Houston v1

WRITINGS OF 5AM HousToN, 1836

407

Powell says Urrea ( the general) is on his way to the lower coun- try, how could Powell pass by the enemy, as he has done, un- less he has some assurance of their favor? I think Powell is sent to scare us, while the enemy are pretty badly scared them- selves. I hope they will soon be as much hurt. The high waters have interrupted us much. May Heaven prosper you and the country. Sam Houston I do not deem it necessary to make formal charges. Policy will at least, justify his detention. Words of the accused are cheap-bear this in mind, I pray you.

1 Yoakum, -History of Texas, April 11, 1836. 2 See Houston to Burnet, April 11, 1836.

3 Colonel James 1\-Iorgan came to Texas, settled at Anahuac, and set up a mercantile business. Before 1836, he had removed to a point of land at the northwestern extremity of Galveston Bay, which he named New Wash- ington. There he laid out a townsite and built his home, said to have been the most pretentious dwelling in Texas at that time. The situation of this estate was very beautiful, it being at the junction of the San Jacinto and Galveston Bays, and overlooking both of those waters for miles. The orchards of this estate were famous throughout the Texas colonies, and in 1836 the orange trees bore hundreds of bushels of fruit. James l\Iorgan was a fine host and made his home a resort for rich and poor, stranger and friends. Besides his mercantile interests, he was an agent for a land company called the New Washington Association, a company made up of northern capitalists, and through his association with them in land specu- lations, Morgan had become very wealthy. A day or two before the Battle of San Jacinto, Santa Anna with a part of the Mexican army swept down the coast and burned the warehouses and demolished the Morgan estate at New Washington. At this time Morgan himfelf was in command of the Galveston Island, and there did much to aid Burnet and the ad interi,n government who had fled to the island for safety. After the victory of the Texans at San Jacinto, Morgan removed his residence to Galveston i.nd remaind there for the remainder of his· life. In 1843, Houston appointed him, Samuel M. Williams, and William Bryan commissioners to sell the Texas Navy. In his last years Morgan became totally blind, but be continued to transact business through agents and amanuenses. See Thrall, A Pictorial History of Texas, 595. The Texas Historicril Qur,rterly, IV, 158; VI, 117; XIII, 102, 128, 130. John J. Lynn, Reminiscences oj Fifty Years in Texas, 260. E. W. Winkler (ed.), Secret Journals of the. Sennft1, Republic of Texas, 56, 62. There is a considerable collection of Morgcm Pavei·s and Letters in the archives of the Rosenberg Library at Galveston. •See Houston to Wyly Martin, November 24, 1835. 6 See Lynn's own explanation of his· being arrested as a spy in John J. Lynn, Fifty Years in Texas, 247-265, pass·im. 6 Peter Kerr. See note under Houston to Thomas J. Rusk, April 3, 1836.