93
WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1854
to truth, around whose hearts libels, falsehoods worse than scor- pions have clustered and coiled; and yet they live on poison, and it seems they will not die. Sir, I claim no senatorial privilege. I ask no shield to divert the arrows from my person. I claim no exemption, from responsi- bility. One arm and one leg I have given to be crushed in the defense of my country. I have yet one arm and one leg which I can sacrifice, if necessary, in defense of my person. The assassin may secretly strike, and I may perish; but if openly assailed, I will not have to be told what selfrespect I should entertain, or how far my duty to myself will extend. I have done. 1 Congressional Globe, Appendix, 1853-1854, pp. 1214-1218. For a brief sketch of Thomas Jefferson Green, see Volume I, p. 515. 2 1n 1842, and even in 1854, Laredo was a town of some 1,500 to 2,000 inhabitants, located on the east bank (the Texas side of the river) of the Rio Grande. The town on the Mexican side of the river was not estab- lished until later. The heart of the town of Laredo at this present time is some mile, probably a mile and a half from the east bank of the Rio Grande. 3 According to the records left by at least four men who were members of the Mier Expedition, and who kept journals, or diaries, Houston's account of the "Pillage of Laredo" is fairly accurate, except that none of these journalists definitely accuses Green of having led the marauding soldiers. All except Green condemn the conduct of the Texans in no uncertain terms. Green condoned the pillage, because he said that the town had not produced the necessary goods in the fulfillment of the requisition laid upon it, and that the Texans needed both food and clothing; he also seemed to think that the simple fact that the Texan commander (General Alexander Som- ervell) required the stolen goods to be returned to the inhabitants of the town fully expiated the offense. See Thomas J. Green, J<>1in1.al of the Texian Expedition against Mier, 56-60. William P. Stapp, The Prisoners of Perote, 24-25, recounted the story of the pillage and said: "The requisition upon the town having compre- hended nothing beyond a very inadequate supply of provisions, those of the soldiery most destitute of clothing, blankets, and other necessary sup- plies, obtained leave next morning [December 9, 1842] to revisit Laredo, with no declared object except to see the town. Upon their return to camp, they came loaded with as various and as motley an assortment of pillage as was ever brought within the lines of a civilized force. There were blankets, beds, and bed-clothing; cooking utensils, horses, mules, asses, beeves, veals, muttons; poultry of every nameable kind; honey, bread, flour, sugar, coffee; saddles and bridles, coats, hats, and every other specimen of male apparel known to the Mexicans, with miscellaneous decorations in use amongst the gentler sex, that our blushing muse forbids us to catalogue." There are also two journals still in manuscript: one by Joseph D. Mccutchan, a young Tennessee lawyer, who had been living with his brother at Galveston; the other by James Glasscock who lived in the coun- try between Austin and Georgetown. Both these men told about the same
Powered by FlippingBook