Henderson King Yoakum - History of Texas 1685 - 1846, Volume 1

History of Texas

1685 1846, Vol. 1

HENDERSON KING YOAKUM

History of Texas Vol. 1, H. K. Yoakum

Jazzybee Verlag Jrgen Beck

86450 Altenmnster, Loschberg 9

Deutschland

ISBN: 9783849652043

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TO PETER W. GRAY, ESQ.

DEAR SIR: I present you with the first volume of my HISTORY OF TEXAS. It doubtless has many defects, and I can only regret that I have nothing better to offer. It is the fruit of days and nights stolen from other pursuits.

I am greatly indebted to you for papers and suggestions. I owe a like debt to Jesse Grimes, Esq., Dr. B. B. Goodrich, General H. H. Edwards, Colonel J. C. Harrison, Colonel S. A. Miller, and several other gentlemen; but, especially, to F. Giraud, Esq., and Colonel John Forbes.

The materials for the history of Texas during the last century are very slender; yet it is believed there are more in existence. For instance1. The correspondence of the Franciscan friars from 1716 to 1794 is believed to be in the parent-convents of Queretaro and Zacatecas. This would throw a flood of light upon that period. 2. The thirty folio volumes, covering the transactions in Texas for the first half-century of its history, were forwarded to the king of Spain in 1744, and are probably in the archives of Salmanca, in Spain. 3. The Berlandier manuscripts. Dr. Berlandier, a Swiss geographer, was engaged in Mexico and Texas from 1826 to 1850 in collecting documents and facts, historical, geographical, &c., and died in Matamoras in the last-named year, leaving his extensive manuscripts in the hands of his widow. These she sold to an officer of the United States navy. He has deposited them in the Smithsonian Institution for safekeeping, desirous to dispose of them to the government. When accessible, they will doubtless throw light upon the history of our state. 4. Don Ramon Arisp, curate of Bourbon, in Tamaulipas, promised the king of Spain, in his memorial of 1811, to write a history of the eastern internal provinces. If he did so, I have not seen it.

Besides these materials, of which I have not had the benefit, there are doubtless in the archives of Mexico, Chihuahua, Saltillo, and Monclova, many valuable historical papers. In Bexar there are some yet unpublished. Our legislature directed the appointment of a person to arrange and translate these last-named papers, and made an appropriation for that purpose; but the gentleman appointed has made no report to my knowledge. The want of these materials must be my excuse for not furnishing something more worthy of your consideration.

The materials for the second volume, which will close with our annexation, will be more ample. In the meantime, if the perusal of this volume shall afford you half the pleasure I had in its compilation, I shall be more than gratified.

Very truly your friend,

H. YOAKUM.

SHEPHERD'S VALLEY, TEXAS, July 3, 1854.

THE gulf of Mexico is somewhat in the shape of a horseshoe, having at the two heels Capes Florida and Catorce, and a perimeter of three thousand miles. Its opening is defended and adorned by the island of Cuba, possessing some of the finest harbors in the world. Commencing at Cape Florida, we find the ports and harbors are as numerous as could be desired. They areTampa, Apalachie, Mobile, New Orleans, Achafalaya, Calcasieu, Sabine, Galveston, Matagorda, Corpus Christi, Brasos Santiago, Soto la Marina, Tampico, Vera Cruz, Tehuantepec, Campeachy, Sisal, and Sagartos. True, some of them are of small capacity; yet they are sufficient for the vast commerce of this great inland sea, and the rich territories that border it.

At the toe of this great shoe lies the territory of TEXAS, extending from the twenty-sixth nearly to the thirtieth parallel of north latitude, a distance of 380 miles along the coast. It extends into the interior to the parallel of thirty-six and a half degrees north, and lies between the ninety-fourth and the one hundred and fifth degrees of longitude west from Greenwichembracing an area of two hundred and thirty-seven thousand square miles, or about one hundred and fifty millions of acres. The country along the coast is a level prairie; but, as you pass to the interior, the surface gradually rises and becomes more undulatingand, still farther inland, hilly, and then mountainous. Timber also begins to appear as the country becomes more undulating, especially in the eastern portion of the state. Yet, after crossing an extensive belt of timber, and reaching more than a hundred miles from the coast, you find the high, rolling prairiescomposed of the richest soil in the world, covered with musquit-grass, and having, along the streams and valleys, sufficient timber for ordinary purposes.

Texas is an alluvial country, having very little rock on its surface. Everywhere is to be found unmistakeable evidence of its having been submerged. In the extreme northern part primitive rocks may be found, though in the inhabited portion they are never seen. The variety of her latitude and elevation gives to her citizens a like variety of climate and productions. In the south, they grow oranges and sugar-cane; in the middle region, cotton; farther north, wheat; and potatoes, corn, and vegetables, everywhere. In fact, there is no country of like extent where a greater variety and quantity of agricultural productions can be raised; nor is there any country where the laborer can find a more certain and better reward for his toil.

Circumstances alone have postponed to these latter days the development of the vast resources of Texas. Galveston, her principal harborsituated about four hundred miles from New Orleans, seven hundred from Vera Cruz, and eight hundred from Cubaaffords her a commercial outlet sufficient for her growing purposes. When her interior shall be supplied with railroad facilitiesand in no country can they be more cheaply builtshe will have nothing further to desire.

THE first European emigrants to Texas were led hither by Robert Cavalier, the Sieur de la Salle, who landed on the west side, and near the entrance, of Matagorda bay, on the 18th of February, 1685. La Salle was a brave and gallant knight of Louis XIV. He was a native of Rouen, in Normandy. Born of a good family, and destined for the church, he received, under the guidance of the Jesuits, an excellent scientific education. He was a man of great abilities, of an enterprising spirit, and possessed of a firmness of mind which peril and adversity seemed only to strengthen. He kept his own counsel, relied upon his own genius, and bore without a murmur whatever ills befell him. But, with all these good qualities, such was his ambition, that it rendered him morose and sullenhaughty, not only to his dependants, but his associates.

It is remarkable that the mouth of the Mississippi was not discovered until one hundred and ninety years after the discovery of America; and still more so, that this discovery should have been made through Canada. Ferdinand De Soto, coming from Florida, had seen it, and been buried in its waters about the year 1543. And in 1673, Marquette, a Recollect missionary, with six others, under the direction of M. Talon, the intendant-general of Canada, starting out from Mackinac, crossed over to the great river, and floated down as far as the mouth of the Arkansas. But it was reserved to La Salle to discover its mouth, which he did on the 7th day of April, 1682, and, on the 9th, celebrated the discovery with great ceremony, taking possession, in the name of Louis XIV., by proclamation and