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'fEXAS ~T.\1'E LIDRARY
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No. 25n. '·COLOXEL IGNACIO PERES'S EXPEDITION TO THE TRINITY-1819."~ I Translntecl from the Spnnish by X. l3. De Bray] Colonel Tgnnrio Peres' Expedition to the 'l'rinity-1819. Left San Antonio on the .29th of September 1819 with a force o( 500 men Sent from the yegua" a cletnehment of 50 men, to nrrest a party of 8 Americnn:; who according to n report of a Tnhunrano chief, had pur- chased horses and provisions in his Yillnge and expresser! their inten- tion to join 15 of their countrymen camped on the Brazos River. Another detnchment of 70 men wns nlso detniled to cut off the rebels' retrent, in case they succeeded il1 escaping the first detachment. The first detachment met the 8 Americans in a thicket, almost un- protected; these took to flight, lea,'ing in their camp 5 fire arms, 24 hor::es & 6 mules, different articles of clothing and other articles of property. Rene-he,! the Navnsoto ou the 19th of October, where he received information that one of his explorin~ pnrties had met, at the forks of the Narnsoto nncl Brnzos, 22 Americans, two of whom were made prisoners who stated that another party of 10 men were camped on the Brazos; that latter party was arrested. Perez supposed that these men were trying to join General Long who, according to the prisoners' statements, had proceeded to Galveston to procure provisions anu ammunition and a reenforcement of men- The Prisoners de- clared themselves to be Colonels, Captains, Sergeants, and Soldiers of the "Texas Republican Troops" under General Long. On the 20th of October a man was arrested who called himself Lieu- tenant of the Texns Republican Army under Long. All the prisoners were left in charge of the Commanding officer of the Post of Atascosito. A Detachment met on the Neches and took prisoners three Americans, two Spaniards and one Indian who, with a ,!rove of horses, were maldng their way to the U S. Within 10 miles from Nacogdoches, all the houses were minutely Searched, the Americans, were arrested and one Spaniard; One Indian was shot who had attempted to attack a Soldier, he was, previous to being put to death, baptized by the chaplain of the Expeditionary forces under the name of Jose :Maria. · Heard that Long, after having been informed by one of the Amer- icans who escaped of the arrival of the Mexican Troops, had proceeded to the Sabine. Parties were sent in every direction to recconnoiter the country. One of them took 4 Americans and 3 Spaniards. Continued on the march to the Sabine, and was apprized by a scout- ing party that a guard of Americans was established on the opposite bank of the River;- Perez, then, withdrew to concentrate his forces, and on his way, burnt 30 houses that had been abandoned by the :Calendered No. 1055 {183-? Xa,·ier DeBray, Houston! Texas]. Placed here because of the date of the expedition. General DeBray came to Texas about 1852. See Austin Evening Netcs, January 7, 1895. The 0 date of the trans- lation is probably 1853, or thereafter. In an article in The Galveston News, June 18, 1870. over his signature, X. B. DeBray states that in 1853 he was commissioned by Go,·ernor Pease "to collect. arrange, and translate such Spnn- itih historical documents as could he found in the archives of Bexar County and to file both the original documents and the translations in the office of the Secretary of State."
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