Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/611

 then said, "Go to your duty, sir; I do not care for all the spies in the world if they will tell the truth."

Perry remained in camp, still attached to the staff, and when they arrived at Harrisburg he passed over Buffalo bayou with the spies. On the march to San Jacinto he was taken under suspicious circumstances—having left the line of the Texans. He was taken by Captain Karnes and private Seacrist, of the spies, and brought to the general. They reported that he had changed his horse's caparison, also his musket for an escopet, and they believed he had communication with the enemy. The general ordered him to be disarmed and sent to the guard fire. Karnes said, "General, are you not going to execute him?"

"No, Karnes," replied the general, "I have no leisure at this time to look into the matter." "Sir," said he, " if we had known that you would not have instantly executed him, you would never have been troubled with him; he is a traitor and a spy."

That was on the 20th. He remained under guard until the morning of the 21st. He sent the general a message, which is not precisely recollected. The general gave orders to restore his arms, giving him an opportunity to wipe off the stigma that he had placed upon his character, and gave him leave to go into the battle; whether he did or not is not known to me. When I heard of his conduct, the general might have apprehended that he would have been the first object for him to assassinate; but he defies a traitor, a spy, or an assassin, if he can confront him. This is the Rev. James H. Perry, D.D. His letter from the Brazos shall be published after I return to Texas. It shall appear in the New York Herald. It will vindicate all I have said.

He says, in his letter from camp, that the general was not in the habit of drinking ardent spirits, but was a confirmed opium-eater. I believe there never was one of them cured, and the general looks very little like an opium-eater. His correspondent was the notorious Robert Potter, of North Carolina, who was Secretary of the Navy in Texas. The general had no hand in making him so. He was the gentleman with whom the reverend doctor corresponded. He acknowledges himself his spy and pimp upon the general, and they were a most worthy pair.

These are some of the circumstances that I have felt it my duty to state in vindication of the Commander-in-chief I think it is a duty that a man owes, after he has passed his life pretty much in the service of his country, and is about to retire from that service, that he should do a little redding up, and arranging of matters which posterity may not so well comprehend without explanation. I will call the attention of the honorable Senate to one fact; and I will ask, why was the council called, and why was it desired? Because the indications were clear that the Commander-in-chief intended that day to engage the enemy; that his arrangements, though silent, indicated his purpose. There were persons who censured his conduct from time to time, and charged him with cowardice. He was charged with retreating from Gonzales, and from the Colorado, and under a pressure of circumstances crossing the Brazos, with a design to cross the Trinity, and go east. Why did they not then call a council to counteract his designs? Why did they not interpose to prevent these things if they believed them? No council of war was asked for until on the eve of battle, and the gentleman who was the first to flee from the field, and who was charged with appropriating the spoils privately, was most active in that council. The