Ottr c atliolic Ii eritage in T e:xa-s
The Cherokees and their allies in East Texas had ~rown impatient with unfulfilled promises, and viewed the increase of immigrants with apprehension. About this time .evi~ence .which seem~d to indicate that the Cherokees were in commu111cat10n with the Mexicans was obtained. The Texan volunteers in midsummer entered the Cherokee country without warning. After a series of bloody engagements, they drove the Cherokees and their allies into present Arkansas. The Shawnees, without putting up a struggle, agreed to withdraw, and the Coshates and Alabamas, old but insignificant tribes in Texas, were removed to other lands. There remained, however, the Comanches, much more numerous, treacherous, and skilled in the use of arms. Their custom of surprise attack and lightning withdrawal made them an elusive and dangerous foe. The campaign against the Comanches opened with an attack on a village near Spring Creek, in which Captain John Bird lost his life and his three companies of volunteers were almost annihilated near Belton. Thereafter followed the Council Massacre in San Antonio, in which a group of chiefs was attacked while in council with govern- ment agents. Other Comanches, upon hearing of this treacherous con- duct, killed their white prisoners, and carried on raids during the sum- mer of 1840 extending from San Saba to Victoria and Linnville on the coast. On their return, the marauders were attacked at Plum Creek, near Lockhart, by enraged Texan volunteers under Felix Huston and Edward Burleson, who inflicted severe losses on the exhausted band. That fall Colonel J. H. Moore carried the war into the plains and de- stroyed a village of the Comanches near the present site of Colorado City. By the close of 1840 the Indian menace had eased. "The justice of his campaigns may be questioned, but their effectiveness is beyond dispute," writes a recent historian. "Lamar and his troops opened to settlers the rich Indian lands of East Texas; rid the state of most of its immigrant Indians; and made the country comparatively safe for the advance of surveyors and immigrants." 3 Greetings from Rome. About the middle of December, 1840, greet- ings from Rome were brought to the ailing executive by Father Timon, Prefect Apostolic, accompanied by Father Nicholas Stehle, C.M. They presented Lamar a letter from Cardinal Fransoni, Secretary of the Sacred Congregation de ~ropaganda Fide: This epis~le:, addressed "To His Excellency, the President of the Tex1an Republic, stated that as JR N R'-'- d Te"'as tlte Lone Star State, I 55. . . 1u.iar son, ,., ,
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