USS Texas

“ 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. ”

“ The extent of our seaboard inculcates the necessity, and manifests the advantages, which must result to the Government from the command of the Gulf of Mexico. The certain means which Texas now possesses, and must have at her disposal, induce the Executive to urge the most ample appropriations, in addition to those which have been made at the present session of Congress. There can be no doubt but that the enemy will avail themselves of every advantage by sea which may be within their power. ”

“ Mention of the Texas recalls a visit I made to her when she was at the New York Navy Yard for repairs, after the fight with Cervera’s fleet, in which the Texas was the principal American sufferer. A young officer took me about the ship, showed me her honorable wounds, repeated Captain Philip’s historic remark, made after the battle,—“Don’t cheer, boys; the poor fellows are dying,” and told me the following story:
One of our Irish sailors was very active in saving the Spaniards in the water, throwing them ropes, boxes and everything floatable he could [46] find. ”

“ The Jaguar was proceeding to the Salto del Frayle, where, on the previous evening, he had appointed to meet Don Juan Melendez de Gongora.
The coasts of Mexico are probably the most varied of all those in the New World. The seaboard of Texas especially is so strangely broken up, that the mind loses itself in trying to discover what accident or antediluvian cataclysm could have been powerful enough to produce these bold gaps and sudden fissures in the tall cliffs that border it. ”

“ Upon this plain statement of facts, it is absurd for Mexico to allege as a pretext for commencing hostilities against the United States that Texas is still a part of her territory.
But there are those who, conceding all this to be true, assume the ground that the true western boundary of Texas is the Nueces instead of the Rio Grande, and that therefore in marching our Army to the east bank of the latter river we passed the Texan line and invaded the territory of Mexico. A simple statement of facts known to exist will conclusively refute such an assumption. ”

“ The United States army post is there as of old, with the stars and stripes proudly waving over its fine buildings.
“To east and southeastward are Goliad and Gonzales, sacred in the pages of Texas history; and the river La Vaca, up which La Salle and his men sailed to build ill-fated Fort St. Louis; and the San Jacinto, washing the reedy edge of the famous battle-ground. There are Houston and Columbia, whose streets in the early days were trod by the fathers of the Republic. There is Nacogdoches; and there is the Old San Antonio Road, which is still a traveled highway ”

“ The Texans felt, with the news that Santa Anna had enveloped the Alamo, that they must take decisive action. They believed that the Mexicans had broken every promise to the Texans. They knew that not only their liberty and property, but their lives, also, were in peril. Despite the great disparity of numbers it must be a fight to the death between Texas and Mexico. The Texans were now gathering at Washington.
One man who inspired courage wherever he went had come already. Sam Houston had ridden into town, calm, confident and talking only of victory. ”

“ The Indians in the upper regions of Texas and on the frontiers of the United States, are numerous and warlike; and when engaged in war, they neither respect territorial lines, nor the rules of civilized nations. They inhabit the country from latitude thirty-four degrees north on Red River, to the Rio del Norte, extending to the road that leads from St. Louis (Mo.) to Santa Fe; south to the head waters of Trinity, Guadaloupe, Brazos and Colorado rivers of Texas—a country in length six hundred miles, and breadth from two hundred and fifty to four hundred miles, mostly prairie. ”

“ In 1810, when the great revolution in Mexico against Spain had begun, the Southerners sympathized intensely with the natives, and before very long were lending secret aid to Mexico. A filibustering expedition into Texas was led by James Long, a Natchez merchant and ex-officer in the United States Army. At Nacogdoches Texas was declared a republic and a provisional government organized; but the Spanish forces soon broke it up. For several years the coast of Texas became a rendezvous for pirate and adventurer. ”

“ The victory was unstained by a single act of revenge. Thenceforth the world knew that Texas was free. The men who could use success with such forbearance were men worthy of self-government.
Texas striving for independence was to the nations of the world an object of keener interest than Texas sending her heroic filibusters to nameless graves. Lord Palmerston, anticipating with literal exactness the policy of a later administration dealing with Central America, threatened to send a ship of war to Texas "to demand payment of certain claims against the republic." ”

“ Colonel Moore replied that the Texans had been ordered by the lieutenant to surrender the cannon which had been loaned them for their own defense and had been told that if they didn’t surrender it, the soldiers were coming to take it; the order had been issued by direction of the Santa Anna government, which was the enemy of the constitution and therefore was the enemy of Texas; so Texas was determined to fight instead of yielding.
“No, señor,” replied the lieutenant—who was a very polite young man. “You are mistaken when you class us with enemies of the constitution. ”

“ A scheme was set on foot for the occupation of New Mexico, whose people were said to be anxious to join the Texas Republic. Its real object was to divert into Texas the rich trade of Sante Fé with Old Mexico. An expedition was organized and started from Brushy Creek, near Austin, June, 1841. It was composed of about two hundred and seventy soldiers, together with a number of traders and adventurers. The soldiers were under the command of General Hugh McLeod. ”

“ He encamped on the 20th at the Mission of La Espada on the San Antonio River. Recruits came in rapidly. Sam Houston, who had given his last five-dollar bill to a messenger to spread the call for volunteers, arrived with a detachment of men from East Texas. Bowie and Travis, Crockett and Fannin, Milam, Burleson, “Deaf” Smith, Rusk, Wharton,—these gathered in groups about the camp, little dreaming that each man of them carried within his own breast something of which the history of Texas was to be made. ”

