459
PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BuoN.APARTE LA.MAR
preparing- and I somewhat doubt whether the quota of men can be raised in this brigade though the drafts are ordered and the officers appear to be very busy in the performance of their duties- The pur- chase of teams & supplies will be even more difficult than raising the men- The expense will be enormous- The number of teams required, ac- cording to Ransom's statements, will cost four hundred thousand dollars, in Promissory Notes, or perhaps more, as, many persons knowing that there is no money appropriated for defraying these expenses and fear- ing that Congress will make no provision for them soon, will charge very exhorbitant prices- The item of corn alone will cost one hundred thousand dollars. And the whole expenses of the campaign cannot be less than twelve hiindrid thousand dollars- And if you will suffer me to predict, I will say that Felix Huston will return without having slain twenty Indians- He may burn the thatched camps of the commanches after t.hey shall have been deserted by their tenants, but the savages will flee before his ox-teams in safety, or dance about our army with impunity. He will probably mark the prairies with a deep and lasting trail, strewn with the carcases of horses & oxen starved on the grassless waste, (for the Indians at that season will burn every blade of grass) and wagons deserted for want of teams or abandoned in the swamps or on the banks of impassable streams-but which will be productive of slight benefit to the Nation except in bringing disgrace upon th[e] ambitious foreigner whom the people hav[e] seen proper to place at the head of the :Mission. Do not understand me as opposing this measure, for when I find it necessary to speak of it at all, it is in the language of a citizen who is desirous of seeing all of the measures of the government successful- Please let me hear from you as early as your convenience will permit- I am very imxious to know something about General Hamilton's suc- cess, & how Mr. Dawson's business has been settled, and would be very much obliged for a line from you upon these subjects-
With sentiments of the highest esteem, I remain
To
Your obt Servt-
His Excellency JU. B. Lamar
J a. H. Starr
[Addressed] Private To
[Endorsed]
Free
James H. Starr.
Nacogdoches, Oct. 9th. 1840.
His Excellency M. B. Lamar Austin,
In relation to his return to Austin, Genl. F. Hustons Oampn. against the Indians &c &c.
No. 1917 1840 Oct. 11, JOS[EPH] 0. ELDREDGE, HOUSTON, TEXAS, TO M[IRABEAUJ B[UONAPARTE] LAMAR, AUSTIN, [TEXAS] Report upon Lamar's personal business in Richmond and Houston. A. L. S. 1 p.
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