First Clashes with the United States
243
on Presidio de Rio Grande and Laredo, led by foreigners. The stories told by the Lipan-Apaches convinced Spanish officials of the presence of Nolan and his companions among the Comanches.' 0 Governor Blanco late in January set out from San Carlos to the mouth of the Rio Grande, making a careful survey of the coast before ascending the river to Laredo. Governor Herrera of Nuevo Leon had in the meantime taken a position near Revilla with a hundred men, and Governor Cordero of Coahuila had established a line from Laredo to Sierra del Pino with one hundred sixty men, evenly divided among the posts at Aguaverde, Monclova, Pacuache, and Iglesias.' 1 Time moved on while the aroused frontier commanders watched, tensely poised to pounce upon the daring adventurers. Three months had elapsed since the first news. The bewildered governors began to wonder if the enemy would ever arrive. Calleja believed that Nolan and his companions were lying low, because they had been warned of the preparations made and that they were waiting for the vigilance to be relaxed. 42 It was not possible, however, to maintain the vigilance indefinitely. The governors could not remain away from their capitals; the militiamen had to return to their round of daily duties; the treasury could not endure the expense much longer. Fortunately, the strain of the impending danger was suddenly removed by the unexpected news of the death of Nolan and the capture of his companions. Deatlt of Nolan and capture of leis companions. In the meantime Nolan and his men, reduced to twenty-five by desertions, had entered Texas north of Nacogdoches and established a permanent camp in the country of the Tawakoni, near the mouth of a creek which today bears his name. 43 The camp consisted of three irregularly spaced "forts," small enclosures of logs piled five feet high, as protection against Indians. Contrary to the suspicions of Spanish officials; Nolan made no attempt to win the friendship of the natives nor to incite them against the Spaniards. Both the Tawakoni and the Tahuayaces visited the camp 4 0Blanco to Calleja, January 15, 1801. A.G. JI,/., Historia, Vol. 413, pt. I, p. 278. 41 Cordero to Herrera, January I 7, I 80 I. / bid., pp. 287-288. ' 2 Calleja to the Viceroy, February 27, 1801. A.G. ,JI., Historia, Vol. 413, pt. I, p. 307. 4 3Mr. David Donoghue, of Fort Worth, placed the site of the camp near Blum, Hill County, on Nolan River, called by Musquiz: "Illanco." l\lr. Donoghue arrived at this conclusion from a careful study of Musquiz:'s "Diary," translated by J. A. Quintero in Texas Almanac, September, I 868. The investigation was undertaken at the request of Miss M. T. Wilson.
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