Lone Star Nation (64 page)

“Peace would cost”: ibid., 135.

“I will predict”: ibid., 138.

“My honest belief”: ibid., 151.

“Know all men”: ibid., 196.

“conquer Mexico or Texas”: memo by Andrew Jackson (citing a letter from Duff Green), May 21, 1829, Jackson Papers.

“It has been communicated”: Jackson to Houston, June 21, 1829, ibid. (This letter in the Jackson Papers is a transcript, which includes the phrase “Your pledge of honor to the country . . .” Jackson presumably wrote—or at least meant—“Your pledge of honor to the contrary.” And so it has been rendered here.)

“struck him elsewhere”: James, 164.

“It's not you . . . some privileges”: Terrell, 126.

“When he came”: ibid.

“I seek no sympathies . . . eternity's waves”:
WSH,
1:208, 224.

“Houston, take my laurels!”: James, 170.

“I was dying out”: ibid., 172.

“So soon as matters”:
WSH,
1:204.

“It is important”: ibid., 231.

“The land which . . . for moving about”: ibid., 235.

“The more conflict”: ibid., 237.

“The field is now open”: ibid., 261.

“I have seen . . . citizens of Texas”: ibid., 263–64.

“all the Tribes”: James, 185.

“It has been my first . . . of that place”:
WSH,
1:267–70.

“He said he had been fired at”: “Mr. Ham's Recollections of Col. Bowie,” in unpublished memoirs of John S. Ford, p. 110, Ford Papers; Haley, 93.

“I found them”:
WSH,
1:272.

“Can Mexico ever”: Washington Daniel Miller Papers.

“Colonel Crockett”:
Papers of Clay
, 6:1098.

“if some skulking”: Davis, 79.

“I was, without disguise”: Crockett, 205.

“Fellow citizens”: Davis, 166–67.

“His friends admit”: ibid., 170.

“To return from the capitol . . . Lions of the West”: Heale, 406.

“Two years ago”: Tocqueville, 254.

“Rely upon it”:
Correspondence of Polk
, 1:230.

“To General Jackson”: Davis, 175. Shackford, 126, suggests that this letter was ghostwritten. Perhaps, but it nonetheless captures Crockett's feelings.

“I have not left”: Shackford, 130.

“I have not got”: ibid., 118–19.

“I would rather be beaten”: ibid., 133.

“I think Crockett”:
Correspondence of Polk
, 1:414.

“obscure as I am . . . hypocritically immortalized”: Crockett, 1, 7, 10, 118, 135, 139, 163–64, 206.

10. The General Is Friendly

“They were all bound . . . begin life anew in Texas”: Holley,
Texas
, 21–22, 29–30, 37–39, 123–25, 127–31.

“She is a very superior woman”:
AP
, 2:725.

“Brazos Boat Song”: Lee, 232.

“Mrs. H. is a
divine
woman”:
AP,
2:726.

“There is a pleasure . . . we can have”: ibid., 727–29.

“I had a wretched trip”: ibid., 992.

“There were 43,000 sick”: ibid., 1006.

“I explained at large . . . serious reflection”: ibid., 990.

“I told the vice president . . . he was reconciled”: ibid., 1008.

“I believe that Texas . . . inexpedient and ruinous”: ibid., 990–91.

“I have had a hard trip”: ibid., 997.

“And in my opinion . . . God and Texas”: ibid., 1007–8; Cantrell, 271.

“Texas matters are all right . . . at home soon”:
AP,
2:1016.

“All I can be accused of . . . in the colony”:
AP,
2:1024–25.

“Time drags on heavily . . . impatience and imprudence”: S. Austin, “Prison Journal,” 196–97.

“What a system . . . or common sense”: ibid., 209–10.

“I am in such a condition”: Callcott, 98.

“I swear to you”: ibid., 102.

“Say to Mr. Poinsett”: Wharton, 64.

“When I returned to the capital”: Santa Anna,
Eagle
, 48.

“We were perishing”: Callcott, 112.

“Our doors are now open”:
AP,
2:1051.

“I have no doubt”: ibid., 1085.

“President Santa Anna is friendly”: ibid., 1077.

Part Three: Blood on the Sand (1835–1836)

11. The Sword Is Drawn

“It awakened”:
WSH,
1:294.

“I have even been told”:
AP,
2:1077.

