WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1860
491
provided any means I would, ere now, have afforded you pro- tection. The Government has no arms to dispose of except some few Sharps and Mississippi Rifles. These are at your service when application is properly made for them. The last administration scattered the arms of the State to such an extent, I fear they will never be collected. There are no pistols of any description to be found. Orders have been given to the troops in the field to extend their lines of operation so as to give protection to the greatest scope of country. Enclosed you will find a circular from which it will be seen that if small parties of minute men turn out in cases of emergency and are willing to take the State for their pay ·and subsistence, they are at liberty to do so. The Executive has no earthly power to call. more men than can be sustained in the field. Sam Houston. 1 Executive Rec01·ds, 1859-1861, p. 41, Texas State Library. Captain John Williams, son of William D. and Mary (Phillips) Williams, was born in Tennessee. When he was very young his parents moved to the Red River country. He and his brother James were early settlers of San Saba County, where both became Indian fighters. They were almost constantly in the ranger service. In 1854 John Williams married Catherine Coffee. They had four children, but only one lived to maturity. During the Civil War John Williams was in Company M, Whitfield's Legion, under General Ross, later under General Hood. After the war he returned to his ranch interests, and to ranger service against the Indians. He was killed in a sldrmish known as the battle of Baby Head, on Cherokee creek in San Saba County, in 1869. See Mrs. Laurence Hamrick, The Call of the San Saba, 39- 228, passim; also see Goodspeed (publisher), Memo1·ial and Genealogical Record of Southwest Texas, 263.
To R. H. TAYLOR 1 Executive Department, Austin, February 24, 1860.
Hon. R. H. Taylor, Brownsville, Texas Sir-I am under many obligations for the numerous reports of the condition of affairs on the Rio Grande, transmitted to the Executive Department. Sam Houston. 1 Executive Records, 1859-1861, p. 48, Texas State Library. Robert H. Taylor was born in South Carolina, July 6, 1825. He received a well-bal- anced education through private instruction, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. In 1844 he moved to Fannin County, Texas, and established a law office, and there, in 1845, was elected a Justice of the Peace. He
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