First Clas/1es wit/, the United States
slaves, induced by Spanish agents who assured them they would regain their freedom by taking refuge in Texas, had run away to Nacogdoches. Likewise, it was rumored that the Indians east of Red River had been invited to a great council by the Spaniards to discuss plans for a war against the Americans in Louisiana. 62 The suspicions of the Americans were further aroused by the deposi- tion of a Choctaw chief who declared to Judge John Sibley at Natchi- toches that a party of his warriors, recently returned from a hunting expedition to the bay of St. Bernard, had met two parties of Spanish troops. The Spaniards seemed to have just arrived in Texas by water and were now busily engaged in building a fort near the mouth of the Trinity and another on the Colorado in the country of the Karankawas. The warriors had reported that the work on the new forts was well advanced and that the Spanish officer in charge at the old site of the Orcoquisac (Arkokisas) had commissioned one of the braves as chief, telling him that there was soon to be a big war against the Americans. He told the Indians that the Spaniards were going to build still another fort in the country of the Attakapas and one near Natchitoches. The Spaniards needed spades and offered the Indians a horse for each spade they brought. 63 The story of the additional troops in Texas was shortly afterward verified by Captain Turner, who reported on May 3, 1805, that the recently arrived Spanish troops had taken possession of Matagorda Bay and the old site of Orcoquisac. Furthermore, a Mr. St. Prie, who had come from Texas to Natchitoches in July, told Judge Sibley that five hundred families had just come to San Antonio for the purpose of establishing settlements in the vicinity of the new forts, and that a considerable number of troops had accompanied them. Shortly one hun- dred of these were to be stationed at Nacogdoches where fifty were to arrive by July 15. 64 A singular character, the famous Baron de Bastrop, of whom we will hear more, passed through Natchitoches in August on his way to Texas. He spoke Spanish, English, and French and, being a sociable individual, 61 Turner to General Wilkinson, October 1 5, 1804. Staid Papers and Public/: Docume11ts, I, 352. 63 John Sibley to Secretary of War, May 1, 1805. State Papers and Publick Documents, I, 352-353. MTurner to Wilkinson, May 3, 1805; Sibley to Secretary of War, July 2, 1805. State Papers and Publick Documents, I, 353-355.
Powered by FlippingBook