The Writings of Sam Houston, Volume I

WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1836

381.

To RICHARD R. ROYAL1- Camp near Beason's, March 24, 1836.

To Ron. R. R. Royal,2 Chairman of the Committee at Matagorda Sir: Your letter under date of March 18th, is received. All the means you can command ought to be employed for the pro- tection of ·the country, and families. Anything that can be done to this effect will meet my approbation. All the troops that can be raised I wish placed at my disposal, as on the Colorado I make my stand, and it is deemed necessary to concentrate all the effective force at this point for the present. Having the greatest confidence that with the means you can control, you can defend that point, even in case of an attack, I have the honor, &c. Sam Houston. 1 Yoakum, History of Txas, II, 485. 2 Richard R. Royal came to Texas from Alabama at an early day and became one of the first settlers at Matagorda. He represented that pre- cinct in the Convention of 1833, and was chairman of the Central Com- mittee (also called the Permanent Council) which, at San Felipe, exercised a general supervision of public affairs before the meeting of the Consulta- tion in 1835. He was a member of the Consultation, and from December 6, 1835, to January 17, 1836, was a member of the Executive Council. He was a warm friend of J. W. Fannin, and his letter to Fannin, from San Felipe, November 15, 1835 (Consultation Pape1·s, Texas · State Library), gives a pretty good report concerning the plans of the Council. On August 8, 1836, David G. Burnet authorized Royal to "raise and organize an Independent Ranger company to consist of a hundred or more men," this said company was organized to collect and drive in large herds of cattle that were ranging between the Nueces and the Rio Grande. These cattle had no ostensible owners, and were supposed to belong to Mexicans who lived beyond the Rio Grande. They became a valuable source of mainte- nance for the Texas Army (see Executive Reco1·d Boole No. 94, p. 139). Richard R. Royal died at his home in Matagorda in 1840. See Wooten (ed.), Conwrehensive History of Texas, I, 182, 183, 190. Thrall, A Picto1·ial Histo1·y of Texas, 606. The Texas Historic.al Qum·tcrly, V, 277-336 (passim), VII, 251-268 (passi'.nt). Lamar Papers, I, 78, 246, 551, 587; II, 207, 371, 487; III, 254; V, 48, 194, 259, 279.

To THOMAS J. RusK 1 Camp near Mill Creek 29th March, 1836

General Thomas J. Rusk,2 Secretary of War Sir: On my arrival on the Brazos, had I consulted the wishes of all I should have been like the ass between two stacks of hay. '

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