalry now in the service. . . . . . Cultivate intercourse with the
Indians. Show them that you have comforts to exchange for their
peltries; bring them around you; domesticate them; familiarize them
with civilization. Let them see that you are rational beings, and they
will become rational in imitation of you; but take no whiskey there at
all, not even for the officers, for fear their generosity would let it
out. . . . . . I would have fields around the trading houses. I would
encourage the Indians to cultivate them. Let them see how much it adds
to their comfort, how it insures to their wives and children abundant
subsistence; and then you win the Indian over to civilization; you
charm him, and he becomes a civilized man.
FOOTNOTE:
[10] Every one in the Alamo was massacred. The inscription there now
is: "Thermopylæ had its messenger of defeat: the Alamo had none."
WILLIAM CAMPBELL PRESTON.
~1794=1860.~
WILLIAM CAMPBELL PRESTON was born in Philadelphia, being one of the
Preston family of Virginia who afterwards went to South Carolina. He
was educated at South Carolina College, being graduated in 1812,
studied law under William Wirt, and later went to Edinburgh, where he
had Hugh Swinton Legaré as fellow-student. He travelled in Europe with
Washington Irving, and was introduced to Sir Walter Scott.
[Illustration: ~Old Plantation Home.~]
In the practice of law he was very successful, and he made a high
reputation as a popular orator, even rivaling, it is said, his
uncle, Patrick Henry. His style is abundant, classical, finished. He
was in the State Legislature 1828-32, and in the United States Senate
1836-42.
From 1845 to 1851, he was president of his Alma Mater, South Carolina
College, and during his office it rose to a high point of efficiency
and became the most popular educational institution in the South.
WORKS.
Addresses.
As an example of Mr. Preston's simpler style and a description of the
charming social life of Columbia--the spirit of which still lives and
graces the capital of South Carolina--the following extract is given.
It is from a newspaper article on the death of Mr. Preston's former
law-partner, Col M'Cord, and is a noble tribute to him and to his
distinguished wife, Mrs. Louisa S. M'Cord.
LITERARY SOCIETY IN COLUMBIA, 1825.
(_Written on the Death of Colonel David J. M'Cord, 1855._)
Many will bring tributes of sorrow, of kindness and affection, and
relieve a heaving bosom by uttering words of praise and commendation;
for in truth, during many years he has been the charm and delight of
the society of Columbia, and of that society, too, when, in the
estimation of all who knew it, it was the rarest aggregation of
elegant, intellectual, and accomplished people that have ever been
found assembled in our village. Thirty years since, amidst the sincere
and unostentatious cordiality which characterized it, at a dinner
party, for example, at Judge De Saussure's, eight or ten of his
favorite associates wanted to do honor to some distinguished
stranger--for such were never permitted to pass through the town
without a tender of the hospitality of that venerable and elegant
gentleman--whose prolonged life exhibited to another generation a
pattern of old gentility, combined with a conscientious and effective
performance of not only the smaller and more graceful duties of life,
which he sweetened and adorned, but also of those graver and higher
tasks which the confidence of his state imposed upon his talents and
learning. To his elegant board naturally came the best and worthiest
of the land. There was found, of equal age with the judge, that very
remarkable man, Dr. Thomas Cooper, replete with all sorts of
knowledge, a living encyclopædia,--"_Multum ille et terris jactatus et
alto_"--good-tempered, joyous, and of a kindly disposition. There was
Judge Nott, who brought into the social circle the keen, shrewd, and
flashing intellect which distinguished him on the bench. There was
Abram Blanding, a man of affairs, very eminent in his profession of
the law, and of most interesting conversation. There was Professor
Robert Henry, with his elegant, accurate, and classical scholarship.
There were Judges Johnston and Harper, whom we all remember, and
lament, and admire.
These gentlemen and others were called, in the course of a morning
walk of the Chancellor, to meet at dinner, it might be, Mr. Calhoun,
or Captain Basil Hall, or Washington Irving; and amongst these was
sure to be found David J. M'Cord, with his genial vivacity, his
multifarious knowledge, and his inexhaustible store of amusing and
apposite anecdotes. He was the life and the pervading spirit of the
circle,--in short, a general favorite. He was then in large practice
at the bar, and publishing his Reports as State Reporter. His frank
and fine manners were rendered the more attractive by an uncommonly
beautiful physiognomy, which gave him the appearance of great youth.
M'Cord entered upon his profession in co-partnership with Henry
Junius Nott; and when a year or two subsequently, this gentleman,
following the bent of his inclination for literature, quitted the
profession, Mr. M'Cord formed a connection with W. C. Preston,--thus
introducing this gentleman, who had then but just come to Columbia,
into practice. The business of the office was extensive, and the
connexion continued until their diverging paths of life led them away
from the profession. The association was cordial and uninterrupted
throughout, whether professional or social; and the latter did not
cease until the grave closed upon M'Cord. While in the law, however,
although assiduously addicted to the study of it, his heart
acknowledged a divided allegiance with literature; which he seemed to
compromise at length by addicting himself to cognate studies--of
political economy, the jural sciences, and political ethics.
