| |
James Smith Letter to Sam
Houston, 5 Oct 1836
Nacogdoches
Oct 5th 1836
To Genl. Samuel Houston Commander In Chief,
Sir I hav to in form in hast [haste] of the movements of the
different tribes of Indians on our Northwest part of the ____
when I first [word crossed out] went up I threw much Difficulty
got your letter to them They appeared glad to reciev it and
agread to comply with it and to Return what property they had
taken but they hav Fail to comply with Evry part ["of"
crossed out] ameadatly [immediately] of after We left them they
all gathered up all they had and Put off In two or three [days?]
after we went to the Villeg [Village] To see if all was Rit
[right] but there was not on [one] Indian to be Seene we took
there trail and persude [pursued] them About thirty miles by
this tim we Discovered large trails coming in from differrant
dirrection intill their trails becom Verry large and there must
be [a? ink blot over word] large Number of them they skinned the
trees and [smudged]inted [painted ?] them as they went and all
the men that was acquanted with them said they intended war And
our number was Small and we Return back for we know we could not
overtake them befor they got to the main body which is on
Trinity at the mouth of a streem call the Bodark where at this
tim there is not less than Seven or Eight hundred warriors of
Different Tribes which I stated to you in my letter sent by
Major Lusk also Williams who lived amonst [amongst] the Cadawes
[?written over] Cam to inform me that all the wariers was gon to
that point there is no doubt but they intend Hostilities. The
peple are Verry much [inserted above] alarmed they wanted Me to
call on men and fall on them but nowing it Was my Duty to in
form you of the fact I [word crossed out] would not But told
them I new as soon as you was inform you would order me to call
out men anuff to Defeat Them and I do not think less than three
or four Hundred I hav acted with caulhion [caution] and will
continue To do so I have give the facts, please answer me in
hast
I am truly your friend
James Smith
Coln
============
Jacque Hall Higdon found this letter in the archives in Austin.
I have transcribed it as well as I can. I left his original
spelling with a few inserts of what I think some of the words
are.
=============
Date Taken: 5 Oct 1836
Place Taken: Nacogdoches, Texas
Owner: Sam Houston Papers, 1814-1957, Center for American
History, The University of Texas at Austin
Contributed by Sandra
Smith Gwilliam, February 2003
Copyright © 2003, Sandra Smith Gwilliam, All Rights Reserved.
|
|
