Austin, Texas

“ An American pioneer and politician, known as the founder of the State of Texas. He was born in Wythe County, Va., the son of Moses Austin, who originally, from Connecticut, projected the Texan colony which was finally established in 1821 by his son, on the site of the present city of Austin. The latter, by his energy, ability, and hardihood, made the experiment a success; and other colonists settled in the vicinity, until the Americans became so numerous that they held a convention in March, 1833, to form a separate State government. ”

“ It was on the banks of the Colorado River, on the then extreme frontier. Two or three pioneer cabins already stood there, and the little settlement bore the proud name of Waterloo. But bands of savage Indians still roamed the hills and prairies adjacent. It was necessary to place guards about the grounds to protect the masons and carpenters while they were at work on the capitol building. Among the buildings erected was a blockhouse, as a refuge for the women and children in case of an Indian raid. The new capital was named Austin, in grateful memory of the Father of Texas. ”

“ And then a sweet gentleness stole into his eyes, as his better spirit spoke to him in a soft voice: ‘Ah, Strap, hast thou not glory enough? Hast thou not knocked down many times nearly every man in Texas ... even the great Austin and the mighty king Tuleahcahoma? ”

“ Swords drawn from their scabbards that day were no more to be sheathed, until every link of Mexican fetters, then encircling the youthful form of Texan liberty, should be burst asunder, and Texas stand free and unfettered by despotism among the nations of the earth.
Stephen F. Austin repaired to Gonzales and was chosen commander of the forces. The little army, animated by his leadership, rescued their four-pounder, and. resolved to pursue the foe to San Antonio, and drive from the soil the miserable tools of the tyrant, Santa Anna. Texas rose everywhere, like one man. ”

“ We’ve got to clean up Austin, or Austin’s goin’ to take all Texas away from the Texans.
“Them folks don’t want you to git the first herd north, ma’am. They’ll drive that theirselves when they git things all fixed fer hit.” ”

“ Santa Anna had great confidence in Austin. On all occasions Austin had been loyal to recognized principles, and was the friend of order under all circumstances in Texas. Carrying out the design of his father, Moses Austin, who died in the incipiency of the colony, he had migrated with 300 families, colonists, and was the first to introduce the materials of the magnificent political structure which presented subsequently such form and beauty. Liberated at length by Santa Anna, and permitted to return home, he found public indignation aroused and expressed freely in municipal meetings. ”

“ Austin is the principal trade and jobbing centre for central and western Texas, is an important market for livestock, cotton, grain and wool, and has extensive manufactories of flour, cotton-seed oil, leather goods, lumber and wooden ware ”

“ Already we have received the written indorsement of seventy-six of the leading citizens of Austin, saying, “We believe that such a school is very much needed, and that the enterprise will be hailed by very many of our best citizens as of great importance to the welfare of the State.” Texas has a territory larger than France, and constitutes no mean part of “the whole world” where we are commanded to go and teach. Will our friends aid us to go up at once and possess the land?
WHO SHALL CIVILIZE AFRICA? ”

“ Pop. (1890) 14,575; (1900) 22,258, of whom 5822 were negroes; (1910 census) 29,860. Austin is served by the Houston & Texas Central, the International & Great Northern, and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railways. The city is built on high bluffs 40-120 ft. above the river, which is spanned here by a bridge, built in 1874. The Texas State Capitol, a handsome building of red Texas granite, with a dome 318 ft. high, cost more than $3,500,000, and stands in a square in the centre of the city. It was built (1881-1888) by Chicago capitalists in exchange for a land grant of 3,000,000 acres. ”

“ It has long been an object of strong desire among the people of Texas, to be disjoined from Coahuila, and formed into a separate State. To accomplish this desirable object, Col. Austin was appointed an agent to the Congress at Mexico, near the close of 1833. After spending some months at the seat of government, and making various efforts to have Texas formed into an integral State, separate from Coahuila, despairing of being able to accomplish it, in the then distracted state of affairs, he started to return home. ”