When he left the bar, and retired from the more strenuous pursuits of
life, he found occupation and delight in these favorite
studies--stimulated and enhanced by the vigorous co-operation and warm
sympathy of his highly accomplished wife, who not only participated in
the taste for, but shared in the labors of, these studies--and amidst
these congenial and participated pursuits the latter years of his life
were passed. . . . . As his early life was amidst struggle and
bustle--the _fumum strepitumque_ of the public arena--so his latter
years were amidst the repose of an elegant and lettered retirement, in
his well-cultivated fields and amongst his books. His last moments
were solaced by the tender assiduities of his congenial helpmate, of
his children, and of his old and long-familiar friends.
JOHN PENDLETON KENNEDY.
~1795=1870.~
JOHN PENDLETON KENNEDY was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and received
an excellent early education. He studied law, and was much in public
life; he filled a large place in his native city as a man of culture
and a public-spirited citizen. He served in the State Assembly and in
Congress, and was Secretary of the Navy under President Fillmore when
several important expeditions took place, that of Perry to Japan, of
Lynch to Africa, of Kane to the North Pole. Kennedy Channel was named
in his honor by Dr. Kane.
He made several trips to Europe and while in Paris became well
acquainted with Thackeray. "The Virginians" was appearing as a serial,
and the printers needed a new chapter. Thackeray said to Kennedy, "I
wish you would write one for me."--"Well," said Kennedy, "so I will if
you will give me the run of the story." And he really wrote the fourth
chapter of Vol. II., describing Warrington's escape and return home
through the region about the Cumberland, which he knew well.
He drew up the plan of the Peabody Institute, and was one of the
Trustees; to it he bequeathed his library and manuscripts, the latter
not to be published till 1900. He aided Poe in his early literary life
and was always his friend. He died at Newport, whither he had gone for
his health, and was buried in Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore. See
Life by Tuckerman.
WORKS.
Essays in Red Book, [a satirical journal edited by him and Peter
Hoffman Cruse].
Swallow Barn, [novel of Virginia life].
Horse-Shoe Robinson, Tale of Tory Ascendancy in South Carolina.
Rob of the Bowl, a Legend of St. Inigoes.
Annals of Quodlibet, [political satires].
Memoirs of the late William Wirt.
Addresses, reports, &c.
Mr. Kennedy's writings were very popular during his life-time and
deserve to be so still, for his three novels give graphic and
excellent pictures of their times, and are true in their historical
details, while his Memoirs of Wirt are quite as interesting. His
"Cousin Lucretia's" remedy for chills was actually used by his
grandmother, Mrs. Pendleton of Virginia (see Tuckerman's Life of
Kennedy); and Horse-Shoe Robinson was a real hero of the Revolution
whom Kennedy met in upper South Carolina, 1818.
A COUNTRY GENTLEMAN IN VIRGINIA.
(_From Swallow Barn._)
The master of this lordly domain is Frank Meriwether. He is now in the
meridian of life--somewhere about forty-five. Good cheer and an easy
temper tell well upon him. The first has given him a comfortable,
portly figure, and the latter a contemplative turn of mind, which
inclines him to be lazy and philosophical.
He has some right to pride himself on his personal appearance, for he
has a handsome face, with a dark blue eye and a fine intellectual
brow. His head is growing scant of hair on the crown, which induces
him to be somewhat particular in the management of his locks in that
locality, and these are assuming a decided silvery hue.
It is pleasant to see him when he is going to ride to the Court House
on business occasions. He is then apt to make his appearance in a coat
of blue broad-cloth, astonishingly glossy, and with an unusual amount
of plaited ruffle strutting through the folds of a Marseilles
waistcoat. A worshipful finish is given to this costume by a large
straw hat, lined with green silk. There is a magisterial fulness in
his garments which betokens condition in the world, and a heavy bunch
of seals, suspended by a chain of gold, jingles as he moves,
pronouncing him a man of superfluities.
. . . . .
I am told he keeps the peace as if he commanded a garrison, and
administers justice like a Cadi.
He has some claim to supremacy in this last department; for during
three years he smoked segars in a lawyer's office in Richmond, which
enabled him to obtain a bird's-eye view of Blackstone and the Revised
Code. Besides this, he was a member of a Law Debating Society, which
ate oysters once a week in a cellar; and he wore, in accordance with
the usage of the most prominent law-students of that day, six cravats,
one over the other, and yellow-topped boots, by which he was
recognized as a blood of the metropolis. Having in this way qualified
himself to assert and maintain his rights, he came to his estate, upon
his arrival at age, a very model of landed gentlemen. Since that time
his avocations have had a certain literary tincture; for having
settled himself down as a married man, and got rid of his superfluous
foppery, he rambled with wonderful assiduity through a wilderness of
romances, poems, and dissertations, which are now collected in his
library, and, with their battered blue covers, present a lively type
of an army of continentals at the close of the war, or a hospital of
invalids. These have all at last given way to the newspapers--a
miscellaneous study very attractive and engrossing to country
gentlemen. This line of study has rendered Meriwether a most perilous
antagonist in the matter of legislative proceedings.