WRITINGS OF SA:M HOUSTON, 1844
274
Some other parts of the Revd. gentleman's history may be expected by the time he will get through his lectures! His merit is duly appreciated in Texas, and he shall have justice done to his Reverence ! [No Signature] 1 Mille1· Pa])ers, Texas State Library. This document bears no date and no signature, but it is unmistakably in Houston's handwriting, and is filed among the Miller Papers for March, 1844. Since it was during the fall months of 1843, and spring of 1844 that James H. Perry made his lecture tour through the northeastern United States, and aroused a good deal of interest in the Houston controversy which, at that time, was going on in Texas, it is considered fairly accurate to adopt, arbitrarily, the date March 1, 1844, for this document. For some information concerning James H. Perry, other than this related by Houston, see John Henry Brown, History of Texas, I, 48, and "A Farmer in the Army," [Robert M. Coleman] Houston Dis])layed, or Who Won the Battle of S<tn Jacinto, 17. Brown tells that Perry did not remain long in Texas after the battle of San Jacinto, but returned to the North where he was, for a long time, pastor of a fashionable church in New York City. The Coleman pamphlet goes on, at length, to show how unjustly Houston treated Perry on account of the lette!' to Potter. See also, Houston to Remy Raguet, April 19, 1836. "The following is the letter from Perry to Potter, copied from the original in the possession of Mrs. Margaret John: Camp West of the Brazos, Apr. 9th, '36. My Dear Sir, Agreeably to your request I embrace the earliest opportunity of giving you the information you desire with respect to the army. Upon my returning, immediately after my interview with you at Velasco, I found the army encamped on the western shore of the Brazos opposite Groce's plantation, about 20 miles above San Felipe. \Ve continue to occupy the same ground, but should the river rise much higher we shall be compelled to seek some .more elevated position. Even now we are under the necessity of swimming to reach the prairie and are almost flooded in our encampment. The camp is situated on a small lake, or pool of stagnant water which serves as the general washing and watering place for men, auimals and clothes. And as the ground we occupy gradually descends towards the lake it naturally becomes :the receptacle of all offals and filth which necessarily collect in large quantities around the tents & in the vicinity of an Army. We have now about 300 men sick & not more than twice that numbe,. reported for duty. In addition to these. there are about 90 men at the fort settlement, & a few more at Columbia & Brazoria. This form the whole of the available force that General Houston will be able at any time to bring into the field. These men ari> entirely without discipline, and I regret to say that this is rather to be al.tributed to their officers than to the men themselves. I have observed on more than one occasion, that they are extremely anxious to learn; they seem
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