“ If they get another army of the extent proposed, it must be composed of new recruits, and men pressed into service. They will not possess the mechanical efficiency of discipline which gives the Mexican troops the only advantage they have. They will easily be routed by a very inferior force. For a portion of that force, we shall be obliged to look to the United States! It cannot reach us too soon. There is but one feeling in Texas, in my opinion, and that is, to establish the independence of Texas, and TO BE ATTACHED TO THE UNITED STATES! ”

“ The Texas community was established by Jean Lafitte, who had had much experience as a smuggler at Barataria Bay, Louisiana, both before and during the War of 1812. He had also made several cruises on pirate ships—enough to learn that more money could be made buying prizes from the cruisers than in cruising. ”

“ It did seem as though General Houston ought to be made president; but Stephen Austin, the Father of Texas, was being mentioned. He, too, certainly deserved honors. At any rate, the Texas soldiers were strong for their general. They would accept no other leader; not they! While the general was still invalided, the Texas government decided that by his absence he had forfeited his command, and Colonel Mirabeau Lamar, the brilliant cavalryman, now secretary of war, was appointed new commander-in-chief. When he arrived at the army headquarters, to assume the command, the army protested. ”

“ The next day there was no execution; instead, when the army was paraded, they listened to the adjutant, Colonel Ben Fort Smith, read a general order:
Fellow-Soldiers: The only army in Texas is now present. Travis has fallen with his men at the Alamo; Fannin’s troops have been massacred at La Bahia [which was Goliad] . There are none to aid us. There is here but a small force, and yet it is all that Texas has. We might cross the river and attack the enemy. We might be victorious—but we might be overcome. There are but few of us, and if we fall the fate of Texas is sealed. ”

“ The European traveller who visits for the first time Texas, and all the coasts of Southern America generally, experiences a feeling of indefinable sorrow at the sight of these gloomy and sinister shores, which have witnessed so many accidents, and against which the dark waves of the Pacific break with mysterious murmurs. ”

“ And, accordingly, here I am on my way to Texas to join Sam Houston and the rest against Santa Anna and his crew.”
“There seems to be a strong tide set in toward that country,” spoke another of the party. “I hear that there’s hundreds go down the river every week.”
“They’ll be needed,” nodded Colonel Crockett. “Everything looks promising for a long war; and Texas, so I’ve heard, is just the place where one can be carried out to any length by men who fight and run as the Mexicans do.” ”

“ San Antonio was much the largest, richest, most influential city of Texas of that period. It was remote from the seat of government. There was no intervening population between it and the Mexican frontier. For its protection, and that of the country, a considerable squadron of cavalry was stationed in that city. This squadron was, indeed, the only military of Texas kept mobilized that was ready to take the field. Major Western, who commanded this body of cavalry, had by some acts and significant innuendoes intimated that he cared very little for the one horse Government in the city of Houston. ”

“ If this history shows nothing else, it shows that the United States had a national interest in having the three-league belt recognized for its own purposes, whereas Texas up to the time oil was discovered offshore placed no value whatsoever on a seaward boundary. For me the argument becomes too thin to say that the United States, though nominally negotiating on her own behalf, was claiming the three-league maritime belt on behalf of Texas. ”

“ From the day that the battle of San Jacinto was fought until the present hour Mexico has never possessed the power to reconquer Texas. In the language of the Secretary of State of the United States in a dispatch to our minister in Mexico under date of the 8th of July, 1842--
Mexico may have chosen to consider, and may still choose to consider, Texas as having been at all times since 1835, and as still continuing, a rebellious province; but the world has been obliged to take a very different view of the matter. ”

“ While he was living with the Indians wild stories of his doings were spread about. One story was that he meant to conquer Texas, and make himself Emperor of that country. But Houston had really no intention of founding a nation.
In the war with Texas the Mexicans were at first successful, and the terrified people fled before them. But at the battle of San Jacinto the Texans utterly defeated the Mexicans. The rout was complete and the Mexicans fled in every direction, among them their leader, Santa Anna. ”

“ Once more I summon you to follow me to San Felipe and all who wish well to Texas will be ready in an hour's time. Every moment we may expect to see the enemy on the other side of the river. Once more then—to the banks of the Brazos!"
The old general walked off to his tent, and the crowd betook themselves to their fires, murmuring and discontented, and put their rifles in order. But in an hour and a half, the Texian army left their camp on the Colorado. Sam Houston had prevailed, and the next evening he and his men reached San Felipe, and, without pausing there, marched up the river. ”

“ The President of the Mexican Republic then learned at his own cost that, in every human question, there is something more powerful than the brute force of bayonets: it is the idea whose time has come and hour struck. The troops sent to Texas were beaten and driven back on all sides; in short, they were compelled to treat with the insurgents, and withdraw ignominiously. ”

“ Texas claimed as her western boundary the Rio Grande. Mexico held that the western limit was the Nueces. Between the two rivers there was a large area of disputed territory. The Texan claim was opposed by many American statesmen and publicists, and by some was denounced—as the annexation of Texas had been—as an aggressive move against Mexico. But the United States Government supported the cause of Texas. General Zachary Taylor, who had served in the War of 1812, and afterward in several Indian wars, took command of the army in Texas in 1845. ”

“ The marksmanship of our navy is now on the whole in a gratifying condition, and there has been a great improvement in fleet practice. We need additional seamen; we need a large store of reserve guns; we need sufficient money for ample target practice, ample practice of every kind at sea. We should substitute for comparatively inefficient types--the old third-class battleship Texas, the single-turreted monitors above mentioned, and, indeed, all the monitors and some of the old cruisers--efficient, modern seagoing vessels. ”