WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1837
39
[Endorsed]: From Gen. Houston 24th Jan. 1837 To Capt. Snively In relation to the Indian Tribes. 1 Rusk Pavers, The University of Texas Library. 2 William Goyens. See Houston to Robert A. Irion, January 23, 1837. 3 John M. Dor. See Houston to Nathaniel Robbins, April 13, 1836. •1 Jacob S. Snively came to Texas in June, 1836, and joined the Texas army. The somewhat secret mission reported in the document above, seems to have been the first important commission that Houston gave him, but on May 13, 1837, he was appointed Paymaster General of the army and the nomination was confirmed. On November 18, 1838, Lamar nominated him for the same position. The records also show that, for a short time in July, 1837, he acted as Secretary of War (E. W. Winkler (ed.), Secret Journals of the Senate, Republic of Texas, 1886-1845, 90-99). In October, 1839, he was again serving as Paymaster General under Albert Sidney Johnston, Secretary of War. But the man is best known in Texas history as the leader of the Snively Expedition. The history of this expedition- very briefly stated-is about as follows: A strip of land belonging to Texas, situated north of the Red River was practically uninhabited. Traders in going from St. Louis to Santa Fe, passed through this strip of territory. In the spring of 1843, it was expected that a party of Mexican merchants with valuable goods would pass along this route. A group of adventurers in Texas regarded this group of traders as Mexican enemies, and there- fore subjects for legitimate plunder. The War Department of the Republic of Texas authorized the organization of a military company for the capture of this trade, with Colonel Jacob S. Snively, a member of the President's staff as Inspector General, its chosen leader. Snively's most important instructions were: (1) to remain on Texas soil; (2) to make his captures only in honorable warfare; (3) and to deposit one-half the spoils in the Texas treasury. The men of the company, however, who had to equip themselves, unanimously rejected the last provision. A band of 180 men started from a point near where the town of Denison now stands, on April 25, 1843, in search of the rich booty. The plan proved to be a failure. Snively's soldiers did not meet the traders, but on June 20, they did meet a company of Mexican soldiers sent out by Mexico to guard those traders. And, at about this same time, General Gaines sent out some 200 United States soldiers under Philip St. George Cooke to protect the caravan of merchants as long as it was on United States soil. On June 30, Cooke discovered Snively's camp, captured it, and compelled the Texans to sur- render their arms, allowing them to keep only ten guns with which to protect themselves from Indians on the return to their homes. After a long- drawn-out controversy with the United States, concerning the matter, it was decided that the Texans were on Texas soil when they were compelled to disarm. The United States paid for the captured arms, but Cooke's interference had destroyed any chance for success that the Snively Expedi- tion might have had. At a later day, Houston, in a speech in the United States Senate, declared that the expedition was without authority. Snively's name is connected with another and somewhnt more important expedition. In December, 1866, he and William Cornelius Dalrymple created considerable excitement by the nnnouncement of the discovery of a gold mine on the Rio Grande in the Sierra Nevada. Snively claimed to possess rich specimens of galina quartz from this mine, and raised some 800 men
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