224
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1860
have the unqualified endorsement of the frontier citizens, and who have been acting upon the frontier for years. The Executive has of late been repeatedly notified by letter from Citizens on the frontier that they practically had no horses, consequently were unable to protect themselves, and that they desired protec- tion from the interior. Acting upon such suggestions he has ordered forward the troops before alluded to and is preparing to dispatch others so soon as they can be got ready. Everything that can be done for the frontier will be promptly performed. Heretofore for the last four or five months, the cry has been send us protection from the interior. The men are being sent forward and the Executive trusts that ere long the peace of the frontier will prevail; the undivided attention of the Executive will always be given to the necessities of the frontier Citizens. Sam Houston.
1 Execu.tive Records, 1859-1861, p. 269, Texas State Library.
To E. W. RoGERs 1 Executive Department, Austin, Texas, December 26, 1860. Captain E. W. Rogers, Waxahachie, Texas Sir: The condition of the frontiers from the late and continued depredations being of so distressing an aspect that the Executive is constrained to call upon you to take to the field in defence of the lives and property of its inhabitants. Should you be willing to enter the service the Executive desires, upon receipt of these orders, that you will raise a company of mounted Rangers, consisting of one Captain, three Lieutenants, three Sergeants, and three Corporals, with Sixty privates, to be mustered into the service of ·the State for three months unless sooner discharged. You will raise your men so soon as it can be done, and when the company is raised an election will be held for the officers, which election will be certified before some Chief Justice and the certificate forwarded to this Department together with two of the muster rolls, the third of which you will retain. The rolls are forwarded with this order, and a duplicate of this order will be forwarded to Belknap. Until supplies can be forwarded you will have to provide for sustaining yourself and men and in providing for subsistence you must use every economy, purchasing every article upon con-
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