Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/463

 productions of the soil as were convenient. They lived by traffic with Nacogdoches. The declaration was made, and it was announced by the Cabinet that they would kill off "Houston's pet Indians." Well, sir, they killed a very few of them; and my honorable colleague knows very well, if it had not been for the volunteers, they would have licked the regular army—as the Indians said; I was not there.

The Cherokees had ever been friendly; and, when Texas was in consternation, and the men and women were fugitives from the myrmidons of Santa Anna, who were sweeping over Texas like a simoon, they had aided our people, and given them succor; and this was the recompense. They were driven from their homes, and were left desolate. They were driven up among the Comanches. What was the consequence? Every Indian upon our borders, from the Red River to the Rio Grande, took the alarm. They learned that extermination was the cry; and hence it was that the flood of invasion came upon our frontiers, and drenched them with blood. The policy of extermination was pursued, and a massacre of sixteen chiefs at San Antonio, who came in amity for a treaty, took place. That was in 1840. Before this army was raised they had been in the habit of coming down for purposes of peace and commerce. But an army of Indians marched through the settlements to the seaboard, one hundred or one hundred and fifty miles, undetected, I grant you, avoiding the dense settlements, went to Linville, upon tide water, rifled the stores, and slaughtered the men, if there were any, the women treated with cruelty, and their children's brains were dashed against the walls of their peaceful habitations. The exterminating policy brought it on. The country became involved in millions of debt, and the Indians in Texas were kept in constant irritation.

That was in 1840; and it was not until the year 1843 that intercourse could be had with them through the medium of the pipe of peace, the wampum, and the evidences of friendship. Then, what I related the other day occurred, and kind relations were again brought about, which subsisted until 1849. For the last 3'ear there has not been the life of a citizen lost on our borders that may be attributed to the Indians. One old man and three children were found near Medina, and another man was found, not scalped, and we know not by whose hands he came to his death—whether he was killed by Indians or Mexicans. They have detected companies of felons there, whites and Mexicans, stealing horses, and running them through the wilderness to Red River. The forts, they knew, were there, and they could dodge them, and go within one mile, or twenty, or thirty, just as they please. They are perfectly harmless.

The Indians have killed several soldiers—and why? Whenever they get the chance they treat them like dogs. What did they do? The agent made an agreement with the principal officer, for the Indians (to enable them to subsist), that they should have a certain amount of powder and lead; and the sutler should be permitted to sell it. The commanding officer was absent. Perhaps the young lieutenant, or the junior— I hope the Senator will not ask for the name, for, indeed, I have forgotten it—was in command. The Indians came in, and asked the sutler for powder. He said, "No, you can not get one grain of powder or lead." "Why," say they, "our women and children are crying with hunger, and we want to go out and kill game and feed them; we want the powder." "No, you can not get powder," says he. They then said, "If you drive us off, we will have to go and join the northern Comanches. We have