[3439) [ROBERTSON Lo GAINES]
June 16, 1836. Dear Sir: By the hand of Mr. Walker, 1 herewith Lransmil you the depositions of several respectable witnesses with regard lo recent outrages that have been innicted by the Caddoes and other hostile tribes of Indians upon the defenceless and unoffending inhabitants of my colony. The depositions would perhaps not be admissible evidence in a court of judicah1re for want of form. It is an old maxim, however, that amidst arms the laws are silent. I send them to you, believing that they establish as clearly as the nature of the case will admit of, the fact thal the Caddoes, whom the United States by treaty are bound lo restrain from lawless violence, rapine, plunder, and murder, are participants if not leaders in the allacks that have been recently made upon the citizens of the frontier. Whether the case as made out will justify your interposition and Lhe protecting arm of the United States, you of course would be the heller ju{lge. In the depositions sent I have caused only to be stated the prominent facts which coupled the Caddoes with the tl'ansactions which had occurred. · It may not be entirely imappropriate to state that many citizens have been murdered, much property taken; that helpless women and children are now in their . possession as prisoners, subject to their butchery; and those who have escaped are now forted, having deserted the finest fields the sun ever shone upon. An appeal to your sympathies we believe to be useless-for already we hear from lisping infancy and weary and withered age throughout this wide-spreading republic, that you are a friend to Texas. If the facts as staled will justify your march against the Caddoes, the country, we trust, will shortly be relieved from Indian hostility, and the occasion will furnish other proofs of the zeal and ability (if any can be wanting) will which you are ever ready lo serve your country. With great respect, I am your humble servant,
Sterling C. Robertson.
General E. P. Gaines. A true copy:
Geo. A. McCall, A.D.C. &c.
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