“ In nine years from the first settlement of Austin, the Americans had explored the whole southern portion of the province, and redeemed it from the wilderness of the wild beast and the Indian, and covered it with an industrious and thrifty population. The news of Austin's Colony spread rapidly over the Western States, and many adventurers sought to join him. Colonists came faster than provision could be made for their support. ”

“ In one thing the population seems to be unanimous, and that is that Texas shall remain, vast as it is, one undivided State, a recent legislature having set apart three millions of acres toward the construction of a new capitol at Austin which shall be worthy of that one of the United States which is also, and in itself, an empire so much larger than Germany that to bring the balance to a level you must cast into the scale with it Jamaica, Holland, Denmark, Belgium and Greece. There is the momentum as of its enormous bulk in the prosperity of Texas ”

“ Moses Austin (he died in 1821) we call the grand-daddy of Texas, and Steve his son’s our daddy. If it wasn’t for the way he can talk sense with the government we’d all have been booted out. But he’s worked hard for the people through ten years, and he ought to tend to his own interests for a spell. We need Houston. He’s six feet four and weighs according, and he can hold Texas steady when she begins to rock. Well,” continued the Texan, as if done, “I’m for Fort Gibson. Who’s coming along?”
“How?” demanded the lieutenant. ”

“ So far as Spain was concerned this was only a form, inasmuch as Mexico, of which Texas formed a part, was just completing its long struggle for independence (1810-'21) . In that year also (December 1821) Stephen F. Austin established the first permanent Anglo-American settlement at San Felipe de Austin on the Brazos river. This was followed by an extensive immigration from the United States during the period of Mexican rule (1821-36) . It is estimated that the population, exclusive of Indians, increased from four thousand in 1821 to ten thousand in 1827, and nearly twenty thousand in 1830. ”

“ There was a tavern, run by a settler named Whitesides, and a double log house where lived Stephen Austin himself, the “Father of Texas.” He was away from town, just now, on business. Mr. Carroll [55] thought that at least 1500 people formed the population of the San Felipe neighborhood. The farms were said to be the most prosperous in Texas.
This night’s lodging was at the house of another friend—Mr. R. M. Williamson, one of whose legs was bent at the knee, so that he moved by help of a crutch. He had been alcalde, or mayor, of San Felipe, and was called “Three-legged Willie.” ”

“ We related the case to him and he proposed to arrest and punish the party; but we said no, that we were willing to leave the scoundrel to the handlings of a just Providence!
Bidding the Major "farewell," and a "God bless you" one day, we took stage for Austin, the capital of the State, and headquarters of the Governor. Passed up the valley of the Colorado River, which we had frequently to ford and ferry in a distance of eighty miles, before reaching the capital. ”

“ With the adoption of the federal form of government in Mexico, Texas was united to Coahuila, the two former provinces now forming one state, which in its sovereign capacity made to Austin several grants, among them that of settling eight hundred families, for which he was assigned a larger extent of land. Austin was an active, industrious man, and laboring assiduously in carrying out his colonization schemes, succeeded in planting colonies on the Brazos and Colorado rivers near San Antonio de Béjar, which early in the third decade of this century were already in a flourishing condition. ”

“ Finding vain all their appeals to the governor, they took up arms and declared they would make of Texas an independent republic. They called themselves Fredonians; and banding together, they entrenched themselves in the old stone fort at Nacogdoches. Thence they sent an appeal to Austin’s colonists for help. Both Austin’s colonists and the Cherokee Indians, upon whom they counted for support, refused to join them. News came that a Mexican army was marching against them; their own fighting force was less than two hundred men. ”

