483
PAPERS OF l\II.RABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR
No. 1966 1841 Jan. 18, ELI HARRIS, PROVIDENCE, LOUISIANA, TO l\I. B. LAMAR, [AUSTIN, TEXAS]s.c Providence, Louisiana, January 18th 1841. Mr. lvf. B. Lamar, President of the•Republic of Texas, Dear Sir, I take the liberty of addressing you for my own benefit, and not for anything concerning .the Government of which you so de- servedly stand at th.f head- To be'orief, Some years ago, I engaged in the Texian Service in the capacity of a Captain under the command of Genl. Long-I en- gaged about 60 men under my command, (from Natches to ·Nacog- doches)-and when I entered the service I had every reason to believe that our expedition and settlement in Texas would be prosperous, as something like five hundred thousand dollars had been subscribed for the purpose of making plantations to be settled by the men who would venture their lives in the pursuit of landed wealth-I, (being a printer) carried with me a Printing establishment into Nacogdoches, besides the support of the men which I had under my command: and which ex- penses, added to the support of some Young Officers who had no means, soon exhausted what I carried with me.- As soon as I landed (for Genl. Long sent me before him) I estab- lished the "Star'', The Single Star now the emblem of your Republic- I also established the lllag which you now use-I was proud of being the man to establish the Star and flag of Texas- I am now proud of it.- About three hundred thousand dollars of the subscriptions (by some of the most prominent men in the United States, whose names it is not now necessary to name) were invested in munitions of war, and put on board of a very large Barge, and started to a place near to the town Natchitoches, from whence we could receive them through the woods- When our barge got to Donalsonville, the United States' officers (doing their duty) arrested our barge, and sold our munitions of ·war and pro- visions and clothing, & then, we could do nothing. As soon as we heard of the defeat of our Barge, we distributed our- selves out by tens & twenties, and hunted game for a living.-About this time the Royalists came on and we had no place of Rendeyvous- I finally collected the most of the men under my command at the head of St. Louis (Gaveston) Bay, or Trinity Bay-where we lived by the chase for nearly a year.-The United States Brig Enterprize, capt. Kearney, came on there and ordered Lafitte off (I was there at the time with a Perogue load of Venison on a trading expedition and saw the whole affair) Therefore Our supply of powder & lead was out, and we all returned home, except some few of my men whom Lafitte induced to join his pirating.-Genl. Long was now in New-Orleans, and being tired of the fruitless business we returned into the United States.-! came to Alexandria in the parish of Rapides, in this state,
12 A. L. S.
Powered by FlippingBook