225
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1860
tract, for seal proposals of which you will give notice by adver- tisement, and the contract you will award to the lowest bidder. So soon as your company is raised, and fully organized, you will repair to the frontier and cooperate with Captain Ross and the troops under his command in protecting the lives and property of the frontier inhabitants. Supplies will be forwarded with all dispatch. In entering upon the discharge of your duty, you will regard every Indian caught this side of Red River as an enemy to Texas, and you are commanded to treat them as such unless they come bearers of dispatches from some authorized officer of the United States. Learning that you have already taken the field with some twenty or thirty men, you will upon receipt of this order increase your command to the requisite number hav- ing them mustered into service by the nearest Chief Justice and take the field with as little delay as possible. It is desirable that you raise as many men as you can upon the immediate frontier provided you can get them well mounted and equipped. Until your contracts for supplies are taken you will supply yourself upon the best terms that you can. You will exercise the greatest economy in transportation, and in every- thing else. Sam Houston.
1 Executive Records, 1859-1861, p. 270, Texas State Library.
ORDERING ELECTION OF DELEGATES TO THE CONVENTION OF THE SOUTHERN ST'ATES, DECEMBER 27, 1860 1 Whereas, by virtue of the Act of the Legislature of the State of Texas, Approved February 16th, 1858, the Governor is author- ized to order an election for Seven Delegates to represent Texas in a Convention of the Southern States; And Whereas, The Ex- ecutive has reason to believe that such a Convention will be held at an early day, in order to obtain united action on the part of the Southern States, as to the best mode of maintaining "The equal rights of such States in the Union," as guaranteed by the Consti- tution; And Whereas, the extent to the State of Texas, and the time necessary to secure a full and free expression of the people in the election of Delegates is so great, that the same may not be possible when the time and place of the assembling of the Said Convention is made known; Arid Whereas, it is necessary and proper, that the people of Texas should, by the election of Dele- gates to represent their will, declare their readiness to Cooperate
Powered by FlippingBook