“As to Texas . . . so to remain”:
WSH,
1:289–90.

“General Houston was here. . . . I was a spy”: Featherstonhaugh, 2:161.

“The plans of the revolutionists”: Wooten, 1:173.

“Chingaba una mujer”: Travis, 15.

“No pudiera”: ibid., 129.

“Pagaba un peso . . . malo”: ibid., 144.

“Venereo mala”: ibid., 145. Davis, 687, suggests alternative interpretations of Travis's phrase. In light of Travis's traffic record, venereal disease seems the most likely.

“Proposals &c agreeably received”: Travis, 128.

“Spent day pleasantly”: ibid., 143.

“Started to Mill Creek”: ibid., 139.

“Reception cold”: ibid., 151.

“a simple understanding”: ibid., 151.

“I landed at this place”: McDonald, 110.

“In a very short time”: ibid., 114.

“As it is impossible”: ibid., 120–21.

“I discharged . . . I glory in it”: ibid., 122–23.

“Strong man that he was”: Smithwick, 137.

“Why, Jim . . . plenty of them”: ibid., 138.

title to more than a half million acres: Davis, 423.

“You must look upon me . . . at liberty”:
AP,
3:2–4.

out-of-pocket expenses at ten thousand dollars: ibid., 48.

“I have been much more faithful”: ibid., 6.

“If that change gives Santa Anna”: ibid., 8.

“Santa Anna leaves”: ibid., 63.

“All the rest of the country”: ibid., 48.

“I do not understand”: ibid., 68.

“I believe that the most of them”: ibid., 90.

“It is well known . . . for the worst”: ibid., 102–3.

“A grand dinner . . . such enthusiasm”: ibid., 120.

“His arrival unites all parties”: ibid., 119–20.

“My efforts to serve Texas . . . in the future”: ibid., 116–19.

“Things have come on us”: ibid., 128.

“The substance of this information . . . without effect”: ibid., 128–29.

“War is upon us. . . . War is inevitable”: ibid., 129–30.

“There must now be no half way measures”: ibid., 130.

12. Lexington on the Guadalupe

“The glowing terms . . . lazy man's paradise”: Smithwick, 17–18.

“I had a strong aversion”: ibid., 19.

“A league of land . . . shot him dead”: ibid., 37.

“Padre Muldoon was a bigoted . . . swallowing his medicine”: ibid., 66–67.

“I have seen him sit . . . any other hypothesis”: ibid., 67–68.

“gamblers' heaven . . . Declaration of Independence”: ibid., 75.

“I told him”: ibid., 84.

“an overbearing man . . . this iniquitous town”: ibid., 84–86.

“just at the time”: ibid., 99.

“Some were for independence”: ibid., 102.

“Our whole available force . . . being necessary”: ibid., 104–6.

“The Mexican commander”: Wooten, 537.

“Your Lordship's orders”:
PTR,
2:36; Hardin, 12.

“It was our Lexington”: Smithwick, 101.

“The same blood”: Hardin, 9.

“No more doubts . . . not all at one jump”:
AP,
3:160–61.

“It is not in the nature . . . control its destiny?”: Smithwick, 106.

“200 stands of muskets”:
AP,
3:181.

“
War in defense of our rights . . . down with the Usurper
!!!”:
WSH,
1:302.

“with full powers”: ibid., 303.

“The time has arrived”: ibid., 304.

“committee of vigilance and safety . . . of a Jackson”: ibid., 299–300.

“It certainly bore little resemblance”: Smithwick, 109–10.

“all spoiling for a fight”: ibid., 112.

“A large number of the citizens . . .
starved
out”:
AP,
3:202.

“Permit us to again suggest”: ibid., 206–7.

“When the fog lifted . . . by all the furies”: Smithwick, 114–15.

“The overwhelming superiority of force”:
AP,
3:217.

13. Behind Ben Milam

“He made a speech to us . . . touched the ground”: Smithwick, 111.

it lost by a vote of fifteen to thirty-three: Wooten, 190.

“My health has been very bad . . .
to require rest
”:
AP,
3:262–63.

“It is an office”: ibid., 247.

“He made the best speech”: ibid., 238.

“Of these I think”: Briscoe to Austin, c. November 21, 1835, Austin Papers.

“We are all captains”: Hardin, 8.

“While we were busy”: Dewees, 156.

“The army at present . . . or the people”:
WSH,
1:305–6.

