Our Catliolic Heritage in Texas
made to maintain friendship with the Indians. Friendly chiefs should be asked to report the presence or the approach of foreigners. 91 It was at this time that Major Freeman and Captain Sparks attempted to make an exploration up the Red River. Viana immediately protested to the commander at Natchitoches, pointing out that the advance of the armed party up the Red River was a palpable violation of neutrality and constituted an unwarranted intrusion into Spanish territory. He recalled the dismissal early in the year of the small military escort of Marques de Casa Calvo and of the bishop of Nuevo Leon upon their visit to Natchitoches, and concluded by requesting the immediate with- drawal of the expedition. At the same time he reported to the commandant general the incident and the measures taken, and sent him copies of the correspondence. Salcedo wrote the governor approving the protest of Viana and declared that, judging from the correspondence submitted, the sincerity of the Americans in their professions of peace left much to be desired. Two weeks later, on June 29, he issued specific instructions to Lieutenant Colonel Simon de Herrera to prevent by force, if necessary, the advance of the American exploratory expedition up the Red River. Viana, accordingly, was authorized to send 230 men under Lieutenant Juan Ignacio Ramon to prevent the Americans from ascending the Red River. The expedition, which had traversed almost 600 miles, was halted on its march into what, there is no doubt, was Spanish territory. 91 Second crisis on tlze Louisiana-Texas frontier. The American war fever of the early summer of 1806 aroused the fear of the Spaniards; and Salcedo himself, a staunch supporter of the status quo, came to think that it was best to occupy the territory between the Sabine and the Arroyo Hondo so as to repel any invasion of the dominions of His Majesty. By the end of June, 1806, there were in Texas 1,007 soldiers. Cordero informed Salcedo on June 12 that Herrera, governor of Nuevo Leon, assigned to the frontier in this moment of peril, had left San Antonio that day with the last detachment of troops ordered from Mexico to the Louisiana frontier. He intended to march double-quick in order to assume command on the Trinity as soon as possible. The soldiers ' 1 Salcedo to Cordero, April 9, 1806. Bexar Arcliives; Cordero to Viana, April 21, 1806. Nacogdoches Archives, X, pp. 95-96. 92Salcedo to Cordero, June 16, 1806; Viana to Commander of American Expedi- tion, May 10, 1806; Cordero to Salcedo, June 29, 1806. Nacogdoches Arcliives, X, pp. 102-104, 111-114, and 115-120; Message of the President ... to the Ninth Congress, December 2, 1806. State Papers and Publick Documents, II, I 58-159,
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