“ Ten thousand Americans." This was a virtual declaration of war, but the American Texans were by no means unprepared for the idea, nor yet for its translation into practice.
Austin—who had been sent with a remonstrance to Santa Anna—was in the dungeons of the Inquisition in Mexico; but Houston, Lamar, Burleson, Burnet, Bowie, Crockett, Sherman, and many another name able to fire an army, were on the ground. Besides which, the sympathy of the whole land was with the little band of heroes. For the idea of Texas had been carried in the American heart for two generations. ”

“ Victoria was commenced as a new settlement, and Gonzales laid off as a town in 1825.
In 1828, Stephen F. Austin obtained another contract to colonize three hundred families more, on land near the Gulf of Mexico. Texas had now become the point of attraction to thousands of adventurers from all parts of the United States. Men of desperate fortunes and roving habits, speculators in lands, broken-down politicians, refugees from justice, as well as multitudes of a better class, desirous of finding homes for their growing families and increasing slaves, [3] swelled the tide of Texan immigration. ”

“ This powerful nation, combined with the petty southern tribes, has also waged an almost unceasing warfare upon Texas, ever since her independence. War-parties have frequently penetrated to the very heart of the settlements, perpetrating murderous outrages, and bearing away into captivity numerous women and children. They have entered {315} the city of Austin, then the seat of government, in open day; and, at other times, have been known to descend to the very seacoast, committing many frightful depredations. ”

“ Moses Austin, born in Connecticut, but lastly a lead merchant in those same mines of Washington County, Missouri, where Major Andrew Henry the fur-hunter also was working, heard of the rich lands of the Spanish province of Texas. Major Henry thought mainly of beaver-fur—a get-rich-quick business that took what it might out of a country and left little in exchange. Moses Austin was a merchant and a manufacturer—in Missouri he turned his lead into shot, bars and sheets, and shipped his product to New Orleans. Now in 1820 he determined to settle Texas with American farmers. ”

“ The old Spanish provinces were the states, and one of these provinces was Texas. As a country Texas had been very attractive to Americans, and the eastern part would have been settled early in the century if it had been definitely known who owned it. Now that Mexico owned it, a citizen of the United States, Moses Austin, asked for a large grant of land and for leave to bring in settlers. A grant was made on condition that he should bring in 300 families within a given time. ”

“ The emigrants scattered over the country, finding it pleasanter to own homes in a land of true liberty and equality, than to live by the count’s fine theories.
Many descendants both of the Icarians and of Count Considerant’s colonists are to be met with in North Texas.
Sam Houston succeeded Runnels as governor in 1859. When he took his seat at Austin, clouds from more than one quarter were gathering in the clear sky of Texas. Roving bands of Indians from the Territory came across the border and murdered in cold blood a number of families. ”

“ And then they began to turn their desiring eyes upon the rich and fertile plains of Texas. They gained admission to these by an artifice worthy of men who were accustomed to set at naught all the rights of humanity. In 1819 a man named Austin, then living in Missouri, went to Spain, represented to the King that the Roman Catholics in the United States were subjected to grievous persecutions, and supplicated for them an asylum in Mexico. ”

“ The settlers on his lands are all North Americans; nevertheless, it is but justice to state, that in the late business, when a few of their countrymen proclaimed Texas independent of Mexico, (the Fredonia scheme,) his and their conduct proved their fidelity to the Government of their adopted country; Austin, at the head of all who were capable of bearing arms, having offered to take them up in defence of the legitimate Government. This colony is in the neighbourhood of some small tribes of Indians, whose pilferings it has been often necessary to chastise. ”

“ At Cibolo Creek, where camp was made until Captains Allen and Benjamin Fort Smith should arrive with their men from Goliad and Victoria, who should appear but Don Placido Benavides, the alcalde of Victoria, with thirty Mexican ranchers. They had come to join with their fellow Texans in the fight for liberty. This pleased General Austin and all the army. Don Placido declared that he received circulars inviting him and the other Mexicans to enlist with Texas, and approved of them; and he believed that a great many other native people also would rise for the constitution and state rights. ”