“By express . . . the head knocked out”:
AP,
3:241.

“An immediate organization . . . defending the country”:
WSH,
1:311–13.

“Citizens of Texas”: ibid., 317–18.

“I have at various times . . . such a service”:
AP,
3:263.

“Would it not be best . . . an eligible position”:
WSH,
1:305–6.

“the insidious attempts . . . command of the next”:
PTR,
2:248.

“All day we get more”: Maverick, 44.

“Reports of the events . . . appalling blackness”: Ehrenberg, 1–35.

“Colonel Milam is a native . . . all my sufferings”:
PTR,
2:194–95.

“Ben Milam and Frank Johnson”: Taylor, 62–63.

“Remain like men”: ibid., 63.

“The hollow roar”: Ehrenberg, 71.

“Not a word . . . unable to reach it”: ibid., 71–77.

“But she laughed . . . unfortunate woman”: ibid., 81.

“The enemy's fire increased . . . another dead Mexican”: Taylor, 67.

“At daylight of the 6th”:
PTR,
3:161.

“Yet our labors”: Ehrenberg, 84.

“Boys, load your guns . . . at his heels”: ibid., 69–71.

“It appeared we were to be swept off”:
Papers of Lamar,
5:97.

“The reaction of those”: Huson, 196.

“The fact that many”: Filisola,
Memoirs
, 2:93.

“We entered the town . . . has never surrendered”: Huson, 190–93.

“We were surrounded”: ibid., 194.

“retire with their arms . . . price of the country”:
PTR,
3:156–57.

14. The Army of Operations

“Some journalists had tried”: Santa Anna, “Manifesto,” 7.

“Our country found itself”: ibid., 17.

“The foreigners who are making”:
PTR,
3:114.

“I have been unable . . . provisions and supplies?”: Martínez Caro, 100.

“In an immense . . . part of another”: de la Peña, 6–9.

“The great problem . . . to my genius”: Santa Anna, “Manifesto,” 12.

“I propose placing . . . spring will open”:
WSH,
1:319–20.

“It will give me . . . state of defence”: ibid., 321.

“The brave men . . . for God's sake!”: ibid., 332–33.

“In the event you can obtain . . . Copano is important”: ibid.
,
1:322–23.

“Matamoros rage . . . abandon the place”: ibid., 339–40.

“Our party now mustered . . . difficult to achieve”: Ehrenberg, 120, 124–25.

“must not be wasted . . . that very day”: ibid., 126–28. Crisp, “Sam Houston's Speechwriters,” dissects the problematic nature of the various accounts of Houston's speech. The present author agrees with Crisp's principal conclusions; for this reason the anti-Mexican and anti-Indian (Houston anti-Indian?!) remarks attributed to Houston by some authors have been omitted here.

“agents of the people . . . offensive and defensive”:
PTR,
3:123–24.

“From the papers”: ibid., 18–19.

“A change of the basis”:
AP,
3:283.

“When I left Texas”: ibid., 298–99.

“There is a Louisiana Battalion”: ibid., 301.

“We have effected”: ibid., 305.

“The universal wish”: ibid., 299.

“Resolved: That the proud dictator”:
PTR,
3:165.

“I have never been”:
AP,
3:314.

“I had no idea . . . in their independence”: ibid., 314.

“
a principle
. . . omnipotent God”: Holley (1836 ed.), 260–80.

“This reminds me”: Shackford, 202.

“You look tired . . . no use trying to”: Davis, 392.

“I am not certain . . . this will be”: Shackford, 173–74.

“wicked plan”:
Correspondence of Polk,
3:182.

“How is it”: ibid., 190–91.

“If his vocabulary . . . carry such a skin”: Davis, 405.

“I have him bad plagued”: Shackford, 204.

“The great
Hunter
”:
Correspondence of Polk,
3:261.

“We have killed”: ibid., 286.

“I am on the eve . . . before I return”:
PTR,
2:274.

“I am told”: Davis, 413.

“It is the garden spot . . . among friends”: Shackford, 214–16.

15. Victory or . . .

“We had set out . . . inside their fortifications”: de la Peña, 26–37.

“Fortress Alamo . . . are all aiming”:
PTR,
4:58–61.

“All I can say . . . to the enemy”: ibid., 237–38.

“
Relief
at this post . . . against thousands”: ibid.