Our Catliolic Heritage in Texas
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recommended Captain Castaneda for promotion. He maintained that it had been too much to expect from an expedition so poorly equipped. The Viceroy himself assumed responsibility, for he informed the King that he had subsequently disapproved the order to destroy Nacogdoches as unnecessarily severe, unfair, and inopportune.z 7 So ended the French threat of invading Texas. Whatever purpose the brothers Lallemand and their associates may have had in mind, their enterprise ended in precipitate flight. Effect of Florida Treaty on Texas. The negotiations for a treaty with Spain defining the boundary and relinquishing the claims of the United States to Texas as a part of the Louisiana Purchase was signed by Spanish Minister Luis de Onis on February 22, 1819. By its terms the United States formally recognized Texas as a part of New Spain. The signing of the treaty brought about a wave of protest throughout the West. The frontiersmen felt that the exchange of Florida for Texas had been at the sacrifice of their interests. From St. Louis to New Orleans ardent advocates of the recovery of Texas began to plot its rescue from what was described as "the merciless domination of Spain." 21 Spanish officials in Texas and Mexico had hardly started to relax from the strain of the French incursion when they were again aroused to action by the threats of new invasions. Members of the old group of The Friends of Mexican Emancipation and of the New Orleans Association held a meeting in the Creole City in May, 1819. A fili- bustering expedition to free Texas was planned and the command was offered to General John Adair, of Burr's conspiracy fame. 29 Tiu Long expedition. Upon the refusal of General Adair, the con- spirators turned to James Long, a comparative newcomer on the frontier, who promptly accepted the offer to organize and lead the proposed expedition. This ambitious adventurer was descended from an old Virginia f~ly, which had moved with the frontier into Kentucky and Tennessee. In his youth he had studied medicine after a fashion and had joined the United States Army as a surgeon. Long appears to have come to New Orleans at the time of the English at- 27/bid, 78-84. 21 Lamar Pa,pers, II, 56; New York Advertiser, July 23, 1819; Philadelphia Aurora allll General Advertiser, August 5, 1819; Lexington Kentucky Reporter, September 8, 1819; Bemis, T/Je Latin American Policy of tlte United States, 40-43. 29 Foote, Tezas allll tJ,e Te:ttlllS, II, 22-23; Lamar Pa,;e,s, II, 56.
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