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117
PAPERS OF •MIRABEAU BumUPARTE LA~IAR
There was a party also who followed John Smith, a Tennessean- his followers not remembered- Josiah, Creed and James Taylor liv- ing on the Guadalope, made one drive '& quit- Erbey, Twigley & others- Erbey and his party were caught & killed by the mexicans- J ohn Hefron, a regular old Toper, but a brave old cock, was gen- erally kept in the rear, whilst driving that being the post of danger.- On one occasion he charged 12 mexicans single handed, and after chasing them twelve miles sword in hand, he returned and drove off their Cattle, a large gang . At Victoria in 1841, when the Commanchees came down, and killed · old Quartermaster Calwell, he mounted a horse and charged with his broad sword on the indians just as they were in the act of spearing Wheeler, Captain of the Steamboat "Friend" and saved his life and defended his own- Hefron may be alive yet-an old Texan, left his wife & children & came west-brave as a lion and of uncommon good nature- He was generally taken care of by Cameron. Carnes, Snod- grass and Miles were killed at the same time on the Nueces, below San Praticio, by the Mexicans. Snodgrass had just inherited a snug fortune, and was preparing to go & receive it, when he was killed- Wm. Wells one of the party was made prisoner-taken to Matamoras & then liberated. Cow-driver;- J oe Wells was a bricklayer from Houston, accompanied Canalis in 1840-was in the Palo Alto fight &C- After the federation he settled at Corpus Christi-where he still lives Col. P. H. Bell was sent out to the Western frontier to enquire into the conduct of the -Companies there and to take charge of its pro- tection- It is said that the Cameron party committed no murders nor robbed any of the traders-they only drove off cattle- Big Brown, known by that name-came from J\Iissouri,-and his party were regarded as murderers, and the other parties had but lit- tle to do with him because of his atrocities-he was finally killed Agaton's men having been betrayed by a mexican in his service. Cam- eron was regarded as a good-man-it is said he drove off no cattle except between the Nueces and the Riogrande- His education was limited; could read & write & that was all- Genl Davis would not have been $Urprised at Liplanticlan had he taken Cameron's advice- Cameron tol<l it would not do to trust mexicans there, whether they were friends, traders or what not-he understood their characters well- INFORUATION DERIVED FROM TOM HANCOCK. Canalis, assembled his men at San Partricio, as he thinks in August 1838-He had upwards of 300 Mexicans, under Lopez Col. of in- fantry and Gonzales of Cavalry-accompanied by J\Ialino, the brother in law of Canalis. He had also with him 100 of the Carese Indians from Old Rinoso; and 270 Americans, from Texas; who after hold- ing an Election for Officers, [chose Ross as Commander, Roman as Lt. ' colonel and Dolan from Nacogdoches as 1Iajor- J 15 Among the Cap- "'Brackets in the document.
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