Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/707

 TEXAS 67T menced, beginning with the projected move- ment of Aaron Burr, and embracing the ex- peditions of Magee, a former lieutenant of the U. S. army; of Col. Kemper, his successor ; of Bernardo Gutierrez; of Col. Ellis P. Bean, who had suffered a protracted and cruel im- prisonment from the Spanish authorities; of Gen. J. A. Toledo, a Cuban republican ; of Col. Perry, an American officer ; of Auzy, who styled himself governor of Texas; and of Xavier Mina, a Spanish refugee, who aided in the capture of Galveston island in 1816. In these expeditions there were several severe battles fought between the invaders and the Spanish authorities ; on two occasions in 1813, the invaders defeated the Spanish forces, and caused them a loss of more than 1,000. In the same year, of a force of 2,500 Americans and Mexicans, all were slain but about 100, a considerable number being butchered in cold blood, and nearly 700 of the peaceable inhab- itants of San Antonio murdered. In 1817 Mina won several victories in conflict with the Spanish troops, but was finally defeated, taken prisoner, and shot on Nov. 11 of that year. After the close of the war of 1812 Lafitte, the pirate of the gulf, made Galveston island his headquarters, and established a town there named Campeachy. He remained here till 1821, when a naval force was despatched by the United States government to break up the settlement In 1819 the long controversy be- tween the United States and Spain in regard to the Texan boundary was terminated by the establishment of the Sabine as the boundary line. This treaty occasioned much dissatisfac- tion on the part of the western and southwest- ern states. Mr. Clay and other prominent men opposed it. A revolutionary expedition was organized at Natchez the same year, un- der the command of Dr. James Long, a Ten- nesseean, which penetrated as far as Nacog- doches and established a provisional govern- ment there, and the leader went to Galves- ton island to secure the cooperation of La- fitte; but while he was absent his force was routed and cut to pieces by the royalist troops. In a second expedition Long took possession of La Bahia without difficulty; but, though Mexico had become independent under Itur- bide, he and his followers were taken prison- ers and sent to the city of Mexico, where after a brief imprisonment he was set at liberty, but was almost immediately assassinated, in 18-22. Texas at this time was almost whol- ly deserted, the settlement at Galveston en- tirely abandoned, and the few inhabitants at other points reduced to poverty by the civil war. In 1820 Moses Austin, then residing in Missouri, received from the Spanish authori- ties of Mexico a grant of lands in Texas. He died before he was able to avail himself of it, and his son, Stephen F. Austin, received a confirmation of the grant in 1823, having already in the beginning of 1822 conducted a considerable number of colonists to the site he had selected in the vicinity of the pres- ent county of Austin. The colony increased rapidly, and Austin obtained permission to bring in 500 more families (his first grant was for 300). Others also followed in the estab- lishment of colonies in the same vicinity. The Mexican constitution, adopted in 1824, united Coahuila, hitherto a separate province, with Texas in a single state, and the congress of the united state placed a Mexican as commandant of the department of Texas. The injustice of this commandant toward the American citi- zens, especially those attached to the colony of Hayden Edwards, created difficulty; and an appeal being made to the governor of the state, who was also a Mexican, he without trial or examination annulled Edwards's grant and ordered his expulsion from the state. Ed- wards and his colonists attempted unsuccess- fully to effect a revolution ; and in January, 1827, they were compelled to retreat into the United States. In 1830 Bustamante, who had seized the dictatorship of Mexico, issued a de- cree forbidding the people of the United States to enter Texas as colonists, and suspending all colony contracts which interfered with this prohibition. In 1832 the Texans sustained the pronunciamiento of Vera Cruz in favor of the constitution, and in opposition to the rule of Bustamante, and defeated a force under Col. Piedras, who favored the dictator. In 1833 the American settlers, now numbering over 20,000, held a convention, determined to sep- arate themselves from Coahuila, and prepared a state constitution and an address to the general government, of which Santa Anna was now the head, requesting admission as a separate state into the republic. Col. S. F. Austin went to Mexico to present the request of the memorialists. He was unsuccessful, and was detained in Mexico till September, 1835, but in 1834 procured the revocation of the decree of Bustamante prohibiting the ad- mission of colonists from the United States, and several other favorable concessions. Santa Anna sought to amuse Austin and the Texans with promises of allowing them a separate state government till he could occupy the country with his troops. The government of the state of Coahuila and Texas having been overthrown, committees of safety were established, the first being appointed at a meeting at Mina (now Bastrop), May 17, 1835. The first battle, or rather skirmish, was fought near Gonzales, Oct. 2. Other battles followed. Goliad was captured by the Texans on Oct. 9, and the battle of Concepcion, near San Antonio, was fought on the 28th. On Nov. 3 the " Con- sultation," a body composed of delegates from the municipalities, met at San Felipe de Aus- tin, and proceeded to the organization of a provisional government. Henry Smith was elected governor and J. TV. Robinson lieu- tenant governor, and a general council was organized. At the same time Sam Houston was elected Commander-in-chief, and Austin