[1]Called by the Spaniards, La Vaca.
[2]Now Dimmitt’s Point on the La Vaca.
[3]L’Archevêque afterward returned to America and settled in Santa Fé,
New Mexico, where he married and died, and where his descendants
still live. See A. F. Bandelier’s _Gilded Man_.
[4]La Salle never married. His title was inherited by his brother,
numerous descendants of whom are living in Louisiana.
[5]Charles II.
[6]The name more probably was derived from the Tehas Indians, a tribe
whose central village was built on the present site of Mound Prairie.
[7]_Alamo_, cottonwood.
[8]These Spanish and Indian builders were called “The Children of San
José.”
[9]A Mexican dance.
[10]Salcedo, the Spanish commander at Monterey, said that if “he had the
power he would stop even the birds from flying across the Sabine.”
[11]Nolan afterward claimed to have made this map for the benefit of the
United States government in case of a war with Spain. He wrote, upon
the eve of this journey: “Will we have a war? At all events, I can
cut my way back and you can rely upon me.” (Letter to General
Wilkinson, June 10, 1797.)
[12]Ellis Bean’s diary.
[13]Burr at this time was suspected of a design to separate the
southwestern states from the Union and found a new government.
[14]Charles IV. and Maria Louisa of Parma.
[15]Natchitoches is about forty miles from the Sabine River in a direct
line. The Neutral Ground, therefore, was about thirty-three miles
wide. It extended southward to the mouth of the Calcasieu River. The
choice of the Arroyo Hondo as a boundary was the revival of an old
compromise. The French and Spanish commandants, as early as 1719,
agreed upon the Arroyo Hondo as a convenient boundary between
Louisiana and New Spain. This agreement was observed until 1762, when
the whole of Louisiana west of the Mississippi was ceded to Spain.
The Sabine River, by a state treaty (1819), was finally fixed as the
boundary.
[16]Baron de Bastrop had been an officer in the army of Frederic the
Great.
[17]_Texas Scrap Book._
[18]Benjamin Milam was a native of Kentucky. He fought in the War of
1812 against Great Britain. In 1823 he received from the Mexican
government, for services rendered in the deposition of Iturbide, one
million of acres of land in Texas, which he sold to Baring & Co.,
London.
He also obtained from the government of Coahuila and Texas the
exclusive right to run steamboats on the Colorado River. He was
unable, however, to avail himself of this right.
[19]Robert Calder.
[20]General Burleson had remained in camp during the storming of the
city. He entered on the 9th. (Official Report.)
[21]Horseshoe Bend.
[22]A man named Rose, who escaped by leaping from the wall.
[23]This battle, called by the Mexicans the battle of the Encinal del
Perdido, began at one o’clock P.M.
[24]Eleazer Wheelock Ripley, the father of Hal Ripley, was a
brigadier-general in the United States army, and greatly
distinguished himself in the war with Great Britain in 1812. He was
afterward a member of the United States Congress from Louisiana.
[25]Colonel Garay was a native of Greece.
[26]Houston left Gonzales, March 13. Reached Burnham’s Crossing, on the
west bank of the Colorado, March 17. Crossed to the east bank of the
Colorado and marched down to Beason’s Crossing, March 19. Reached San
Felipe on the Brazos, March 28. Marched up the Brazos (west bank) to
Mill’s Creek and Groce’s Landing. Remained at Groce’s Landing until
April 12. Crossed the Brazos (April 12) to Groce’s Plantation.
Marched on the 14th; reached Buffalo Bayou, opposite Harrisburg, on
the 18th. Crossed the same day in pursuit of Santa Anna. Occupied the
battlefield of San Jacinto, April 20.
[27]Cos was Santa Anna’s brother-in-law.
[28]Moses Bryan, in _Texas Scrap Book_.
[29]Thrall.
[30]G. W. Kendall.
[31]Quoted by Yoakum from a narrative by one of the prisoners.
[32]Anson Jones died at the Old Capital Hotel in Houston on the 7th of
January, 1858. A short time before his death he remarked to one of
his friends: “Here in this house, twenty years ago, I commenced my
public career in Texas, and here I would like to die.”
[33]Diary of Captain Henry, U. S. A.
[34]Frost’s _History of Mexico_.
[35]G. W. Kendall.
[36]_Cabet at ses Icariens._
[37]Williams’ _Life of Houston_.
[38]Scharf’s _History of the Confederate States Navy_.
[39]Camp Ford, where the Federal prisoners were confined during the war,
was situated near Tyler, in Smith County.
[40]The bell used on the _Harriet Lane_ is now in the museum of the
Houston (Texas) High School.
[41]Jefferson Davis, in his _Rise and Fall of the Confederate
Government_, says of this engagement: “The success of the single
company which garrisoned the earthwork at Fort Griffin is without
parallel in ancient or modern war.”
[42]Scharf’s _History of the Confederate States Navy_.
[43]Ireland died March 15, 1896.