It was but a few months after Lafitte had so generously aided Lallemand
and his colonists, when James Gaines, sent by General Long, came to the
island. Lafitte entertained him royally at the Red House, but declined
to join Long’s enterprise. He thought a Texas republic could be
established only by the help of a large army, whereas General Long had
but a handful of soldiers.
When Long received Lafitte’s reply he started to the island himself, in
the hope of changing this decision. But hearing from his wife that a
Spanish force under Colonel Perez was moving upon his outposts, he
hurried back to Nacogdoches. He found that place deserted; everybody had
fled panic-stricken across the Sabine at the approach of the Spaniards.
In the meantime Perez attacked the forts on the Brazos and the Trinity,
completely routing the garrisons. David Long was among the killed.
General Long’s spirit was unshaken. He joined his brave wife on the east
side of the Sabine, and made his way with her to Bolivar Point, where
the few followers left to him were encamped.
Just at this time Lafitte was ordered by the United States government to
leave the island; his pirates had begun to meddle with American ships.
He felt that resistance would be useless; so he gathered his men
together, gave them each a handsome sum of money, and, having set fire
to his fort and town, he sailed away in _The Pride_, with sixty of his
buccaneers and a choice crew. He cruised for some years off the coast of
Yucatan, and died at Sisal in 1826.
It was long believed that he buried fabulous treasures—gold, silver, and
jewels—both at Grand Terre and at Galveston, but these treasures have
never been found. There is a legend among superstitious people at Grand
Terre which declares that several times swarthy, dark-bearded strangers
have appeared there and dug in a certain place for the buried treasure.
They have succeeded each time in uncovering a great iron chest; but as
they were about to lift it out, some one has each time spoken, and at
the sound the box instantly disappeared. It can be found and removed,
the gossips add, only in the midst of perfect silence.
A prettier story is told of the treasure buried at Galveston. This story
goes that on the night before he left the island forever, the pirate
chief was heard to murmur, as he paced up and down the hall of the Red
House: “I have buried my treasure under the three trees. In the shadow
of the three lone trees I have buried my treasure.” Two of his men
overheard him. They stole away down the beach, with picks and spades,
determined to possess themselves of their leader’s treasure, which they
knew must be priceless. They reached the spot, and in the pale moonlight
they found the stake set to mark the hiding place. They shoveled the
sand away, breathless and eager with greed. At length they found a long
wooden box whose cover they pried open. Within, instead of piles of
silver, caskets of jewels, and heaps of golden doubloons, they saw with
awe and amazement the pale face and rigid form of the Chief’s beautiful
young wife, who had died the day before. This was the treasure of
Lafitte!
General Long watched the ships of Lafitte vanish into the distance;
then, determined as ever to carry out his plans, he left his wife and a
small guard in the fort at Bolivar Point (July, 1821), and went with
fifty-two soldiers to Goliad, which he occupied without opposition.
Three days later a troop of Mexican cavalry entered Goliad. Long
surrendered and was sent a prisoner of war to Mexico. Eight months
afterward he was released; but almost at the moment of his release he
was shot and instantly killed by a Mexican soldier.
The guard left at the fort at Bolivar Point soon abandoned it in
despair. Mrs. Long refused to go with them; she had promised her
husband, she said, to await his return, and she stayed on. Her only
companions were her two little children and a negro girl. The days
passed drearily; summer died into fall, and fall into winter. The
provisions gave out, and the forlorn little group almost perished from
hunger. Several times the Carankawaes attacked the fort. The courageous
woman loaded the cannon and fired upon the Indians, thus keeping them at
bay. In the spring of 1822 she learned from some of Austin’s colonists
of her husband’s tragic death. Then only, having fulfilled her wifely
trust, she left the fort.