Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/64

52 the two rivers were surveyed and sold, and all the evidences of grants and transfers of land, subsequent to the revolution of 1834, were entered among the records of Texas. Persons holding colony contracts made by the department of Tamaulipas, which was bounded on the east by the Nueces, prior to the revolution, voted at Corpus Christi under the laws of Texas. Members of the Texan Congress were elected, who resided on the right bank of the Nueces, several years previous to the annexation; and that part of Texas was also represented in the Congress and the Convention by which the joint resolutions of 1845 were accepted. The collectoral district of Aransas was established by the ﬁrst Congress, and extended from the mouth of the San Antonio to the Rio Grande. Boats were repeatedly sent out by the collector to watch the coast, and reconnoitre the Laguna Madre, and the Brazos. In the fall of 1838, when their ports were blockaded by the French ﬂeet, the Mexicans landed a cargo of flour at a place about ten miles west of the present town of Corpus Christi, now called "Flour Bluffs" from this circumstance, for the purpose of secretly conveying it across the country. The ﬂour was destroyed, and the vessel seized under the orders of the collector of the district, for violating the revenue laws of Texas.

In the spring of 1837, the Mexican rancheros again ventured across the Rio Grande to herd their cattle; but they were immediately attacked by the Texan "cow-boys," as they were termed, and compelled to cross over to the right bank. Repeated efforts were made by the rancheros to establish themselves