First Claslies witli tlie United States
2 59
consequently, ordered removed from his command and put under arrest for fifteen days. Lieutenant Dionisio Valle was to replace him. The new commander was to exercise the utmost discretion and to avoid scrupulously precipitate action. The fifty men ordered to Nacogdoches were to be recalled and left on the Trinity. He concluded by emphatically declaring that a break with the United States was to be averted at a1l costs. 82 But before the letter of Salcedo reached Cordero, Major Porter had received from the Secretary of War an order to request explicit assur- ances from the commander of Nacogdoches that no further inroads be made east of the Sabine, and to inform him that the American patrols were to be extended to this river. Porter sent Lieutenant Piatt with this formal request to Rodriguez, who again refused to accede to it. On February I Captain Turner was ordered to proceed with about sixty men to Los Adaes to command the Spanish troops stationed there to withdraw beyond the Sabine. "They might go in peace if they would, but evacuate they must, even at the cost of blood." 83 Turner arrived on February 5 at the outpost on Bayou Pierre and delivered his message. Gonzalez, the officer in charge, protested the violation of Spanish territory but signed a written agreement to with- draw west of the Sabine as soon as his horses were in condition to travel." Such is the account of events recorded by the Americans. Not until February 19 did Rodriguez report the American incursion to Cordero. Spanish outposts at Comichi and La Nana had been forced west of the Sabine by American forces, who, after setting fire to the temporary barracks built by the Spanish troops, had returned to Natchitoches. The post at Bayou Pierre had not been molested. As a precaution Rodriguez had ordered roo men to guard the two main crossings on the Sabine, the one leading to Bayou Pierre and the other, to Natchitoches. He had issued strict orders prohibiting all communication with Louisiana, and he had taken every step possible to prevent information about his movements from reaching the Americans. The roads were impassable at this time of the year and Rodriguez had been unable to contact Captain Geronimo de Herrera, who had gone to make a careful inspection along the coast. 85 82 Salcedo to Cordero, January 17, 1806. Nacogdoclres Archives, X, pp. 58-63. 83 McCaleb, Tire Aaron B11rr Conspiracy, 106-107. H,Jfessages and Reports of tire {/11iJed Stales Governm,mt, 1806. 85 Rodriguez to Cordero, February 19, 1806. Nacogdoclres Arc/riv,u, X, pp. 71-73.
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