WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1836
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the home of John Durst on the Angelina River. After surveying Texas as best he could on horseback and on foot, Henry Raguet decided to settle at Nacogdoches. He bought land in and about Nacogdoches, and in 1832 he brought his family---consisting of his wife, Ann (Towers) Raguet, and their six children, Anna, Conde, Henry W., Augusta, Mary, and Charles M.-to their new home. He immediately set himself up in the mercantile business at Nacogdoches, and was the first merchant in Texas to sell goods by the English yard (36 inches) instead of the Mexican yard (33 inches). He was very successful in business and continued to sell and traffic in East Texas until he retired in 1852 to be succeeded by his three sons. About the same time that Henry Raguet opened his shops in Nacogdoches, Sam Houston set up his law office there, and the men became close friends. During the Texas Revolution Henry Raguet was an ardent, useful patriot. He served as chairman of the Vigilance Committee at Nacogdoches in 1835-1836. During his years of trade in East Texas he had formed a warm friendship for the Bowl, the head Chief of the Cherokees, and he now, in 1836, did much to influence his Indian friend to stay at home and keep his warriors under control. In fact, it was the purpose of keeping in close touch with the Bowl and his warriors that kept Henry Raguet cut of the Texas Army and from the Battle of San Jacinto. When the secession movement was agitating all Texas, 1859-1860, Henry Raguet stood firmly against secession, yet, strangely enough, the first secession flag ever to fly over Texas soil, it is claimed, waved from the store build- ing occupied by the Raguet Brothers in Nacogdoches. This flag was made by Mrs. Raguet and her daughter Mary for her sons who were ardent secessonists. Many of the citizens of Nacogdoches demanded that the flag come down, but for two days and nights, the Raguet brothers, assisted by their father, who was not a secessionist, guarded that flag. After the Civil War was over, Henry Raguet moved to Marshall, Texas, and there, December 8, 1877, he died. See Raguet Papers, The University of Texas Library. Letters from Mrs. R. F. Henderson, and Mrs. J. R. Irion (descend- ants of Henry Raguet), Dallas, Texas. Johnson-Barker, Texas and Texans, IV, 1819-1820.
TO JOHN FORBES 1
SPECIAL ORDERS.
Head Quarters of the Army Camp West of Brazos, 7th April 1836
To John Forbes/ Commissary General Regimental Quarter Master E. Winfield,3 will proceed to Washington forthwith and procure Blankets-Domestic for sum- mer clothing and Tents- for the use of the Army of Texas, and pass duplicate receipts for the same one of which he will retain- Regimental Qr. Master Winfield will use all possible dispatch in the execution of this order, and on its completion report to Head Quarters Sam Houston Commander-in-Chief
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